pitmaster

PJ has physical presence to match Miller's and is a vastly superior kick, both in terms of deliberate shots at goal and field kicking. He is also better than Miller as a change ruckman. That is the 'more' he offers. I am not entirely off Miller because the way he pushes up field does leave scope for others to work in space closer to goal...but that assumes we have anyone forward of the centreline.

I should have mentioned Dunn. He is more mobile than Bate and while he has been played everwhere else, he might give us another option for a forward slot. (I like the distinction that Jurrah is KEY but not KPP.)

Spot on re the forwards. Jurrah is not a key position player, valuable as he is. Morton isn't at the moment either, and looking at him last night he might be one of those blokes who never develops a KPP's body. Nor is Watts who will be a half forward for the next couple of years. Miller's kicking has improved but his contested marking is non-existent and he is not a long term answer. Bate is our best short term prospect for a key forward post. I'd still try PJ down there if he was fit. Of other forwards, Maric and Petterd did nothing to ensure their futures last night. The best consolation I can think of is that we were not fair dinkum - going in without Jamar was evidence of that.

That MFC vote was crooked and was not going to survive a legal challenge.

Great rivalries are forged in finals. Our biggest finals competitors have been Collingwood (no s-t!) and Essendon. The great rivalries are all finals related. our era from 1926 to 1964 looks a lot like Hawthorn 1971-2008. For most of it, when we were great they were rubbish, and the reverse applies. I hate them deeply for 1987 and 1988. (But Gippy was wrong on a second point. We had some revenge in 1990 when they were looking for three flags in a row, we beat them twice in two weeks to put them out of the finals. The shame is we did not go on with it.) I also despise their supporters for their arrogance, and loathe their colours which are simply disgusting. Their president is a [censored] as well, but he does not upset me as much as that prat Crawford, or the sniper Osborne who is the latest in a long line of Hawthorn hit men. Hate em for the merger? Yeah go with that.

Not entirely true Gippy. John Kennedy Sr loathed us passionately because when he was a player we handed out massive floggings to them. So much so that when they won the '61 flag, ending our run, he had his players sing 'Grand Old Flag" as a funeral dirge. So my old man told me.

Thee's 15 of our best 22 there, (yes I include Miller in that) but no Jamar. We're not exactly fair dinkum, still putting games into the young blokes. I'd love to win it though and will be dark if we don't.

Looks good. They are close but I reckon Bruce will spend more time down there than Grimes, and I'd like Rivers at HB with Bruce at BP. (Having seen Jamar last weekend, barring future mishaps he'll be right for round one and a big boost for us.)

We saw how he goes against a proper outfit when Jamar dismantled NicNat last year. I was embarrassed for him. That said, he will be a gun...but who's to say Watts won't be as well? Besides, with Spencer showing promise and Gawn a prospect, how many ruckmen do we want?

I would agree in the 2nd half skills dropped off but I think the first half, especially from the Reds, was good quality attacking football and by hand they consistently found targets,

If The Russian can keep on the park our ruck issues are solved for the next 2-3 seasons, and probably beyond. His tap work today and play around the ground was imposing enough for the brains trust to rest him for most of the second half. Terrific attack at the bounces. That said, Spencer has improved out of sight. His kicking on the run had none of the un-co signs of last year. Strong improver. Most importantly the general skill level was way above what we saw last year. Shane Crawford's spies aren't up to much. I liked the rapid fire, to the target handpassing that was set up to release a player in defence. We also had much less switching of player and a more direct attack. I particularly liked Grimes, Rivers who was moving beautifully in defence, Sylvia who looks like having a cracker of a year - strong running, powerful accurate kicking, and an awesome hit on Grimes at the end - Jurrah, whose marking and position play showed great anticipation and inventiveness around goal, Warnock who looks like building on last year, Dunn who improved over the course of four quarters and Jamie Bennell - won heaps of it and used it well finding targets at will. Brad Green, like Sylvia will be a big impact player this year - looks terrific. Ah yes, and Scully, impressed plenty around me who loved his attack in and under. Less impressive was Miller, who started really well but spilled several marks as the game progressed, and Maric, who did a bit but was caught hanging on too long and missed a couple. Jury still out. Overall, plenty to be quietly excited about.

Been hanging out for this. Sorry PJ ain't fit for the FF experiment. I only mention it because I am the only one who gives a rats. Very much looking forward to seeing some system and Warnock V Miller.

Lloyd has never had claim to being the sharpest knife in the drawer. This comment, like Crawford's in the Hun, reflects nothing more than received wisdom. There's no great insight from either of them. Talented players, but who said that makes an expert on all clubs? Neither offers anything more than you'd find with two minutes research in a public bar anywhere in south east Australia. Waste of space, as are most football personal columns including sheedy malthouse except for the occasional controversy.

All four packs turned up today just two weeks after sign up. Good turnaround by the club.

I haven't seen enough of him to make a final judgement, but he has never impressed, HOWEVER, Bails gave him a veiled rap at the AGM so there's hope for him yet. Roll on the intra club and the NAB Cup and we might be able to talk more sensibly about the youngest blokes on the list.

The thing that stood out for me was DB's comment about continuing to put games into young players to ensure they played together and he named as forwards Bate, Jurrah, Watts, Maric and one other I can't remember who would benefit in the long term from this. It's not their age that matters - in other words older does not necessarily mean better - but the number of games they have played together, he said. Get that right, get games into them as a group when they are all young and their premiership window will be open longer.

That surprises me. How many do you think ARE in our future? (I would have thought you need a solid core of 10-12 must play players and a group of 18-20 who are ready to do given there will always be half a dozen kids who aren't ready and are in various stages of development, and then there's injuries to deal with. I see both of them as very handy for the next couple of years and if they develop, indefinitely.)

I am watching his development with special attention since a gloating Hawthorn supporter said last year as their Rioli darted around the 'G "You could have had him (Rioli)". Yeah, but, we got Cale. The best response will be in two, and three and four etc years' time as Cale continues to develop and Rioli handy as he is, proves to be no better than he is already.

Neale Daniher used to talk about us getting ruthless: maybe now it's going to happen. Go hard Dees.

big statement by both kids and club. feb 13 @ casey

Article in The Age today (Jan 24) points out how on-field success translates into membership sales but fails to note that right now Melbourne (20,080) has equal numbers to the Bulldogs (20,078) and Geelong (20, 373) and Carlton (20,102). We are ahead of Brisbane, Port, Richmond, Sydney and the Roos. We are miles behind Hawthorn and the Woods (about 40,000 each) but it shows our admin is doing a pretty good job in the face of three tough years. Also, congrats to our fans for putting their money where their hearts are (bought four memberships this week meself).

Seriously? Because like others on this board, and having experienced the roller coaster of 1987, I am a fantasist. I harbour the hope we can sneak into the finals with a 12-10 record and maybe even snatch an elimination final win. But to get serious, with our draw, on April 29 Demon fans will be relieved to have two wins on the board. It could be as few as one with only the Tigers game where we'll start favorites. The other win is probably the Lions courtesy of Warnock blanketing Brown and Frawley shutting down Fev. That means we'll start the year with three defeats, but nothing like the margins of last year. If there is a boilover in there, we might knock off the Crows in their negative mode, but it's more likely that after two big hitouts against the Hawks and Pies we could have a let down and miss one that is there for the taking. As for the NAB Cup, a round one win over Freo was followed up with a half-pace defeat against the Cats who floored the Kangas in their opening game.

That would be 13th Feb - our NAB cup first round is Feb 21

More because the accepted wisdom is that a strong defence is key to a premiership tilt. Premiers are supposed to be built from the back and height in defence is as important as forwards any day.

RDB obviously, but also stan alves and greg wells since their going was a mark of our lack of hope. One others may not remember but one which hurt the club internally was Stephen Newport who was important to the playing group but who was off-loaded to the saints. Anyone else remember his two 50 metre final quarter goals in a semi-final win over the pies?