pitmaster

My take on John Northey was and remains this: He is the man who gave our club back its self respect. I don't think there's any higher praise possible. Best coach since N Smith no doubt. I don't recall any anguish when he left - Balme was supposed to be the next big thing. Well, he was big anyway.

Wouldn't cliche do?

Sorry I've been slow to respond but I've been off the air (Big Night - Coronas, bubbly, white wine, red wine - you know the score, I'm sure). Watts will play half forward flank, some time as an alternate or decoy FF but will not be given the main responsibility. He must be left to grow into the role and will do so over two to three years. If we try to use him to replace Miller he will get slaughtered. The best example of someone thrown in too deeply too soon is Josh Fraser, also a highly rated number one pick. Malthouse said when drafting him he would not be asking much of him in his first season and then proceeded to play him every game IN THE RUCK. Ask any half sensible Pie supporters nowadays and they will tell you Malthouse's treatment amounted to abuse and ruined the bloke. BTW what is a neo-platitude? I know of neo-nazis and neo-capitalism and neo-Liberals but this one has me tossed.

You must be kidding. Watts is two to three years away from being made responsible for a key position. You're falling for the same misunderstanding as those who bag Watts for not being a champion at 18 years of age. He has to be given time. In the meantime it's Miller time.

That was my technological ineptitude. The first reference was to the fact that champion teams contain a mix of players by type and ability. Sometimes a flawed player gets a premiership medallion because for all their faults they bring something the group needs. If you don't think Miller has anything to add to our group you've frankly got rocks in your head.

A champion team will always beat a team of...etc and I don't wanna be Hawthorn - who said their model is the key?

spot on

With Bate, Sylvia, Morton, Jurrah, Watts and Green to rotate through the forward 50 and to work into the space Miller vacates when he plays his natural game of pushing up to midfield on the lead there is no reason Miller cannot continue too contribute.

Countless amount of priority picks? Countless? Priority selections: we see your Josh Fraser and Daisy Thomas with Colin Sylvia and Sam Blease. As they stand, and for the next 48 hours, we have had exactly the same number of priority selections, but you go right ahead and let your arrogance over-rule your knowledge.

Perish the thought.

It's less important where we finish on the ladder and more important how many games we win. Given that list management cost one clear win last year, and maybe two outright if we are honest, then anything less than eight wins is insufficient. After scanning the fixture a couple of weeks ago I reckoned on 8 wins, 10 if we were very lucky. As for ladder position, I think 12th-13th would be about right unless something extraordinary happened. I expect to finish above Norf, Freo & Port, with someone like the Swans or Essendon slipping (heh heh).

Most interesting to me was the line about taking a key forward with pick 11 - best available or need? Which rules?

But who else got one in October?

It might look like that but I remember one of Liam's coaches arcing up last year when Brian Taylor was rabbitting on about how Melbourne should not coach him. The point the NT coach made was that of course these blokes are coached and have been all their time playing football. It's our cultural blinkers that make us think they aren't coached.

I expected criticism for starting this thread so congratulations all on sensible, well argued points of view. I still think PJ is worth persevering with and I am not alone which is a bit encouraging. Rhino's point about a timeline showing a ruckman coming to his peak reminds me of Darren Jolly. It has taken him until his mid-late 20s to be a real impact player. Don't be fooled by the premiership medal he has - he was very much a minor, back up ruckman in the Swans' flag year and it is only the past couple of seasons where he has fired. I reckon PJ is worth a real go with serious game time for five or six weeks before we decide to cut him adrift, and I hope he gets it. Craig Cameron used to say that a problem with a few big blokes is that because they have always been big as kids, they have been taught not to over-muscle their mates and that can be a problem because as footballers they don't know how to use their weight. It's ingrained in them not to use their size to rough others up, and it can take a few years to get that out of them as footballers. If PJ started to use his body to bust up packs he really could have an impact.

If he wanted to come to Melbourne why would he not already be training with us? More likely he is trying to ensure it is worth staying a saint. Only if that fails will we get him. So it's all in Ross Lyon's court.

Actually, you don't so very much see him differently. He can take a pack mark but doesn't very often. I concede that. But his size gives him the potential to attack contests and create spillages. If he holds one in five, that'll do because his kicking is a strength. As for what was tried in 2008, torpedo, for reasons I won't go into, I did not see that season at all so he might have tried and failed but I would like to give him a few weeks of certainty down there rather than merely experimenting. It's clear Jamar is our best ruck option, and for mine, Newton does not read it well enough, or kick well enough, to take the FF spot and will not make it. As for Green at FF, which some suggest, he might make do in a Brad Johnson role but I prefer the more traditional model of a big bugger up there creating a little chaos because I think Wona and others could make something out of it. The Doggies forced reliance on BJ is what has held them up all this time.

I know how many don't rate Johnson on this forum but consider that PJ: 1: CAN take a pack mark; 2: IS a fine kick; 3: HAS the body to bust packs in the air and on the ground to create opportunities for small forwards. With Wona as a crumbing forward in one pocket, and Jurrah as a leading forward from the other pocket, and with some mix of Bate/Watts/Sylvia/Green at half forward we should try to see if Johnson can cause some uncertainty in the forward 50. I am assuming Miller contineus to play his natural game pushing upfield and giving Bate/Jurrah and Watts some space to work. One issue is whether PJ can develop some consistency. Another is whether he can get to enough contests to have an impact. But I still think it's time to settle Johnson and persist with him for five or six weeks at FF with Jamar working the rucks except in the forward 50.

Just one fading fragment of the tragedy that was the Steve Harris era. He was a dead end on the highway of history. Thank goodness he and his phoney branding has gone.

We have seven of the first eight at the G but we could be in strife before we get a decent crowd drawing home game at this rate. Going to need to show something early against Hawks and Tiges.

This implies we start with two consecutive away games at the 'G as QB against the Pies will be our home game. Odd. I hope we discover round one is our home game.

Hawks sniffing there. Paucity of defenders and talls is the reason.

The MCC reserve holds 22,000, so I guess the answer is no.

Best researched football book I have read and terrific to be reminded about old Demon characters who put so much into the club. Not especially well written since some passages are patchy with too many partial quotes and or over-burdened with statistics but that's a style criticism. The content is very good and it's interesting to read about the working class roots of the Smiths and speculate about why the old Fox did not get on so well with the MFC/MCC committee. I have bought multiple copies to give away - buy it from the club.

what do they say about the australian?