Tony Tea

Hard? I'll give you hard: our kick outs. No one has yet solved the riddle of Melbourne's kick outs.

Fox Sports News 513 at midday.

If Mark Harvey is appointed Melbourne coach we are obviously tanking again.

Hugh Bromell's career was wrecked by injuries & sickness.

Good decision to re-sign Cale. He is quick, covers the ground, knows where the ball is going, but needs to learn the contact aspects. That last is down to coaching, personal confidence and confidence in the game plan. Most young players come into the competition a little tentative. They can kick, mark, run, etc, but need to be taught footy is a big boy's game and that they need to know how to approach a contest. Cale, in my opinion, has been poorly coached in how to win tough footy. Had he been at, say, Collingwood Malthouse would have worked on his pressure skills and he would already be aware of how to attack a contest. Also, when players have confidence in the game plan, they automatically do the right thing. They know that if they are going to cop heat, they can give it to a person in a better position. Strikes me that Calelacks confidence approaching the ball, because he doesn't know what he has to do once he gets it. Badly needs a new and better coach whose emphasis is on footy as a contact sport.

Jake Niall raised the issue in December last year. Mind you, Jake expected Scully to stay: "This is not likely to happen." Scully put off his contract talks in August last year, so it is fair to assume GWS may have been into his management as long as 13 months ago.

That agrees with the rumour I recently heard:

Dean Wallis had a huge bet on Lyon.

Wonder how much we here at Demonland will overrate Warnock? Anyone suggested Warnock for Judd yet?

The umpiring was worse the the Bulldogs game in 1997 where Stynes got pinged and umpire Caulfield handed the Dogs a win. It was just that bad. So very one-sided. The umpires were clearly swept up in the atmosphere. They simply cannot be allowed to umpire the finals.

I'm rather keen on the "if Carlton lose to Essendon Malthouse will coach Carlton in 2012, but if Carlton beat Essendon, Malthouse will coach Melbourne in 2012" rumour. If it's true: go Blues!

Shausenhausen and Shaudenfreude? Your two pet schnauzers, I assume?

The 2002 game? Not after the siren.

And Patrick Dangerfield.

Not after the siren.

That's what I mean. Port coming off a near miss against Essendon. Playing in Adelaide, albeit at Adelaide Oval. Sending off Dean Brogan. Desperate to get off the bottom, since draft picks are compromised by GWS. Melbourne struggled to beat the Gold Coast at the MCG. Playing without much confidence. Haven't won in Adelaide for 10 years. If Melbourne starts favourite, the footy punters will have gone mad.

Surely Port are living certainties.

Do you mean Jason Norrish from the MCC members pocket against Footscray in 1994? That was not after the siren.

Wiki will provide.

Soft! The lightweight did not break anything. Fair weather supporter.

Energy Watts You want puns? I got puns!

Debamboozle, My "Malthouse is still very much in play" is in reference to us. Malthouse is still very much in play for the Demons, so I agree with what you say. I first heard Melbourne were into Malthouse in an email in March. That was followed by several other emails saying the same thing. Then again on August 5 I got another email saying that the Collingwood board had had an unscheduled "panic meeting" the previous night (Aug 4) in Eddie's personal offices; the implication was that Collingwood needed to plan how to handle Malthouse's departure. Bailey has been gone for months. Robert Walls described his sacking as "knee jerk". That is just rubbish. The Geelong loss was the last straw. Jimmy Stynes' and Garry Lyon's eerily similar April pronouncements "Over the next few weeks Dean has the chance to cement his future at Melbourne" reeked of prepared spin. The bullets were loaded, it was just a matter of when they pulled the trigger. The Geelong game pulled the trigger. And the offers to Lyon & Clarkson have a smokescreen feel to them.

There are a couple of rounds and finals to go, right? I did not know it was the end of the season. Looks like Melbourne made Hawthorn panic.

Mitchell is merely echoing what Julian de Stoop said on Fox Sports a couple of weeks ago. Malthouse is still very much in play.

The question: Is the time right to trade? Have we built our list with enough young players to now start trading for players? Collingwood largely built their list before they purposefully traded to fill specific weaknesses with specific players like Ball, Brown & Jolly. Not that trading should be ruled out. I mean, what if Carlton said "Here, have Judd; we'll take Jones"? It's not going to happen, but you would do the deal - every player has his price. If a super trade falls in your lap, you take it. Brock for pick 11 comes to mind. Speaking of price. James Hird would admit to having park sex with Megan Gale before he traded Gumbleton for Bate. PS: If, as mentioned on the Rumour File, Ross Lyon ends up coach, can we expect a swathe of trades for players like Peake, Gardiner, Schneider, Dempster and ....... gulp, Lovett?