whatwhat say what

Jackson Trengove named for port after initial fears he'd miss first month of the season and not training for the last month or so. I have hopes for Hogan, Clark and Dawes all playing! (Not really.)

so did fox footy get wind of it, and it's actually being announced tomorrow? is the airline listed on the chinese stock exchange, or anywhere else for that matter?

Where's the announcement? What's the term and level of sponsorship?

All articles that have appeared this morning definitely seem to think that if he does go then it'll be automatically a first round pick because of his age and likely contract size. The Age story also states that most oppo clubs actually believe he'll stay as he wants to see the club have some success. For what it's worth, I completely agree with munga AND RPfc - our inability to achieve any success over a sustained period of time has us cast as a mid- to lower-tier club like north, footscray et al, and the big clubs will cherry pick from us. It's a perpetuating cycle, and free agency is a boon for the likes of Adelaide, west coast, hawthorn, Collingwood etc, while an absolute disaster waiting to happen for the likes of us. I hate it, and never wanted it in the afl. Once thru remove compensation in a year or two ten we will REALLY see the small clubs such as ours suffer.

i rate him, and have always done so. he was great on debut vs hawks in 06, so i've always had a soft spot for him. remember those heady days when we belted teams by 75 points. team like fricken hawthorn??? 13 possessions, 8 marks, 2 goals 2. i thought we had the next schwarz on our hands! he got crucified by bailey.

god the administration of this club has been nothing short of pathetic. god i hope we hold onto both he and dunn. they would have to be just about the youngest blokes on this list, i reckon: Jason Porplyzia, Ben Rutten (Adelaide Crows); Jonathan Brown, Ash McGrath (Brisbane Lions); Michael Jamison, Kade Simpson, Jarrad Waite (Carlton); Nick Maxwell, Tyson Goldsack (Collingwood); Dustin Fletcher, Leroy Jetta, Jason Winderlich (Essendon); Garrick Ibbotson, Luke McPharlin, Matthew Pavlich (Fremantle); Corey Enright, James Kelly (Geelong Cats); Brad Sewell (Hawthorn); James Frawley, Lynden Dunn (Melbourne); Leigh Adams, Michael Firrito, Brent Harvey (North Melbourne); Domenic Cassisi, Kane Cornes, Tom Logan, Paul Stewart (Port Adelaide); Shane Edwards, Jake King, Chris Newman (Richmond); Sam Fisher, Jarryn Geary, James Gwilt, Lenny Hayes, Clint Jones (St Kilda); Adam Goodes, Nick Malceski, Ryan O’Keefe, Lewis Roberts-Thomson (Sydney Swans); Sam Butler, Dean Cox, Darren Glass, Matt Rosa (West Coast); Matthew Boyd, Daniel Giansiracusa, Dale Morris, Robert Murphy, Tom Williams (Western Bulldogs).

very sad.

So apparently Roos said on 360 last night something to the effect that there's no time frame on Jesse being fit again?

it's unlikely that that will happen at the end of this season, i reckon. next season is more likely, with the announcement made this year.

Well hopefully they've peaked too early, because quite frankly I can't stand them. On Pete Ryan's side, I really hope Jimmy T is given the first few weeks in the vfl. He needs I remember what it's like to find the pill. When does their season start?

Toumpas certainly needs an extended spell of playing vfl. He may have had a great summer on the track, but his actual playing form on the park has been bitterly disappointing. He looks a mile off it at senior level. He also looks a hell of a lot stockier and slower than he did in the sanfl. Personally I doubt whether he's going to make it an an outside mid at afl level. He's too slow by half, and just jogs around. His hands in close looks okay so he might be able to convert to an inside player, but it'll basically take a football re education on his behalf. I advocated taking him over Wines if available but he's miles behind Ollie, who looks ready to keep getting better entering his second season.

well, this afternoon wasn't fun, was it. the form of the pre-season has been pretty interesting, to say the least, with two pretty encouraging performances followed by a howler, which was the only one i've been at, so unfortunately it's my lasting impression of the start of the year. watched just short of three quarters today, and i think that the old habits of no defensive running and lack of spread from the contest were back again. definitely a reality check, for the players as much as the supporters. all the regular suspects who just coast through games were back to their worst today. can't see roos playing them if that's how they're going to react to adversity. one thing seems pretty clear - georgiou will be upgraded. current best guess squad of 25: B: Georgiou - Frawley - Dunn HB: Grimes - McDonald - Terlich C: Watts - N Jones - Trengove HF: MIchie - Pedersen - Blease F: Fitzpatrick - Howe - Byrnes Foll: Spencer - Tyson - Vince I/C: McKenzie - Cross - Kennedy-Harris Sub: Viney Emerg: M Jones - Clisby - Bail and i reckon there's about nine players (or eleven if i'm being harsh, and feeling vindictive towards other players) in that lot who i doubt would get a game at any other club. i don't know how i feel about naming them on a forum like this. but it's no wonder we have been as poor as we've been over the last seven seasons. i'm so sick of it. whoever is chosen in the final 22 for the game against the aints better put in a hell of a lot more effort than i saw this afternoon.

we will only stop playing there when we can afford to do so. a guaranteed bye after each game up there would be great, but hard to arrange.

I similarly left at three-quarter time. We simply could not get our hands on the ball. They were dominant taking it out of the middle, their run and spread was superb. By comparison we simply didn't get near it.

We've had the ball forward of centre once in the last 15 minutes. It's like watching lambs to the slaughter.

B: Georgiou - Frawley - Dunn HB: Grimes - McDonald - Terlich C: Watts - N Jones - Trengove HF: Michie - Pedersen - Toumpas F: Fitzpatrick - Howe - Kennedy-Harris Foll: Spencer - Tyson - Vince I/c: McKenzie - Blease - Cross Sub: Viney Emerg: Byrnes - Clisby - Strauss ?? We are looking pretty light on for talls. Dunn has the versatility and experience to be swung forward, but no doubt we will have to play a game based around retention and use of the ball. Very interested to see what Roos does with an underdone Viney - I guess on a lot will depend on how he goes this week against the premiers - and whether JKH or the experience of Byrnes is preferred as the small forward. Geez it's not the line up I was hoping for, missing all three of our tall targets and my preferred starting ruckmen (Jamar, Gawn). Big Fitz has become even more important than expected!

grimes basically missed his entire first year due to a stress fracture didn't he? i can't imagine them being anything other than cautious with hogan. ferret-face story on afl site

i cannot believe the mfc's luck. the norm smith curse has struck again.

clark, dawes, jamar all looking unlikely for round 1, given that they have all been ruled out of this game. viney is in though, as is pedersen and jkh. afl story

there's a bloke over in perth who's worked under roosy who might not have been able to win a premiership, or he might have by then, and might be looking to move 'home' to melbourne in a couple of years. in my opinion, there's no reason ross lyon can't be our replacement for roos if the man himself doesn't change his mind and wants to complete unfinished business at the dees.

it's effectively tyson and salem for kelly and dunstan, yeah? the difference is that tyson should be able to impact immediately for us, whereas kelly and dunstan would have taken development time. fwiw, all four should be very good players in the long-term.

if we do finish at the bottom, there should be a few suitors trying to land some of the kpp fodder on offer. hopefully we don't lose a game for the season - roos' magic! - and we're looking at taking billy stretch at pick 18 (or later, if there's compo picks).

If Viney plays and plays well against the Hawks I'd be ecstatic to have a player such as he is available. Even if just for a sub. His first year last year in a terrible side was great.

Probably my favourite clearance players I've seen at the Dees are Glenn Lovett and Kevin Dyson. I can't judge against players that I've never seen.

mav weller also facing a week off. now all we need is a minor knee knock to riewoldt and they're missing almost every one of our regular tormentors, aren't they? hayes, montagna, gilbert all out, not to mention milne, goddard, and kosi.