Dappa Dan

Jeeeeeez... OMR... Any danger of a free against anytime soon?!!!!

Same here. Either a 4 point win to us, or a 40+ point loss. As with all our games this year, we'll find out if we turned up to play in the first 15 minutes. It can be. It's gotten better in the last 12 months or so. Some of the Noobs can be touchy at times if you disrespect a player. I thought you'd admitted fault more than anything, and you'll find you're not the first to be critical of Jack. And rightly so. Most of the scuttlebutt has been constructively critical. What's weird here is someone picked a fight with you even though you didn't get carried away about your displeasure with Watts... Seems odd. Either way, really, the only thing to do is ignore...

Bate would get us a 4th or maybe 3rd rounder, Morton would be good to see the back of but only for the right price. Petterd's of more value to us than a pick. Our forward line isn't exactly solid just yet. He's my only real worry about leaving. And partly because as that mid-sized tall he has a lot of competition. Howe, Dunn, Jurrah, Green... Who are all trying their hardest to play as talls at the moment, some with success, like Green and Jurrah, and others being patchy or unknown quantities like Howe and Dunn... And Ricky himself. Once we DO get two bona-fide talls, it's gonna be interesting to see if there's room for a guy who's really only appropriate for one position.

Scully. Just at the minute is more of a chance to blow up. Trengove is ultra consistent, and is coming off 3 weeks rest.

http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=833067 This is a topic that's been raised a lot over the last couple of years, the whole Scully, Trengove, Martin, Morabito nexus... which now has Fyfe added to it. It's an interesting topic, and the reason I raise it is to acknowledge that even the parochial nitwits on Bigfooty have started to talk about the 2009 draft as something that will be up there with the 2001 Judd/Ball/Hodge draft as a superdraft. In all drafts you get guys that come on very quickly, but most show hints of how good they're going to be. It's pretty rare, I reckon, that so many of these names have not only popped up and played good footy, but that they've done it as consistently and with as much damage as they have. The obvious highlights: Scully, Trengove, Martin, Gysberts, Tapscott, Fyfe, Jetta... All these guys are corkers who've had games in which they've shown very real and scary aspects that have caused opposition fans to groan, knowing what's coming in a few years. What I can't believe is that 4 of those seven names belong to us. Not only that, but we took a Gawn and Fitzpatrick later in the draft too... this could be the best year this club has EVER had in recruiting terms. I have zero concerns over the 4 demon names mentioned above... all four are DEFINITELY players. Which is to say nothing of these names, many of which are the real deal, just haven't had injury luck or lots of game time: Morabito, Rohan, Melksham, Pittard, Menzel, Duncan, Winmar, Vardy, Gawn, Roberton, Nason. All these names have already popped up, in various sizes. Pretty amazing really, that Martin, Scully and Trengove can be the 1-2-3 punch like Ball, Judd and Hodge were. And that a star like Fyfe is right up there with them. What do people think? Does their value seem greater because it was a mid-heavy draft and they've come on quicker than, say, a Butcher who will take a few more years? Going by the above bigfooty thread, the general consensus is that EVERYONE rates these guys and can't separate them. Personally I could look at that list down to #18 all day and not get bored. It really is 4 from 4, which just about NEVER happens.

I didn't hate how that all ended up. The movie was really a very good adaptation of the TV show, and gave us what we would have seen had the show just stayed on... only in a bittersweet two hours instead of 4-6 years. Jeez. How did it come to this? Isn't this a Tom Scully thread?

Yeah look, Bartel may be the closest... but he's actually slightly different from all of the above examples. He actually takes a hanger pretty well too. Maybe a bit of Buckley about him. To be honest the more I watch he and Scully the more I think Bailey may well NOT have to be the innovator we all want him to be. These two are blossoming already to produce a certain kind of footy that's their own. Trengove with smart decision making in the clinches, and extraordinary skill and level-headedness, and Scully with some VERY interesting habits starting to become clear. People say of him he's Cousins-like, which I personally have never seen. Others say Judd with his up and under kick, and extreme pace. I don't agree with that one as he's got nowhere near the size and contested bal winning ability... who does? He's starting to look a little bit like Swan to me as well with his massive engine and cruising speed around packs, and ability to predict both where the ball will be and where the opposition WON'T be. Only he's a better kick and is quicker, and has what will become the best handball in the league. We're on the cusp of seeing an identity that not only MFC hasn't seen, but that the AFL hasn't seen. In terms of gameplan, we might follow the Geelong pattern (no complaints here), but the character with which it's executed, you can already see, is going to be VERY new and unpredictable. Easy to coach too. :D

Footy's a damn mystery... You have guys like Dunn, Bate and Newton in the system for 6+ years, have all the bulk and skill and bits and pieces, and yet they can't seem to handball to advantage... do the simple things that Howie did in his first day on the job, albeit as a sort of slightly mature-age recruit. I can't want to see how he fits into the structure with a taller forward line though. He kind of does a lot of what Jurrah does, only not nearly as well obviously.

Alright yank sports fans... Is there going to be a season this year? Tentative word is, yes...

Got a grudge there scooter?

As with the NFL, I follow Philly... I can't believe we landed Lee in the off season. Makes no sense at all. The more I think about it, the more it seems they're like the Collingwood of American sports. Small place to the north of the most important city... Parochialism and love of the common man has turned them into a powerhouse in football. And the Phillies have had little success for many, many years, but are now one of the favourites for the world series, and have been for the last 3-4 years. Love me the big 4, Doc Halladay, Hamels, Lee and Oswalt. Not bad closers and set-up guys in Madson and Lidge. But it's our offence that has me worried. When you don't address your issues, they multiply... and we've had injuries, and can't hit to save ourselves. We only have the second best record in the MLB because of our league-best pitching rotation. 45, what are the big 4 sports? NFL, MLB, NBA and NHL? NFL has now probably taken over Cricket as my second favourite sport. Baseball's a fair way down the list though. Ok sport, lots to think about, but the inequity is frustrating, and the length of the season, while not something they'll ever change, is just too much. I only start really thinking about it after the all-star game. Maybe when they get to the last 3-40 games of the season, when magic numbers start appearing on the standings.

Use the NFL model. Two Conferences... you play the teams in your conference twice, and the teams in the other conference once (roughly. Works out that you still play everyone once, and a few teams twice)... Top 4 teams from both conferences advance to finals. Works a treat over there. In fact they have twice as many teams, so to sort it out they have 2 conferences, and those two 16-team conferences have 4 divisions of four... winner of each division advances, plus the two next-best performed teams. I love it, personally. It takes a few minutes to soak it all in... but then so does our comp, when you look at finals. If you do it this way, you get conference or division rivals... Which become MASSIVE games... like this one. One of the top 3 things I've ever seen in sport. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddTacY83qBk

It's already been said he won't play... I reckon it's good. We had only one or two passengers last week, and the defence did a great job. I assumed one of Bennell, Nicholson or Strauss would have done little enough to be replaced. But they all did well, and none will be dropped. Going on form, the Pies should beat us, in which case there will likely be a youngster that can make way for him... If he's fit he's straight in.

On a different note... When big Mazie Gawn took his huge grab in the last quarter, (and duly sprayed it)... Fletcher smacked him on the nack of the scone for his troubles. Pretty poor form. But not exactly a shock. And Essendon fans wonder why he's not more highly regarded.

Yup. Don't think he's gonna be keen to let him go any time soon either. :D

Gee they're impressive numbers. McKenzie back is a massive, massive in in the form he's in. I think many steered clear because they didn't think he'd get fit and stay fit, even with lots of game time. But 25 touches, and 8+ tackles, that'll have him deeply ensconced in the top 100 in the league the rest of the year. Huge pickup.

Well done RR. A well deserved top spot all yours. No Sandi, no Dan.

Darcy is awful. TRULY awful, and is only there to get the female viewers. Can't believe nobody's mentioned how he targeted Davey last week, saying his knee injury was a fake and that he had attitude problems... then Davey promptly get scans and it's revealed he's out for a few weeks. No apology though.

Jurrah would/could have kicked six a few times now... But it'll be Watts, I reckon.

After he first did it, he came back on the ground a couple of times. You don't do that if it's a severe corky that you need a week off for. He'll be NICE and fresh 9 days from now.

With guys like him I can't help but ask what the difference is between him and Valenti. I mean... is he THAT much taller? I imagine he's perhaps a bit quicker. Maybe someone can enlighten me.

Wash your mouth out... What is it with the demons and their rookies?

We got a lot of help tonight that we won't get against the Pies. I think it'll be, at best, a bit like the Adelaide game. We could beat them confidently for 90 minutes, and all they need to do is have Shaw, Daisy, Krakouer, Beams, Dawes, Didak, Sidebottom or Embullbummery suddenly explode and it's all over. Let's be honest though... it'll probably be Dick that kicks 4.

You know what he had tonight that I've not seen since he won the rising star? just the sliiiiightest hint of pace/closing speed. He's not Daniel Merrett yet in that regard, but how many times did you see him put on a chase and get there? That's not something we've seen a lot of from him for a while.

Good first post.