Dappa Dan

This is one of those instances where you just wouldn't want to be DB. He plays well, but has a couple of passages that were pretty much unacceptable. So what do you do? Discipline him? We're not like the Hawks and screaming out for room to fit in players who deserve to get a game. We can't afford to drop guys who can keep fit, in form dual-brownlow-medallists quiet... but it would be harmful to his progress to let the squibbing continue unchecked. What to do?

Well that's not true at all. Plenty of players have had OP and returned. It diminishes his value sure, but doesn't kill it. These are limitations he had back when he won the Rising star and had when he played his best footy. Whatever weaknesses he is perceived as having don't hurt his footy... if they did he wouldn't have EVER been rated highly. Who said anything about hunting? I'm talking about making offers, moving things around, wheeling and dealing. You're attempting to predict what THE SAINTS are going to think about our offers! Well that's a simple disagreement then. I think you CRIMINALLY under-rate Riv by saying he's a NQR... He's a lot better than that. Besides... the point I was trying to make is that Kosi himself is a NQR anyway. You swap a NQR defender for a NQR attacking tall and what have you lost? You could argue they have more need of a good tallish defender, and reader of the play with Lyon's gameplan.

Naitanui plays a part in the future of Jeff too... Given the youth policy AND the fact that clubs like the Saints have shown they like recruiting SUPER - old ruckmen, I'm all for trading Jeff, despite his long years of good service. I think he'd really benefit from a change of atmosphere. An early third rounder or an upgrade of a second or first rounder would be a good return given we have Jamar, PJ, Meesen, Spencer and maybe Naitanui AND Warnock coming in... I think PJ would be one of the better second ruckmen in the league. He fills in in the guts, has the engine and work ethic to make his presence felt, and today made a premiership defence look second-rate at times when he was a forward target. I love his work and think he's a vital part of our future. But we need a starting ruckman who can develop into a dominant player in a few years. Naita or Robbie could be that. White won't be playing in the AFL in 3 years.

Sage points RR, until this one which I might just offer my 2 cents worth for again... If the Saints are looking to get something for Kosi, then Rivers is certainly worth something. He's missed a couple of years, but has had at least 2 good seasons in the past. Kosi is similar, he's missed a couple of seasons but has played good footy in the past... That said, I've mentioned in recent weeks that I'd rather keep Rivers as the reward we'd get is not worth a rising star winner. Also that the Saints would want a first rounder for Kosi, which we shouldn't give up... The only reason I thought he'd be a good fit is what Nudge said, that Garland, Warnock and Frawley will be persisted with... and that we are more desperate for a tall, deep, solid marking option that Aussie, Davey and Marric can crumb off... Think Neitz.. only at a ruckman's height with not quite as much pace.

You lost me there. Bode had an ok game and gets better every week. CJ has put two good ones together and only needs to improve a bit further to retain a spot. It's not beyond him to make a spot in the 22 his own. Jamar... Agreed. Whelan???? You have GOT to be kidding. He's our best small defender. He's only 28. I can't figure out why he's only just gotten into the 22, but he's a GREAT MFC player. Yze.... Agreed, sadly. Would only be occupying space that a youngster could take. And what more could he possibly offer us? A few cameo goal sprees next year then off to the big MFC changeroom in the sky? No thanks. Some players need to be told. Holland. We all love him, and so does the list I have a feeling. But time is not on his side. Weetra. An experiment gone all wrong. But it should be noted that the club has stuck with guys who've shown the GP NOTHING in the past. I was surprised (and relieved) to see Newton persisted with... Ditto Bode and CJ who'd shown little to nothing. They played Weetra early in the year and he's still extremely young. I'm all for clearing him away, but then there's a LOT of space being made by retiring and older players, so I have a feeling he may be kept on due to his age alone. You can only delist/draft/PSdraft and trade for so many players in one off season.

I've been thinking about things like this, and that 'aint a half bad effort. I don't think ANY of them will happen, largely because no other club would rate our players as highly as you have. That said, I'm more attracted to the targets you suggest. Had you mentioned someone like J. Brown I would have had trouble finishing reading the post, but some of the unexpected ones made me think... I like the idea of Kosi for the right price, but in the end Rivers, having not seen any footy in 2 years, wouldn't probably net the bigfella. I've mentioned in the past though that a direct swap wouldn't be the worst thing. And yes, I'd be just as happy to retain Rivers. Hansen, Petrie and Ray? No way. Petrie is meh, Did you see Hansen the other night? And Ray is just not going to improve things enough for what we'd have to give up for him. Also, I doubt Miller will go. Bailey has come out in the media and suggested that he's one of his most important players. I doubt that'll change. Also, if what we need is a tough presenting FF, then why get rid of Miller? I know he doesn't play that deep, but if what we need is someone who's a physical presence then getting rid of him only digs us a deeper hole. Bruce for Prismall? I'd take that. They won't agree to it though. Bruce is approaching 29. And Carroll with the mid-round pick? The only reason I give that credence is the fact it's Fremantle :D Oh, and also that they might jut take whatever they can get if Robbie already said he wants to go. Petterd to Brisbane for Sherman. That hurts me, but only because it makes some sense. Sherman, an outside ballwinner with searing pace. Petterd a mid-height, which we have a lot of. Sherman would be at a bargain price too because he's not played a lot this year. I just reckon Petterd is maybe a bit too good to trade for that price. f we could offload a dofferent player? Maybe Miller and something? The Bell trade is ok. I'd only trade him for a player who's approaching 50 games... not for a draft pick. We need someone with a relatively mature body, not another guy who'll take 4 years to get up to standard. Col Sylvia won't get Tippett to Melbourne. I'd like to see MFC go at him aggressively though. I heard the CEO, or president of Adelaide a few weeks ago say he was one of their most exciting players. I know people hate mentioning Green's name, but I reckon it's true that you have to trade something to get something, and Green would net something really good for us if he went to a club with too many fast outside players. Someone like Geelong or Hawthorn who have guys who are struggling to get into the 22. It would be a win-win... The only concern being that with his professionalism, Green could play another 5 or more years and really hurt us. Oh, and either of the "other" Mortons would be good too.

That's two goodies in a row. Happier now, he's climbed up the rungs another step. Putting two solid games together is more than can be said for many... And best of all he's still a relatively young player, learning first and foremost the 1%ers and defensive workrate. Keep it up CJ, you have another 9 rounds, no reason why you can't cement a place in the 22.

If your own coach concedes you should have gone, and then within a few weeks you make the same mistake AGAIN, then surely you'd have to go. He's a very, very good player, but Stynes deserves the glory more.

Pretty good stuff. SEN had PJ as the most dominant player on he ground in the 3rd quarter. Interesting. Also at the same stage Goodes and Dunn had had 7 and 6 touches respectively. Had Dunn nailed the goal you would have given him the chocolates there. They say Sylvia was presenting. McLean quiet though. Was he forward? Interesting to see that the selection of all the talls didn't hurt us too badly.

Yeah. The percentage thing... Naitanui was in their rooms not too long ago... That is the best sign yet that Naita is the one we want. Other clubs want him enough to tank!!!

So the Cats are up by 116 points at 3/4 time, so I thought they might be a chance to break the record for greatest losing margin... So I did some homework... Apparently we hold the record at 190 points. That record will probably not be broken in our lifetimes. But back on topic. The largest loss the Eagles have had to endure at Subi is 89 points. This will beat that EASILY.

That first video mentioned is awful. There's another on youtube somewhere that's much better. Other than that though... all very fun to watch.

Wow... Talk about thread hijacking... :D

It should be noted that there are heaps of examples of players who dominate in the VFL but that aren't up to it in the AFL. Poyas, Sautner... and Jamar and CJ can probably put themselves in there... So far. I have actually seen some encouraging things from Jamar this season... The problem is, those things would be encouraging if he was about 21. But he's in his mid-twenties.... These are the years folks. And he would have to improve FOUR-fold for me to be confident in him as a starting ruckman. PJ is probably the perfect back-up... But I worry about his credentials out of the guts for four quarters... The issue here is that maybe we'll get Warnock and Naitanui, and neither of them are proven starting ruckmen either yet. I don't reckon Warnock is an improvement on PJ... So going by that we have Meesen, Spencer, White, Jamar, PJ... and then potentially Warnock and Naitaniu... We have to lose three of those.

I've been hearing over and over that he's the best of the three... He's in his first season, and if you look at the size of the two brothers, you would back him in to get that big in the next couple of years... I'm confident.

I'm not even gonna dignify the little pip-squeak with a response. But interestingly, had we taken the Lexus centre that would be GREAT for me. I could drop in and see them train more often. Oh well...

It comes down to a reverse Jolly doesn't it? We lost him because White was taking all the ruck time. The same thing is happening to Robbie, we should pounce. The only problem. What do we do with PJ, Jamar, Meesen, White, Naitanui, Spencer AND Warnock all on the same list. That's 1/6h of your list all ruckmen.

Yeah, if you look at someone like PJ, he didn't realise how big he was for AGES. He struggled, but you could see that his work ethic was top-notch, and his strengths, such as kicking distance and effectiveness, and his pace... would all see him through. All he needed to do was to work on his weaknesses a bit and he'd come through ok. What's worrying with Meesen is that he's not even showing the embryonic stages of a real ruckman. The Crows much be laughing. Is he just one of those guys who ha good stats? And is tall? Played like a man among boys... etc etc

Jamar, PJ and White.... he'll want to play Miller forward, so dare I say one of those three guys will take Big, Bad Bustling? White will never man him up. So it's PJ or Jamar? Gawd help us.

I don't know where to go with him. You would think he would need at least the last 10 or so rounds to prove he still deserves a spot, and even then he has to play well... I'm beginning to see a Juice-less future ahead. On the bright side, I LOVE that DB is selecting players on merit alone, not on the basis of what position they play. You'd hate to be Buckley or Valenti, who've earned a spot, and see Juice jump straight into the team because we "need" a tall forward. It send all the right messages for our future and encourages work ethic over EVERYTHING.

Yes and no... I think the coach and footy department would go a long way to keeping the focus off him, in as much as they could. The MEDIA (and Y_M) will be chiefly responsible for the pressure put on him. I would have thought that IF he knows he's going at number one, he (or his manager) would be really conscious of going to a club that's not coming to the end of a dominant period, but rather being part of a resurgence. He has a list of about 20 guys in their late teens, or early twenties that'll be there for at least the first 5 years of his development. Half or more of that 20 will be players... I would have thought that would be an attractive proposition for the kid. But then what do I know?

Is there any chance they're keeping Ricky away from the bright lights so that the new GC team won't look at him? Or does that whole"Queenslander poaching" thing not come into effect for a few years yet? Probably fanciful thinking, but I can't think of any other reason why either would be kept in cotton wool. It gives me the biggest proof yet that Juice may be delisted at year's end. But as for Ricky, he has show already that he's a good player. Why WOULDN"T we be playing him?

That's my concern. Unless we have plans to move Aaron/Alwyn to a permanent rebounding defender role. And even then I'd be hugely concerned with accountability. We're screaming out for guys who can contest the first possession inside fifty. That means someone who can lead and mark. Not necessarily a tall.... It could be a Maric/Sylvia type, and Wonna has shown poise and presence. But you can't rely on the Daveys to take grabs over Richo every week... Oh.. Wait...

Couldn't agree more. I was watching the Gruen Transfer tonight, and the guy named Russell (I forget his last name) is now part of the Stynes team, I can only assume in a PR/advertising role. He seems like a no-[censored] type, and it occurred to me that the situation mFC is in now is, in a lot of respects, as exciting as at ANY time in a club's life... Why? You look at the power-players and board members of other clubs, and it seems to me like they're all secret-handshake groups that are IMPOSSIBLE to penetrate. So many other clubs' supporters and high-profile members would love to be involved more with their clubs' arrangements, but can't get in... MFC is now the place to be if you want to get a game, want to contribute to an AFL club then we're the place to go... and best of all we're not a GC/West Syndey/Bears type club with no history or identity... It's not that I'm not scared, or frightened about our future... I am... But I'm thrilled we're at the bottom of a ladder that could reach the ceiling, instead of hanging on with one hand to a ladder that would NEVER go all the way to the top.

As long as whoever is traded is young, then that's ok... Or as long as the pick is a high second rounder or better then that's a win.