mauriesy

Especially when they're going to Sydney!

Where did you pluck that figure from?

It's now on the front page of the Demons website ... Under 'Demon TV - Jim Stynes thank you'.

There's no information on Jurrah, and nothing to say he'll be in or out. If you watch him after the MOTY, he was rubbing his hamstring then. He played the rest of the game after it.

Bartram. And ... ah ... Bartram? Also Bartram.

I watched Bell give Adelaide's Scott Welsh an absolute bath on the MCG in 2007 when he got 3 Brownlow votes. I thought then he was really coming of age. Unfortunately didn't continue, and Johnson's hit didn't help. Thanks for the games Belly.

I agree. If we are trying to build a "winning culture", "integrity", "community" and all the other things Cameron Schwab talks about on Whiteboard Wednesday, I'd expect the club to do something positive.

I think it's a qualifying final, not an elimination.

I wonder if I could propose the theory that all clubs' supporters are the same. They all jump on a bandwagon, and they all jump off when the wagon hits ruts.

Hear, hear. James McDonald is one of my favourite footballers of the last two decades, purely because of his courage, leadership and dedication. A wonderful servant of the club and a great story, coming from the rookie list to captain the club. I think we will also realise this is for the best. Another year, and we might be remembering differently about how he left the game.

So "at times" was really just "once".

Rivers played the first game of the season, missed four matches with a rib injury, then came back to play all 14 games since. How does that equate to "fallen out of favour at times" Mr Rocket Surgeon?

That must be why he's played every one of the last 14 games.

I just hope with all the positive press we've been getting lately that we can live up to the expectations.

Watts took a mark between the centre and the 50 arc ... kicked to Bruce who had run alone into space out wide ... who then weighted a perfect pass to Green on a fast lead. Green goaled from outside 50, straight over the goal umpire's head. Hang on ... another perfectly weighted kick by Bruce!

Couldn't possibly have been Bruce. I thought he "butchers every kick"?

"Busy" is a rather silly criticism anyway. Do you reckon any of these emblems have a problem because they're "busy"? (l-r: Australia, Tasmania, NZ coat of arms)

I wouldn't write off anybody either. But in the long run 35 or so into 22 just doesn't go. Some players currently in the side will, in the long run, be 'superseded' by better players who come along or develop. You simply can't set a "best 22" now and expect that that list will just mature, without changes, into a premiership team in 2013. My feeling (and it's only a feeling) is that Jones, as much as he is hard and tries hard, still has some limitations and is not a certainty to be best 22 in a couple of years time as other players (for example, some of the ones Hannabal mentioned) grow in skill, toughness and experience. I even have the same feeling about Moloney in the long run. However, I hope I'm wrong on both counts (and that goes for every player aspiring to be part of a premiership team).

I would have thought Bail would go pretty well on a beep test anyway. A friend of mine from Queensland who follows Bail's old club said he was "one of the fittest blokes he had ever seen" with "incredible endurance". He was "always the one giving the ball back to the umpire from the bottom of packs".

You forgot the goal umpires. If we think it's a goal, everyone run back to the middle!

The 774ABC coverage said during the game that he was off for a period of time getting an ankle attended to. Came back on and finished out the game, obviously.

I have some doubt you even know what Cale's situation really is. "He is not being guided on why he is being dropped"? Really? Do you really think a player would get dropped and just be told "sorry, son, you're out this week"? That's not the way clubs work, and I'm sure it's not the way Melbourne and Bailey work. They would be guiding Cale in every facet of his career. These days, with strategies such rolling zones, floods, defensive collapse, forward presses and defensive forwards, it's not as though you find a player their "position" then plonk them there for the rest of their careers. Players have to adapt their games to the team's requirements and learn how to play football as it's played in 2010, not 1980. They have to be defensive as well as attacking, and accountable for their man. Dunn is becoming a more effective player because the defensive side of the game that he has had to learn, through tagging and run-with roles, is now combining with the forward potential he started off with. It's made him a much better player in the long run, and he has not suffered. The only way he would have suffered is if he sooked in the seconds about not being picked, rather than accepting the challenge to become better. The challenge to become better is all Cale's to accept, and only Cale's. There is no divine right to be selected just because you have skills, some experience and were a #4 draft pick.

I looked up the AFL Annual Report, and found the payments for 2009 were described as: A base distribution of $4.2 million A bonus distribution of $1.2 million (making the total base $5.4 million) Special Distribution Fund to the following clubs: Western Bulldogs ($1.7 million), North Melbourne ($1.4 million), Melbourne ($1.0 million), Sydney Swans ($0.8 million), Carlton ($0.6 million), Richmond ($0.4 million), Port Adelaide ($0.25 million), Hawthorn ($0.25 million) Other payments to clubs included amounts for game buy-out agreements, distribution of the AFL’s signage rights at Etihad Stadium, prizemoney, travel subsidies and promotional funding to help clubs develop the game around Australia. No mention of anything to do with attendances. So how come Collingwood ends up with $260,000 more than Melbourne, even after taking the $1 million SDF payment into account?

So everyone gets a base payment of $5,673,252, but what were the criteria for the "other" payments? Am I to assume they include payments from the equalisation fund for some clubs (e.g. North, Melbourne, WB etc) but the balance is based on some sort of attendance formula? (In which case I have no arguments with the larger clubs being rewarded.) 2009 "Other" payments beyond the base Adelaide 1,733,453 Brisbane Lions 1,879,367 Carlton 3,528,088 Collingwood 3,395,688 Essendon 2,876,238 Fremantle 1,822,684 Geelong Cats 3,348,326 Hawthorn 2,534,122 Melbourne 3,136,364 North Melbourne 3,737,825 Port Adelaide 1,919,679 Richmond 2,730,944 St Kilda 3,077,173 Sydney Swans 2,709,79 West Coast Eagles 1,872,318 Western Bulldogs 4,733,426

There have been gains in efficiency and better use of player time ... the players used to spend some time travelling between facilities ... Junction Oval and pools for example. That would have to help them train better, or at least just make them happier.