mauriesy

Just on that ... I have this feeling about Hayes. Next year on the rookie list to really see what he can do. Would add to the "small forward" list.

Seems to me we ought to analyse this by position as much as age. A rough breakdown of positions might go something like this (I've ranked them by a mix of "value and age" but that's open to discussion e.g. is Holland ahead of Warnock? etc.). The lower end of each list contains the candidates ... that would be ten players immediately. Tall backs Rivers Carroll Frawley Warnock Holland Bizzell Ferguson Backs/taggers/flankers Bell Bartram Whelan Wheatley Petterd Godfrey Ward Brown (Comment: Would cutting all of Warnock, Holland, Ferguson and Bizzell leave our tall back stocks too thin?) Mids McLean Bruce Jones Johnstone Green McDonald Moloney Buckley Johnson Pickett Neville ® Bode ? ­® Hughes (Comment: Seems we could cut out of this area without much effect) Tall forwards Bate Neitz Robertson Newton Dunn Garland Miller (Comment: Not much effect here either) Forwards Sylvia Davey Weetra Yze ® Hayes ? (Comment: We seem light on in this area) Ruck White Johnson Jamar ® Neaves ? (Comment: We'd better hope Neaves provides something) Seems to me our glaring need is still in defence, particularly talls. I think just to cover most of these losses, we'd need to promote Neaves and Bode (one-year contracts?) as well as trades or draft picks. Either that or hold on to some players (Bizzell, Ward or CJ?) for one more year. The really interesting time will be the end of next year, when not only the remaining lot of dead wood become due, but players like Neitz, White, McDonald, Yze and Whelan look at retiring. I think our list will remain weak or aged, or both, for 2-3 more years, and any talk of finals, let alone premierships, might be quite fanciful.

The third (related to your second point) is an ability, especially for the midfield, to run incredibly hard. Watching Kerr, Judd and Cousins (in his second game back FCS!) run like that is just amazing. I also think their forward line is underestimated, and they have some excellent backs.

Look, you either pick the best available team each week, or you treat the rest of the year like a pre-season and assess the players by giving them all a go ... in some cases a last chance to prove any value they have at all. I favour the latter. This is not the time for the usual whingeing about who is selected and who isn't ... it's a time to prepare for next year.

Why nil-all? Why wouldn't you rush behinds all day to put the opposition in front? Flood the forward line? Kick to a leading backman? Kick it out deliberately near the Carlton goal? Deliberately give away frees right in front? Give away 50s into the goal square? The final score could be 0.32.32 to 0.31.31.

Send in however much you like, it will only make them sing more. They said as much a few weeks ago when this topic came up on their show ... a Melbourne supporter actually asked them to cut back on the snow jokes and all they did was sing another two songs about the Dees. Their whole show is built up around developing and expanding the club stereotypes. I think it's quite funny. There are only three things you can do: 1. Nothing. Just be your usual non-stereotypical self. Laugh off the stereotype for the nonsense that it is. 2. Try to counter the stereotype. Make up a "survey" of patrons at Mt Buller or Falls Creek showing the majority support some other teams, and send that in to the Coodabeens with a song line. Do the same with Range Rover drivers. The guy with the mohawk does as good a job as anyone ... send in a songline about him. 3. Go with the stereotype and have some fun. Start wearing check jackets and moleskin pants to the footy. Yell out "Go No. 9!". Get some MFC car stickers with "my other car's a Range Rover" on them, preferably stuck on to a 1976 Corolla or 1980 Datsun. Make it the joke it is. The worst thing you can do is get angry about it. Also, every time someone here jokes about Collingwood or Bulldogs supporters and Centrelink, they discard the right to complain about Melbourne and snow jokes. You can't have it both ways. (My only Collingwood-supporting friends are actually lawyers). By the way, if you have ever listened to the more serious side of Greg Champion's song-writing, outside of the Coodabeens and football, he's actually quite good. He is a very talented and accomplished guitarist.

What do you think the "Perth factor" is in his self-destruction? Would it have happened as badly, if at all, if he hadn't been in a two-team frontier town?

I assume the application and assessment process is more than just allowing him to 'waltz in'. Otherwise he's got as much right to apply as anyone else. Jeez ... he hasn't got the job yet.

I heard the SEN interview with Riley. He specifically put forward the proposition that he left Davey deep in the forward line to drag Houlihan out of the game ... said that last year Houlihan got a lot of inside 50s running out of defence and he was happy to see Davey get few possessions if Houlihan didn't end up having that influence on the game. Might have been an effective strategy, or might have been spin to cover Davey's lack of possessions. Certainly a novel idea to sacrifice Davey as a playmaker for a result like that.

Exactly. And that's what everybody (club, media, supporters) seems to be doing. It's dead. Hearing aid's always been up. Some should stop tilting at windmills.

So what have we had? A little sound bite from Paul that probably made him look just as much like a "can-do President" as a divisive influence, a little off-the-cuff jibe from Neitz after he got through an emotion-filled game, and a whole lot of likeable words from Neale, none of which were disparaging towards the club. Throw in some press pieces from the likes of Caroline Wilson, Tim Lane, Gerard Healy et al about the problems that caused it, the need to be working forward and the possibilities for a new coach, and that's about it. As clean a break as you would want to find ... no club getting rid of a coach before season's end has ever had it easy. This was about as turmoil-free as you could get, thanks in no small part to Neale's own integrity and candour. A day or two later and it's all about Didak and Fevola. The heat's off. The story now will be what replacement we will pick. Hardly time to slash the wrists over "divisions and turmoil". Unless a few members like you want to concoct something to keep it going.

I don't agree. It's inevitable with a coach leaving after ten years that the media are going to sniff for blood. At the moment they're not finding much, except for one stray Gardner comment. There'll be a few more loosish lips, but generally the event has been handled positively. Certainly not the sort of press that went with Thomas leaving, for example. A week from now the Daniher issue will be over, the only news will be rumours about who's putting their hand up.

I think the umpire could be forgiven for thinking that the Bruce incident was just two players getting tangled up. The free that made me more angry was the goal to Lucas after a clear push in the back in the first quarter. They've been paying them all year, then miss that one. Easy goal. The umpiring didn't cost us the game. What cost us (among other things) was an atrocious clearance rate in the first quarter; poor kicking in the last (2 points Robbo, 2 points Neitz from relatively easy set shots ... forgive them for knee problems?) when we could have sealed it; leaving Essendon's forward line wide open in the last five minutes; and even with the last goal 3-4 players flying mindlessly into the pack leaving no-one between the pack and the goal mouth ... Lucas (and Lovett I think) were left by themselves with a clear path. And could Nathan Brown please try not to get caught with the ball so often?

1) 3 Melbourne players from the past ten years who you hate/hated seeing in other team colours. Thompson, Simmonds, Farmer 2) 3 current Melbourne players you would like to see in other team colours. I support any player who pulls on the red and blue, but Pickett, Yze and Ferguson if it meant removing dead wood and turning over the list. 3) 3 current Melbourne players you would cry if you saw in other team colours McLean, Rivers, Bell ... especially the last two if they went back to SA to star at a club like the Crows or Power. (I just couldn't imagine Neitz ever going anywhere else, so that's out of the equation.)

I think he did the right and honourable thing ... see out what he can of the rest of the season, then hand over to someone else, without the drama of sackings and further divisions. Shows his quality as a person and his desire to do the right thing by the club. I think he'll be remembered favourably in the long term for what he achieved with fairly minimal resources and a list without superstars. Wish him well if he goes somewhere else.

Official in a news conference. Just said he won't seek re-appointment after his contract runs out.

Speaking of which, when are we going to see Sandringham on ABC2's VFL Football replay on Wednesdays? I don't think they've been on so far this year. The next four games are North Ballarat v Coburg Tigers (tonight), Frankston Vs North Ballarat (July 4), Northern Bullants Vs Coburg Tigers (July 11) and Bendigo Bombers Vs Northern Bullants (July 18). No Sandringham. Living out of Melbourne, it'd be great to watch a Sandy replay on a Wednesday night. Guess I'll have to get my first look at Newton for the year on Friday.

I know we like to think we're often on the wrong end of dodgy umpiring decisions, but if you watch the replay it was clearly marked in the field of play ... but only just. The TV covered it perfectly from right along the goal line, and he took it first grab inside the field of play before sliding through. The umpire got it right and we can't claim the goal as lucky.

Wouldn't mind betting he's gone. One less downhill skier on the list.

But if we are going to follow a "2008 onwards" strategy, we need to find out who is prepared to stand up. Warnock's a start ... he was promoted from the rookie list last year, and a few games for the remainder of 2007 will tell us where he stands. How are we going to find out if we only go on feeling of "promise"? It's what we should be doing for all young players now. Don't forget Carroll was in almost the same position after being elevated from the rookie list at the end of 2003. He took until the end of 2005 to find his feet, then won the Most Improved trophy in 2006.

I believe this is a fully ticketed game. You'd be best booking through Ticketmaster, although I think you'll have to pay extra for the reserved seat above what your membership entitles you. You can book by phone, or there is a place at the on-line application where you can quote your Demons membership number and they reduce the ticket cost to just the reserved seat charge.

Out: All the ones that don't provide a future. In: All the ones that do, to show us what they've got. CJ for Ward Buckley for Pickett Dunn for Yze Newton for Holland Garland/Whelan for Bizzell/Godfrey Our season is over. What do we have to lose?

You must have been watching a different game to me. "His kicking isn't great"? No, it's atrocious. And I think you underestimate the importance of being skillful. One recent game analysis showed that accurate kicking was statistically the best predictor of a team that wins. In my mind, Godfrey gets a free pass because of his toughness and endeavour. What I saw on Friday night (at least four times right in front of where I was sitting) was a player who has close to the worst disposal in the AFL. Of Godfrey's 13 kicks, nearly half were critical errors that went directly to the opposition. If you are going to cough up half your kicks, then you are no better than a player who has no kicks at all. He can't kick accurately for distance, either kicking short or over the leading player's head. Or he puts it way too far in front of a player leading towards the side ... three of his kicks on Friday night went over the boundary a long way in front of the lead. There was no pressure on any of these kicks either, he just can't seem to make his foot do what his eyes are seeing or his brain is thinking. Godfrey is symptomatic of a side that has issues of selection and depth. He is 'hard' and 'tags' (except he gets burnt off by pace). We like his endeavour and commitment and he has some good games as a pure stopper (ineffective on Friday though ... who was his tag exactly?). But he doesn't hurt, either creatively or offensively. He is one of the players that the opposition don't mind having a lot of the ball because they know he won't use the advantage. He is also not a thinking or intuitive player. But we leave him in the side because we reward someone who 'tries and gives their all'. In my opinion it's not enough. We have really missed Bartram, who fills the same role with more skill. Godfrey is at the opposite end of the continuum to Yze, who has skills but no endeavour. Godfrey has endeavour but doesn't have skills.

1. You've got three talls in the backline. Why would you want another at CHB? Shift Frawley or Rivers to CHB and put Bartram on a HBF. No way will a fit Bartram not be in our 2009 best 22. 2. The hardest spot to fill will be FF. We'd better hope Newton comes through, or Miller learns to kick. 3. Shift Bate to CHF and put Moloney on the bench. He's also in our best 22. 4. Neaves won't necessarily just be fringe, if White retires end 2008 Neaves could be filling the role Johnson plays now, or he could even be first ruck. 5. McDonald could well be another retiree by end of 2008. He's nearly 31 now. BTW, he'll finish 2007 on 199 games. 6. Why delist Godfrey, just for the sake of it? He's doing a great tagging role now, is at least depth, and he's only 26. As an aside, Godfrey will play his 100th game in three weeks, against the Bombers. 7. I wouldn't give up on Bode or Hughes any more than Hayes. 8. Wheatley showed his value in the last few games. 9. Can't see Ferguson not being delisted by 2009.

Sorry, I logged into the wrong board. Thought this was Demonland, didn't realise it's Nick's.