Nasher

That's one of the better sources I've heard around here in a while. You might as well have said you heard it from Judd's grandmother and you would have had the same credibility.

Look at how many of them are giving the bird. What a bunch. Stay classy, Essendon.

Why is everyone so certain that ditching Casey would result in our players playing in a better side?

Taking inspiration from Little seems a tad misguided to me.

Good players do just disappear though. I've never known a club to win flags on amazing culture alone without a fair smattering of A grade players, but there are plenty of clubs who won flags with cultures that stunk (West Coast anyone?). I wonder what the 'culture' was like at the Brisbane Lions juggernaut, or the very strong Essendon sides before it, both of which returned back to the playing field very quickly after their reigns ended? Culture no doubt plays a role in sustained success and drive, but by far the most important thing is having the best players, and the Cats' "next generation" still have plenty to prove.

Has had to work very hard to get there, but seems to have established himself in the side for probably the first time in his career. He's a quality person too by all reports - that attribute in conjunction with his determination on the field is the reason why so many of us hoped he'd make it. Well done Nev.

All five of the ins named on the extended bench. Was hoping for at least a hint as to who might definitely be in. No real surprises there though. By the latest Allison report, the least worst 5 players on the ground.

If it's not fitness then what is it? Last year he was our best player after Jones, this year he's looked barely par. It looks to big a deviation to me which needs some explanation.

How do you convince the Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Sydney top up players to travel every second weekend to play after a full week of work?How do the Sydney and Brisbane teams get sufficient quality local players to be able to compete with the Vic, SA and WA sides, who would have a much bigger talent pool to choose from?

It always gives me a good laugh when people want to axe players clearly in the best 22. I don't have a problem with us drafting another promising key defender and developing him, and if he pushes McDonald out of the team, then so be it. The problem is that guy isn't on the list yet, so it's at least 30 games away from happening, and that's if we draft one straight away and he develops quickly. So strap in an enjoy the ride cobba, because barring injury, I reckon McDonald will make it to 100 games in a canter before his position is even remotely at risk.

I must be totally out of touch, because until this thread I had never heard of this guy.

Spangher is also 27 and at his third club. He's played 41 games of footy in 8 years of being on a list, unbroken. The football world has shown him a patience almost unprecedented, and he finally seems to have arrived. Tom McDonald is 21, and has already played 52 games, often holding his own in one of the most under siege defences of all time. Yet plenty here are ready to burn him at the stake.

Amazing thread!

Indeed - there's no doubt he couldn't have timed his arrival at the club any worse. Given the woeful state of our club, it makes it very hard to judge players who were here at the time because they just weren't given the chance to survive. The only reason I'm less inclined to give a player like Sellar the benefit of the doubt was because he was on the Adelaide list for 5 years, including years when their team was strong. I would accept that he was really unlucky in his time here under one of the worst coaches of all time, but I struggle to believe that any player could just be unlucky like that in 8 seasons in the AFL across two clubs. Some players just aren't good enough and I expect he was one. For me I reckon he wasn't a good enough mark for his size. Particularly early in his time at MFC when playing foward, he seemed to get in to marking positions and then not take the mark. He was a frustration for me. He did have likeable attributes though, and you're right, we'll never know now what could have been if his second attempt at an AFL career had been under competent coaching.

Second week in a row that I've missed the match due to work timing. Might not bother trying to watch this one.

They had a bit of commercial success in Australia in the late 90s. I was a fan as a teenager.

What was wrong with the environment he had at Adelaide?

More likely DOF was that his opponent was still suffering the effects of the concussion. Would they have known that back then? Never let the truth get in the way of a good story though

Were we ever being investigated by ASADA?

What are we to applaud players for doing if it's not fundamental footy things? Funny that McKenzie handballs features in the two most watched clips from the game: the Kent running goal and the Salem goal.

Wow. I had somehow managed to erase this from the memory bank completely too. Must be a trauma response. It would be fair to say a second consecutive massive turn around is on the cards.

I can see absolutely no logical reason why a player would ever sign with a year to run with his existing club. It's risky as it's against the rules, it forced the player to spend a year lying through their teeth, and it achieves nothing that couldn't still be achieved if they waited. You also then eliminate the possibility of changing your mind. I don't understand why Scully did it and I don't think Frawley would do it. It just doesn't seem logical.

It's probably just part of your psyche/personality. I'm not worried at all. (And wasn't last time either, if that means anything)

Because merging threads is a pain in the arse, and locking them is one single press of a button. If posters are going to be lazy and start new threads when there's clearly at least one other appropriate thread ON THE FIRST PAGE, then I am going to be lazy when I dispose of them.

This doesn't need its own thread.