Nasher

I have never been more embarrassed to be a member of Demonland than I was after reading some of the crap posted in this thread. Have a little bit of respect people. We've all sought greener pastures before, and one day you kids (re: quoted post) will too.

I think Redleg that you are failing to make the distinction between "finisher" and "soft". You can be an outside player without shitting your pants at the thought of getting hit. Yep, every side has an Yze. And every side's Yze is exactly where Yze is -- on the periphery.

I wouldn't be surprised if it was Cale "kay-el", but Rivers, like 90% of Australian males, has terribly lazy speech. When I say it out loud it comes out sounding kinda like "Carl" too. It's like "torlet" and "Austraya".

I can't believe what I'm reading here. Would you rather he get crunched and lose the ball? Even if what you were saying were true (which I don't think it is), a rushed kick is not the same thing as taking half steps when attacking the ball.

Yes and no. Personally I am of the belief that CAC's last 5 years have been his finest, and that his (in my eyes) success over that period is born directly from experience in the role. Experience that will be lost if CAC goes, and we risk having to endure 5 or so years of mediocre recruiting while the new guy finds his feet. Everyone recruited within CAC's 5 "experience" years still fits the "23 and under" criteria. It's all well and good to argue that all of CAC's early recruits are being tossed out, but if you're going to do that you have to acknowledge that every single one of the players Bailey wants to base his team around was also recruited by CAC. You also can't forget that while Bailey is a fan of our 23 and unders, there's also a gaping hole in our list that no other clubs really suffer from around the 25 year old mark because of draft penalties. That could be just as responsible for our "list deficiencies" as poor recruiting. Anyway, I'm sure you'd agree Jarka that the real level of accountability CAC should be held for lies somewhere in between the two extremes we've seen in this thread. My above post was in response to the two directly above me (from demonsflag555657 and occo) more than anything.

What a load of crap. We haven't won a flag because of CAC's recruiting -- right. Silly me, I thought that the (plethora of) coaches, all the training staff, the players themselves, the resources given to them all by the club and a dash of luck may or may not have just as much bearing on winning a flag or not. I know some are upset by the thought that CAC is entertaining leaving, but can we please switch our brains on for just a second here. The recruiter is just one ingredient. It's totally irrational to pin our lack of a flag on him.

Lamb got close to making it, but didn't. Molan was an outright howler, CAC even says himself that this was an error. If either of them were any good, they'd be on AFL lists now. They weren't.

We don't know anything for sure yet JJC. I'd go as far to say we don't know anything at all other than what seems to have been an article that was masquarading speculation as fact.

We have 1 PSD pick and 4 rookie spots. I doubt we're close to the salary cap so money won't be a factor.

I doubt he will. He does not owe you, or anyone here an explanation. Does it really matter anyway?

Agree. The term "insurance" is only meaningful if your insurance is AFL grade. If your best defenders are out you might as well have some skinny kid filling in, at least then you might accidently uncover a gem. With someone like Cloke all you would be doing is filling your crack in the wall with water. Definitely pass.

I had no idea he was a "blood nut". With Walshy's delisting and the unfortunate loss of Troy a few years ago we've been a bit light on. Good to see him and Bate keeping up the tradition. He could be Peter Walsh's long lost brother. Let's hope so, Walshy was one of my favourite players.

Just write it in a post. If it's a good post it'll take.

I'd pick a senior player in the PSD and save the others for rookies as they're eligible. That way you keep your options open. I'd be very surprised if we didn't participate in the PSD at all. There's no point in going in to a season with a vacant spot on your list for no good reason.

I would put him at Sandy first at foremost. Then, form permitting, I'd put him in the forward line ahead of anyone who he is in better form than. Pretty simple really.

Going to China: initiative. Being part of the TeaMelbourne brand and being involved in the constuction of a multi-million dollar base: initiative. The idea to focus more on the "Melbourne" brand rather than the "Demons": initiative. Look, bub, I'm not saying there's no scope for improvement to our marketing strategies, because there definitely is, but when people come out with nonsense such as "the club shows no initiative" every time some other club does something is blatently false and it gives me the willies.

I wouldn't be surprised if Sampi was still on the radar to be honest. Let's not forget that his talent is predigious and rare; far more than any of those blokes who missed out. If he's still training with us he now has another couple of weeks to drastically improve his fitness and prove he's worth a shot. If he can demonstrate a real work ethic and desire to play, PSD Pick 3 is a very low risk, high reward investment that I doubt the club would pass up. We've got 4 rookie spots to pick Bellchambers et al if that's what the club wants.

I wish people would stop spouting B.S. like the above line.

Morton to play early in the reason, the rest to stay in the cupboard, developing at Sandy, thanks to no injuries and good form of our senior players. Totally agree with BBP and Rhino here. If the others play it will be out of necessity, so I hope they don't.

So in other words he exhibited the same intelligence level of pretty much all 16 year olds do when it comes to footy?

I'm aiming for one at this stage.

Agree with that, would have been utterly ridiculous if they'd lost their pick for that, especially given that they read out the correct name. Sometimes common sense should override the letter of the law. This is definitely one of those cases.

Spot on. Morton's home is moving to him. Besides, for every Scott Thompson that has crawled home there's a Jared Rivers, Daniel Bell and Ricky Petterd that are on record saying that Melbourne is now their home. It's always a risk but it's a minute one, and really depends on the kid in question. It's definitely not something I'm going to lose any sleep over.

Yep. Jeez I'm itching for the season to start now.

Can't speak for the others, but I'm basing my comments on what CAC said and nothing else. FWIW I don't doubt that Masten will most likely be a gem, WCE wouldn't have taken him at 3 if that wasn't the case. Does he have the same superstar potential as Morton though?