Nasher

Yes Bode just went, but he'd been in the best for Sandy for weeks on end. I'd give him more of an opportunity to rise to the pace of the game before dropping him back. By the same token, Buckley had been ordinary for weeks in the firsts, but went back to Sandy and looked a class above. You could argue a case either way; reward him for some very good form, or leave him at Sandy to consolidate it. After Saturday night we have as much chance of seeing Brown dropped as we do of seeing Nathan Jones dropped. His game was as good as they come. He stays in. I have no preference for Jamar over PJ. IMO Jamar was okay on Saturday night and Collingwood's second string rucks are average. PJ at this point looks like he may be the superior player, however like old55 I've not completely written Jamar off. In the absense of Rivers and now Frawley we have a key back position available for one of the NQRs to fill. Bizzell is my preference over Ferguson. Both are "tall backs" who can "play forward" (i.e. they're ordinary backmen and worse forwards), but to me Bizzell is the lesser of two evils. Are we expecting Bate back?

There actually is an audit trail. "Super" mods (myself and Finks) are able to track the actions of all moderators. If you think you've been hardly done by send me a PM and I'll investigate. It's actually Demonland policy for mods to also leave the "edited by" tag at the bottom of the post if it's been edited. Not sure if everyone does that, but I definitely do. That said, I'm not aware of any mod ever altering the body of a post that changes the context of a post. Usually it's to remove content that violates the COC, though sometimes I'll edit a post to remove duplicate content, fix up buggered up quote tags etc.

Bell was loose? Right. Watch the game again please. He gave Aker an absolute bath.

Heh. If only they'd fallen to Carlton last week, the full woeful trifecta would have been complete - us, Carlton and Richmond. I love it when Collingwood are the laughing stock of the AFL.

So the actual comparitive ins and outs would be: Out: Ward, Yze, Rivers, Bate, Miller, Bruce, Godfrey, Dunn, P.Johnson, Warnock In: Pickett, Frawley, Bode, Newton, Robertson, McLean, Jamar, Wheatley, Ferguson, Holland

Happy that Bode's in. Talk about a fast ride to the top. Hope he has a good one.

Backs Ben Holland, Nathan Carroll Nathan Brown Half backs Daniel Bell Ryan Ferguson, James Frawley Centreline Paul Wheatley, James McDonald Travis Johnstone Half forwards Brad Green Michael Newton, Colin Sylvia Forwards Byron Pickett, David Neitz, Russell Robertson Followers Jeff White, Brock McLean, Nathan Jones Interchange Jace Bode Mark Jamar Brent Moloney Emergencies Lynden Dunn Brad Miller Daniel Ward In Jace Bode James Frawley Travis Johnstone Russell Robertson Colin Sylvia Out Matthew Bate (corked thigh) Simon Godfrey (knee) Simon Buckley Brad Miller Daniel Ward New Jace Bode (20, Sturt, SA) WESTERN BULLDOGS Backs Jordan McMahon Brian Harris Dale Morris Half Backs Andrejs Everitt Tom Williams Ryan Hargrave Centreline Farren Ray Scott West Nathan Eagleton Half Forwards Daniel Giansiracusa Brad Johnson Robert Murphy Forwards Shaun Higgins Chris Grant Jason Akermanis Followers Luke Darcy Adam Cooney Matthew Boyd Interchange Daniel Cross Sam Power Wayde Skipper Stephen Tiller Emergencies Cameron Faulkner Andrew McDougall Peter Street No change (Note: Vanlo posted this at the same time, have merged the two posts)

Exactly guys, jeez, who cares? If you're not sure if it's 7:10 or 7:15 make sure you're there by 7:10. Problem solved.

I don't know that winning is ever irrelevant Redleg. Footy is very much a confidence game.

Neville is senior listed so he can play, but won't. I believe the cutoff for rookie elevations was last week, that's why Bode was promoted despite the fact that he wasn't selected to play.

It opens the public's eyes to what is going on. Remember, Aker did not name names, or even really supply enough information to be able to reasonably deduct who it was. He provided a fairly abstract example of a situation he found sus. IMO stopping the AFL from putting a blindfold over our eyes in regards to drugs in our sport is a worthwhile cause.

I completely agree Jack but that had nothing to do with Aker. Aker (allegedly) told the drug agency that he suspected something was up. IMO as a professional footballer it is his duty to do so if he has questions. That isn't blackening Braun's character. It's the media who has blackened his character.

The other piece of info I heard (not sure if this is true or not) is that Aker named Braun to the drug agency, and it was subsequently leaked from there. (It's definitely true that Aker did NOT name Braun directly to the media). If this is true does this make him a genuine whistle blower? Spot on.

I think that's an over simplistic way of looking at it. Whether you like Aker or not, there's a few irrefutable facts about the guy: - He's a very good footballer - He, more than any of us, would have a very good idea about the typical fitness level of an AFL midfielder Aker isn't just saying the bloke was fitter than him. He implied that this particular player seemed to have superhuman fitness. Aker would have played enough footy against enough incredibly fit taggers to know what a fair level of fitness was. He'd have also been beaten by players with bigger engines more than a few times in his career, but he's not accusing them ALL of being cheats. Only one. I tend to believe him on this one.

Good journalism Scoop. "Review" is the wrong word, you hardly mentioned the game -- for which I am grateful because I didn't need to relive it again. This one should appeal to the masses.

Great report Barry, you have me salivating over Bode. If he does not meet the lofty expectations you have now placed on him, you'll be getting a visit from me!

I opened this thread thinking "I hope Carroll was rated 'Our only winner'" and wasn't disappointed. Thanks Joeboy. Didn't read the rest any of the others. Don't really care any more. Jeez this side marks it hard to stay interested.

He's playing because the club knows how desperate I am for him to be playing his 300th against Collingwood. It's the only reason I can think of.

As far as I'm concerned you're only entitled to your opinion if it's informed, or at the very least reasonable, and yours isn't either. It's my opinion that if you start calling people incompetent with zero idea of what's going on then you're opening yourself wide up to criticism. Carry on.

I don't have an opinion on the matter one way or another. What I do think is a bad idea though is assuming the club are stupid because they didn't think of it. If you thought of it, there's two likely possibilities: - They did too and ruled it out as a possibility for whatever reason - They didn't bother because it's not a practical, reasonable or good solution It's very unlikely that most of the possibilities haven't occured to them. Pet peeve of mine when people sling mud at the club from the outer when in reality they have little to no idea what the brains trust are really thinking.

Either that or you're the one hasn't got a brain because you have thought about it.

I didn't know Carrick even had a footy club. Learn something new every day. Anyway, are you sure you've got the right guy? Garland has only been playing footy for a a season or two after a layoff. Sorry to hijack the thread guys, carry on.

I'd pat you on the back but it seems you've got that covered yourself.

What club did/do you play for?

Sandy and Melbourne have two Johnsons and two Johnstons; Trav is the only Johnstone, so yes, it is definitely TJ.