Nasher

im pretty sure he started football only last year got picked up by the devils and now us

Correct, last year was his first year back in to footy. He's probably got the most potential for development out of anyone on our list. He's a real wildcard; he could be absolutely anything.

Playing him as a half forward, or even down back, would have made sense to get him into the game, further his development and so on. Playing him in the middle doesn't make much sense to me, but then again, I agree that it was good to see him have a dip and not drop his head.

I understand your point but I think it had merit, or at least, a reason. Look at it this way. The game was well beyond reach, and even when we had our "best" available combination in the middle (McDonald, McLean, Jones) we were still getting sodomised by Black, Lappin et al. We've got a bloke in the side who isn't getting near it in the forward line who's going to rot unless he gets in to the play somehow. We know he's familiar with the wings at Sandy. How about we take a punt and see if maybe he can produce something in a 5 minute pinch hit in the middle? Odds are he won't, but maybe he might. We lose nothing by trying.

What if it had been Neitz touchless in a half of footy? Would it be such a bad idea to chuck him in the middle for 5 minutes to try and getting him involved, throwing his weight around etc? Remember, Neitz will never be a midfielder either.

Btw I don't think Juice looked lost in the middle at all. He might prove to be a KPF who is capable of pinch hits in the middle of the ground. If that turns out to be the case, we've struck gold in a big way.

Funny how when Newton was thrown up forward in the last quarter, he immediately made a contest which brought the ball to the ground and resulted in a crumbing goal. That is something Robbo can't do because he doesn't have the height. He either takes a mark, or goes to ground.

I don't think Robbo's height is the issue. The issue is he still jumps even when he's leading out, and if he doesn't take the grab he goes arse over turkey on the landing. If he could keep his feet he could easily bring the ball to ground for the crumbers.

I am sick of spastics like Joel Selwood getting away with murder by holding their man the whole game

Joel wasn't the issue last night though, Troy was.

(on a completely unrelated note though, anyone watch Cats vs Pies? Joel Selwood is an absolute weapon.)

Has there ever been a more raw kid than this one playing AFL footy?

Love his defensive efforts in the forward line, he chases and tackles as well as anyone down there. He just needs to learn how to actually get the ball now.

I agree. The Riley honeymoon is over and while perhaps it might be unfair to pick at him in the circumstances, I don't think his coaching aspirations beyond round 22 were given a boost last night.

Riley is no more or less of a candidate after last night than he was before it.

Garland on Brown? :D

im tipping newton to have a blinder if that spastic merrett plays on him

Hope so, brought him in to my dream team this week.

I'm getting sick of MFC players going public without engaging their brains first.

Harmless throwaway line from Robbo there. Not sure what you're getting upset about.

Because he isn't a household name. As far as I know, that's the only reason. The MFC obviously rated him if he's stayed on as an assistant for so long.

[Edit: Sorry, the post above me wasn't here when I opened the thread]

I posted this on Demonology:

Riley has shown that he obviously knows the technical aspects of the sport; he accepts no nonsense, knows what the players need to do, and pulls them up if they don't do it. He knows a bit about tactics too. In short, he's a good match day coach.

There's still an awful lot of unknowns about him though. How good is his communication with the players? With the other staff? How would he go being a list and player manager as well as a coach? How well does he delegate tasks to others? How good is his instincts regards to when to include young players? The latter is an area Neale was particularly good at.

So far he's proven to know his stuff with regards to on field matters but there's a hell of a lot of other skills he needs to demonstrate (more to the board than us) before he gets close to getting the top job.

Ward will be there for 2008. You can't delist everyone. Plus he's been one of our more consistent players this year.

Spot on. There's zero chance of Ward being delisted, he's played nearly every game this year.

Interesting that moloney is in the emergencies

Moloney's the only AFL grade small left available, unless you count Pickett. That's the only reason he's named as an emergency.

Backs: D.Ward, N.Carroll, J.Frawley

Half backs: L.Dunn, C.Bizzell, N.Brown

Centreline: P.Wheatley, J.McDonald, C.Bruce

Half forwards: S.Godfrey, R.Robertson, A.Davey

Forwards: C.Sylvia, B.Miller, M.Bate

Followers: J.White, B.McLean, N.Jones

I/C: P.Johnson, C.Johnson, M.Newton, S.Buckley

Emergencies: C.Garland, B.Moloney, B.Holland

In: C.Bruce

Out: R.Petterd (punctured lung)

Sorry deanox, wasn't done intentionally. I've tried to debate and alot of others have come in and I've must of lost track of your posts, also responding to posts that had had to have been deleted by mods has confused me more, it's been a little tricky keeping track of arguments when they dissappear.

Nothing that was relevant to the topic at hand has been deleted.

Thread cleaned again, this is getting dull. Next time it's closed, don't have time to sit here and delete posts all day.

Just deleted 16 posts out of this thread. It'd be good if we could all play nice please.

I think I speak for everyone when I say: we want details!

Indeed. Didn't think QC was the type to get in pub brawls

doomsayers ?...no....just some overdue pragmatism. we all seem to live in cloud cuckoo land here at Deeland at times. Sometimes ..youknow...what walks like, soundslike and fles like a duck ...is a duck !!. The realities of football ( as much of life ) arent always palatble. butyou can either face them , deal with thtemand move on makingthe bestof it...or continue to to take the little green and pink happy pills !!

Again I would certainly prefer to see a fit ( not fitter...but FIT !!! ) Beamer take his position on the grass, but if that doesnt happen we all need to move on.

Indeed bub, I completely agree. It's not doomsaying, it's just coming to grips with what looks like an increasingly real possibility. Jaded's right in that it is too early to write Moloney off yet, but personally I am preparing for the possibility that he'll sooner or later lose his battle with OP.

Why is Bate's name being thrown around?

Personally I don't like the idea of filling our leadership group with too many under 25s. McLean is an exceptional leader and has been since he arrived at the club. You can't say the same about Bate. Let him continue to learn the game as he is and become a very good player before lumping extra responsibilities on him.

wow alot can change in 12 months!

Not that much has changed, there's only one player in that side that is not still on our list.

It is interesting though that of that team, 8 are presently out injured and two are languishing at Sandy.

I've been thinking about him too.

IMO though, he showed plenty early this season to retain his spot on the list for the next couple of years.

But that's just my opinion.

A couple of years? I can't see how that's possible. If he has another year off the park again next year, then he will go down in history as a "coulda been", and we get to spend the rest of our lives talking about how good he might have been, if only...

Beamer's one of my favourite players, but if he has another year where he can't get on the park then unfortunately he's finished. 3 years for less than 10 games? We're talking about an injury where you only have to push yourself that 1% too hard and its up again. You have to draw the line somewhere.

That said, if he is able to get his body right then yes, he'll retain his spot for the next couple of years.

I don' think the team was tanking. They were fully committed I think.

The players themselves would never "tank" deliberately. However, when you leave out the only bloke in your side who can kick goals and the only bloke in your side who can ruck in any capacity whatsoever, it makes it very difficult to win a game of footy. We beat Carlton in this game primarily because they went out of their way to field a worse team than us. That's pretty much the crux of the issue.

Two reasons:

1. We didn't try to "slow it down". Not sure whether it was the change of coach or the change of on-field leadership that did it, but we kept trying to score right until the end. Our team stinks at wearing down the clock (or "icing the clock" as some call it, whatever that means).

2. Our opposition were/are tanking in a big way.

However he has never picked up a KPP that has been a regular first 22 player( Newton could turn out to fit that bill)....

aswell you have to look at the other clubs, we have picked up good players but so have the other teams and not just the teams who had earlier picks.

Rivers? Carroll?

Rivers at pick 20 odd was an absolute gem and more than cancels out Rogers.

I think sylvia was involved too, i may be wrong

Any more names we need to squeeze in there? Frawley and Petterd haven't been mentioned yet.