Craig Drinker

These were the postives and negatives for me today: (Feel free to post your own) Positives: We won the toss, our tackling has improved, Magner's debut, Bartrams courage,Trengove's potential, Jones'workrate and attitude, Tynan's debut, decent crowd, potential of Jeremy Howe, Stef Martin's improvement, new scarf. Negatives: Bombing it in to the forward line, smashed at stoppages,Bartrams disposal, Watts'dislike of a physical contest, Magner limping off, losing, Davey's form/lack of confidence, moaning supporters, new scarf, loss of Jimmy : (

The game plan is bomb it into the forward line. I'm guessing Bate is following instruction. I agree with other posters re Bate, far from the worst and did a good job given limited game time. IMO bombing it into the forward line is far too predictable. I don't like that part of the game plan.Especially when there is no Eddie Betts up forward to do the crumbing.I much prefer it when we kick to a forward on the lead. Brad Green might as well retire now with our new game plan.

The front bum?

You're right!

Quite a considerable amount. For exact numbers I would have to dig back and research although there may be other Demonlanders that may be able to come back with figures. It was expected that the majority making the effort turning up to vote were largely going to vote against the merger. A large percentage of the pro merger were from highly dubious proxy votes. It is my understanding that even if the Hawthorn members had voted in favour of a merger that Joseph Gutnick had legal action ready to go the next day that would like have shot it down given the unfair and unscrutinised way the vote was organised in the first place. Thankfully the merger never took place but as you can tell some bitterness still remains.

Somewhat misguided figures re the Melbourne members voting their own club out of existence.History will show these figures as correct however what is not factored in to these figures was the large amount of Melbourne members locked out of the vote and the "fix" that was in on the proxy votes. Take these factors into account and there is no way the majority of members voted for a merger(or their club out of existence). This was 'Attempted Merger' by stealth and very dispicable!!!

No point in judging Cook until he has an AFL ready body.Pointless exercise until then.

Travis Cloke at No. 5!!! Can't believe it. One of the most over rated players in the AFL. Loves taking marks out by the boundary or over small opponents. Will rarely ever see him taking a mark backing into a pack or running with the flight of the ball against the traffic ala Nick Reiwoldt or Jonathan Brown. To his credit he is not as frightened as he used to be and has improved a little in that area but again highly overated and put ahead of Adam Goodes!!!!!!!!!

If you haven't already, why don't you send some feedback to the club as what you would like to see at the event. I'm sure they would appreciate your comment after all it is 'your' (and other members) club.

Even though we got smashed by Hawthorn it is better that it came now than in the season proper. We still have a little time for our 45 or so coaches to sort out some of our current issues.

I had a lot of respect for Brian Wilson as a player. The thing about him that stood out for me was that he never gave up even when all around him were falling by the way side. He often led a lone charge when The Demons were getting overun by the opposition and at times inspired a revival when other Demons decided to follow his lead and make a stand.

Totally agree that we need a crumbing small forward with pace.It stood out like the proverbial in the NAB cup 1st round. What options do we have if Davey gets injured?

I like Bate and I thought he did well in the NAB cup 1st round. It would greatly enhance his game if he could kick on his right foot. Opponents are going to be aware of this and continually force him on to his right side.

Never liked him as a journo.Average at best. My opinion.

Has Gysberts put on much muscle? If he can improve his fitness a bit and put on about 5kg of muscle I think he will be vgood for us.

When one Dawes closes another Daw opens. Why don't we have a go for Majak Daw? Not currently playing seniors ,may come cheaply and could turn out handy?

Sounds like you are describing Jamie Bennell in the next couple of seasons.

Who cares about Mike Sheehan's Top 50. A very self indulgent subjective piece. I would rather know who the coaches rated as their Top 50.

That's a good one! Made my day.

In some way I was hoping we would get Eade on our coaching panel. Only so I could yell "Rocket! Yeah!" I'm disappointed that pleasure has been taken away from me.

I think what occured is Demetriou thought he was ordering 120 kg of meatloaf (the dish) , the order got buggered up in the translation and he ended up with Meatloaf (the singer). Couldn't back out of the order and the rest is history.

Cloke is highly overated in my opinion although he has improved in the last couple of years. Loves to take marks up around the wing area. I must admit his kicking for goal was good early though. For a guy of his size though I think he is a bit soft. Loves playing on the Joel Mcdonald size of opponents . Commentators go into raptures over him though Baby Huey (Tom Hawkins) is a much better prospect if he could kick straight for goal.

Who cares what his marking was like as a junior! I saw him a couple of times at Casey.He is a strong mark and attacks the ball hard.He is also very quick. I think he could be the power forward we are looking for once he gets a few games under his belt.

I think Gysberts will become that extra A- Grade midfielder with another 5kg of muscle on his body. Don't discount Fitzpatrick as another big bodied forward option he has good size and pace and just needs some experience and a godd run with injuries.

Bruce 'Delicious' McAvaney is saying it will be announced tomorrow. M. Neeld.