jnrmac

This is not necesssarily aimed at Hogan as we don't exactly what is going on with him but the sporting landscape is littered with supremely talented juniors who fail to transition to a professional sport. There is a drive that is needed to get to the top of sport. Some juniors coast along being better than their peers without putting on a huge amount of effort. Raw talent gets you there as a junior in a lot of sports but they don't have the drive or burning desire. I would put Watts in that category, like Sylvia. Great talent but inability to transition to a professional sport to excel. Plenty of others have less talent but a burning desire. I'd take the second guy every time and I think the Dees are getting better at choosing which players have a better chance of making it.

Actually you aren't allowed to do that at all. You are allowed to bump if the ball is within 5m but they cracked down on taking out a player that does the old give and go.

He's lost a few Kegs since his Morrish medal win....

Jesse who?

Greg Williams was pretty handy. Oliver in time will be talked about like Williams who was unstoppable in his day and had extraordinary vision.

Not sure but its an interesting point. MH would take precendence you would think.

The last few days Grant Thomas has stated players are citing "mental health issues" to dodge the illicit drug policy. Nick Riewoldt has backed it up by saying players are taking the p.iss. Now Jack Steven is taking indefinite leave from the Saints for "mental health" reasons Just sayin.... We wish Jack all the best.

Thats a good deal. What's the card rate for all of that?

Rockaria Song by Electric Light Orchestra Lyrics Just got back from the downtown Palais Where the music was so sweet It knocked me right back in the alley I'm ready, yea, yea, yea, I'm ready Wo, wo, wo, I'm ready And I'm really gonna rock tonight Sweet little lady sings like a songbird And she sings the opera like you ain't never heard But she ain't ready No, no, no, she ain't ready No, no, no, she ain't ready And she ain't gonna rock & roll She's sweet on Wagner I think she'd die for Beethoven She loves the way Puccini lays down a tune And Verdi's always creeping from her room

Sorry H but we must be watching different Wagners...

I understand there was a bit of a power struggle when the fitness guys opinions held sway over the medical staff. The medical staff resigned over it. Might have been egos but nonetheless it was an inauspicious start. It seems to have gone pretty well since then although there are some notable injury SNAFUs with Viney, Trengove, McDonald and Vandenburg.

The turning point was after the Sydney game in round 21. It was a disgraceful game and we were outcoached terribly. Things had to change. To his credit he changed them and the team hasn't looked back.

Check the two finals we played and won without him and the last two H&A games that we had to win to play finals. that'll give you some idea of how we play without him

Jason Taylor said in the recent Draft update that they are watching and speaking to Kobe. The Wiz is very keen for him to come to the Dees. But he is barely 16yo and so there is a lot of water to go under the bridge

But Bugg can't be a victim? I think he was alluding to the differing narratives....

Both Grand Finalists played with two talls - we struggled against them.

@DeeSpencer is right with the use of Gawn. It's self evident the club thought our defence needed bolstering. You are welcome to your view. I don't buy it.

Fair enough. I would say that the footy dept doesn't entirely agree with you. The damning stat is that we are very poor in defending one on ones. This is not related to a lace out pass from a mid but a genuine 50/50 ball between fwd and defender. And we were 9th this year in defence as well as being around 14th for scores once the ball went inside our def 50. The mids are very important but we still need to be able to stop teams scoring when the ball goes down there. Hence Lever and May. May is structurally important because it means Lever, Hibberd, Jetta and OMac/Frost can play their roles while the oppo's key scorer is being held.

I assume you mean Blind Freddy...in any case it's not that obvious to some around here. We have a superstar backline. No need for May or Lever....

Our defence is our weakest point. We were 9th for defence this year. We have recruited Lever and May in the last two trade periods. I think the club understands that we need better defensive than we get from Frost and OMac if we are going to be a strong side. May won't be going forward.

I didn't say that. You have trouble reading by the sounds of things. Jesse is a great player but he will never reach the upper echelon IMO because he doesn't appear to have the character traits and drive required. Other things are seemingly more important in his life. It just an opinion but he will never reach the heights of a Matthew Pavlich.

Yeah, I didn't say that. But there is a difference between those who have natural talent and those with the drive that go along with it. Jesse is a great player as I said but I have the feeling he will never reach the upper echelon - which he could given his talent - because other things are more important to him.

Did we get one picture of him smiling during his 5 years at the Dees? There was always something about Hogan for mine. Don't think he ever put in the really hard yards to be the best he could be. Like Brayshaw doing his 100x100m sprints on Xmas day. Or Gawn or Oliver's transformation. He seems a bit Watts like although not as bad. Footy isn't everything to Jesse. Fair enough I guess. It's interesting how a lot of supremely talented juniors don't necessarily have the drive to be elite. Hogan IMO is a terrific player but won't ever reach his 'ceiling'. I suspect the club aren't unhappy with his departure given we have used it to fix some holes on the list..

Came 2nd in the B&F in his second year as well...

Spoke to a very keen Nth Melb guy at lunch today who was saying the Pruess was a great pick up. Very tough, talented a little loose with his elbows but hard as nails. Very sad to see him go and thought he would do very good things for the Dees. Couldn't understand why he would go to Melb to be second fiddle though....