RalphiusMaximus

I just hope he relaxes and has some fun. It's been a shocking year for LJ after a pretty shoddy 2011 and he needs to remember that he loves to play football. We all want to see him light up the MCG again next year.

If there were priority picks up for grabs they'd say we were tanking.

I've been thinking exactly the same thing. I keep wanting to ring in to the talkback shows and raise this point, but generally I'm driving at the time. Right now we are in almost exactly the same boat. We have one unexpected win over a strong side and look like only beating GWS and maybe GC for the rest of the year for four wins. We once again have a huge injury list (a factor nobody ever seems to mention when talking about out losses in '09) and are playing backs as forwards. If they are willing to accept that all this is being caused by a massive injury list and a fairly poor team, why can't they accept that for the '09 season when all the same factors were in play?

I'm actually impressed. I can't remember the last time someone was suspended for doing something to a Melbourne player. This is progress.

I agree with the club's stance. The AFL need to talk to Brock and come up with an appropriate sanction for him. His inflammatory comments are damaging the integrity of the game. He needs to pull his head in and concentrate on doing his own job, not pull a Sheedy and take cheap pot shots at us.

I live in a bubble of eternal optimism. I look at guys like Tuck over at Richmond and see that sometimes a player takes longer than people expect to hit his stride at the top level. I think that Morton could do that.

I do have a doubt. He has repeatedly mentioned leading patterns and forward structures as if they are something that are in place and being used. However, all we ever see in matches are high bombs to the top of the square. Why do you have leading patterns if nobody ever kicks to a leading player? Are the midfielders not following instructions when they ignore the percentage play and bomb long instead? If so, why are they still getting games? If the instructions are to bomb it long to the square eery time then I have some very serious issues with Neeld and his minions.

Humbug. He almost single-handedly stopped the route against Port Melbourne in the second quarter. Really stood up and did the hard things when he was needed. He is inconsistent, but I think there is too much upside to write him off just yet. I like to think that it will click for him sooner or later.

He had a shocking day though. Gave away a lot of frees and looked slow. One lucky kick can't undo the rest.

I do rate Rivers, but I don't think he is a great option at either FB or CHB. I am always saying that we are too top heavy and need more smalls, especially in the backline. I can't very well spend the entire year saying that and then load us up with more talls, can I? I probably should have found room on the bench. As I said, the midfield is really hard to pick. The sad truth is that aside from Jones it's a matter of who is going to do less harm. Also, I just noticed that I left Sylvia out. Oops.

I'm always up for a bit of a challenge. I think we can start with the spine. Frawley at fullback and Tom McDonald at CHB (I know he's young, but he's done enough to warrant the spot this year). Jamar as first ruck. I know people will disagree, but I like Martin alongside Clark right now in the forward line. I'm not 100% sure which one goes where, but given they are both good mobile types, I don't think they would play as traditional FF and CHF but rather as two roaming tall targets throughout the front end. Next we take the obvious inclusions. Watts plays as utility/HBF, using his pace and kicking to set up our play. He's really shown something in that role this year and will only improve. Jones in the engine room without a doubt. Jurrah up forward (again, HFF or FP?). The captains fit in there somewhere, most likely Grimes in the middle and Trengove more forward. Jordie takes the tagger/extractor role in the middle. After this we get into some speculative territory. Where does Howe fit in best for a start? Do we go for a running side or a tough side (I don't think we can pull off both at the moment). It's tempting to put Magner in there in the role he excelled at early on playing as the grunt inside mid. Is Moloney in the best? Do we assume for the purposes of this exercise that he can find form again? Does Gysberts rate on what we all think he can do even though he hasn't had the chance to show us this year? Do I include Green if I think he's going to retire at the end of the year? Here goes: Back six: Nicholson, Frawley, Bartram, Watts, McDonald, Strauss. This gives us a lot of rebounding ability with four really good one on one players as well. Strauss and Watts still have questions over their ability to win the tough contest, although both have shown improvement. We have two of the best kicks in the side at either HBF to help set up play further up the ground. Midfield: McKenzie, Jamar, Jones, Howe, Grimes, Moloney. This is actually a really hard one to pick. It's really tempting to put guys like Bail in there for the run, or Gysberts because he's shown a lot in the few games he's played. In the end I thought this would be about the most solid group I could come up with. They are a bit one-paced, which is painful, but there is plenty of grunt for the stoppages and if our small forwards and defenders push up to the ball they should be able to get the ball out to the better users. Forward six: Jurrah, Martin, Blease, Trengove, Clark, Green. This was probably the easiest section to pick as we are so limited in our options this year. Martin has shown glimpses of what he can do playing around the 50m arc, generally right before he's been pulled away to do ruck work. Clark is a no-brainer at FF. Jurrah when fit and firing is a freak. Blease is the closest thing we have at the moment to a genuine small forward, and at times he is magical. Green I had to include, even if he is a little past his best and looking like retiring, and Trengove has been playing more or less as a defensive HF and doing a decent job. Bench: Jetta, Garland, Sellar, Gysberts. The bench was actually really hard. There are so many players who could be on there to fill any number of roles. Do we want versatility? Run? I went with Garland and Sellar because they offer cover in multiple positions, and I think Jetta and Gysberts are both very promising and will be great value once they get some games into them. So, what do you think folks?

Aside from the broken jaw? In the team chat today Brown said that Gys is playing well and very close to selection, but he is underdone fitness-wise and they think it could be counterproductive to play him when his body isn't up to it. He said basically the same thing about Cook.

Petterd has had a number of injuries which have impacted his ability to string games together. Obviously that makes it difficult to show any consistent form or improvement. The real question I have is his attitude. Watching him at Casey (or the the G) he just doesn't seem to be enjoying his football. Is it a clash with Neeld and Co.? Is he struggling to get his head around the training demands? We'll probably never know.

Are you saying Collingwood hid Luke Ball on the St Kilda list for a few years?

A club.

Humbug. The one and only most important statistic is games won. I don't give a damn what our percentage is as long as we are winning more games than anyone else. Do that and we know that we are the best side in the competition.

Great news for Brad. As you say it's worth remembering the good times the club has been through over the course of his career, not least the fact that he's the last man standing from the 2000 Grand Final side.

Well, how about our society a couple of hundred years ago? You have a problem with someone, you duel with pistols. Tom Cole writes in his book Hell West and Crooked how a farm hand stole several horses from him. Some time later he happened to see the man camped out with his horses. He walked into the camp, beat the hell out of him and left him stranded in the middle of the outback. That was in the 1930s. Going further back, such actions were entirely common and accepted throughout Europe. I once did a research paper on a gentleman by the name of Gaston III, count of Foix, who was noted for such upstanding behaviour as imprisoning and ransoming his rivals for vast sums, Dueling and killing the man who replaced him in a royal appointment and killing his only legitimate son during an argument. This was in the 1300's in France. So in answer to your comment, I think you'll find that most if not all societies have at some point seen such behaviour as commonplace. There are plenty of people in our wonderful enlightened Australia who think it's acceptable even now. Take the Murder trial currently underway in Sydney for example. Is it really so different?

I also have very limited information to go on, but he has some factors counting against him. He missed a large portion of the year through injury. Didn't make the AA side. His kicking is rated as good but not elite (looking at the phantom drafts there are lots of guys rated well above him in this area). His pace is ok but not elite. All of these things indicate that he could slide a little. They are all things that have in the past caused players to drop down the order.

I haven't seen the kid play, but I wold be horrified if we took Grundy with an early pick. We are so massively top-heavy as a list right now it's not funny, and the lack of midfield run and class is killing us. We have five rucks on our list right now. That is more than enough. I also question them having Viney as a lock for pick 3. Do they really think GC or GWS will risk Whitfield on an attempt to bluff us? Whoever has pick 2 (might still be us) might try something, but I see it as a long shot at this stage. Viney is good, but right now he isn't clearly in the top group I would think. We'll see how he's rated at the end of the season and after the testing.

I agree with our need for skillful smalls who can win their own ball. I would however put Stringer in with that group. As with Pavlich out west, he can be used as a high impact mid at need, and Neeld loves versatility.

I maintain that we need to try to snare young Minchington from the Saints. He's a rookie with them and given the small forwards they have now he's not likely to get much of a run in their senior side. He's a hard worker, good pace and improving rapidly.

Can't agree with that. Tom McDonald has done far better than anyone could have expected at this stage. Dan Nicholson has improved drastically. Grimes is getting heaps of the ball and stringing games together. Blease is starting to show his talent, even if he still has work to do on his engine and defensive game. I look forward to next year with an actual forward line in play and a few more of our young mids with kicking skills getting a game.

The sad truth is that we're playing without any forwards. Very hard to win with the makeshift forward line we've put together.

What a surprise! A free to Port to start the quarter!