RalphiusMaximus

Holy Cow! 17-5 against us according to the AFL match centre.

Demons win. A good start.

Curious to see the free kick count.

Actually, it's pretty much their first choice midfield. They have a few kids in the forward line, but that's all.

27 - 9 our way. Good half.

Damn, we're not looking bad here. Keeping my fingers crossed.

Goal to Watts!

Off to our usual start.

I give it a six. It's meaningless drivel, especially with the new format the AFL cooked up, but we get to see the team play and we get to have a look at a couple of new faces for the first time.

Can we have this thread pinned until the end of the season? Then we'll see if it's over-hyped or not.

What I'm enjoying in many of the papers and comments is people claiming that we should have offered the same deal to Scully. To the best of my knowledge, we did.

Straus. He's been in the system for a couple of years now, he's had a full pre-season and the early word on him is that he's beginning to harden up. I'd love to see him tear it up this month.

It's not correct. He signed for three years when he joined the club. He is in fact available to GWS if they fail to take one of our players this year. However, I don't think he'll be going.

Agree. He's little more than a rumourmonger, and a [censored]-poor one at that.

I have only one question. Is part of the proposal that Tom Scully be employed to promote the club at around $500,000 a year? :D

Let's hear it for a pathetic attempt at shameless self-promotion. They cruise through some message boards, come up with a sensationalist statement with no facts to back it up and declare themselves to have broken a story.

I think there's something in that for all of us, don't you?

Meh. More so-called experts quoting internet forums. There is no substance to this story, any more than there was when it was Frawley or Petterd heading to the Gold Coast.

Once again, do the math. They can't afford to pay him that if they want to chase other players. It's pure speculation from sensationalist media idiots who want to make more of a story. Yes, if they poached only one player, they could probably throw that sort of money at him for a year, but who would go there if they were going to be the one and only player with any experience at the club? It would be career suicide.

Check his twitter. He's not a happy lad.

What sum exactly? Nobody knows how much GWS is willing to offer him. I think it's very safe to say it isn't 6 million over 6 years. Eddie's claim of 3 mil in his first year is likewise idiotic (it came from Eddie, after all). What is this incredible sum of money that is going to prove irresistible? Try to be realistic here. They have priorities. They need to get a big name. They need to get some mature bodies in key positions. Worst case for us is Tom is fourth or so on their list after a marquee midfield general, a CHB and a FF. I would think that he would be much further down the list than that, as he is still a young untried player. They get plenty of them with their draft concessions. Add to that that they are already paying Issy, although for some reason the AFL is picking up a fair whack of his salary... They simply don't have the millions that everyone is talking about.

Are you including Frawley in that 10? He was a fairly prominent target. How about Petterd? Lots of talk about him leaving.

He's been named in the extended list. I assume that means he's fit to play.

That sucks. Still, it's something that lets him run and do weight work. He just can't play with a football.

How about we take him at his word, accept that there have been no deals signed and let him do what he does best?