Salems Lot

As I have mentioned in a previous thread, I live next door to one of the Toiges recruiting officers. Up until last year he was our South Australian recruiting officer and around draft time I asked him if he had the choice between Scully or Watts as number one pick who would he take. Without missing a beat he said Watts. We have seen the potential that Scully has so I take that as high praise for young Jack.

Um we have finished 16th the last 2 years

The great thing is mixing this video with some of the youtube highlight tapes of our young recruits. It is great to see Scully, Watts, Gysberts, Blease and Strauss all playing in the one team. Hopefully it won't be too long before they are all playing together again. B)

Just talking to my new next door neighbour. Turns out he was Melbourne's Adelaide recruiting officer for the passed 12 years. He has just crossed over to the Toigs. Any how, we were talking about this last draft and when we came to discussing the 1st and 2nd selection I asked him who he would have picked first if hypothetically Watts had been in this draft rather than last year's. Without hesitation he said Watts over Scully. Reckons he is something pretty special. Went on to say that we are in great shape and should look forward to 2011 with great anticipation. I found his comments about Jack very reassuring. He went on to say that each draft produces a couple of great mid fielders but it is rare for it to produce a guy like Watts. Nice feedback. By the way, huge raps for Tapscott, reckons he and Tregove will play round 1, Scully maybe a bit later.

Something to bear in mind with all of this is that we have become too used to early and abundant blooding of new players over the past few years. This should not be the norm in a successful team as a settled team is what every club is striving for. Without doubt we have assembled a terrific bunch of talent over recent times but I would rather see the newbies forcing their way into a competitive set up made up of more mature bodies. Paul Roos put it well when he said that although Rohan is a fantastic prospect, he is nowhere near the likes of Kirk et al fitness wise, he described him as a long term project. Rather than what has happened lately which has seen us having to play the young kids due to shocking levels of injuries and a lack of class I hope that recruits of the previous couple of years will start to play consistently and injury free. Maric, Grimes, Jones and Garland and even Dunn are the ones who I am excited about this year. If they can make the move up in gear that Chip did last year we will see great improvement in the team. Similarly, I look forward to some of last years crop starting to play a game or two as well. Blease, Strauss and McNamara are next in line. Having said that, I am sure that Scully and Trengove will feature early on.

Tapscott - "Vanity" - They've "got taps!!" - sorry, its the plumber in me

He will be able to teach Frosty Miller how to kick a goal from outside 50m

1 Trengove 2 Scully 11 Black 18 Ball 34 Gawn 50 Thorpe Nothing outrageous here, just the way it will be!

Shelly Craft

Barassi to Carltank!!!!

Just a question here? Does the number 1 pick get a higher sign on contract than the other draftees?

Agreed. He's not good enough to worry about.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/jack-...8043836478.html Fantastic article about this fellow. I went to school with Richard Loveridge who played with the Porks in the eighties and he seems like a very similar kind of guy. Good at everything including humility. Hard not to like!!

Love the comment about the spear throwing champion. Gold

OX on SEN suggested that McDonald does not fit into our structure. Reckons the back 4 are pretty well in place

David Cordner?

OK, I have been putting my mind to what would make him feel at home and am prepared to donate the following items CannonBALL run 1 & 2 Frank Sinatra's Take Me Out To the BALL Game - on second hand vinyl Strictly BALLroom The French movie classic La BAL CasaBALLanca Glen CamBALL's greatest hits And my framed photo of Naomi CampBALL If this doesn't do it nothing will

Done and Done! Me and the junior

Text Message from Jimmy, Flash has re-signed for 4 years Never in doubt

Hmmm, ask Ritchie Van den Berg how the Porks solved that conundrum <_<

Proud 4th generation demon supporter. Started going in the very early 70's with my Mum and 2 brothers. MCC Members, thermos, travel rug, the whole shebang. In fact, my grandparents split when my Mum was little and she lost touch with her Dad after that, the only time I ever saw him was from a distance - him sitting in the old Smokers Stand on match day - bizarre! My first favorite player was Glenn Honey. He never played in the ones but we used to watch him play in the twos. He was pretty ordinary but I remember that he had a great beard. Ah the joys of watching footy as 7-8 year old. My 5 year old (fifth generation) has no choice in the matter, comes most weeks and was one of the few supporters who was upset after the siren at the Richmond Game!! One of my earlier memories is of seeing a player take a place kick for goal (a la rugby) at the lakeside oval. Not sure how the count down clock would have dealt with that one! Since we are in the off season, why not add in some of your earliest memories A last one of mine is the pall of cigarette/pipe smoke that used to hang over the seats on those wintery afternoons in the 70's. P.S. One last one, the players getting dressing gowns to wear at 3 quarter time, when did that stop? Sorry, I have gone off on a bit of a reverie here but I am sure that there are plenty of other posters out there

Hmm, yes, I thought of him as I typed but to be fair, he burst on the scene at the start of the season and never looked back. I guess that I am thinking of the situation that we have been in lately where we have effectively been gifting games to players because there was simply no one else to pick. Give me as many Flashes as you can; I like em, I like em!!

I must confess that I hope that none of our rookies get a game next year because that would mean a few things 1. We were still having problems with injuries - surely this will not happen again next year 2. The players on the senior list have not developed as hoped 3. We are not winning enough games to be competitive. This last 3 years has surreptitiously changed our ideas of how a season runs I.E. a good season is a settled season - look at any of the top teams, they tend to get through the year with minimal lineup changes. That is what I want from our team. The idea that we get through the year having called upon maybe 28 - 30 players maximum means that we have played well, stayed injury free and created genuine pressure on the list for selection. Go Dees!!!!

Yeah, i went as well, didn't see Butcher's goals, I was wrangling a 5 year old as well I thought Scully's last quarter was match winning for the Stingrays