praha

I think it's probably the best and most honest and on the mark season preview I've read thus far.

3-19 season, 0-6 to start. And we can't sack our coach because we just signed him to a 2 year contract. Woohoo for rewarding mediocrity.

I can sympathise with the article. I think we have been somewhat our own worst enemy. The hatred for Jack Watts might seem unjustified, but the amount we hyped the poor kid up in the days leading up to QB was pretty laughable. The intro before the game over the speakers was the final straw. We've talked the talked. It's just a matter of walking the walk. We've talked up our drafting skills and young players, neither of which has been proven a success yet. Wonna is a perfect example. He's played pretty much just one good game in his career, and to some on this board, he's a superstar. I'm a little more grounded. I started a thread about how over the top the handling of Watts was in 2009 in the week leading up to his first game, and I got flamed to hell and back. I'm not willing to talk about our young players and drafting until we're in the finals. Our PR department seems to think of it the other way. It might look good when the coach and people within the club come out saying it's time to perform, but it doesn't really help the young player's mindsets. If anything, it puts more pressure on them. Talking up something that is completely unproven is pretty reckless, especially from a club that's had no success in 40 years. We did it with Johnstone, we did it with Watts, then Jurrah. The latter two have anything but proven themselves as good players in a good, winning side, which, in my opinion, is the only time a player's worth can be truly judged. EDIT: Here we go. My thread from a few months back.

Fixed. B)

No Garland in best 22?

I disagree with you both. I think online forums, while in some instances can be a form of "social cancer", they are great environments for debate and discussion. Online communities do work - I've been a communication and community manager for a web-based publisher for three years now, and much of our success comes from our online forums. An online community, just like society in general, needs monitoring and authority. An individual might be fine, but a group of people can cause trouble. You need order and rules, as well as strong etiquette, none of which BigFooty seems to have. I visit another sports-based online community (Basketball Forums), which is US based, and it's a fantastic community. Why? Because it's monitored very, very well. I think the team here do a wonderful job, but that said, this isn't an overly populated community (compared to Basketball Forums, Big Footy etc.) If someone wants to come here and give thoughtful, mature and intelligent opinions, no matter how negative they may be, they have a right to. It's only when a handful of morons come along to provide nothing but negativity in the most immature and moronic ways that they ruin the community. It's no different to one or two morons in a classroom of 30 students. Or 1 or 2 bad eggs in a work environment of 30. This is a community, whether you like it or not, and it should go by the same basic fundamentals of what makes a community work in real life. Some of you might disagree with me on that, but I've seen online communities work very well, at my own hand. If you can implement the same rules and morals we use in life, an online community can work. BigFooty may have already dug itself a hole too deep though. EDIT: To add to this, I think AFL clubs should work a lot closer with some online forums. Much in the same way film studios and game publishers work with online communities. What it comes down to is we are a community of dedicated fans that give our own time and money to the club, and some people spend loads of money to get these communities up and running. The least clubs could do is support them.

JONES!!! Arghhh. Could have gone 7.0

Apparently Bailey did a shoulder now too. Was writing too hard on his note pad.

MILLER GOAL!

"FOUR OR FIVE POSSESSIONS IN A ROW FOR ADELAIDE!"

For these commentators to say Trengove is impressive must mean he is destroying it.

These commentators orgasm all over each other whenever the ball goes inside Adelaide's 50.

Trengove is all over it.

Goal to Maric. "You'd expect Adelaide to beat them quite easily." Who wants to trek to Adelaide and take these moronic hacks out?

Massive facepalm for these guys. Maric marks in front! I can hear the rain!

OH MY GOD "How many times have Melbourne made the finals since 2000?" "One." "No. Five. Amazing, isn't it?"

"Believe it or NOT, Melbourne can hit the FRONT! WHAT A SURPRISE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! MELBOURNE, BELIEVE IT OR NOT, ARE LEADING THE CROWS, AT THE START OF THE SECOND QUARTER!" -commentators

B)

I bet if it was an Adelaide player with a tattoo sleeve: "Oh gee, doesn't that tattoo look great!"

They both said they look like they will be. By the dribble coming out of these commentators mouths, I doubt they would even know.

Having Grimes in a pocket on either end of the ground would be like playing Michael Jordan as a sixth man coming off the bench in his prime.

The whole "no more excuses" is just good PR. How exactly would you expect the sponsors and investors to respond if he said, "we won't be a good team for another three years."? I wouldn't respond well. Whether we like to admit it or not doesn't matter: 2010 will be mostly another year of pain. We will see more wins that previous years, and more good signs of things to come, but we again will be the team everyone can't wait to play. 2011 will be the rise.

No matter who had played in Yea, the crowd would have been 10k. It's a country town, with an AFL game being played on a country ground. If it was Freo vs. Port there would have been 10k there.

I love it. It stays in-house and doesn't make reference to the competition (THEY KNOW WE'RE COMING!)

I've been a fan of Jamar for a while now. He is such a great tap ruckman. Not great skill wise, but gets the job done in the ruck. He is a real, old-fashioned ruckman. Going back a year or so, everyone jumped on my back when I said he was needed in the team. Then again, it's not like we've got anyone better.