Akum

What's Confucius's opinion on Mitch's knee? And how well does Confucius know Robbie F?

Surely, barring injury, Cross & Vince & Tyson will be the first 3 new players added to the midfield as dead certs. Add them to Jones, Viney, Trenners, Grimes (HBF) and Watts as certainties among existing players. That means maybe another 3-5 midfield positions, including interchange, up for grabs among about 9-10 prospects including Michie.

Interesting. When Watts, Blease & Strauss were recruited, our midfield was full of contested ball-getters who didn't use it well. These three were supposed to add that dimension. Unfortunately by the time Blease & Strauss got over their longterm injuries, that midfield had gone. Maybe at last we're going to use these players' skills to our best advantage, rather than trying to turn them into something they're not.

Great great post. My impression FWIW is that we're training to get the ball from clearances and out into the open, and then to make our uncontested possessions count. Which, incidentally, is the way we played against Roos' Swans in that 2010 game, and which was so difficult for them to stop, as good as they were defensively. We seem to be working on getting the ball to the outside at clearances, then making position ahead of the ball and kicking to leads. Also, overlapping to provide an extra man, again in the open. This doesn't mean, of course, that we neglect the defensive game. It's more a matter of how we convert defence - winning the ball in defensive or contested situations - into attack. Which was the area we were most deficient in under Neeld. We suffered so badly defensively because we could rarely hurt teams going the other way, which meant we were always under pressure while our opponents rarely were. With Roos, it seems to be more about all-round game and transitional play.

Not possible, we don't have any French players.

Beautiful ball-drop & kicking action from Salem & Strauss!

Well, he might. Or he might not.

Whatever Clark's injury is, it doesn't sound like it's a hammy.

There can't have been too many No.1 draft picks whose team for their first five years couldn't finish higher than 12th.

This is the whole point. Us being more ... um ... competitive should mean that we even up the possession count - we get more and they get less. That doesn't guarantee that we'll even up the i50s, but it makes it much more likely. And that in turn doesn't guarantee that we'll even up the scores, but it makes it much more likely. By evening up the possessions, we give ourselves extra opportunities to score, while depriving our opponents of a certain number of scoring opportunities. Again, it doesn't guarantee it, but it makes it much more likely. It's not some mere simple formula, but there is a chain of causation.

Do you mean the fires down below??

Yeh, this was news to me too, & something I'd always wondered about, which is why I thought it best to quote it all.

From Urban Dictionary: Capisce (pronounced cah-PEESH) is an Italian word that is used in American slang to say "got it" or "understand." The correct word in Italian would be capisci (pronounced cah-PEE-shee) to address the second person informally, a.k.a. you. Capisce, in Italian, is used only to address the second person formally (like when speaking to an elder or someone you don't know) or to express that a third person (he, she, it) understands. The correct Italian pronunciation of capisce is cah-PEE-shay.To say I understand is capisco (cah-PEE-sko). "You better get outta my house before I break your face, capisci?" "Yeah, capisco."

Well the Latrobe Valley's probably never voted Libs, so that ticks the first box. Very nervous here in the western suburbs.

So where do you think they'll be turning off the power tomorrow to save the grid for the rest of us????

Pic wouldn't be half as disturbing if it didn't look so much like Dermie with a new hairpiece.

Sorry, couldn't help but notice that there are only eight players on the banner at the top of the page, and Dawes isn't one of them.

... and shaved!

Sounds more like a medical condition

VCE results out today?

It's interesting how often it happens that different posters at training have such different impressions of Watts.

Becoming clear where the Hun is getting their information. Starting to look as if Hird's legal team is eager to carry out his defence via News Ltd.. As if it's going to change anything in the long run.

Yes, but WADA have shown they will appeal at the drop of a hat if they consider that the AFL is letting the guilty parties off too lightly. And they usually seem to get their way in the end. Maybe this seemingly petty appeal against the Saad penalty is more of a shot across the AFL's bows in relation to EFC, rather than a desire to do more harm to Saad.

This seems the best explanation to me. WADA must have dealt with people in Dank's position before - he has all the information, but for a number of reasons will be extremely reluctant to cough it up. They would know the best way to handle someone in his position. It may be that they'll use Dank more to confirm information they already know from others, rather than to rely on him to tell them where they need to look. They'll only get information from him if he feels he's not going to get himself into any more trouble by spilling the beans, and they'll probably want him to tell them more about other people's involvement rather than his own. They have to handle him very carefully.

Very Lance Armstrong!