Radar Detector

Hasn't it just been merged with the Demons board?

^ What he said. Sick of copping it from all angles so far this year. Would be nice to see us win by 100, Watts kick a bag and Scully sign. That should shut everyone up for a week.

Actually Blease, Strauss, Bennell, Jetta, Bail and Jurrah are all contracted to the end of 2012 and Watts has an additional year on top of that.

I disagree. Watts has shown the ability to play at VFL level and his stats at AFL level aren't as bad as people on here make out. Interestingly, he averages more disposals, marks and goals per game over their careers than Bennell who's place in the side is rarely questioned. He also gets more of the ball than Wonna, albeit kicks fewer goals per game at this stage. I watched Watts closely last week repeatedly make good leads to dangerous spots that were ignored in favour of poorer options. I don't think his teammates deliberately ignore him, but I think if people had honoured him a bit more last week we would not be having this discussion.

So far this year we have lost one game to a likely top four team. Sheesh. We've played rubbish in all three games and still come away with premiership points from two of them. if we win on the weekend, we will need to win 6 of our last 18 to equal last year's result. That's one win from every three matches for the rest of the year. If we'd been playing badly in any of the past three seasons we'd have been 0-3 right now. The group is improving. Let's give a few weeks for the likes of Frawley, Morton, Aussie, Petterd et al who have had interrupted lead-ins regain some match fitness. Let's wait until we have Jordie back in the midfield rotation to help stop us getting smashed at the clearances (which incidentally has been the only glaring weakness to my mind all year so far). Let's hold off the ritual burning at the stake until we get a bit more hard evidence. We are not Richmond.

This issue of not "trusting" Jack has just sprung up out of nowhere. I doubt that a single one of us has a clue what Jack's teammates think of him, other than they'd hopefully all be aware that at this stage he remains a key ingredient for our future success.

Brad Green says hi.

Watts in my mind is quite symbolic of the team atm and the Hurley v Watts comparison is an interesting one. Hurley is already a very accomplished player, much better than Watts is right now and the risk averse amongst us would take Hurley every day of the week. Watts is unarguably an enormous talent, albeit unfulfilled to date, with possibly greater upside than Hurley if he continues to improve. However like the Demons list in general, talent and potential to burn, it would be naive to think it will all just automatically happen for Watts. He may become a superstar, and we may build a multiple premiership winning list, but a lot of water still has to go under the bridge before we're there on either count. I think Watts will get there and I hope the team does also - we need to remain patient - but lets not get lulled into thinking either are a foregone conclusion.

No actually. He has the pace to go with Ablett, if not the tank. Jones has been torched by Ablett because of his lack of pace, and using Moloney as a tagger doesn't make sense as he is our main clearance mid. And I don't think Gysberts has any of the right attributes for the job. Bail could do the job, but my thoughts on using Davey are that if he can follow Ablett around the ground when he's on-ball, it limits the effectiveness of a potential tag on him. His main weapon is his use of the ball when we have it anyway and I don't see how this would be compromised. I think you under-sell Davey's fitness if you think Ablett will blow him up so fast. He's been a key part of our midfield for a long time now.

I'd like to see him tagging Ablett this week with a licence to create when we have the footy.

Are you unable to detect sarcasm? Seriously? Your constant personal attacks are tiresome. Give it a rest.

Have stated in another thread that I would bring in Joel Mac and move Grimes into the midfield for the whole game. Would be equally happy if Strauss was promoted despite his reported shocker for Casey.

I just want to see the team put their head over the ball and show some endeavour and desire for the contest for 4 full quarters. The flakey attitude we have shown all year so far bothers me more than the results. If our effort for a full game is at the right levels, we will beat plenty of sides and smash the GCS. Haven't seen much more than flashes so far though.

Grimes to midfield. Joel Mac to take Grimes' spot.

6. Jamar 5. Moloney 4. Jurrah 3. Gysberts 2. Sylvia 1. Jones

Good solid game by chunk today. Made two obvious clangers today but was happy with the other 25-odd disposals. If Bennell or Jetta had played that game, half the posters on this site would've creamed themselves and predicted superstardom. Everyone's happy to take pots at Jones when he deserves it, less are happy to give credit where its due. Apologies if that makes me a "poor watcher of football".

Players on the cusp are Petterd, Joel Mac, Maric and Juice. Players on thin ice are Bennell, Watts and Dunn. Morton also looked underdone. And Moloney is a chance to be suspended. If Beamer is suspended, I would promote Joel Mac and move Grimes into the guts for the whole game. Could also swap Bennell (who I think gets as much of an armchair ride as Watts but is less important long term) for Maric - but would be relaxed either way. I would prefer to see Watts retained as I'm keen to see how he plays with some decent ball coming to him. And I thought he did plenty right yesterday without being honoured often enough by his teammates. Wouldn't be too concerned about the other two spots, any of Morton, Dunn, Petterd or Juice could play next week. I thought Aussie added heaps to the forward line today - we look a lot more likely to lock the ball in there when he's playing. If everyone had his endeavour over four quarters we'd play finals.

Rivers was great in the closing stages of the game in particular, but he gets led to the ball by his direct opponent to often for my liking. If a 200cm gorilla is repeatedly leading you to the ball by 5 metres, you're in strife. Still, by the end of the game was one of our best.

The "out of character" and "don't penalise the team" mentatlity are both poor excuses and I would be disappointed if the club acted in that manner. Sylvia was penalised for a late night not drinking, so Moloney should be suspended if he's guilty. I don't want the culture of our club compromised because Beamer is an important player. As a vice captain he should know better.

Are the other Demon emergencies out there KC?

I personally think it's rubbish that three of the four guys "demoted" to the extended bench are forwards - add Maric to that list too. I still don't see how a forward is supposed to exert influence on the contest when the ball isn't forward of centre for almost an entire half of football. I thought Watts played well in the first half when he was getting some ball and Petterd deserves some games and should not be dropped despite his one brain fade. Dunn would be a good sub so don't really have an issue with that. To put half the forward line on notice when it was the mids who were so comprehensively smashed sends somewhat of the wrong message for me. That said, there isn't a lot of midfield fire power available to come in this week so maybe that's the rationale.

I have it on pretty good authority that Alipate Carlisle is also gone... Not that it really matters to us. But it illustrates an interesting point. He is already playing interstate in a team with hazy prospects, few supporters etc. Wouldn't be giving anything up to go to GWS on more coin. Guys like Sculls would be moving to a new state for all that downside. More money would be the only upside for someone like him, Thomas or Pendlebury. At least the latter two have won a flag, Scully hasn't even experienced team success yet. Would be a strange move.

Worrying signs? I would've thought it shows we've just been through a comprehensive rebuild of the list meaning that our talent is skewed towards the young and raw end of the spectrum. More like positive signs if people have the PATIENCE to wait it out. Sometimes I think I've jumped on the Yellow and Black board by mistake...

Bhima, you are by far the poster I most enjoy reading on this site. Top example of why. My only comment is that for sides that score heavily, such as Collingwood, the %s are less relevant. I would hazard a guess that Collingwood's actual scores from defensive pressure would be higher than most, even though their %s look low simply because they score so heavily from clearances.

Pretty hard for a young key forward to exert real influence in a team getting flogged... And after 20 games.