DeeSpencer

I'm obviously too late to tip in this game. But would've had Carolina. Something like 24-16. Ravens 20 Steelers 27 Bengals 10 Colts 20 Lions 17 Cowboys 30

I did a footy preseason there including some cross training around the area. And we had presentation night in the Chalet. So I say the chalet stays and the oval goes!

Only the Libs were supportive of a joint venture. Labor only put in for the cricket part of the redevelopment.

Pick exactly where you think our home should be please. 25th floor of the Rialto? Fed square? Maybe section off one of the public gardens around the CBD and just have a kick there 3 times a week? Our social club is/was in Bentleigh, where's that link? Hawthorn train at Waverley. Essendon now train at the Airport. Collingwood at Olympic Park. Our supporters come from everywhere but are probably most densely located in the inner south east. Elsternwick isn't far from there. It's certainly a good place for AFL players to train. If the opportunity arises for top class facilities and a long term rent then I'm all for it. We don't want to be sitting back in 15 years when we are booted out of AAMI and wondering why we didn't take Elsternwick. That will be the Westpac/Lexus centre all over again.

AAMI isn't permanent. We lease it and I don't know at what cost and for how long. We need somewhere with a long term lease with facilities locked in.

I think he'll play wing and be a stronger, faster and more penetrating (but not more accurate) version of Matt Jones. He'll cover the backline better as well and probably rotate between wing and half back. I am hoping he can run the members wing and pump it in to good forwards. The important thing is we play well enough to have forwards capable of staying deep in the forward line. Worst comes to worst I think Lumumba and Dawes will at least be on the same page. A link up player and CHF on the same page sounds like a nice combination.

AFL players can be pretty deluded. In fact that' true of local footballers. I've never met on that thought they should've been dropped. But if Grimes is perceptive about his game he would realise his form was poor in 2014 and a chance to be dropped. Therefore he couldn't continue as captain. I don't think you can have a captain in and out of the team. If Roos and co had to push Grimes to make that decision then so be it.

I think what you'll find is that Jamar and Moloney were getting together down on the peninsula and best mates Dom Tyson and Tomlinson were also down there and Petracca was and they all got together to do their running. It's a strange combination on face value but it makes sense if they were in the area to do it together. Love the comments labelling the red head Sam Blease and sledging Moloney about being fat.

Very Ross Lyon like

Have to go different to you! Dallas - am I little worried they have nothing to play for. But they are red hot Indy New Orleans - Tampa must tank! Hoping the Bears tank (not that it will be hard for them) and lost to the Vikings

Anyway, Brayshaw had 40 days off from September to mid October not running on his ankle. So he might be in a hurry to get his fitness back. Almost every AFL player is a committed professional. Especially any good one. So I'm impressed by Brayshaw, but if other players took xmas day off then they did some really solid sessions on boxing day or Christmas Eve.

Did you end up successful or go down in a blaze of glory Mark Neeld style?

Plenty of hard work and risk involved in both. But can't help but feeling he's had some luck in his time. AFL football player and now multimillion dollar swim wear company owner. Come on. That's not fair!

It limits the number of big games in the first 17 rounds as well as creating a tankapalooza in the last 5 rounds for bottom teams. I'd rather play a mixed fixture in the last 5 rounds and have the comp close enough that a bottom side can knock off a finals contender as well as not tire out the top teams by having them play huge games every week in a short space. It also creates a silly system where you are much better finishing 7th the year before than 6th. I'm fine with playing all 17 teams in the first 17 games, but 6th place shouldn't have to play 1 to 5 just before finals. I like it how it is now where by 6th will play 2 other top 6 teams, 1 middle 6 team and a bottom 6 team, the issue is finding that 5th game but it can be somewhat fair. That's a fair fixture that says if you're good enough you should win plenty of the 5 teams you play twice.

I don't like rolling draws. I think it will be more unfair in some ways if a top team gets lucky one year and has Melb, WB, Saints, GWS, Bris as their 5 teams to play twice and that gifts them a top 4 spot. 5 in to 18 is pretty hard, but I think they've done ok how it is now. 21 games would make it easier to just play 2 from the same group of 6 you finish in and 1 from each other group of 6. From that point of view I'd rather play the better competitive fixture than the financial fixture. Of course that creates the problem of whether it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy and the top teams play the best financial fixtures and stay at the top and the bottom can't spin a profit and stay at the bottom. However I think GWS and Gold Coast will rise soon and throw the order out a bit. Especially if teams like North, Port, Freo, Syd, West Coast and Adelaide stay strong. That should result in some of Richmond, Carlton, Essendon or Collingwood taking a tumble down the ladder. Whether they hit the depth of us, St Kilda and WB I'm not sure. The competition badly needs to see big clubs at the bottom and small clubs at the top and the ladder changing it up year to year. My biggest gripe with the fixture this year is actually the TV games scheduling. The Friday night games for Carlton, Richmond and Collingwood, all whom aren't that high on my finals list is ridiculous. Whilst North (slightly better) and Port (miles better) get little love from Friday night footy. The AFL always said win games and you'll get the exposure, but that's been shown to be a lie.

I've named who I think is in the best 22 and ready on track to play round 1. As preseason goes on I'll try to fill it out. FB: Jetta Dunn ***1*** HB: Garland McDonald Howe C: Vince Jones Lumumba HF: Kent Hogan ****4*** FF: Garlett ****2** ***3**** Foll: Jamar Tyson Cross Int: ****2/3*** Viney ****4***** ***3***** 1) Grimes v Frost. Could fit both in with one on the bench, but mostly I think these two are fighting for part of the best 6 defenders and going small or tall with Dunn/Garland. Gold Coast's 3 prong big forward attack leans towards getting Frost in. But I do want to see him play in preseason first 2) The second tall forward and back up ruck spot or spots comes down to Pedersen, Gawn and Fitzpatrick. I'm not sure if we will fit 2 of these in or go small with the extra forward. If Petracca is a freakish man child capable of playing as an undersized full forward then I say we go that route and then just pick one of Pedersen or Gawn. But if we need the extra tall for structure then so be it and probably hope you can sub at 3/4 time. 3) Half forward/midfield rotation/sub spots are available for Bail, JKH, Petracca, Salem and probably others 4) The remaining midfield spots (which includes one of the half forward spots) should be filled by the likes of Toumpas, Newton, Watts, Salem, Matt Jones, Michie or Brayshaw

That is Pig's breakfast way of naming a team!

Watts is a midfielder/half forward. Treat him as a 185cm player because he rarely uses his height. It should be in competition with JKH, Kent and the midfielders, not for the 2nd ruck spot.

1. Allows him to do handball drills and thus stay participated in training which is likely good for his mental state 2. Lets him keep his leg somewhat elevated which might reduce swelling 3. Reduces any risk that he stumbles on crutches and puts weight on the foot

As a standalone VFL club Willy might actually be better for opportunities. And he may well be moving to the area of study/work etc. So I don't think unless you know the facts you can say either way. I think it's important we have a pathway with Gippsland, but I don't think it's a case that it's a failure to not get everyone.

But there's probably what 10 guys in the league now from Ireland trying to find their way? Brisbane - Hanley bro's Port - Dan Flynn Carl - 3 - Touhy, Sheehan, Ciaran Byrne Geelong - the recruit lad Ess - 1 West Coast - 1 So if you take away Hanley and Touhy as established players it's mainly 1 guy per club and I think there is a reason behind that. The first is probably cost. You can try one speculative guy but that's about it. But with increased professionalism in the game I think there's lots of other reasons why 1 club wouldn't be able to own the Irish recruiting model. Firstly, the best kids now know they have currency and therefore can probably ask for 2 year deals on good money. They can then choose from a variety of clubs. So if they have family in Perth or Adelaide they might go there. Whilst being with a countryman might be nice, they probably are also smarter to split up and therefore develop at their own pace instead of in competition with a fellow Irish recruit because for the one who struggled that would be bad news I'm guessing! And it takes away from development opportunities if you are sharing the coaching. I hope we get an overseas player as it's a wasted opportunity to not have one. But I don't think having one Irish player puts you on track to having more success with them. So if it's an Irish player or Kiwi or American or whatever I don't mind!

You know he got picked up by Geelong right? He was a bit soft to begin with in terms of his attitude and application to training, but he improved quickly and always had a crack in the games. Hopefully one day we have the funds again and can spend the money on these speculative pick ups. Jimmy was a Brownlow medalist, who finished his career shortly before Kennelly became a good player then a premiership player who finished up before Pierce Hanley has now become a top class player. So at the moment I'd say the evidence points to about 1 very good player every decade with a handful or so of solid players. Ciaran Sheehan from Carlton impressed me late in the year, he's one to watch.

But you look at the Cowboys who nailed 3 O line picks in a short time period and have now really rode their O line to what looks like a playoff appearance. That said I think the difference between a top pick and bottom pick is smaller than in the AFL. You just need to find a guy who wins his position and there are more at the top but they come throughout the rounds of the draft. So yeah I'd much rather win the games as well. The one difference is obviously the Quarterback. You only need to look at the Colts going straight from Manning to Luck to see that if there's a QB to be had you may as well tank. Same with Washington. If they had pick 2 and took Griffen it would've saved them a swag of picks that could've given them some much needed depth and RG3 probably would've been heading towards a solid future as at least a midlevel QB.

Oscar Mac - no. He's a beanpole. With Tom, Dunn and Frost ahead of him I don't think he'll see many preseason minutes and would need to play super well to even be considered. ANB - no. He trains well. He's got good endurance. But this knee dislocation will probably mean plenty of time in the rehab group whilst they make sure it doesn't happen again plus get his conditioning back and therefore I can't see him being given much of a chance in the earlier preseason games Stretch - maybe - he had that vital head start of a couple of weeks training. But then has been held back a bit. I could see him getting a bit of preseason footy, maybe coming on in the second half of games. He's a skinny body though so I dont think they'll be too keen to risk him Brayshaw - maybe - he seems to have an appetite to get involved in training. A natural go getter and I believe he had a small scare on Friday but otherwise has been progressing well in training. Petracca - maybe/probably- whilst the training intensity is clearly testing him (which is not a surprise) you can see he's got the size, skills and power to not only compete but to beat experienced players. The questions will be on his repeat efforts and adapting to the pace of the game. But if he keeps making improvements then I think he's on track for preseason footy. He does too many classy things to not be given a chance Last year JKH adapting to training like an absolute pro. He pushed himself in the running, was assured in any skills drills and in any match simulation drills was bobbing up everywhere with his reading of the play and intensity. It's early in preseason but I haven't seen that level from any of the knew draftees. Maybe because the standard of the group has improved. JKH then well and truly backed up his training form in the preseason games. ANB's injury may well cost him time in the preseason games depending on how many of the senior players we play. But otherwise all 4 mids should get a look in for preseason games and form will dictate.

http://www.aflplayerratings.com.au/Ratings/Player/119496/Zak-JONES A decent first season. Bit different being NEAFL and less opportunities but not dissimilar to Salem in many ways.