DeeSpencer

But they are professional football players who can't perform the most important skill with reliability. I agree there's not much point harping on about it but it's still a discussion point. And sure there are plenty of basketballers who can't shoot (most starting C's in the NBA) and even ice hockey players who make the team as enforces who probably can barely skate yet alone do much with the puck but still it's annoying. McDonald and McKenzie in particular would be even more highly rated if they could kick. And Bail and Nicholson would hold promise and potential not negativity about their futures.

If Jones plays as he does last year and the sides the same (2 wins, percentage in the 50's) he'll finish top 5, if the side has improved to a competent side that has a percentage of around 80% then even with Jones playing every game and average around 20 touches he won't be top 10. A competent team has a couple of consistent forwards (Dawes, Clark, Howe maybe), a few reliable defenders (any of Frawley, McDonald, Grimes, Garland) and at least some quality class midfielders (N. Jones, Vince, Tyson, Viney) and maybe a ruckman or tagger who finish in the top 10 B+F. Matt Jones could be in or around the best 22 for the next 5 years, play over 100 games and be a good servant of the club without finishing top 10 in the B+F again. Kent's potential looks like at worst he becomes a depth midfielder. But with good development he has burst speed (compared to Jones who has a high motor prolonged speed), a thumping left foot and whilst Jones has desire at the contest Kent can be strong and powerful when the ball is up for grabs. He's a much more important signing I believe. Especially as he's a WA boy.

Can't wait for Hogan to be back in full training in 1-2 months and playing at round 10

Matt Jones' kicking. That will be the difference between him being a consistent reliable best 22 mid who can play half back or half forward and rack up touches or a list clogger. For that reason I'm a bit apprehensive about the length of contract. Love getting Kent locked away. His knee injury is a pain because I think the Roos system will been awesome for him and increased fitness would see him break out at some stage in to a really consistent and talented player

Oh so you're admitting you're constant standing up for bad players is just your form of trolling. As for the 3k is a good measure of endurance and speed. Some clubs have moved to 2k to get more focus on speed. Either are more relevant than 10-12k because players do that distance over 2 hours with plenty of rest. Testing a straight up 12k would be useless

Most clubs have a couple of effort guys who finish top 5 in the running but aren't great footballers. Just like Blease (pace) and Strauss (kicking) are on the list for other attributes. At least Cross and McDonald are two best 22 in the top 4. What I want to know is who was 5-10 and hopefully that they all ran quick times. I'd be hoping it would be N. Jones, Trengove, Vince, McKenzie and good times from the likes of Viney, Tyson and Michie. More than anyone I'd would love to know where Watts finished and whether he's done a huge PB.

pfft. They are rubbish kicks. Plus Nicholson can't defend and is soft and Bail can't find the footy consistently as a forward or mid and has concussion issues. I once had hope for both of them but right now they head the list of last season candidates

Conversely having excess stock in January might be a way to lose money not make it. It's a bummer they didn't have the gear but like you said I hope it's for good reasons. Are they due to get the 2014 range in soon that could be one answer? The shop and it's location intrigues me. Brunton ave not a great place for a shop on non match days. Could be an aspect of the business to be examined post fixing the core

No idea about soccer and basketball except to say Basketball quarters go what 12 minutes? With stops for rest in between for free throws and subs no doubt basketball players are fit but not near AFL fit. Same with soccer. The season is much longer so the fitness base is often developed and kept through the year in skill drills and games. The other thing to consider is the average soccer player is likely 10kg or more lighter than an AFL player of the same height. Either way sprinters don't just run 100m. Marathon runners do less than the 42km obviously but do 100+ km per week. Same with 5 or 10km runners. And remember AFL players do run 100M + from one end to the other at steady speeds as midfielders before burst efforts around the ball. Our 300m sprint is designed to increase that high motoring ability followed by some sprints to replicate efforts around the ball. It makes sense to me

A lot of players at a range of clubs are where Dawes is at. Especially the teams who have gone deep in September are likely to have guys coming back late. We just aren't used to it happening successfully of late and Dawes is a big name so there's interest. Dawes was doing minimal out door running before Xmas. It's logical that he now does a couple of weeks of long steady running that seems to be Misson's post injury standard. Then another couple of weeks probably in some drills then in to separate running. A couple of months at least until any real games so I'm not concerned. By the way no tennis players but I did a lap of the tan after the session and I saw Luke Wright from the Melbourne stars out for a walk in the park with a baby in a pram and (what I presume) is his wife/partner. She was a fair sort. And I knew it was him because he went and got in a Melbourne Stars SUV which they've obviously given him to drive around whilst he's here. The poms obviously struggle in the Test cricket but it seems almost one in every team in the big bash. Wright, Butler, Morgan, Lumb, Shah, Bopara, Kieswetter and Hales, not a bad T20 line up batting wise.

Despite the bad playoff loss (which is very MFC) my bad team nomination for us is the 2012/13 Kansas City Chiefs. For those who don't follow NFL they replaced their micromanaging GM with one from a successful organisation and hired a well respected experienced coach and have gone from 2 wins and last to 11 wins and finals. http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/10232371/kansas-city-sports-agony Read the stuff in here about Bill Polian - he's like the worst bits of Schwab and Neeld combined.

I'd trade Blease for almost any player on another AFL main list. Without top line fitness he very few make it and he has plenty of other gaps in his game. But Blease wont be traded if he has another season in 2014 like his 2013. He'll be delisted.

So I got there at about 10:10 which coincided with the start of the running after the end of what I presume was more footy related. As noted no Hogan or Clark by the time I was there. Modified programs: Dawes - doing a few laps and looking ok Salem - didn't see how much he did but finished early Jamar - not doing a lot Gawn - doing some sprints Clisby - they were working him hard with repeat sprints, possibly trying to get his speed up instead of fitness? Byrnes and Viney did some laps (after coming from the main group) Kent and Riley running copious laps at a good pace. Kent leading Riley out and Kenty was looking much more defined in the upper body (whilst still solid) and leaner in the lower body, I was impressed how he looked. Riley looked like a guy coming back from a bigger injury but moved on. Main group: 300m sprints. Followed by a long modified suicide like sprints between markers like 60m, 40m, 20m sprints They went off in 3 different groups divided in to pairs each time Group A: McDonald, Toumpas, Jones, Bail, Cross, M. Jones, Trengove, Howe, Grimes, Watts, Vince, McKenzie, Nicholson, Evans, Barry Toumpas chasing McDonald and holding off Jones. Doing really well in the 300m then battling but working hard in the sprints. Everyone else keeping up really. Good to see Evans and Barry in this group. Great to see Watts! Group B Frawley, Michie, Tyson, Spencer, Harmes, Kennedy-Harris, Hunt, Tapscott, Strauss Not a lot to note here. Pretty much everyone doing well. Good to see Tapscott in the main stuff and running well Group C Pedersen, Georgiou, Garland, Blease, Terlich, Jetta, Dunn, King Blease might have tired at the 300's but he was beating the rest off in the repeat sprints. So it was a mix bag. The highlight here was on the last 300m about 60m in King dropped behind his partner Dunn who encouraged him to hurry up and at the moment he (whilst still running) had a big spray of powerade on the field, battling on he went another 50m before falling to the ground in a big heaving mess which caused a big laugh from the main group. But he got up and powered on to finish the 300m and a lot of the team mates cheered him on and gave him a pat on the back. At the end of training a 4 of Cross, Tyson, Bail and McKenzie did some quick fire handball practice. Good to see. Frawley had a little kick of the footy and Spencer practice some contested marking body work with Rawlings. Strauss and McDonald (I think) were doing some tackling practice against each other (possibly just get a bit of feel and contract on to their shoulder post surgery).

I presume those who miss finals get a couple of weeks holiday in September which then added to the 2 over Christmas is their 4 week break. For those who play finals I think there is usually time between the end of the trade period (1 week before the end of October) and the start of preseason and draft (which is usually a week in to November for finals teams). They'd just have to plan their preseason during the weeks post finals in trade weeks and so on.

I'm not trying to argue that the guy is lazy. You don't become a premiership coach, 300+ game player etc etc by being lazy. I'm just saying that he's already started this job why take time off already? I'm not convinced he had a super busy year just because he traveled to Melbourne for Sundays and Mondays and coached a part time academy at the swans. There would'e been plenty of time off in all of that and he's just had 2 weeks over Christmas break The decision is made and done I'm not going to waste anyones time sending emails. Hopefully the players turn up in good shape and train well without the main man. If they don't then I think Roosy will regret his extra holiday.

And do you think Clarkson and the other AFL coaches have just been resting on their laurels during that period? Good job on him flying to WA but that was what he decided to do above and beyond his normal roles. But usually attending training is a normal role for a senior coach. You're blind faith approach with everyone seems to have worked so well hasn't it? Maybe demonland quoting has decided to stop trying to print your drive when you continue to stick up for everything that the club does.

I know it was likely prebooked and so on but I'm not overly happy about this. We are paying the man close to 50% more than anyone has ever been paid before to coach AFL and he's taking an extra holiday?

A successful guy with a positive attitude and a range of skills. Kind of reminds me of an older version of Brad Miller in terms of disposition and character. The specifics might be difficult but I could see a role in player development as a mentor where he can contribute across a broad range of topics as a guy who knows footy, fitness, motivation, disappointment etc. I know we've got the development coaches in Allison and Miller and also the development manager in Nichol but there could be another role in that team.

Chiefs 27 Colts 31 - Chiefs the better team but I'm hoping for some Luck Saints 24 Eagles 30 - Too cold for the saints Chargers 13 Bengals 24 - Defense 49ers 16 Packers 14 - Defense

Yes but I refuse to write him on after he was recruited to be a tall forward/back up ruck and was miles off in terms of ability both skill wise and athletically to contribute at that position. Not only that but we gave him a 3 year deal as well. At least now he gets a full preseason aiming to improve for his best fit as a back up key defender and might prove some what capable in that job. Which would put him way ahead of Gysberts. Unfortunately he's not out of contract and playing for his career right away.

Since 2007 LF: 73, 113, 67. 64, 82, 69, 60 JR: 40, 75, 51, 53, 16, 41, 72 Or totals: 113, 188, 118, 117, 98, 110, 132 2011 Riewoldt and Vickery: 62 + 36 = 98 2011 Cloke and Dawes 69 + 27 = 96 2012 Walker and Tippett 63 + 39 = 102 2013 Josh Kennedy and Jack Darling 60 + 42 = 102 So yeah for consistency these guys have smashed it out of the park with only Roughy's injury putting them under 100. But only in the 2 premiership years have they gone past 120 and only in 2008 have they put up a huge number. Other decent key forward partnerships have got to around that 100 mark. 120 goals or 60 each is only 3 goals a game each is my point. What I'm trying to say is that Franklin and Roughead as a combination create so much danger because of how much they contributed to games as players and what they did to the rest of the forward line and team with match ups and so on. Besides 2008 they rarely ripped teams apart on pure goal kicking. It's what made the Fev and Brown combination in Voss' mind such a bad idea. So Clark, Dawes, Hogan and throw in Howe in a bad side might only get to 120 goals from all 4 of them combined yet can still have a massive impact on the team.

As good as they are as players the Hawks guys haven't really dominated the goal kicking besides 2008 though have they?Hogan and Dawes don't compare with Franklin and Roughed either in goal kicking output or in mobility, no one is claiming that. But Clark likely eclipses Hale in both talent and mobility and Gunston is the better goal kicker but I'd have Howe as just as mobile and likely more effective when pushed in to the midfield. As some have mentioned finding our version of Breust, Puopolo and Rioli would be harder

Dawes 85-90% centre half forward/forward pocket/full forward Hogan 75-80% forward Clark 65% forward, 25% ruck Howe 65% forward, 25% midfield Add those together and it's 300% forward or the equivalent of only 3 of them in the forward line at any one stage. As long as you get the rotations right it's pretty simple. I'd start Hogan on the bench for a couple of minutes, as Hogan comes on flick Howe in to the midfield, when Howe gets tired after a 3 minute midfield burst it's about time for Clark to do a stint in the ruck by which time that is over he goes to the goal square and Hogan goes up to CHF and lets Dawes have a spell on the bench. That's just an example but you get the point. I suppose an even simpler way would be that if all 3 of Hogan, Dawes and Clark are in the forward line at once then Howe goes to a wing until one of the big 3 take a rest or Clark goes in to the ruck. There are also going to be games when Hogan isn't having a great day. I'm almost certain of that. No young key forward has played consistently great footy. Buddy didn't. Don't think Jeremy Cameron was a star year 1 (and even had quiet games year 2). Maybe Carey but who knows. Daniher last year certainly showed glimpses but also did a lot of nothing. There will be games where it makes sense for Hogan to be subbed out. Same can be said for Dawes especially if he doesn't have a huge fitness base under him then at the start of the year he might be a great candidate for coming out of a game at 3/4 time and seeing if Clark and Hogan can do the job. I don't expect the forwards to be unstoppable. Key forward combinations are rarely that great anyway especially in a really bad team. But I'm excited about how they go as footballers and the benefit they can provide the rest of the team even without putting it on the scoreboard together. Anyone who saw Hale take some key marks early, Gunston get a mismatch and Lance Franklin win crucial loose balls across half forward and provide a physical threat to the opposition in the grand final will know the value of good big guys. And yet Hawthorn this year rarely were the power forward dominant team that they were in 2008.

Some games where we were competitive are ok. But how anyone can sit through the sheer incompetence of our thrashings is beyond me. Its embarrassing the mistakes you see.

Pretty sure all NAB Challenge games are covered which is awesome! The weekly program isn't a bad idea. Although I think they fit some footy news in on Summer 360 and Fox Sports News I'd be happy with them replaying all games over and over as long as they left out Melbourne's 20 losses this year.