DeeSpencer

Let me tell you a story Dan Hannebery: - Wasn't close to peak fitness in first season, rocked up in poor condition - Egging incident on muck up day - Was in a caravan that rolled through a campsite at falls festival over Christmas period - Loves a night out when back in town due to split round etc with his old school mates All very minor things and to say he was some part of bad culture would be crazy. He's a freak gut runner and hard as can be as witnessed in last years grand final. But that's a so called wrap sheet of a guy who's been playing in Sydney. Now who knows what is true of Martin but his wrap sheet has Hannebery's well and truly covered. My point is how much will the Sydney culture theory work when implemented in Melbourne. I'd love to get Martin. But if we do then I hope we are prepared for the occasional off field drama because I doubt a Tiger changes his spots. The question is how good is he on field? Has he even improved much from his first year? Does he do enough two way running and in and under work? I was at the Rich v Carl final and I saw a lot of great stuff from Judd, Cotchin and Murphy, but especially when the momentum swung I didn't see much of Dusty.

If Sam Fisher and Nick Dal Santo leave then they might be in trouble. But at the same time if they can find 1 or 2 capable big defenders to go with some other reliable backmen (S. Fisher, Roberton, Dempster, Wright, Geary) they'll have a good defense. If Dal Santo stays they'll have Hayes, Dal Santo, Montagna, Ray, C. Jones, Armitage, Steven and some other decent kids, there's enough to work with there. Up forward though with Riewoldt another year older and no Milne it's going to fall on the midfield or guys ilke Tom Lee to kick goals. They wont be scoring much. Personally if I was the saints I'd probably keep Sam Fisher, he's a seriously good player and will keep a strong back 6 together and at the same time get one of these young big guys in Delaney or Bruce they are keen on, or both if the price is right. But I'd ship off Dal Santo if the price is right and go all out for Tom Boyd. That way it doesn't matter if they are rubbish next year the fans will have a genuine prospect to cheer for and the saints will have a nicely balanced line up to work from into the future. Not to mention the development advantages that 1-2 years alongside Riewoldt would provide a Boyd. Personally the saints seemed to improve toward the end of the year. I'd say they could win anywhere between 4 and 9 games. I'd set the line at 6. Melbourne on the other hand could go anywhere between 3 and 8 wins but I'd set the line at 5. Unless we work absolute magic in the draft and trade period we won't have the midfield talent to beat teams like the dogs and saints on a consistent basis. We should expect to break even with them but I can't see us routinely beating anyone unless a team has an absolute shocker. I'd love a season like the dogs had this year for us next year. By getting a nice draw of some beatable opponents later in the season with a settled side they ended up getting 8 wins. Next year we need consistent performances even in losses and then hopefully at some stage we hit a couple of flat teams and can bolster the numbers. But it's more about how we play than the wins. The saints and dogs both finished with percentages in the 80's. I'd take that for sure.

I hope they throw all those yahoos on their dirt bikes into prison straight from the court attendance. Seriously I'm all for public safety but you'd think you'd let the Police have some discretion to issue a fine or not. Complete waste of money if you had to rock up to court for it.

Well that's not entirely true. But I doubt we have any interest in Dal Santo. He'd be a waste.

I just hope Jack is staying because Melbourne is a place where HE can get the best out of HIMSELF. Not because of some belief Roos will do it for him. The old regime very well might have held Jack back. But at the end of the day coaches can only do so much and it's not like they were holding him out of senior footy and chances of different positions. They went to far the other way. If he left it would've been because Melbourne couldn't develop him, which in it's own way is just as much an indictment on him as it would be us.

I can. As long as he respects Buckley's authority (and after being unceremoniously dumped at Brisbane he probably would) then he'd make the perfect hard man for Buckley's reforming agenda and young players. Especially if he takes on midfield coach where Bucks is set to stick by Josh Thomas, Ben Kennedy, Sidebottom, Beams, Sam Dwyer and possibly lose Daisy and keep Swanny in the forward line.

In his peak yes, but he fizzled on as an average full forward and I don't mean that in a harsh way and captain. The neitz and Daniher years were great but without legacy. There was no carry over to a Woewodin or a hard and ruthless Jeff White or Stephen Powell or Scotty Thompson or Brock McLean as captain. I suppose James McDonald was the first right man but he ended up captain too late and then was indisposed. Bruce and Green captain was yuck. Anyway back on topic Chapman (or Cross or both) would be wonderful. Chappy is the better performed on field this year but you have to factor in he missed most of the year and he won't have the same impact if he never makes the field. Tough call by all, especially Geelong

Matt Rosa is injured more than healthy and barely up to it. We can find younger and better options. Stokes will get a new contract and if not will sign with a contender who will offer him as much as we could, he's quality. What's the need for Jolly when we have Jamar? Why carry 2 when we have guys in Gawn and Spencer who are proven at least decent. Adams isn't a potential superstar. He's a good ordinary young midfielder. Finds the footy, needs to work on his disposal. He's worth a first round pick, probably value around mid first rounder. Certainly not worth offering 19 and another second rounder. Spencer is steak knives I'm not sure he adds anything to the trade. In reality what you've done is suggested we add a bunch of often sub grade talent. Whilst we need to boost midfield depth we need to find room for the guys we have. Presuming Sylvia signs on we will have Jones, Viney, McKenzie, Trengove, Sylvia, Toumpas, Matt Jones, Evans, Kent, Byrnes who are all around the mark at AFL level. We don't need to add in something like 6 guys who aren't up to scratch. What I'd suggest is we target a mature ready made type like Cross to take over from Rodan's job as a guy who may not play a lot of game time. We then add 1 or 2 decent trade ins like Taylor Adams. We then try 1 or 2 depending how we go in the trades as mature age guys either recycled from other clubs or from state leagues. We can't fill our list with Magner's and Couch's because as you'll notice if they aren't up to it then it doesn't help you. I'm thinking. Pick 2 - draft unless an absolute top liner is available Priority pick - Trade 2nd round pick Potential trade Other draft picks - Draft Add free agent Cross Add a mature player or free agent

Let me start by saying that rookie list is absolute trash. Young Stark might be worth a look but the other 5 are proven non AFL performers. Darren Jolly - hell no Whoever gets scrapped out of Corey Enright..... why would you even put his name in that conversation Pick up Stokes? What like he would ever go near us Liam Patrick!!! Matt Rosa 2 draft picks and Spencer for Taylor Adams oh lord

But if the talent is there (and I believe there isn't nearly enough talent across AFL for all list especially ours) we should add speculative players via the rookie list instead of via the senior list. For example last year Gillies could've been a rookie spot as others have mentioned.

Or he could be the next Joel Selwood who starts well and just keeps getting better Wines tonight had 14 or so touches, no tackles and a reasonably ineffective game. Toumpas against Geelong down in Geelong in the wet (in a game that counted for so much less) has 25 odd touches. Joel Selwood for many years has been considered a gun. Travis Boak was taken 2 picks above Selwood in the draft and after a season Port supporters were scratching their head as Boak ran around a bit like a headless chook whilst Selwood became a key part of a super team. But as of now both are captains and top leaders at their club. Boak gets tagged most weeks but still impacts games especially at key moments which is also something Selwood is known for. Selwood is the ultimate hard inside player in the league, but Boak has the ability to run and carry and break lines that Selwood couldn't do. No fan from either club would be disappointed in the player they have. Lets back ourselves in to develop a guy in Toumpas with outstanding potential. Because both Wines and Toumpas have great potential now and also both are miles off consistent top AFL mids. Wines has the lead but showed tonight he has a lot of work to do as well to be the best.

Will attend a game with you in Range Rover, Ben Hur, Satyrihome or whatever his name is all sit with us. That way whatever action there is on the field will be trumped by the action off it. There really isn't enough match making on this site! We need to bring together some more demon families over time, keep the blood pure as well like the um oh I can't say that on demonland.

I could certainly see Parkin going for it, but the underlying driver I think is Jackson's belief in Roos as the best candidate and doing what he needed to do to get Roos on board. At the same time he's then formulated this plan with Roos and when he applies his pragmatism and business thinking it makes sense. Now I don't want to do I told you so's and sound like we did when we heard the rumour that Melbourne snatched Neeld away from Adelaide, but I really liked hearing reports on MMM pre game from fat head Barrett that potential coaching candidates in Tudor and Simpson were preferred the Melbourne senior assistant gig under Roos than the Brisbane senior coach job. That says a hell of a lot for a Roos.

1 year deal please unless only the first year is for playing. We look at Pedersen, Byrnes, Jamar all with year(s) to run on their contracts and it looks stupid. Even Rodan got 2 years some how.

Some talk of the Norm Smith curse. Reminds me of the curse of the Bambino which in 2004 down 0-3 and seeminly out the Red Socks rallied to win their first world series in 80 odd years. My understanding of what probably happened barring divine intervention or black magic was that the players were no longer burdened by history and when all was almost lost rallied and won. Right now our players should lose the burden of the recent history from 2007 on wards. They should look to Roos and the coaching team and outsiders not weighed down by the past and not be concerned about premiership droughts. When we make finals again then we can't start to worry about Norm Smith

Regardless of initial contract they can upgrade him (it's a promotion!). But we had 4 rookies this year and you can have up to 6 and take 2 players off the main list and then upgrade 2 at the start of the year. Richmond did it with Petterd I believe. That's where I'd see Clisby at. Leave him as a rookie but don't add your full quota of main list players. Is effectively a bet each way. Especially if the last spots on the list come down to recycled players like a Gillies or Rodan, the rookie list is perfect.

I just see absolutely no harm in multiple captains at a time when we are still in for the long haul. Until one of our players reaches Selwood, Hodge, Watson, Nick Riewold, J Brown, Pav level of consistency why burden any individual

This just shows how stuffed up Essendon is right now. Surely anyone switched on would just let that slide as a cheap shot from Swann and move on. Lawyers see an opportunity to up their billables and go for it. We all know cheating is pretty harsh but they've been found to bring the game into disrepute, I don't see how anyone would side with them. No way does Swann apologise.

Id be surprised if it isn't the recently appointed CFO de Crespny (sp?). Has previously worked at AFL

I'd say he's under the pump. But there are plenty of other prime delisting candidates and only so many good players get picked in drafts each year. Getting rid of Taggert means another late draft or rookie pick who have a very low success rate. In a lot of ways it's better sticking with Taggert who we've invested 2 years into getting fit, getting over his back injuries in year one and who played some reasonable games at Casey. Certainly has nice foot skills which is another positive for him and a good size for a midfielder/half forward. Reminds me a bit of Col Sylvia as well in the fact he's taking a while to get started and seems to have some tricks but can't do the basics ie. gather his 20 touches a week.

Grimes is going to HBF for sure. McDonald won't move from CHB. The interesting one is Watts. I can't see Roos weakening the midfield running power by letting Watts sit in a forward pocket and kick a couple of goals on the lead each week. Not if Clark, Hogan and Dawes are around. Jacky boy is going to have to get running, chasing, tackling into is game in some role. Be it high half forward, wing or half back. Maybe all 3.

Nice theory Chook. But the answer is no. Remember the whole idea of the senior assistant is for someone to be groomed early and for the playing group to become accustom to them and vice versa. It's not a position where we can take 2 guys and let them battle it out. The senior assistant is to be the exact opposite of the Roos saviour role. It's to be someone well qualified and capable and then let them gain experience. It's to guarantee stability within the FD which we've badly missed.

Certainly contempt of court. Players and coaches get warned/fined if they discuss tribunal cases and this isn't much different.

Jetta can pretty much play any position forward, midfield or back.....in the VFL.

Why is everyone's outrageous predictions that Magner will become a part of our 22. How does that make us better? The guys a VFL player. Slow, average skills, why not hope one of our quick and skillful players can find the pill.