Curry & Beer

I still maintain we could have easily ended on 13 wins last year, in fact after re-watching the final round I believe we should have won that too and finished on 14. That's about the number I am expecting them to actually, not almost, achieve this season

you conclude the person that wrote the injury report doesn't know what they're talking about? i'll take the lad's own words off the club website as posted above thanks

My link "The young All Australian backman says there is a faint chance he'll be fit enough to face the Sydney Swans in the Demons' season opener against Sydney after successful surgery and a previously flawless pre-season. He has also been buoyed by the recent news his layoff will be between eight to 10 weeks, rather than the minimum three months that was originally projected." He hurt himself nearly 3 weeks ago so really it should be another 5-7 weeks, not 10-12 shouldn't it????? Note: 5-7 would be consistent with 'faint chance for rd1"

well I believe the question is 'what factor(s) have remained over two administrations concerning travel to Adelaide' putting it down to coincidence is not enough for me I would love to see the same analysis across the same timeframe for all venues.. perhaps I will be bored enough at some stage to do it

Once again YOU are missing the point, we are not discussing the last few years, we never were, yes I am aware we got back-to-back spoons, we are discussing the last DECADE, where at times we were on top of the ladder at signifigant stages of seasons and occupied a top 4 spot for many many weeks, yet still lost every single time we went to AAMI 15 in a row. 10 years. Get it? Oh and as I have already pointed out, it is not just losing, it is getting absolutely belted most of the time

That's the opposite of what you're doing 2001-2010 Record at AAMI: 0 out of 15, 0% Record elsewhere: say 100 out of 200, 50% There is obviously SOMETHING in it, we have not got the last 10 spoons At one point it was discussed that we could only afford to stay in absolute s--tholes when we went over there, so there's a start

nailed it!

sorry but 15 in a row over the course of a decade is ridiculously poor and out of proportion to how we have actually travelled as a side, we played finals half those years rememeber. Talk about head in the sand.

Bartram Warnock Rivers Grimes Garland Davey Morton Moloney Trengove Dunn Watts Bennell Wonaeamirri Green Jurrah Jamar Sylvia Scully MacDonald Spencer Jones McKenzie Bail Bate Strauss Jetta

we have only Frawley, maybe Petterd

re-scheduling the intraclub match could also be indicative of that

you mean figuratively. If he physically was head and shoulders above Watts he'd be about 230 cm tall.

Don't forget we have Lucas Cook now, the bloke is massive. They said at the AGM that the intention is for him and Watts to be dual key forward targets (paraphrasing). We also have Jurrah, Petterd, Bate and Dunn and assumedly the services of a resting ruckman.. I just don't think we will ever be at the point where everybody is looking at Watts as the key focus of the forwardline the way it happened with Neitz. As you say he could definitely play as a tall midfielder, we have seen glimpses of some brilliant agility, cleanliness below the knees, footwork etc it looks like basketball skills translated into footy, which is exactly what it is. He could become anything and I agree it is not likely to be a David Neitz type. I simply don't care though if anyone says 'yeah but he's not a KPP'. The same goes for Cale Morton, both of these players have the potential to play almost any position on the ground and I suspect Bailey will be chucking them all over the place in order to create headaches for the opposition and swing games our way Three more sleeps til FOOTY

well you are discussing issues of media sensationalism and bias, i'm not interested in such things. If we become premiership contenders then the blokes at the top of our best and fairest list will be stars no matter what the big-club-pandering media has to say about it you've just said he might end up a James Hird type, which is one of your three examples of a 'star'. If Watts ends up this type of player why will he not be recognised like Hird was? Just becaue he was drafted at 1 as a KPP, who cares?

Don't worry about Watts. I used to be a skeptic like you, but I've re-watched heaps of games from last year and I'm convinced he has all the weapons. Don't forget he will have the best midfield in the comp feeding him and he will be really hard to stop. Oppositions will have to worry about Jurrah, hopefully Cook, a resting ruckman (spencer/Jamar/Gawn) and Ricky P, Bate and Dunn, all on the end of Sylvia/Scully/Viney etc service things are looking very good

Morton and Grimes are nowhere near being set in stone as labelled 'defenders'. I personally think Morton will end up a wingman who plays a semi-key forward role and kicks a bag regularly, and Grimes has always been a mdfielder, he is just starting out of HBF like a million others have before him. Frawley is set to become what Mal Michael was to Brisbane and Scarlett was to Geelong. He won't get many votes on Brownlow night but that is not what defines a 'star' in my opinion, Full Back is every bit as important as Full Forward because they keep you from getting matches ripped away from you by the dominance of some gorilla in the other side

OK folks here's the awful, awful stats. 15 consecutive losses at AAMI, 11 of them by over 40 points and 6 of them by over 70!!! 2010 21 AAMI Melbourne 2.6 5.10 8.11 11.17 (83) Port Adel 3.2 8.2 15.6 17.10 (112) Lost -29 2010 13 AAMI Melbourne 1.3 3.5 8.6 11.7 (73) Adelaide 4.6 9.10 10.19 16.21 (117) Lost -44 2009 3 AAMI Melbourne 2.1 4.4 7.5 14.6 (90) Port Adel 3.3 10.5 16.12 22.15 (147) Lost -57 2008 21 AAMI Melbourne 1.0 2.4 4.8 7.9 (51) Port Adel 6.6 9.10 10.17 18.21 (129) Lost -78 2008 8 AAMI Melbourne 4.4 6.5 7.7 11.8 (74) Adelaide 8.1 12.6 15.15 22.18 (150) Lost -76 2007 17 AAMI Melbourne 2.3 6.6 7.7 11.8 (74) Port Adel 8.3 11.6 19.10 25.13 (163) Lost -89 2006 22 AAMI Melbourne 4.3 9.3 13.6 14.10 (94) Adelaide 7.3 12.8 17.10 23.14 (152) Lost -58 2005 19 AAMI Melbourne 2.1 5.1 7.2 7.4 (46) Adelaide 2.4 6.10 8.15 13.22 (100) Lost -54 2005 15 AAMI Melbourne 1.1 3.5 5.7 11.9 (75) Port Adel 4.4 11.9 17.13 20.17 (137) Lost -62 2004 19 AAMI Melbourne 1.6 3.9 4.14 6.16 (52) Port Adel 5.2 7.7 11.12 18.17 (125) Lost -73 2004 14 AAMI Melbourne 2.5 5.8 8.10 10.13 (73) Adelaide 7.1 13.7 16.10 22.13 (145) Lost -72 2003 20 AAMI Melbourne 2.0 6.5 10.6 15.8 (98) Port Adel 6.2 10.3 14.6 17.10 (112) Lost -14 2003 12 AAMI Melbourne 1.1 3.2 7.5 10.5 (65) Adelaide 6.2 9.7 15.10 21.12 (138) Lost -73 2002 17 AAMI Melbourne 3.2 9.4 11.6 17.10 (112) Port Adel 6.4 12.7 14.10 17.14 (116) Lost -4 2001 9 AAMI Melbourne 1.4 2.8 6.8 9.14 (68) Port Adel 4.1 6.7 11.8 13.10 (88) Lost -20

I totally agree with that, some of the things we have seen him do already have been pretty special, will be a winger/hff/forward pocketer who will kick the odd bag of 4 every now and then, handy member of a flag side Wolfmother what is so good about Grimes compared to Watts?

I expect us to finish ahead of both of these sides this year and I expect to beat them on Friday. However, it is pretty meaningless either way. I really don't want to see more injuries, the last couple of years we have had many causalties in the practice matches. Frawley and Petterd are enough for now! The best thing about the NAB is seeing some blokes you normally wouldn't see, I'm thinking the likes of Tapscott, Blease, Cook, Howe, Jetta, Maric, Gawn, Martin etc If we lose we will probably play at Casey next week which is fine by me (or is Casey out of action?)

Hahah me too 10 years consecutive full MCC and full MFC

As I said recently, he's in Travis Johnstone land. Has all the gifts but has been unable to translate them into consistent quality performance thus far. I suspect like Johnstone it is at least partially in the grey matter.

Trengove Scully Watts Morton Grimes Jurrah Frawley Sylvia any of the above could be become that 'top 5' type player that you describe. I agree Scully looks the most likely. Gysberts Garland Petterd Jones McKenzie Bennell and others make up a great supporting cast

I agree we should have kept Bruce, but we don't know what goes on behind closed doors and in the end you have to back the club with their decisions. At the end of the day, being without Bruce is not going to have a huge effect. Scully looks destined to be a top5 of the comp type player, the type of player that leads you to a flag, must be kept at all costs

That really is a stupid post. You start out by saying we stuffed up by not keeping Bruce, in other words, by STANDING OUR GROUND and not caving to his contract demands, he walked. Then you go and say we will be 'a soft touch' if we pay over the odds for Scully (read: NOT stand our ground). So basically you won't be happy either way. What you want is for the club to be strong and pay players what they're worth, but somehow in doing that they are not to let any players walk to other clubs. What you are asking for is impossible, it is a total contradiction. If we don't pay Scully and the like buckets of cash, someone else will, and the sad thing is we won't be able to afford them all. Unfortunately it is just the way the cookie crumbles. How anyone could be down on the club in terms of list management is totally beyond me, we have gone from train wreck to superpower threat in a few years. Show some respect and have some perspective.

ahhh right I see. cheers. Cheers others for words on Tapscott, it's almost hard to believe we have other gems in the making, there are going to be some good players trying to break into the side