Keyser Söze

Your paranoia knows no bounds! He has already released a statement through his (ex)manager to say he has not signed an AFL contract. And from that, the paranoid conclusion is that he must have signed some other contract instead, but not an AFL one? Of course, that way he can play funny buggers at press conferences and have a clear conscience! Come on...

Hints that he hasn't signed and is waiting til the end of the season to decide? Yeah, I bet that juicy rumour will spread like wildfire...

Exaclty. Ablett found out what was on offer, took his time to make a decision, and through the whispers out of GC, Mark Thompson lost his rag and made the decision an easy one for Ablett to make at the END OF THE SEASON.

And also - so far I've heard Dale Thomas and Marc Murphy say to the media that they don't intend to go. I've not heard anything from Bartel, Swan, Pendlebury, Greenwood or a host of others linked to GWS. Now why have we not heard from Scully? When is the last time you saw an AFL club have one of their 2nd year players front the media when this sort of frenzy surrounds them? Never. It just doesn't happen.

Can anyone tell me why they think Scully would have rushed a decision and signed with GWS already, instead of waiting til the end of the season, as is the smart option? There's no reasonable case for him having already signed.

Eddie is happily being played by Gubby Allan. Gubby creates the chaos he wants. Eddie gets his headline. And our more stupid and paranoid supporters boo and demand that Scully be played at Casey and effectively chase him out the door, into Gubby's waiting hands.

I thought Jim expertly shifted the focus back onto Eddie and his players when asked about Dcully. Eddie even sounded a little caught off guard. Paraphrasing here but Eddie countered with "our 3 stars will definitely be staying at Collingwood... well, I hope." It was a bit clumsy. Every time Eddie tried to push his agenda of turning the Scully situation, the money & playing a player in the seniors who might go, into a talking point, Jimmy just shuffled deftly to take the stance of "we are all about creating an atmosphere where NO player would want to leave the club." Jim seemed to fully understand the best option is to remain positive, maintain a united front and not give much credence what is still only unfounded speculation. Our best chance of keeping Scully is to show him all the reasons why he should stay, and then have the confidence that he will make the right decision when the ball is left in his court.

Do you have a point?

I dunno... Maybe you should ask Gary Jack? He was not only a rugby league supporter, but a star of the game. He let his son Kieran follow and eventually play AFL. GWS has just signed on a young bloke in their area by the name of Ned Mortimer. He is the son of rugby league great Chris Mortimer. I remember as a young kid, my dad desperately wanted me to play footy, but I was more interested in basketball, so he failed miserably. It was not until I was a teenager and started to see footy as a superior game in my own right, that I began to follow closely and play.

tess, once again, you show you know little about football. In this case, especially recruiting.

Frankly, it's embarrassing that some people think that would be the best course of action.

Zaharakis? No. There is nothing exceptional about his game. Zaka is just a good average footballer. Likely to spend his career as a flanker. Strauss needs to work on some aspects of his game, but his kicking is truly elite. A real weapon. I think we made the correct decision between the 2.

Crawford is still an idiot. Last year he gave us 4/10 (when the closest other teams came was 6/10) and predicted we'd finish bottom. This year he has Jack Watts under the pump, yet for West Coast says that Naitaniu deserves another year before coming under the microscope. Damn fool.

Thats the whole point -- introduce a second team, increase exposure to the sport of AFL, increase popularity... It has a snowball effect and eventually we WILL see kids playing footy on the beach there instead of rugby.

I know it's unreliable, but he's listed as 192cm.

Whilst I wish him all the best, it's still good to see we're not missing much.

Great article again WJ. Simply sublime reading. Melbman, I think that's exactly what we'll see. Scully will learn a lesson from watching Ablett struggle to do it on his own. It may be only temporary, but luckily the year they will struggle is the one directly preceding Scully's decision. Last night I was thanking my stars that GC started up a year ahead of GWS, so we get a live example of the early ineptitude.

Bate, Dunn & Howe are all tall forwards at 192cm+. They don't belong grouped with Jurrah, Petterd & Green as mid-sized forwards.

I'm confused. Many posts on this thread have produced sound logic and reasoning, yet many more newer posts seem to ignore just that...

Bate looked in good nick last night too, a lot more mobile than in recent years.

Called it. Hoodoo existed only in the minds of frustrated supporters. And HT, I think he meant "aS small", probably in terms of bulk, as we all know he's meant to be 196cm.

I didn't think there were clear options for Maric at the time, but he should have come up with something better than that. I also think the idea of curbing players' natural flair is counter-productive and antiquated in today's game. I wouldn't expect to see much change.

Nobody has said we can't. But to predict it is ridiculous.

I found this HeraldSun article on Daniel Wells interesting (surprisingly): http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/i-almost-quit-north-melbourne-daniel-wells/story-e6frf9jf-1226004787295 It seems to me, the best course of action for the club, is to fully offer their support to Scully in making the decision that makes him happy. Stress the happy aspect - because when the decision comes down to happiness (as opposed to money) we will win hands down, every time. And also this: Many don't seem to realise that, as time goes on and Scully still hasn't signed, it is meaningless. Most likely he is in the same boat as Wells was, and is pushing it to the farthest reaches of his mind so that he can concentrate on his footy. A decision will most likely come at the end of the season, as has been his resolution from the beginning.

That's always been typical of Moloney's disposal. Nothing new.