Keyser Söze

I think you're right. If the AFL becomes dominated by a few teams, even if Collingwood is one of them, interest in the game will wane. Severely. Supporters will drop like flies, especially those of bottom-feeding clubs who know they have no chance of winning anything. God knows how so many supporters in the EPL manage to maintain their interest in also-ran clubs... The game itself would suffer. Free Agency is possible, but a restricted format is needed so that it is possible but still difficult and that is the only way it will work. Otherwise the game of AFL will go the way of the NRL...

Gawn won't play more than a couple of games in 2010 and it will only for development's sake. He won't be ready until 2012 at the earliest.

I think its not completely unfounded but we've unfairly copped an inordinate amount of criticism as the media has largely, until recently, ignored the topic of tanking. The spotlight, for the last few seasons at least, has firmly focused on the worst-performing team in the competition, just as much as the best-performing team. Everybody loves a conspiracy theory. But it does, quite elegantly, teach us that to accuse another team of tanking is a huge call and is almost impossible at times (like when you play against richmond). Carlton did cop it somewhat, but never as much as we have. Funny thing is, opposition supporters, like sheep, until about round 15 would tell me how incredibly inept our team was (cos they read it in the heraldsun), then suddenly the tune changed and we were much better than our record showed and should have been winning games but we were 'cheating'.

You're right; I just thought I read in one of the posts this had happened to someone before. Can't find it now. But I'd expect you'd learn from the first mistake.

Unrealistic expectations. I'm not glad that people turned up to see training and were disappointed, but I am glad the club is obviously focusing on what they need to do to get the boys fit & fresh for the 2010 season. Even if that means spontaneously switching training to a different venue and/or format to keep the guys fresh mentally. Sometimes things like this can't be avoided. If its a continual problem then that is worrying, but at the same time, more the fool you for turning up if this has happened to you before.

That makes no sense on Smorgan's behalf. Let's use made-up numbers for the sake of clarity. If the doggies want to do this, instead of Mission paying them $1.5 mil over 2 years for sponsorship, Mission just pay the doggies $1.2 mil for the sponsorship and pay $300K to doggies players for marketing. The doggies essentially get paid the same by Mission, but that money is allocated to circumventing the salary cap.

It'd be a bit premature to headhunt BP when he has done nothing that he can currently be judged on... its in 3 or so years' time when a judgement can be made on his ability. I very much doubt this 'rumour'

Might give Brad Miller a run in the pretty boy stakes by the sounds of it. Mind you, a mate of mine attended the Edelstone wedding; he said he'd never experienced anything like it and never would again. They might be, uh... eccentric, shall we say, but there's something about the Doc and his missus...

You could contribute something meaningful rather than just attacking a player who has given his all to the club. I'd much rather a player that tries and works as hard as Brad does, but just isn't up to it, rather than a player who has all the talent in the world but squanders it through lack of application.

McKenzie is being groomed for this role. No doubt.

The delicious irony...

Great. Another moron who completely misunderstands the concept of 'accepting mediocrity'. Brilliant.

not yet... give him another year. I think he'll be solid.

Depends on how you look at it. You can look at it in terms of what Port gives up to us in return for pick 2, or you can look at the net gain and loss made as a result of doing or not doing the trade. If the trade had have gone through we would not end up with Fitzpatrick as there'd be no spots left on the list. Edit: what E25 said.

SNAP.

-Croad?? hahahahahaha you don't think Warnock is as good as Croad? Wow.

Essentially, instead of Scully, Butcher & Melksham, we ended up with Scully, Trengove & Fitzpatrick. I know which 3 I'd rather have at this stage.

Miller doesn't put pressure on anyone at the selection table. Its gotten to the point where he is little more than a depth player. Warnock is the first chosen in the backline and Garland, when fit, has shown he is a gun. That backline is so stacked that we have the option of playing Garland as a forward. Go back to the drawing board...

Yeah, cos we definitely have a dearth of quality players to play in defence, but way too much quality in the forward line. Your logic is flawed.

I'd put my money on Bailey getting an extension and the release of the 2009 Demons Xmas Video - that'd be HUGE! I'm not sure what position the club's finances are in either, but it could be some announcement that the club is finally back in the black...

Yeah, that's really smart. Use an obscure reference for one guy's nickname that also happens to be the real name of a teammate. That won't confuse anyone. Hey, I know, why don't we call him 'Macca' instead? Hell, Scully's fast - maybe we should call him 'Flash'? And Tapscott is a tanky midfielder, we can call him 'Brent Moloney'.

Re: the circular neck, I like the way the cats have dealt with it on their new jumper. Would be equally as effective on the Dees jumper I think. http://www.geelongcats.com.au/geelongnews/...25/default.aspx Mind you, this is only for aesthetic value, no idea how it effects the functionality of the strip. Edit: forgot link

That would be very strange indeed, considering Gysbert's actual first name is 'Jordy'.

Call him FB if you like, he'll still attract the footy.

Above all, he has a low football IQ.