Rogue

Indeed - that match was raised so many times by Melbourne supporters prior to the 2011 season starting.

I agree re: Newton. I liked Martin's effort versus North but the jury is still out. Since you bumped the thread I figure I'll reply to this: The truth about all Clubs having more support when they are going better? The truth about Melbourne smashing membership records despite being cellar dwellars, and having an unprecedented influx of coin injected into the Club by rank and file supporters (dwarfing the SOS campaigns etc of other Clubs)? Yeah, it does hurt your argument Looking forward to this other thread.

The unavailable (ordered by weeks, rather than alphabet): Jared Rivers (ankle) - test Jack Trengove (susp.) - 2 weeks Lynden Dunn (susp.) - 2 weeks Tom Scully (knee) - 3 weeks Mark Jamar (knee) - 3-5 weeks Rohan Bail (knee) - 4-6 weeks Colin Garland (ankle) - 6-8 weeks Jack Fitzpatrick (ankle) - 7-9 weeks Jack Grimes (foot) - season Jake Spencer (knee) - season I'd have ~7 in my best 22.

Do you seriously think the players gave up? I don't. As for Davey's cliches, virtually every football player relies on them so they don't say anything that causes negative waves. When they avoid the cliches, they get panned for saying the wrong thing.

Is it just me who thinks that earlier in the season he was playing forward and could not get into the game?

I know the Saints are struggling, but we've got close to 1/2 our best 22 out.

Nooooooooooooooo.

What the hell? I didn't say you did stick the boot into him after the North game. What I said is that you can get stuck into him in the future, when/if he fails (as you've done many times in the past - you can't disown your post history).

I think it's quite plausible, but it will depend on whether we can bring players in to release him further up the ground. Grimes is first in line to move out of defence. Ah yes, because someone with a build that's a little similar was able to become X player, Tapscott will too

I'm not sure he'll ever be that type of player, Axis of Bob.

He would have played a bunch more games last year, but kept getting injured/suspended as he was about to be selected. I had a quick look at the first quarter replay last night and I think you're underselling him. Regardless, if he's as terrible as you think you'll have plenty of opportunity to stick the boot in soon, so there's not much need to do it following the North game IMO

So do I. What's relevant is how much you're losing because guys are 'past it' or retiring versus how much you're gaining in players 'coming on'. Most teams battle to develop a crop of players quickly enough to link up with an older bunch before they retire, but we won't really have that problem.

Absolutely.

For sure.

My answer is a resounding yes. 2/3 of the team are 23 or younger, and of those seven players 24 or older a few are pretty inexperienced (Martin, Newton, etc).

I wasn't, and I was hardly Robinson Crusoe.

Yeah, picking a kid who we knew would break his leg playing school footy was ridiculous. That's probably unfair, but plenty of players drafted in the teens never make it. Furthermore, a bunch who do make it take time. Watts and Morton seem to me to be in a quite different category to Blease.

This month would have been tough enough with a full list, but since we're decimated by injuries I think it's pretty reasonable to expect 0-4 over the next month. It saddens me to say it but Green looks cooked, while I would have Jamar, Scully, Garland (?), Trengove, McKenzie, Rivers and Bail in my 22. I think it's pretty uncontroversial that the first five are in our best side, and at least three would IMO be in our top 10.

It warranted a '50'. There's nothing wrong with ensuring you get one.

'Garlo we're not sure, he did an ankle and came back on. He was hobbling around there but he could put weight on his ankle before … I'd probably be saying it doesn't look too good at this stage.' - Bailey Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/injury-woes-deepen-for-demons-with-hell-of-a-month-ahead-20110514-1enla.html#ixzz1ML7AObzo

Joel Mac must be close. I reckon you could just as easily pluck a few from Casey, so it'll be interested to see who plays well tomorrow.

Luck? Here's what I remember from the first quarter: In one of the first plays Newton was involved in he came out and applied a decent bump on a North player, only for Dunn to slide in and give away a free kick. That seemed unlucky. Newton took three marks within scoring range where he lead out strongly at the footy, kicking 2.1. I guess you could say the 50m penalty was lucky, but he earned the initial mark and also showed aggression at the North guy who took a jab at him. Newton also made a great chase and tackle on a North defender streaming out of our forward line which earned him a free kick, and with advantage called Watts was able to kick a goal. I think he had about 5 marks and 7 disposals at quarter time so I wouldn't be surprised if he had some more early 'luck' that I'm forgetting.

It sounds like he's had a tough time of things. Hopefully cases like this raise awareness about lung cancer, and the fact don't necessarily get it from smoking.

I'm pretty sure mickrocks1 is a Dees fan.

Haha, nice to hear.