Rogue

I don't see Jetta being able to play the role Bartram does. Not quick enough, for starters.

Haha :D

That's interesting, because I've been wondering what happened to the values Schwab's talked aboutwhen emphasising the importance of being a good corporate/community citizen. Schwab spoke about only entering into deals with those who shared our values, and as an example, he questioned whether partnering with junk food companies when there's a problem with obesity. Since then, we've had the betting deal and now bought almost 100 pokies. It doesn't seem very consistent with the approach Schwab had previously outlined. Anyway, if that article is correct we're talking about stunning amounts of money. Assuming the estimates are correct, we have just made the biggest financial investment in our history.

Haha

Hey, I'm certainly not delisting him I'd just rather keep other guys before Petterd.

None of this takes away from what I said, unless you're arguing that even if there was a great 'middle aged' captaincy prospect we wouldn't have gone to him because we thought McDonald was such a brilliant prospect. If that was your contention, I'd simply point to the fact we didn't seem to think so in 2009, as we implemented a co-captaincy arrangement with Bruce sharing the mantle (and then left the spot vacant over summer afaik). Also note that I was commenting on our decision when the captaincy became vacant, not at some point after McDonald had been captain (ie. now), so his level of success in the gig is irrelevant.

Most (all?) of the ideas mooted here were mentioned at the Club's 'Summit', so I'm sure they're aware of these. As hangon007 says, I imagine resources are the problem. It was great to see the Monash/La Trobe campaign though! : >

Why is your post so important that it needed to spawn a new thread?

Indeed. I've said the same thing a few times.

The fact that he doesn't see Bartram as part of our long-term plans is pretty relevant in the context of long-term plans, which was what the poster was talking about! I think he makes a decent point, and it relates directly to the OP's assertion that we need to develop a quick, small, tough and smart back pocket type.

Bartram's been good this year. As for needing another small quick backman, I definitely agree - it's something I've posted about a fair few times. Cheney's playing good footy at Casey but I don't think he has the speed for the role, based on what I saw of him at AFL level. However, someone on here said he'd been suffering with an ankle injury that impacted on his pace, so maybe he's quicker than what he's shown at senior level so far.

Whenever I think of Hopgood I think of how Wheels was robbed of a spot in the 150 heroes. Sorry, Paul!

Surely no one's forgotten Jurrah!

It's understandable that he'll be scrutinised more closely than others now that he 'has a record'. That's my impression of his game too. I don't remember it that well, but from what I remember it wasn't like he stood in the middle of a pack while some guys were bearing down on him. I think those are the courageous pack marks - not the 'speccy' types where you run and leap at the footy and it happens to be near some blokes.

I don't know that he's the type that backs out of a contest, but I reckon he has a habit of sometimes being happy to let his opponent take the footy first when there's a race to the ball, rather than go 100% to take first possession and wear a tackle.

That's a pretty interesting call. I really liked King. Blease doesn't strike me as quite as 'tough', but you did say a young and skinny King. If he can give us the same type of run North got from King I think I'll be happy.

That's an interesting stat - nice find. I certainly think he's been below his best without being anything near terrible.

I think it's too early to go with some of the likely young prospects. I also don't think any of the 'middle aged' guys are brilliant captaincy prospects - if they were, we wouldn't have gone to McDonald. I think Brad Green is the man to go to. He can hand over in his twilight, once we've decided which of our emerging players we think is most suited to the captaincy.

Are they still 'just accusations' when someone admits to them?

Why would we choose to commit to a two year deal? Unless you cared about losing him you wouldn't give more than one year, and I'm pretty sure that's not very likely (nor would it be very damaging). As HT has pointed out, there are a heap of guys likely to overtake him sooner rather than later. I don't mind your posts but I think you've got it really wrong on this one - a two year deal is madness.

If I could choose just one of the untested guys to 'make it' at AFL level it'd be Blease. I think his style of play would be a great addition to our side, so I'm hoping that he doesn't have any major problems with his recovery. It'd be great to see Blease flying down the MCG wing on a regular basis.

Nice one

Same. It doesn't mean he doesn't have any weaknesses, and acknowledging mistakes doesn't mean you are disregarding strengths. Fwiw, there was a bit of discussion last season on Grimes' odd habit of making unpressured errors - as opposed to your assertion that his errors are caused by taking risks - starting here: http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=15622&view=findpost&p=242627

I don't think we will finish higher than 10th.

Anyone registered redlegsland.com yet?