bing181

While we had a few fringe players fighting for their careers ...

Nor me, but equally, it's about keeping things in perserpective. Difficult to see how we could have been much worse than we were tonight. Jones was rusty as all hell, Warnock and Strauss shouldn't have been out there, but both were left on to see what they could (or couldn't) do, we badly missed McKenzie and Scully even moreso than Frawley, and plenty of the players that should be firing weren't - Green and Watts for example. On top of that, Essendon played with intensity and determination, while it just felt like we were still somewhat in "warm-up game" mode. In spite of all that, except for a couple of dodgy umpiring decisions that cost us a goals, we were well into it until the last quarter. So, plenty of work to do, and as has been posted elsewhere, better now than in a couple of months. One slight positive (if you'll allow ...) is that we might get some sort of NAB challenge game at Casey (if the ground is useable). Otherwise .. it's off to the bush.

Here - why do you ask?

Probably right re Petterd, but I think they'd be looking to get some game time into Blease, and Cook showed a bit in Adelaide, so he could make the cut.

!!! You're kidding yourself ... there's talk of what happened on the China trip, regularly getting drunk, missed team meetings, getting thrown out of clubs etc. etc. And one would imagine that that's only the tip of the iceberg. The guy has a number of serious problems, including alcohol (repeat offender and one imagines, is an alcoholic), gambling etc. You don't go into a therapy centre for 7 weeks (and counting) because you've had one too many on NY eve. Moving on ... Seems that Casey are interested in him. Wonder what MFC will have to say about it ...

Was able to stay away from this thread till today ... should have kept it that way. The title indicated we might get some interesting insites to and background on our man Tom, but it has managed to descend to the same puerile level as the thread one or two below this one. Don't people have other things to think about?? We're actually playing a kind of real footy match this Thursday, yet the board is inundated with half-baked conjecture.

Place for Warnock then (if he's fit). And with this talk of Stef Martin being "mister versatile", a chance for him to show his wares. Obviously, we'd be stronger with Frawley, but the players we have there seem to be stepping up nicely.

You need to spend more time around teenagers ... or even primary school kids!

Not exactly on our list but ... Cameron Bruce. Ricky "I'll do the right thing by you" Nixon.

Agreed. Disappointing.

Bummer ... for me, would have been much more interesting/useful to play a more mature team like St Kilda. Essendon - hard to get worked up about, whatever the outcome.

How do you know what Tom's (or his management's) attitude is? Conjecture, surely. Given that Tom has said nothing at all, and his management have put out a fairly detailed release detailing the situation, just not sure what reactions like this are based on.

You would think so, but in reality hard to call. Essendon have to do the two teams/play all the kids split games thing, but St Kilda will be resting quite a few senior players it seems. Essendon very confident .... already.

Hopefully Tom's thinking the same thing!

Suspect he might be subbed for Spencer for the Port Game. Nicholson other sub, presumably he'll get a run. Scrappy game, but will be good for the confidence. Should be able to do OK against Port, but we're really missing McKenzie, Jones, Scully round the packs.

Going to be a lot of experimentation tonight, trying out players, systems, structures etc. - clipboards at the ready. As such, not expecting too much, these are really trial games, and I have half a feeling that if we're winning, they'll rejig the players ... "yep, that can work, let's try Plan B". Will be good to see how some of the newbies go, but equally, feeling that the likes of Cook are only in there so that they can see what they need to be doing, and to give them some motivation in the weights room. Not to mention, with Scully, McKenzie and Jones out, midfield looks a little thin.

Great read. In all the Scully Talk, Jack T has flown a bit under the radar ... but he was no.2 pick that year, which isn't to be scoffed at. Go Jack! Looking forward to a big game Friday night. P

Not playing (didn't travel). Could be knee soreness indeed, but wonder if they just wanted to fly under the radar with him till things quieten down. Interview with Trengove today in the HUN, and first question was "will Scully stay". Let's hope there are a few big stories come out of the games this weekend so we can move on from the Scully "news".

Heard it was Knuckle Strain ...

If you're referring to playing games, the season starts in late March. It also goes right through till September. Not the time of the year to be playing players "at all costs". I don't really see our injury list as being much different to other clubs'. And no real long-term injuries either ... touch wood. Having both Jones and McKenzie out of the 'guts' isn't ideal, but once again, good chance (especially at this level) to see who might step up, and give some of the younger players a taste. Bummer about Morton. Presumably he can still train ... and do weights. Can't take a trick!

Some calm heads around, thankfully, let's all wait and see. My 2 cents, is that having been in similar situations (though not in the sporting realm), things often look different from the inside to how they look from the outside, and people make decisions based on their own criteria and their own needs. We can conjecture all we want. If Tom suddenly announced his engagement to a girl from Penrith, we could perhaps start to legitimately worry, but until then ... let's enjoy seeing Tom in the Red and Blue. The club managed to succesfully handle rival offers for Green and Davey (if not others we don't know about), and we have to trust they'll do the best for the club here as well.

There is, actually. After us, Adelaide don't play Port till an hour or so later, so they'll effectively be fielding two different teams, both presumably weaker than anything like a full-strength line-up. It's for this reason that Adelaide are permitted unlimited team changes between their two games, as opposed to Melb and Port who are limited to 3. I'm also presuming, perhaps wrongly, that they're more interested in beating Port than us, so am imagining (hoping?) that they'll stack their "Port" lineup with more of the established players. But we could still lose ... BTW, not sure why anyone's expecting a big crowd. Given that they didn't even reach 15 000 for Port-Adelaide last year, hard to see that being exceeded on Friday.

FWIW, for Port: Lobbe, (shoulder), Jacob Surjan (knee), David Rodan (knee), Hamish Hartlett (hamstring), Jay Schulz (hamstring), Jacobs (glandular fever), Travis Boak (appendix), Jason Davenport (shoulder), Andrew Moore (groin) and Brogan have already been ruled out, while Chad Cornes, Daniel Motlop and impressive draftee Cam O’Shea are confirmed starters. Adelaide have fewer injuries, but as they are effectively going to be fielding two different teams, there should be a few of their leading lights missing against us. Bit of a circus, really, the normal NAB and pre-season games will be a bit more relevant to "real" footy. Against that, not a bad idea to start things off a bit easier, it's only early February after all.

For mine, no real expectations, and suspect we may well be cleaned up like Free did to us last year. We have so many young(er) players, and they could well take some time to get up to speed - and that even includes some of our "stars" such as Grimes. Not forgetting, the likes of Jurrah, Bennel, Jones even Green, have yet to play in any kind of competitive match this year, they're bound to be rusty. Whatever happens, will be good to get some kind of game time into an extended list, and hope to see the likes of Strauss, Maric, Jetta, Spencer etc. get a run.

Yep. With the list we have, and with the turnaround that Jimmy, Cam etc. have brought to the club, if we don't believe that we can be serious contendors for the next 10 years, we're all wasting our time. When Bailey speaks about being "competitive", he's slammed for being cautious, yet when he lays the challenge on the line he's over-reaching?