bing181

He was "on track" until he started wearing boots and training with the main group. (as per club statement)

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/afl/uncertainty-for-demons-as-viney-s-season-delayed-further-20180315-p4z4fr.html

"Every time I have gone to my lift my training load, a little niggle has come up. First it was my ankle, now I have a little bit of a toe problem. It's been frustrating trying to put out these little spot fires but am definitely getting there and definitely can see the light at the end of the tunnel."

Nissan's equivalent to Lexus, the up-market range. Nothing but the best, and perfect for heading up to the snow.

You've been reading too much Tristram Shandy.

Watts had a reputation? Yes, but not the one that you're talking about.

We have the real truth, you just don't want to hear it.

No it won't, because even if he performs well at PA, you can't assume that he would have done the same at Melbourne.

A 26 year old player of Watts' type wouldn't have performed at his peak in a Melbourne jumper this year. Any more than he did last year.

Tom McD had ankle operations, this is toe. How to see how they're related or how he "tried to come back a bit too soon". Given the load their bodies are under, coupled with it being a gruelling, contact sport, injuries and breakdowns are just going to happen. There aren't always going to be "reasons", much as we'd love to attribute them.

Perhaps, after 8 years, the penny has finally dropped with Jack. If so, good for him, though even if it has, it doesn't alter that the decision to move him on was the right one. On other subjects (though not unrelated), notice that Trengove didn't play - unless there's an injury, not a promising sign for him. Sad to see if that's the case.

Trouble is, he’s consistently good at this level, but has consistently failed to have a real impact in the ones.

"Whilst he has not had any setbacks in his rehab program, Jack has not completed enough football sessions." You can do all the gym work and running etc. you want, but sooner or later, if you're a footballer, you have to train playing football.

We did. After the last Saints' goal, later in the quarter, the centre bounce had Oliver, Petracca and Salem. We won that one, got it down to the forward line quickly for a behind, and followed up with a goal. Saints' won ALL the centre bounces prior to that, except for one where we had Oliver in.

One word: Lever. The team looks so different with him in it.

We missed the 5 players who were out. Would take Harmes and ANB over the other fringe mids, needed a big marking forward in Tom Mac, and still need more leadership so having half your leadership group out isn’t ideal.

"Lewis, ANB running laps and 400m semi sprints. ANB looks to be moving ok."

" ... will be off legs all week."

The two aren't incompatible. His full and honest opinion may well be "glass half full". But then isn't that what he's there for, to get the best out of our developing players?

That's the problem. Privacy issues aside, passing on information that you heard as information that you heard is one thing. Asserting it as fact that you can "take to the bank" is very different.

Not disagreeing with you per se, but the "on merit" part is already fairly woolly because the coaches' version of "merit" and the average Demonlander's/spectator's version of "merit" are not always the same. Coaches will give games to players who do what they've been asked to do.

Nothing. Other players are ahead of him. Main knock on Frost was his fitness - that other teams had worked out that they could run him around for 2 or 3 quarters and then run off him once he'd knocked himself out. Whether the reason he hasn't been included is (just) because of that, impossible to know. He's probably going to need one of Lever or Oscar Mac to go down to get a game.

Whether players play VFL or AFL, the assumption is that in injury-terms, they've "recovered". So the question then is whether or not playing games at a lower-skilled, scrappier level helps with match fitness - and it would seem that increasingly, and certainly for more experienced players, clubs have decided that it doesn't, and/or the risks involved (injuries of different sort etc) aren't worth it. FWIW, I don't believe that playing Gawn or Watts at Casey would have changed anything at all about how they performed on their return. Gawn missed so much footy he was always going to be off the pace for the tail end of the season, and Watts, well, we know what happened there.

And just to add to that, let's not forget those were bitching about paying even that for them (or even getting them at all ... ).

Brayshaw has a position: on the ball. But given what he's been through and his comparative youth, he's being given the chance to find his feet and build some confidence elsewhere. It seems fairly clear that they're trying to keep him out of heavy traffic, at least for the moment.