Prof

There's two reasons why JW is not being considered for senior selection. 1. His form with CS has not been good enough - fair enough. 2. Now for the real reason. Jack still has a sore back. How sore? I don't know. Presumably not sore enough to keep him out of the CS.

Bruce has his limitations (particularly disposal) but he is clearly in our best 22. Strange, since when he started it was one of his strengths.

Some of these posts! Double GASP!! Dunn - one his better games. Clearly needed in the side at the moment. Bartram - has played well virtually all season. He is disciplined, tackles well and his disposal has improved. Garland - missed virtually an entire year of football. A poor game against the 'roos but he has enormous upside.

Supporters calling to axe Bruce are not taking into account all aspects of his game. His big minus is his disposal. Clearly a worry. But, he has enormous upside. 1.Can play on tall or medium size players. 2. Has an enormous tank. Have you noticed how hard he can work towards the end of a game? 3. Is rarely beaten in a genuine 1 on 1 contest. Bruce is no champion but he is comfortably in our best 22. By the way, talking of the other B, Bennell, the lad has real talent. Play him for CS.

Bad decisions are only important if they happen at significant times or in significant places. Grimes was stiff. It had the potential to turn the game. Dees were also very stiff with a couple of 'holding the ball' decisions that could have gone against the Lions.

17 weeks is not long enough - simple Any set up with less than 34 weeks will be unfair. Stay with 22 weeks. Make sure all Victorian based teams have the same number of interstate games (plus or minus one). Retain the final 8.

Sam did not have a virus. He was crook with an infection. He's hopefully back this week or next.

NN will be absolutely outstanding - no doubt in the world. Let's keep both our eyes open.

Blease does not have the flu, but he is crook. He'll be better in a week or two.

What about when DB stood on Graeme Yeats' head?

My goodness! How far back do you want to go? 1960's Carl Ditterich, Delicate Des Dickson, Ted Whitten, John Peck, Neil Balme, John Nicholls, Des Tuddenham 1970's Lethal Leigh, Kevin Sheedy, Don McKenzie, Bob & Barry Pascoe 1980's Robert Muir At Melbourne, not that much to report: Ray Biffen, Carl Ditterich, Rod Grinter. I saw Greg Hutchinson iron out some bloke about 50m behind the play one day.

I wasn't there but received the following message: Sam Blease played 3 quarters & received a cork thigh, Cheney played well, Paul Johnson played OK and Jack Watts didn't play at all. Happy Easter

I blame Pia for Miller's demise. Remember how he use to at least play with some aggression? Now he runs around like a contented bull.

They can have Miller & we'll chuck in a bit to seal the deal.

All I know is that: 1. Sam Blease played half a game, did a few good things and 'pulled up well'. 2. Jack Watts was 'pretty good'.

Bate - very disrupted preseason, will improve, 'when he is bad he is very very bad' Bennell - needs a lot more help than he's getting, leave him in Bruce - slow, largely ineffective Davey - brilliant one week, s'house the next, haven't supporters worked this out yet? Dunn - not up to the required standard Frawley - not the worst, he'll be OK Green - best player at the club, proved that again last Sat. Grimes - good effort, genuine talent Jamar - OK, but no brains Jones - disappointing MacDonald - exposed McDonald - great trier, will always be in my side Miller - tries hard but not up to the required standard, can't keep his feet Moloney - very poor game, more action and less talk please Petterd - swamped, leave him in Rivers - OK but made several costly mistakes Scully - great effort first up, lacked confidence early Strauss - thrown to the wolves, I think in time he might be OK Trengove - very impressive Warnock - overated, not good enough to play key defensive role with consistent success McKenzie - very encouraging, well done Spencer - GASP, needs 3 years at Casey

Footy is a highly linked game. Once a team falls below a certain 'critical' level of abilty, skill and experience the whole performance unravels. That's what we've witnessed for the last 3 years. About half the side that played round 1 are not up to AFL standard. As they get replaced we will gradually start to improve. Sorry to say it, it's going to take 3 or 4 years. By, the way, Brad Green is our best footballer by a mile!

I am a Melbourne supporter. Have been since about 1961! I, like many other Melbourne supporters am interested in BOTH sites (Demonology and Demonland). I read them both. I tried to join Demonology about 3 months ago ... to no avail. Demonland is a highly sophisticated site with a lot of intelligent, focussed and thoughtful contributors. Demonology is more 'cutting edge' and perhaps amusing. Unfortunately, more prone to members abusing each other. If there are two to be two viable sites, then they need to be different. I'd like to be a member of both. Go Dees!

I have a friend who is an athletics coach. He says that 'highly tuned' athletes are far more likely to pop a hamstring than normal people.

Genuine passion and interest in the Demons is always to be applauded. The most likely way to achieve your aspirations is to continue to recruit players of genuine quality, BOTH on and off the field. (I feel like we are riding Mick's ox.) Gasp!

Sorry to disappoint but a TER of 90 is not necessarily a super bright student. (Martin actually got a TER of 99.9 I think. That's seriously smart!) Martin is not a 'natural' forward but we are DESPERATE to find tall players that can play up forward. Let's face it, we are 'patching'. I've said it before, the only player of genuine AFL standard up forward is Bate. The other 5 spots are up for grabs.

I have a personal connection to Sam. DB has told him that he is playing on Friday night. Sam is stoked.

Being realistic, we are very unlikely to win more than 5 games. We are not capable of kicking more than 12 or 13 goals in a game. We have one forward who would regularly play in most other teams (Bate). We do not have any forwards who are capable of taking strong marks in dangerous positions. Our best hope for genuine improvement to our forward structure is if Watts, Maric and Petterd show some genuine development as the year progresses.

I've read many posts over the past few days with interest. LJ is a huge loss in terms of his development BUT the expectation of what LJ might have been capable of this year is insane. He has played 9 games! He is NOT a champion nor a STAR yet... We all hope he will be one day. Ease up. The weight of expectation is a scary thing.

Garry is super smart - way too smart to contemplate coaching an AFL club. He is making MEGA bucks in the media - that's where he will stay. Garry is a close friend of JS so his most productive work for the MFC will be honouring that connection.