Inner Demon

The issue with Junior playing in 2011 is less about whose spot he might take in the team and more about whose spot he might take on the list. I'd agree that Bell, Miller, & McNamara shape as potential delistings but Cheney is contracted through 2011 (Link) and I'd say PJ is going a long way towards earning his spot over the last few weeks as a #2 ruck. To pre-empt the rebuttal that Junior is on the Vet's List, his retirement would still open up a senior list spot as Brad Green will be eligible to join the vet's list in his place.

Yeah, his 56% disposal efficiency was a real 'breath of fresh air'. It's almost as if you guys have read his draft bio and now just assume every time he touches the ball it's being delivered lace out to somebody. As for 'ferocious', honestly, this has gone far enough. I don't recall a trail of bodies in Addam Maric's devastating wake as he carved up Sydney single handedly last week, but judging by the textual fellatio on display in this forum I'm starting to think I was at a different game.

I don't think Matty falls into the category of prima donna footballer who throws his hands in the air and gives up and demands a trade the moment things get a little hard. Reports suggest he's playing very well at Casey and eventually he will win his spot back.

Maric didn't take his opportunity well enough. Simple as that. Aussie Wonaeamirri did it better and got the reward. Honestly, the way people are going on about how he 'showed his class' and gave us 'aggression' and 'pressure'... Spare me. Some serious revisionist history going on, he had 1 tackle and the worst disposal efficiency in the team for christ's sakes. He played a mediocre game that was outshone by a teammate that plays the same role and was replaced in the side by our captain. There are better players than Maric at the top clubs seriously tearing games apart at VFL level and not getting games. If he wants a regular spot in our team, he has to earn it. The only thing he's done to deserve all this carrying-on is be a young, high draft pick.

There's a very strange sentiment coming through around here that games are somehow deserved for reasons other than being in the best 22 available that week. The concept that a player deserves another game just because he hasn't played many or because he wasn't bad the previous week despite clearly superior players being available is quite staggering really. It defies all logic.

The sooner you get over this, the better your mental health will be. It's a complete and utter non-issue. The idea that we don't play well in the white strip is total garbage also. We've seen some pretty limp-wristed performances in our traditional strip in recent times but the same "logic" doesn't seem to apply there.

I'd say Moloney's form in being our best midfielder all season long should probably suffice. However he's been rated at 50-50 so perhaps Junior is more likely. I really, really can't get my head around the idea that people really believe that Addam Maric deserves a spot in the side more than our captain, but I suppose that's what they call the "cult of youth". The absolute only way I could see Addam getting a game this week is another player coming out of the team injured.

Oh I see. Because we don't want to have too many players who are excellent tacklers in the one team. Of course...

I could really do without the random Superman theme. It has no place. I can't fathom why it's happening. Please, please stop it.

Bartram?!?!?! Good lord... I sometimes think Barty could go forward and kick 12.1 and people here would drop him for missing that one shot. Bartram had 80% efficiency from his 20 touches. Everyone's favourite new wonder boy Addam Maric, he of the 'laser boot', was at 56% from his 16 touches. A lot of people here don't seem to actually watch the game and take in what happens, rather just extract whatever solitary moments support your pre-conceived view of a player and continue to beat that same drum.

Remember how well a 'til end of career' contract worked out for Carlton with Koutoufides?? We've taken big risks with Flash & Chip signing them up for unusually long periods, we'd want to limit our exposure to those kinds of contracts. 2-3 year deals work just fine.

The list I work off has been borrowed (read: stolen) from someone else who did the hard work in researching contract announcements. It appears to be quite accurate, but I am now maintaining and updating the list myself so by season's end it should be quite accurate. The variable which I can't allow for is non-specific contract lengths. I have a feeling we have a couple of contracts which have an undefined length based on achieving performance targets. Cheney, McNamara & Bartram may fall under this banner, but I am making an educated guess based upon the unusual lack of specific information in their re-signing announcement coupled with a personal opinion of where those players might be rated in the scheme of things.

It's the Newton/Meesen example that I dislike being rolled out as if it's just a normal, everyday option that we can liberally apply wherever we like. As for the McNamara example, I still don't particularly like labelling it as a "rookie list demotion" because in practice that's not what it is. Make no mistake, in both situations, it's a delisting. Call a spade a spade. Also, the changed situation this year is the enormous number of picks GC has, including at the start of the rookie draft. If we delist a young player who we actually rate, you can be pretty confident GC will snap them up before us. They will likely snap up any opportunity possible to add diversity of age to their list.

That's as glowing an endorsement for Bail as I could imagine.

I think the "Junior was no good at Casey and won't be rushed back" stuff is a bit misguided as well. He had 24 touches and kicked the sealer from 45m. This against a Collingwood side with players like O'Bree, Fraser, Medhurst etc. I wouldn't call that an ordinary performance at all. The obsession with playing kids at all costs has to end somewhere. That somewhere is excluding our captain and likely best & fairest. We've played more players than any other team in the comp this year, I think the objective of giving experience has been achieved. Now we're in a position where we can actually make finals if we win 4/5 on the way home. We must play the best team we have, Addam Maric is not in that team ahead of any of McDonald, Moloney or Trengove. Simple as that.

Watts has not re-signed yet and neither have the following players: M. Warnock C. Bruce N. Jones M. Bate B. Miller P. Johnson D. Bell B. Moloney J. McDonald R. Bail S. Blease J. Strauss T. McNamara Just because a player has not re-signed does not mean they are 'holding out' or going to GC. It just means they haven't re-signed yet. The Club can't re-sign every player at once. But do we have to be quite so paranoid about them all going to GC??? Are we going to have a thread about every one of these players until they sign on?? Remember there is only a 50% chance that just 1 of these players will go to GC. Even less if you believe the rumours that Ablett, Brown, Harbrow & Bock are all GC bound that makes it even less likely one of our boys will be poached.

None of those players are a hard call as far as trading goes. We wouldn't be getting a draft pick in return that we'd actually be able to use. Again, there is no trading with these depth players, it is only delisting.

Meesen, Newton & Hughes from your list are all rookies. You have only made 3 changes with Miller, Bell & Junior. With McKenzie promotion that leaves a 1st & 2nd round pick. If you want Spencer as well that's only 1 pick. Also, can people please, please stop proposing the fictional "delist to rookie list" so regularly?? It's just not going to happen this year. There is only delisting and re-signing. No in-between.

Yes. Also keep in mind when playing fantasy manager with the list, how many picks you want to take in this year's draft. I don't envy Tim Harrington's job one bit this year.

I'm afraid you're going to have to be a little harsher with the delistings there. As you've got it pegged we're still 1 delisting short of the minimum turnover required by the AFL which is 3. Also those you have as "trade/delist", they would only be charity trades to assist change of clubs since we wouldn't be able to use the draft picks we're getting in return. Essentially they are just delistings.

It's all well and good to say that Maric showed some good things and 'earned' another game. But that has to be assessed relative to who else might deserve the spot. The unknown here is obviously injury and that is something it's quite useless for any of us to hypothesise on, it is 100% guesswork, so let's just assume for the moment that the 3 most likely to return are all fit. Do any of the posters calling for Maric to be retained at all costs genuinely believe he has earned that spot more than the bloke who leads the club this season in: Disposals 1st possessions (by 50 to the next best) Clearances Inside 50s Contested Possessions Uncontested Possessions And is 2nd in the club in Tackles?? It is not a "slap in the face" to be squeezed out of a team by a player of that calibre. Frankly, it would be a slap in the face to our potential B&F Brent Moloney if he was held out of the team because "the young kid just deserves another game".

I agree that the only thing that will keep Maric in the side is continued injuries.

M. Warnock C. Bruce N. Jones J. Watts M. Bate B. Miller P. Johnson D. Bell B. Moloney J. McDonald R. Bail S. Blease J. Strauss T. McNamara J. Spencer M. Newton D. Hughes J. Meesen J. McKenzie R. Healey

I find the notion that any team would adopt an identical gameplan week in, week out, regardless of the opposition pretty amusing. I would encourage those who have a particular interest in the machinations of the game plan to put aside a few dollars each week between now and the start of next season and join the Before the Bounce group so you can hear first hand exactly what the players are being instructed to do. You can even ask questions if there's something you don't understand or have noticed from your spot in the stands. Then when you watch the game you know immediately whether the problem is with the instruction or the application.

I reckon there's a spot for Tapscott before the end of the year. Blease no chance though.