hardtack

Knowing what we now know, yes... but at the time, he was not a mistake but was the obvious choice. Imagine the outcry if we hadn't taken him in that draft.

I would hope so too (was just a thought)...

If Gawn's injury is season threatening, I would think they might want to take the chance on Mitch...sorry, Williams so that Clark is freed up for ruck duties when required.

The guy was raised in Australia to parents from Taiwan and Eastern Timor... how does that make him a selling point for games in China? Simply because he is of Asian appearance? Hmmmm. If someone raised in China by parents who were from New Zealand and Sweden was recruited to play major league ping pong or badminton in China (among their most popular sports), would that suddenly mean a surge in interest in ping pong or badminton here in Australia simply because NZ is part of Australasia and because he is of Western appearance?

I think we would definitely still have drafted Watts because it was clear from the beginning that he had to potential to be a star... just as he is now starting to reveal. Yes, we quite possibly could have (and some might argue, should have) kept Junior. Scully would have been drafted as he and Trengove were streets ahead of the rest; and WYL, to say that Scully was a mistake is nonsense... no-one had any idea what would unfold there and at the time he was the obvious 1 or 2 choice. As R&BB said, hindsight is a wonderful thing. We got Tapscott, so which pick was used is neither here nor there. Possibly they might have gone with Darling over Cook (why am I thinking of Black Adder at this point?). The other one I think may have been overlooked at draft time purely for reasons of physique, might have been the Gys.. but no idea who would have been picked up in his place. Bailey had the unenviable task of essentially trying to rebuild the list from the ground up... overall, his legacy has been the makings of a team that WILL amount to something. And we should never forget the sacrifices (ethical and personal) that he made in order to achieve that; no matter what we might think of his coaching abilities, he put his own career on the line to help set our club up for a better future.

Read what I said again... i think you will find the word "only" is not in that post - and I can assure you it wasn't even inferred.

In a worst case scenario, I suppose this may be Spencil's chance to do a "Martin" and step up.

Green and Davey spring to mind,

Regardless of the step up, with those sticky fingers of his, I think he is well on the way. He seems to be quite a solid unit as well, which means he should be able to stand his ground in a contest.

Nice DD.. I do think Howe needs to be in there (possibly at the expense of Gys on the IC?). The only flaw I see in the conditions is the requirement for having played at least 10 games of AFL... how will anyone ever achieve the 10 AFL games required to qualify, if they don't qualify to play in the team because they don't have enough AFL games to qualify :-)

Ok, we have Ablett and Viney... that's two who have turned out to be top class players in their own right (although Jack Viney is yet to prove it at the top level). It would be interesting to see how many sons of great players actually amounted to anything on the football field... I'm with the genetic schimetics side of the argument I'm afraid. I prefer to think that the skills in sons such as Viney and Ablett are a result of having watched closely and absorbed the way their fathers played the game as well as those other players they would naturally have come in contact with through their fathers' association with the clubs. Yes, their physical attributes are unarguably a result of good genetics, but their skills and application of those skills are more a result of "osmosis" - some are better learners than others.

Indeed... but for some strange reason, I am feeling more optimistic this time around.

There is so much potential right across the list now... let's hope that with the current coaching crew, it can be realised.

Yes, and the figure skating... lots of "flute" and "sloop" references. And who could forget their summer olympics presentation with Fatso the fat arsed wombat and all of their grand final calls (NRL and AFL) with Lionel Rose's "I Thank You" substituting for the national anthem. Great list of the nicknames they gave to players here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roy_and_HG%27s_State_of_Origin_commentary

I hear that he ate their picks list.

Exactly! With the likes of Tuck and Valenti, we know that they have already blown it at least once... with this guy, all we know is that he was B&F at Sandy and may well be ready to grasp this opportunity with both hands. Worth a dip!

I think I saw something about rounds 1 to 11?

My pack was waiting for me when I got home from work this evening... I'm in Sydney, so I hope that gives other inter-staters hope that theirs will arrive soon as well.

He wouldn't be Lynden without the Dunny brush! (Gives him that George Cole circa St Trinians look.)

I don't see what the fuss is about. If we were to play in China, why not use the same strip we used in last year's demo game in Shanghai and use Melbourne Dragons as the translation into Chinese for that game only (with the exception of Puff, there is not that much of a difference between demons and dragons anyway). As a cultural concession this would keep everyone happy and no one would have any cause to be offended either for reasons of beliefs (the Chinese) or club history (the long suffering supporters).

Could this be telling us something about tomorrow's rookie draft? Thanks for the report.

I would think it was used simply as being symbolic of China as well as being representative of the team; to quote wikipedia: "The dragon is also a symbol of power, strength, and good luck. With this, the Emperor of China usually uses the dragon as a symbol of his imperial power."

In which case, another showcase should be considered late in 2012, the year of the Dragon.

Are you saying that the club did not have their own specialists/medical team examine Scully, but rather rested him based simply on the word of an his own physician, despite the rumours surrounding his impending defection... or are you saying that the MFC knew of his defection and that they were implicated in a cover-up by stating that Scully was being rested for knee soreness when they knew this to not be the case?

look closely at the label and you can decipher the words "genuine polystyrene"