hardtack

I knew this response was coming... however, if he had said he was certain Scully was going, I'm sure you would have taken it as the gospel truth?

Ok, this is officially getting weird!

This is sure to disappoint a few people on here who are certain this whole saga is affecting the playing group.

Nutbean, consider this a first and last warning... stop applying logic to this topic!

There is no way this is destabilising the club. They are all professionals and the players probably couldn't give a rat's about the politics of the whole affair. Imagine how it would be if every time someone in your workplace was head-hunted by another company, the whole place fell apart - those are the kinds of things that senior management take care of, and if they see fit to pay top dollar in order to stop someone being head-hunted, then so be it - they usually have their reasons.

I think you will find it is a bit of both. I grew up at a time when players were all amateurs and footy was played by passionate people and watched by equally passionate supporters; the big difference was that at that time players all worked day jobs and footy was a part time occupation. These days the supporters are no doubt just as passionate as ever about their footy, but for the players it is now a full time job with a very limited employment period and they have to build their entire futures around it; so of course priorities have changed and a lot of the new generation of footballers, although no doubt still passionate about their footy, have to consider their earning capacity as well. Club loyalty went out the window with the introduction of the draft, so unless you can find players like Moloney who grew up supporting the club, you can forget all about these romantic notions of players bleeding red and blue from day one (and it must not be forgotten that Tom has played less than 30 games for the Dees) - sure they will no doubt develop a genuine love of the club over time, but in the first couple of years, highly unlikely. Additionally a number one pick in the draft is never going to feel grateful to the club that picks them, because there are 18 clubs who would all pick that player if they were given the chance. Finally, and I know you haven't done this, there are posters here who believe Tom is holding the club to ransom and that he is creating instability and affecting the club's performance. Well, it has to be remembered that we are talking about a young kid who is pretty much just out of school with little or no life experience, and we are talking about a kid who is put in the "care" of a mercenary management group. I cannot even begin to imagine the pressure he must be under, and I would never expect him to make such a life changing decision in a matter of days or even weeks - and please, no one give me that rubbish about him having had all year to think about this... it simply isn't true as the two parties have only very recently made official offers with dollar figures attached. Fortunately for Tom, the club understands his situation and are seemingly happy for him to take all of the time he needs to reach his decision. I have no doubts that they made their offer when they did so that it would be brought to a head, and so that Tom could have some breathing space before he announces his next move - the club would have been severely disadvantaged if they waited until the 11th hour to table their offer as it would have put Tom under far too much pressure as he would not have had the time to properly assess his options.

You're the second person (UTAH was the other) in this thread to say he was a bit off last year. It's funny, because as I recall it, everyone was calling for his head the year before last (2009) and then we were all impressed with the big step up he made last year... it was no coincidence that he was promoted to the leadership group this year. Then again, maybe senile dementia is finally catching up with me.

I think a lot of people underrate Jones due to the fact he is not flashy, but he is most often doing the grunt work that helps make others look flashy as they race off with the ball he has worked his guts out to get to them. The other thing is that stats can be very deceiving... I notice someone above mentioning last year maybe having been an off year for him, but as I recall, his performances last year where very very good and a vast improvement on the season before that - now he has taken his game to another level again this year. Jones is often shutting down an opponent and not necessarily accumulating a lot of statistics. Another thing I noticed, in particular last Saturday, is how good his hands are. While everyone else was fumbling as if they were trying to grab a wet bar of soap, Jones was very clean with his hands and very very rarely fumbled at all. Also, his delivery is improving in leaps and bounds.

Or like a game of Cludo - it was Gubby in the Library with a contract and a fountain pen.

You just had to burst my bubble, didn't you Nutbean Well, in that case, I hope we can emulate our performance of last year against the Swans, and inflict the Hawks worst defeat under coach Clarkson.

According to the injury list, MacDonald is a week away with a knee injury (Davey and Scully are both listed as "test").

That's weird... I went back three or four pages and cannot see any High Tower comments at all. Is this a side effect of my watching the Tour de France?

The only thing going for us is firstly the fact that they are coning off a bye and more teams have lost than won immediately after a bye... secondly, we are expected to lose so that could work in our favour if they believe it's theirs for the taking.

HT = High Tower or Hardtack? :-) I will assume it is me as High Tower hasn't commented, so I will start by asking what is the point of emoticons if people aren't going to pay attention to them? It was a half joking post that was intended to trivialise comments coming before it. Having said that however, I do not buy that McMahon thing for one minute... there is absolutely no denying that the club was tanking well before that game (just look at the line-ups and field positions that were being implemented) and it was only through extreme good fortune on our part or rank stupidity on the Tigers part, that we lost that last game.

Yes, and it's called MFCSS... there I've said it!!!

Let me put on my fireproof clothing first... Perhaps it's karma for our tanking in order to get the priority pick.

I get the feeling there are a few posters on here who have become so convinced he is going and gone to so much effort in talking up the compo possibilities and possible chronic knee injury issues, that they will now be disappointed if he doesn't go.

Interesting concept... is the idea to confuse the Hawks forwards? I like it

I think we need hard bodies. The Gys looked to be getting a bit rattled when under pressure last week and I would imagine the heat/humidity may have taken a lot out of him (he made a lot of very uncharacteristic mistakes last week), so as silly as this might sound, I wouldn't mind seeing Bate come in. On the Buddy match-up, I would be more inclined to go with Frawley as Garland tends to give away silly free kicks, and Buddy is the one person you don't want benefiting from those.

How can you be sure of that? In 5 years time, that kind of figure will be more the norm than the exception, and if the pundits who claim Scully is looking better than Ablett did at the same stage of his career are right, then you would have to think that it is pretty much on the mark. After almost 50 years in the wilderness, just what do you think a premiership is worth? You don't get a premiership without the cattle, and despite all of these admirable notions of loyalty and love of club, good cattle cost money.

Very good article... my favourite line was the last about his dream as a child being to play just one game with the Dees. If he, Jones and Green can all fire at the same time over the next four weeks, the effect on the rest of the playing group would have to put us in with a fair chance of taking one or two of those games.

Let's hope it doesn't get to that point :-)

But you have to remember that since the introduction of the draft, the whole concept of loyalty went out of the window; that is something that can only be built up over time unless the draftee is fortunate enough to go to the club they have followed as a kid. Furthermore, of the players you list, only Martin is of the same "vintage" as Scully - all of the others have been with their respective clubs for a long period of time and have had the chance to plant their roots firmly in the club culture (that is, have developed a sense of belonging and loyalty).

People have been saying that here since the whole Scully debate started and I think it's a very valid point. If Scully is the seriously dedicated footballer we are lead to believe he is, then I doubt he will leave the club with unfinished business... I get the feeling he will want to achieve the ultimate success with this club as it is pretty obvious that is going to be a long way off at GWS, even with the most optimistic of forecasts.

When I was a kid, the only placky balls were Bank of NSW money boxes with your team emblem stuck on them.