bjDee

Just a wrongly expressed metaphor: To go over something with a 'fine toothcomb' rather than 'fine-tooth comb'. And a couple from the Bjelke-petersen days: "Just you take a leaf out of the side of my page..." and "That'll set the cat among the applecart". Don't know if they are real, but they could easily have been.

Others have referred to Nate Brown & Matty Whelan. To me, Barty was the next in line to inherit their crown as our premier tough nut small defender. I will miss him. On SEN tonight he talked with Ox about going into "import-export" business. Don't know what that means, but I'd be glad if he would just export some of that Barty G&D attitude into some current players, my kids .....and maybe the whole of Gen Y while he's at it. Best of luck for the next chapter Clint.

About 20,000 more members - give us critical mass, make the players and FD and admin more accountable for performance.

These are the two that stand out to me. My son was around 10-12 at the time and beginning to get into footy. He had Farmer's no. on the back of his jumper when Farmer left. Then he had 22 put on for Woey, who left about a year later (IIRC). I remember saying to him "for ****ks sake, don't put Neitz's number on that jumper of yours". I find that losing a key player erodes a little bit of the loyalty I feel for the club, one tiny cut at at time, because we follow both the team/club, and its individual players. The individual cases are usually understandable, but just a sad reality in the era of professional athletes. I hope the AFL retains some kind of salary cap though - wouldn't want it to go open slather. The T$ loss really [censored] me off, but probably actually strengthened my loyalty to the club, thanks to blokes like Trenners who made a stand. Of the latest lot - I don't feel much impact. Sad to see Riv go, but it doesn't leave us too much in the lurch. He has served well and is getting on in years. Beamer's situation had to change anyway and he was coming off a poor year. Jurrah - just feel flat about that but he showed us he was not interested in staying.

This would make a big improvement to our performance........ ....at the Footy Show GF edition.

I tend to agree adc. If this thing goes sour, ironically it seems we may have been thwarted by our need for Stef to succeed. Our desperate shortage of key players for many positions has gone against us here. Another club with fewer gaps and a more narrowly defined need could develop someone like Stef into a valuable component of a team through some focussed effort. We seem to have stuffed up the delvelopment opportunity. He may not become a great player - who knows yet - but we're certainly not helping his cause so far.

Interesting observation. It's been a long and draining year, and many other issues have taken our attention from the players who now form the core of the club. I can only speak for one, and as an unreserved fan of Jonesy I thought it had all been said this year. But lest it be misunderstood: LOVE YOUR WORK JONESY.

Very bad news for us keyboard heroes. Advertisers on D'land are also worried about the lack of views they'll get if we don't have someone to come here and whinge about. Telstra / Optus / whoever will lose inome from less internet traffic. Watts is looking very nervous as the potential next deer in the headlights, which will be bad for his development and confidence. Let's face it - Melbourne losing Cale would be very bad for business.

Agree. I expect more mediocrity in 2013. Haven't seen anywhere near enough change in the players to match it with any team in the top 10 ladder places. We have a few stars, but our overall average across the whole playing and coaching group is 'mediocre'.

Don't want to deny you your pleasures, but I think it would say much more about our progress if we were to clean up Mitch Robinson and inflict a few bruises, rather than worry about McLean.

Unfortunately Bwuce has picked up another fad saying of his. Wish I had a buck for every time a player kicks the ball "off a step". Seems every player does it now ( which they have always done anyway). Makes you wonder how we ever got by in the past.

I'm hoping for 'improvement' to come from getting my expectations a little nearer to reality than they were this year. Nine months ago I thought we could finish in the 8th-12th range based on the changed approach we saw pre-season. After 3 games, I sunk to a low which lasted all season. I now accept the wisdom of those here who say another rebuild must be given time, and that a clear out will take more than 1 season to implement. I really don't want to become further jaded and desensitised, so my goal is to find some way to lower expectations and yet still find positives in next year's form. In terms of new or improved player talent, 2012 has been a really scratchy year. Part of my enjoyment in 2009 - 2011 was going along to watch the development of our up and comers with potential - in no order - Trenners, HWSNBN, Gys, Strauss, Jordie,Tappy, LJ, etc. This year, I loved the form of Clarky, Jones, Howe, Tommy McD and some improvement from Blease and others, but I reckon we should see more players than that taking steps forward. Really hoping to see an increased list of players who deserve to be watched in 2013.

Fitzy has impressed me on the few times I saw him at Casey this year. I was not a fan before this year. But he has disappointed a little when given his chances at AFL level. I hope he is given plenty more chances to show the kind of form he is developing in the Scorps. Don't know enough about Jai to comment but I like what I hear.

With you there mate. Uni open day then ferrying daughter to work at maccas and wife to work function so she can have a drink or 3. Would love to go and bear witness to Greeny's last game.

Would just like to say welcome back Greeny and Tommy McD and Jimmy Strauss. Good to see you getting into it in a big way. Ricky P - welcome back and would love to see you get back to top form as well. And welcome Tommy Couch - good first game.

Great job Scorps and KC!

Agree with mrtwister about Dunn at FF. I love Garlo's game generally, but thought he was well overshadowed by Rivers last week. Garlo just doesn't seem to be a natural in the central forward role. Maybe more of a pocket or flanker. So would prefer to see Riv and Garlo swap places in the lineup as selected, moved to a flank and Dunny in FF. Sellar has been a disappointment up forward, but better down back. I even think he has done ok in the ruck when tried there. What has most annoyed me is the number of marks he drops, which made him useless as a forward. Have to say though, he has started to grab a few more since going down back and the % is slowly rising. On that basis, I am hopeful he can provide a better showing up forward now.

Sheesh! Makes you wonder whether having that many AFL players in the team was a help or a hindrance! Would be grateful for reports on the various players' contributions.

And seemingly of good character. Plus we've given his dad a job....

Fitzy in the Followers line is a good sign for him.. Thought he might have been out of action for a while given his recent diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. Hope he can continue to build a high level footy career for himself. Others have done it before him, but it's certainly not a given.

Surprise noone has mentioned this today. Seems even Vlad got in on the action on Sunday...

Must have been 3rd. GWS heading back to Punt Rd end. Magner did a good job on the No. 1 P_ick.

Good: Dunny was surprisingly good across the whole game today. Watching him closely in one-out marking contests, he is veeery clever with his body position. Might have promoted himself off the sub bench for a few games. Clarky - superb before the injury. Wattsy, Jonesy, Riv, T.Macca, Nicho. Scoring 7 goals from former defenders - Rivers and Garlo. Bad: Moloney today. Ugly: The Hare Krisha gits in the GWS squad. Must be paid handsomely by Vlad to wear that kind of crap. And Sheedy - the main reason I replied to this thread in the first place, then forgot to include the Master P_ick in the first reply.A real ugly moron.

Love both the post and the name. Imagine if Tappy were on the field today in Q1 and anywhere near $cully. Might have been out for another few weeks.

Even better - the Watts turnover came from a Scully poory directed kick in the first place. So we saw a No. 1 pick (Scully), kick to the opposition No.1 (Watts) - turnover - kick to the No.2 pick (Trengove) - goal. Equation: -1+1+2 = 6 points