Red Sox

Sounds all to be a big beat up in the end....what is/was the Fev/Gibbs incident, never heard that one?

Some good info there Masterbater.....some talent coming out of that side of the country it seems. Good for all to be informed.

And here it comes again.....knew it wouldn't be long before the knocks came again on that Melbourne listed player. Going to be some very very silly looking people in a couple of years. The same people will have this Melbourne listed playerin their favourite player(s) list by then....sorry should've just left it alone.

Some players do play taller and some shorter than their listed height at times. Matt Bate is listed as 192...doesn't seem to me to be this tall but his gait see's him almost hunched so could be deceptive. Riewoldt is 193 to me doesn't look that tall either. From the vision I saw Darling LOOKS to be taller but this could just be the other players around him that make it deceptive. Rick Petterd and Jurrah at 185 & 188 are not that tall but both, so far, play well as marking targets. Not that I am confusing these two as talls. Are there that many tall gorilla type defenders anymore anyway?

Plus adding another Jack to the list in addition to what seems a certainty in Jack Viney... Darling, Viney, Watts, Grimes, Trengove, Fitzpatrick......I can see the wisdom of the recruiting team coming together now! Hawthorn hunted for left footers we went after Jacks!! Also settled for Jordans, James, Jamies and Jareds!! The current recruiting team is bought to you by the letter J. Sorry guys just a bit of fun!!

Yeah heard about his 'sex romp' wasn't it? Hey is from WA and they do things a bit different in the Wild Wild West. Still, he was only 16 wasn't he....this can be soon knocked out of him. Long way away from any of this coming together anyhow.

Its fair to think that we may look for a key forward. Maybe not such a good call in that we will 'offer heaps of money'.

I'd like to see some one on one's applied. Let some of the youngsters go at against some of the saints better players. Clint Jones will play on Davey. How about Morton running around with Goddard. Grimes into the middle against Dal Santo.....Cheney to come in for another defender to assist Bartram against Milne/Schneider Scully against Montagna Trengove against Hayes I expect that Gilbert will play on either Miller or Watts and try to run off them. I would like to see Bailey put Watts on Gilbert and make him accountable, work back towards goal as Jack can move. Of course the midfield has to dictate to a degree how successful this could work out.

Jack Darling certainly looks a likely type...not seen much this year so far but enough on You Tube from last years champs. He is amazingly quick off the mark and even last year at the bottom age group of U 18's had good size about him so would expect that he has grown a bit more from there. Our first pick could still be as far off as Pick 12 and by the looks of him I am not sure he would slide that far. I would find it hard that GC would pass him up because it seems they are going to have plenty of midfield types, even including current players they may poach and will need some Key forwards. Would be great if he slides as I think we have enough midfield options going forward....Blease/Strauss still not really seen etc etc. Maybe we could tank to position ourselves better!!

Mikey, cheers for clearing that up. I heard about the Swallow/Matera issue and not allowing them to play U 18's...it wasn't much so you have probably closed the loop on some of the info I missed hearing. Makes good sense that they get involved with GC into the VFL. No problem.

Really do not enjoy watching Saints and their game style but credit to them, they carry out instruction and work hard for every minute of every game no matter the opponent. It is quite astounding that they can keep this up each week and the fact it all stood up in Nick's absence, again all credit to them. It is for this reason I am quite concerned with how we will fare. There will certainly be no let up or let down by the Saints. The Baker incident is likely to steel them further as every other outside issue has done this year. If we can get our tackle and pressure count back to where it was in the first 5-6 rounds and not let them have it there way it would be a good sign. It is going to be very interesting to see how we combat their zones. It is an area we have struggled to combat against lesser sides than the Saints and it is a concern for me. If Sam Gilbert is racking up 30-40 touches it will be a fair indicator as to how we have gone in this area. I thought last year on the Coast against St Kilda was not too bad a result in the way we played, something similar would be good.

That's the main point for me Rojik.....I'd put my hand straight up and say I didn't handle Sunday too well at all, thankfully didn't trot out a head hunt for Bailey but didn't miss too many For the most part I would imagine we all realise where we are but who can honestly say they have not been blinded by a great win or bad loss at least once along the journey? And it is all a journey...for all of us. Hopefully one that ends shortly with a nice shiny cup before we set off on another one!

A good read by BP. The reference to Gawn and Fitzy and where particular clubs rate a certain pick that may slip through. Also interesting to read how he sees GC approaching the draft and mentions they have already committed to David Swallow (brother of Norths Andrew) and a guy by the name of Harley Bennell...is he a relation to our Jimmy Bennell? I heard how GC didn't want to have Swallow and Matera play Under 18's football. What would these kids do for a year if no football? Interesting.

Snap!

Its an old one from 2008...type Luke Molan in the search and it will appear.

Mate, you don't need to sink too low. It is my opinion that is all. Who's arguing that kids deserve guidance? Of course they do but it starts and ends at home. Misguided? Why because I don't agree with your tripe and the fact there is a much more prevalent problem stemming from parents rather than what kids see on a football field? Did you start smashing people from behind when Grinter floored Wallace? Are you that soft of mind? I would like to think I can teach my kids right from wrong without having to rely on governments, rule makers, even worse sports people to do it for me. If you think Bakers low act has that much of an effect on the kids, then what about the over exposed reporting of sports stars around incidents such as Milne, Lovett, Didak, Carey etc etc etc. If you think Bakers act was on any sort of scale as some of those issues then you are quite welcome to those thoughts.

Rhino.....I would say obviously you are wrong but it can't be obvious to you the fact that I am a father to a 12 year old, a 2 year old and a 9 mth year old. I know enough about what is going on out there.....I'm no Mike Brady that's for sure but still.... Baker crossed the line, no argument from me on that. Baker is an idiot. But please give me a break on the kids line as it sounds like Mrs Lovejoy on The Simpsons "wont somebody please think of the children' tripe. But of course we live in a world that will continue to legislate for the majority due to the stupidity of the minority.

Yeah fair enough. I agree on the points that it is an unfair advantage etc etc as there is no reciprocation available to the bloke getting the treatment, unless like Stevie J you are prepared to cop 4 weeks. But I am not a fan of using kids etc to sanitise or which ever term you want to apply as being the reason. We would hate for parents to do their jobs properly and teach their own kids right from wrong. I do understand it is reality for the most part but fair dinkum, what happened to the good old fashioned values of good parenting where you can sit them down and see this and make a point of how wrong it is. Show these kids that Baker is unlikely to play football again this season.

I'm not sure that is correct being Josh Fraser is it? If it is I would still take Luke Molan! Hindsight, it is so wonderful. Terrible terrible luck for him and at the end of the day, more importantly, bad luck for us. I wouldn't have thought though that anyone could have a go at Molan himself? It is fair enough to curse our luck at how it eventuated but if I saw Luke on the street it certainly wouldn't be a knock on him that it didn't turn out as we hoped.

Sitting at a desk all day and also being fairly new to Demonland I find myself on here far too often but I am sure the novelty will wear off and time will reduce!! Easy to tell who the precious people here are though which is a bit sad. So what if things have been bought up before or people have their own axe to grind or even want to bake players, it's all a part of the passion and emotion involved and isn't that why the majority of people are here in the first place?. Can't you just ignore what you dont want to take in? Or is it the old freeway accident scenario where everyone has to stop to take a look. Anyway, I enjoy getting more info than in the past from here and even if no one notices the dribble I may write, at least my wife doesn't have to listen to me bang on so often because I've vented in some way! Go Demons!

Sorry if this is an old one as it likely is, pause at the 30 second mark, this team has a very strong demon flavor....

We would want to have pretty handy conversion statistics.......we don't shoot at goal very often!! Show me just the raw total shots at goal for each team.....wouldn't be pretty

Yeah you can't rip the entire soul out of the club. Greeny is a ripper and 4-5 years ago was a player that IMO liked to enjoy the good moments but not great at putting the head down and going hard the other way, his courage in the air and on the ground, the guy just changed how he went about it and then knocked back Collingwood!! Stuff like that helps to create a great culture. Loved watching Trav at his best through the Daniher era (2002, great memories!), sadly he didn't change his ways and both for him and the club the best move was made. No doubt I love watching Grimes go about it more than any player now! Reckon that Yze could have possibly been better doing the same simply because IMO I don't think he got everything he could have out of himself. A move there might have been good for both sides. One thing I'd say is they were/are damn fine servants of the club and pretty decent players as I am certain all of Essendon, Carlton & Collingwood had a nibble at all 3 at one stage.

I'll turn you yet Hannabal into seeing that Jack will be a star! I agree the bunch of key forwards named wont be all time stars of the game. Riewoldt and Naitanui aside none are likely to be SUPERstars of today. Many are athletes as opposed to the other all time greats named and I cant see any that will get to that sort of standard. Watts has got a good a chance as any to be the next star forward. I reckon Jack right now, already has two better attributes than most of them which is his ball handling below the knees and his kicking, not only his kicking for goal which is as good an action I've seen since Lyon but his field kicking to team mates. These attributes are pretty difficult area's to learn or teach...you've either got it or you don't. Sure you can argue teaching kicking or kicking for goal but how often does a players action change at all? I would add his ball handling in general, quick handballs etc is something that we will notice as a pretty special quality once his full confidence comes out. Pretty good signs to take out of 9 games. He is starting to head towards getting 15 touches and 5 marks a game. As mentioned above, once his core strength etc improves he will easily get another 10 touches a game on top of his 11 game avg and take the one on one marks that we've seen him in a position to take on several occasions. Call me crazy but I see him getting to better areas as a lead up forward more often each game. Notice how Matty Bate played a lot closer to goal against Adelaide? The strength, positioning, appetite for the contest will fall into place for him, as long as he works obviously and with those three other key qualities he is going to be a bloody good player. Anyway....$350,000 for 3 years plus incentives...we'll have a bargin by 2013!

I agree with most of your points Hannabal and would agree next year is going to be very pivotal. Not the be all and end all (Goddard and Hodge took 3 years plus and today are two players I enjoy watching more than most)I do agree that it is pivotal and that some genuine signs emerge. I will add the excuse though that guys like Kernahan, Lockett, Carey, Brereton, Dunstall were MEN in a different era, Jono Brown is probably the last of that kind of breed. The KIDS today are different specimens to what those guys were, especially the Key Position Players. Guys like Gumbleton, Cloke, Hansen, Kennedy, Watts, Nic Nat etc etc are in a different world both from a football perspective and a world perspective. Lockett could well not even be picked up in today's game as crazy as that sounds!! 3 or 4 of those MEN could easily be included amongst the 10 best players to have ever played the game and as much as I would love to see Jack included in that category at the end of his career, do you draft on the hope that he is in the 10 best that have ever played? I think in some ways it is a tough comparison to make. If he were to be in the 50 best players of all time at the end then I would suspect we would be pretty happy?