Slartibartfast

Franky we've been down this road before. At this point in time I reckon Danners agrees with me (or the other way round ). Let's hope we are right as then everyone will be happy. BTW, where do you stand on Yze?

Perhaps so, but does one afternoon against a VFL club make up for his past? If he finally tries I'll be pleased but I'll also be cross. Why hasn't he done that for the last few years whilst he's been collecting his (not insubstantial) paycheck? IMO it takes more than one game to demonstrate a genuine change of attitude.

Bell? You've got to be kidding. Bell has his shortcomings but one of them is not his kicking. Bell started on Chapman in the first and kept him kickless and when Chapman was moved into the midfield he played on Djerrkura and Varcoe. He kept them goalless. His game was in tight where he got the ball in contested situations and handballed to the likes of Ward. Belly would have had about 15 possessions of which only 4 or 5 were kicks. And I don't recall a turnover. You can't compare Bells game to Ward and Brown. The latter two play as unaccountable running HBF whereas Bell is always given the oppositions best small forward and asked to shut him down. Bells opponents this preseason have included Williams (Hawks), Brown (Richmond), Chapman (Geelong), Burton and McLeod (Adelaide). Guess who Daniher thinks is our best medium back?

Here's my view: Buckley: I like the look of Simon. Got a bit of the ball and looks comfortable on the field. He won't play round one and he didn't really impact the game, but as a second year player he's shown a great deal of improvement which is very encouraging. Jones: I was slow to warm to Jones but now I'm converted. He was fantastic today doing a lot of heavy in and under stuff and lots of running. Another in his second season and we have a winner in this kid. Easily one of our best IMO. Bizzell: The Biz really started well in the first quarter but faded a bit as the game went on. I think he will play round one subject to a suitable matchup. Holland: Benny was good on Ottens in the first half but got towelled by Mooney in the third. Didn't see much of him in the last but appeared to give away an obvious free in the goal square. I think Benny will push to make the team round 1 on that form. Brock: Very out of it early but got a little bit of it later. Needed the run and I reckon he'll get another for Sandy next week. Bate: Good first half? I didn't see it. I thought as the game went on he got into it but it wasn't the game I was hoping for. Bater's just going at the moment and wouldn't be a certain starter for round 1. Miller: Thank heavens. I've stood behind this guy and will continue to do so. His form today was very good. Ran hard, held his marks, was clean and strong. He got plenty of it and I think now he is over his OP his kicking has improved with some really good long kicks to position, particularly to Robbo in the second. The Dunn v Miller debate has been decided, at least for now. Neita: not one of his better games but didn't get many opportunities. Ward: Did what Ward does. He played a good Ward game. Petterd: Is courageous and when he gets the ball is composed, but really found it hard to get into the game today. I really like him but he won't play seniors soon. TJ: BOG for mine for us. He just got it all the time. Flattened Chapman with a completely fairly hip and shoulder. CJ: Continued on his good form. Played loose in the backline in the third quarter. Copped a terrible knock in the second that might put a father son pickup in doubt but fought back well. Garland: Struggled to get into the game and really can't draw any conclusion from this game. Belly: VG early and his opponents on the day failed to trouble the scorer. Tackled really hard and at one stage in the last seemed to move up the field. He's getting more composed on the ground. Solid game. Moloney: Another big plus for the day. Very solid and strong in the packs and ran hard. Put him in for round 1 and welcome back Brent. Robbo: Lots of opportunities and was wasteful, but to be honest I was just glad to see him get the opportunities. A promising game from Robbo. Brown: A doggy game. Full of run and courage and sprinkled with disposal errors. Rivers: I didn't realise how good a job he did until he wasn't there. Played on Mooney in the first half and both were pretty much unsighted. When he didn't play the second half Mooney ripped us to pieces. White: Quiet game and seemed to get a bit frustrated at times. Ferg: Was solid until he was put onto Mooney who gave him a footy lesson. Played on Nathan Ablett a bit early and did well. Davey: Our biggest worry and on form would not play R1 IMO. Terrible today. In a game where the ball was running free on the ground a fair bit he was nowhere to be seen. Jamar: Liked his game. Competitive in the ruck and took a couple of good marks around the ground. A better Russian game. Whelan: Solid but not spectatular. The game was played in very windy conditions which meant the skills were shabby with lots of kicks missing there marks. We played run and carry but we didn't get it into the forward line with any confidence. We had a bit of class out, but all our forwards were there other than Pickett and we struggled to score. Whilst it's not slash wrists time we are not in top form either. Having said that there were plenty of rotations and we didn't try and win. In the last with the game in the balance (if a practice match is ever "in the balance") we had Brock, White, TJ, CJ and Moloney on the bench. Take from that what you may. All in all an enjoyable day and some really nice positives with Miller and Moloney heading the list.

The Age reports Kossi and Hayes to play their first games tomorrow and Maguire his second. Reiwoldt will not play a practice game before the season starts. I always thought that an ACL was a twelve month injury but Hayes is back in less than 10. He's a very good player and I hope they are not rushing him back to early. Maguire had the same injury as Brown. I doubt he'll be the same player for sometime. From memory he did it later in the season than Brown and will be back quicker.

I have a theory about match day nous. If you win your coach has it and we lose he doesn't. That's a simplification but a major part of the story. I'm the first to admit that I don't understand football tactics that well. Never have. But I remember watching some Wiz cup matches where Dean Laidley was "miked up". I'd not considered the things he was suggesting. It wasn't just moving players and rotations. It was so much more. So when people say that Daniher doesn't have it and Eade does, I wonder how they judge. Anyway. CTD how do you think "run and carry" will affect the importance of CHF? My gut feeling is that it makes the importance of a CHF much less as there will be a tendency to run the ball forward of centre and kick deep into the forward line.

You won't if Beamer is collecting the NS medal!! Good luck to Scotty.

Garland was 37, Petterd 27, Neville 10, Newton 28 and Dutchy 24.

It's interesting what you see when you go to the footy. It's the first time I've seen Garland and Petterd and from todays performance I'm very happy. Petterd started slowly but as the game wore on he just did things well. Not spectular, but good skills, good decision maker and clean. He got a fair bit of the ball in the second half. I don't know a lot of his history but I suspect it's his first game against men. Garland had an excellent first half and a quieter second. Seems to have good awareness and much better kicking skills than I thought. Took some really strong pack marks in the first half and looked much more dangerous up forward than both Newton and Sautner. When I look back and compare their games with the first games played by guys such as Bate, Jones, Molan, Bell and CJ they compare very favourably. Neville was ordinary. I thought Holland was good. And Pickett just went although he has amazing awareness. He did run hard at times. Newton had a very frustrating day. OK in the first half which he played on the wing but struggled up forward. Keep in mind that the conditions were terrible with an extremely strong wind down the ground which made it very hard for key forwards. I agree with DD that Newton tried his guts out and looked really disappointed and frustrated with the game. That's a positive from my point of view.

Very happy to play there in hostile surroundings on a ground that suits "run and carry".

It will if we ignore last week where he played for Sandy...

These two showed Class, Classy!! But I don't think they were the best. But they were good. Disappointing that CJ didn't get a mention, he deserved it. Oh, and another thing. Pickett is playing at Sandy tomorrow, for the second time.... Very disappointing....

Just a quick summary. We looked the better team for all but the last 10 minutes of the second quarter. CJ started brilliantly and was a clear BOG in the first half. Ran himself into the ground and had a much quieter second half. Hannabal, Jones was great. Kicked a couple of first half goals and when McLean comes back they will form a very sound inside mid team. Frawley played a fair bit of the last. I really like this kid. He's agile, clean with his hands, doesn't panic and knows how to find it. Don't worry about his kicking. He's got an strange style but it's effective. Bizzell was great. Cleaned up, looked assured and did a defensive role well. Dunn had a shocker. I can't remember a kick. White played forward and kicked 3. Jamar was good in the ruck and not around the ground. What's new? Buckley looked comfortable playing at this level but wasn't outstanding. Bate played a reasonable game but hasn't taken a quantum step from last year on today's showing. Miller didn't have a great day. Robbo was ineffective. Yze? Less said the better. Agree that we played run and carry but mixed it up with a kicking game. We looked to be getting the hang of it a bit better. And Richmond are in for a long season..... without Simmonds, Richo and Bowden they didn't show much.

Swans: Craig Bolton 2003 PSD Pick 3 Nic Davis 2002 ND Pick 19, Sydney's first round pick Peter Everitt. 2006 ND pick 33, Second rounder Barry Hall, 2001 ND 13,17 and 4 Darren Jolly, 2004 ND P15 Ted Richards 2005 P19 and 51. Since 2001 Sydney have traded their first round pick in the ND on 4 occasions for established players. They've played in the 2005 and 2006 GF. Want to bet against 2007? West Coast: Daniel Chick 2002 P8 Tyson Stenglein 2004 P12 and 28. Played in the last 2 GF. I not sure you looked very far!!

Have a look at the draw. A fast start is important I think. I do agree that if Col is not available until well into the season there is not much damage done. If he comes in fully fit he could be a real wildcard.

I've really enjoyed going to Sandy and watching our fella's come up through that competition, but there is no doubt that a return to the Ressies would allow our club to handle our players the way we want. I'll watch with interest.

It maybe but at training today Bartram looked well advanced on Col and did the full session. Col didn't.

But he did a full session!

Holland and Moloney did the full session.

I went to training today. The following are points of interest. 1. Weetra, Bode and Warnock didn't train with the main group at all. 2. Sylvia only trained with the group for the first non contact drill they did. I arrived just as they were starting and didn't see him do any running, but from previous visits to training he often does these before the main training session starts. 3. Bartram, Wheatley and TJ did the full session. 4. Ward stopped training after about an hour of a 1 hour 20 minute session. 5. McLean did all drills for the first hour and then did a series of run throughs. At this stage it looks to me that of the players in contention for a spot in the seniors only Sylvia wouldn't be ready for round one. Bartram may need some match practice. We look pretty well placed at this stage.

http://melbournefc.com.au/Season2007/Injur...52/Default.aspx

Pickett is far from a "certain" selection IMO. He played in the Sandy practice match on the weekend. Interesting to see if he gets selected this weekend for the Richmond game.

Agree Graz, a horrible incident. It was an unprovoked gouge to the eye. IMO there should be a huge penalty for this. The eyes are off limits for me. I'd give him 11 weeks, half a season. No doubt he'll get 2 weeks to be served over the NAB Cup Challenge series (or whatever it is)!!

Thank heavens for a voice of reason.

Thanks for that Jon. I think if you read carefully you'll see that I've not praised Bryon to much, referred to Neville's game that I liked in "a quiet sort of way" and said Newton played really well in the second half. Hardly high praise. I just disagree with you on Neaves. That's what opinions are about, and thanks for yours. I tend to differ about Byron. Why do you reckon a class player like that was running around for the whole game at Sandy?