Slartibartfast

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?

Yes, I went. Only four Melbourne players played - Pickett, Neville, Newton and Neaves. Byron Pickett - stayed on the ground for the whole game (well, I left with about 5 minutes to go) and was the least impressive of the four. Didn't find a lot of the ball and wasn't all that impressive when he did. He got some exercise though and probably found it hard to get worked up playing against Sandy 1st and 2nds players. Heath Neville - had a close look at him for the first time really. He's pretty aggressive, likes to get involved and got a bit of dash. Played on Poyas and Valenti, so they gave him a job. Quite liked his game in a quiet sort of a way. Not outstanding but one of those players who might just progress. But nothing to get excited about. Shane Neaves - best ruckman on the ground in amongst the amateurs. Really did look good at this level. He's a good long kick, reads the play well and is quite good below his knees. Speed is the problem at the higher levels. Dominated his position as he should have. Michael Newton - started at FF, lovely lead, pass, goal in the first and got a little bit involved. But the more interesting thing was in the second half when he moved to a wing. He dominated. Picked up kicks at will, marked, kicked goals and showed beautiful disposal on each side of his body. And I'm talking really good disposal. Took the trademark hanger in the last half and cramped having run himself into the ground. He's not an inside player at all, but he found the ball and space really easily, was poised when he got it and at one stage ran half the length of the ground bouncing it 4 or 5 times. Having said that I'm not sure how he'd go if someone stood next to him as his opponent didn't go near him all half. Isaac Weetra was in the stand looking as was the Russian and Bucks.

I reckon it's time to get off Miller's case. It's been debated for longer than the Woey trade and in reality everyone has had their say. All that is happening now is "can so, cannot". But as evidence of Daniher's faith in Miller you need go no further than the fact he's played on Hall, Tredrea and Pavlich ahead of Rivers and he was in the leadership group. We all know he's struggling and has to earn his spot back, let's just see how he goes for a while.

I've tried to say away from this issue until I've been able to reconcile it. I'm getting closer. I sympathize with the AFL, I think they are in a no win situation here. 1. Recreational drug use should never be tested. It's an invasion of privacy. If a player is caught in the normal course of events by the police and is charged with recreational drug use then they are subject to whatever the law provides and whatever their employment contract provides. How the AFLPA could ever agree to have the drug police walk into a players house at anytime of day or night and ask them to urinate into a bottle is beyond me. It's akin to the police having the right to walk into anyone's house, without evidence, and search for stolen goods. 2. Performance enhancing drugs should be banned and you should be able to test for them at anytime. 3. No player should be allowed to bet on footy, nor should any club employee. It puts the integrity of the whole competition at risk. The recreational out of season drug users are being rightly protected by the AFL. It is not a matter of public importance. The players should never have been tested in the first place, it's a complete invasion of privacy. The AFL have it right.

A point I think you've missed. I'm talking about the type of game Bell plays and the sort of opponents the coach asks him to play on. In regards Carroll. I was talking about Sunday's game. Not his career. Each to their own. I see you're in the camp of "if Bell beats his man his man had a bad night, if Bell is beaten, he's no good". Hard to win on that basis.