Slartibartfast

As much as I might agree, we're dreamin'.

I'm not over Tommy. I love him. I'm just hanging out for the contract extension.

Couldn't agree less. It may have happened for someone like Viney had a deal not been done but it wouldn't happen for someone like Stretch. Why would another team risk taking a player they don't want at that pick just so they might force us to take him with an earlier pick? They wouldn't because there is too much risk for them. I doubt other teams would be worried if we picked up Stretch for a "bargain". As for the pick this year I'd be dead against taking a "running HB" or a flanker type. We fell into that trap with Blease, Strauss and Tapscott. Good flanker types at TAC cup level often seem to struggle at AFL level. I want a genuine midfielder or a genuine KP player with our first pick. Leave the flank positions for later picks. It's a pity we didn't keep Bennell, he seems to be developing nicely at WCE and was always the type of player who would take time.

I don't revere Flanagan as many do here. I like him but he's as capable of ordinary articles as most. He rarely tackles difficult issues and most of his features are feel good topics. Pretty easy stuff and he does it well. I also like Caro regardless of her critical attitude to us during the tanking investigation. Murphy provides an insight into the life of a footballer and intelligent one at that. I'll probably learn more from Murph and Caro than Flanagan. Each to their own. It takes all kinds Binman!

Bob Murphy is easily my favourite player outside the MFC. He has a lot of the qualities of Robbie Flower. He's also a fantastic journalist up the in the class of Flanagan. He's written a great article in the Age today about the incident with JKH which is well worth a read. It will be a sad day when Murph hangs up the boots.

This game was against Box Hill and he was terrific. Hurt his back that game and didn't recapture this form. I was disappointed when he didn't get another go but Todd Viney was there for his entire time and would have had a good handle on him and been able to assess how much of his failure was due to ability/application and how much was environment. And I think his delisting has been mitigated by the recruitment of Michie and Riley particularly as they are similar ages and ability. I'll watch his progress with interest as I reckon there is a fair chance he'll get another crack.

I go to round 1 every year............................

Not me. I also believe in Viney but he, like Toumpas, will need time.

I enjoy reading you're posts Ben, more insightful than most and certainly entertaining. But I do think you misread the preseason horribly, singing the praises of Petersen (amongst others) and saying Viney could turn our midfield round quickly. When I suggested that preseason was like dancing with your sister you said perhaps but "she's had a makeover". You call it as you see it but by your own admission you're a blue sky junkie and that, more than personal relationships, leads you to wrong conclusions. I've given up trying to pick players, I'm not much good at it. You and I could point to numerous situations where we've each got it wrong. Come to think of it we could point to numerous situations where the recruiters have got it wrong. I don't remember your initial stance on Neeld but I don't recall it being anything but positive. I called him very early and had one poster stalking me. I also called McLardy and Schwab and was abused from pillar to post. Unlike players I reckon we can have more meaningful opinions of off field performance which is why I concentrate on that area. I think we can have views on the structure of list management so I comment occasionally on that. Neeld was a disaster from day one and there were very clear signs. His first public utterances were to criticise Watts and Davey and go on to say "I don't know the players, I've only just got here". His appointment of joint Captains was a disaster and his alienation of the senior players catastrophic. His tenure has put this club back 5 years and ruined the careers of many at our club. McKenzie, like Trengove and Grimes, has been cruelled by a coach with no idea of leadership or game plan. Hopefully the next coach can restore these players to somewhere near their real potential but I reckon for Trenners the horse has bolted which was my fear right at the beginning. The failure of our club to recognize Neeld's inadequacy is the single biggest blunder I can remember it making. And it was evident from the outside very early and blindingly obvious from the inside. Poor old Belly is a hard call by the way. Many clubs expressed interest in him because he had all the physical attributes to be very good but nobody realized he was affected as much as he was from his high incidence of concussion and the brain damage he suffered playing AFL footy. It had a profound effect on this ability to play the game. Thankfully the last I heard he had made very good progress and has overcome most of his issues.

I reckon you had a shocker of a pre-season on and off the field. I hope next year is better.

That would sum up the year for you wouldn't it?I'm surprised when seasoned footy supporters build up draft picks in preseason only to be disappointed when 18yo fail to dominate in adult competition. I doubt this year will be any different. I reckon if you'd read Abletts crits in his first few years they would have expressed the same views. Give the kids a chance.

I feel for the whole bloody list.

I've just pressed on the little star by the topic title which takes you to the last post you read. It took me to P47. Could someone quickly summarize what's been said?

Are the people who continually criticise Hadden and Ponting the same ones who wanted Hussey gone at the beginning of last year? It's a shame that people are so quick to turn on players who have performed so wonderfully for our country. Great to see these two blokes play an important role in our success this test. I recognise Ponting is past his best but he still warrants a spot IMO and at his best was as good as there was going around. Very few of his runs came against the no name countries unlike a few other icons. Great player, love him.

Well we are going over well worn ground but the issue is our good mature players aren't that good. Green, Moloney, Sylvia and Davey who should be providing a bit of grunt, particularly through the midfield are just ordinary footballers. Green has wrung the most anybody could have reasonably expected out of his ability. That he is now being vilified by supporters is depressing and shows how little they understand. Davey has never been someone who could lead when things got tough. Moloney is another "Green", but he's younger and given a tag free opportunity can play well. But for all his possessions he rarely hurts the opposition which is why he's a good ordinary footballer and not an top notch A grader. And Sylvia is just too inconsistent to be a top liner but his best is probably our best. Jamar has been injured since Adelaide (he doesn't seem to be able to jump at the moment) and for me Rivers has been our best mature player. People don't give credit to our defense. It goes in there quickly and regularly and it's not surprising that at times it just breaks open.

Your problem is you haven't managed your expectations. Everyone is very happy to buy into a "rebuilding" process but nobody realises how long 4 to 5+ years is, and that is how long this one will take (oh, and I'm not saying I understood either). And we started from as low a base as anyone. Carlton took from end of 2003 to now to go from hopeless to good. In the 2003 draft they took Walker at pick 2 and along the way they've picked up a once in a decade footballer. I have a very simple barometer. It says games and ages will tell you where you should finish on the ladder adjusted for skill. We are in the bottom 3 for games and ages but we will finish well out of the bottom 3 which indicates skill. (and yes, I know other things will impact, this is a blunt tool). So by my reckoning we've had a good season with some dreadful characteristics none worse that the thrashings we've had. They are what have killed the season for me. I'd have been happy with 8 to 10 wins but the size of the thrashings and the inept conduct of the Board over the last month have turned a good development year into a trial. And unless we pick up some mature midfielders next year will be a steady progression, not a quantum leap. Prepare yourself!!

Moloney and Jones are 182 and 180 respectively. Bartel 187, Corey 191, Ling 189 paved the way for Selwood and Ablett. Pendlebury 191 and Judd 189 are about the best in the business. And Jones and Moloney are "good ordinary footballers" and at their height they can't impact against bigger bodies. Neither is quick. And Jones doesn't play midfield really, he plays wing (and yes, there is a difference). We need blokes that "take space" and are strong enough to hold position and block for the likes of S.... sorry. Our blokes aren't. I think McNamara 190 has been successful at Casey because he can do just this and we'll see if he can do it Sunday. Grimes 187, Gysberts 190 and McKenzie 186 are our hopes here but are all are injury prone and are young and inexperienced. This year our midfield have been smashed because we lack size and strength and are very inexperienced. Our success is linked to our midfield. I think if you stuck a decent engine in between our forward and back line and we'd be knocking on the door of the top 5 because a decent midfield would make the forward and back lines so much better. I just don't see why people don't realize that its as simple as the midfield. And unless we "get" something from somewhere for next year we will see gradual improvement not the quantum leap many expect. Just look at the difference Cox, Kerr, Embley and Shoey have made to WC this year. As someone once said "It's the midfield, stupid".

How's the diet going. I have to wait until the end of our season. I'm not looking forward to Monday week. I've skipped a lot of the "woe is me" posting but I'm afraid you're in for more pain. Until our midfield becomes mature and competitive I think we are in for more of the same next year. We desperately need to find a mature good midfielder but I can't see one. Grimes might be the answer if he can stay fit. That is my main hope.

Close, but no cigar!!

No, but they have hippogriff's. I'm getting the feeling you're out of your depth!! A Hippogriff (also spelled Hippogryph and Hippogryphe, Italian: Ippogrifo) is a legendary creature, supposedly the offspring of a griffin and a mare.

I'm slightly embarrassed to admit that I've read all the books and some twice. I think the advice to see the first film before watching the others is good, you'll understand some of the infrastructure behind what your watching, but much better to watch them in sequence. If you watched the 6th film in the series "cold" you'd have no idea of what's going on. Get a copy of the first book, it's short and you'll read it in 3 hours or so. That's the best introduction. If you don't like fantasy you won't like Harry, but having said that you've told me that you think MFC will win a flag in our lifetime so perhaps you do (believe in fantasy). Your PS is actually brilliant and could so easily be built into the characters and things in the book. Harry is a brilliant "seeker " in a sport called quididich and would be sort by many other teams but his loyalty to his friends and headmaster would mean he'd never leave. If you've not read the Hobbit or LOTR's they are both great reads but again, you've got to like fantasy. Quidditch is a fictional Wizarding sport played in the Harry Potter book series. It is described as an extremely rough, but very popular, semi-contact sport, played by wizards and witches around the world. Matches are played between two teams of seven players riding flying broomsticks, using four balls and six elevated ring-shaped goals. In the Harry Potter universe, Quidditch holds a fervent following similar to the position that association football holds as a globally popular sport. The sport is featured in every Harry Potter book except for the seventh, when Harry Potter is preoccupied in fighting Voldemort. Harry plays an important position for his house team at Hogwarts as the seeker. Regional and international competitions are mentioned throughout the series. In Goblet of Fire, Quidditch at Hogwarts is cancelled for the Tri-Wizard Tournament, but Harry and the Weasleys attend the Quidditch World Cup. In addition, Harry uses his Quidditch skills to capture a golden egg from a dragon (in the Tri-Wizard Tournament), to capture a flying key in Philosopher's Stone, and on two key occasions in Deathly Hallows—getting hold of Ravenclaw's Diadem, and during the final fight with Voldemort—the "unerring skill of the Seeker" is vitally useful to him in snatching an object out of the air. The sport has been adapted under the name of "Muggle Quidditch" (or simply "Quidditch") to the real world. Since at least 2003, Harry Potter fans have played ball games resembling the Harry Potter sport. In the United States, teams from more than 200 colleges are affiliated with the International Quidditch Association and play tournaments. Furthermore, high-level Quidditch tournaments are a mainstay of Harry Potter Conventions, such as Nimbus 2003, The Witching Hour, and, most recently, Infinitus 2010.

This is the best I could do for a "complete" match: Dolores Umbridge Dolores Jane Umbridge is the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, of which she is the primary antagonist. Her first name, relatively common in Spain, means "pains" in Spanish, and her last name is a play on the wordumbrage, meaning "a feeling of anger or annoyance". She is a short, squat woman described in the book as resembling a large pale toad, with "short, curly, mouse-brown hair". She speaks with a quiet, childish, high-pitched voice, and she loves kittens and other cute things, decorating her office with related paraphernalia. She has a tendency to speak to people she feels are her lessers in a very condescending tone, as if they are simpletons or very young children.

Full of hot air? Harry will fix it!

Only one more day to go Redleg and all will be revealed. Mind you, there has been lots written about this and the ending has been known for sometime. And guess what, the good guys win!! Oh, and apparently a couple of redheads have made news lately.... Edit: I'm referring to Harry Potter.....

I reckon Mrs. Redleg would know how to fix it. And if she doesn't then go to the opening of Harry on Wednesday and I'm sure Tom Riddle will give you some hints. A glow stick that goes out is just not on!!