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Are you at the game CM?

I was planning on it all week however cant make it as I had planned. Haydo, can you let us know which Dees from the extended bench are out there once the game has begun. Thanks mate

I dont have that much time, but I thought I would look at a select few clubs. I chose to look at Geelong, St Kilda, Carlton, Essendon and Richmond. Reason being - the grand finalists from last year and of course Geelong the best team for a long time. Carlton and Essendon as they are seen as young up and coming like us. Richmond because they are where we were last year and the year before. The numbers are: Geelong - 8 - Amazingly, no Ablett, Chapman, Enright, Corey or Steve Johnson St Kilda - 11 - No Dal Santo Carlton - 12 Essendon - 9 Richmond - 3 I am pretty sure on On The Couch on Monday night they said our 18 was a record.

Cheers mate. Really good to see Blease up and about. Hopefully be playing with Casey soon and get some solid game time up.

Its a great stat. I mentioned this on the Gysberts thread the other day. Its really promising for the future, as most are long term players starting out their career.

I originally voted Rhys Stanley because I like the look of him, looks a likely player. However, I completely forgot about White. Watching the Swans game last weekend, he really looked good. Can ruck too which is a bonus. Im with you hardtrack

Not a massive deal really, it had to be expected by the club. They would have known the penalties, and thought having Warnock play was worth it. Turns out it probably wasnt! Bit steep though

Thanks alot for that stevetheman! On the point on Blease and Bail....were they sprint run throughs? Or about 70% pace or so? If they were sprints, how did Blease's pace look compared to Bail? Great to see Jones looked to be getting through what you would assume is a fitness test and that Sylvia didnt seem hindered at all. And great news about Jurrah. Cant wait for some Jurrahtime!

You are pretty clear to me HT!

You definitely have! Thats a great review, as per usual. Always such a great read!!! Well done mate Rusty, if you are referring to the blog entry titled Who the Hell is Liam Jurrah? from March 17, 2010 - Dee Man, as he said in his blog entry in the 2nd paragraph, missed the 2009 season due to an 8 month trip to Africa. Hence, he has never had the chance to see Liam play.

Pretty hard to fake a blood clot

Im not sure if anybody has mentioned this little fact or not, but on either On the Couch for One Week at a Time on Monday it was mentioned that we have a record number of players with a rising star nomination to their name on our list at the moment. The total number is 18. They are: Bartram (2006) Bate (2006) Bruce (2000) Davey (2004) Garland (2008) Green (2000) Grimes (2009) Gysberts (2010) Jones (2006,2007) Jurrah (2009) Moloney (2004) Morton (2008) Petterd (2007) Rivers (2004) Scully (2010) Sylvia (2005) Trengove (2010) Wonaeamirri (2008)

Anybody would be mad not to from a Dees point of view. In reality though, Boak is probably top 3 at Port. Would need a first rounder and an early second or a proven young kid to get him. He would be very nice to get - but I dont think midfielders are a top priority.

I have been thinking that aswell. Maybe we could convince my man the Ox to come down 1 or 2 sessions a week. Even Neiter.

To try to get this back on track... I ask you what do you know about Josh Mahoney and how he is rated within the inner sanctum?? Thats the starting point, because if you dont know anything then your claim is baseless. Second, since when is a high flying playing career the prerequisite for being a good coach/teacher of young men? Bails wasnt the greatest footballer, yet he is the coach. Why are you not questioning his position? Kevin Sheedy wasnt the greatest player of all time, yet in his time was seen as the greatest coach. Why? Tim Watson was a fantastic footballer, yet from the OUTSIDE it looks like my grandma could have coached better. Why? The cattle that Josh has to work with as already pointed out is changing each week. It has never once been settled. The players need to learn to play with eachother, where eachother run etc and this only comes with time. To be honest, if we had Bomber Thompson as our forward coach with the cattle down there at the moment, the inexperienced, skinny young kids we have down there, I doubt he would be getting much of a better result. It doesnt help Mahoneys cause when in my opinion our two best forwards are out, being Jurrah and Petterd. Wait til he has his full cattle, and a settled forward line before he is judged completely. When you say playing in front and being strong in a contest, it would seem that is aimed at Watts. He played played a handful of games, with a teenagers body playing against seasoned developed defenders. Both of these things come with size, with experience and with confidence.

Excellent effort, congratulations Jordan. His idol growing up was James Hird. He has the same tall, skinny frame - am I allowed to dream? Good signs for the future at the Dees. 3 nominations in 11 rounds so far - with potentially many more to come.

I believe that Chris Connolly, in his role as GM of Football is very much the mentor for Bails.

Im not big on stats, because they are never a true reflection of a players ability or how they went on a given day. However, his official disposal efficiency is usually up around 80%. I rate his kicking on the damage it does to the opposition. It breaks lines, there are very very few who can do it like him. Whether it is a kick out which breaks the zone; a gather on half back which hits a forward on half forward; or a long shot at goal on the run from inside the square, he will generally get the job done better than most. He has a great ability to hit targets short or long with flat flying drop punts. I cant really think of many who I would prefer breaking the lines by foot. He is up there with Goddard, Josh Hunt, Gilbee, Chapman & TJ off the top of my head in my opinion.

Hey there all, I thought I would have a look at the changes to the side since our last game against the pies back in Round 2 when we should have got across the line. I was thinking the Round 2 team would be much stronger than what was put on the park last week and potentially this week. Missing from Round 2 in last weeks team were: Morton, Sylvia, Garland, Rivers, Jetta, Watts, Gysberts & Miller. Missing from last week who played round 2 are: Frawley, McKenzie, Dunn, Petterd, Macdonald, Newton, Bail & Strauss. I would suggest the first group is the stronger group. Looking forward to team selection this week, Frawley will hopefully back in, and most likely Dunn and McKenzie. Outs possibly (but hopefully not) Jones and McDonald due to injury, Miller or Watts on form. I think we are in a better position going into this week v the Pies squad-wise than we were in round 2. Obviously Petterd is a massive loss up forward and was the catalyst in Round 2. The ins of Sylvia, Morton, Garland, Rivers really do boost an inexperienced team from Round 2. I can see us giving the Pies a shake, and hopefully wont let them bully us as they did last year.

I would like Strauss to come in after the mid season break if he can show some form and be given sole responsibility of kick outs. His boot is a laser, and this will no doubt be his role once he matures and finds his place in the 22. It would be great to have a Shannon Hurn, his kick is top 5 in the league.

RobbieF, good to see you too. I assumed you had crossed over here also. I agree, the Grimes kick out is the Jared Rivers long option I was referring to. Always play on to the right, up the line. Boring, old fashioned football. If I get the time I will zoom through AFL Gameday analyser to work out the number, it would be pretty high I reckon.

First post here after making the change from Demonology. Good to be here and I am here for good. This has always been an issue for us for as long as I can remember. We never have been able to do it as well as other teams, and stop teams from doing it to us. From our kick ins - we never ever get the ball out quick enough. We continue to kick out as if the old rule of waiting for the flags to be waved was still around. Teams have plenty of time to set their zone, and our go long to Jared Rivers on the boundary option is used far too often. From opposition kick ins - we never ever have our zone set up in time. When opposition is having a set shot for goal, we should be already in our zone. We never are. Regularly you would notice forwards jogging to fill space too late, as the ball has already been kicked out. You are right, something does need to be done. We have been searching for an answer for years and I hope we find one soon.