binman

In which case 30 goals is unrealistic as a KPI. If he plays a high half forward who leads out and delivers to the deep forwards (as he seems to have played to according to Tappysquads) then 20 goal would be a reasonable KPI. His key measures would then be goal assists, forward pressure and score involvements.

Good call. Really interesting that this year they have been very public about specific roles players will play eg Watts deeper forward, VB in forard line, Frost ditto, Salem sweeping half back, Gawn ruck (a joke joyce) and before his suspension the Melk as rebounding HB. There must some thought behind this, perhaps it helps to get players ready. I guess that they always tell players what role they might expect to play but the transparency seems novel.

Jaded you have a brilliant opportunity to combine your farewell with love of the dees. Get down there and make your colleagues come. After all its your farewell!

Could not agree more. Total respect to Kyle for carving out a career in the AFL. Played some important games for the Hawks during his time there, played his role and was important depth. Doing similar things with the Crows. Not bad for a bloke the dees, who were at the bottom of the ladder at the time, thought was not good enough for a game and was traded for SFA. Love players who get the most out of they have and as you rightly say he is the sort of fella who might carve out a successful coaching career. The best coaches, with a few exceptions that prove the rule (i'm thinking Barrassi, Matthews and Blight) are more often than not exactly such journey men who have extracted the max out of their ability.

‘‘He (Roos) was one of my favourite coaches with what he did at Sydney, and I was hoping to be drafted to Melbourne so I could learn from him so it’s all a bit surreal." Two words. Destination club.

I do. He will be a gun and I'm predicting will have a significant impact on our fortunes. Rising Star.

Again who gives a toss? Still gossip not news. The amount of media coverage of this is an embarrassment. Just shows how far journalism has fallen in Australia. Anyway i'll leave it there also.

Its sad state of affairs that story has got so much media time, I mean really who gives a toss? It's gossip not news, and as gossip goes not particularly interesting. The news seems to be that GL is a dog for deigning to have a relationship with a mates ex partner. Geez Louise. And as this excellent article points out there has been precious little consideration of how wither of the women involved (or their children) might be feeling. Bro's not hoes as Clementine Ford puts it: http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/dl-opinion/what-footys-outrage-double-standard-reveals-about-attitudes-to-women-20160215-gmuma2.html The story though has given me one good laugh. An news.com articel that talked about Slobbo's anger Channel 9 had shown care to GL and none to Billy (who apparently loves a frothy according to Slobbo, the wives not mentioned of course) described him as Australia's most respected football journalist. Seriously. Now that's funny.

And its Dunn holding off the handball to draw the player and pop it over the top to a player who hits either Watt or Harmes on the lead 60 out.

Ok. I will cease my arguing lest it derail an otherwise harmonious training thread. Would be a great story for Terls to fight his way back to the seniors.

For those who haven't seen it this is brilliant: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-02-15/drone-at-match-simulation

Over the journey he has been bagged quite a deal on DL - turnover specialist etc etc. But more recently there have been at least 2 comments suggesting if he gets picked for the seniors it means we are going backwards. Which is silly because it is much more likely to mean terlich has raised his standards to a level where Ross will pick him. Indications are he is giving it a good crack.

He probably thinks he has the right to bare arms as well

It says something about disastrous a pick Cool was at 12 that your comment was a joke.

I agree dazzle. I thought he played some terrific games under Neeld and i thought his ability to run and carry and take some risks of HB were real positives. Yes his skills let him down sometimes, particularly when trying to cross the ball to the fat side but i suspect that is not the reason roos has not picked him. Put bluntly his fitness has been nowhere near the level required but if as Pro Dee suggests he is working hard on that then all power to him. Like PD i also don't get the hate for him, nor for that matter Matt Jones. And comments suggesting either being selected are indicators we are going backwards are just plain dumb. Such comments suggest players in their mid twenties can not go up a level, which may well be true in a general sense but there are any number of exceptions. Jobe Watson is one. A more relevant example is Kyle Cheney who we traded out for zilch. Kyle has gone on to carve out a good career with the hawks and the Crows. Jamie Benell is another.

Did he kick any goals?

So will i. And not only because of the bet. If he can get 30 goals (which if he plays 22 games should be more than possible), Hoges can kick 60, Garlett can get 25 and Kent and Petraaca can both get 15-20 we should be pushing the top 10.

I'll admit that i'm surprised that, based on Watts's comments the plan appears to be to play him closer to goals as i was sure he would play high half forward wing. As Watts says the aim will be to kick goals and as such it is only reasonable to judge his output by the number of goals he kicks. 35-40 goals as a KPI is not unreasonable, though for me feels a little high as Hogan was our leading goals kicker last year with 41 and no doubt will be again this year (and for the rest of his career) but i would be rapt if he could kick 60. There will also be Kent, Gartlett and Petraaca looking for their cut of goals. Also how many goals Watts might/should snag will be influenced by how many wins we get and even more importantly if we play a more attacking game (which seems likely). So i reckon my KPI would be 30-35 goals. Either way what is interesting, particularly in light of our bet, is that if the aim is to kick goals then he is likely to be dropped if he doesn't. Whilst i would prefer him up the ground it is possible that playing deeper will help him by making the coaching staff's expectations crystal clear in terms of what he needs to do to be picked each week - kick goals. This could help free up his thinking and keeps things nice and simple. Also i get frustrated that Watts doesn't back himself more often and have a ping at goals, rather than give it off. Making goals the key aim might see him go for goals more often and given how good a kick he is that can only be a good thing.

In the sense that he can't get off the ground?.

If the appeal does not get off thew ground i look forward to reading Bruce francis's 20 page dissection of their 200 word dismissal (written in French) " the Swiss court made several key legal mistakes in their frankly corrupt decision to summarily dismiss the players right of appeal. Under the Human Rights Charter....."

Good lord please not HM as head caller

Who is the block with Petracca?

Man oh man Francis is out there. Loved this line: 'I am delighted that you have read my response to CAS’s 16 strands in the cable. I am the only one who knows enough to pick up misrepresenting the evidence. and this: 'Forget the legal experts, they know bugger all. They may have worked a few hundred hours on the project. I have worked for over 10,000 hours on it. You know I have torn apart the CAS verdict and WADA and ASADA but you haven’t the guts to say so. Now that my fellow posters is pure comedy gold.

I don't think this is the case. Chris Kais covers this question in his excellent piece WJ has previously provided a link to. He says: 'It is also not true to say that no new evidence was produced. First, WADA submitted new analytical evidence showing elevated TB-4 readings in the urine samples taken from two Essendon players in 2012. For the reasons listed in Point 1 above, WADA wisely did not rely on this evidence in its closing submissions (CAS Decision [150]) and the CAS Panel rejected this evidence. Secondly, and more importantly, new evidence was provided which fundamentally changed the approach of the panel. This new evidence came from one of WADA’s experts, Dr James Cox. Dr Cox ‘wholly convinced’ the CAS Panel that the substance compounded by Nima Alavi’s assistant—and tested at the Bio21 laboratory—was TB-4 (CAS Decision [132]). It was due to this new evidence from Dr Cox that ASADA made a submission abandoning its previous ‘links in the chain’ approach as the presence of TB-4 at the Como pharmacy meant it was no longer necessary to prove the source of the TB-4 (CAS Decision [115]).' A terrific piece and i've been reflecting that the best information about this whole saga has been via new media: Demonland, blogs, twitter etc. The worst information has almost all been provided by the mainstream media.

No. This year he is MFC player serving his suspension. He is one of ours now.