binman

Love Col in the background of that shot. Definitely a stoner.

His career was cut short, at least in part because he was woeful at rehabbing

I reckon they would just allow us to elevate a rookie. Which would mean michie. Not a bad replacement

I must be an injury savant. I'd prefer to be a punting savant but there you go. Well if that's the case i have no issue with the Track. Surely some low key bball by himself is ok.

Seriously?

In terms of whether the Track did the wrong thing playing basketball for me it depends a bit on what form of playing it took and how the injury occurred. Was he shooting some low key ball by himself (or perhaps with a mate) and rolled and ankle somehow, for example on a layup? Or was he having a scrimmage and playing with some intensity? I have a problem with the latter. The other issue is how long did it take to report the injury. I'm not clear when it happened, the XMAS break is what the report said, which means it could have been before XMAS or the day before training i guess. But if it was last year then i wonder about the delay in letting the club know there might be a problem. I guess the injury might have so innocuous that he didn't realize till Monday there was an issue, But to break a toe he must have realised something had occurred i would have thought. Alerting the club as soon as it happened might have meant getting treatment and into a moon boot earlier, which may be the difference between say playing NAB cup or not. All supposition i guess, but i'd love to know when it actually occurred.

Just a hiccup

I misread the thread title at first. I thought it read: Melbourne's new selfies culture. Which i thought strange as we had a selfies culture for some time so it would hardly be new.

He's a big lad isn't he. With that sort of frame i could see him and the Track both playing as marking targets in the forward 50. I liked his interview with Burgo on his firts training day: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2015-12-03/meet-liam-hulett

This is too much. My football acumen matches my vapid commentary. Seriously? Gold, pure gold. And to be honest i love it. Keep up the top work PD #rawnerve

Love it. I assumed you didn't 'read me' but none the less had to laugh that, of all people, it was you who pointed out how short the package of his career highlights was. Made more funny by you bothering to calculate the number of minutes he has played. Gold, pure gold. Excited would be over egging the pudding but it did make me laugh.

Gold, pure gold. I was confident that someone would bite and make a comment about the number of career highlights in the package, even after i had made the comment quoted above, but to be honest didn't expect it to be you PD. A little too obvious don't you think? I guess not.

A couple of nice grabs in there too! had to laugh though when the accurate one Leigh Matthews said how good his hands are. The anti watts faction - woops i know people don't being labelled Watts bashers for pointing out his flaws - will point out his career highlights seem pretty short

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ipRmUx-W13I

Where's Wattsy? perhaps still to come out of the shadows.

From the Hun (apologies tried but for some reason could not get past the pay wall, so no link): JAMES Hird’s lawyer says the AFL is “reaping what it sowed” after the Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday announced the Essendon drugs saga would spill in to a fourth year A couple of things come to mind. Firstly if anyone is reaping anything it is the essenden players - they're the ones who have to wait. And secondly it shows terrific chutzpa to blame the AFL for delays when Hird launched two appeals that stopped things in their tracks. Twice. Not to mention a better argument would be efc is reaping what it sowed given it decided not to take the cop in the way Cronullla did and instead elect to fight and drag things out.

Thanks,. The environmental issue is once you have factored in the materials and energy used to build and transport the machine and C02 bottles (not inconsiderable) how does that compare to the materials and energy used if you are buying bottles of carbonated water as i currently do. It obviously depends on how much you but but our household goes though a fair few

I was considering buying one but i'm not sold on the environmental or financial cost benefit analysis. Thoughts?

Good post. I'd add that we need those players you've mentioned to, in addition to getting 20 plus touches a game, run and carry more and deliver the ball long and accurately into our forward line. This is a crucial element to breaking the modern high press that most teams employ. The Hawks are brilliant at it When we did run and carry from half back last year we looked dangerous. Ironically one of the few who did it with any regularity was Brayshaw, who as you say is more an inside player. Lumumba and the Melk will no doubt be encouraged to play that role. I made a similar commitment last season about Watts needing to average more than 20 touches a game. Sure he needs to attack the ball more etc etc but i think that area of his game hides his real weakness, which is he doesn't get enough of the pill. In the six full seasons he has played the highest average disposal is 18.53 in 2012. As you say he has to get that to 20 plus to be the weapon we need him to be.

Source?

Well he is so good id be surprised if he hadn't done it. But the similarities i see are: He's built now but actually Fyfe actually started his career with a very similar build to Robby. If RF played now he's put some muscle on too Both are out and out superstars Flower read the ball and the game brilliantly and just knew where to be. Fyfe has similar traits Both brilliant overhead. Flower was unbelievable in the air, something that often went unnoticed. Brilliant hands and incredible one on one, even aginst much bigger. Fyfe has similar ability Finished his career playing half forward and was a goals kicker, like Fyfe has had to do at Freo and says will have to do more off. But as PD has said was a golas kicker throughout his career. Just knew where the golas were. Like Fyfe Flower was a brilliant kick (and handball) from both left and right as is Fyfe Robbie had a standard and win lose or draw played to it. Incredibly consistent. Like Fyfe Robbie was a talisman and brilliant leader, respected by his teammates and opposition. Like Fyfe Robbie could, like ll superstars, turn games through sheer will and talent as Fyfe has done. Played through pain as Fyfe has done. In the 87 finals played injured throughout, with a broken thumb i believe and possibly a bung shoulder. Indeed as i recall played through much of his last 3 seasons with problems with his thumb and had to have pain killing injection before and during games Both players very courageous Robbie could sell candy to a diabetic and Fyfe aint bad either in this regard I could go on but that will do

You don't seem to be getting it, which is ironic given the debate is about understanding or lack thereof. To say that Watts is not having sufficient impact on games is evidence that the mesage is not getting through to Watts is illogical. It plain doesn't make sense. If Roos thought Watts wasn't getting the message he would not have selected him for 42 of a possible 44 games. To me that statistic is compelling evidence that Roos believes the message is getting through. But we're going around in circles and seemingly are not going to agree on this so i will retire from the debate.

He was dropped becase he wasn't playing well enough and in the last game he himself noted he needed to get more competitve, seemingly having heard and understood the message from the coach, who said much the same thing. You say 'the fact he was dropped for the last round combined with a healthy list means Jack is not a guaranteed walk up start for round 1', which is true (though of course no player is a walk up start, including Hogan if he doesn't follw team rules and the coaches instrunctions in the pre season). But of course that's not what you had asserted or what we were debating. For the sake of clarity you asserted: Watts didn't understand what was being asked of him by Roos Jack Watts was gifted games because of our injuries and the hope that Roos had that his message might finally be getting through. Both assertions are, by any logical measure, highly likely to be wrong.

That is complete and utter rubbish. As i have pointed out Roos made it clear no one will be gifted games. You insult him to suggest he gifted games to Watts. Roos has coached the dees for two season now. He selected Watts in all 22 games in the first season and 20 of 22 in the second season. Meaning from a total of 44 games as senior coach he has selected him 42 times. And you seem to be seriously suggesting Roos (a respected, premiership winning AFL coach) has 'gifted' him those games in the hope that 'his message might finally be getting through'. That is just a nonsense proposition. Pot Watts all you like but Roos obviously doesn't share your opinion and i'll take his over yours if its all the same to you.

Can we please have a Jack Watts silhouette that has tenth of it revealed every game he plays?