binman

Really? I guess then you view Paul Roos, Jack Grimes and the selection committee has having a a very simplistic view of theory to practice? Again i remind you that earlier this week Grimes said the Toump was an absolute certainty to be selected. This is the first opportunity for Roos to send a message to his players about what it takes to be selected in his side. He has made it abundantly clear that only those players ready for AFL will get a game. And he then selects The Toump (and not Blease). What exactly do you think he is saying with that choice? By the by Blease has always been a poor trainer. Unfortunately for him (well us really) he is also a perfect example of a player who can't get the footy. And to top it off he has only 'teared it up"once.

"Pity you're not a selector" - i'm assuming that was a typo and you meant I'm glad i'm not a selector or you were trying to be ironic. I mean you can't be serious about Toumpas being lucky to be selected. He has, according to his captain been close to the best trainer in the pre season, has not missed a session, has worked his guts out, has the the respect of his coach and teammates (but not a few DL posters strangely) is a mid fielder in a team crying out for good mids and as i posted yesterday according to Grimes was a total lock for round one selection. Yet rather than selecting him you would pick a player who can't/won't gut run, has hardly set the world on fire in training according to most reports, is a one way player who can only play in one or two positions (and can't play as a mid). No, i'm sure you must have been joking. If not i'm glad Roos and his selection committee have got the gig.

The Toump will 100% be selected (and not as a sub). If you are in any doubt about that listen to this interview with Jack Grimes on SEN, during which (from 10.42) he is asked about Watts, The Toump and Viney. He gives them all a wrap but in a nutshell he says about The Toump (paraphrasing): 'he would have been in the top couple over the preseason in terms of form and consistency - he'd be a walk up start for round 1 i reckon and he's earnt a lot of respect over the pre season'

Bluey Jack Watts Most Improved Jack Watts/The Toump Goal Kicker Hogan (assuming he plays most of the season - The Toump if he doesn't) Best First Year Player Hogan (assuming he plays most of the season - Salem if he doesn't), JKH will give us some thrills i reckon Most consistent First Year Player Alexis Georgiou. Given Michie has only played one game of footy he could almost be considered a first year player. He looked much more skilled than i expected against the Cats and on that performance I expect him to be in our best 22 all year. Chip Stay or Leave Stay Wins for 2014 After years of stupid predictions i refuse to think about how many wins. What i hope to see is a percentage closer to 100 than 50

Good post Sambo ...and to make us all fell a little better. There was some DL posters who (not unreasonably) thought we it might be worth taking a punt on Gartlett. Roos's solid citizen rule ruled that possibility out though. The Hawks decided to take the punt. At this stage the punt hasn't worked out: http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-recruit-dayle-garlett-no-closer-to-returning-to-playing-field-as-club-and-management-discuss-progress/story-fndv8os9-1226858444578

Yep, good points well made. Hard to disagree. He's had a great preseason by all accounts. So it will be fascinating to see if roos picks him. Given his comments about not picking players before they're ready one assumes if he is picked roos thinks he's up to it

Being put of the contest too easily does not mean he is out of his depth. I really dislike such statements (out of his depth etc) as they are made by some (not you) as statements of fact. Did he star last year? No. Did he have injuries and an interrupted preseason. Yes. Did he play under a coach who has universally panned? Yes (as opposed to wines who has a coach who has been lauded for his capacity to develop young players and get them to play for him). The game he played down at the cattery last year showed he is not out of his depth at afl level.

To that i'd add the Geelong NAB game. He was clipped hard and late going for a mark. A soft player might have avoided risks for the rest of the game, particularly given it was basically a practice match. However the Toump kept going after the ball and later in the game he showed real courage going back with the ball attempting to mark. Let's not make the mistake of labeling a player soft as Hannibal has so blithely done (which is quite remarkable given his 'haven't you guys got Foxtel' call - i mean Hannibal claim he wasn't soft as juniour but suddenly has become one as a senior player?). He's not soft and he's not out of his depth at AFL level. He will prove that this year (indeed has begun proving it already) It shows no football nous to say we made a mistake picking the Toump not Wines. Way too easy a call, based it would seem on an amazing start to his career (good on him for this) and a slow start for the Toump.

Surely not king. I would have thought they'd let him ease into things at Casey. If they don't give jetta a crack now they never will.

I saw that. Didn't sound great. As you say said maybe 2-3 but when pressed again said 3-4

Whilst the shoulders were obviously the main reason he slipped to 3 I think at least part of the reason Hodge and Bell went above him was that they were both super solid citiznes with strong leadership skills.

Yeah i guess, though you can't put that all down to Hodge obviously and obviously Judd would have brought a lot to the team (though i suspect not the same level of leadership). Interesting debate though, made all the more interesting by the fact that Judd went 3 and Luke Ball went 2.

I tend to agree, though it is hard to gauge how much Hodges influence as a leader has positively impacted on the Hawks culture.

I'll give this to you Hannibal. You're consistent. Why the need to be rude? I wasn't having a shot at you nor was i rude, yet you cannot resist being rude. For what its worth i rate people who show a semblance of grace and capacity to engage in intelligent argument over narcissists who rely on simplistic, dismissive insults to make their points.

You may well prove to be correct but was it not you that posted a while back that such early predictions are folly and in fact you cannot compare players until their respective careers are nearing their end, as is well demonstrated in the Judd/Hodge example. Out of interest do you think the Hawks erred by taking Hodge not Judd?

Who cares now? The Toump is a demon and wines plays for an opposition club. For whats's worth my two bobs worth is that Wines looks a gun and the jury is out on on the Toump. A very similar scenario will have played out for Hawks fans when they took Hodge not Judd. For years Judd was the clear standout - indeed until he was in his mid twenties he was probably the best player in the league. Two premierships and a norm smith later I doubt too many Hawks fans would now say they made the wrong call.

We've all just had a pretty big stress reaction

2 weeks would be round one.

If this article is correct Hogan was/is having scans today. If he hasn't had scans yet how on earth could DB or anyone else for that matter jump to the conclusion that he has fractures. Please.

No offence - but what the .......? You could be the Hun chief footy writer with that sort of logic.

. I can see the similarities to in go but to me he reminds me more of the duke of earl.awkward but effective and similar build

Yes penalties were for governance breaches and bringing the game into disrepute (which would be hard to argue against). However they do set an interesting benchmark in terms of severity of penalties. One assumes club penalties for systematic doping would be considerably harsher.

I agree. Indeed it seems the ban on players talking about anything other than the process has been lifted

and that if we have the ball they don't

My condition - Pollyanna Syndrome - is currently under control (just) and i cannot allow that genie to get out of the football. It was so bad last year that i confidently told mates we'd make the 8 and actually backed us to do so. It took precisely 1 game to realize i had a problem (and one more to ram home the point). So i refuse to countenance winning.