binman

We will win this game. Take it to he bank.

Let down your hair repugnant

I like the Toump. He has exactly what we need in terms of skills by hand and foot. All game plans in modern footy depend on players having the ability to hit targets. We are beyond woeful in this regard. My query on Toump is his fitness and his speed. I know he had hip problems and did not have a full preseason as a result but i was behind the goals on the weekend (city end) and there was one play in the forward pocket where the Toump had to chase a man. He was too slow to catch him (i forget who kicked it but he got a goal) and he was completely exhausted after it, despite it not being a huge chase.

My sense is that the lack of changes is more to do with Craig believing that sides need consistency than making a statement about the need for Casey players needing to earn their spot. In any year the sides that do best are the ones with the least changes. look at West Coast, a good side that due to injury has just not been able to settle. The dees have also suffered from injury this year but Neeld took a yo yo approach to selection which hurt the side. Instructive that Craig has kept Byrens in recent week and didn't drop the toump. Both would have been dropped by Neeld. Well played Craigy

Funny this thread should have been bumped. I was thinking during the last quarter that Hurley might have hit his ceiling and i wondered about the comparisons on demonland a couple of years back between him and watts. There was quite a few dl posters who laughed at the idea Watts was a better player and would end up going past Hurley ( i was not one of them). I like Hurley but as i thought 2 years back i reckon he has limited scope fro improvement. Great heart, good footy brain but one paced and poorish kicking skills. Watts has heaps more upside and we've yet to see his best. Good comparison to Neitz btw. Sorry to say but i reckon whilst being a great dees man he was only a notch or two above a good to average player.

Oh, i thought it was his son. Still i'd take that connection - man from unlce

As a young fella in the mid to late 70's i was much more interested in the SANFL than i am now and loved the redlegs (and port Melbourne in the VFA for that matter). There was a certain mystique then about the SANFL, prior to the the AFL being formed and taking the best young players. There were many players that made their name in Adelaide before coming to Melbourne as established players, some as stars of the game. Cornes and Egbert being two examples. My favorite player in the SANFL was Michael Aish but unfortunately he never came to the VFL. I was desperate for him to come to the dees and for years there was talk he might. What a dream that would have been - Flower on one wing and Aish on the other. I reckon he was Flower's equal. A beautiful mover, who oozed skill and class. Now we have a chance to get his son and i really hope this time we get our man.

I'm still confident we'll get Roos. He has not ruled himself out nor has the club (contrary to weird Hun articles and headlines). I would assume the club and roos both were keen to hose down the constant speculation and associated noise as it is distracting and unnecessary. Roos will wait 'till he knows what other jobs are on the table, what concessions the club might get and who the prez is before deciding. Why would he do otherwise? In the mean time play shtum and the media and public, both of which have the concentration span of a goldfish, leave him be.

Given the drug shouldn't that be the skinny on the essendon scanadal

jumbo has someone hacked your account? You are generally one of the more measured posters but you seem to have gone off on a tabloid, hyperbolic tangent.. The Geelong game a disaster? Hardly. 186 was a disaster. The game against Essendon this year was a disaster. Keep in mind that Freo could only manage 1 inside 50 in the 3rd quarter in dry conditions in their game down at the Cattery. Also keep in mind that contrary to popular belief wet weather accentuates the skill gap between good and poor sides. I thought we resisted them quite well actually. Saturday night not much better? We were competitive through the whole game and played with spirit in trying conditions. In the immortal words of the little fella from different strokes " whatch ya talking about Willis?" The reactive CEO sacked the coach because of a player revolt? Surely you jest. The coach sacked himself. A coach never survives repeated maulings of the sort we received, would have continue to receive if he had stayed and have not been on the end of since he was sacked. Bad hair day Jumbo?

I'm not getting this idea that Toumpas is soft. What absolute rot, particularly if the evidence is dropping his head when going for a mark in the second quarter in their forward 50 (the mark was intercepted and they goaled). I was at the game and right behind the goals. It was poor play by Toupas but he absolutely did not drop his head or squib the contest. His mistake was the ball was crossed to him and floated a bit and he didn't move towards the ball which allowed the cats player (who he should have sensed was there) to come in and mark. Not great play but not soft.

I haven't

And as i have noted previously leaving aside the issue of its use to enhance performance what were they doing giving a drug to their player that had not been approved for therapeutic use or adequately tested? By one account Hird approved the supplement program on the basis that any drug used was WADA approved and safe. How could he (or Dr Reid for that matter) be confident AOD was safe to give players? Because Dank, who is not a pharmacist or doctor said so? Pathetic. And whilst i fro one hope the players avoid suspension i do wonder whether any of them bothered to check how safe any of the drugs used were for them. Yes you might go on the clubs advice but are they sheep?

Good post. I'll add another thing. The status of AOD is to an extent a furphy, a masking agent if you will. Lets forget its status as a WADA banned drug for a moment and the performance enhancing aspect. The club administered/injected a huge number of doses of a drug that has not been proven safe for human use or authorized by an country for human use. The drug was not even being used for the purpose it was designed for. how would the average Joe in the street feel if their GP gave them a drug that they vouched was safe but was not actually approved for human use?

Sportingbet has suspended betting on the dees coach.

Thanks, i had a mini heart attack there for a sec.

Thanks jazza. Where is Mercer st?

I bought tickets a couple of weeks back. Reserved seats in the general admission area (gary ablett jnr stand) and they were amazingly cheap. I think somewhere around $35 fro an adult and 2 kids. First time i've been there for 25 years! I'm driving. Any tips on where to get parking? I have to be back in town by 6pm so can't get caught in the car park.

Exactly. KB was saying yesterday he's not the man for the job because he's not 100% committed and needs to be convinced. What bollocks. If he was not keen he'd say a flat out no as he did with Carlton. He's not going to commit publicly now, why would he and why would the dees want that now either. One assumes he want s to see what the makeup of the board will be and try and extract draft concessions from the AFL. I doubt even if keen he'll want to take over before the end of season and an early announcement would make it very hard for Craig and the team to focus on the job. I'll stick with my prediction that he will be announced as coach at seasons end (or close to it). I said Craig would remain as FM but I'll change that to a player mentor/development role. J Mac will be back and he'll bring someone in as his right hand man (eg Ling, Micky O) in the box.

You realise you said that out loud don't you?

Go to news.com.au . Has all the Hun articles

Come on pm in the words of John McEnroe you can't be serious. If Neeld was still at the club do you honestly believe that Syliva would have declared he wants to stay at the dees? My guess is that he would would have given the wait and see response. And by the by for those who argued Neeld should be given until the end of year (and IIRC you were one of them PM) one only need to look at the improved spirit of the team and the fact that 26, 000 people went to the G on the weekend as proof of why it is was so important he go. If he was still at the helm they would have struggled to get 20, 000 there so in that game alone we have probably made $100k more than we would have. I'm going to see the dees this weekend and i can tell you there is no way i would have even thought about if Neeld was still the coach such was the lack of spirit amongst players and fans.

Oh no! I can feel the pollyanna syndrome coming on again. It can't be pre season already can it?

Can't trade Fitzy or Dawes. Apart from both being required players we need to build a sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps. One positive about the Neeld era is that all the drama an angst may help build unity and team cohesiveness - been through the bad times together and come out the other side together. I know trading is inevitable but i'd really love them to not cut required players in the hope of getting better players in. Its a fools paradise. If they do need to trade players i'd hope it is more the win win type of trade. For example there is a real risk Jamar may end up playing a fair bit of VFL next year if Gawn, Fitzy and Spencer continue to develop. If that's the case perhaps he'd prefer playing senior footy with GWS who are in desperate need of a seasoned ruckman and may be prepared to trade a mid (eg Adams) for him. That said he is long term dees player and it would be a shame for him not remain a dee and be a one club player. As someone else noted perhaps he also might improve with the Neeld yoke removed.

I've heard this a bit - correct me if i'm wrong but it wasn't WADA who went after Lance Armstrong and brought him down. I thought it was the US equivalent of ASADA or perhaps the US cycling federation?