binman

And don't we just love it Jackie? half whip it for those of charmed existence but for scapegoats it's something else...

Surreal in fact!

Cheers

"Fence"

Is Dr Who the son of picket fence? Did BP draft Juice? Another BP success story? Perhaps he can have another go, even though his role is as an opposition analyst, surely that extends to watching Norwood as we know with his skills his role in the new trading landscape will be absolutely crucial to future Carlton success. With Waite down Juice would be ideal for the moody blues and he could join his old mate Brock.

Speaking of whom it is somewhat ironic (at least more so than that Alanis Morrisette song, where the example was in no way ironic) that him and BP have come together again. Unless he didn't draft him and it was Cameron, in which case it wouldn't be ironic - unless you are Alanis Morrisette

Well done 'TheoX'. Yes, I am jesting. I reckon I was taken a bit too seriously by some. Sure, it's all right to smile AFTER the game. My silly post was in response to a couple of SERIOUS posters who did not appreciate Col. smiling after one of bad defeats a few weeks ago.

Only the true messiah would deny his divinity

When you look at the situation critically, unless he flat out refuses to talk to Melbourne, we are in a very strong position without having to give up picks 3 or 4.

I agree, have flagged something similar (though had put the question out there if we might do a straight swap for the 4, but you're prob right, that's a very high price). I reckon Caddy is the other player who Melbourne might look at.

Also i reckon peeps should forget about Sheedy's nonsense. When it is all said and done they won't play funny buggers with Viney - its just too big a risk. Also as he flagged this week they will be after some mid 20 players to bolster their youth. Remember Cornes, Brogan and McDonald will in all likelihood retire. They'll go after a couple of stars no doubt but players like Bate, Dunn, Pettard and perhaps even Moloney will hold some interest for them if for no other reason to provide a bit of a buffer for their youngsters, who so often struggle in their second year of AFL (Rich being a great example). The experience of GC this year will be salutatory. This might give us something to trade with them with

Article on afl.com.au haven't got the link but Tim Harringtion saying they may part with one of there compensation picks, if right trade come avaliable!!! I get the feeling they are going hammer and tongs at Travis Boak.

Having thought about it i think we would better with him instead of Cloke. You only need 1 big forward these days and we need a top line midfield.

I'd pefer if we parted with pick 12 maybe a player!!! GO DEES

i agree and disagree. I agree we would be better off with Boak than Cloak (mainly because our mid field is the worst in the league) but the successful sides over the last 3-4 years have all had two big forwards and this is the current orthodoxy it would seem - Dawes/Cloke, Riewoldt/Kosi (successful is relative but they did make 3 GFs), Posialdly/Hawkins, Lynch/Darling-Cox (a stretch i know but they're been good over last season and a half), Franklin/Roughhead-Hale etc

Before the Essendon game i predicted we would finish with 5-6 wins for the season. I saw nothing yesterday to suggest we would not make that mark

Hahaah this is hilarious. Talk over the last month about how much weve improved, how things are finally moving in the right direction, and then a loss interstate without Jones Clark Jamar and Tmac and all of a sudden its going backward and time to sack Neeld. Talk about knee jerk

Or simply jerk

I worked out the ignore function. Excellent feature. Goodbye tonotopia. Enjoy the next 10 years of Neeld as our coach.

I can't believe what I'm hearing, firstly from neeld declaring he is relatively pleased with the game, but more astonished with demonland posters who accept this crap. Never have I witnessed a coach destroy a team as quick as neeld has done to our boys in 2012. Yet, he is pleased. And most of you brain dead followers swallow the bait hook line and sinker. Neeld is a terrible coach who is destroying most of our players. Never have I felt this kind of dissapointment about the club and it's supporters. Most of you sound like you are born losers. Wake up. Neeld is not our man. We are a laughing stock. There is only 1 solution. Get a proven successful premiership coach, that has the brains and spiritual strength to unite the club and win games of footy. We need to get malthouse or Roos before Carlton does.

This is the worst year of footy I have ever seen.

I have read some pretty poor posts on demonland (hello Dr Who) but if there was a poor post chart this went straight to number 1 - and will be pretty hard to top (please don't try).

Serious question - how do i activate the ignore function?

Don't see the point in going further into today. Gave it about as much time, effort, and thought as it was worth.

Then why do you bother posting at all?

With still 10 games to go and a Demons side appearing to play with more cohesion and understanding of the game plan I can see us catching up to both Port and the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs do not play GWS or GC again nor Melb or Port so they are playing only those teams ahead of them on the ladder at the moment. And they only have one genuine "Home" game from now till the end of the season - againist Sydney at Etihad - all other home games against teams which play regularly at Etihad.

As for Port, it doesn't play Gold Coast again and plays these teams that Melb does not play again - Geelong, Essendon, Hawthorn, West Coast.

And isn't Port missing its whole leadership group at the moment? If we beat them in Darwin in three weeks time the No 3 Pick is no certainty.

Spot on. There is big chance we will finish above 16th i reckon

Yep, obvious. That's why so many groups (us, rebels, victory etc etc) got involved...

oh wait!

I don't know Tim. I went to the president's lunch where it was announced they were our sponsor (the GC game). He gave a short speech and a bit of an interview then swanned around a bit. I said to my mate i was with that there was something totally wrong about this guy. Definite nutter material.

For example he said in his speech that he actually barracked for the Bulldogs and banged on about it. No probs about barracking for the dogs but why would you say in front of a room full of dees fans when you just become the major sponsor? Also his whole energy and body language was weird, quite aggressive in vibe and very macho

As i said i called it then and was not surprised when he unravelled (i didn't know jack about him btw ie wasn't aware of his ADHD or back story)

I reckon Martin is a monty to come in. He is big enough to play a similar pack busting role as Clark and having that player is a key to Neelds game plan. Also he played well last week so a call up is warranted on form. Cook was average at best last week and in any case isn't big enough.

It is funny how players can fall out of favour, Martin was given heaps of respect and love last year when he stepped up to cover Jamar being out. Deservedly so IMO and he was a massive improver. Perhaps Clarks injury represents a similar opportunity'. I really rate him and despite his flawed kicking technique can still play that forward role well.

I watched the replay last night and made a point of watching Watts. He is very confident down back, much more than i have seen him previously. In the last quarter he brought the backs together and almost seemed to be giving instructions about where to go and to keep shape etc.

In a post match interview he said that people were saying he was a loose man but that was wrong and always has a man. I noticed this during the match, he often played well off his man when the ball was say in dispute on the wing or midfield and if it came back towards their goal was prepared to run to the space where it was coming or cover his man if that was more of a threat.

Very impressive confidence and reading of the ball and was never caught out. His disposal wasn't as good this week as it has been (only 70% efficiency) but he reads the play really well. he seesm also to have permission to set up on the wing at bounces, which he did a few times

He also went to the contest when he it was his turn but when it wasn't he sat of it and on few occasions ended up with the spillage and got it out with quick hands.

I doubt Neeld will risk stopping his momentum at the moment but swinging him up forward in bursts, say swapping with rivers or Garland for 10 minutes, and he could be lethal

What about the mark 9and goal) he took at around 14 mins left to go in Q1. He looked in pain as he landed and then when going back to kick he shook his foot a couple of times. Then the physios were looking at his leg afterwards.

No i don't think so, see post number 111 for my rationale

I'm not sure whether someone has already posted this but you can see the injury most likely happen early in the 2nd quarter when Mitch comes down from snagging a mark .Just a twinge after he hits the ground straight legged (a little like LJ), he feels his leg and plays on.......

No i don't think so, see post number 111 for my rationale

Do you think we will get a definitive diagnosis on the injury given that as you say, there still seems to be some speculation as to the extent of the damage, or is it one of those types that cannot be fully diagnosed and is just dependent on how it responds to treatment?

According to an article in today's Hun they were seeing a specialist today and getting more scans. I assume from what i've read that they should have a pretty good idea of the extent of the damage, indeed this info would critical to determine how to best treat it (surgery and plaster or just plaster/boot).

Hopefully we'll get some good news today. If they decide no surgery it would indicate injury is on the lesser end of the scale apparently

The injury happened when he landed from an earlier mark. Nothing to do with the collision with Magner.

I actually don't think that's the case having watched both incidents now a few times on replay and having read the (excellent) article J Riv posted on the injury (see below). In that article it says how it explains how it occurs and one way for footballer is their foot getting stuck in the turf and the weight of the body moving across the fixed foot breaking it basically.

If you watch the Magner - Clark incident this is precisely what happened, his foot got stuck and flexed badly in the middle as he dived forward. Similar i suppose to the turf toes Sandilands has had (but more serious). Apparently an injury jockeys get when they fall and their foot gets stuck in the irons.

When he was on the ground he motioned to to his foot to the trainers indicating something was wrong and though he looked groggy from the hit when he got up he was limping quite badly. Nothing to do with Magner though. After the first problem (first quarter mark when he came down stiff legged) he was pointing to his knee and when he came to the bench the trainer was working on his knee and upper calf

The article makes for depressing reading as it sounds quite a serious injury, can impact and much depends on whether there is any fractures to the bone and how many bones are injured. On 927 they were reporting it as a fracture but i reckon that might not be right as the injury has also been called a broken foot amongst other things. Fingers crossed

http://www.sportsmd....les/id/283.aspx

No, 'tweak' has been said by a few on here. Wasn't direceted at anyone.

Nothing is black and white and while I agree that Neeld's focus on defensive structures may have been 'tweaked,' the fact that we have gone from averaging 150 uncontested possessions before the Sydney game to over 210 since is more the players 'tweaking,' and spreading and pushing, and trusting their teammates and not playing stupid football by going 'stacks on' in a stoppage, or 4-men in a marking contest. No-one instructs players to do this, no-one tells the players not to trust the bloke with the footy and jump in to 'help' him or not have faith in someone to spoil so they go up aswell.

It's on the players to do these simple things and they are thankfully doing them now, as evidenced by the relative explosion of 'cheap' footy they are finding.

Ok thanks for the clarification. I agree having faith your teammate will win the ball etc is a player responsibility, though i would say trust is often a function of the whole culture at the club. A unified strong club on and off the field will more likely have players who trust each other on field.

I would also i have no doubt the increased uncontested possession count is also a function of an easing in the training load meaning they are fresher in the game and more able to run hard to space, something which as been very evident the last 3 matches

Absolutely, and the worst part is that I get on here and it's all Neeld's instruction to do this and he is an idiot (Pre-Essendon game), and then Neeld changed, or 'tweaked,' (rpfc posts chuckling to himself) it and he is good now (post-Essendon)...

As if any coach says "ok, when Brent is on the ground with one opponent trying to get the ball I want Nathan, James, and Jack to jump on top of him and let 3 opponents slip away with the footy because they are the only ones who aren't embroiled in a massive clusterf--- of Demon jumpers"...

I'm not sure if you are quoting me RP with the "tweaking" reference but seeing i put that word in a recent post i am assuming you are. To be clear i wasn't referring to his game plan i was referring to his man management, in particular how he has managed his senior players. As i have said on a number of occasions he appears to have, softened is the wrong word, but certainly eased up on the stern tough guy talk and seems to be taking a more inclusive approach. The players are really playing from him and i applaud a coach who is man enough to change and adapt.

Did I hear wrong... Bad internet connection at work but I think I heard that the players presented to the coaches with a style/gameplan that they wanted to play. Sounds like Neeld has run with it a bit as long as they keep the non-negotiable structures going. This might explain a better style of ball movement/spread the last few weeks than earlier in the year, which was just awful. Correct me if I'm wrong as I only heard glimpses but sounded interesting anyway and certainly makes sense. Hats off to Neeld for listening to the players when things werent going too well.

No absolutely spot on HG. I watched the Neeld presser (with Sylvia by his side which was interesting - again after a win not one of the skippers but someone who is oft criticized) and that is exactly what he said. I almost fell off my chair.

Perhaps more evidence of what i have previously noted ie Neeld seems to have tweaked his approach a bit, partic with the senior players and appears open to learning and growing which is crucial, not to mention a great example for his players

I canned this bloke in the first two months!

However he has showed a bit over the last three weeks.

The next 10 weeks will be interesting.

I might have to eat humble pie.

Yep me too. Happy to join you in a serve of the old humble pie if Sellar continues to improve at the rate he has in the last 3 weeks

Watts' 50 metre pass to Trengove into the 50 was sublime

Absolutely, as was his perfectly weighted 40-50 metre kick on the same wing (going the other way) with his left foot to a dee (i can't recall who - perhaps trengove). Gorgeous kick and gutsy too as if it had dropped short even by a bit the GWS player would have swallowed it and it would have come back over his head

When Nik Nat can do that come and tell me we made the wrong choice!

Stress fractures are a long term stress related injury so doubt that is the concern. I think the concern would be some damage to ligaments that might be better off with time off rather than continue playing on them, but we'll wait and see. That he managed to walk all the way to the punt road end then back after the game without major discomfort is somewhat of a good sign.

Yeah that makes sense. FIney on SEN mentioned stress fractures. Chinese whispers. He has just been fantastic for us and just seems to be a great club man. I really hope everything is ok

Spoke to him tonight, scans tomorrow, was an awkward fall as a part of the collision with Magner. He said he wasn't knocked out either.

What is the key concern - stress fractures?

Just heard on SEN that the club is concerned about possible stress fractures - test tommorow. I assume the problem was that mark in the first quarter where he came down stiff legeed and then went off after slotting the goal