Pates

Maybe someone should put in a call to the accounting department! Seriously though, the way i've understood this is that we've already committed about a $1 mil into the Olympic park precinct, it is our plan to have that as our full-on winter season training and recovery centre. Casey is purely summer, where we don't really need recovery facilities. Casey will be designed to get us out into the community pre-season in order to get us local members, but it's my opinion that we still have to keep pushing with the Bubble Dome project, and from what i've heard we can afford it. IMO to NOT do it will set us another 2 years MINIMUM.

Because last year he showed some great improvement and potential when the ball came into the forward 50, taking MOTY also propelled him onto the stage and while that doesn't PROVE anything because i'm sure some VFA players can get as high up, he was a great positive towards the end of a very bleak year in 2007. While this year seems to have been ruined by injury, he still needs to up his work ethic to get into the team. We need a big forward target and at this point he is one of the very few who can fill that void.

Our efficiency when going inside 50 has also been amazing, in that 3rd quarter against the swans we scored EVERY TIME we went in there! And against the tigers we had about 5 LESS inside 50s in the first quarter to the toigs and yet we won the quarter. I we just need to win it more in the centre, and then get a big bullocking forward to bring the ball to ground.

I see where you're coming from, and as a no. 1 draft pick he hasn't quite fully lived up to his reputation his position suggested. But as a servent of our club and as the no. 1 ruckman for just under 10 years i'd say he's given everything he's got, and IMO that center circle rule cut off about 2 years of potential dominance for him right in his prime. I agree with you that i'd have Jimmy ahead of him but there are few ruckman in the AFL who for 10 years would've been considered consistently in the top 5 in the league.

It was good to see him recognise Dunn's great efforts over the last three games, although some of his decision making and disposal when he's got the resembles a certain former Melbourne tagger i think he's shown some great potential to tag some of the key players in the game. I also liked the point he made about the young guns of the club trying to create their own history at the club, that 150 heroes dinner might have been the best thing that happened to these kids.

Exactly, AFL is a massively team oriented game. One player does not give a team it's power, they give the team their spark to fire. If Brock McLean can get a classy supporting act around him then he will dominate, look at Kerr, without the likes of Cousins and Judd around him he's forced to be the only "match winner" in the team. Hopefully that's where the likes of Morton, Jones, Maric, Davey, Bate and possibly our no.1 draft pick will come in.

Up against each other in their prime i would have Stynes a whisker ahead, but a very tough choice!

That would surely have to be one of the best consecutive ruckmen at one club, one won a Brownlow, the other has been one of the most dominant ruckman in the last 8-10 years. We've truly been spoiled in his area!

It's pretty simple really, all we have to do is shut down Brown, Black, Power, Bradshaw, and Johnstone. And then have McLean, Jones, Green, Bruce, and Bate play a ripper of a game. I would've thought that'd be obvious! Seriously though, I'm looking for McLean to have a good one after last week. He was very well held by a more experienced player in Kirk, so if we can get him feeding out the ball to OUR players hopefully we can push them. Ultimately what i want is for us to have a dip from the start and follow it through to the end. It really annoys me that teams are able to win the game through 15-20 minutes of good football, our young players, and young coach, need to learn how to put a halt to those blitzes. And for the love of god, can someone do SOMETHING about our kickins!

We only need him to get SOMETHING for his hit, he has about 90 carry-over points from the Selwood incident so any misconduct charge will make him loose a week. He should've gone for the Selwood bump, he should've gone with that dog act against Godders last year, he's been very lucky so far and it's time his luck ran out!

Exactly, at this stage he is still jsut potential but there is much there to work with. I'm certainly not salivating over him, but given that he wants to return to Melbourne (city), we are in the box seat to get the top PSD draft pick, and we have his brother who is establishing himself as a long-term defensive option, we have a great chance to bolster our future ruck division. As for fitting them all in, i personally think we're in more need of a quick, high skilled midfielder, and with PJ showing something around the ground as well as at the stoppages, Warnock, PJ, and Meesen (who i still have hops for) could all take on the no. 1 role.

Yeha not happy that Jamar get's a spot before Morton and Valenti, but i will be interested to see what Bails decides to do with all three of our main ruckman in the side. It's something the Neale was never able to do well, use the talls flexibly. I think either way we're going to lose, so why not try a few new things. PS I'm glad CJ's got another run at it, i haven't rated him but i don't think he's been given a fair run at it.

Dal Santo's efficiency was at 59% last week. A stat, i know, but something to look at. But McLean's stats DO tell a story in his case, leading contested possesions in his role is exactly what we want from him. Watching Dunn's chase against Richmond (the one he got nominated for the army award for) showed how little pace he has, but that's alright because we've always known that. You're fighting a losing battle here Tarzan, McLean will be a future captain and basically everyone else sees that.

I'll take this as a positive report, it seems like we're very much on board with it so hopefully we can get Casey as excited.

Knowing our luck he'll get fully fit for them and star, just like Thompson is doing at the moment.

Playing purely in the forward line and back himself in has given him lot's more confidence than he did under ND. Not bagging Danners but it's a simple fact that some players just thrive under some coaches but fail under others. He's looking much better, and IMO at this point he's vindicating his selection in the leadership group.

I know plenty have said these words about other players before hand, but i've got really good feeling about Morton. He had a ditry day, disposal wise, on Sunday, but as the Oracle said the fact he got plenty of it gives me great hope for the future with him. There was a Melbourne supporter sitting a could of seats down from me bagging the crap out of him, i said to him we've got to get him off the ground, he said to me, "he's a dud for sure", i refrained from having a go at him but he's young and clearly got plenty of talent.

Sounds about right, mind you we certainly got the rub of the umpires so i think there would've been plenty of Tigers fans saying something similar!

I was in aisle 33, a had a couple of Melbourne supports around me but it was dominated by Richmond fans. Early in the first quarter a group of very loud Tigers fans said how pathetic it was that the Melbopurne fans didn't turn out. I wanted to challenge him and give him a snappy retort, but what the hell could i say? I'm not usually in the business of having a go at our turn outs, but FFS it doesn't matter if it's not our home game, it doesn't matter if it's at the Dome, and it doesn't matter if it's the crappy twilight timeslot, if it's in Melbourne and you can go you get your butt out there, then show some effing passion for your team. I hate constantly being disgusted with my fellow Dees fans, i would've thought after Jimmy Stynes' passionate plea last week our fans might actually get out there to the game, but again we prove why we are and for the near future always will be at the bottom rung of the financial ladder.

Selling games isn't ideal, but at then end of the day, if we're able to get $500,000 for a game that'd we'd lose money for in Melbourne then it's an option we must consider. Thet only thing i'd say is make the contract as short term as possible, ie two years or less. If we get stuck into something for too long the AFL may use it as leverage in the future. Another thought, not so much an option, is that why didn't we look at making Olympic park a boutique stadium? All it would need is a bit of an upgrade on the city end pavillion and obviously converting the race track to grass (which they are doing for the Pies now).

It's what his role is, he is the "magic" man. It's a very hit or miss scenario, sometimes it'll be brilliant, other times it'll be frustrating. I'm not sure we really need him in the side, but i think he's earned a place next week.

Brock doesn't have the pace and chase down ability of a tagger, he must be our most damaging player. The hope is that eventually he'll become so good to the point where his direct opponent must close check him or he'll get hurt every time we get the ball. That's hypothetically how it works, two top players on each other, the better player forces the other out of the game.

Maybe i'm a loner in this but i thought that while he got plenty of the ball and showed great run off the backline, his disposal was at times almost as bad as Morton today. Too many times he would just bomb it into the forward 50, not even looking to see what our odds were in there. The ball would be turned over and goal up the other end to the toigs. I'm not blaming him for us losing today, in fact he probably was up there with our best, but a senior player such as him needs to show more poise and thought before just bombing away. Moloney used to do that, i noticed this year he did more shorter kicks and he looked a lot better. Just my two cents.

He's been a shining light this year, i'd like to say i saw it from the start but although i never called him a dud, i wasn't quite sure whether he was going to make it. Along with Wona, Warnock, and Jones, he keeps me going to the footy with hope for the future.

He was alright today, warrents another shot next week. He needs to have a couple of games before we can make a true jugement on him.