nutbean

Caravan Club are doing their first festival and it is going to be a rip snorter - in particular three of my favourites are playing - The backsliders, Jeff lang and Chris Russell's chicken walk.

Firstly - a great report. I am going open up this old chestnut - drafting vs development. We have drafted some poor choices in the past but the idea that you can take young raw talent into the club, throw them onto the field and say " please thrive" is such blatant nonsense. To me this culture of teaching and educating will be Roos biggest legacy. He brought in a teaching team and made it clear to all at that club that drafting well is only half the equation - you also need to teach and develop the talent once it gets to your club.

actually to be accurate - the thread has segwayed which is allowed. Derailing = getting personal and nasty - a big no no.

maybe so. As i said, very happy with our selection - but i will keep my powder dry for another couple of seasons - I want to see those sublime Oliver touches consistently produced.

I see what you did there.

I think that we Dees supporters think this because we have seen him all his games close up and seen the sublime stuff he is capable of. I have watched quite a few Essendon games (I have no idea why) and Parish is very good. A few of my Essendon friends ( not sure why I have them either) rave about Parish. Without any evidence if you asked the so called "experts" who they would select now, I am not sure it would so one sided based on the evidence of one season. There have rightly been very good reviews on Parish's season. For me it is a no brainer but I am obviously horrifically biased on this one.

Disagree with this - the comparison between Parish and Scully is not a good comparision - Scully is still and will probably be an outside player - he relies on others to get him the ball. It is no surprise that Scully's rise has basically mirrored GWS's rise. This is not a knock on Scully as he is running machine. Parish already spends large licks of time in the guts and gets a nice balance between inside and outside ball.

The old " I'm an expert on drafting s after the event and having watched the players go around for a couple of seasons so i can make an assessment now but i really didn't have a clue then" game. I disagree - it is not one of my least favourite - it is my LEAST favourite - end of story.

Parish is not only outside - he gets his hands dirty inside as well. I still am very happy with our choice of Oliver (indiscretion aside)

I think that Parish's first season in football was better than Oliver's. Like Dr Evil has said below - I also think that Oliver's ceiling is higher and I am not unhappy with selection and would absolute not change our selection. If he keeps improving and developing the inside skills and ball hunting skills he showed in season one he will be something special. But I think anyone who thinks that Parish didn't pip Oliver in output in his first year is wearing Melbourne bias blinkers.

Again we can agree to disagree but being an AFL footballer is much more than just turning up and playing on game day or in season training. Every move is scrutinized by the press 24/7, 365 days a year. There is an expectation that due to this intense scrutiny and the fragility of every clubs brand that players must meet a certain standard of behaviour both on and off the field - 7 days a week , 52 weeks a year - Richmond's couple of alcohol incidents lost them the TAC as a sponsor, Essendon's drug problems lost them sponsors on mass ( albeit, their problems were "self inflicted club sponsored") Eddies rants have lost Collingwood sponsors over the journey. If players don't want this scrutiny and behavioral restrictions then they should go and play suburban footy. The argument that if you get arrested what business is it of my employers completely misses the most important point that different professions in different industries have completely differing expectations on an employee. ( this is not directed specifically at Oliver but footballers in general and addressing the flawed argument - "they are on their own time, they are on vacation" )

I don't know the full extent of Oliver's situation so the comments below are more of a general commentary It comes down to the age old argument on Demonland whether or not AFL footballers have "role models" as part of their job descriptions. Whether AFL footballers like it or not a multitude of youngsters ( and not so youngsters) look up to them and want to emulate them. AFL footballers are on the big stage but not only on the filed - prime time television, radio stations and back pages of newspaper. In turn they are compensated handsomely for not only their football prowess but for everything else that comes with being a professional AFL footballer. I say this to any footballer who doesn't like the spotlight, social dictates and close restraints that go with their chosen AFL career - if you don't want to be a "role model" go play in a suburban league where none of this matters - you will only face the judgement of the law and your mates. I believe for any AFL footballers' social or legal indiscretion there should be some form of fitting punishment ( we can argue over exactly what that is)

You completely misread the situation. You blew 0.00 but the suggestive smile was because you are a devilishly handsome brute.....

I am not suggesting that this is a hanging offense but are you suggesting that getting behind the wheel over the prescribed limit is not negligent ?

Great weekend of music. Saw Vika and Linda Bull for the umpteenth time - man can those ladies sing...wowee.. The surprise packet for me was Henry Wagons ( who I have not see before) who crosses so many genres - he stalked the stage like a caged animal - he was fantastic

I am not really a believer of the big man upstairs - but if I was I would tell him that over the last couple of years he has assembled one hell of a band - he can stop now - he has taken quite enough of the great ones. RIP Leon Russell.

Very sad. Saw him a couple of times. Mesmerising. I saw henry wagons last night and he did about 5 or 6 of leonard songs as a mark of respect.

Edited for accuracy

That is why I will on occassion call out a poster. We can write lines on the failings of Dawes as a footballer. That's a reality. However, he, like 95% of other "failures" give it a shot but due to frail bodies, lack of ability, game going past them or just plain age are not a success. I understand why they are cut and in nearly all cases agree with the decision but giving them a kick up the ar$e on the way out is just so unnecessary. It's not passionate, it's not being a tough club that no longer accepts mediocrity - it is just plain nasty.

My squeeze ( if i use the term girlfriend it makes me seem 18 years old, and if I use the word partner it sounds like we are in a law firm...but i digress)..my squeeze was an admin manager for a removalist company - she came up with a novel idea. She wanted to give non smokers 2 or 3 hours off every month on a friday afternoon to reward non smoking but also to compensate for the time that non smokers didn't take off. The backlash ( and the fact that 3 out of the 4 top management smoked) made it a non starter. I live in Oakleigh and next July they are banning smoking outside in Eaton Mall which is choc o bloc full of Greek restaurants and every morning full of old greek morning having a greek coffee and a dart. It will be interesting to see what the backlash is. I, for one, am delighted. I like to eat outside but don't like people smoking around me when i am eating.

Like all trades - you trade and hope. Some work and some don't - Bernie Vince has been a win. Daniel Cross for free was a definite win. I liked the idea of Dawes at the time but he has definitely been a loss. "H" and Benken - "H" hasn't worked and Benken - too early but on exposed form to date it looking less likely to be a win. This year we have Melksham, Lewis and Hibberd - I am hoping for at least 2 out of these to work.

I wish he was our coach - played as badly as i have ever seen a candidate play before, gave away that many free kicks , and if you listen to his claim - the umpires were absolutely against him and the game was rigged. Yet he still won. ("elect me coach of Melbourne - it will great. We will win and we will win. You will be so sick of winning. It will be great")

Good for you. Just don't be surprised when posters call you out. There is passionate and there is rude - and then there is passionate expressed rudely. Where exactly saying "good riddance" to a player delisted falls - well.. each to their own. All the other stuff is opinion and all good. He was useless to the team - he certainly did not produce enough on most occasions. Don't believe the press about his leadership qualities ? I disagree - i think he was a leader - an example was working with and mentoring the young forwards when he was out injured. Leadership in footy involves current ability on the field ? Yes - amongst other things. Leadership off the field, on the training track.. But most footballers who have good ability but don't display leadership stay on list. If you can get a footballer with both ability and leadership all the better. But as Dawes found out that a footballer with good leadership skills who cannot get on field enough and when on field doesn't produce enough wont last on a list.

Thanks Stuie - my point exactly. It smacks of "nickle and diming" to me. Question one - do we want a womens league and do we believe in its long term future ? If yes Question two - do we have the money to fund it properly ? If yes then three - fund it properly or don't bother with the project.

It actually does. However that to me is not the main point I am not suggesting that more money be allocated from money that isn't there - I am suggesting that the AFL allocate more money to a project that may not provide an immediate return as they have always done in the past.