nutbean

If you don't barrack for Melbourne you are already superior to all of us.

insert nose here...

not that there is anything wrong with that......

I could go with "hey OD, you're an old codger, no offense" And you reply "No offense taken" ( seriously - what is it with "no offense but.." and " I don't mean to sound rude but...." and "with all due respect....." - you know the next words uttered are going to be offensive, rude and show no respect whatsoever)

Need to be careful how this is managed - or you just end up being Mark Neeld.

I do accept that some players are spooked by the past. But it is not shifting responsibility because not all players are afflicted by this curse. It is squarely placing the responsibility on players that are afflicted - that they are not quite good enough - especially in the mental toughness area If you constantly beat a dog most will cringe every time you walk past the dog whether you beat it or not. But not all. So the mental psyche of players can absolutely be scarred from years of being belted but it hasn't done that to Nathan Jones. We have both reached the same conclusion. If you are not good enough because you don't have the talent or if you are not good enough because you are not mentally strong enough to stay the course when things turn sour - bottom line is - you're not good enough.

To be honest ,I'm 57 so as far as a pizzing contest is concerned, I have applied for a priority pick

Dyson Heppell and Dean Cox - you would have Dyson Cox and that's gotta hurt. ( I am sensing a major derailment chock full of fun !)

I like the idea of combining Cale Morton, Paul Johnson and Addam Maric - you would have had a tall,short, fat, skinny bloke who couldn't get near the ball

I didn't under half of what has been written but I will back myself in any pizzing contest ( you do mean an actual pizzing contest don't you, otherwise delete all reference to this post)

I saw Paul Roos last week and he was bent over scratching around at his ankles. I inquired as to what he was doing. He said " I am trying to pull my socks up , alas, I don't seem to be wearing any". hmmmmm...

yup - whether it is lack of talent or lack of intestinal fortitude/mental toughness - not good enough is not good enough. I will go very early on Brayshaw - I am not sure whether he is super talented or not. What I am confident on is that he has the mental toughness required to be a top line footballer. He has shown in nearly all the games this year that whether we are winning or losing his intensity and effort rarely varies. Undoubtedly we need talent, but if we have 20 players running around with Brayshaw's approach to the game you go a long way to winning.

I'm not so sure why it is hard to understand that we have players on our list that aren't good enough.

I was in the cheer squad in the 70's - I had no 11 - Greg Wells on the back of my duffle coat. Can someone please tell me - who was the other person in the cheer squad ?

I think it was aimed at me and I haven't even entered the debate yet. ( nothing like a preemptive strike daisy ?)

Was it the Sydney or North final where Robbie took a wonderful hanger in the 4th Quarter on the members wing and then was taken off to rest up for the following week ?

saying Rod Grinter delivered a coat hanger doesn't really narrow it down.

A we didn't take anything but if we did take something it wasn't illegal even if we cant recall what it was and why is everyone against us of bombers.

why would you be shot down ? The odds aren't with him but the good news is that the decision on him doesn't need to be made for at least 6 months.

Ok - this is a first for me - getting a belly laugh from a post 9 years ago !

Agreed - apparently we know better than a coach who has been doing his job for a long period time with a fair degree of success. But I just find the labelling of players as a "spud" and the like offensive, Jordie McKenzie is a player who has not been able to replicate his VFL form at AFL level. He doesn't find enough of the ball at AFL level and his disposal can be sketchy - that is fair and reasonable criticism - if posters don't agree that's also fine. Saying Jordie is a spud is disrespectful and offensive and says more about the poster than it does about the player.

I agree that odds aren't with him but talent is talent and Trengove's best form would put him above the four players ( based on their best form to date) I have mentioned.

I am not writing Boyd off as he is 19 but are you confident his form will soar ?

You can only compare his best form to the best form of players in the current team. So he would replace Bail, Matt Jones, Newton and Riley. The $1M question is whether Trengove will ever play 120 minutes of football let alone return to his best. Trengove returning to his first two years form would be massive but what are the chances of that ?

When the siren went after the bulldogs game, then the Hawks got over the cats - from the walk from the ground to train for next week until the bounce of the ball for our first final in 23 years I had this sense of euphoria that I have only sensed twice since ( birth of my two children). That may sound ridiculous to some but that's how I felt. On the flip side - we have all had moments that have devastated us, personal tragedies etc. Again this may sound ridiculous to some - but my feelings after the preliminary final loss to Hawthorn and my feelings for weeks after are right up there with the worst I have experienced. The logical side of me says that it is belittling to compare these trivial high and lows of football to important highs and lows like births and deaths etc but unfortunately this emotional reaction is something I had no control over and I can only feel what I felt !