Good Times Grimes

Knightmare on Bigfooty had him going at pick 66 in his phantom draft.

With Rivers gone, we need him at half back to play the same sort of role that Jared did. I think we have more than enough tall forward targets in Dawes, Clark, Pedersen, Howe, Fitzpatrick, Hogan (2014), etc. We don't NEED Watts to become a gun FF. IMO, I'd rather he blossomed into an AA half back, which I suspect is what will happen.

I don't understand why they are making them (or at least certain types of them) illegal. Everybody has access to them, so nobody is really at an unfair advantage. Not that I really care at all...

1) Hawthorn 2) Sydney 3) Collingwood 4) West Coast 5) Fremantle 6) Adelaide 7) North Melbourne 8) Geelong ------------------- 9) Richmond 10) Carlton 11) Essendon 12) Melbourne 13) Brisbane 14) St. Kilda 15) Gold Coast 16) Western Bulldogs 17) Greater Western Sydney 18) Port Adelaide

I doubt it, it's definitely the position that he's being groomed for. According to all the training reports he'd ideally be a go-to out of stoppages and on the wing.

All we need up there now is a genuine small forward. Byrnes will probably play as a small forward in 2013, but he's heading into the end of his career. I wonder what the plan is for the future;there aren't many in our system that I think would be able to fill the role effectively.

I think Cameron will benefit from having Patton in the lineup for most of the year; his 2nd year will be better than his first, I think.

I'm not kidding myself. What has Scully done that Watts hasn't? To this point, neither has lived up to their hype, but I'd say Watts is ahead of Scully in just about every way.

You're correct. It wasn't the Queen's Birthday, but it was a match against Collingwood later in the season.

So was Clive Waterhouse....

I really don't think they could have gotten many better players. I'm not by any means saying that getting Scully was a good decision, I just don't think many players were interested in heading to live in Western Sydney. That was proven this year when they had 0 signing of uncontracted players, despite being able to poach them all season long. FWIW, I think the Giants got a bargain with Callan Ward, and that he has the potential to be one of the better players in the league. Scully, on the other hand, I can't see amounting to anything other than a good footballer with average skills. I'm with you, RB...I'd pick Watts over Scully any day of the week.

I'm aware that players are selected based on matchups, etc, and we'll never play 6 tall backs or 6 small backs in one match, but trying to rank the best 6 out of that group is a challenge. 1. Frawley 2. McDonald 3. Watts 4. Garland 5. Nicholson 6. Dunn 7. Strauss 8. Jetta 9. Terlich 10. Gillies 11. Tynan 12. Macdonald 13. Sellar 14. Davis 15. Clisby It's nice to see competition for spots and a bit of depth starting to develop. Team selection for Round 1 will be very interesting.

Thanks to all who have reported this preseason. I'm getting anxious for the NAB Cup now... It would be so nice to win a couple of those matches and have some decent form rolling into 2013.

I remember being at this game and hearing filth supporters doing the same thing when Bell went down. I have no problem with people cheering big hip and shoulders, booing the other team when they do something dirty, and cheering when the opposition stuffs up. I can put up with most of the Melbourne bashing that I hear when I go to the footy; it's a part of the game. I do, however, have a major problem with people cheering when someone gets injured, or people saying that they are "faking" their injury. I commend you for putting those Collingwood supporters in their place....hopefully they now think twice before pulling that $#!T.

Most Kicks: Grimes Most Handballs: N. Jones Most Disposals: N. Jones Most Tackles: McKenzie Most Marks: Howe Most Goals: Clark

We were trying to gain a better chance of winning a GF. Just not the 2009 GF...

After doing a bit of research, it appears that Collingwood is the only Melbourne-based team to not do their time trials at Princes Park. It also appears that most other teams do run the 3.2km circuit in it's entirety. I still can't find anything saying Melbourne runs the 3.2kms, though... everything I read says 3kms.

You'd think that a course of exactly 3k would make it easier to compare to other teams though, no? Especially since most teams don't do their time trials at Princes Park.

If they haven't yet heard the tapes, do you think we'll be in for another six months of investigation before a result is reached? I can't wait for this saga to be over.

It wouldn't take long to measure 183m (supposing they measured from the end, to make the course exactly 3k). Either way, 9.22 is an awesome time...15 seconds better than HWFUA ran 12 months ago.

The lockout's officially over! Teams are expected to play a 48 game season in addition to the regular playoff fixture. The schedule should be released in the coming days.

Bailey was a crappy coach, Melbourne were a crappy team. I'd say that he coached to his utmost, it's just that his utmost wasn't very good.

It's worth it, even if you're overseas. I'm a member and I also live in North America. I think I pay something like $9/mo which isn't much at all in the grand scheme of things.

Thanks for the report. Give Dawes a bit of time... this was his first session with the main group since joining the Dees.

Awesome work. I love the goal by Peter Walsh...he's one of the most underrated Demons that I've watched in my time.