La Dee-vina Comedia

So, what are the rules for a Category B Rookie? Does he need to be upgraded like any other rookie if he is to play? For the purpose of playing list numbers, does he take one of the rookie spots? How many years can he stay on the list as a Category B Rookie?

You've assumed that the Melksham deal is completely unrelated to the subsequent deals. For all we know, none of the subsequent deals, including those not involving Melbourne directly, may have happened without the Melksham deal happening when it did.

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I also think our expectations are now higher. In recent seasons we traded in Michie, Riley and Frost (along with some better credentialed players such as Tyson, Vince,etc). I can't recall what we gave up for those three, but I seem to recall a level of satisfaction with those recruits before they even physically entered the doors of the club. I think Melksham has a track record above each of them.

How do you know "we rolled over"? Perhaps Essendon were asking for a second round draft pick and a player who we didn't want to part with. Maybe we stayed firm and they rolled over.

Personally, I think your lack of punctuation and incorrect spelling is worse. But that's just me.

I was trying to be discrete. I meant Carlton's most recent Senior Coach who was previously the senior coach at three other clubs and holds the record for most senior games coached.

Ideally, yes. But I'm suspicious that Carlton's most recently departed coach might have operated that way.

Nasher, is Demonland working properly? Looks like two posts have been merged into one here. I'm not sure whether CityDee wrote the the first bit which is highly critical and dismissive of Toumpas or whether he wrote the last half which takes an alternate view.

Given Essendon's propensity to fail to keep records and other such stuff there must be a real chance there'll be confusion in their paperwork we'll end up with Carlisle instead of Melksham.

I look forward to reading next season's training reports about our new training technique of crawling over broken glass. What could possibly go wrong?

I don't disagree regarding Martin. But the comment I was responding to was about "most of our players" not "all of our players", so I can be magnanimous in allowing you that one.

Not sure about "fire sale". Perhaps getting "nothing for most of our players" was what those players were worth at the time...and why Neeld moved them on. It constantly amazes me that people want to blame Neeld for everything.

Clearly my mind has moved early into the silly season. It took me so long to work out who 'hb' might be that I'd thought of a pencil before I finally realised you meant Harley Bennell...didn't you?

If we can do this, forget football. We're going to make a fortune farming.

You're quite right. I should have added a third group for you and me. Anyone else who wants to join our group is welcome...but they have to declare their position - that it's a pure list management decision with no bearing on the suitability of the coach - now, not after a player recruited in the last two years is cut.

It will be particularly interesting to see if any of the players who move on were recruited under the Roos regime. If any are, I expect posters to be equally split between (1) those who call it an admission of failure and a reason why we should get rid of Paul Roos and (2) those who call it a courageous decision and why we are so lucky to have Paul Roos.

If we're resorting to knee jerk decisions based on the last few weeks' performances, we haven't improved off field at all. I've never been a great fan of Paul Roos's on field coaching. I think his game style is still "too 2005" when 10 years later the rest of the AFL has moved on. However, I am a great supporter of his off field work. Introducing professional player development, talent spotting and personal growth are the things I believe he's introduced which have been lacking for decades. I'd be very surprised if such a considered approach is thrown out the window now. There may well be a large number of changes at the end of the year - but I'd be willing to suggest those decisions have been planned over the course of the last three years, not the last couple of weeks.

How many?

I'm not sure what you mean by a "Roos-type recruit" but I'm not convinced there's a lot of value in recruiting players who can't get games at their current clubs. None of Riley, Michie or Newton have set the world on fire. Surely the players we get should be ahead of the ones we've tried over and over again. If Bail and Matt Jones are getting games ahead of these players, were they worth selecting in the first place?

I think you've missed the point. Channel 7 doesn't want 2.10 Saturday games. That's why there are so few of them. The public complains about the non-traditional timeslots...and then don't turn up when a game with two Victorian teams is played at the MCG in the 2.10 pm Saturday slot.

Indeed. But it doesn't change the facts. However, because it was a Collingwood home game, I'm quite happy to blame them for the poor attendance.

Irrespective of the circumstances and the fact that it was a Collingwood home game, that attendance is a major disappointment given the AFL gave the game a traditional 2.10 pm Saturday timeslot. Supporters of both clubs just played into the hands of the AFL and particularly Channel 7 who we know prefer timeslots which fit in with their schedule. Can't blame the AFL for giving Channel 7 what they want when supporters don't turn up to what's meant to be the premium daytime slot.

I think it's important that we make sure potential recruits and their managers (1) read the Jake Niall article and (2) are prevented from watching yesterday's game.

Picket, I see you've changed your modus operandi. Now quoting and criticising others for attacking Toumpas. Clever, but your strategy has been noticed.