La Dee-vina Comedia

I disagree. Kicking efficiency would be worse in high heels.

Cutting 6 would be enough for me. The 7th player to be cut would likely be no better than the 7th player recruited as a replacement but will have a better fitness base, body and understanding of the gameplan. Then another 6 can go the next year if there isn't measurable improvement of those remaining on the list. For what it's worth, I don't subscribe to the bad recruiting mantra. Rather, I believe we have had poor development programs in place forever (well, at least since the early 1960s). And I'm serious. It's not just the Bailey era. It goes back to the Daniher era and beyond. And it's not just the senior coaches who are to blame. It's a club with an amateurish approach through a combination of poor management and sub-standard resources. As I've posted elsewhere, for the first time in over 40 years of watching the Demons, I finally believe we have a development strategy in place. And I'm prepared to give the club time. I don't expect miracles to occur overnight.

Why? Why do you trust Todd Viney and no-one else? What has he done that gives you that confidence? I don't know whether he's been good or not.

I'm sure Dan Brown could craft a story around it using Robert Langdon's symbological 'skills' to link various threads together including colours (red, Green, White, Brown) and homophones (Watts, Howe) etc

2012 is the 2013 pre-season. If the players are fit, they should play. It's as much about learning the game plan as anything else. Best way to learn it is to play it so it becomes instinctive.

If we're going to blame our situation on a curse, we need a name like the 'Curse of the Bambino' which was used to describe the Boston Red Sox's failure to win the World Series since they traded out Babe Ruth. The 'Norm Smith curse' just doesn't cut it as a name...but maybe 'The Curse of the Red Fox' does. Let's hope we don't have to wait as long as the Boston Red Sox, though. What was it...80-odd years? (someone out there will know).

You might want to correct the 'Outs'. Was the third out Joel MacDonald, perhaps?

It's still heaps better than a station which has the rights to show the football and has no worthwhile football programs other than the games it shows.

Are these your thoughts or based on some statistical records such as disposal efficiency?

So let's list some positives out of the year. 1. Jack Watts has blossomed 2. Nathan Jones has stepped up another level 3. Garland has shown his versatility by playing well forward and back 4. Mitch Clark 5. Jeremy Howe is more than just a Robbo clone - he doesn't just stay in the forward pocket taking marks (Note: no criticism of Robbo intended) 6. Compensation picks for Tom Scully might be more valuable than the player they replaced 7. Presumably our finances are OK because I see no media speculation about the club's 'financial predicament' 8. I can actually discern a development strategy which appeared non-existent for the previous decade 9. After a slow start, James Sellar is providing a big bodied defender which had otherwise been lacking 10. Tom McDonald has shown enough to suggest he'll be our CHB for many years 11. Sam Blease and Daniel Nicholson have added pace to an otherwise slow side. They now have to improve their fitness and disposal respectively. 12. Jordie McKenzie has shown he's not just a stopper and he can actually kick the ball 13. James Strauss has made it back to the seniors after an horrific injury

And you should add another name: Barassi Loyalty is a two way street. Supporters who think players let down clubs when they depart for greener pastures seem to forget what clubs do to players (eg, J McDonald, Woewodin, etc). I'd love it if every player and every club (or at least my club) saw eye to eye all the time. But that will never happen. On Cameron Bruce, I think he's an underrated player who's 'brand' was damaged before he left for Hawthorn because of a couple of poorer seasons at the end of his time at Melbourne. But we should never discount the possibility that his poorer seasons might actually be the fault of a coaching style or game plan that didn't suit him.

I'd be surprised if Jamar is only out for 3 weeks. Calf injuries always seem to take longer to heal for older players. And he's now done it twice which suggests the need for a very conservative approach.

I had thought Sellar was rubbish until they put him in the backline. Then he seemed to do OK and freed up Garland and/or Rivers to go forward.

Depends a bit on injuries and MRP for the outs (Grimes, Bail) and ins (Watts, Tapscott, Sellar, Magnar - if indeed he was injured). And Petterd, who played poorly, should be given a second and possibly last chance. But nevertheless, I'll take a punt: Out: Jamar, Bennell, Bate In: Spencer, Watts, Sellar. If Watts doesn't get up, Tapscott to come in.

6. Martin 5. J MacDonald 4. Sylvia 3. Bail 2. McKenzie 1. Garland Thought about T McDonald, but I thought he turned it over too often.

That's one helluva left bicep

Neitz and Robbo were exciting forwards but I wouldn't label either as an "elite goal kicker". I'd reserve that term for Tony Lockett, Peter Hudson and many others. I still recall Darren Jarman kicking them from everywhere one day at the MCG. Think he may have kicked 9 straight.

I'm not sure I understand this. Are you saying Beams wouldn't want to leave Collingwood because he'd be going from a flag contender to a lower ranked team but Cloke would?

The crowd number won't be helped by it being on Channel 7 (delayed). On the other hand, our sponsors should be happier that instead of around 10k at the ground and the smaller number which would watch on Foxtel, there'll be all those Channel 7 viewers seeing the Opel and Webjet messages*. *Can't hurt to give them this minor additional plug right here and now. Hope I haven't contravened Demonland policy.

On the issue of the need for all clubs to pay at least 95% of the salary cap, my suspicion is that this has been put in place to avoid restraint of trade action by players. Because of the draft system players are unable to choose where they play. The draft prevent players from seeking market rates (although this will be partially overcome with free agency...which still won't help young players). So to avoid legal action, I suspect the requirement that every club paying at least 95% means every player should be able to get close to market rate wherever he ends up being drafted to.

Our thanks will remain. I think we all understand that "IT stuff" can have a mind of its own. I find this site is great for testing other websites which don't seem to be working. Tells me whether I should keep trying or go and have a coffee and come back later. Reason for edit: fix typo

Except that our first shot for goal will miss everything and with no-one there to bring the ball back in to play the game would be abandoned. But I'd probably take a nil-all draw at this stage of the season.

I'm not so sure. It's only recently that a kicking test was added to the Draft camp (aka the Combine...presumably now called that because it's where clubs harvest players. Yes, silly joke, but it's a silly name). Prior to that recruiters were obsessed with athletic skills such as vertical leaps and beep tests. Somewhat ironic that WCE are quoted as leaders in this field given they pioneered the policy of recruiting athletes rather than naturally skilled footballers in the 1990s. Give me skilled footballers every time. They can be turned into athletes. It's much harder, but not impossible, to turn athletes into footballers (eg, Jim Stynes). And to quibble with comments above, Petterd is not a good kick; Bate has an extraordinarily ugly but very effective left foot but an appalling right foot; Dunn is long, but not always accurate; Mitch Clark has shown this year he's an excellent kick for goal; Davey is our best "short kick on his preferred foot" but not much good on his right; Bail is not nearly as bad as suggested but neither is he as good as he needs to be; and if you could somehow score a player's kicking on right foot/left foot/ distance/ accuracy/set shot/ running shot etc, I suspect Jack Watts would be the best followed by Sam Blease and Luke Tapscott (I haven't seen enough of James Strauss with the ball to know).

The Herald Sun headline writers are already salivating at the prospect of "Clark, Cloke click" when they fire and "Cloke, Clark clunk" when they don't. (Note: Don't read anything into the order of the names. It's just the gestalt way they I wrote them)

I'm not sure that's a real word. But if you mean we kick like girls, maybe we re the best, not the worst.