La Dee-vina Comedia

Given Jared Rivers always comes out last when the team runs out on the ground, it suggests he might be superstitious. Let's hope coming out first doesn't mess with his mind.

Just as an aside, here's a tracking after 31 games of some of the games elite in comparison of goals only to that of Jack :-

Jack Watts - 26 goals

Nick Riewoldt - 24 goals

Travis Cloke - 17 goals

Jonathon Brown - 39 goals

Others:

James Hird - 51 goals

Wayne Carey - 50 goals

Warren Tredrea - 61 goals

Chris Grant - 63 goals

And just for interest:

Liam Jurrah (30 games) - 71 goals

As a matter of interest, anyone know how many goals Lance Franklin had kicked after his first 31 games?

We will know by 10pm tomorrow night.

Or around 11.15pm if watching on TV in Melbourne (insert teeth nashing sound here)

He should have stayed in Perth with the Big WACA ground that suited that style.

Are you serious? Do you think he had a choice? The drafting process did somewhat limit his options.

Three quick Robert Flower stories:

1. He turned up for his first try-out with Melbourne FC under 19s and only lasted a few minutes...because they decided he was too good and took him off the ground to wait for the seniors group to train later that day. I know this because my cousin did the same on the same day...except for the bit about being too good. (In fact, my cousin didn't make it in the then VFL at all - but played about 250 games in the ammos).

2. In one game against Richmond, the Melbourne strategy each time Richmond kicked a behind was to put all players on one side of the ground bar Robbie. He was left one-on-one with his opponent on the other wing. All but one of the kick-ins was sent his way and he won just about all of them. I don't now why the Richmond coach (was it Francis Bourke?) didn't do anything about it, but I seem to recall it might have been the coach's last match because of it.

3. Robbie showed his true class by almost always being in the best players in State of Origin clashes. He relished playing with the quality which surrounded him in those games, unlike most of his games for Melbourne where the standard was, err, disappointing.

We have a new leader. Mr. Jack Watts ...

84. Jack Watts

80. Brent Moloney

68. Stefan Martin

68. Jack Trengove

65. Nathan Jones

62. Jared Rivers

60. Colin Sylvia

37. Mark Jamar

35. Rohan Bail

27. Jordan Gysberts

25. Colin Garland Jordie McKenzie Luke Tapscott

23. Brad Green

16. Liam Jurrah

15. Tom Scully

13. James Frawley Neville Jetta

12. Jeremy Howe Ricky Petterd

10. Cale Morton

8. Aaron Davey Addam Maric

7. Jamie Bennell Michael Evans

4. Joel Macdonald

3. Clint Bartram Michael Newton

2. Jack Grimes

1. Dan Nicholson Matthew Warnock

Intuitively this doesn't seem right. Jack W's been really good the last two weeks, but I don't believe he's been our best for the year to date. I'd have Moloney and Martin ahead of him for starters. Probably also Sylvia, Trengove, Rivers and Jones.

The combination Green, Petterd, Howe, Watts, Jurrah and a resting Martin or Jamar can all take a mark and most excluding the rucks can apply sufficient forwar defensive pressure to win some ball and goals for turnovers inside 50. It made for a much more potent forward line - more options more to cover.

My only concern with these seven names is the lack of a true crumbing forward to snap up the inevitable dropped and spoiled marks. Davey and/or Wonna added to the mix would complement it beautifully.

6. Moloney

5. Watts

4. McKenzie

3. Martin

2. Jones

1. Rivers

Garland doesn't get votes from me (although he was good), but when I saw him on D. Martin, I thought it was the wrong match-up. So credit where it is due. Dean Bailey, take a bow.

Lost track of the number of times I've pointed out that this is incorrect.

Newton was not an in-season rookie upgrade - he was permanently elevated to the senior list to replace Cameron Bruce, before the commencement of the season.

As a result, his delisting would count as one of the 3 needed.

Then, in my view, Newton is the first to go. Not his fault - he's just not quite good enough.

It's always a more reliable indicator for a game (and who is more likely to win an election) to see what people think when there is money riding on their choice. Right now Betfair has Richmond at $1.99 and Melbourne at $1.98. The punters have spoken...but I think they are whispering rather than shouting out loud.

[Note: I am not recommending anyone should bet].

Well I thought Max has showed amazing ability and surety for a new kid on the block.

Men his height are usually embarrassing at this early stage in their career - but not Max.

He has alredy given notice that he has the nouse and flexibility to be a force in the football world.

Surely a coup for our recruiters - what number did he go at? ( and who could have had him?)

To say he's stiff is like saying the GFC caused some pain.

It was reported on this site at the time that Chris Connolly had told a Demons function that we were going to use pick 18 on Gawn but because Tapscott was unexpectedly still available then we took him (Tapscott) instead. That Gawn survived until the next round might have been dumb luck - but what we know is that MFC thought he was worth pick 18, even though we ended up getting him in the mid-30s.

Reason for edit: Correct typo

Watching players carried off with concussion's hardly a highlight of a modern sport. It'll take 12 - 18 months for the players to adapt. Tackling will still be an integral part of the game, just without the concussion. I'm in total agreement with the MRP on this.

100% with you Roost It. It can't be that difficult to grab a player, hold him tight and not sling him to the ground.

And my concern is not just about the effects of concussion for professional footballers. In local footy the size differences between players means this sort of tackling is even more dangerous. My only concern about the rule is contrary to most opinions here. I don't think it should matter what the extent of the injury is. It should only matter that the tackle might have been able to cause an injury because of its type - not whether it did or not.

It's going to be hard enough finding players to delist this off-season.

Really? What about any of Dunn, Bate, Maric, Spencer, Warnock, Newton, McNamara (although I appreciate the departure of the latter two may not "count" given their rookie listing). There may be others...and some of the above-named may be worth keeping. But I don't think it'll be too hard.

Jurrah Morton & Bartram were all crap.

Morton can not contest a loose ball, just gets pushed off it to easy.

Bartram does his best work without the ball.

Jurrahs efforts are just not good enough.

I admit I don't understand how things are recorded. But can it be a "loose ball" if he's being pushed off it? Doesn't that make it a contested ball?

On the point in question, a quick read of this and other threads makes it clear...Morton is hard and soft, skilful and full of flaws, admired and despised. Is there anyone else who polarises Demon supporters more?

6. McKenzie

5. Nicholson

4. Watts

3. Martin

2. Green (should have kicked straighter - could easily have kicked 8)

1. Scully (nearly put Howe in here - but Scully was better when it was needed)

We need to know more about injuries first. Not only Garland, but also Bartram who had a huge ice pack on his knee after the game. And why was Gysberts a late withdrawal? I haven't heard anything (apologies if it's covered elsewhere on this site). Nevertheless, I'm going to take a punt that all are fit for next week and that Petterd's cleared. On which basis, I would say In: Jamar, Gysberts Out: Gawn, Bennell. Tapscott to play at Casey. If either of Garland or Bartram don't come up or Petterd is suspended (unlikely. I would have thought), then Tapscott comes in.

I'm guessing Evans, Nicholson and Bennell out.

Dunn as sub.

I'd rather see Bennell as sub and Dunn not play. Otherwise your guess is my preference.

Dunn's had plenty of chances before and not taken them.

Love the anagrams.

Anyone see them in The Age last week?

Michael Malthouse - I am moustache hell

Gold.

And Ed Curnow is, ironically, Un-crowed

Hahaha... you'd be forgiven!!

Demonland... cheers for the updated forum player rankings. But in all seriousness, does my gf get an appearance in there??? She may be Collingwood, but the amount of stares she got purely because she had all her teeth and was overheard speaking semi-decent English was gob-smacking!! Thought it may put her at the bottom of the rankings ladder at least...

Cheers.

And I thought you were staring at your grandfather (which, I must admit, I thought was pretty weird).

Brett Moloney, good on any given day but not consistent enough to have the impact he should,

I think Beamer is more consistent than Sylvia.

And I'm not sure either is necessarily captain material. They might be, but I suspect it's at least as important what happens off the field as on (eg, attitude to training, sponsor glad-handling, media work, younger player mentoring, etc) and I've got no idea what any of them are like in that regard.

I know I'm late again, but I can't quite understand why I'm out of step with everyone else. I thought Sylvia was just OK (still good enough to get votes) but not our best. Four goals is good, but I didn't really notice much else from him. So, here's my view:

6. Moloney

5. Morton

4. McKenzie

3. Sylvia

2. Watts

1. Scully

But the best point made by an earlier poster is that Collingwood players probably made up the ten best players on the ground.

Although Martin has got votes from most posters he's still being dudded

In my view...

6. Martin

5. Gysberts

4. McKenzie

3. Rivers

2. Trengove

1. MacDonald

Mick could easily have followed up his comments by saying he was using the incident as an example. But he didn't and he hasn't.

Good footballer, great coach and not a bad commentator. But he's never been good at apologising or accepting he might have made a mistake.

Eddie works in the media. By definition he's an entertainer and nothing he says should be taken seriously.

Playing Dunn is a bigger mistake than playing Newton

I don't think it's "a bigger mistake" to play Dunn. But it is the equivalent of choosing between Coles and Woolworths home brands when you're trying to cook a five star meal.

Sorry, perhaps someone else can think of a better metaphor.

If MFC was awarding "Best First Year Player" now: Tapscott

If MFC was awarding "Most Improved Player in 2011" now: hard to choose between Watts, Bail and Martin. Probably Watts.