Chicken Deelicious

From a board perspective, I could imagine that the recent consultant's review may have suggested that we need a director of the football department (even just a board-responsible person) that has not been there since AL stepped down. Jim takes it on in an 'acting' capacity - his experience and passion on one hand, but also the external perception on the other (Big Jim is like Lassie, everyone loves him!). Can see the appointment of a separate director of the football department at some stage. Jim's job is not to coach, but perhaps to start moving the resources about to support fitness and medical (as outlined in the article). Sorry Mulder and Scully, no aliens or conspiracies in this one. I imagine this would have happened if we beat the Eagles by 50 points.

Its a game that cannot afford leaders who dont play. We need players who can also lead. This is not the united nations, it is a football team. If they are not contributing to the team result, real leaders would drop themselves.

Easy enough for commentators to leap on the band-wagon and say what everyone else has already said. Where is ONE commentator that says "it was a cr#p effort, but Melbourne are on the up and will turn this around in the next few weeks". ??? If we turn this around, these suck-eggs low rate muck pedallers will be kissing our butts. Dees should take the kick in the arse hard this week and do something about it. I'm sure they have worked out who to listen to, and it not these types of commentators. Fix it up, Dees, and we can enjoy as they all come crawling back.

Do you feel better now?

OK, lets go a bit 'left field' here. We want to develop Talent - Max Gawn to the forward pocket (straight from Casey Magoos!) Joel Mac to the backline, and Tappy to the MIDFIELD (hit em up, big fella!). Crows have height up forward - bring in Warnock Davey out (make him sub). Maric in. Pettard in, Dunn out. Newton in - Playing out of the square rotating with Jamar. Green down back for kick ins (changes with Tappy). We still miss some real midfield aces.

I wanna see if we are so soft that we can't make it through the crepe paper banner! If that happens, I'm off for a couple of jugs at the royal.

Will be in my Redlegs seat. Costing me heaps with Mother's day - hope its worth it!

If Casey have been playing JMac in the middle for the last two weeks (and the reports were he did OK) - any thoughts on running him there in the 1's??

The result is not so important against Adelaide - It is how the boys play. A listless, insipid, pis$weak effort may be the nail. What we need to improve: Kick ins - I have had enough of the BS. Skills under pressure Turnovers Effort in the contest. Lets see if the 'hard training' throughout this week pays off. Anyone going to training that can report? How many will go on the weekend? After the crap over in the west, expect tumbleweeds.

This has to be a turning point. What undigestable horse S##t! We played like the poor little kittens that lost their mittens. Weak as p**s! No skills under pressure No skills without pressure second to the contest No ability to kick in (every point in the first half was a 7 point play) No ability to lock it in with their point kick ins No midfield. Panic! Out of bounds on the full ! AAARRGHGH! Points not goals. Started at the 28 minute mark of the first quarter Crap in any contest No support Opposition waltz through and mark everything Soft. Soft. Soft. Unacceptable. This HAS to be a turning point. Show ponies have to become work horses and get a bit of aggro. Thats my rant. If this aint the turning point, I'll follow the local under 6's. At least they have a crack.

Max Gawn. When he has developed a bit further, I would suspect he will play forward. I still think that Watts is on track to be a great player for us, and see him being CHF

Exactly! The game plan is a...PLAN! It is not necessarily what you see on the park. A bunch of kids trying their best to execute may look a bit different to what is on the whiteboard. Remember Geelong before they fired? Thompson was about to get the sack. The game plan will emerge with time, and hopefully be what everybody else wants to copy. Each time I hear Bailey respond or talk on the topic, it sounds like he knows what he wants, and where the team is letting itself down. GOod thing, because we have heaps of upside.

So Scully is injured. He had a prostaglandin infusion for bone bruising (hot spot) in his patella. This will speed up his return, and about 4-6 weeks is probably right. Sounds like the club want to get him back on the park as quickly as they can (otherwise, why use the infusion approach?). So does this mean he is or isn't going to GWS??? NEITHER. I think we need to call Fox Mulder - he knows how to work with Scully on consipracy theories. Injury and him leaving are mutually exclusive topics, folks. Can we somehow get over this??

I thought that a 60 point win would be like getting 'par'. We did better than that - more like a solid birdie. Here is what I expect: We make an effort in every contest We make an effort for four quarters We dont make too many stupid mistakes We dont trail behind opposition players like puppies Players support each other We have a gameplan. We let ourselves down at times, but we got a very nice result anyway. Lets see of we can win the Bye (anyone around here scared that we will lose this one?;-/) and be ready to resume after Easter - when we will need to play more consistently to beat top teams.

One thing that comes to mind is that the club were aware of what they were doing - knowing there were some compromised drafts coming up, knowing that we had a few years before our 'window' opened. I think they may have been very smart in taking the risk that they did - take bottom age players with real potential, let them develop under the radar and have them 'in stock' so we can ease through the crappy drafts of GCS and GWS. Have a stacked rookie list to call from and elevate rookies in the same boat. It looked like a strategy then - and it may or not pay off. Some of these kids have been injured, completing schooling, and simply transitioning from boys to men. If we get a good percentage of them to play to potential, then it will be an awesome list when the window opens. So lets see.

Lets set 'par' at +60 points. 20 points per stroke. I hope for a birdie (80 points) or an eagle (100 points). However, we haven't played this course before, so would settle for par. Then into the 19th hole (the bye). However...If we get a triple bogey its a draw. A quadruple bogey and they win by 20!

OK, he has fessed up (or 'forced up!). No pissing on the bar. No criminal or other activity. Only hurt himself. I hope this spurs him on to get control, and get back into the leadership group. Good luck Beamer. 30+ posessions, you are a champ.

Sub rule is OK, but would like to see an 'injury resub' rule. If a doctor rules out a player after the sub, then a 'medical sub' could allow the subbed out player back into the game. Would have to be on an independant doctor's advice. If someone gets wiped out or injured early, then there should be no second injury sub. (just bad luck!) I wonder which team will hit and concuss an opposition player or two in a match to give them a massive (and unfair) advantage. Without a send-off rule, this could be a real strategy in make or break games (and wear the tribunal outcome for the win!). I think the concussion and sub rules together make this a more tempting possibility than any time before.

Good to watch - the 'narrower emotional band' at the club is a good thing - if they ran around like Demonlanders in their decision making, imagine the ins and outs, sackings and recriminations!!!! Shows that there is method in their madness. Agree with the OP - hang fat and then reap the rewards.

No worries - we are all passionate supporters and entitled to our opinions. I dont take stuff here personally. My points are: No probs with Bails on the bench. We went in at 1/2 time like we had won. Slowing the game down can be seen as either 'white flag' surrender, or strategy. Im just not sure it serves us in the long term - but then again, maybe we learn how to slow and control for periods of the game which can be useful when it makes sense. Can see either side. I wonder what made flash think that was the right thing to do when 5 mins (20% of the quarter) was still on the clock? The momentum had shifted, but what signal did we send the opposition and ourselves? Dont want to bag Davey, but that 'slow down call' was a clear signal to both teams from that kick in.

The biggest issue was Aaron Davey giving the 'slow-down' signal with about 5 minutes to go in the second quarter. That was the end of the game for us. As a leader of the club, when we are trying to create an attacking style of play, why spend 5 minutes practicing what we DONT WANT?? We never got it together after that. For me, it was not DB on the sidelines or in the box that mattered. The wrong message was sent to the players by Davey... and they damn well listened! As a developing side, we should play the way that we want to win, not that slow down rubbish. It was not the end of a grand final, so there was no use protecting a 4 kick advantage. DB should have undone this at Half time, but the tide had already turned.

In: Better starts to quarters. Playing at full intensity for more than 10 minutes for each of the first 3 quarters. Centre clearances. Out: Umpires. Trailing opponents to the ball for 3 quarters! Kicking points instead of goals! Players: Frawley in if available(?) Will need him for Roughie and Buddy. Pettard to get a full game. Out: Rivers (sub?)

Simon....Godfrey. Its like your brother's girlfriend. If she does it for him, but not for you, then dont be jealous. If he finds the Pies system works better, then good luck to him. I'll focus on the guys wearing Red and Blue. Our discards are...our discards.

I think it will change things in lots of ways. Midfielders might rotate through the middle, FP and the bench. Talls might rotate middle, FF or FP and the bench (more so than previous years, where players didnt rotate into the forward line like in the 'olden days'). I would assume that, as stated elsewhere, it depends on how the teams we are playing are expected to play. Do we need more legs later on to compete? Will they nurse back a 'star' from injury with some limited game time? Will they look to bring on a tall late in the game? It sure is a chess piece. Do you sub out someone who is having a bad day and risk injury reducing the bench? Do you save it only for injury, up to Q3, when you bring it into play? Do you sub to maximise the matchups? Personally, I think its stoopid. But since it is here, how do we make the best of it? Lets wait until about week 6, and see what we have learned then....

Recruit for talent and potential in the job you want them to do. I dont want Bails or any of the coaching staff to play, I want them to be great coaches. If we trust the board are recruiting for talent to get us to premierships, they can recruit whoever they need to so the job gets done. The feeder system and network is important in getting any job in a 'closed shop' industry, footy looks pretty much the same. Great players do not always make great coaches - As stated above, lots of examples. I would take a netball coach with no AFL experience (think Neil Craig) if it would get us a flag.