Little Richard

But the extremely sad thing is that he wasn't always like this.

Let's trade for him.

It could go either way, really. He's obviously got some things to work on and no doubt Poosy has given him specifics. He'll either do this and come back a much improved player or it'll destroy his confidence. I'm backing him to return with a spring in his step.

Give it a rest, precious. Stuie was clearly just hoping that someone had gone to training would offer some information. I'm sure there are a few people who go to training and aren't keen to share information here unless there is already a thread on it, not wanting to start their own.

They'll confirm tonight I believe, probably about 6pm.

I thought he had...

Thinking about the prospect of those picks only depresses me. After so many years of treating the draft as our finals series it no longer excites me, just makes me ashamed and in fact pretty angry. It's really just pathetic that that is all we have to look forward to, forever it feels like.

I agree with this to a point. They shouldn't blaze away meaninglessly but the amount of times over the last two weeks where we've moved the ball to the flanks or CHF with speed and then waited 20 seconds to try and hit up a lead from a forward who can't really mark is ridiculous. We should kick to the top of the square far more often and especially with quick ball movement, this could really expose some teams. Hopefully this could help Howe down forward and then if he or Fitz can bring the ball to ground, the small guys might actually have a chance.

If he doesn't play, it's about time Trengove got dropped anyway.

I don't think Toumpas is as slow as everyone seems to believe. He ain't quick, but he isn't Trengove slow. Regardless, you don't need to be quick to be a good on-baller. There are plenty of players exemplifying this throughout the leage, Mitchell and Sewell to name a couple.

He's had long enough to adjust, even with his injuries. Not having a go at you mate but I am seriously so f#$%ing sick of having a list full of battlers who are just not good enough to do anything at all. It makes me so angry that we are bloody pathetic on the field, but of course it's not their fault. I was never keen on mass culls but I wish we could just cut all of this dead shite from the list and forget about 'waiting for them to develop' when it's been well and truly long enough to see that they are rubbish. It's quite possible and in some cases probable that it's because of development and the culture at the club at the time they arrived but I don't really care anymore. They're damaged goods and they have to go, else we (the supporters) will be tearing our hair out and becoming manic depressive because of them for the next 10 years.

Pederson on Patton isn't that far fetched, in fact I think they'd be fairly well matched and Pederson will be able to handle him strength wise. If that fails, Frawley or McDonald will be able to rotate. Kent definitely should come in if fit but why on earth would you want Strauss in? He's done literally nothing when he has been playing and his so called 'elite' kicking is yet to be seen. He's the kind of player that needs to be delisted as we move forward, a player we can't afford to keep waiting on to become a gun. Blease is another and Tapscott too. I really do hope Roos tries Frawley up forward for at least a quarter. If it doesn't work, he can throw him back onto Cameron and try McDonald up forward.

If Wines was at Melbourne he'd probably be 10 kg lighter, soft and unable to get a kick.

Having pick one does not sound good to me.

I'm picking young Billy Carter from the Northern Knights to push from nowhere to top 3 contention. Plays in the middle, runs all day (beep test of 16.4), is a great height at 189cm and is already built like a brick shithouse, having put on 12kg over summer. He's been tearing it up at preseason training and will be making a huge impact this season.

I haven't really done much deep thinking on free agency however, does anyone think it could it work with some sort of mini salary cap component? For example, the higher a team finishes on the ladder, the smaller the amount they are capped on spending on free agent players each season? ie. Hawthorn can spend no more than $250K next free agency period assuming they win the flag, and it cascades down the ladder until perhaps the bottom four are uncapped. Third party deals may make this system pointless though.

My prime candidate would be Ratten, if he's interested. Still a relatively inexperienced coach compared to the likes of Roos and Bomber but I'd place my faith in him. He was very stiff to get the axe at Carlton and was doing a better job with their list than old Mick is now.

I don't know why but the last comment always makes me less inclined to believe a piece of information.

When we've relocated to Beijing, becoming the first team to play out of China.

It's not really the same as no club as ever been as bad as us, except maybe Fitzroy in the dark days. And they obviously didn't rebuild to win a flag.

From what I gathered from this thread it was up to us...

Fitzgibbons is out of sorts at the moment. He'll be better this week I'm sure.

I actually think this may be what Roos is thinking. Frawley has been deplorable so far so a change up might be good for him, especially in a position where he has less accountability. Having said that, we might need him to control Cameron.

I'd say you'd have no chance Biff, even with the yoga.

So Jones is a potential out if the birth of his child clashes with the game... Edit - okay, didn't read the article properly. This isn't expected until July.