Little Richard

Young Dee... that's a bit over the top. Sure he could kick and he could run but Bennell couldn't do much else. He was way off the mark in terms of toughness and just had no confidence. Your last sentence is true though, if he had been drafted by anyone else he would have won a brownlow by now.

There is no way you can say that is a fact. What is fact is that a couple of people in the industry have said they would have taken Toumpas first. You can't speak for every other recruiter in the AFL. The other fact is that we have Toump and not Wines so we have to wait and see how Toumpas develops as a player in his own right and not how he compares to Wines.

That last bit is very true. This season the Richmond young guns have really come on too which can be directed at least in part to Williams influence. This has been pretty well documented in the media. I for one would love to have Williams. If it's not Roos, for me it's Williams or Craig with Rocket behind these two.

Where does it fit in if it doesn't replace Grand Old Flag?

Very true, and then there was that Jose Mourinho fella...

Come on jumbo, we can't expect to be dominating games over night. Steady improvement is something at least. I think Mark Neeld stole your soul and hope

Adding to that, we seem to have a hell of a lot of work to do in working together as a unit - I personally don't see a lot of acts of camaraderie on the field between the midfielders. Just pulling each other up at a stoppage, putting off a tagger physically or general talk to each other in play seem to be lacking. They don't have to be elite midfielders to do this either. When our midfield can work together it will be a lot easier for young guys to come in and play well, knowing they have the support of the rest of guys through the actions above.

Here I was thinking BH and rpfc were prett much the same person

Cos we're always planning for the future man, and the future never comes... Nah but in all seriousness they drafted the guy who they believe will be the better player when it counts, not the guy who will slot right in and play well but will probably plateau fairly quickly in terms of ability. We won't know for a few years yet if we made the right choice so people need to calm down and let Toump play.

But there is no way we should be trading Watts. He is on the way to being a great player, as frustrating as the journey has been for him and us. The club should be doing everything and more to sign him up as soon as possible because he is one of our most important players going forwards. Sign the dotted lines Jack!

Maybe because we haven't developed our own star for more than 30 years...

This story seems to be unraveling, in the initial post you said you saw him on the flight...

This doesn't make sense, unless Bomber Thompson will be leaving Essendon? How do people expect Essendon to be able to pay Thompson and Roos, as well as provide an environment where they could work together? Have they started selling drugs too?

Can I just ask, what is it that you like about Strauss? I can't see much at all that gets me excited or even begin to think that he'll make it. Sure he is a good kick but doesn't seem to have much else going for him and really struggles to find the ball. Even before the broken leg he wasn't getting enough of it to impress and he is a barely adequate shut-down defender. To me he is becoming a list clogger and will be gone when his contract is up.

Great news mate, I think you'll have to spend a bit less time on Demonland if the little taccer is going to have a father .

I'd say because Max is young and who in their right mind would want to lock themselves into more than that with a team that has been on the bottom of the ladder for 6 years?

Yes! This has made my day. Hopefully Watts and Sylvia follow suit.

Our most important player on field at the moment is either Frawley or Jones. Hogan and Viney are important in the respect that they offer hope for the future and something for all the run down fans to look forward to which is very important.

At least part of the reason was because the Saints were/are a sinking ship. Look at their list - all older players, no doubt great quality but age is beginning to sink them. They went for older recruits during that period and as a result they don't have a good pedigree of young guys coming through. The Saints will be in dire straights in a few years and Ross got off at the right time.

Poor Dean, I do feel for him. Comes across as a good bloke and seemingly did a pretty honorable thing by the club. I hope he finds success in the near future.

You are such a hypocrite. Everyone is entitled to their opinion hey? That doesn't stop you attacking anyone who doesn't beleive everything at the club is A okay. I was focussing pretty closely on Dawes because I enjoy watching him. He works hard across the ground always but he didn't have enough of an impact on Saturday night and Maguire really got to him. He has to show more aggro in my opinion.

Satyriconhome - delusional beyond belief. Byrnes is just hanging in there, the amount of times he fumbled a handball receive was terrible. By Howe's standards, that was very far from a solid game. Only 13 touches, 5 marks, no tackles and one behind is way below what Jeremy can do. Dawes, a pretty so/so game and was hardly a presence. He let Maguire push him around for too long and by the time he gave back to him it was too late in the game. Sylvia and Trengove's assessments I can agree with.

Clisby, I think you are wrong there. He's shown more than enough in his first few games to cement a spot for the rest of the season and shows real promise. The fact that we really struggle for smaller defenders and pace/delivery out of the back half should also see him hold his spot. Whether or not he continues to develop is to be seen.

Good points, as well as that it takes a while to nurture and build up confidence, especially considering how it was absolutely destroyed by Neeld.

The problem with comparing Geelongs number of talls with our own is that they have a gazillion good quality midfielders. They can afford to have a number of talls, we however should be looking to improve an area on our list through surplus in another.