Little Richard

I too have hopes for Barry Stuie, but I don't think the early signs are good. I see you've conveniently ignored Bitter But Optimistic's post about the weight - Barry is as far from playing a senior game as anyone on our list. The fact that he is 19 (and not a rookie) and is still so far away from a senior game is not a great start. I'm not dismissing him as a failure but he is going to have to shape up pretty quickly and throw on a few kilos - we already have enough players on the list that are 'a while off'.

I definitely think that if his form continues this year, a one year contract is on the cards. If the form continues he deserves it and we really benefit by having him around the club.

Classic MFC. As soon as there is a ray of hope (Clark and Dawes), our dreams are dashed by injury.

His 'sauce' seems less than watertight. Obviously it's a big period for Clark and his injury management.

He is more valuable to us at the club rather than trading him I think. Sure, he isn't the best ruckman around the ground but he has always been a great tap ruckman. He unfairly cops a lot of blame for the inability of the midfield to get their hands on the ball - we have a [censored] midfield and thanks to Royal or whoever is teaching them, they have no idea how to set up. Jamar's value off the field, especially to Gawn and Fitz, is underrated massively. I bet he has been doing a lot of work with Gawny and without a mentor figure Gawn might go astray like many a young player at the MFC. Moreover keeping Jamar will allow us to use another pick in the draft on a midfielder rather than a ruckman. We can address the ruck issues with a pick(s) in the preseason/rookie draft. I say hold on to him lest we want to cripple our ruck stocks for the short term future.

Delist Tynan? Patience is required sometimes my young padawan.

I'm pretty sure Taggert missed all of last season with a serious back injury so this is almost effectively his first season.

Why did you have to make that, so... damn... small

It really is a vicious cycle caused by terrible recruiting in the last decade.

Actually making money from home games is hardly downgrading.

WYL you say you aren't thinking nostalgically, yet you reference the 80's-90's. That was 20 years ago, things are different now. We need more realistic expectations until we are a stronger club but I just don't think you are getting it.

WYL you keep making nothing statements, there is nothing to back us 'thinking big'. We have a small supporter base, we need to accept that. We aren't going to be financially sound at the MCG through supporter/crowd numbers for a long time, until we are a powerhouse again. Incase you haven't noticed, we continually lose money through poor showings at the G. I understand you probably have a lot of nostalgia about eras past at the G but we need another option.

I'm not sure how people can be saying Magner is just a plodder. In his two games this year he averaged 20.5 disposals and 6 tackles, playing in the middle where he belongs. Last season he averaged 14.8 disposals and 4.5 tackles, however it must be noted that he dominated the first couple of games in the midfield then for some reason Neeld tried to turn him into a defensive forward. Couch I am willing to revise my opinion on - in 3 games he only averaged 11 disposals (though averaged 5 tackles). However he deserves to be promoted in the second half of the year on the back of some seriously good form in the seconds.

It feels like we haven't had our best 22 on the park for years... we could be quite a bit better than what we are I think, though cunnerz is right, we do overrate a number of players.

In a way Neeld has shown some flexibility here. It seemed as though his game plan initially involved kicking to packs out on the flanks (which we still do often), targeting a tall ie Jamar or Clark. Now however there seems to be more focus on short possession and hitting up targets to get out of the back half. I take this as a positive - he has realised what we were trying earlier wasn't working and has altered it to be more effective. Now we just need someone to teach the guys how to kick and how to move/present for their team mates.

I thought you were really looking forward to that game of golf though, BH. It probably would have been a more pleasant way to spend the arvo.

That didn't work all those years ago. We should be getting games into youngsters yes, but the best performers should also be rewarded. I'd be having Magner and Couch in ahead of Strauss and Taggart at this point.

I felt that way for Davey's goal in the first quarter. Awesome pace and poise to weave through traffice, avoid two scum players and slot it from an angle.

WYL I like the passion, but good luck. The G is killing us, we just don't have the numbers.

I'm sure there'd be a lot of people around Casey and the eastern suburbs happy to go though. Only a few games there as rpfc pointed out would be a huge benefit financially. As well as 4 home games there, 5 home and 5 away at the G (home games against large Vic sides) and the rest interstate, we'd be laughing.

One thing is clear in my mind - he is a much better option than Spencer. People also seem to take no notice that that was his 6th AFL game and for a young ruckman there was a lot of upside.

God I wish that could happen. It would be fantastic to have our own ground (one we could fill) and base and something like that could save the club financially and set it up for a long time yet.

Basically goes on to explain that Billy is giving up football for a life as a Buddhist monk.

Actually thought Jamar wasn't too bad yesterday Biff. Presented well and won the taps, it's not his fault alone that the midfield doesn't know how to set up and win the ball. Gawn can come in for Dawes if required or for Fitzy (that's a toss up).

Funny? Why would we sack Jason Taylor (one of the most highly touted recruiters in the AFL) after surely paying him a large sum of money?