Kento80

And to add to my OP, it is amazing how much difference Sculls and Trenners actually do make.

Not gonna go too in depth atm cause I'm enjoying this game too much, but some players who have fairly copped some criticism recently deserve some praise. Green, NevJet, Morton, Rivers, Bennell, Jurrah, Martin and Jones. I wanted to write this now, because I think regardless of the result from here, they still deserve the praise

What an absolute inspiration he is, even for those who don't love footy. Anyone I speak to who has even heard of him comments on the courage and determination he has shown through his fight. He shows all of us a better way to be, and the world is better for it. Keep fighting champ.

Agreed, hence my use of italics and bold to show that I would only approve in exceptional circumstances. The only thing I thought is that Fev probably hasn't had as much body stress as say Bradshaw, meaning it may be possible to get longer out of him, and that is also why I stated the criteria should be very stringent with little wiggle room. Your last sentence is very true though, and I must admit I didn't think of that at the time of posting.

Boy you've got guts. I can't see that being a very popular sentiment round these here parts. I personally wouldn't be totally against it, but it would depend on a number of factors. - Absolutely angelic behaviour across the board starting last week - with no compromise at all - Good form through the rest of this season, with no injury worries - with no compromise at all - Playing as a team player. No more hogging of the ball or remonstrating at teammates for not passing to him - with no compromise at all - A decent price. He has lost his sheen and therefore is no longer worth top dollar. This would be dictated by how he meets above criteria. - I would expect he would have to sign a clause relating to any bad behaviour that absolves us of all responsibility in our contract with him. - Finally the club would really need to decide if they were willing to go down such an uncertain path. History has shown it would be a risky proposition, but if the criteria were to be wide-ranging enough and cover all bases, and he met it all perfectly, then it might just be worth doing. I live in Sydney, and no-one I know thought Barry Hall would really change, however history would tell us that it wasn't such a bad choice. He has completely sorted himself out, and I suspect, redeemed some of the respect of his peers and the wider community whilst occupying a pretty important position at the Doggies until now.

Very happy with the changes made. Slightly stiff on Maric, and I do like Petterd when he's up and about, but all in all it will be quite exciting to see Howe and Gawn.

I think, or perhaps hope, that our injuries are probably largely bad luck. That said, just because the fitness staff manage the players trainig loads, there is no guarantees that they are doing this correctly. It is entirely feasible to any right thinking person that there could be someting wrong with how they go about this. For instance Scully. As some have said here, his issue was known about before we drafted him, but due to his extremely high training drive, he has broken down. I know this is endemic of that sort of injury, but because everyone knows that, it also shows that it hasn't been managed correctly. Correct me if I'm worng someone, but wouldn't the FD review at the end of last season have delved into this as part of their investigations??

My only thought on this issue, is that if "cheating" in footy is such a bugbear for him, then perhaps he could lead the league on this issue. Give his players a firm directive that Collingw@@d players will no longer cheat like this. Fact of the matter is that in the heat of frenetic competition, even if directed not to, they still would try to unfairly gain a (legal) advantage by using the system because that is the natural reaction for nearly every competitive sportsman under pressure.

Swan is a loss. Whilst I agree Pendlebury is better, the two together is what opponents fear. As for under two goals, can I have some of what you've had, cause it sounds fun It isn't an insult to MFC, and the rest of your post explains why. As for getting some form going into QB, I hope we don't roll the Dons, casue we don't get form. We roll a team reacting to criticism and then return the following week to being a rabble. I hope I am wrong as this is the only game I am going to make from Sydney this year, and would dearly love to see the toothless smiles wiped off the faces of the filth supporters, but I just can't see it happening.

Absolutely devastating news. I know he's been struggling a bit, but hopefully this issue is what has been eating at him. Please let this not be an untimely end to what could have been a great career. I'll miss ya Aussie, good luck.

Haven't we supposedly had "the kick we needed" after virtually every rd this year. West Coast was meant to be the line in the sand, not the beginning of a swift decay! We're lucky we played Adelaide, Brissy and GC early in the season while they were even worse than us (whichi is mostly no longer the case), otherwise we'd probably be winless by now. Sucks, but it is the cold, hard truth.

Whilst I hope like hell all you folks are correct, I fail to see what will make the players "go out with the intention of giving it their all for 4 quarters", when they have failed to do so on one single occasion this year. Doesn't exactly instill any confidence.

We do have alot of bad injuries, and they don't help. There is also no reason they should affect the endeavour of the players. And most importantly, given this is a thread about Chips interview, the fact we have injuries seems to go absolutely nowhere towards making Chip feel any better about the losses, so why should it us?

Not sure how much there is to this either, and not sure how much I care to be honest, but t has got me thinking. Whilst there is most likely nothing to the twitter theory, I have noticed a definite reduction in twitter mentions of him. During preseason there were constant mentions from Jonesy about training hard with "my boy Sculldog" etc, etc. However, since the whole Eddie on the radion incident, they have been virtually nonexistent. It might be a case of bored, worried supporters conjuring fanciful notions, but for those of us who follow the boys on twitter, there's really no denying that the mentions have dried up. The question is whether it means anything. I prefer to believe it means nothing, and sure hope so as it would be incredibly childish.

Well one can only assume that those in the corridors of power at the MFC heard this, and by hell they better listen. As someone peviously said, love him or loathe him, he played with a toughness that we've rarely ever seen at our great club. It would be an amazing opportunity for our club to instill some aggression, and some really good forward structure. And from what I've read here, it almost sounds like Dermie is begging. As an aside, does anyone know who Dermie supported growing up??

Agree with most above, but surely one of the first things would be for us to actually learn how to execute it ourselves, like every other team in the comp. We are the only ones to buck the trend and look how it is working out for us.

But he's "elite" FCS I am really sick and tired of this bleeding word. Elite does not apply to C grade players. It applies to the players who have shown themselves to be so. Ablett is an elite kick. Chapman is an elite kick. Rioli is an elite kick. Franklin is an elite kick. Lake, LeCras, Pendlebury, Swan etc. Maric is so far off it's not funny. Long way to go before anyone with any sense will consider him "elite".

I think it does mean much GR. He has had a few "issues" which slowed his weight gain, but apparently that was sorted early last year. IMO though, he doesn't seem to have gained anything at all, and I find it quite disappointing. I really do believe that it has a negative effect on his game for sure, and he knows it is an issue, but has not put in the effort to fix it.

done....... on what again??

But you're wrong

I wont bag the effort of the players tonight, but I can't disagree with this statement.

We don't have a "press", let alone an unstructured one. Everyone knows we don't have one, and Harley even went as far as to say so during the commentary.

Agreed. I was mad as earlier, but once the reality set in that we never had a chance, I calmed down. We are without half our best 22, and the boys did have a dig, but were lacking in all departments. But if we are all realistic about it, we were never really a chance.

If only it were that simple.

Well that sure didn't favour Bennell.