Jaded No More

I expect him to win the B&F in that case BTW, he isn't in competition with Yze. The only one competing with Yze, is Yze. Besides, Yze should never be allowed anywhere near the backline, where he is both lazy and unaccountable and makes my blood boil :D

Well if it's just a precaution, that's fine, but the fact that he is still struggling with it after so many years, is a real worry. If he isn't back into full training very soon, I guess we could wave goodbye to Sylvia being in the 22 come Round 1.

Depends who we were playing against. Are we playing Sydney? If so, Godders Are we playing West Coast? If so, neither will be much help. With Godfrey, you know what you get. He'll run all game, he'll put his head over the ball, he'll do a fairly average job of tagging and an even worse one with the pill. Sylvia is still very much an unknown. He could tear it up in the middle and kick 3 goals, or he could do nothing. Grand Finals are damn hard to come by, if you happen to get there, you don't want to take any chances with unknowns. Sylvia hasn't yet proven himself to be someone who is worthy of Grand Final selection. Mind you, Godfrey hasn't either (and not from lack of trying). Bottom line is, if we need Godfrey in our squad on GF day, I worry about a repeat scoreline from 2000. As for Sylvia, he's still a nobody in terms of AFL achievements. The fact that he was picked up at number 3 in the draft, means absolutely nothing three years on. Potential won't win you a flag.

No worries. Bruce is looking too skinny IMO. As it is, he isn't the strongest player going around, so I hope this sort of conditioning will help, not hinder him. Not worried about Jones though. He was carrying a bit last year, and came off the ground looking buggered after a short period of time. As long as he maintains his core strength, losing the extra puppy-fat may help his endurance and reduce the stress on his body. I can also confirm that I saw CJ about a week or so ago, and he was looking much bigger in the upper body.

I like the sound of that. The fact that Bartram will be missing from, at the very least, the NAB Cup games, means that we'll need a tagger (I assume Junior will not participate). Jones can learn a lot by playing on some of the game's best inside midfielders. Also very happy to hear that Neaves is going to get a game. Might give everyone who is down on our ruck-division, a more positive outlook. As for Biz, I have serious doubts he'll be getting regular games in 2007, but good luck to him!

Try going to www.gettyimages.com Then do a search for 'Melbourne Demons' under the sports category. All those photos should come up for you. Jared Rivers is looking bigger. Excellent!

Happy (belated) New Year to everyone who write, read and contribute to our site. Special thanks to anyone who has tried to make this pre-season less boring. Hope everyone had a nice NYE, and recovered well. I shall second the post above re: this FINALLY being the year we see a premiership! :D

First training session back is on Jan 3rd. No idea about times or venues.

I was getting angry, then I saw that the review was written on AFL.com. The AFL website and its vast majority of 'journalists', has as much credibility as the homeless man who sings to me everyday on the way to work. We were the best Victorian team in 2006. I don't see how anyone who can read an AFL ladder (before or after finals) could argue against that. The Doggies are everyone's 'second favourite team'.... for some reason, that translates into 'best Victorian team' to some.

Geelong people.... they blame it on the water.... what can you do?! I can think of 100 players I'd have ahead of Baker. And Judd is clearly the #1 player in the AFL.

Not really fussed who plays where, but this is who I want to see play: -Buckley -Frawley -Petterd -CJ -Sylvia -Bell -Newton -Warnock -Dunn -Bate -Jones -Jamar -PJ (if fit) -Neaves (are rookie eligible?) This is who I don't want to see, unless we make the final: -Neitz -Brock -Rivers -Whelan -Bruce -White Got to protect our 6 most important players, all of which are injury prone.

Agreed. I lasted 10 minutes (felt like an hour)... never again!

Agreed. Best football moment of 2006. I could watch the bit where he intercepted the kick, then received the ball back, 100 times. Confirmed his potential 'star status' as you say. Also, Neita's big milestones, the thrashing of Collingwood, and Bate's first goal. Lowest moment of 2006, was our second loss to Carlton, confirming we haven't really changed at all. Disgraceful! :angry:

Anyone who has lost someone they loved, would know that the pain never truely goes away. I just hope that Trisha and Troy's family take comfort in the fact that he died a happy man, and that his memory will always live on with those who were lucky enough to know him. RIP Troy.

That's the spirit!

Merry Christmas to everyone and an early Happy New Year! Enjoy the festive season, your presents, the cricket scores and the sales on Tuesday (I know I won't! ).

Man, you've really depressed me! Think I can take a sick day from work, on grounds of such horrible depression? As I said, everybody has strenghts and everybody has weaknesses. We need absolutely everything to go right for us to win the damn thing, and just because we're never the lucky ones, doesn't mean things aren't about to change.... I have hope... but I vote 'no' because I refuse to be disappointed again

It has to be Judd. I'm pretty sure that he is a robot planted on this earth to bring peace and good football skills to all. If anyone could pick up 30 possessions while simultaneously saving the world from Terrorism, it has to be him

That is an extremely negative point of view. Of the clubs you listed as 'thereabouts': - Sydney's backline is suspect, and some of their best players aren't getting any younger. They'll also need Spider to return to his best, because Jolly as a #1 ruckman is not the way to go - Adelaide have been very disappointing come finals in the past two years. They rely on some old bodies, and their forward line is a joke. They also have no ruck division in 2007 with Clarke gone and Biglands injured. - The Dogs are great to watch, but pace does not win you finals. They need to find another tall forward, perhaps Darcy but who knows what he'd be like after 2 years out injured. Their backline is very suspect. - The Saints IMHO are overrated. Their backline is a huge problem, as is their ruck division. They recruited Gardiner FFS, he isn't exactly the reliable type. They have some very classy onballers and a good forward line (light on crumbers, unless you're a Milne fan ). Their biggest problem though, is their loser mentality. They've been losers for so long, it'll take something pretty big to change that. - Freo are similar to us, they have problems with high expectations. They are mentally suspect, but they do have a very very good group of young players, headed by one of the best in Pavlich. They're a chance, but their coach is an idiot. - And finally, WC. They will be flag favourites in April, no doubt about it. They have the best midfield by a country mile, and their backline is ok. I'm still not convinced their forwards are much good, but then again they managed to outplay Sydney's backline (see first point regarding Sydney). See how easy it is to find faults? When it's your own club, it's the easiest because you're so close to the action and you know the list well. But no club is perfect, and apart from WC who have a powerhouse midfield, every list has their strengths. Having said all that, I still voted 'no' on the last question

It was a finals- like atmosphere, just pity about the crap-like opposition. We didn't lose the Freo game because Bate and Jones etc... didn't have great games (Yze, Robbo & Davey were poor too). We lost because we ran out of legs, we had two giants wasting on the bench, and we could not compete with the run of Freo on the huge Subiaco ground.

Unfair to put Robbo in the "non-finals performers", he has always been a good contributor aside from this year where he was carrying several injuries and clearly struggling. Still, I agree with your point. BBP, you say the kids won't win us a flag... who will then? It's quite obvious that the old brigade alone won't either, since we haven't won a flag in over 40 years. We can keep playing the same side every week until they retire, and I bet you we won't get near a premiership. It's time to open our eyes to the faults in the side and try to fix them with what we have. Sure, it would be nice to leave Yze out of the side because we just have to fit Judd in somewhere, but that's not realistic. If Yze gets a game in Round 1, it will be purely on reputation. I don't know about you, but I rather he is made to work for a position just like everybody else. Davey is still young, so he gets the benefit of the doubt when it comes to finals. Yze however, just does not have that luxury anymore. I am sick of him always kicking junk-time goals, or capitalising on the good work of others. It's because he is so talented, that I feel like he's cheating the side when he is being lazy. He may have more skills than some youngster, but he doesn't work nearly as hard.

That's the best mark I've seen Robbo take. The leap was huge! I remember sitting at a freezing Telstra Dome (It was Colonial back then, but still a rubbish place to watch the footy ), watching us pretty much do a number on Freo, and Robbo took the mark, knocked the guy out, and Dale Kickett (I think?) never played again. There was also a back slap from the umpire I believe, who at the time thought it was pretty spectacular.

That's a fairly small backline. Even if CJ does come along nicely in 07, I don't see him as a true defender. He's more of a HBF. He'll be far more useful creating run behind the ball, than shutting down a key opponent. Hopefully Frawley cements his place as a third tall by the end of the year. As it stands, I'd go Warnock over CJ and you can probably replace Bartram with CJ until he is fit. Then, I'm affraid someone will miss out. The rest is pretty good, although I'm fairly certain Daniher will play Miller. Just where he plays him, I don't know. Dunn has to get meaner and tougher if he wants that CHF spot.

How many of those games were spend in the backline? How much do you know about his restricted pre-season and OP? You want to talk about mistakes that are symptomatic of a player, how about Sylvia taking a speccy (that never was) and nearly killing Ferguson earlier in the year? I think we should hold onto that moment of stupidity and forever condemn him for it. He had a horrible season, I'm sure he'll tell you that himself, but every single player goes through that. Given his injuries and off-field issues, he can be forgiven. I'd like to see his stats after a full season where he is fully fit and playing where he is best suited, up forward. Dunn is an entirely different player, and odds are he'll be an entirely better one too. That's good, since they both play for our team.

That's really disappointing, but thank you for informing us. He is a really important part of the team, and we could have used his services to tag one of the Saints' midfielders. Amazing to think that a year ago he was some skinny kid nobody expected to see for a couple of seasons, and now he is so highly regarded. Furthermore, him, Jones, Sylvia Bate and Bell should all now be firmly in our best 22 and selected every week given they are fit to play. They may struggle occasionally, but it'll pay off (maybe as soon as September 2007). We really can't afford to keep holding on to players who are past it. IMO, there are only a handful of positions that will be decided during pre-season and the NAB cup. They are: - CHF/ 3rd tall (will it be Miller at CHF, will Dunn be used as a third tall, or are we going to use one of PJ/Jamar when they aren't rucking?) - Ruck (PJ or Jamar to support White, or both? Plus how much ruck time for each) - Third tall (Holland, Frawley or Warnock? Or perhaps a weekly proposition depending on who we play) - HBF (Bell, Ward, CJ, or perhaps a surprise like Petterd/ Frawley) The rest of the positions are set; including FB (Carroll), CHB (Rivers), FF (Neitz) & Rovers (McLean, Junior, Moloney, Bartram, Bate, Sylvia etc...).