Jaded No More

Ummm... don't mean to interupt the hissy fit, but he was clearly being sarcastic. Garland did nothing because the ball never got down to the forward line, and when it did, they kicked it to Miller (and rightly so). Forwards have a tough job when the midfield is losing the clearances 0-8. He might get one more game if Neita is not right next week, but nothing ventured, nothing gained. Tonight would have been a real eye-opener for him and he can go back to Sandy and concentrate on learning the craft. P.S.- does Garland look like Lamb, or is that just me?

I was thinking to myself with 2 minutes to go "Gees, first game this season where we sustained no injuries"... trust me to jinx us! Bate on crutches is a terrible sign. I thought he was much improved today after a couple of ordinary games. He looked comfortable on the wing. When will this nightmare run of injuries end? Hopefully Green is ready to come straight back in to replace him. Well what can you say, huge loss on the scoreboard, but apart from the first quarter where we played pathetically, I thought we at least fought out the rest of the game. The real worry for me is the midfield. Can McLean and Jones really be the only 2 effective clearance players we have? McLean's fitness is just so vital to this side. Not only does he get the ball, he also takes the opposition's best tagger away from TJ. Hopefully he'll be back for the Eagles game, or I'm scared a record losing margin is on the cards. Godfrey was probably BOG tonight, which is scary thought in itself. He did a great job on Goodes, who was clearly playing hurt in the second half, but the fact that he got stuck into him was just gold to watch. Might cop a week for that sly elbow in the back. Sometimes I just love Simon Godfrey (I feel very dirty for saying that!).

After a long tradition of duds wearing the number 15 jumper, we have finally found a real footballer to make this a great jumper again. Well done Petterd on a magnificant debut. Terrible circumstances to be thrown into a losing side, who is getting well and truely smashed and then to be pushed forward and back. He handled the enormous task at hand like a true veteran, and gave Nick Davis a nice run for his money. Very impressed with his cool head under pressure, good vision and excellent disposal. In what has been a truly woeful season to date, at least tonight we can see a positive.

Very unlucky injuries for Sydney. Will Melbourne be ruthless and take advantage of this? It's less than 6 goals. Load up the forward line and go for your life Melbourne. We have nothing to lose. Petterd going back into the contest when he knew Hall was behind him, is the best thing he has done as of yet. Love it, and love him. Rivers and Bell are also doing very well. If TJ pulls his finger out, it's not out of the question. At the very least, lets have an admirable loss!

A big positive is Jared Rivers. My god he is such a good defender, and you forget just how good when he doesn't play for a few games. He is in our top 3 most important players. Finally, a brain in the backline! Credit to Godfrey he is doing really well so far. I shook my head in horror when I saw him line up on Goodes, but no complaints as of yet. TJ is very lucky we are so injured at the moment, or he would be looking at a week at Sandy. Maybe his hand (hamstring?) isn't 100% right, but that is no excuse to argue with the umpires and play like you just don't care.

We've dropped Bizzell and Ward.... Brown is SURELY next. I love how tough he is at the contest and all that sentimental crap, but gees his disposal and stupidity is really hurting us. That turn-over in the backline with zero pressure was inexcusable. Petterd is killing it. Very very impressive debut!!! Poor old Garland is stuck in a dead zone. If only we could actually get the ball up forward.

I would just like to see someone, anyone, actually man-up. How hard is it to find your opponent and stick with them? The look on Daniher's face is what really gets me. He is defeated before quarter time, which really says it all. Oh well, at least Petterd has done a couple of nice things. He has good vision.

First time since Round 1 that I am genuinely looking forward to a game. Maybe it's because I can actually turn it off this week, instead of having to sit at the MCG and torture myself. Or maybe I'm just excited to see some fresh faces.

Not sure why you're wasting your time, or why I am wasting mine... Clearly Gardner should have sacked Daniher on The Footy Show last Thursday. He is a crap president for not having done that already.

Yeah, so did I and they were terrible and faded after 3 days. I then heard the club was aware of the fault, and that we'll be getting new and improved stickers with the season guide? I'm not fussed, just wondering.

He was injured, which is why he didn't get a game. How is that poor coaching? Did you expect Daniher to play him with an injured foot just so we can keep the super-star that is Jolly in the red & blue? FFS people, get your stories straight before you get stuck into the footy department. To recap: -Thompson didn't leave due to lack of opportunities. He was our number one midfielder before he injured his foot. -Woewodin didn't agree to take a significant pay-cut. We traded him because he didn't give us much choice. -Jolly didn't play in 2004 because HE WAS INJURED (see point #1). For Thompson we got Moloney. For Woewodin we got Bell (and to keep a number of other senior players, namely Robbo and Junior). For Jolly we got Dunn. With the exception of the Thompson trade (in which I believe we broke even), we came up clear winners. People who think Jolly would have made any difference to our side, are kidding themselves. Whether it's White and Jolly, or White and Jamar, we still need to find ourselves another ruckman.

I thought we were meant to get new stickers with the season guide, but we didn't. Did anyone? My car looks very bare with just one red & blue sticker. The others are no longer red & blue <_<

I have a friend who is 203cm. Can't play footy, but we should definitely recruit him. I think you should name the 200cm+ players who are actually any good. No point drafting tall players just because they are tall. Give me a shorter ruckman who can actually play, over a bean-pole who does nothing (Van Sheik ring a bell?). The obsession with freakishly tall ruckman is foolish. It's not about how big they are, it's about how effective they are. The two are totally unrelated.

Gold! Welcome to Demonland. Enjoy the abuse coming your way... By the way, Dunn > Jolly. Go work that one out.

The Age today reports it's just 'soreness' brought about by the fact that he couldn't be rotated last week given our injuries. So that could mean he'll be right next week, or it could mean we won't see him for a month. Take your pick.

The only way I can see us winning is if we shut down the game, and make it a scrappy, low-scoring affair. Obviously there is no better team at winning the ugly contest than Sydney, but an open style of game will see them smashing us with a far superior forward line. We have beaten them at their own game the last couple of years, and if memory serves me right, we lost McLean and Neitz last year too. We need to get back to the basics of being accountable, tackling and playing tempo footy. It won't be fun to watch, but right now, we can't be choosy on just how we win a game. Hopefully we can keep a full bench this week, which will allow the players to chase and apply more pressure than the last few weeks.

I don't know why we're even discussing Wheatley. He wasn't dropped, he is injured. It was a great effort from him to get back on the ground and defend with one arm on Sunday, but clearly the selectors favour players who have 2 functional arms. Who would have guessed!

Feels the AFL commission should intervene with the West Coast situation and punish Cousins Not sure that Cousins deserves to play again, not in the short term at least, as he is affectively a cheat (he didn't say cheat, but he implied it and compared Cousins to a cyclist who gets caught using drugs and is punished with a long suspension). Said Headland's reaction on Sunday (kissing the tattoo), was inciting the fans We got fined $7,500 for the runner getting in the way of Sandilands on Sunday, no explanation or a 'please explain' given either. We've obviously asked why the fine is so heavy, when Braun only got a $5,000 fine for swearing. (My 2 cents worth: What a friggin disgrace, $7,500 for a silly runner mistake. Gees! ) Said he expects Daniher to coach us in 2008, but there will be no contract discussion in the press. Also said Daniher may not necessarily want to coach us next year, as he may want a break (will this be the excuse for a mutual parting?) Wants Neale to be our next premiership coach, and believes we are still in a premiership window. We're capable of winning a flag in the next 18 months according to PG. Just quietly, I don't think Daniher will coach us next year, but PG is showing public support to try and get the media off our backs. I'd be very surprised if Neale is still there in 2008.

Nice call I agree with the sentiments Old, but I would hope that we can find someone better than Ward to play up forward. Sure, being unaccountable won't be an issue, but what will be of his complete inability to hit a target? Sylvia in the backline next to Bell is worth experimenting with, but I would suggest that he'll be stuck up forward until he is fit, and the club is confident that his OP is under control (yes, I am well aware that this may never actually happen )

He is stiff, as I said, but let us concentrate on the positives. We get 3 of our best 18 back, and not one, but TWO players are making their debut. This is unheard of in Neale Daniher land! I guess there isn't really a match up for Bizzell, given Rivers is back and they lost Buchanan last week, leaving Bell to play on O'Keefe.

No word on how bad it is. According to Ch.10 he injured it last Sunday, but couldn't come off the ground because we already had no bench. Hopefully it's just a strain, and nothing more serious. I guess if he tore the hamstring, he wouldn't have been able to run out the game no matter what. At least his loss is balanced somewhat by the return of TJ and Beamer. Sylvia will surely play FF now.

No full team yet, just the changes from Ch.10 News: In: Rivers, Moloney, Johnstone, Petterd, Garland, CJ Out: Green (Hamstring), Whelan, Wheatley, Jones, Ward, Bizzell Great changes when you consider the injuries. Good luck to both Petterd and Garland! Very happy to see Ward dropped, his unaccountability is really hurting us (see last week where he let Headland have his first ever decent AFL match!). Bizzell a bit stiff though I would suggest. And Sylvia makes it 2 games in a row... Could it be?

No big surprise when you consider we've gained even more injuries during the week. It's like the friggin plague down there! Steven Quartermain on Ch.10 news just previewed the sport, and I quote: "More bad injury news for the Demons"... Woo, can't wait to hear who's injured now! <_<

I wonder what the next Sylvia injury-excuse will be. Knee? Please. The guy can't play two consecutive games because of his groin. It's so incredibly depressing!

Moloney, Brown and Whelan have a history with these sorts of injuries. Don't really think we can blame the fitness guy for that. The reason we have so many injuries is simple, we've had a truckload of bad luck delivered to the club at Round 1. That's it. Every club has years where they are decimated by injuries. Look at Brisbane last year. It's unfortunate that this, a year where we planned on making a real challenge, is also the year we've been dealt a huge injury blow.