Jaded No More

Out: Scully (crapped his pants)

WTF? Find me one recruiter in the land who would have picked Darling ahead of Scully? Scully is a certified [censored], but he was wildly regarded as the best junior in the land and by a long shot. Every other club in our position would have taken him, and most other clubs in our position would have taken Watts ahead of NicNat too given his connection to WA. Darling was seen as a troublemaker with little upside. He also had a very serious head injury before the draft. Plenty others stayed well clear of him. You want to cry, think Joel Selwood at pick 14, while other clubs think Jeremy Howe, Liam Jurrah, Tom McDonald and so forth. Everyone wins some and loses some at the draft table.

[censored] off with this Jack Darling crap already. We weren't the only ones who passed up on him. He is good, but he also has an A grade midfield serving the ball to him on a platter. This stuff is as bad as the ridiculous amount of love given to NicNat every time he farts, despite the fact he can't kick. Howe takes better marks anyway. Enough of feeling sorry for ourselves because we didn't draft every good player ever.

Nathan Brown had a massively botched operation on his broken leg, and problems with scar tissue. Rods were left in too long and he never regained proper muscle function. He is to compound leg fractures what Egan is to foot stress fractures. The worst case scenario and one that is unlikely to be repeated again.

He is actually a bit too fast sometimes for his teammates. Exceptional reaction time, great launching speed, brilliant below the knees and a bit of an alright mark (should really work on his overhead marks though ). Absolutely has all the right elements to be an elite midfielder. Kicking has come good in the last 2 weeks too. All about confidence and experience. He is what I wish Sylvia turned out to be.

Clark at a good team = Coleman potential

Jack Watts called. He wants his title back.

I didn't say he doesn't have attributes that Neeld would value, I said he's the least likely to adapt to our new game plan because he is so single minded in the way he plays, and has never shown any signs of adapting. That's why he is still a mediocre half forward flanker, and that's why he is being made to play as a defensive forward. Less likely to cost us the game from the goal square.

Damn, who will destroy Scumbag Scully now??

The amount of times a game I see opposition players trying to take Howe's legs out while he's flying for a mark, makes me sick. You wanna talk about unfair, extremely dangerous and frankly disgusting behaviour on the field, talk about that. Never ever does he get a free kick for it, and he could well end up with a serious spine injury one day (remember Sylvia?). Hitting someone a bit late in the side during a marking contests is tough play, not rough play. As for pushing Maxwell over the line, Tappy had the exact same thing done to him the previous week and went head first into the fence. Nobody raised an eyebrow.

Absolutely. I had a chat to him at the end of last season and his confidence was shot. He was saying that his poor form was due to not having any consistency in his role, having played everywhere during the year, including Casey where he was given different roles but never told to replicate them at AFL level. We've seen what that sort of thing can do. Watts is a perfect example of that. I get as annoyed as anyone when Morton has brain farts, and I made it abundently clear earlier in the year. Nobody expects us to just slap him on the arse and say "no worries" when he stuffs up, but it goes both ways. We need to applaude his good work and I for one thought he was excellent in the first half. What dumb footy commentators pick on are turnovers. What I saw was a guy who was busting his gut to run into position, when most others were stagnant. Neeld doesn't seem to have a lot of time for players who don't do the right thing, yet he kept Morton on the ground all game. That says to me that he saw beyond the turnovers, and so should we.

I've been waiting for Sylvia to come home with a wet sail since 2004. The only thing I've gotten so far is a few drops of wee on my head.

And what, busting our salary cap for another forward when our most pressing need is a midfield? I want midfielders. I want millions of top quality midfielders. I want so many good midfielders they get disgruntled at their lack of opportunities and want to leave. What I don't want is Moloney kicking the ball to Cloke. Thanks.

Why do you think we are pushing Cloke's pay up? No doubt in my mind that we are trying to squeeze Collingwood's salary cap so we can get one of their OOC midfielders.

I'm pretty sure that's where he's headed. Neeld surely isn't a fan.

So annoying to get destroyed by hack midgets. WHY?!?!

Sylvia is in the forward line to play a defensive game. God knows he would be an utter liability down back, or as a tagger, so that is the only option Neeld has of teaching the least accountable human being on our list to go the other way. Nobody, and I mean nobody, suits Neeld's game plan less than Sylvia. He isn't an accumulator of the footy, he isn't a good gut runner, and he isn't defensive minded. He has always been a lazy downhill skier with good skills and a dumb footy brain, and this game plan has exposed him badly. At least Moloney can still claim to be a good clearance player *just*. Put Sylvia in the middle and watch his opponent run rings around him while he pissfarts around. No thanks.

Ummm Bartram. Say what you like, he is damn important!

Neeld, who coached the Collingwood midfield for many years, had no idea how to neutralise it today, which was the most disappointing coaching aspect for me.

Great, great job on Dawes today (who would be a downright hack at an average club). He is perfect for the big slower gorilla types. Definitely steps it up a notch when he has a role to play. Never again in the ruck/forwardline.

WTF is this thread about?! Tappy did nothing wrong. Bit late, but so be it. He didn't hit someone behind the play, he didn't target the head. At worse he'll get a week off, and Collingwood will think twice next time they play us. I loved it, and I hope he goes harder against Scully if he is not suspended.

Jones used to get caught holding the ball going to buy milk. He always did too much, he always tried to be better than he was. Now he is our best midfielder by an absolute mile. I don't care if Blease goes for a run and gets caught twice a game. He has played barely 20 games, and if that's what it takes for him to grow in confidence, then so be it. His pace and disposal are his assets. And as long as he goes hard when required, and two weeks in a row now he's copped heavy hits because he put himself in the middle of the contest, then let him be. It's not selfish play if you're alone against 3 opponents and you burn them off with your pace. It's selfish play if you're Moloney and you try to blind turn 9 times when you have a teammate next to you waiting for the handball receive.

Good on you. Ever played AFL at the highest level and been booed by 30,000 of your own fans? [censored] off with this hero behaviour. You have no idea what you would do in that situation. I bet you'd want to run away. At the end of the day we lost because we lost the plot in the first quarter and there was no coming back from that. It was not Morton's fault, just as nobody here is blaming Green for missing goals, or Sellar giving away a free for holding, or Jamar handballing into the hands of his opponent. It was one horrible turnover, and Morton more than payed for it.

In: Martin, Gysberts Out: Green, Sylvia (I really hope Tappy doesn't get suspended- a few punches to the head of Tom Scully would be nice). Silly premature call on Cook.

Mitch Clark is god!