Jaded No More

He didn't pull out of contests or anything, if that's what you think I meant, certainly not. But there were a couple of instances where he did some really silly things, that showed he was really raw and lacks intelligence, that's what I meant by shat himself. For example, he had a Dogs player running at him at one stage, he panicked and knocked the ball to the Dog's advantage, then later he flat out dropped the ball when put under pressure. Now obviously those things can happen to anyone, but Dawson really doesn't fill me with much confidence and as a tall forward I'd say you would prefer to play on Dawson than on Hudgton, who is far more experienced. I suppose we'll see how he goes next week when faced with Mooney/Hawkins or Anthony/Rocca/Cloke. Perhaps when looking at the strength and composure of Brian Lake and Dale Morris it is hard to be blown away by Zac Dawson. He was OK today but really, who was he playing on? The Dogs have nobody who could outmuscle him, but most other clubs do. His performances this year have been comprehensively enhanced by St Kilda's brilliant defensive midfield pressure. If he played for Melbourne I reckon he'd struggle, as he did when he was at the Hawks.

Agreed. The Dogs would be absolutely stupid not to chase Hall. They should try and lure Lloyd as well. Hopefully they haven't missed the boat, because while their list is not on the verge of falling over, it is very very difficult to keep backing up and there really are no guarantees. I'd have loved to see them win a flag this year, as they are certainly the lesser of 4 evils. Here's to a Geelong premiership! By the way, Brian Lake is one awesome footballer. He is geniunly amazingly good.

Lets see how Dawson goes in the heat of the GF against a decent tall. He shat himself several times tonight against a very small forwardline, and still has "Napoleon Dynamite" written all over his face. Having said that, it was a good get for free. Being a tall KP player always gives you a greater scope of failure, because you're given a lot more time to develop and clubs are more willing to take a punt on you. See M.Newton as exhibit A, A.Rogers as exhibit B, and N.Gill as exhibit C. Newton and Gill are still on AFL lists and Rogers was given a second chance at Sydney. If they were 10cm shorter they'd be cleaning up toilet by now.

I honestly believe that he could have won them the game, and it has nothing to do with my bias or insatiable love for Liam. I also think that Jamar could have helped them, which goes to show how desperate they are for anyone who is big and can take a strong pack mark. Even if said tall is a useless kicker, the ability to create a contest and feed the ball to their smalls is what they needed. I'm staggered that Will Minson is so useless that he can't even do that, then again, I've watched Paul Johnson play for 4 years, so I'm not really <_<

Tonight proved to me once and for all that you need one, just one good tall forward to give you any chance of winning a flag. The Dogs were supremely good in the middle and down back, but just kept chipping the ball around the boundary line, never able to find a solid, reliable target to kick to. Minson is as useless as they come, and Higgins and Giansiricusa (no doubt I spelt that wrong), couldn't get near it. It amazes me that the Dogs never chased a quality established tall more ruthlessly. If we were in their situation I'd want illegal deals done under the table to get a Pavlich or a Fevola to the club. Do whatever you can to get that flag! Instead they went and got Welsh and Hudson, both duds of the highest order when it comes to playing attacking footy. It is staggering that they keep using the same formula year after year when history proves they can't get past this stage of a season. If Nick Reiwoldt wasn't such a tool, a sook and an umpire's pet, I'd be praising his amazing effort, but he is, so I won't :D At least we have nothing to worry about. Jurrah would have tore up the G tonight and Watts is the second (read: better) coming of Reiwoldt Edit: that free kick to Reiwoldt against Lake was the biggest farce I may have ever seen on a footy field. It was an utter disgrace. Oh, don't touch little Nicky he might break and start to cry

Oh yeah, if you want to do well at uni, you need to have organisational skills ingrained in you. I'm freakishly organised which is why I was able to do no homework on weekends, and party continuously and still got a good ENTER (doing subjects which I found naturally easy was also great). But if you're moderately intelligent and have a decent memory you don't really need a huge amount of study time when sitting VCE exams/SACS... unless you do graphics/arts and then you're screwed! But when you're at uni, and learning is autonomous and you're juggling work and a social life as well, it gets significantly harder. Until I got to uni I was never worried about performance affecting my future, but it is very different with uni since your marks/ portfolio of work can differentiate you from other candidates when you go for a job, which is a rare commodity these days. I've spent the last 3 years working 10 times harder than I did in 12 years of schooling combined, but I suppose when you see the value in what you're learning (as opposed to learning completely useless crap in VCE that you'll never use in real life) it is easier to dedicate yourself.

This thread is a glowing endorsement for the next generation of Melbourne supporters! :D Finally we will lose the private school snob stigma and will be able to cut it with the best Collingwood bogans. Good job. (I do hope that despite partying in year 12, we all still learnt proper spelling, grammar and punctuation!)

Hahaha, what are you preaching about then? I spent most of year 12 partying and drinking with friends and got just under 99. We both therefore prove the theory that you shouldn't let VCE consume your life, and that you can still balance your social life with your studies and not end up working at McDonalds for the rest of your days. Jack Watts should enjoy himself in Bali, while the rest of us are working hard to secure our future. Bastard!

Yeah, stop scaring the children Your scores are important to an extent, but there are ALWAYS ways to work around it and get into whatever uni course you want. As a footballer, with money, Jack Watts will have no drama getting into a uni course part-time as long as he passes VCE, which he will, or else Brighton Grammar would have [censored] him off by now. I wish somebody offered me a free trip to Bali when I was 18! Edit: to anyone doing or about to go into year 12, the only piece of advice I can give you is, it's the best schooling year of your life, so make the most of it and enjoy it. Oh and don't think that once you leave school studying will get easier. It won't, so enjoy yourselves while you can.

Pfffts VCE exams! Go on the trip, get on the [censored], and enjoy yourself, I say. That's pretty much all I did in year 12 and it didn't harm my ENTER in the least. His future clearly doesn't lie in a medicine or law or engineering degrees. He just needs to pass, because if heaven forbid footy doesn't work out, by the time he finds himself ready to start uni his VCE results would have expired.

Sure we might be coming, but people in glass houses... (oh and Fremantle :D)

Morabito seems the higher risk-greater return proposition, whereas Trengove is the safer bet. I suppose the decision may come down to whether we believe that the safe bet in Scully allows us to take a risk with Morabito, or whether we just don't feel we're in a position to blow pick 2 away on someone who can go either way. Trengove seems to be doing everything right at the moment, but that doesn't necessarily mean anything at this stage. This time last year Rich was considered to go top 3, and for now it appears that Brisbane hit the jackpot.

There is not even a remote resemblance between Simon Buckley and Chris Judd, except for the part where they both grew up as Melbourne supporters <_< . For one, Judd wins his own ball and can consistently make the right decisions and hit targets. IMO Buckley will be lucky to survive the cuts, partly because he has not shown much, partly because he is injury ravaged, and partly because he is uncontracted and somebody has to go.

It's a crime that you don't post here more often. High five to you my good sir

The intent to HARM is clearly there. Just like attempted murder is cause for punishment. The intent to do damage to the head/eye is clearly there. You don't accidentally push your fingers into someone's eye. This isn't a tackle where someone accidentally copped a poke to the eye. Judd is standing on top of his opponent and his fingers are pushed into his opponent's eye socket. Gouging or no gouging, he is in a no-go zone. We protect the head of players for a reason. Given his prior, I think we can go about safely accusing him of doing something that is wrong, because even just that one second snippet of vision shows him doing something that is outside the rules of the game (even if he wasn't gouging the eye). A dangerous and low act. He copped 2 weeks which is a light penalty when you consider that he admitted trying to find his opponent's pressure point in an effort to harm him and cause injury. That he and his club are arrogant enough to appeal the decision because he is Chris Judd, is a joke and serves them right for having to cop an extra week. His chances of getting off this charge are zero to none. Wish he could cop an extra week on top of the 3 just for wasting everyone's time and being a [censored] about it. Admit what you've done, apologise and move on. You are doing absolutely nothing to help your cause. If a Melbourne player did what Judd did I would be happy for the AFL to throw the book at him. I would be appalled if the club kept perusing the issue in their own arrogant way and even more so if the player in question came out and said he was trying to harm his opponent by applying pressure to their head.

I'm staggered that you can look at the vision and rule out eye gouging. The intent was clearly there, and according to the rules of the AFL, intent is what counts not just the consequence. Buddy got 3 weeks for laying a bump, which in most people's eye was within the spirit of the game. What Judd did is so far removed from the spirit and nature of AFL that it is a disgrace. The pressure point is a martial art technique that, when pressed hard enough can cause dizziness, fainting or worse. Whether his contact caused injury or not is irrelevant. The intention was malicious. You touch a player's head with any sort of force or intent to harm, and you get done. Take into consideration his prior attempt at eye gouging and he should have said thanks for the two weeks and walked away.

What's he really done? He tried to eye gouge an opponent, or apply some sort of pressure to the back of his head which would render his opponent unfit to play for at least a few minutes. It is a serious offense and the punishment he received is representative of that. You cannot be serious to suggest that touching your opponent's eyes or applying dangerous pressure to the head is not a serious matter that should be severely punished! If you don't believe he did it, then have a look for yourself: If he gets off it would be an absolute disgrace given the amount of evidence against him, and given this is a repeat offense.

There is just no way that Judd can get off. Video evidence is damning and the idiot admitted that he touched his opponent's head. A big no no. Can't believe the AFL haven't told Carlton to pipe down, take the punishment and [censored] off. Pathetic reactions all around.

Guilty. 3 weeks. What a shame :D

To me this suggests, along with the Sandilands rumour, that the club believes we're a lot further advanced than the outside world perceives us to be. Perhaps we think our window will start in 2 years time, in which case a Lake or a Sandilands is certainly going to move things along quicker. Maybe we're trying to do a Hawthorn, grab a flag ahead of our time and then remain in contention for numerous seasons with a very young list? Of course this may all be [censored]. On a side note, I'd never say no to a quality, experienced tall who comes to us for FREE via the PSD. We have money in the cap and could use some experience/leadership. I assume that if we get Lake, Garland will move up forward permanently.

Neither do I, which is why I've mentioned his [censored] spin about facilities and success. Fair enough we have poor facilities and were at the start of our rebuilding phase, but Carlton were not in better position to Collingwood and Essendon (and their new facilities at Princess Park will be finished at around the same time as we move to the Bubbledome). Clubs were always going to fall over themselves to secure his services, he knew that, and he purposely and manipulatively "shopped" himself around (at rich clubs like Essendon and Collingwood no less) to try and perhaps extract more money out of Carlton, who had already secured his services. He was never going to go to any club based on success, facilities or sentiments. He was following the money, pure and simple. If he was at least honest about it, we would have said he has the right to do what his best for him, but that he tried to put a spin on it in an effort to leave himself squeaky clean, is just pathetic. Kind of like the "pressure point" defence. Nobody buys it and you just end up looking like a bigger dick and a liar. If there is any justice in this world, neither him nor Carlton will win a premiership anytime soon.

For me Jurrah deserves the award as recognition for the tremendous work he has put in to overcome so many obstacles and have a serious impact in his first 9 games. From what I understand the club wasn't planning on giving him much game time this year, but to his credit Jurrah forced their hand to debut and then select him each and every week when fit.

Go Brisbane go! There is a reason why you are my second team, despite by a long long margin. The way you toyed with Carlton, making them think they had it won then [censored] slapping them into submission was just a thing of beauty.

It is irrelevant who he chose, what is relevant is that he wasted our time and that of Essendon and Collingwood when in reality he had already made a deal with Carlton months before, for a deal that is hardly legal. What he did was as self absorbed and as arrogant as it gets. He made himself bigger than four other clubs, which he isn't. While he didn't want to screw over his old club, he was quite happy to screw around three other clubs, knowing full well that his future belonged to those who could give him the biggest pay packet. To then have the audacity to come out and say he chose Carlton because of a young exciting list and facilities, is an even bigger joke, when both Collingwood and Essendon were as well, if not better placed than Carlton. He has been caught lying before, and is now a two-time eye gouger as well. In hindsight I'm glad we didn't get him. It means we would have missed out on Morton, and probably Watts and Scully as well, since we would have struggled to finish bottom with less than 4 wins with Judd in the team. Plus, the pleasure I'm going to get when we beat Carlton in finals now will be infinitely better. As they say, karma is a [censored] and what goes around comes around. I firmly believe that those who put themselves ahead of all others, and those who chase money in pursuit of happiness suffer in the end. I guess we'll have to wait and see.