Jaded No More

http://bigpondvideo.com/afl/62956 Funny stuff. Took about 7 minutes for everyone to get themselves organised. You can hear the players yelling out for 'Bails', 'Cuddles' and 'Stynesy'. :D

Apperantly has is doing well now, and has even managed to get up from his bed. I wish him a speedy and full recovery!

He couldn't walk after the game. If you watch the replay of the last quarter you can see him after the siren limping very badly. I thought it was fantastic that he willed himself to get back on the ground, and even though he was in obvious pain he still put himself in the contest and threw his body around the packs. A sign of someone who desperately wants to help out his teammates. Since I sit near the bench, I could see him talking to the physio as he was testing his ankle on the boundary line and he was desperate to come back on the ground even before half time. :wub:

Valenti's disposal was hit and miss, but he is such a smart player and he instinctively knows where the ball is. I thought he did some terrific work in the middle, got first hands on the ball 4 times plus a couple of clearances and gathered 19 possessions with just 70% TOG. It was encouraging just to see him find the pill over and over again (in his THIRD match) and even though some of his kicks were ordinary, his decision making was good. I like smart players, IMO understanding the play can make up for a multitude of sins.

Certainly agree with that. However, when/if Ricky is fit enough to play seniors, and when Bell's form at Sandy warrants a recall, Bode might find it difficult to keep his spot. We've pretty much run out of senior players to drop in favour of kids, it's now kids fighting kids for positions!

I got done by a seagull TWICE when we played Freo. Those seagulls sure know their stuff... follow one around and you'll soon make a lot of money at the TAB

I rate Valenti's game. When McLean went down, he was given the task of covering the spot of our best clearance player and playing against Power and Black no less! His disposal was hit and miss, but he got a lot of the footy and that's a great sign that he can cut it at this level. What I like most about him, is that he is smart. He uses his body beautifully and he understands the play, and that's something you really can't teach. Overall a good display for a THIRD gamer. His disposal will settle IMO once he adjusts to the tempo.

Foxtel is useless. Can't believe we have to wait this Wednesday to watch the replay. Thank god for holidays! And what happened to Ch.7 putting on a late-night game? Why must I be subjected to "It's always sunny in Philadelphia"?

Nobody will believe this, but during the last quarter I told dad that I have this really strong feeling that Miller will take a mark and kick the winning goal (he is my witness, so I am not making this up)... and no, I don't know next week's lotto numbers

Definitely noticed it. I was telling dad before the game this will be the lowest turnout in a long long time. People definitely were confused with the 1pm start. Next time this happens we need to better inform supporters. I myself wouldn't have bothered checking the start time, and I only knew it was a 1pm game because someone mentioned it on Demonland.

You are probably the most predictable poster on this site. Came back to give Sylvia 6 undeserved votes. Brad Green and Brad Miller are far more worthy recipients and you know it. 6- Green 5- Miller 4- CJ 3- Sylvia 2- PJ 1- Valenti (stood up when Brock went down.... possibly the most horrible moment of my life )

Weren't you pissing off until the end of the year, or did you have to come back to start yet another "Sylvia is the most amazing player ever OMFG!!!111!" thread? You so can't resist us Yze_Magic

I'm sorry you didn't get the obvious tongue-in-cheek comment I made at the end. It's great that after years of reading abusive Brad Miller threads on Demonland and copping [censored] for supporting him (I wasn't alone mind you), that for once we can all actually be positive about his game and his progress. He absolutely deserves recognition and support, as for all of his faults he has never been less than 100% team oriented. Now he is getting some personal rewards too, and so he should! He will never be a super star, but he is more than capable of being a strong presence up forward for many years to come.

I must admit, I was hoping to have a nice honorable loss today as I am really really hoping we get the benefit of coming last. I honestly did not expect us to even come close. But in the last 10 minutes I was over losing and certainly there were a lot of jumping around like a psycho and screaming. Jimmy came to sit in the aisle next to us with 10 minutes or so to go, and brought Aussie's dad with him. After Miller's goal, when the ball went down to Brisbane's 50, I looked over at Jimmy and we both had a look of resignation on our face. Typical that we end up losing in the last 30 seconds... Fast forward a bit and Aussie is running forward and literally the whole stand is yelling "15 seconds, 15 seconds" and jumping up and down. It's such a small and meaningless victory in the big scheme of things, but games like today's is what football is all about. What a great feeling it was sharing some joy with other equally-miserable Melbourne fans. Can't wait for the replay on Fox :D

Must have something to do with the fact that he never ever played full games under Neale Daniher. At best he'd get a run for 10 minutes then off to the bench he went. And forget giving him an actual role, no way. He has all the right attributes to be a good player, and like in the case of Miller and who knows maybe Jamar soon, all it took is someone saying "ok, we know you can play, here's your chance". It's amazing what confidence and self-belief can do for you, and how much hungrier and harder you are at the contest when you know you're not coming off the ground in 2 minutes only to end up at Sandy the next week.

Was a brilliant chase, just goes to show that sometimes just having a go is enough. Sherman was probably laughing to himself thinking "this guy will never catch me", and he did. The mere presence of a player running towards you puts a lot of players under enough pressure to turn it over. We did this particularly well today. Also, apart from his shocking kick, Jamar's work in the ruck was outstanding. He completely dominated over Charman and most of his taps were directly to our guys (for a change). I think that if he just started imposing himself more and believing that he can play at this level, that he could be a decent player yet.

Fantastic game, and a match-winning mark and goal. For once I thought it might be nice to have a POSITIVE thread that involves Brad Miller. A credit to him for bouncing back from a very ordinary year last year, and taking ownership of the forward line. Too early to say I told you so?

Not sure if anyone saw it, but in yesterday's Property magazine there was an article about Jeff White selling his house in Sandringham, and in the article he was talking about his contract expiring at the end of the year and how he has always planned to retire in QLD where he has another property. That is as close to someone indicating their impending retirement as it gets.

You can't honestly think we dropped White because we're tanking. It's called DEVELOPING A TEAM FOR THE FUTURE. Besides, when was the last time Jeff White helped us win a game of football? People are overestimating his worth to the side these days. He's been ordinary around the ground, and less than ordinary in the ruck.

No, I was meant to merge it into this one (don't need two topics discussing the same thing), but I pressed the wrong option and it got deleted. My apologies

I love Dean Bailey. Have no idea whether he'll coach us for 10 years and win us a flag, but I trust him 100% when it comes to rebuilding and reshaping our list. He has done a great job developing our kids (the transformation of Garland alone has been brilliant), managing our senior players and looking for the future. His game plan, which a lot of supporters were against at the start of the year is proving to be a lot more manageable than we first thought. It certainly worked well against the top teams in Geelong, Hawthorn and the Pies. I laughed out loud when I read the bit where Bailey said "I took his car keys off him" in relation to McLean. :D For the first time in ages, I can actually see REAL changes instead of token efforts here and there. Finally we're on the right track to creating a strong culture and developing a team who all have the same work ethic and desire to play as part of a team.

Exactly, and Jamar is far more suited to taking on Charman in the ruck than White is. White has had a poor season, both in the ruck and around the ground. We've been relying on him for far too long, and it's time to try and develop other options. In all likelihood this is White's last season, and so it is to be expected that if his form is poor, we should give someone else a go. Jamar has been playing very well in the VFL, and the reality is he is better in the ruck these days. He is stronger, and it's time he showed us what he can do as number 1 ruck. We have to find out eventually whether he can do it, why wait until after White has retired and it's too late? Bailey is doing the right thing here. White is in poor form, and you can't keep rewarding senior players if they are not performing... we've been waiting for this to happen for 10 years ffs!

Yeah Junior deserves to go out on a relative high. 2 B&Fs in 06 and 07 is a brilliant way to finish a very good career. Certainly he has struggled this year, and I think Junior is the sort of player who wouldn't hold onto their position on the list just for the sake of it. I think he'll call it quits and he should. Yze and White won't go as easily, but they should certainly be pushed (not so gently either) into retirement. White should retire while he's ahead and leave the game on a high. He's been an absolutely brilliant servant of our club but his time has come. I can see an absolute thrashing of Richmond in Round 22, if all these retirements go ahead.

His career is NOT over. You're allowed to miss 2 years with injury at his age. He'll be back and we need to send out some positive vibes!!! The fact they've added him to the leadership group is a testimony to his importance to our club. We are not giving up on him by any stretch of the imagination and neither should supporters. And thank god common sense has prevailed and Yze is gone from the leadership group. Great inclusions too with Green, Davey, Moloney and Rivers. Oh and course, Brock McLean back in his rightful place!

Thanks! I'm so used to 2.10 starts at the G, I didn't even bother checking. Cut down on sleep-in time, but start of holidays means no excuse not to turn up. Hope we can get over 20,000.