Rob Mac......

Thanks HG! I knew they rarely updated & am now relieved to know Cooks put on a few kg recently!My main point however was that I suspect Martin has HUGE potential that's not being realised due to lack of mental focus on footy.

MFC site says Cook is only 81kg, Clark 99 & Martin 103. We need a BIG man up forward who can PLAY (& ruck a little) so surely it's Martin. I have a theory on why I LOVE his potential, am disappointed in his skills & application, & think he needs a rocket: They say Martin is very, very intelligent, studying this & that at Uni or wherever. I wish he'd do much less of that & much more of what he's paid to do: please focus his concentration on becoming an elite footballer! Often on field Martin seems unsure what to do, which means, for an intelligent full time professional, he's been devoting way insufficient mental concentration to the game. His mind should be full of abstractions about how to handle all kinds of on field situations (eg. where to go & what to do in various scenarios as a KPF). He has ALL the physical attributes of size, athleticism, speed, agility etc. but plays like someone who's never really learnt to be an elite, SMART, skilled player. It's frustrating because he has such elite potential! Thanks for your consideration.

Agreed. GWS will see this as winnable & play it like a grand final. That it's their 1st ever MCG match & $cullygate will inspire them to make even more of a statement. My 2 cents is they'll go hell for leather & the betting odds should be about even instead of us at $1.30 GWS $3.55

"No.1 P_ick!" succinctly makes the point with enough class & such hilarity. It MUST be prominent at the ground & the only way to be certain is to have SEVERAL "No.1 P_ick!" signs brought by different people in to different stands! Please. Being on numerous signs around the ground will really make the point, get tv time & pictures in newspapers. Otherwise we're carrying all our eggs in one basket & it could easily be missed, something could go wrong & the one sign mightn't even make it in to the ground etc.. I imagine Lucifer's hero would feel honoured to have come up with the favourite. Also loving: Just down for a look, Tom? (McQueen) $cul-lie (Range) Will lie for money (Sloonie) Scully is a w@nker! (disco Demon) "$cummy" (Brock Machine) Paybacks a [censored] (Face your Demons -ONLY AFTER we've won -if we win!) etc..

Couple of tasty ones there. If we didn't want to lower ourselves to public obscenities it would work fine as: Scully Scum Scully Scum back off To Sydney slums

Brent did seem a little depressed, but I think he's honest. I suspect playing football (especially at Melb) means much more to him than we realise. While on one hand his conscious mind ordered himself to move on & be positive after winning the B&F then getting dropped from the leadership group, criticised etc., on the other hand his subconscious couldn't help but feel let down & depressed (he's human, I don't blame him). He may have turned the corner now. I think he's a good guy who's worked hard for us.

Yes, "just in case". How'd it be if we de-listed him, then discovered he's a great defender? It seems his body should be better overhead than it is & hopefully he'd improve that, but he'd be the most booming kick out from the square we've got & he's pretty solid & tough isn't he?

I agree JR. Did anyone see the interview where Frawley seemed very keen to have a go playing up forward?Maybe putting him in for Green this week & trying him forward (unless a backline emergency calls) could be the best team we could field this week?

Hahahaha sorry, 95kg, just a typo, I'll fix it!

That's another good solution H&S. Don't know which is less hassle, but would love to hear the questions as well as Neelds answers.

I 100% agree mono. I understand audio, but not the cameras audio. Maybe currently one mic is just directly sent to the camera, so it's all done simply with no audio mixer? If so and you didn't want the questioner on one side of the stereo and Neeld on the other, it might take 5 minutes to set up a tiny mixer to sum the 2 mics. Also if they didn't want to waste time passing a questioners mic around, a directional mic pointing AT the questioners from the podium would be okay [and perfect if out of phase with the main mic, summed, then compressed before recorded (sorry for being technical but any audio engineer'd understand and I'd love this problem to be solved too)].

He was good in under 1/2 a game this weekend as sub. Garlo was good up forward & Frawley's said he'd love a go up forward too. Dunn's pretty physically solid, 192cm 95kg & would be great kicking out after a behind, so I wonder if it wouldn't be worth trying him in defence once for a change, just in case? Has anyone seen him there before?

In: Frawley Out: Blease (if injured) or Green [really hate to say that because he's been so great for so long]

Sylvia Goal!

Goal, doubling their score!!! x

Enjoying the music analogies from over here. I've been a full time muso for 44 years or so & have always thought Aussie rules has so many analogies to music improvisation mostly (what I often do). Classical is about reading the chart verbatim & nothing else, but improvising is exactly like footy where the players are never twice in exactly the same position on the field (relative to everyone else) & at all times have to make the best move under those constantly changing, at least slightly, if not very unique situations. The simple aim may be win & maintain possession then kick goal, but achieving that is a constantly evolving fascinating art that I love.

Wouldn't we & others have picked Luke Ball if he hadn't indicated that if anyone other than Collingwood picked him he'd not play, so he slid all the way down the draft until Collingwood got him?

Which, in this day & age of players changing clubs frequently was all the more reason to recruit more ready made players than skinny kids that might be great 5 years later, in time to be bought by another club.I know kids are skinny, but we recruited talented, but lighter weight than usual for years. Last year our heaviest regular KPP was Frawley at 93kg. ..& of course the lack of leadership you mentioned & development has been a huge problem too. Cheers

I totally agree with rfpc & old dee about the senior players not doing well enough, but also think the recruiters went for too many skinny players which is the fault of the recruiters, not those fine lighter players who didn't ask to be recruited into a light team. Cheers

Apologies for coincidentally saying some of what Gonzo just said about Cook etc. His wasn't posted when I started mine, so I didn't see it, but we're thinking along the same lines there.

Does anyone remember the HS article heading, "WE GOT OUR MAN" that was a quote from a main Dees recruiter after taking 81kg(?) Cook in the draft? We needed a power forward immediately, yet they drafted another skinny tall & were congratulating themselves. That's when I knew Melbournes recruiting was terrible. Cook & the others may turn out fine players individually, but a balanced team wasn't recruited & Neeld seems to know it. ...and I agree, development has been poor. I'd like to see several minutes of players training in pairs with a ball,- one leads & the other kicks to the lead, & back again over & over & over. So simple. Hawthorn are great at it & we suck by comparison. We need confidence that a player can present a good lead which will be honoured with a good pass so we create chains of possessions. ...... .... Oh wait a minute, did someone say our game plan was about "bomb it long to a contest"?? I thought that was what you were supposed to do only if you had to get rid of it & there was no better option?!? Surely a safe 30 yard pass maintaining possession trumps bombing it long to a contest almost every time?

I liked Rusty Nails idea of trying Clark at CHF where his tank can be more useful. Maybe Jamar's slowing a little & could be dangerous as big man in the square, changing with Stef who gradually becomes 1st ruck over the next 2 years.

Good luck with the marriage plans. haha ha I love Black Adder too.

Fair enough Biffen. Think I understand your points & also like your insights re. the tv shows. Nevertheless I wasn't referring to "overthinking" nor "over relaxing", I referred to replacing distractions with visualisations of what it takes to make a performance great. As you said, football & cricket aren't that complex, so maybe it doesn't matter as much there, though I heard of the odd champion runner/swimmer or something doing it & they're simpler sports. In the field I've been a full time performer in all my life, absolute focus is accepted as the way to virtuosity. Indeed I was transferring that to the analogous but less complex (as you said) field of football, while thinking the AFL is serious enough now that it may be more relevant than you think. ..or maybe not :- )

I've enjoyed reading your posts, but with all due respect Biffen, will beg to differ with you here. Not just Jack, but if anyone is to give an ultimately virtuosic performance (probably in any field) their mind needs to be absolutely filled with abstractions about doing that performance. JT's mind needs to be on the field for days before, going over everything, not intensely chatting on tv about the general subject in question, ...therefor I agreed with Chook. Surely as new very young co-captain, JT understandably spent a lot of preparation time focusing on representing the Dees well on the footy show, imagining what he'd be asked & how he'd respond etc.. This isn't the same as visualising kicking, marking, ball handling, making contact, game plan/team things, things to help him perform brilliantly on field without hesitation (the kind of things I imagine were constantly thought about in Norm Smiths home when Ron was growing up). The past 45 years in my field of work I've also noticed how days, weeks, months of constant focused concentration on doing & visualising the performance, improves & refines it enormously. Therefor unfortunately I thought doing the footy show would reduce Jacks game at least a little. On the other hand, hopefully I'm 100% wrong, he plays the game of his career anyway & annihilates the Lions of course Cheers