Macca

Agreed on the +2.5 match score in soccer ... reckon we'll do alright once the round-ball game starts up. The value is when it's good team vs good team ... and the dominant teams at home are often free scoring teams so it's not that risky a bet. And there are a number of baseball games not listed by Laddies and those games not listed quite often involve a dominant home team with a pitching advantage. Happens a lot. Barty is still no.1 despite going out in the 4th round and the US Open will now be her next big target. Good player.

My first choice was the White Sox @ -1.5 but they weren't up and listed at Laddies. They duly saluted - ugh! Dodgers was next choice but there was no pitching advantage. And I don't like picking road teams ... thus, the choices were limited. Was on 5 of Zac's winners on Sunday at Sha Tin though so from a personal point of view my weekend on the punt was a beauty! Soccer season is just around the corner but we should get a collect soon enough fellas ?

Petracca is getting better by the year but I'd like to see him play in the midfield a lot more. He's a rare talent and I see him as more of a big bodied utility who could play anywhere. Use him as we see fit should be the modus operandi. And in the off-season a reconstruction of his kicking action is required. Work could be started on it now of course so why not now? There's no time like the present.

Because Pruess is likely to play we may as well crash-course him on how to play forward and how to mark a ball (positioning himself as part of it all) He's a big unit so he's got that on his side ... he just needs to coached into being able to play AFL.

And there are degrees of realism mixrd in with pessimism & optimism for those who like to class thrmselves as realistic supporters. You've got to have a bit of hope otherwise misery can rule. True realists hate the bs ... for instance, any punter who isn't a realist will lose. And as Demon supporters we are invested which could also be described as a gamble.

A positive is that we get to see Preuss at work for the rest of the season (unless we somehow don't) Working in tandem with Gawn, they'll both play forward periodically in the absence of T-Mac. Neither are easy match-ups forward so that's another positive. And if it works well we can win a few more games this year whilst serving as a real option for next season. Jones was good again ... that's 3 decent games in a row off half-back. Freed up, he'll relish it back there whilst his fitness holds up.

Comes with the territory and it works both ways ... the optimists cop it here as well. Often labelled as apologists. Try being a realist ... you'll cop it from all quarters! If we had have lost yesterday it would have been bad news for the club. As it stands we still need a few more wins to salvage the season. Wins do matter.

I'm out of the loop a bit with KPF prospects ... drafting an 18 year old is fraught with danger so you almost have to draft 2 to find 1. Or you swap a top end pick for a proven performer. And that's paying a bargain price as clubs generally do not like parting ways with proven KPF's. So we might have to pay extras. Or a free agent ... again, you've got to get in real early as clubs are securing talent on long term deals. It isn't easy but if our trading is aggressive enough, you'll get what you need (as opposed to getting what you want) And what does the club want to do anyway? They might be happy with how things are developing. Our midfielders need to hit the scoreboard more often also.

We're all different Binman so we all see things differently. I didn't get a lot out of the win from a personal point of view but from the clubs point of view, a loss might have been seen as a real set back. My guess is that despite our poor W/L record this year many supporters still have high expectations. But I'm not venting over the win either ... I'm more relieved that we didn't lose as it's always club first in my view. Any win can be built on where as losing can become contagious. As we've seen previously. But most are agreed on our overall disposal efficiency, poor skills, lack of leg speed, poor conversion rates and wastefulness. So it's entirely feasible to critique the teams performance and be happy to win at the same time. T-Mac doesn't get injured and we win easily ... again, highlighting the value of a decent key forward. We need to recruit another key forward. The 2 that we have don't inspire me with great confidence. T-Mac is more of a number 2 whilst Weideman is a no.3. Taking the next step for both players is a stretch. A lot of if's and but's.

Zac Purton 5 from 7 today up in HK (so far) And he's probably not done yet with a few at value to come. Superior horseman is understating things. The race caller just quipped that he'd probably win on a Merry-go-round right now!

Weekend Special MLB Monday 06.10am LA Dodgers vs San Diego Padres LA Dodgers Win (-1.5) $2.20 Following Purton at Honkers today and so far, so good! Demons win but 'We are Us' applies. We make hard work of it all fellas.

Well 'Enable' won as expected ... they run these outstanding horses quite scarcely over there so not sure when it runs again. Almost certainly set for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (for no.3?) in early October so there is probably a race for it in between. The replay of the Coral-Eclipse Stakes can be found on Tab.com.au or Racenet.com

It's more about the overall and the greater good ... the extra players won't add to the quality either. More so playing games from a squad perspective rather than a best 22 Gawn to play 18-19 games per year for instance. Regardless of how good his form is. Not written in stone but as a real option. It's hard for even the best players to be at their best every week in today's footy so spelling a player for a week every now and again is not such a radical move. So to do all that the clubs need bigger lists. In some other sports around the world players are given good amounts of rest ... baseball pitchers, soccer players, NBA players, running backs in the NFL etc etc. AFL players in the veteran stage (Jones) was where this conversation originated. Bigger lists allow clubs to keep the veterans around (in theory) I was thinking it was a total of 44 so thanks for the correction on that LH. So 52-53 is more the case then. All full list players with various contracts. Players are now required to run up to 15ks (or more) in an endurance/collision sport played on a weekly basis with loads more congestion these days. It's any wonder we see so many injuries.

Add 6 players and dispense with the whole rookies thing. Make them full list players. I year contracts as the clubs see fit too ... 2 year deals for the top 36 draft picks. After that, a player takes what he can get. So lists of about 50 is my call. We're looking at about an extra million per club per year but the whole process could be done incrementally. The clubs & the AFL could find a way. But we're dealing with an AFL that are poor custodians and they too often have got their eyes set on the $$$$'s.

I would have Jones over Garlett, Hannan or Spargo any day of the week. At least you know Jones is going to provide a contest and he can win his own ball. And he is a more reliable kick for goal. Not exactly a small forward per se but why do we have to follow convention?

Agreed ... the game is now so taxing on the body that I'm surprised that there hasn't been a call for bigger lists. The salaries would be spread furthet but once the transition is made, you don't have to do it again. The lists were much bigger back in the day probably for good reason. The past can teach us a lot sometimes DJ. And footy can learn from other sports. For instance, Soccer is a lot about squads rather than best 11.

If we go on current form Jones might have found a niche for himself at half back. But he could play forward as a tryout. Our forward line is full of non achievers and is largely dysfunctional so why not? As previously stated, I'd keep him on and if his form holds up he plays, if not, he plays 2nds. It's not like we have a long list of ready replacements. Our depth is deplorable.

We need all the experience we can get. Roos brought in experienced players because he could see the gaping chasm that the club had. Jones is a keeper for that reason. He plays if his form holds up and if not, he'll have to play in the 2nds. But that rule applies to all players. I have seen your views on Jones previously and we are poles apart on how we view the player. We can do a back and forth here but that will prove fruitless. Agreeing to disagree is the better way to end the conversation. But you are certainly entitled to your view. Taking a closer look at the list tells me that there are about 20+ players I'd let go before Jones. The talent levels fall away dramatically past the top dozen players or so. We need to turn the list over but as always, finding better replacements is a difficult assignment. There just isn't that many good players in the system or players coming into the system. The drafts tell us that. And there are a stack of C graders who end up being swapped around the clubs too ... because of the above reasons. I also think it's time to play the ageing veterans in a different way ... play them in selected games or blocks of games and then rest them up for the next lot of games that they might be required for. It happens in other sports (soccer especially) so why not in the AFL. List spots are often taken up by any number of NQR's anyway so why not? So I'm one for keeping the ageing talent around ... their experience is invaluable and they can be great for building a club's culture. My playing days taught me all that.

'Enable' is running in a Group 1 in the early hours of Sunday morning (Coral-Eclipse Stakes, Sandown UK) Only paying $2 but should win. One for your multi's almost as a banker if you're confident she'll win. I might try a few from Flemington and/or Randwick with 'Enable' in a few doubles. Just need to find a few winners in both Cities! Go to RacingPost.com for the form. Not much happening in Oz although I got a nice double today at Sandown (Forbid Me Not & Aristocratic Miss) Racenet.com tips this time although I've been keeping an eye on Justhorseracing.com bingers. Some real value in their tips too. This thread might start livening up in early to mid August so keep an eye out.

Barassi went hardest at his best players ... great coaches do that. The lesser lights can't do the exceptional or perhaps even the basics so why bother lambasting them? Pointless. Replace them yes, but until that happens you just have to put up with the mistakes. The best players on the other hand have no such luxury. Expectations are high and they just have to deliver. No excuses. That's why they get paid the big bucks. So the amount of time here spent evaluating players who really aren't up to it surprises me. They rarely ever get any better and the endless conversations about them seems futile to me. It's why I always concentrate on the amount of good players the club has ... not enough of them and you can't win games and in my time supporting the club we've never had enough of them (good players) So I feel for Frost yet I have noticed that there hasn't been much empathy shown towards him on this thread. Which is why I believe there is still some residual angst that lingers. He is not trusted but it's not his fault that his football talents are somewhat limited. He's not a top player and that's it. From my point of view Frost's output is easy to deal with. Most players tend to reach their ceiling by the age of 22-24 but often it's at an earlier age.

Well I was one of the few people here thinking that we could regress this season. And I made mention of that more than a few times in the pre-season (on this site) My view was probably seen as pessimistic but I class myself as a realist. So my expectations were tempered because my evaluation of the team going into this season was that we were slow, had godawful skills (at times) and that we might strike a few injuries. And the loss of Hogan was another big factor. The whole premiership window talk seems nonsensical to me. But I certainly did not believe we'd fall this far. But I still want the team to get to 8 wins (at least) It was 10 wins a few weeks ago but those thoughts are gone. We both see the same team and results Picket but my fix is different to yours. And there is no definitive right or wrong answer too. We just see things differently going forward. No big deal. With regards to Steven May, we have to wait and see. Quite literally. Right now, I don't really know what to expect. The bloke can obviously play and as always, I wish him all the best. It's all up to him. But he does not want to be in the news for the wrong reason (again) And I am certainly not wedded to writing the bloke off despite my misgivings. Far from it.

Midfield players like Oliver get scragged, held on to, blocked and tagged and he looks to me like he needs some relief from it all. So playing him forward with a license to go where he likes could free him up. Plus, he's a lovely kick for goal. Petracca is your prototype Paul Roos big-bodied midfielder who is not so easily blocked or held on to (or scragged) He too could relish the freedom of playing as a midfielder who can create an option or win his own ball. Or as a link-up player. The make-up of the structure of the team hasn't changed much all season. And it isn't working anyway. It is the ideal time now for Goodwin to show a bit of imagination with the game plan and our structure. As previously stated, we've got nothing to lose. If it doesn't happen, no sweat. It's just an idea.

Fitzroy had Murray, South had Skilton and Footscray had Whitten. The Bulldogs won a flag for Whitten in '54 but their team along with South, the Roys and our team at least had a great player who could mix it with the best. Flower would dominate in games where we got smashed by much superior opposition. And he did it consistently. The mark of a great player. But it is hard to replicate ... players are born with that never-say-die attitude and if they are highly skilled as well, you've got yourself a star. Fast forward to today and Gawn is our star along with Oliver if he can be freed up. I'd take Oliver out of the middle and played forward for the remainder of the season to free him up. Petracca into the middle and then see how they both go playing different roles. Let's face it, we've got nothing to lose and Oliver is not impacting games anyway. Brayshaw is another and he might shine more without Oliver by his side. Change things up I say. Rather than putting the cue in the rack we've got a great chance to start preparing our side (and game plan) for next season. And we can still win games in the process. Win/Win.

I just figured out who the new prominent poster is ... ha! An unmistakable style - should have picked it from the word go. And has 'Who' disappeared again. Gets outed then no more?

If we're not aggressive with regards to trading out a decent player or 2 (commodity) then 7 - 9 changes is my guess. If we do trade aggressively then the number of changes to the list might exceed 10. A lot will depend on how the club sees itself. As always, we are mere onlookers. Whatever we call all that doesn't really matter ... if we were a complete basket-case then a 'total rebuild' might be an apt phrase.