Macca

Apart from Clark and the as yet unseen Dawes, we don't have a forward of any description who can or could kick 35 - 55 goals a year. Howe could easily fit the bill but he's often been used as far afield as the half back line. A total waste of his marking and possible goal kicking talents. By playing Jeremy deep forward or used as a decoy he's quite capable of picking up 8 - 10 kicks a game and averaging 2 or 3 goals a game. That's about 50 goals a year and that's a good return. Seems a no-brainer to me. It's time Watts was left in the forward line as well. He's spent enough time as a loose man in the backline and it isn't working anyway. With Clark out it gives Jack the chance to establish himself as a forward. These sort of decisions need to be persevered with as well. Players need to be played in their rightful positions and given enough time to make a go of it. We desperately need another ball winner out of the middle and we've got one - Magner. Not a great player but he knows how to win a contested possession. Another no-brainer. Agree with the rest of your post.

Howe could be a better footballer. Obviously he takes a nice grab but if you look at his overall game, he falls a bit short.(like so many others) He has a lot of potential though and I'd like to see him used as a permanent deep forward (the problem then is getting the ball to him) If I had to take 3 off that list he'd be one of the 3. Still leaves 15 though. Trengove's injuries haven't helped and Garland is starting to play a bit better. We might be able to make excuses for all of them but there are too many for it all to be a coincidence. Evans I didn't list because we haven't been able to have a good enough look at him yet. Another one with a fair bit of potential.

The other one absolutely damning bit of information is what we come up with when we critique all our established players or players who haven't come on. As a general rule, many of our players are playing well below their potential. There are too many for it all to be a coincidence. Any coach needs to get the best out his players. Apart from a few players that is not happening. In a lot of ways the reverse has happened and many of our players have gone backwards or just haven't come on. To say otherwise is ignoring the truth. Critiquing our established players and/or our players who haven't come on is largely an academic exercise but I'll at least list them. Frawley Garland Sylvia Trengove Howe Tapscott Watts McKenzie Strauss Blease Nicholson Davey Jamar Jetta Bail Davis Spencer Fitzpatrick All the above have the capacity to play better footy or much better footy than their actual output (including last years form) In some cases, it's a lack of opportunity at senior level, but it's not like they're dominating at Casey.

If we keep Mark Neeld on there's a good chance we will continue to get smashed. If that happens then ... Crowds will continue to drop off. Membership will be negatively affected. Sponsors will drop off and our ability to attract them will diminish. Our financial 'bottom line' has to be affected negatively. Players will want out (whether they're contracted or not) Our ability to attract talent will dissipate. Prime time games on TV - forget about it. Confidence within the club will get worse. Confidence within the supporter base will diminish. It will take longer to recover and heal. This following could be said about Mark Neeld ... Talks tough but can't deliver. Continually makes excuses. Never talks about winning games (it's all about the process) Has tried to implement an outdated game plan (hugging the boundary) Has let 2 senior players go who shouldn't have been let go. Plays certain players out of position when it's obviously poorly thought out. Has poor overall coaching skills (otherwise the team would be adhering to the fundamentals of the game - which we don't) He continually makes comments which are hard to substantiate ... "We will be the hardest team to play against" "I will give you a game plan" "The players will need 3 or 4 years to learn the game plan" "The players will need 3 full pre-seasons to get fit" "We didn't see that coming" "Any of you people in the media got any ideas?" "We are at GWS level" ... It also should be noted that we don't have a great list. But it is a list that is under performing to very large degree. Many of our players are nowhere their potential and there are too many under performing for it to be a coincidence. The coach's primary role is to get the best out of his players. That isn't happening.

Maybe I should have started off with "Apart from the Bengals, any team can etc etc..............!" I didn't know that story Strafford, but it certainly explains a lot. There's probably a number of sporting franchises in the States with the same sort of issues with their owners. You do here stories here and there but the actual teams don't readily come to mind. Anyway, you probably mentioned it in an earlier post, but are you happy with your draft choices? Me .... I see a whole bunch of names who I know very little about! Obviously Green Bay have tried to strengthen the defense, offensive line and RB position but time will tell on whether these blokes are any good or not. I have much the same attitude with the AFL draft. There's a lot of flaws in the whole process so I don't trust it that much. Unless it's a draft where Luck and RG3 are involved although Russell Wilson went at overall pick 75! Imagine how some of the teams without a decent QB must be feeling re Wilson.

I hope for your sake the Maple Leafs win. The City would have to be fairly excited about making the play-offs after a bit of a drought. I'm expecting a few upsets in the 1st round and Boston can be beaten. I basically picked most of the favourites but not with any sort of confidence. That Ottawa / Montreal series is another good match-up. Had a look at the schedule and they've staggered the games quite well. I've managed to find the radio broadcast of most of the teams so will tune in when possible. Otherwise cable are covering a number of games in oz. Good luck.

From 'The Daily Show' last Thursday ... John Oliver in Australia ...

Some interesting match-ups in the playoffs which start on Wednesday (oz time) Here's my tips (for what it's worth) Winners in caps CHICAGO vs Minnesota St Louis vs LOS ANGELES ANAHEIM vs Detroit BOSTON vs Toronto (grrrrr says GTG) PITTSBURGH vs NY Islanders VANCOUVER vs San Jose (grrrrr says pantaloons) MONTREAL vs Ottawa Washington vs NY RANGERS As usual, I will probably mozz at least 6 teams including my own team, the Canucks. My tip for the Stanley Cup is a boring one - I reckon the Blackhawks will be too good for Pittsburgh in the final but obviously hoping that Vancouver can go all the way. The LA / St Louis series should be a beauty whilst Washington and the Rangers have hit good form. That's another good match-up.

There's always a team or 3 that fall by the wayside and other teams suddenly have winning seasons. Reckon pantaloons Chiefs might do ok and I always think the Chargers with Rivers have a show. That AFC West could be a division to watch. Tannehill might get Miami firing and surely the Eagles will bounce back. And what about the Jets? They might do a rotating QB thing - during the games! Sanchez starts, Garrard takes the 2nd quarter, Geno kicks off the 2nd half and Tebow* McElroy brings home the bacon. Rex becomes the King of New York again (with multiple QB tattoo's) Edit : Just heard *Tebow has been cut by the Jets so Rex could bring on McElroy in the 4th quarter.

It's interesting isn't. My level of interest in the AFL has dropped dramatically. Even though the games seem to be better to watch. It's a combination of disillusionment, envy, jealousy, apathy, frustration and anger. My mates have been on the end of some of the greatest feats of text venting known to man. Mostly laced with sick humour. This somehow makes me feel better (but only fleetingly until the next match comes along) Can we all jump into an NFL time machine and arrive in Sept 2013? Make this terrible Demon season all go away please You know what? In the NFL these things can actually happen. Any team can come from nowhere and make a run at it. That's one of the great things about the sport. Optimism can and does get rewarded.

Anyway, we're training well. We go extra well against the witches hats. Marvellous. Oh, and our structures, systems, processes, fitness, key performance indicators and development are all tracking just beautifully. Keep the faith

You might as well go out and wash the car.

Well, we're in striking distance thanks to their wastefulness. Need to come out after half time and kick the first 2 goals. The game is up for grabs and the Lions are not very good. Our 3rd quarters have been woeful so hopefully the coaching staff will try something different - like a good old rev up speech - anything to get the players motivated after half time. The first 5 minutes will tell a tale.

Yeah, if we become reasonably strong at the RB position, then we're not too shabby on offense Who needs a great defense? (I'm being flippant)

If we're within striking distance at half time and we come out after half time fully committed, we've got a chance. But all our players need to have a fierce attack on the ball and win their own ball. It starts by playing in front of their man. Very simple and very basic but even the very best sides adhere to these non negotiable fundamentals. Game plans don't work unless we've got the ball.

A 'Smoky' for the 1st Test? Rising from the Ashes

One from the 'Tijuana Cartel' followed by 'Everyday There's Something' by Relaxomatic. Macca's jazz 6.0

Golden State win to take a 2-1 advantage over Denver ... highlights Knicks, Spurs and Miami all have 3-0 leads whilst the Pacers and OKC have 2-0 leads. OKC losing Westbrook is a huge blow. He may be a chance to return later in the playoffs if the Thunder get through the 1st and 2nd rounds of the playoffs.

Yeah BBO, before Gary Ablett snr, the game had Jesaulenko - he was a freak. We had Robbie for our own touch of magic. How's the one hander 'backing back' by Wells? Very good footballer who I never saw play a bad game. Jones is a good comparison but with no disrespect to Nathan, Wells was a real topliner. Jones might get there though, he gets better every year. I stumbled across that clip by accident and was surprised by the pace of the game. Fair bit of handballing and short passing as well. Suppose it was the best of the best playing so it shouldn't be a real surprise.

On hearing about Aaron Rodgers record $110 million contract, one of his teammates 'tweeted' afterwards ... "Hey man, can you pay me that 20 bucks you owe me?"

After watching this quarter of footy from 40 years ago, I'm not that sure that the game has changed that much. Wells and Hardeman are the Demon representatives ... some big names on show ...

Either that or lay off that Tasmanian Sauvignon Blanc, Strafford

We've had/have an absolute stack of players with deficiencies in their defensive side. That's why we get pumped most of the time. Check the scores in the first 3 rounds for the direct evidence. Apart from Clark, do we have any players that impact the scoreboard on a consistent basis? The focus should be broadened, not narrowed. Moloney is an attacking midfielder with not much of a defensive side to his game. That's it. You won't change him so why bother. With a 28 year old, you're better off dealing with what you've got and then try to get the best out of that players good points. To do otherwise is most probably a complete and utter waste of time. Like playing Rivers in the forward line - almost a total waste of time and effort. Trying to turn Moloney into a defensive half forward at his age was a poor decision. Should we do the same with Jones? Here's one for you ... Skilton used Laurie Fowler at the centre bounces in 1975 because he believed that Wells didn't have much a defensive side to his game. Wells was a gun in my opinion. Check Demonwiki for the proof of that information.

Apart from 3 or 4 players, the rest of our players probably didn't buy in last year. Green mentioned it a few times in his retirement press conference. A number of our players looked like they dropped their bundle. Moloney was just seen to be the most visible one. Many of our other players escaped scrutiny. 15 are now gone from last years list. Many who stayed on our list escaped the heat. They are now belatedly copping it and not within time. The bigger picture should always be looked at and context should never be conveniently ignored. If people were a bit more balanced then this debate/argument wouldn't be happening.

I think you mean Geno, but maybe you do mean EJ? We are talking about Rex here, who knows what he's likely to do! Judging by this article yesterday, we possibly should have seen the Geno pick coming. ... Rex Ryan gets his men as Mark Sanchez continues to look for help