Lutz

Boys are out at Gosch's Paddock again this morning. Pulled over to have a little look. A lot of ball work early from what I saw. Nathan Jones and Nicholson were at the front of all the running. Chunk looks in supreme fitness. Those that think he has relatively plateaud as a player will be in for a surprise, I think. We'll be singing his praises for a while to come.

Conspiracy theory time - anyone else notice how the "capturing Mitch Clark" story always features Neeld, and was a party of 3, but it changes within a combination of Neeld, Schwab, Harrington, Josh Mahoney and Jade Rawlings? Might be lazy and poor journalism, but I also get the feeling it may have been a carefully scripted story to appeal to supporters and the footy media as a whole, but at times Neeld has slipped and given the wrong names.

I agree Retro - it's India we should be looking at!

Manson may be a good player, but if bloody Kane Pettifer is kicking 7 goals in that league, the standard can't be too great. Better than what I've ever been up to, but still not a great yardstick for AFL.

According to the article in the Hun today (at the bottom) Sylvia must complete his responsible drinking course before being allowed to return to the main group.

My guess is (based on nothing other than his absence) that he has been banned from training with the player group a la Steve Johnson, Stokes, etc. Just not publicly stated because it creates an unnecessary media spotlight. Part of his punishment - prove that he wants to play AFL enough to train on his own. Probably not though. I've not been to training so don't know if he has been running in the rehab group or not.

I did consider that on second thought. I think it was an integral ingredient. The money was the major factor, but alone it may not have been enough.

Nathan Jones, Morton, Bennell, Watts, Grimes, McKenzie.

A handful of VFL people claiming Fev is up to AFL (and could help win a flag, no less!) doesn't change the fact he has proved over and over and over and over again that he is a cancer. It's not a bloke who has stuffed up once, and then changed. Not even twice. He has stuffed up 700 times, each time proclaiming he has seen the error of his ways and changed, only to one-up himself a little while later. Some people deserve another shot. He doesn't.

Yeah, Fitz clearly rushed causing a few bad skill errors, but afterwards he said something like he was surprised at the speed of the game and had overestimated it. Once he settles and gets a feel for the time he has to settle and execute, I think he'll be a valuable player. Moves exceptionally well for a bloke that size. Very quick & agile.

Fev is a cancer, however you'd like to paint it.

Yes, the opposite side of the ground to the one the ball is on. Often referred to as the "weak side" in basketball. As opposed to the "strong side" that the ball is on (we don't have an AFL equivalent term. Yet.)

YES. It's the most stupid inane meaningless cliche. Then when people think 110% is cliched so they push it up to 115% or 120%!! The stupidity of it all! I don't understand why anyone would have an issue with the "fat side" or "stoppage". It's like having an issue with a player being described as a "tagger" - they describe particular aspects of the game. If you like, we could go more american and use the term "weak side" instead? What would you prefer? Since these things don't have other terms to use as an alternative.

I'd say the last time we were KOTD, the umpires kept us out of the game against Port in the final round, seeing us finish a few spots lower than we would have with a win, and also getting a draft pick some 4 or so spots earlier. A draft pick we used to trade for Mitch Clark.

Tuck not being on a Permission To Train list at this stage is relatively meaningless. He was never anything but a rookie prospect in any case. Plenty of time for him.

I'm just really looking forward to the next time we have bad loss and a journo asks a stupid question at the post-game presser. YouTube fodder.

Welcome to the offseason.

Yeah, fair enough, you're right. I assumed it HAD to be him, cos he looked a little like him, he was actually a bit back from the others, and Tom was named as coming in forth. But you're right about being able to see him earlier in the video, and even later at about 1:25secs you get a better look at Tom in the blue top near the front of the pack. That's more of the height I remember too. In any case, my favourite bit is at 0:11 secs when one of the blokes kicking just over Misson's shoulder falls on his arse. Not sure who it is though.

It's Tom MacDonald. He looks the same height as Bail, but it is an optical illusion because he's actually about 10m or more behind the first 3.

Yep, my post was simply concerned with all the criticism of him leaving the scene. I guess my point is that it is not the real issue here. It's secondary and due to his lack of intelligence more than anything more sinister.

Don't be disingenuous. It's a 3km time trial, where the sole aim is to lush yourself as hard as possible over that distance. Would you really expect anyone within the "rehab group" to participate? And would you really expect Jurrah to not be in that group?

I don't understand how anyone has an issue with Sylvia leaving the scene. He didn't break the law himself and had no real obligation to stay. Obviously the smart and responsible thing to do was to stay, but to me it appears Colin was trying to do the right thing in the circumstances but unfortunately he's just not the smartest bloke and made the wrong decision. I honestly think he would've thought "Crap! I can't be seen here! It'll bring a negative media focus onto the club - the best thing I could do, seeing as I have no real obligation to stay, is to leave before cameras arrive so the media don't know I was involved." Now obviously there's also a large portion of "saving his own skin" in that, but I think the intentions were there, but he's really just not that sharp a bloke. Clearly the prudent thing to do is to own up to it, immediately contact the club, stick around, be open and honest to the police and to the media, and then face the consequences like a man. Unfortunately for Colin, I think he might need to borrow a dictionary for the word "prudent". *this post obviously ignores all the other issues associated with the unprofessionalism of being out drinking the night before training with the Australian. Fwiw I support the punishment handed out to Colin and think it sufficient.

What is Colin Sylvia rehabbing from, or any number of other players that find themselves in that group? I thought most people understood that the "rehab group" includes anyone whose fitness base requires easing into that sort of running. Jurrah's fitness in this respect is poor. He can't handle huge loads from the get go.

It's Tom McDonald.

Before panic sets in, I seriously doubt the rehab group would have been made to complete the 3.2km time trial. I'd be surprised if Jurrah wasn't included in that group.