Lutz

He's come along leaps and bounds in terms of bodywork - might sound stupid, but I see a fair bit of a young James Frawley in Strauss. Albeit in a flanker's body.

Which part is stolen from baseball? "Prospect"? I wouldn't have thought so. That term is fairly common in all sports, I'd have thought.

Pick 64 iirc. He was playing for the QLD U/18 team the same year a lot of players were drafted from QLD and I think he was overlooked because the recruiters were so focused on his teammates. It's not often a mature-age player from the QAFL gets drafted. Very happy to have him though.

Not sure how anyone can like Dexter better. The acting and writing for BB is far superior. I can only fathom that some prefer the darker twisted subject matter, and it clouds their judgment.

Really? That's an easy one for me - elevate Nicholson as another BP. Not sure why it makes our rookie list more important.

North have Petrie / McIntosh. Not necessarily better. Essendon, depending on who you think their 1st ruckman is, have Hille, Ryder or Bellchambers. Can be better on their day. West Coast have Natanui. Freo's Zac Clarke / Griffin aren't bad.

I expect to see Strauss back in a BP by late in the season. Not as far off as some seem to think. Before the injury, he was on the verge of securing his spot in the 22. Sometimes an injury such as this steels a young mind.

I expect Blease to fill out to have a physique similar to Heat Shaw. Fine with me. And I like the HBF for Blease. Yes, it's the easiest position to play, but I think it allows for him to have maximum influence on a game. Room for his dash, then long kicking. Any further up field and he'll need to be kicking the goals himself. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I'd like him to be spotting up our forwards.

Wholeheartedly agree. In previous years I've thought an influx of 6 or so new players have skewed the results of leadership voting. Leadership isn't all about making a bit of noise in pre-season. I dare say a lot of votes would have changed drastically once a season had gone by.

Great lunch. Didn't have time to stick around and ask any extra questions. Found Mark Neeld great to hear from. He inspires great cconfidence in himself. When he talks, he doesn't seem to talk for long - he takes the shortest path from A to B, but he makes an impact with what he says. 2 things that stuck out to me have already been covered, but I'd like to cover them again because different people hear different things. I'm paraphrasing in parts, but I'd like to think it's pretty accurate. At least in sentiment. - When asked about our facilities and resources, and how they compared to those at Collingwood? Mark Neeld implored those in the room and supporters in general to help change the perception. He said when at Collingwood it is fairly insular - when people come into the club, they are told that Collingwood have telhe best facilities and the best resources. The people there believe that. There are no excuses. But at Melbourne, he can see we have better facilities and we now have better resources. As supporters we talk about not having what Collingwood has and that is our perception. We're giving Neeld a chop out. And he doesn't want it. The players don't want it. The club doesn't want it. We have everything we need to compete with the best. There are no excuses. - when asked about the leadership group, Neeld said he needed to sit down in his office Monday and begin working on that. It's something he hasn't yet considered, but he will be choosing the captain and the leadership group. As has been his mantra since coming to the club, he aims for high performance with high INTEGRITY, and for that reason he won't discuss what his decision will be until the players themselves know.

Oh, and what exactly makes him think Matthew Bate will be a valuable contributor in his system, when he has such glaring limitations.

Doesn't everybody? Tomorrow I will be asking him about his perception of the holes in the list - what roles he thinks we need filled and how we plan to do that.

I am certain I've read different. Oh well. It's hard when the AFL is always moving the goalposts. I recant my previous posts.

I think it became part of "demonland pop culture" at that moment.

No, it dates back to the time of 186 and revolved around Caro's report that Schwab had been given the sack, then the club did a backflip. A poster then brought to light a lovely little story of Schwab having been given the sack in his 1st stint at the club, after purchasing a desk for $80K. Based on no evidence. Either story.

Also interesting to note that the compo pick received by GWS from Adelaide is potentially worth less because the Crows play both of GWS and Port twice. You'd assume that's 4 wins guaranteed, even though you can't be sure with a showdown. GC won't be the easy beats in 2012, although I doubt they'll be pushing for the top 8. They'll likely just be like a "normal" middle rung bottom 8 side. Won't be long though.

That desk story was only ever presented by one poster with no sources, who proved to be a few beers short of a 6-pack. But still, it's a great meme. A bit like Freak's 192cm players.

No, the mid round pick comes after the first 9 teams have picked.

Ever played "Chinese whispers"? You could get that in one move from "I saw Beamer so [censored] he was leaning on the bar". And you can never discount idiots wanting to exaggerate a crap story to make it worth listening to.

The witch hunt is reaching critical mass

I'd say he plays like Brian Lake at his best. Needs to put a bit of size on, but reads the ball really well in the air, attacks it and then takes off when he hits the ground. One I'm very much looking forward to watching. Should play seniors in 2012, barring injury. Not a lot though, because it'll be hard to break into that backline. Another reason Joel Mac's time is probably up.

Trolling? I offer some vaguely relevant info to the detail of state-of-the-art facilities, and you reply with an ill-informed snipe, but I'm trolling? Saying I know someone that knows someone that is involved with a new training facility isn't "bignoting" where I come from. Strange interpretations from a man that has something to say about everything, yet says so little.

Really? Cos from what I've experienced they all did in Ireland. Don't know if it would be any different with the spotlight here. The epitome of a storm in a teacup.

On $300K a year? Probably not.

If there's no point in yur view, feel free to simply not post in the thread. You can do that from time to time, you know. Your shallow understanding of the concepts add nothing of value.