Demonsterative

No mention of our most recent past club champion who wore No 22 in the article. What was his name???

Jimmy smiling and loving every minute of being traded to us again. He is my new favourite player

The guy has very good credentials. The club would have to look at him come the rookie draft

You forgot to metion Tony Lockett - Dawes Ciryl Rioli - Byrnes Wayne Carey - Pederson Greg Williams - Rodan I'm putting a $100 on a premiership win

Has there been a change in this pre seasons focus, or an added focus with repeat sprints rjay? or is the same as last season? The club has talked about adding layers to what was learnt last season, I'm hoping to get feedback from anyone who knows.

Whats extreme about the club being on a path that will reach 'Elite' fitness. Jones was a fitness freak before arriving to the club. Add to that many years of pre seasons of course he had the fitness level when Misson got to the club. Trengove is still young and is working towards an elite level. He has natural endurance and pace and I believe Misson is working on a path to Elite fitness and pace with Trengove, McKenzie (who has yet to complete a pre-season until this year) and Grimes etc. Grimes injuries are well documented. You say you are patient, but have little confidence in our midfield when Misson has had 12 months, add to that 3 weeks to get the players up to speed. It will take longer and I believe the club when they say they have been on a high training load throughout the season. We were slow last season as a result. I ve read too much crap (now including from you). When Bailey was at the helm we were considered are fast and dynamic team. Do you honestly believe that our pace somehow got lost now Morton (known for his endurance), Cook and Gysberts has left the club. I'll add Scully to that too. He was an endurance player. I can only assume that you are cant look past 2012. Geez, Frawley is a very fast KPP. People tend to forget that both Frawley and Garland have the pace to shut down small to medium forwards. I'm hopeful

I forgot to add that Toumpas has the drive, skills and athletic ability to thrive in an AFL environment. More so than Wines. Having said that Wines has the ability too, Toumpas has more strings to his bow

We need more than Watts playing this role (if infact he plays this role). Why not have two wingman with speed, ball winning ability, good run and spread delivering forward. In fact lets take it further and ask for the flankers and midfielders to have this ability too. FWIW I think Trengove can play a good balance of both inside and outside play. He was under alot of off field work load in 2012 that hindered his effect on field. Misson will program a more rounded training regime allowing him to play on a wing and centre square. Training seemed to focus on building a base during the 2011/2012 period, now its time to build pace to add to the base. I believe Jones had the base prior to Misson coming on board therefore he excelled as a midfielder. Other players like Trengove, Grimes, McKenzie etc will excel in 2102 as a result too. Watts will benefit too

Do you have the link AJ13?

Getting back to training. It seems the club is focusing on repeat runs/sprints this pre-season. I hope Mission is working on our speed now that a base (endurance) has been acheived by the players completing a lengthy training period that included players training hard throughout the 2012 season. I went to one training session last season and the focus seemed to be endurance only. BH can you confirm this as you have been to alot of sessions?

Fan may have dropped a bomb shell, but many others caught it, ran with it, and added fuel to the fire. Like Fan, I have not read all of this thread but I find it amazing how many people fall into the same pattern of behaviour. Some will only add to a discussion on DL when they have a political agenda to push (all because they love football politics), now watch these people go back into the wood work until the next mine field opens up. Whilst others have a habit of jumping into a discussion to off load their anger whilst disguising it as debate. Watch these people troll across all threads waiting to pounce. The best defense to such people is to ignore them and move along

One issue Watts has been criticised for has been his aggression and not being a mongrel. I saw a side to Jack when he was easily beaten by Swan on the goal line resulting in a Swan/Collingwood goal. He may of been beaten by a far superior and stronger player in Swan, but Jack was so upset he screamed out loud. It showed that he cared and hated losing the contest. If this continues then Jack will become a far better player. Watts is only a victim of other peoples expectations that was fed to them by the club when he was played way before he was ready, and the club promoting him as the messiah. He is a very good player who may turn into an A grader. I believe the clubs new direction/culture will result into a player who wants to win every contest and who will work hard to get the best out of himself. In reality Jack is still a baby and is still learning his craft.

Totally agree Dr. The club has been a trend follower rather than a trend setter and its recruiting has been some what schizophrenic. It changes with recruiting coaches who have totally different perspectives thus the recruiters changing tact within 3 years. Morton, Gysberts, Bate, Dunn, etc have been victims of the clubs lack of consistency. Experts always talk about how game plans and game styles tend to change regularly throughout a season, this being the new trend. I think the club struggles with developing talent who are versatile, yet having players who can settle into a role. Dunn, Bate, Watts are examples of this. Dunn was recruited as a KPF, played 3rd tall in the forward line, then midfielder/tagger and is now a backman. No wonder he has yet to fulfill potential or settle as a player. It seems that Dunn has benefitted from the club going full circle being a big strong big body. I can only hope Need and co are doing the right thing and i believe in their direction. But I'm sceptical at the same time as believed in Bailey/Pendergrast and in Daniher/Cameron. If Neeld fails the club needs to have the conviction to employ another coach in the same vain as Neeld to build on this direction. I'm hoping that Neeld is the messiah though

Encouraging considering Viney was described as a top 3 talent.

I always thought you to be a leader amonst ferals WJ ;-) Love the work D'Landers

The sad (or funny) things is, there is only 5kgs of weight on the machine.

I would hope we are challenging for a top 4 position going into finals by the time these guys are at the 70 game mark.

Curently we are lacking 50 to 70 games into Jack Viney, Ollie Wines, Rory Taggert, Max Gawn and Jessie Hogan. Once all these players finish their apprenticeship we will have the depth to go with Trengove, Clark, Frawley, Jones, Mc Donald, Blease, Dawes, and Grimes. The future looks good

So america, I'm sensing your a half glass empty kinda a guy.

Sheedy was done as an AFL coach when the Bomber got rid of him. He was appointed as GWS coach as a figure head who could get in the papers and promote a club in a very hard market. Williams was the real coach, When he realised he would not get the job, in comes Cameron. If Sheeds was the real coach he would be given time. Yes he was overlooked at the MFC. A good choice by the interview panel.

I read a North supporter refer to Pedo as 'Mr Bubbles' on BF. A much better nick name

What did we just do? We used up most of our first picks before the AFL could take them away with the tanking issue. I suspect the club new about the tanking leakes and made the most of what they could via the trade and MD. Smart move if this is the case!!

let it go I say.

On another note. Did anyone hear Buckley on SEN today. I heard Buckley saying that Dawes was told by the Dees that his days were numbered at the Pies therefore he chose the Dees to play next year, or something to that effect. Does Buckley really believe that Pie supporters will believe that. He was a contracted player who could have stayed, or the Pies forced to stay if they chose. Buckley is a tool who I hope fails as a coach. Over rated player too. Pie supporters seem to be OK with Dawes leaving. IMO too many short sighted supporters in the AFL (including pie supporters). Dawes has played well as FF and was forced to play up the ground and went backwards. Whilst he is not a star, he is a more than handy FF. I'm backing Dawes to get back to form with Mitch and Pederson up along side him.

I too, old dee, have not read all the 'Tanking' threads. I prefer to keep my head in the sand and not get caught up in the drama (on here). On another note. I'm hoping Tippett goes into the ND. GWS will pick him up, leaving Toumpass or Wines to us. Add to that, i hope Jacobs leaves PA and we pick him up in the PSD. We need all the luck we can get. We may have some low draft picks next year. I'm hoping for Premiership points taken off us next year. I dont think we will make the 8 regardless