rjay

They were at a good level already under Laidley just had a bad year in 2009 so I'm not so impressed. 2008 12 wins 2007 15 wins.

The predictive text is having a good morning 'D26', but you're right we won't be going in with 2 specialist rucks in season.

We need to find a ruckman who doesn't put us one man down in the midfield. Unfortunately our current crop do, Clark being the exception but more likely to play forward with some time on ball as Roos has flagged when he gets back.

Having been a victim it won't enrage me, but I will be upset if the AFL don't take any further action. Even just to make a point to the playing group and society in general, they seem to like doing this on other issues and this one is a bit closer to me so I have an interest.

I think they will struggle. Vardy is a big loss as he was slated to be their 2nd tall forward to back up Hawkins who may or may not come up with his bad back. I thought the would struggle anyway, you don't just replace champions (ask the Australian cricket team). Depth is an illusion given credence by still having some champions to cover, they're getting older and making mistakes (think Bartel at crucial times last year, he won't get better) or carrying injury. Some of the kids are good but 2 of the best are also going to miss the first half of the season at least.

The experts don't see much change to the top 4 but I wouldn't be so sure. Hawthorn look to be on their way again. Sydney have injury problems but should get there. Geelong will not make top 4 and will be lucky to stay in the 8. They've lost too many champions, their older champs still playing are showing signs of not much left in the tank and the talent coming through whilst good is not that good. Plus just heard they've lost Vardy for the season, Hawkins goes down and they will wish they kept Pods. Not convinced with Freo, could have a case of the blues after missing last year. Probably be there a bouts but wouldn't be surprised if they slide back a bit this year. Essendon if they don't lose players to drug charges are probably going to give it a shake hate to say. The rest is a raffle from probably 2 down to 15.

I think you are right with Dwayne, he would have been better off shutting his mouth but that's almost an impossibility for him. ...and you're also right about our circumstances (not knowing the attacker), he obviously had some history with his. I do think the AFL pick and choose their issues a bit too much though which might surprise no one here. This is an issue they really need to get on board with, maybe they should stand a player down for a period of time. On another note I love that Eddie has become the self appointed judge and jury on this one, I didn't know he was there when the incident happened.

My sympathy level is not that high 'master' as I've been king hit from behind minding my own business by someone I didn't see coming. What ever way we do it this sort of behaviour needs to be stamped out. Maybe it should start with our so called role models (players) and influencers at the AFL. A lot of people wanted to jump on Milne and St Kilda when he was charged and had not been found guilty then yet these guys and Scotland play on with barely a whisper. The AFL want to jump on King for hanging out with his mate, they want to influence public opinion and set the agenda on race relations and other issues, well here's something they can do now that may well make a difference.

Always liked him as player also Stringer who may end up the pick of the bunch if they start playing him more as a mid but at the time I was happy about us getting Jimmy. The 10 year judgement as 'Hannibal' say's above is the one though.

You are adding another thing to the mix, and of course you are right but which one is his biggest issue we could go back and forward on. To me Col has a lot of deficiencies and the people who say he has or had so much potential are way off the mark. He has always been a limited footballer who probably played close to his potential.

This...well there is a big campaign going on at the moment about king hits and Danny Green has been lending his name to it. Good on Danny for doing it. The other night on FOX footy Danny was being interviewed about the campaign and Dwayne and Gerrard were right behind him particularly given Gerrard's relationship with Hookesy who fell victim to a punch as most of us would know. Then as the broadcast continued Dwayne made mention of problems facing Murray Newman (West Coast Footballer), he didn't say what they were but by the way he was portraying it, it seemed some deep personal or family problem. I looked up the net and found that Newman's issue was that he had been found guilty of assault. Hardly anything you would think he needed to be protected about by Dwayne not mentioning it and in light of the previous interview it should have been mentioned. Both Newman and Williams have been found guilty and are awaiting sentence. In light of how the community sees these assaults they will be lucky to not get any jail time. Given that the AFL like to uphold the integrity of the game it will be interesting to see how they handle the situation.

Dess by 5 goals

Awareness is his biggest problem.

Must of shown blistering form yesterday Jamar.

Hope you are right.

...and he won't get that experience at Casey, only by playing at the level. He's had enough footy at Casey, let the boy play.

...but you do think 200cm is too small for a ruck man now? or was it someone else that posted this the other day. King may well end up a KPP.

...not particularly.

Have to agree 'old dee', he needs a lot of work but can't get it because of injury. He would be the logical one to step up but...

I don't think we have our ruck man yet. There will be a bit of trading and recruiting to be done over the next year.

Smart kid.

Were or weren't. If they are not a legitimate target the defender won't go with them. Some coaches have tried to use their lesser players as decoys but most good players and coaches are wake up and will zone off the decoy pretty quickly. It doesn't mean they leave them on their own but their main focus is the real target. I've said for a while now that Hardwick is not a good match day coach, it's only a matter of time until the so called experts in the media pick up on it. He's a good guy so they don't call him on it...yet.

I don't think we are, experience will take us a fair way now. I think we have the foundation of a strong midfield, a good ruck and some experience is what we need.

You've got to watch what he does, if the ball is in front of him he's ok. He has a lot of good physical attributes but it's the ones he doesn't have that have held him back and make it easy for opposition teams with the exception of Richmond to deal with him. If you watch the way he plays he doesn't make good decisions because he doesn't have any awareness of what is around him and it's this that has held back his football. He can take a good mark for his size, he is a long accurate kick and he is not slow. He can only kick to a teammate if he is directly in his vision, he can sometimes use pure strength to break a tackle but can't evade it because he doesn't know where it is coming from, he is slow to get a ball off with hands because he doesn't know what the option is. He also really doesn't know where to run, to make good position. All this was on show last night. I reckon he has played pretty close to his potential at Melbourne, attitude would have improved him maybe another 5% but taken him no further.

Doesn't have the attributes to be top 50 let alone top 20 and it's not just application.