rjay

I think "Big Red' is going by the starting times, we only have one 1pm Saturday game which is usually the televised game. You would have thought with all the close finished last year that we gave good value but maybe there is another agenda we don't know about.

Looks like I missed the split rounds, still a bit of a dogs breakfast of a draw. I would think there should be no interstate clashes until they can sort out the bye and split rounds.

Good player cut down way to early with the knee. We never got to see the best of him unfortunately.

No limp, no bandaged knee, moving freely. He is looking good, I hope he can stay injury free and get a full pre season. He will be a real bonus for us if he can.

If he puts in a few more games like the Box Hill one he will be well in the mix 'Fan' but because of his injury plagued season in 2012 he is being handled a little like Evans with his training loads. I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do, good size, nice kick.

Read the whole thing, it was made initially in answer to another post. ...forget about it.

Don't just take one sentence out of what I said 'Maurie', you are better than that. Although you are probably right that my judgement of it is a bit flawed given that I never bothered to watch it. It always seemed a bit of a toss to me so I didn't waste my time. My overall point is that whilst I am not a fan of CS or CC, now is not the time to get into that debate. There are some that think it's a good opportunity to take a cheap shot and don't back it up with any evidence.

Thanks KC, looks like the bye coincides with the MFC bye which is much better but they still have that interstate thing which is a bit of a pain. Do you know how Casey have recruited with non aligned players, it looks like the MFC players and some intense competition for senior placed will add a bit more this year. Hogan will be the big one to watch I guess and hopefully some of the listed players will be available for finals.

I'm not a big CS fan either and never bothered with his whiteboard bs, even though I'm a football and MFC tragic something just kept pushing me away from it, never saw any of it. Don't agree with you about Neeld at all, we didn't have a good season but I'm prepared to wait until his 3rd season to judge whether we got our man. My feeling is we have but lets wait and see on that one, unfortunately it's more than a one year fix. By the way if Bailey let CS and CC walk all over him he wasn't the man for the job, simple as that. ...and I don't think now is the time to be pushing the anti CS & CC line, as I say I'm not a fan but a lot on here are impressed with how things at the club have turned around at least financially. I will accept that until someone gives me some solid proof to the contrary, not just implying things without posting any evidence to back it up. Let's get through this and see where things stand then. This is not the time to get even, it only hurts the club.

Denham bags the club and CS in particular but I haven't heard him over doing the tanking thing with us, don't confuse his dislike of the MFC with the tanking debate, that has been CW pretty much on her own with some help by the me too's who want to get in on the act (not mentioning you Jay). Denham is the only journo I've heard tip a bucket on WC and he gave specific positional moves that helped them lose and get the draft picks they were after. Connelly and Fine have been more even handed and Pat Smith is running his own unique take on it, I know a lot here don't like Smith but I like that he puts up a good argument and is thought provoking even if I don't agree with him, he can't ever be accused of being anyones stooge.

We certainly went from disaster to disaster but it was pretty much off field stuff. We didn't have a great on field year (understatement) but I think part of that was Neeld wanting to assess each player on the list before making wholesale changes. Whilst I agree that we have a group of inexperienced coaches we do have Craig and Rawlings who both have senior experience in the mix. The year we had would have given the coaching group a lot of challenges that would have fast tracked their education I would think.

That may well be a positive.

...and that's about it 'Macca', whatever it's called that's what we did.

Neil Craig, and he is a top appointment doing a great job.

Thanks for the Neeld quote above I couldn't remember what he said but remember it being in the 60's, he also said something about needing to put some weight on him so maybe the 78kg is a bit overstated. Have noticed the same and it's the only knock I have on him. Will be interested to watch him on match day.

Yeah I think on the whole Rohan has been supportive of Melbourne although I'm not sure what point he was trying to make with the Freo game, pro or negative, I'm not sure he knew. I think he feels this whole inquiry is a bit of a mess and hard to fathom, he seems bemused by the whole thing. He is the only journo I know of who thinks our recruiting approach was on the mark and that we will surprise a few people this year and improve a fair bit.

The main difference was that they had the infrastructure to make it work. FD, training facilities, development program, recruiting department and senior players to lead the way. We've been playing catch up and now we are in position to take advantage. ...by the way did anyone notice Matt Rendell in Collingwood gear walking around the ground at training on Friday. I guess that answers the questions about Jason Taylor joining us.

I think that's going to be it, he will play as many as the FD think he is capable of whether that's none or 22. He is a good runner both endurance and pace wise which will be a real bonus as the game starts to flow a bit more with less packs and interchange as the AFL are working towards. Would love to see him show something in the NAB cup to push his name up for selection. If he can realise his potential then this really looks to have been a great draft for the club and the move of picking him up with Hogan will be a master stroke.

You will only know this once he starts playing, Bennell struggled to find the ball enough among other things. Barry has the makings of a player but time will tell.

...and whoever leaked the stuff about Aaron Davey and Mark Neeld last year. That was a disgrace, friends in high places.

You do really have to ask why we have been picked out. It's not a matter of feeling insecure or conspiracy theories or anything else, I mean I'm not paranoid by why is everyone picking on me. Have we just been unlucky, we don't seem to have left ourselves any more open than Richmond or Carlton to name a couple where senior people have come out with some statements that would cast some doubt on their actions. Is Brock a more substantial voice than Wallace or Libba, how about Fev. ...and the actions of the other clubs you mentioned have all been dubious in relation to how they got priority and or high draft picks.

You might also want to have a look at WC at it again in 2010 'Macca'. Interesting how they came back up so quickly. Injuries yes but Gaff and don't mention the war, Darling the priority pick certainly helped.

Blow the whistle and start the game.

That's great news 'WJ'.

I understand your point but watching him at training I think he has improved, he looks in good shape and looks like he should be there. Those positions down back are going to be very, very competitive. Jamar is looking good on the track and marking well, injury interrupted his last season and I would expect him to hold down the number one spot with Spencer and Gawn keeping him honest.