The heart beats true

I just don't get this anxiety. It's pretty obvious to me we aren't playing finals next year either. I'd say a realistic goal is 8-10th. That's a big step in the right direction given we'll still be a very young list at the end of next year. So what point is Greeny serving for the club by playing next year? I think we can safely say that he's a great bloke but probably not a natural leader (those at the club certainly showed they think this when Grimes and Trengove became captains). His spot can be filled by a younger body that's not able to run through the midfield yet, while Clark, Howe and a draftee are marking options. Instead of hand wringing and finger pointing lets acknowledge that his time was up BUT that we really appreciate his service to the club. If you want to do something to thank him and help the club go to the Adelaide game.

He looks a player to me. A mix of in and outside. I think he's at a perfect age for us to develop him with out new midfield. I do think he's 3-5 years off his best which is great if he gets there but he needs someone to show him the way. We really need an experienced midfielder that lifts the workload from day one. If we can get someone like that (Boak) and then Caddy and Viney I'm very happy. If it's 3 more young blokes I still have concerns that they don't have enough on field leaders in the middle.

How great would it be if the club came out and said its raising money to pay for the 3-4 100k fines coming our way next year for all the gun players we are publicly grabbing during the year. I'd donate to that!

I hope the club sees the error of its ways and resigns Green for 3 years and then picks up Juice Newton to help solidify the forward line. If Neeld doesn't get this done on day one of the trade period then he must be fired!

I think the issue is that they haven't offered him a good contract though. I think he wants 2 years and they only want 1. I'd have him for 2 years while our guys learn from him.

I don't want Nahas or Riewoldt. Both are overrated. Riewoldt would be a cultural disaster for us. All he does is point and yell. I think the plan is to get rid of those types.

Of the 11 I'd rate them as follows: Brent Moloney - Gone. For his own future and the clubs he needs to be somewhere else. Liam Jurrah - Obviously depends on the case. Have some serious doubts over his body now though. Looks like it might not stand up at this level. Jared Rivers - Offer a one year contract as a back up defender. Deserves to be treated well I think. Ricky Petterd - Gone. Shown nothing. Matthew Bate - Gone. TIme is up. Lynden Dunn - I see him competing with McDonald for a spot. Lynden has more flexibility and can kick the ball long which will become valuable if we get another KPF. One year contract if we don't bring in better players. Joel Macdonald - Read above. Love his effort but his skills are poor and he's just stopping a younger player from developing. Jamie Bennell - Gone. I think Nev Jetta showed enough on the weekend to seal Jamie's fate, especially with his injury. Clint Bartram - Love Barty but his body has given up. Gone James Sellar - Kills me to say it but I think Neeld likes him. If we get a big FA/experienced player from somewhere else he has to go. Troy Davis - Gone. Thats 8 gone with Green's retirement. Bring in 3 jnr midfielders (Viney, Caddy, plus one), 1 gun midfielder (Boak) a couple of project players and a KPF (love to get TIppett) and we look a lot better.

This kids going to be a star. We've been frustrated with him because he's been around for 4 years but with injuries he's only been up and about for about 40 game time weeks in that period. He's going to be our Lewis Jetta. I'd love to see him in a side with Watts, Tom McD, Trengrove, Grimes, Viney, and Howe for the next 9-10 seasons.

Excellent point! Having people around to learn from is a huge help. Gys is hardly developing under the wings of Cale Morton, Brent Moloney and Matthew Bate is he? Nik Nat made it obvious he didn't want to leave WA but I think people forget how strong the desire to go home is when it suits their argument (We wouldn't even have Mitch Clark if he hadn't thought about going home. We just got lucky with cash and timing). Naitinui would have played 2 years for us and then left. Lets hope the home sickness works in our favor with Boak and Caddy.

When you look at half of the blokes nominated for the Rising Star in the same year as Ricky you realize how far he's fallen: Ryder, Hawkins, Pendlebury, Selwood, Mitch Clark, Nate Jones, Boak, Le Cras, Goldsack, Sam Gilbert. He's just never come on. I hope he goes to GC with a draft pick for Caddy.

So thats what happened! You could tell Chris Scott was [censored]. Sheahan is a joke. He said St Kilda are going well and are the best side not in the eight yet at the same time completely dismissed Melbourne. If he watches the replay from the weekend again he'll realize that with one KPF in the team we would have been in front at half time by about 4 goals. We played all over them for 70% of that game. The gap for the Saints between genuine talent (Hayes, Del Santo) and everyone else is huge. I bet Scott Waters didn't think those 8 goals were academic. They won't be academic if they miss finals by percentage. They'll be quite real.

Is that an offer? I'll throw in my sister and a couple of 'project player' nephews too.

Beamer made a decision over the last few years to stay bulky and try to push through. Name another midfielder with his experience that's gone the same route? Everyone is trimming down and improving their ability to run for 3 hours. He looks like a dinosaur now. I think he'll struggle to get much interest. If GC want him can we trade him for Caddy, or does free agency prohibit it?

By the time he plays in our premiership side he'll be one of the best key position players in the comp. He can work on skills but Tom has great aerobic capacity and the ability to take the game on and those aren't things you can teach.

Not 100% sold on the 'buy in' part. Not sure our current playing group have enough football currency to buy much. What I will say is that I think the players have been told not to worry as much about turnovers and mistakes and just work on possession. I know supporters don't like it when we switch back and forth but our inexperienced or down on confidence players get a lift from having the ball in their hands more often. The switching was really missing in the early bomb it down the line weeks and I think that was when we looked out worst. Neeld is stead fast in his unwillingness to move players when things are going against us. While its frustrating I think he's not giving them a way out and instead seeing who stands up. I know he looked furious at 3/4 time. I don't think he's showing much tactically because it's all about learning about the players first.

Loved being proven wrong about Spence. He just all of a sudden seems to have a bit of a sparkle in his eye like he might just go a bit berserk. The more I see the more I like.

What a joke of a thread. Is he frustrating at times? Yes. Would he be a good player in a side that can kick? Definitely. Give him time next year with bigger bodies around him and better delivery and Col will look a lot better. Honestly some on D'Land think gun players abound at other clubs. You know what's out there? Joel Mac and James Sellar.

Very early he went for a mark and got hurt. Was on the southern stand side and he went off. He grabbed his back the minute he went down. When he came back on his opponent took every opportunity to get into his back and Col was less than impressed. Got into a few scuffles as a result. Will watch the replay tonight and confirm. Huge Saturday night at my place

Left out Nev Jetta too. Saw some real signs from him today.

Focus on the positives, as I saw quite a few: Blease - outstanding game. You can't ask more than that effort from a small forward with no big blokes around him. Big Jake - love his endeavour. At least you know he's trying hard. I reckon he's going to make it. Grimes - good first half. Tom Mac - he learnt not to blaze across goal. He won't be doing that in our premiership year We kicked 12 goals with no forward line at all and an ordinary midfield. Go easy on Sylvia. I think he really hurt his back (again) early in the first quarter and I think the saints went after it at every opportunity from that point on.

Calm down folks. Might not be the end of the world. Tom McD will go to Reiwoldt and Sellar will take Koschitzke. Rather Chip have a rest than get a more serious injury. Bater might play forward and tear them apart! (i'd also like to take this opportunity to remind people that by my calculations this means 8 of our best 18 are not on the G today - let alone best 22. Please take this into consideration when you begin to scream about how shite we are at 4:30 this afternoon)

Ego and status is 90% of politics mate. You'll be fine.

Just go and watch Tom McDonald, Grimes, Trengove, Strauss, Blease, Tappy and Howey. Focus on the future mate. A day at the G, some beers, a pie. Come on! It'll be fun. Go with a positive attitude and you'll be surprised at what you see in the boys.

Jimmi I was making fun of myself there mate. That's what the little winking icon means. It suggests a level of irony and self-deprecation. I'm pretty excited to see how you contribute around here though. You're clearly setting the bar pretty high and I can only hope to meet your lofty standards. I'm sure you won't return comment though, because in your own words 'why take the bait?' (again, note the little winking icon)

For what it's worth the thread was started because I find the AFL statistics fascinating when it comes to experience. I also think that these stats coming from the coach of our footy club are designed to allow people to get a sense of where we are and be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel for the playing group, regardless of the coach. I'm sorry if it offends you. Maybe we should all return to talking about possible trade scenarios, over analysing Jack Viney or writing songs about the coach?