Lucifers Hero

That was Cross, after Roos had been bellowing into the phone to the bench to 'get them back'. Either the bench didn't tell Cross (a sackable offence). Or Cross ignored bench/coach instructions (a retireable offence?) On 360 last night Roos was asked if Cross knew. Roos waited about 3 secs and eventually said: 'you have to ask Crossy'. Roos could have said: 'I haven't asked him yet' or 'we review the game tomorrow' on any other 'fluff' comment. Cross knew!! Unbelievably disappointing in a senior player who has played finals! What happened next was a calamity of missteps by 5 dees players lacking any sort of desperation. Unbelievably heartbreaking!

Bernie voted BOG by both coaches! 10 Bernie Vince (Melb) 8 Leigh Montagna (StK) 5 Jesse Hogan (Melb) 5 Nick Riewoldt (StK) 2 Sean Dempster (StK Bernie is 2 players in 1: Can close down champs while getting fair bit of the ball and a few goals. Looks like Jesse got 2 and 3. Happy for both getting this recognition.

AFLCA Votes- Rnd 11 10 Bernie Vince (Melb) 8 Leigh Montagna (StK) 5 Jesse Hogan (Melb) 5 Nick Riewoldt (StK) 2 Sean Dempster (StK Looks like both coaches agree about with this thread! Bernie is 2 players in 1: Can close down champs while getting fair bit of the ball and a few goals. Looks like Jesse got 2 and 3. Happy for both getting this recognition.

Tuesday, May 19 was the cut off day for 'nominated' rookie elevation. ie one elevated regardless of # of players on senior list. As we did not use that option nor put Trengove on the LTI it seems unlikely that any rookies upgrades will happen this season. In keeping with good development of our youth I prefer it this way. BTW not only are Stanley and Clark out, Kelly is out and Bartel will not be returning this week. Not that it will help our cause much...too much talent at the cattery for us to counter. Lets hope we stay in touch with them.

Gee, that was a long time ago...don't know what I was thinking! Maybe the AFL should introduce one at the ground!

Players train for this. Roos realised at the centre bounce that the players had goofed their set-ups. He screamed down the phone to get back. But alas the runner was already on the field. This is a perfect example of why Roos criticised the 'one runner at a time rule' change last year. It penalises an inexperienced team. If I recall he said he could do with 2 or 3 runners sometimes. Roos' hands were tied. The leadership team deserves to be hauled over the coals, privately!

Bernie's comments on time left and Roos saying the coaches 'couldn't get it done' were to keep the media wolves at bay. Last week was terrible to hear the media go on and on about 'the players didn't listen'. This week it should die down quickly, I hope. Nonetheless, I would like a week where the news isn't about the dumb things we did/didn't do to lose the game. More lessons learnt this week. As long as they aren't repeated I can, reluctantly live with them.

Did anyone hear the '5 mins to go' siren warning.. It still happens at the MCG and thought it mandatory at all grounds. If it went off then players have no excuse for thinking there was 4/5 min on the clock. Surely one of the leaders heard it.

I would cancel my membership!

Winner of the word of the year contest!

He also looked shattered! It took all his control to not say something stupid about the players again. He and the coaches took the rap (which he should in public). But I sure hope he burns the ears off our leadership team...everyone one of them!!!! He gave much deserved high praise for Toumpas, Watts, Hogan and Brayshaw.

No guys. The culprit was Viney who let Stevens get the ball so easily down to Montagna. Viney was lazy. Stevens was desperate.

WOW. Both Stretch and ANB start on the ground. A vote of confidence in the young lads! Hope they have fun, listen to the coaches and have really good games.

Interesting. If Carlton end up 18th they could take him in the preseason draft with their first pick, so no trade value for us. I get that he wants more AFL game time. But he would be going from the 'frying pan to the fire' and spend another 5 years at a bottom of the ladder team. If that is what he wants so be it. Hopefully, he would do the right thing by us and ask to be traded to Carlton. His recent AFL games may be to say 'ok, this is what you wanted; he is your chance to show what you can do'. But it may be to 'showcase' him to other teams that generates trade competition at eos. (eg WB, EFC need a ruckman) It would really peeve me tho if he went to Carlton and we get zip in return.

Not meaning to criticise but the way Max King is going he is a very similar type. Max, soon to be 20, 200cm, can kick a goal. (Kicked 5 today with Scoprions) Just needs some experience! Max can be our Mitch Clark, or Kurt Tippet or ...

Looks like King and Harmes are well on the way to earning an upgrade from rookies to the main list at eos! It might take a couple of years but King could be the Clark replacement to line up with Hogan. These two have huge upside so both bode well for the future! All the others have reached or gone past their peak.

Harmes and King playing well at Casey so at this rate we may need to upgrade 3 rookies: Vandenberg, King and Harmes! Each is certainly making a case for upgrade. Otherwise another team might pinch King and Harmes!

3 Qtr time. Freo 5.11.41 vs GCS 5.2.32 Freo kicking keeping GCS in the game. Even so Dockers seem to have lost their gloss over recent weeks. Shame it wasn't when we played them. Edit: Dockers hang on to win by 7 pts ...GCS have 16 players out

He played under Neeld for half a season for a handful of games. Hopefully we can trade him but his value is limited: Is 27 with a calf injury since 2011 so can't play a full season. Has averaged 1 goal/game with MFC (1.2 at Pies)...poor for even for the 3rd forward. Being paid over $500K pa (unless contract front-ended). Works very, very hard but for very little impact. So, can we get anything for him? Doubt it...steak knives maybe (and we would still have to pay part of his salary). We are stuck with him...a depth player till end of contract in 2016.

WOW! MFCSS in the extreme! Just wish the kid well then que sera, sera

Thanks ttwt...have fixed post...memory not so good in the mornings!

A timely article by Garry Lyon on injuries: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-injuries-the-hurt-factor-that-no-one-wants-to-talk-about-20150612-ghmghg.html According to AFL injury list (a few minor changes since publishing): Brisb 18, Cats 16, Suns 14, Saints 1, Dees 7 (list adjusted for Dawes/JKH in and Garland out), Others 4 to 9 Ours are Garland, Vandenberg, Trengrove, Salem, Petracca, Kent, Frost I see every reason to be very conservative with their recovery. If we rush them back players breakdown again sometimes with dire results (Trengrove/Clarke). Player welfare is also an issue...a quote from Judd this week: "... he recently literally felt nauseous at the thought of having to play sore." I like that we are looking after our players especially the young guys. Misson and medics are doing fine! On the positive side it gives experienced players a chance to show why they should stay on the list and new recruits a chance to get a taste of AFL.

When a club 'rebuilds' or decides to 'play the kids' fringe players will, fairly or unfairly, miss out. Some get delisted (Cross, Chapman) and picked up by another club, some get traded (Cooney, Podsiardly) some stay on the list as depth. Its all a natural part of every club's list management and there will be aggrieved players. We have an unusual number of inexperienced players who need to be developed and when ready play senior games. That is not good for the more senior players that aren't regular 22. Player development and experience will be given priority and whether it is Roos or Goodwin it is what I would expect and want them to do.

An interesting/strange bench: I/C: Billy Stretch, Viv Michie, Aidan Riley, Alex Neal-Bullen Special moment for ANB and Stretch when they go out together (and when they relay the ball down the middle to get ANB his first goal! )

Purple actually has something decent to say about a Dees player: Melbourne we're talking about Sam Mitchell ... ... we pose this question: is his title as best exponent of an opposite foot kick under threat? Yep, it is. Angus Brayshaw has arrived. The media have not been our back to much of late. I guess there are other fish to fry (Suns, bombers, blues, lions). Nice to see other clubs getting some heat. But also we have been playing some good footy so there is no reason for the media to beat up on us.