Generation dee

Dear Craig bird and Luke Parker. I will pay for your removalist fee for you both to come down and join the demon revolution next season. Yours sincerely, Generation dee.

Some horrible umpiring.

Byrnes sub, no late changes. Brandon jack the Sydney sub. They look very tall......

I'm not at all advocating we will win, however Sydney have played their past 2 games in very heavy conditions against port and essendon. I understand they have had an 8 day break, however in an age of rotations and higher intensity running, I just wonder if Sydney will be a little heavy in the legs. Sydney have always been a team who contol the contests and force you to kick to contests. If we can get a good start, pressure them from the first bounce and get the footy in space, we could be in this game long enough to make Neil cordy retire from writing any article ever again. Hopefully

I understand your point. I'm not in anyway saying we are close to a flag- our past 7 years are testament to that. However, Carlton, have missed out on their chance or were never in with one to start with. Which I'm sure that you and I can look at with a sense of satisfaction despite our clubs misfortune!

so by that theory st kilda are closer than the giants?

Any chance in a point to your discussion?

Where did I say we were close to a flag? I said Carlton were further than us. I didn't say we were close. There is a difference.

But meth coast and Sydney did in 05 and 06. They are in huge trouble Carlton, they are downhill skiers of the highest order and don't have anyone who stands up when needed, or even a "group mentality" of pack tackling or hunting in numbers. They were solid against hawthorn, but hawthorn were also a bit off that night. Judd has carried them I agree, I hope his legacy isn't tarnished from his brain fade suspensions or Carlton not taking the next step, as he has been a true great. For mine, Carlton are further off a premiership than us with our current lists. That said, if they chased a Sam Reid, a robbie tarrant or a state league podsiadly, it could improve them, but they are soft and don't attack contested footy anywhere near hard enough to be a premiership contender at present.

Broken shoulder blade django! Probably still a month away. Prior to that, seemed they wanted to groom vlaustin, grigg, Ellis in the midfield instead of tuck. I wonder if he will retire at seasons end. I'd love stokes, but I think after the drug saga he went through and geelong showing faith in him that he would stay very loyal to Geelong. Have to ask the question though, don't we!

Which exactly confirms the point I made earlier to you in this thread.

You think that clubs that tank have mental toughness when things aren't going there way? You think a player with a 15-45 win loss record has the guys to dig that bit deeper when things are against him? Look at Carlton and name one player who goes hard week in week out and has done his whole career. I'll tell you, the answer is no one. Why? Because players get "used" to losing, honourable losses, and being close. Judd aside, they don't fight. And the season Carlton finished 5th the leading goal scorers were betts, garlett and walker. Sorry which of them missed last night??

I don't get what your argument is? I said Sydney Geelong hawthorn and collingwood have the "brand wide" structures in place to enable the club to be strong. From the CEO, president and coach, development and recruitment departments as well as footy department structuring,, to the players knowing what was expected of them from November when they walk in to the club in their first year, til they are 30 odd and retire. If you use the Shane Mumford trade as an example of their salary cap concession, then I suggest you look again. That season they offloaded Darren jolly to collingwood and Amon Buchanan to Brisbane. Now, before comparing Brisbane (and ultimately Melbourne 2012) trading in established players, opposed to Sydney trading in established players, and the personalities of players traded, do you not think that a club with leadership at board level and everyone on an understanding of what is needed to succeed is more important? Yes Geelong had some luck with father sons, but with the Geelong brand and all those in charge looking to improve and grow the club, do you not think that added to the reasoning behind bartel, Kelly, Johnson and chapman becoming genuine A-graders as opposed to average footballers? What about when Mitch Duncan, Christensen or motlop step out as new players? You can change bartel, etc to Heath shaw, swan, beams or Mitchell, birchal, Lewis, Sewell.

That's pretty inaccurate. Yes Sydney have extra space in their cap, but what do you think the difference is their? Okeefe, shaw, Bolton, mumford, Reid, goodes, jetta.... They all take pay cuts to keep the group together. They are in an environment where everyone at the club tries to get the best out of the players and take an interest in them. Same at Geelong, their CEO and board oversaw the ground redevelopment, all the training facilities improve, structures to support their young players and ease them into senior football.

so true, actually hoped for a draw myself! How can collingwood, Carlton, Richmond and essendon all miss finals from here???

Just shows- draft picks are useless and you need your whole club on the same page to have sustained success. By that, I mean you can't have tanking (melb, wce, carlton), you can't have supplements or injection program's (that will not last) and you can't have a team built on trades or top ups (st kilda, bulldogs) it just doesn't work. You need a club on the same page, from CEO, to marketing, development and recruitment built on trust, hard work, confidence and patience. Hawthorn Geelong, Sydney and collingwood. It's not the game plan that's necessary to follow, it's the "brand" wide development and protocol.

I'm not condoning picking him up, but he is 26! Same age as Brett deledio, franklin, roughead and.... ME!!!!! Still a lot left in a 26 year old!

Morton cut dangerfield a new a-hole in one game which put dangerfield down the list and Morton up. There is nothing about josh Kelly that in any way is similar to cale Morton, unless its endurance or beep test stats. 2 entirely different bodies and shapes.

I always think that about collingwood old dee! Just when you think they are stuffed, Dwyer or Elliot or josh Thomas play out of their skin, and Dane Swan has 67 disposals and Heath shaw blocks everything! Hate them but geez they run deep! Hopefully it's a draw and 85,000 go home frustrated!

Without disagreeing with anything you say, can we all just drop it? In actual fact, could the mods ban the name "mark neeld"? It's been done to death, we all know it was a horrible 18 months, we went backwards and lost all but 5 games. I would really prefer we focused on the future and the opportunity that brings.

The thing about freeman that excites me is he could end up dangerfield/judd/voss-like. The thing that worries me is he could end up tapscott/Paul haselby/des headland. But he looks a real impressive player with just a enough tricks to excite!

Look, I don't think aish will be that far off. He reminds me a bit of James Kelly at the cats, but with better skills. I think he is a guy who will improve very quickly. Billings I can see a bit of chad wingard in, he will start slowly and look a bit lost, but after a year and another preseason he will become a very classy player.

Without wanting to derail a thread on a promising youngster, I want to make a point about weight/size. At 17 I was 184cm and 70kgs wringing wet. By the time I turned 19 I was 188cm and 87kgs. I can safely say it wasn't fat, and I was still able to run and jump the same amount as I could at 17. A year later, I was 191cm and 91kgs. In a touch under 3 years I grew 7cm and 21kgs, all of which was pretty much muscle and bulk. My point is, everybody develops at different rates. You can look at Aish, Kelly and billings and see that all 3 of them have muscle definition and a frame. Billings will turn out a bit bigger as he has shoulders already, like judd when he was young. Dangerfield always looked like becoming the horse he is nowadays even when he was 17. You don't need to be built like darling or ollie wines, or tapscott at 17 to become a great player, but you can tell the shape of gysberts and Morton were different very early on as opposed to masten or ziebell. Same applies to watts and Hurley. Ones mature at 19, the other is developing. Everyone was big on Hurley past year or 2 as he was ready to play, but watts scope for development is a lot higher than Hurley in my opinion.

I'd imagine sellar/pederson are only named as backup if Sydney play all of pyke, mumford, Tippett and Reid. Just to give fitzy/gawn a chop out in the ruck.

More tongue in cheek rjay, but If we are to get someone worthwhile in, it will cost us. Dangerfield is probably worth 2 and another first rounder. If Neil Craig gets the gig, and we do get a priority pick, then why wouldn't you ask the question?