thevil1

Considering he has no physical handicaps, yes he can physically do all those things..... Or did u mean 'can he do these things well?' LOL I haven't seen him first hand but from all reports, can play and would in the top percentile of his age bracket in the country, but a few years is a long time in footy so by the time he's eligible who knows, he may keep breaking his hand and never get on the park! Ha! I think we can all b optimistic we'll possibly get a good f/s from this, but he's already rejected one of his fathers former clubs, it's like everythin in life, there r no g'tees... But let's dare to dream in the meantime (without all the kill joys on this site, like that'll EVA happen)!

U really think clarko would tell the team the story if their was no merit or valour to it? Barry belted blokes who weren't ready for it, clearly this was an act of courage where the bloke he hit was looking for trouble... But u know betta hey? Footy experts say he's a genuine prospect, see the article from earlier in the year posted here... And before u or any1 else gets on their high horse and says it is never acceptable to hit sum1, ur living in a very sheltered world, sum people r looking for a fight even if the other person has dun nothin more than b in the wrong place at the wrong time, I know cause it's happened to me, I wish my mate who was there and was a big enuf lad to have helped had half this kids bravery And how do u figure he's injury prone?

It's just an opinion, I've heard a couple of clubs are potentially interested in picking him up... I think if he feels he can keep going and a club picks him up, they'd have more of an idea than any of us.... So we'll see who's right come PSD I personally think he's still capable of averaging 2-3 goals a game, and on a top team would be a very damaging 3rd type option... What do you think about him having kicked 20 in 10 games this year when as a team our forward has had it pretty hard? Surely that is decent return for sum1 who is in your opinion past it? But hey, thanks for the memories robbo, good luck for the future

Tmac had played a fair amount of the seaon before being injured and had good form, was close to a call up then and wasn't out for long.... Bail had been playing seniors and only played reserves that weekend on the Sunday because he was in QLD for his mothers funeral on the Saturday when the seniors played... Bail also only got a game for exposure and because we barely had anyone else to choose from... Maybe people need to get their facts right and know what they're talking about before making such strong ascertions on a players list status

I can't believe soo many voted for 6 delistings. We can't delist contracted players unless it's a Carroll type of delist where the bloke is just not a good enough player and a rotten apple to boot.... Even the afl and player manager had nothing to say about it But in a year with such a weak draft, there's no point drafting much past the first 3 rounds, and unless we feel valenti, mckenzie and/or spencer absolutely HAVE to be promoted (not sure about the rules around rookie lists) surely we can just keep them on it for another year and promote them once list cloggers such as meesen, newton and bell come out of contract next year? Not sure how I feel about it, because I firmly believe that as a second or third tall option, miller would be a very good player on a decent team, but I think given martins progression and the chance we'll pick up a promising tall somewhere in the draft, plus newtons around for at least another year, he may be playing his last few games in the red and blue (thought he was out of contract this year?)

Eat that all u SA people perpetuating the rumour he will go back to SA at all costs if drafted interstate!

True, but who cares as long as the spin is to our benefit.... Surely it is reassuring to the playing group that the AFL are backing our FD's decisions, hopefully this reasoning means they understand and keep the faith. Mind you, Jonesy made the Warnock to full forward comment mid week, so the players must've known going into the game what we were going to do, they'd obviously trained with these moves in mind and it didn't appear to affect their desire to win on the day That alone should shut up those supporters who think we should win meaningless games and cut off our nose despite our face

I'd swap Trengrove for Dangerfield any day of the week in my book!

Can't post link on my iPhone, but good read, supported by comments from Eade. Go Vlad, first good time I recall you sticking up for our great club!

The freo situation is apparently largely to do with older players, sandilands, haselby, peake, and others.... I think they are making a mistake with these haselby renegotiations, whilst I reckon it is fair to say he has underachieved in his career to date, he has shown sum much needed leadership this year and appears to have turned the corner, and they still need to spend their cap on sumone, not just a bunch of rookie salaries. I know of one player manager who thinks that their rebuild had started a year too late (a year after us) and that they'll struggle for a fair few more years as a result, he has made his opinion clear to a freo player he looks after who is out of contract next year. Player management circles are rife with rumours of players queueing up to leave, sum of whom want trades after having just recently resigned, mundy's being one I've heard of.

Bring back the draft/trading board please

I'm on my iPhone now.... Just do it already!

No doubt about it, Christy has a much better understanding of the game..... I HATE Underwood's commentating, for all the reasons already pointed out, none of which are simply gender issues, she's just plain horrible to listen to and actually detracts from an already crappy coverage from 10.... Gee I hope channel nine and foxtel have the footy all to themselves at the next rights negotiation.... A few million dollars be damned, the AFL need to give it to those who will promote the game properly and give it the LIVE coverage with the REAL commentary it deserves!!!

Count me in, I have plenty of old stuff to donate, hate to part with any of it, but it's a great idea worth supporting.

Can confirm this is getting around footy circles, dunno whether it's due to the Melbourne win yesterday, but it's not only Scully, but Butcher also is making noises about not going to WA.... Hopefully no1 else joins in else the AFL will b forced to act. I for one think this is a bad trend, next blokes from SA and WA may start taking similar stances (even thou Melbourne is the greatest place to live on earth)... My source is a player agent... He was adamant, take it how u will, he's never talked it up to me b4, and he's tryin to get more info as to what prompted these boys right now Post more if more comes my way

R u kidding? Any1 who knows anythin bout councils knows they r the most useless, inefficient level of government by far, and that is saying sumthing! Why wouldn't u assume the delays r their fault when they r insinuating it is them goin back and forth on this issue in the article? Changing their minds 5 times etc? Sounds like a bunch of imbeciles, too scared to make a decision and having to justify their waste of space positions Typical is written all ova this

U have the blinkers on mate, ever seen Dal Santo go 4 goal? Sh!ts himself most times. Mayb u missed Josh Hunt turnover the ball from a kick in that cost his team a goal? Has happened more than once. I agree they might b limited to an extent by they're actions, but no player is perfect, no matter how elite their kicking generally is. There's more to it then that and as the team as a whole gets better they will all look better too, u just have the 'we suck' blinkers on. Morton and Grimes will b very good kicks over the course of their careers and Morton was considered an elite kick at junior level, or can u only remember the recruiting reports of other teams players?

Yeah, but was there as much pressure/focus from the opposition on him as those your comparing to? Clearly not! And a beautiful as you say, yeah, maybe, but certainly not when he tries to get some distance..........anyway, I rate him, but I think this is over the top, he's not CLEARLY better than anyone else in our midfeild.........and if he was our footy department would have already promoted him!

i reckon valenti is a good/solid player and a greatly determined guy........if he makes it long term its cause he's worked on the aforementioned deficiancies day and night, and i wish him all the best............HOWEVER.......... next year's draft is not as deep as this year, the years thereafter the drafts are compromised by west syd/GC17..........if he contnues to develope he WILL b promoted then.........not having him available for rounds 1-11 in 2009 is NOT gonna make or break this team, full stop.......so while i admire the sentiment, this is the real world gouga and we don't have enuf room for Macca, Moloney, McLean, grimes etc (comparing similar style players only, not davey, totally different skill sets) AND valenti in our best 22..............next year when Macca probably retires, he'd b a good relacement possibly, pending development and other youngsters on the lists development..........

our side is less experienced and more likely to have form fluctuations............his side hs much experience in front of big crowds, even the youngsters.........did his players get up mpre for MFC or the Geelong game 2 weeks ago??? fact of the matter is even top sides put in different levels of effort from week to week for various reasons.........until his team puts in the same effort week in week out as they did against to Geelong, he can stick this critism up his cracker!!!!!!!!!! master of deflecting attention from his own team, just like Mark Williams........I lik Bailey, but someone like Sheedy would've fired back my point and made a fool of him through th media..........I hope Stynes gets more aggressive defending our club!!! cause its easy to have a crack when we're struggling, but malthouse's point can be attributed to all clubs, difference is more experienced sides are more consistent in approach and the great teams can still pull off a win even if they aren't 'up' for he game........

was there, saw sum of the softest frees for sum time durng game also....... will b there next week and every single week possible for the restof my life..........simple as that!!!

same can be said by many of our team for a number of years.............the whole football world has said it for years that we are soft, we were "perceived" to be soft even when we led the league in tackles.........ask the average victorian footy fanatic and they will often nominate us as a soft team, even in 2000 with Schwatta et el............why?? because as Daniher said we needed to be ruthless, cause we didn't have enough killer instinct/aggression etc over the years..........courage and "HARD" tackling have always stood out in our group bcause only a few have been any convincing at it at any one time almost like its a specialty role in the team........gut running is a none event almost (apart from Macca and a few others over the years and not since Viney have we had anyone seriously good at it!!).........you need eeryone, from the slight-build fast players to the heavy tough ones to have the HEART to impose their WILL on a contest!!!! thats what wins finals!!! even a less than talented collingwood showed that by making back to back finals, brisbane showed us that, the eagles and swans showed us that, the cats showed us that and port (another "perceived soft" team) showed us that but in reverse by not making the most of several years at the top of the ladder and then only slaying a giant in decline!!!!!!! (mind u, i'd take a premiership anyway we could get one.........)

i do what i can!! dots is my thing......... honestly, with the bulking up thing, i think we need to be smarter. if your asset is speed and agility then you bulk up slowly over time whilst still doing your sprint and agility work to keep your advantage. in other words you must keep improving where you are a bit weak whilst still keeping/refining what works........... its been spoken about on another forum, but i haven't liked our conditioning for a long time........i dont know whether its a resources thing or too much of the conditioning program is left up the players to decide/do on their own and be self motivated or what, but over the course of the years too many players have not taken this slowly slowly approach to improving their bodies......i mean there is no reason why Bruce couldn't continue to become an elite endurance player and have developed his strength a bit more........don't fool yourselves into thinking that it is all or nothing for certain body types, these are professiional athletes who have to plan ahead for their body developement from a teenager, have to continue extending their natural physical abilities (be it strength or speed or endurance or leap etc) and work on other atributes they are not strong at over a 4/5 year period SLOWLY so as not at the expense of your strengths....... you dont have to be super skinny to be fast, or super thick to be strong........but to change you body type dramatically and single mindedly, the rub will be you lose some of your strength that got you there in the first place........i'm sure Judd in his third year was stronger than in his first, but his body was developed over time and thus he was still f'ing quick!!!! of course injury can interupt things too, as he has shown!!

I'll tell you why Mathews took him.........Brisbane have a strong CULTURE in place, Trav can't corrupt that on his own..........we are trying to get what they already have, a tough culture that is all about WINNING contests...........Trav will be better fo being there, and they have some added depth and talent from him, but we need kids like Grimes who are tough juniors with a toug attitude to help turn our culture around.............so suck it up, cause more will go end of this year too!

Rightly we are giving a serve to various players, coaches and administrators on these forums, such was the performance yesterday.............. Fact is everyone at the club (including supporters who don't have memberships and/or don't go where possible) have contributed to where we are at right now...... Fact is though, its round 1 and, if being semi logical, we knew coming into this season there was going to be some very trying times, but that is what happens when you are trying to forge a new CULTURE................which is what've needed. All that said, I can live with some skill errors (mainly from the kids), I can live with some structure problems (because they were inherited by the old footy department) and I can live with our seeming lack of game plan (as the coaching staff are all new, players take a good 10-15 rounds to learn, look at Saints).............I can put up with these things FOR NOW.......... But at the heart of the issues we have right now is HEART!!!! Yes you need talent, atheletism etc, but this great game has always been about winning contests! AND THATS ALL ABOUT HEART!!! Turn the ball over, then you have to win it back. Win a stoppage, then you can play keepings off.........but everything stems from WINNING CONTESTS, which can only be done by those who WANT it more........... Some players showed heart yesterday, some none................one of which is the topic of this post....... Why has Davey gone unscathed on here??? I was at the game, and didn't see the TV, but my old man is in QLD atm and said that commentators highlighted SEVERAL times he didn't chase, didn't run the other way, didn't pick up a free bloke running past him........basically didn't care and that was in the first Q!!!! he had several chances to make contests, possible win a few tooo, but didn't!!!!.............is he a midfeilder??? Does he know how to play midfield (and not just cameo roles up the ground)??? How bout giving him some tagging roles on the Kerrs, Wests and Judds first so he can learn HOW to play as an elite midfielder...........otherwise send him back to the forward line, at least he chases there!!! Too many without heart (Bruce etc have been called out plenty already, its Davey's turn now!).............and to all those who say 'just play youngsters' thats not the answer either.........play those who earn it, and continue to earn it via HEART and EFFORT, regardless of age.........thats how u build CULTURE!!!!!!!!!!!! Talent be damned, and after a few years of RUTHLESS selection, the talent will develop and the culture of what is expected of players is set.........