Bombay Airconditioning

Due to depth I think he will be offered a 1 year deal for 2017. Considering what he's being paid for his current contract compared to what his output has been I think 1 year at 100k should be enough, I don't think he's in and danger of being poached. He can spend 2017 at Casey passing on his leadership skills which we keep hearing about. At the end of 2017 both The Weed and Hulett will have had two years in the system and Dawes can be released back into the wild.

Football related injuries whether they be training or gameday related you just have to cop as a club. I think players have the right to pursue interests outside of footy and I think it's healthy, I just think he shouldn't of been playing basketball until he has gotten through the pre season unscathed and got a few games under his belt. I get that it's great he has confidence in his knee (something I still struggle with mine at times) but he's being paid to play footy so I don't think it's unrealistic to ask him to put a couple of things on the backburner until he has ticked a few more boxes with regards to his rehab, again being a complete pre season and having played some games.

Considering where our club is coming from I think the pre season games are very important for us. We've lost senior players in Cross and Howe, we've got senior players who are in the last year of their contracts and are struggling for form, we've got mature age players from other clubs who need time to gel, and we've got first and second year players with varying amounts of game time from as much as 20 games to as little as 0 games. All games are important for our club.

For all the people saying players have the right to pursue interests outside of football that's fine, but in this particular case it's "the timing of it". Would of been nice is he waited to get through the pre season and maybe even have a few games under his belt. The club has invested heavily in him and is rightly pi$$ed off.

Without doubt the most disappointing part of this is not the fact that he's coming back from an injury but the lengths the club went to, flying him to America for consultation with specialists/rehab. Going above and beyond to ensure he has the best recovery and then this. Dumb, dumb, dumb. And yes I've made mistakes in my life but I'm not a highly paid sportsman surrounded by specialists.

Not sure of exact timeline but in the space of a couple of days we get the Watts article followed up by Roos player reviews telling us some players have come back underdone. Things are changing but not as quickly as we'd like to think.

How many FB or CHB in the AFL are elite users of the footy? If Tmac can continue the form he displayed in the first 8-10 rounds last year and Frost can get on the ground and continue to build on his highlights from GWS which included making numerous contests to either spoil the ball or take an intercept mark then we don't have a problem. Yes also in Frosts highlights he decided to take the game on and go for a run as does Tmac on occasions, so we take that train of thought out of their heads by having Salem on one back flank and Melksham on the other. I think players like Stretch and ANB should also be training with both the mids and defenders. The greater flexibility we have as a team will help us rise up the ladder. If we only have one than get an injury we're back to square 1.

He's only on 500k what else do you want from him?

This pleases me most from today's reports. Melksham training with mids and backs along with Salem. This gives us great flexibility.

I'll start by saying what I'm about to post is not directed solely at Watts but the list as a whole and secondly I just posted something similar in the "pre season list update". I think we are some way off a strong culture and having strong leaders at the club. The losses to St.kilda/Carlton/Essendon showed that, all disarstorous for different reasons. The need for the byo shovel training camp. Some players clearly haven't bought in yet and the list as a whole hasn't taken ownership of the culture of the club, that is still being driven by the coaches. - The win over the Tigers wasn't an upset as we always play well against them. - I wouldn't read too much into the early season win over the Bulldogs as they absolutely annilalated later in the season. Roos needs to stop referring to players as being mentally scarred because it gives players something to hide behind. Since taking over we've turned over half the list, those senior players who have remained on the list have either grown as players or have been found out. What we did discover is that a lot of players we had were simply the wrong selection. Player development is no doubt massive at a footy club and yes we had that wrong before Roos coming to the club, but as we've seen several players have left for other clubs without furthering their career to any great level. You don't simply loose your talent, Nathan Jones took his game to a new level from just one pre season under Roos/Stone. We need a new system for identifying leadership, being a leader at junior level doesn't always translate to AFL level and bringing in premiership players from other clubs is overrated. I think Cross set a great example without being captain or coming from a successful club. I think it's time for an internal grilling of players. Once a week the players meet and those that have broken team rules or not complied with the non negotiables need to stand up in front of the playing group and address them as to why. It can all be kept in house but we need done accountability from our players.

Would like to clarify I think we have a lot of talent on the list, mainly from the age group 23 and under, but to me the culture is still being driven by the coaching group because the players are yet to take ownership.

I think we are still some way off a strong culture and having strong leaders. The St.kilda/Carlton/Essendon games last year showed that then the need for the byo shovel training camp. People need to be held accountable.

The thing with the Carlton game was after we got jumped in the first qtr it took until the third before we started to compete. 2 goals in a half of football against Carlton.

Cheers, I was referring to Essendon.

Beat the Cats in Geelong and the Pies at the G then go on to loose to Essendon at possibly the lowest point in the clubs history and Carlton. That is how I will remember season 2015.

Bafonic post. Belittle and denigrate or constructive criticism? Contrary to being a supporter or opinionated, paid up and pi$$ed off? Personal characteristics....who cares? I remember the poster( I won't name him) that suggested Jack Grimes should get a game because he's one of our best public speakers. Watts is paid good money to play footy, anything else is secondary. This year is make or break for a number of players on our list, including three highly paid players in Watts/Dawes/Grimes (speculation but possibly 1.2 million a season for the 3 of them). The club has and is continuing to grow, standards are now higher as are the expectations of the supporters. The players that haven't bought into Roos "non negotiables" will be left behind. Having said that criticism of any player warranted or not should be reserved for when the season starts.

Teams like us and the Saints don't feature highly in the article but have some great young talent coming through.

Vince 29 Jones 27 VB 23 Trengove 22 (still an unknown because of injury) Tyson 21 Viney 20 Angus 19 Salem 19 Petracca 19 Oliver 18 Stretch 18 Taking age into account, from VB down its only age and experience holding these players back.

I see Garland and Frost competing for 1 spot.

I would argue some of the contested marks early in his career were great, what happened?

Well if we're looking for 5 good games in a row as opposed to a run of good form over a 5 week period the banner won't change.

Gawn, Dunn, Jetta on the left. Petracca, VB, Salem on the right.

Not sure how long ago five faces were added, just noticed. Is Gawn next?