Cameron the Bruce

Sorry to hijack the thread a little bit, Would you rather Godfrey or Pickett on the list next year?

That's one of the most stupid things I've ever seen posted on this board, and that's saying something. Davey is probably the most talented player on the list, the fastest, most mercurial and one of a few game-winners we have. Sure he is having too many off-games and is mentally fragile at the moment, but give him a chance. Top 20 pick in a supposedly shallow draft? Rubbish. bluey adams, are you a melbourne supporter, or a troll 14 year old who's got nothing better to do?

I know it's of no coincidence, but does anyone get the impression that Alastair Lynch hates the demons, Dwayne Russell loves the swans, and Danny Frawley doesn't want to be biased towards Melbourne because of James, so he butters the swans up. I know we're playing badly (understatement) but it's giving me the irits!

Going to meet Chris Bond tomorrow

He just hasn't got it. Why can't some people see that? Time and time again he has shown he fumbles under pressure, can't kick it far enough, always looks to pass backwards or handball. I'm not Miller bashing, it's just the truth. He hasn't improved in three or four years. He just hasn't got it.

Cheers doggo, it looks pretty rubbish blown up, but in the nice little avatar pic it looks pretty decent From what I've heard there are only a few really good picks this year, Kreuzer, the other tall ruckman, cotchin and the guy that WJ has seen. Who do we want?

Wow, you've described exactly how I feel It's just so frustrating to look at the teams at the top of the ladder, this is such an open year. Although Geelong are playing brilliant footy at the moment, you can see them being beaten, they are not a gorilla team. Hawthorn probably don't have the experience to go all the way, Collingwood don't have the outright talent, and the doggies football will fall down most likely under finals pressure. If we had've stuck to our best game plan last year and had've avoided all those injuries, well, you just never know do you?

Just reported on SEN, no details really, said that he was to undergo groin surgery. Definitely the right move I would have thought, get him right for next year, we need our best defender back!

I'll second that, he has been the general again of late.

Back on to the topic of Yze's injury, the reason why it may have been explained as a groin injury in a musculoskeletal sense is that a femoral hernia occurs in the groin area, and this might be the type of hernia he has. I'm not sure whether the pain of a groin muscle/tendon strain is similar to the pain from a femoral hernia, but you would certainly get pain in the groin area. Hopefully he recovers and pulls on the red and blue once more.

Perhaps it's precautionary...and conveniently allows him to play his 300th at the 'G! Who knows

Thought I should let you all know about my meeting with the captain. I was attending a regular pub trivia competition. One of my mates, knowing that I was a big dees fan, told me to look behind me and take a look, hinting that it was someone pretty special. Naturally, I was pretty excited to see that it was big Neita. My word he's a massive bloke! I kept a lid on it, and although I really wanted to go up and have a chat to him, I thought it would be the decent thing to let him just have dinner and enjoy the company of those with him. Also, I would've naturally copped it from my mates, so it was decided that I would just be content being in his presence. However, to my amazement, an older guy I know through school turned up, and went over to Neita's table and started talking to him! This was good news, as it gave me a segway to go up and talk to my friend, and then get him to introduce me to Neita. So, with some courage built up, I went over and said hi to my mate, and chatted for a few minutes. Unfortunately, the introduction never came, so I trundled back to my friends, defeated. Thankfully, one of my friends went up to the guy I knew, introduced himself, and suggested that perhaps I would like to be introduced to David, as I was a big fan and had been wanting to all night. So awkwardly, I was called over, and I was pretty nervous/embarassed. There was no need to be, as Neita was fantastic. I asked him how his knee was going, how they were dealing with all the injuries, and just a few questions about the boys. He told me he was up and running again, and that many of the boys were on the mend and hoping to atone for the poor start to the year. He even asked me about how often we came to trivia, how long I had supported the Dees for, and whether I'd been to many games this year. He was awesome. What a great guy! This really made my night. Another one of my mates ran into Jared Rivers more recently and said he was a top bloke too.

Can we start calling him 'God'? It's caught on with a couple of my mates! He is a superstar

Good discussion in this post. Unfortunately this is unlikely to happen as Daniher is coaching to win so that he keeps his job, and developing kids won't win him as many games as blooding the youth. Theoretically anyway!

Surely he can nullify them both! TWO MORE BIG SCALPS FOR GODDERS

Saw it coming, but doesn't make it any less frustrating. Bit lost for words, we are playing deplorable footy, and combined with our injuries, how can we expect to beat anyone. AAAARRGGGGGHHHHH!

Ha Ha Milne>Davey Who knows about the injury though!

It was alluded to on Nine news, however it wasn't confirmed. The gist of it was that he may not be in the team due to bad form not injury, but the decision had not been made yet. Pretty inconclusive and nothing we didn't already know.

Check out that post count-and a whole lot of them are full of content, not just two or three words

I dare say, that while Jaded, RR and all the big hitters of Demonland say what they have been saying, it's fashionable to be dishing Cam. For those of you who say he can't kick, please, find something sensible and reasonable to post. He shanks one for everyone he delivers with accuracy, unlike Godfrey who fluffs four for every one he delivers to the man. Godfrey is a poor kick. Daniel Ward is a poor kick. Cam Bruce is not, he can kick. I've said it before, and I'm surprised it hasn't come up in this discussion, a person grows into the role of captain. To say 100% that leaders are born is rubbish, as it is to say that all facets of leadership can be taught. Good leadership is clearly a mix of both nature and nurture. Give Bruce the role, and it will help fix the inadequacies of his game. It'll force him to put his body on the line, to bark out more to his team-mates and to have more presence on the field. And to say that Bruce isn't inspirational puzzles me a little. With his skills and talent, he has scored many uplifting goals for the team, going right back to the 2000 QF, shutting down Hird, kicking 7 against the roos a few years back, slotting crucial goals from the boundary last year, and jagging them from 50 out on the run against the pies on QB. Although he hasn't inspired much in terms of tackling or bumping, to say that his goalscoring is not inspirational is quite simply wrong. How about that goal against the Cats last year in the forward pocket? He goes missing, but not more regularly than anyone else. How was he 2nd in our B and F and our top player in Sheahans top 50 if he goes missing all the time? He played brilliantly in the final last year, (RR I think you gave him BOG over Brock), was consistently good over the year and has been a brownlow favourite early in the season for the last few years. Sure, you can accuse me of bias, but everyone is to some extent. Brock is the future, but Bruce is the man for 2008.

I think the Essendon player profiles are a good reason why we haven't followed suit! One of the most awkward things I have ever seen!

I'm not too annoyed, it's only the Nab cup, however I did get pretty worked up at the game as we were sitting amongst heaps of Hawthorn supporters. They outnumbered us by quite a few tonight, and they celebrated as if they won the premiership! Firstly, I'd like to defend Bell, I thought he was definitely in our best tonight, he looked quick, handled the ball well, although his decision making wasn't fantastic. Jonesy looked great early on, but did fizzle out in the second half. That said, all of the boys looked very fatigued in the second half, so Jones can be excused. Ward really frustrated me tonight, as did Godfrey. I know we've been through these two before, and I know we didn't have nearly our best team on the park tonight, but hopefully we don't play these two much this year. We need guys like Johnson and perhaps a Buckley to step up and take their spots. They are goer's, but under pressure they cough it up and cost us dearly. This happened on several occasions tonight. Godders also gave away a careless 50 tonight, giving them a supergoal, however he was a little stiff as the umpires didn't adjudicate on similar events earlier in the game. Although the boys were definitely committed in the packs tonight, I was disappointed with the way we attacked the man and the football. It seemed we were content with lightly coralling the player with the ball rather than pressuring them and making them panic. That might just be the new style of running football. There were also many occasions when we didn't commit to getting the ball, however I would rather this to any injuries. We didn't really have a dominant player tonight, although Bruce looks good on the stats sheet I thought he shirked a few contests. Green played well, and his kicking looks back to its old self which is hugely promising. I'm excited about Green this year. As for the young brigade, I thought Frawley did some nice things, and his kicking was alright despite his very awkward action. No. 38, think he might be Daniel Hughes, looked to have a lot of pace. Someone who also impressed in spurts was Dunn. He looks great when he has the footy, he is one of those players who seems to have time. He just needs to get more of it. I thought Buckley looked ok, but his disposal let him down a bit, mostly because he was kicking the ball at pace, rather than balancing up. Chris Johnson played well. Robertson's grab was pretty awesome too. I thought he looked alot better than last year, he even did some chasing out of the backline. We really missed Davey's defensive pressure in the forward 50 tonight, it got out pretty easily and the Hawks did us on the overlap.

I agree it's not a ticket to leadership, I was attempting to outline that he hasn't had a disappointing year. And with your second point, I suppose it boils down whether you believe in born-leaders or whether these skills are acquired, although Jaded addressed this. I think Bruce handled himself quite well when he captained the side; you can't say he did a bad job. And he didn't go missing in the Elimination final, yet he as well as the rest of the team did the next week. Also, you talk of the weight and responsibility of captain, this would be tough for a 21 year old despite what Brock has shown. It puts huge expectation on the young man, and we need him to be firing without such a burden. Jaded, it's a little unfair to say that he isn't a team player. Doesn't need much substantiation from my behalf, but yes sometimes he does play selfishly (going for the hero goal and completely shanking the kick) His kicking became deplorable, yet his efficiency didn't drop that much. Although it is clear Mclean wins more of his own ball, Bruce does better than his reputation suggests, although he is largely an outside player. He is not super tough, but he isn't soft. Brock would make a terrific captain, no doubt. I just think the time is right for Bruce, it would complete his game.

Quick to forget he was second in the B & F, that is hardly a disappointing season. I certainly agree that their were many moments where I was shaking my head at some of his efforts, but he did have a good year, that is unquestionable. I've said it before ages ago, if Bruce was captain it may encourage him to develop the parts of his game which are lacking, and that would make him quite a force. Although Brock was magic in the final this year, Bruce was not far behind, I tend to remember Hannabal rating his game above Brock's. He is the perfect age for the role, in the prime of his career, a matchwinner, and able to hold down a position anywhere on the ground, hence he should be able to influence the team. He has also been doing a lot of media work recently. I think you've dismissed him a little too easily. Call me biased, yes, I know my demonland name, but I think its fair to say you're an avid fan of Brock Mclean - not that there is anything wrong with that. There's no doubt Chooka will captain the team someday, but I think for now, Bruce would be the wise choice; or at least considered! Whether you consider him an interim captain or not depends on how he performs in the role.

Anyone remember Ben Beams? I was at his debut game and he played a blinder from memory. What ever happened to him?