Young Dee

Absolute gun mid? Don't know about that. I see him as similar to Grimes in that he just lacks that finesse to be a good mid and as you said his tank could be a problem. Its not like pressure is being wasted in the back line - watching Geelong last night was inspiring (their pressure was relentless and refused to let North have a clean possession in their forward line). It was such a wake up call for me and helped me see just how far behind we are and made me think we might just be to far behind to catch up to the comp (its like we are a lone chase group behind the peloton - helpless)

I dont think he quite said that he was our most important player going forward but he did say that we need to hold on to him because he still has potential. "... and then there is former No.1 draft pick Jack Watts. I was there the day Jack played his first game. I have never seen a fanfare like it and is it any wonder he has never lived up to that hype? It was one of the biggest mistakes I have ever seen from a football club in handling a young football player. Make no mistake, the Demons need to keep hold of Watts because he is incredibly talented and still could be a star. He needs a coach that will find a position for him, play him in that position and teach him what it takes to be a genuine AFL player. We must also remember that even premiership teams have players that are not stars but play a role and play it well."

I have also suggested this before but doubt he has the confidence or hardness for it. I really do think he could be a player unlike most on here. He has really good pace and is a great kick. He is a great rebounder at Casey and racks up a lot of touches but when he comes to AFL he seems to become to worried about his man and has less confidence in taking the game on. The only real solution is to give him consecutive games - rest of the season. People say he is poor when one on one but has hardly had the chance to adapt to the speed and style of AFL. There is always a spot for a good kick and rebounder in our defence.

130 interviews but report is only 400 pages? What have they been doing all this time?

Caro has probably had a copy for a few months but hasn't said anything because the tigers might be implicated

Well if we improve our midfield and the team therefor improves then he probably wont want to leave

Agreed - our midfield is so weak that it is killing our performances and confidence. We need improvement now for both the fans and players (contracts and faith). That improvement is going to come from strengthening our midfield and Aish is not the immediate onfield leader/performer we need. We keep talking about our poor development - that's partly because we don't have any leaders/A-grade players. Although if we do get Pendels I think we would still need to target a good congestion mid and leader (Dal Santo?).

Okay I will admit I have really doubted that Roos is intrested in the MFC posiotion but the article was intresting... "One thing a senior coach would be looking at however before he makes the decision to take the job is stability within the football club." (was that a hint) I love the way he sums up our situation: Have a back line - Frawley, Garland, MacDonald etc. Have a forward line - Clark, Dawes, Hogan, Watts, Fitzy etc. Midfield sucks...... - Jones, Sylvia (but has some potential in Trengove, Viney Toumpas) Once a new coach comes in and can give the group confidence and a couple already established good young mids (trade pick 1,2 or 3) the team will improve tenfold. As Roos stated it is not only offensive but also defensive where we are hurt due to our poor midfield. "The midfield is clearly a major concern. At the moment you have probably Nathan Jones as the only midfielder who would walk into most sides. As important as it is to have great defenders to stop the opposition scoring, the main defensive and offensive weapon is a hard running deep midfield. Your mids will create defensive pressure and dictate how many opportunities Clark, Dawes and Hogan will get. However, it is not all doom and gloom because the current list has three potential stars."

Should be looked at - maybe a 1-2 year contract with an extension if his knee holds up. If his knee doesnt hold up then he just plays out his contract as a midfield mentor - 10 times better than Rodan! We have a whole lot of list cloggers at the moment like Gilles, Rodan, Sellar etc. and we wont be able to delist them all because we dont have enough draft picks etc to replace them with. Given our midfield is calling out for a Cooney I would be offering him a 2 year contract on resonable money but with a claus stating that if his knee doesnt hold up in the first year he is delisted and becomes a mid mentor/coach. We also need to look at other Free Agency players aswell. Work to do to keep Cooney: McCartneyBy Nick Bowen10:50am AEST Thursday, August 1, 2013 THE WESTERN Bulldogs have work to do to keep restricted free agent Adam Cooney at the club, coach Brendan McCartney says. Cooney's future has been the subject of conjecture all year, with AFL.com.au reporting in May that his contract talks with the Bulldogs had been put off until later in the season. The longer the 2008 Brownlow medallist has remained unsigned, the more opposition interest in the 27-year-old has grown. Asked whether he was confident Cooney would stay at the Whitten Oval, McCartney reiterated that the Bulldogs wanted to keep him, but said it was too early to make a definitive call. "I think there's a bit to work at. Contract negotiations are contract negotiations. When it gets closer to it, then I'll make a comment," McCartney said. "I'm not entitled to make a comment at the moment to be honest because it's not until people agree to stay and both parties are happy that you can comment on it. "And so that's not to cause any conjecture or discontent – it will get sorted out." Cooney entered this year on the back of two injury-plagued seasons when his degenerative right knee limited him to 27 games and made him a shadow of the player he was in 2008. But post-season treatment in Germany, which involved taking blood from his arm, separating and incubating its growth cells and injecting them into his knee, has helped Cooney train harder and perform better than he has in years. In 15 games this season, Cooney is averaging nearly 25 possessions – his best return since 2010 – and has kicked 14 goals. Most encouragingly, Cooney's knee looks set to stand up to the rigours of a full season, with the Bulldog averaging 29.5 possessions a game over the past month. "He's running well, he's getting the main session done every week," McCartney said. "He's still managed some of the week (but) he's getting through games and he's running at good speeds." McCartney said Cooney's value to the Bulldogs remained "very high", citing "his unique capacity to run and use the ball and open the game up". The Bulldogs coach said Cooney was also a valuable mentor to his younger teammates in his own quiet way. "He's not as outgoing as some of the other experienced boys, but he's got a confidence about him on the ground and you don't always have to be talking to lead and develop young people around you," McCartney said. "Sometimes the way you attack the game and play the game rubs off, and that side he does well." The Bulldog star signed his existing contract in May 2010 for a reported $550,000-$600,000 a season. At that time, Gold Coast had approached Cooney to be part of its inaugural list and the right patella he cracked in the 2008 finals series had not yet degenerated to the extent of 2011-12. He almost certainly faces a hefty pay cut regardless of whether he recommits to the Bulldogs or seeks a fresh start. In the event the Bulldogs do not come to terms with Cooney prior to October's free agency period, they can still retain him by matching any opposition offers made then.

This one is for all the Lynden Dunn bashers out there ........ http://www.afl.com.au/news/2013-08-02/the-frugal-suspects There are some intresting stats from the AFL website regarding the best AFL defenders. On top of the one-on-one defenders chart is yours truely - Dunny! Out of 32 one-on-one contests he has lost 3! That was a bit of a surprise - I think he brings a bit to the table but like the rest of our team needs to lift. Garland and Terlich also featured in some of the stats aswell but given the ball is always down there they are less impressive.

I was thinking along the same lines..... lets hope he isn't a demonlander or maybe hope he is? Anyone know him personally? - could give him a little nudge

was it a 1 year contract? If it was along term contract maybe it could benefit us - they pay say 1/3 of it out and we dont have to advertise them anymore (like Neeld and Schwabs contracts only the other way round). Then we can get a new sponser........... I assume it doesnt work like that though. Who are Essendons sponsers? - they might want to look at setting up camp elsewhere

It didn't work for Jack Watts, he has been to scared to go near the ball since being "blooded". Dont really want to risk making that mistake agian and plus he has been drifting between Casey and the development team so best to play it safe. Would like to see what he has got though (same with Taggert, Tynan, Stark and Davis)

Actually surprisingly Caro was one of 5 (out of 23 - not including the vilage idiott) who tipped Melbourne to win this week.

I like your train of thought. I think we sometimes get so caught up in the actual sport that we forget that the mfc is an organisation like any other and needs good management. I think we could use more minds like yours at the club - might not be a bad idea to send your thesis to the club. I wonder how that $100,000 plan to success we had made a few years ago is tracking (probably in the bin). I think if you really want an edge in the competition you should really be looking to areas like this - getting good people into the club that cover all areas including management and psychological progression etc. (I guess that's what PJ is doing but let's hope he isn't to focused on getting into the black and isn't afraid to spend some money to get the best).

On the interchange?

Ah ..... Just in time for the preseason. We will be flying around the track in no time.

Feel free to enlighten the younger generations on here...

- Coach Paul Roos - No 100 point loses - No more than 5 +60 loses - A forward line of Hogan, Dawes, Clark, Fitzy and Watts - Watts to improve - Strauss and Tapscott to become regulars - Viney and Toumpas to pass Wines - - I could go on but I don't think it will do much except for get me over hopeful

I know you get a few weeks for a high hip and shoulder but that was a back and head bump? Is their any rules against that in the afl? Maybe we could take advantage of this.... experiment with the rules of the game?

The more i hear about the investigation the more i think that they deserve to be left high and dry. They only decided to go public because the afl were hot on their tail and as for their "internal investigation" it was probably more like "operation coverup". I guess we can sigh a breath of relief for at least we haven't shown so much promise and then just had it thrown away (they were arguably the best team in the comp at the start of last year and this year).

I think we need to change the title of the thread. I don't think we can get any deeper - we have hit rock bottom! (their screwed)

I have had enough of the speculation! Lets revert to old practises.... put the team in chains and throw them in a lake to see if they drown.

Wow I really thought that was out of the question.I thought they would be giving us a 2nd round pick (if they did give us a pp)

You could see Magner and couch as mentors for the young draftees and help create a winning culture in which development is best. As for not playing Taggert and tapscott in the middle - I agree. If we want them to be mids play them as mids (Taggert may be building up his tank but can't he do that as a mid?) Couch I defiantly think is a list clogger tho