btdemon

We're all morbidly speculating.... and we need some sort of concrete news as to the prognosis regarding Liam's injury, and whether he will again grace us with his wizardry. Or whether the cruel football gods have robbed us of our new delight. We Demon supporters are so used to having our hopes dashed. We always expect the worst. Is our pessimism justified? Rudeboy, your info is always accurate regarding Liam. Please set us straight.

Hopefully the fact that LJ is having his ligaments tightened immediately will mean that the irritation and damage which may result from his joint constantly popping out, won't occur. I want to see Liam reaching up with one hand and plucking the ball out of the air with no hindrance from a clunky shoulder injury. I am devastated by this news however! There is no rhyme nor reason, no karma, its just dreadful luck that our most sparkling player is struck down by such an injury. Just as he is about to blossom. He is the jewel in our team and one of the reasons to go and see the Dees. As Neale Daniher once said, "Footy sucks sometimes!" He was right. It just seems that it sucks much more for Dees supporters a lot of the time. If I was a religious person I would pray right now. As I'm not, I'll just have to scream and bang my fists on the floor.

A number of posters don't have Rivers in their best 22. This is strange. The guy is the most important defender we have.

SEN commentary is unbelievable. It makes Rex Hunt look accurate. Just f**kin b*llsh*t!

Despite the footy cliches, he seems intelligent and articulate.

"Pizza Nipples", now that's what I call a nick-name!

It would seem that we have the least imaginative nicknames of all the clubs. I read today that Scully and Trengove have 'Skull' and 'JT' respectively. Add to that, Millsy, Brucey, Greeny, Whitey etc. I wonder if Dean Bailey has too much influence in the nick-naming. He seems to refer to the new guys in early pressers by such names as 'Giz', 'Skulls' etc. Whoever it was on this forum who coined the name 'Noah' for Trengove, handed the Dees a fantastic opportunity, but NO, they didn't take it. I think putting a 'Y' on the end of someone's name, or shortening it and putting an 'S' on the end, as in 'Bails', does not constitute a nick-name. With Jurrah, we had the opportunity to call him 'Warlpiri Wizard' or as I read recently, his indigenous name 'Jukutai', but what did we end up with - 'LJ'. We used to have some good ones like 'Wizard', 'Tigger', 'The Ox', etc. Maybe it was the ox who bestowed these names. Hopefully, in amongst our new recruits is someone with imagination.

I only saw him have one goofy kick at the intra-club match at Casey. He may have had more but I didn't notice. He certainly moves a lot quicker and more freely than Holland and can turn very nicely. He is reportedly very quick over the ground for a guy his size. He was kicking from a fair way out and looked like he had no rhythm in his action but maybe he was trying too hard. Another tall player, Spencer, also has a goofy kick but they seem to have been working on it. He kicked straight enough last week, and while not poetry in motion, he was reasonably effective in his disposal. The goal for the coaches is to make sure Fitzpatrick develops the best kick that he is capable of. Kicking is learnt over your childhood and teen years but players do improve with attention to technique. BTW. Did anyone else notice that great chase down and tackle by Spencer on Maric? This big guy has a seriously good engine and fantastic attitude.

I asked Davey if he had had a knock to the knee or something and he insisted that he was just "rested and would be right for next week for sure". I was also concerned and saw him limping slightly. Maybe club the policy is to reassure fans that they are all ok but he didn't seem to be bullsh1tting. So here's hoping that he wasn't.

This thread is entitled "I hate to say I told you so." YM, I don't think you are being really honest with yourself here. I think you absolutely love to say "I told you so." In fact, you are wallowing in it.

My sentiments exactly. We chose Watts over NikNat. End of story. If NN proves to be a better footballer than Watts then so be it. Watts will hopefully be very good. Are we going to whip ourselves every time NN has a good game for the next ten years? The club made a decision based on sound thinking. It may prove to be right or wrong over time. I don't want to think or talk about it any more!!!!

Yes Naitanui will be good. We went for Watts. He also will be good. We could have gone for Naita but we didn't, and if your aunt had a **** then she'd be your uncle. Forget it!

Ahem... its at 10am. Moderation my friend.

Flower kept me going to the footy through a dark period. He was a genius. Davey has kept me going to the footy in a more recent dark period. Farmer, Lyon, and Jakovich likewise. They are all fantastic. Liam Jurrah is also supremely gifted. How exciting is he? Confucious said...... "He who compares the beauty of one sunset to another, does not appreciate either".

Imagine in three or four years time when we have Scully, Trengove, Morton, Blease, Tapscott, Grimes, Gysberts all being fed by a monster called Gawn and drilling it down the throats of Watts, Jurrah, Aussie, Maric and Fitzpatrick. All of these guys have come from the last three drafts. This is not mention, Martin, Bennell, Jetta, Strauss, Cheney, McKenzie, Spencer. Let's wait and see. There is so much talent there and who knows who will shine above the rest.............In the words of Cosmo Kramer...."OOOH BABY!!"

Really good interview. Hard not to like this bloke. Thoughtful and measured.

Quote from twitter "Oh my god I'm going to just take hangs all year" This single quote says something fundamental about Robbo and his attitude to footy and team effort, and may point to the reason why Bailey has let him go.

Hearing that Aussie has done a hammy is actually a relief to me. If you remember this year he did a hammy preseason and then returned to tear his meniscus. It was this that kept flaring up every time he resumed training. The good news recently was that he was training well with no problems with his knee so a hammy is not so bad as long as he doesn't become a chronic hammy guy.

I just been trawling through recent draft history (since 1997) on wikipedia. The number of dud picks and trades made by our former recruiting and list management team is staggering!! In his first two years at the Dees BP has recruited more potential than the previous regime did in 8??? years. (Was it 8?). I too, was a little surprised when we went for midfielders with picks #11 and #18. I thought we should be picking at least one tall forward. But I think BP, TH and DB are building an elite midfield that could well rival the great flag winning midfields of Geelong, WC and Brisbane. If we look at the history of the Geelong mids, we see that people like Corey, Milburn, Enright and Chapman all had midfield aspirations but now play most of their games just forward or back. They can all play there when called on but have the size and strength to play at half back and half forward as well. When you look at our current bunch, we also have a large number of goal scoring midfielders that can push forward. Sylvia, Trengove, Morton, Blease, Davey, Tapscott, Scully and Moloney are all proven goal kickers, albeit not all at senior level as yet. BP is also building a physically powerful group. Think of how physically intimidating Geelong and Brisbane's midfields are and were. They would brush oppositions aside. Moloney, Dunn, Sylvia and Jones are already very strong and Tapscott, Trengove, Scully and Grimes all have potential to be so. Gysberts is tall and it will be interesting to see whether he bulks up well. He does seem to enjoy being amongst the traffic. Tapscott at just 18, looks like he will be a monster. There is also good marking power, great kicking, footy smarts, and pace to burn now with the new recruits. This group is going to be quite a formidable midfield force in the next few years. Maybe, one to build a flag dynasty on. Here's hoping. PS. I haven't even included Jnr, Green or Bruce as they probably won't be there when it happens

The footy off season is a bit like the northern winter. A seemingly endless bleak period that we have to endure. In my desperation to get through the hiatus period i have reviewed the games I have recorded. The wins against WC, Richmond and Port were fun to watch and Jurrah's debut game against Essendon. The game that has me most enthused is the final round against St Kilda. Apart from Jurrah's magic, Moloney's hardness and leadership and Sylvia's arrival as a fair dinkum footballer, it was the battlers that really gave me heart and pointed to a new game style and confidence at the Dees. There was a confidence to play on, a quickness of handball in traffic and some great disposal. Players whom I had not rated highly impressed me that day. Jordie McKenzie is a real goer and seems to kick well, Dunn played with the positive flair that marked some of his early games, and even the much maligned Bartram made really good decisions. Jetta showed that he has real mongrel, and while his skills me not be silky, he could prove very handy. I'm talking about the players that many posters here would have delisted. The attitude of these guys was fantastic. If this is the prevailing attitude of our battlers then there is something really good happening at the Dees. In the words of Molly Meldrum, "do yourself a favour", and have a look at these game.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story...5012432,00.html This is an interesting debate in the Australian stimulated by the article by Patrick Smith. I think that the most difficult part of the trek, by far , would be spending the time so close to Jeff Kennett.

He's in the Age today. Looks like North might be interested. I hope we get him, but now I think it should probably be as a rookie or later pick.

I love Aaron Da ey. I'm so pleased

Adding Fev to a primary school team would bring the maturity level of that team down. He would be absolutely no value to us in that respect.

BTW, Pickers was talking about him on SEN this morning and said that he'd be surprised if Daw wasn't picked up as a rookie but could now see him going in the National draft as a lower pick. I just think he has too much potential to pass up. He seems to have a real determination to succeed and we can already see that has physical strength that will only increase with maturity. He also seems to be generating more interest out there as the draft approaches. I'd hate to miss out on him.