btdemon

I've heard so many "facts" at this time of year. It makes you wonder what a fact is. I'll believe it if it happens.

I was at that Geelong game in '94. I remember seeing the young Jeffrey Farmer and saying to a fellow Demon supporter that the Wizard was, "too small, too light, out of his league and will never make it at AFL level." - Lucky I'm not the MFC recruitment officer!!!! .....anyway.... I've gone completely cold on Butcher and hope to God that we don't waste a pick and the development resources on him.

Just watched the story on 7:30 report. Just made me more excited. OMG! Please make him stay in Melbourne and be happy!

BTW, why would people begin comparing him with past players? He is his own particular package of talent. Just enjoy what he is. Which is so exciting!

That was actually his third "hand of god" mark this year. One against Geelong and one against Sydney in Manuka as well as that one on Sunday. The one in Canberra was really amazing. He seemed to just use his fingertips. He is a supremely talented footballer. I am concerned that they don't attempt to bulk him up too much. He is strong enough to do what he does. I don't want him to lose his uncanny ability to 'float'.

You must have been living in a different state.

Yeah, but they've still got Jeff Kennett. The head of the "Beyond Blue" organisation was singularly responsible for more depression than anyone in our state's history. His antics last Saturday say so much about his fundamental character.

What do you mean by 'anywhere but Victoria' ?

I thought that gone through a worm hole or something. I was looking for Doc Brown and his flux capacitor. It was freaking me out!

The Warlpiri wizard is DEEEEEEE-LECTABLE!!!!

The reason Davey has less 'menace' about him is that he is playing mostly in the middle and behind the centre. He is also attracting the number one tagger from every opposition side. Davey is also assuming a much more disciplined role in the team. He is playing that 'quarter-back' (please forgive this horrible Americanism) role and sees himself as a leader. I really admire this but miss the free-spirited opportunist forward that excited us so much. He may have lost some of his pace as he has built up his endurance. This can happen. He is still capable of sublime brilliance and still our most gifted and creative player besides Jurrah. I'd even put him ahead of Grimes and Morton at this stage. They may surpass him one day, but he has been the one quality player we have had in the past two dark years. Watts, Blease etc. may be great but that remains to be seen. I still love Davey and what he brings to the team. What is sad, is by the time we are a premiership threat, Davey will be 28-30 and may miss out on being part of it.

Rudeboy, I hear that you are Collingwood supporter. Well this would be unprecedented, but I think we should make you an honorary Demon.

This is predicated on finishing last with no more than 4 winns. This is looking less likely.

Mooney is not a great player but is good enough to take the key defender and create trouble. He's a cut above miller but not by a great deal.

We need to draft a project one and maybe keep Miller around in the interim.

Despite being very excited about our new talent, I still think we will need a power forward to be a fair dinkum finals challenger. Jurrah is awesome and I'm confident that watts will be also. Neither will be the pack splitting, pack marking, spill creating player that is needed in a tight finals game. We have some potentially very good small opportunist forwards in Aussie, Maric (I'm not convinced about him yet), Petterd, Davey and Jetta (this guy may lack the polish of Aussie and Maric, but he is a red hot goer). Add Jurrah, Watts, Bate and Sylvia and you have some great medium size goal kicking ability. Watts may well be a KPP one day but I think his value will be as an agile, high marking, clever forward. Morton could also play this role as he is a great mark. Imagine this group with a talented gorilla-like J. Brown, Tredrea or Koschitzke type creating spillages and taking the top defenders attention away from them. Jurrah and Watts could be a real handfull in the way that Steve Johnson, Michael O'Loughlin, Motlop etc. are. I just don't think they are the answer as the key focus of the forward line. Robbo and Yze used to play this role with Neita as the focus. After watching Martin over the last year I'm concerned that he doesn't have the kicking ability to be that player. However, I do think he is smart and athletic, and will make an really good CHB. ATM he is not getting a chance to settle into any position. Miller is what he is, which is a great, tough, team man who has had to make the most of his limited talents. He may still have value, but is not the future. Garland has great potential as a forward, but again falls more into the mid sized clever department. I also see a great defence built on Garland, Martin, Frawley, Rivers, Bennell, Grimes (and Strauss? Who knows). One that can work together like Geelong's. The midfield needs Scully, or at least somebody who can burst away and kick long. Blease should be great as an outsider. Buckley might add some pace back but I'm not convinced by him at all. We need another project Ruckman. Jamar has surprised me this year and Meesen and Spencer have some potential, but we need some coming through for the future. How we recruit this year is critical! Whether we get priority picks or not, we are well stocked with potential but must boost those stocks this year to survive the famine that will occur over the next four to five years with GC and West Sydney coming online. Teams like Adelaide and Essendon have demonstrated that it is possible even without the really high draft picks.

Forget 'Cougar'. Forget 'Warlpiri Wizard'. GO JUKURTAYI!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let's all call out his real name!

For those not old enough to remember Royce Hart, he was a brilliant mobile CHF who could take contested marks, float across packs from nowhere, and turn on a sixpence. Also a great finisher. This is the type of player forsee when I watch Jack Watts.

Watching Rivers in the last few weeks has made me think that he is pretty much back to top form. While a couple of his disposals were a bit wayard, he is running back into packs, taking marks, arriving at the nick of time to spoil, organising the backline, and he has sure taken some angry pills. I think he might be getting grumpier in his more mature years. If there is any niggle to be had, you can bet he will be there. As far as his errant kicking is concerned, this has always been there in his game and doesn't concern me too much because he does so many good things. The added bonus is that he has played so many games in a row without injury (fingers crossed). Go you angry young man!

Its interesting because a couple of years ago he was pretty hopeless from beyond 40m. This may have been a hangover from OP which apparently effects kicking power.

Did anyone else think the blocking tactics against NikNat were illegal? I wasn't complaining but I thought the ruckman couldn't be blocked by another player. We employed this tactic very effectively but i was surprised that we got away with it. the good thing was that every time NN went for the ball in general play, he was gang tackled.

We were just never good enough. In 2000 it was a huge mismatch. In '87 and '88 we got on a roll and stormed into the finals but we were never in the same league as Hawthorn or carlton. '88 was a horrible day, a bit like 2000. what I did like in the late eighties and early nineties was the hard scrapping style of the Northey teams. Not very pretty, a bit like the Swans in recent years, but we would usually win the tight ones. He got the most out of a fairly pedestrian bunch of players. Then under Balm it was the opposite. His attacking handball game left us super vulnerable to turnovers and I never had any confidence that we would win a tight game (we usually didn't). Those more talented teams of the early to mid nineties were a bit flaky in my opinion. Very talented but prone to injury. In summary, we just were never good enough. I want Bailey's new crop to be talented, gutsy and (like Jimmy says), I want them to be hated!!!

Tez, your writing style seems to be heavily influenced by Gabriel Garcia Marquez..........hmmm.....interesting.

It is interesting to notice the ineffectiveness of our inside midfielders since Jnr has been missing. He must do more in terms of leadership than we realise. Moloney, McLean and jones weren't going that badly a few weeks ago.

OK, you're right, I'm Pollyanna.