Spirit of the Demon

Huh ... Bail and Nicholson were each only 20 years of age when we drafted them. Bail was a late pick and Nicho's still a rookie. Joel Mac we got in the PSD. These are poor examples of going for "more mature players" when we could have chased players in their mid 20s with some class about them by good trading. Shaun Burgoyne is one who comes to mind. So do a few of the players the Swans picked up recently.

Amen to all of that.

Thanks for the reports guys. Just wondering how Kelvin Lawrence is going?

There's another excellent article in today's Sunday Age by Emma Quayle on the top draft prospects of 2011. Well written and very informative.

With training starting next week it would be handy if they appointed a coach.

No show or not ready to go?

Could somebody please explain how Gold Coast came about the selection it ultimately used as part of the deal to get O'Meara? I understood that Geelong received two compensatory picks for Ablett and that it activated one of them in last year's national draft i.e. pick 15 which was used to select Billie Smedts. How is it then that your list shows Geelong having its one remaining pick and GWS now holding what was supposed to have been the other Ablett compensation pick through the O'Meara deal. Given that Geelong activated that compensatory pick almost 12 months ago for pick #15 in the 2010 draft, I'm mystified how what appears to be the same pick was used by Gold Coast to get O'Meara. How did this come about and is it another case of the AFL making things up on the run to help out the new franchises at the expense of the existing clubs?

Has turned out to be a great find with a lot more strings to his bow than first thought when recruited. I will be interested to see just where he fits in with players like Clark, Watts, Jurrah and Green about the forward line.

Hall is one of a number of TSL players being head hunted by VFL club Werribee which has recently appointed former Demon midfield coach as their head coach for 2012 - Werribee hunts TSL top players. "... Hall was the TSL Tigers leading goal-scorer with 34 and finished second in their best and fairest count." Locals consider Hall would make a rookie selection in the AFL at best.

Actually, the action Geelong took was designed to change the compensation rules to their advantage in the event of Ablett leaving. They were successful in that but it didn't help them keep the player at the club,

You're welcome.

21.10.2 Eligible Clubs May Nominate Rookies (a) If an eligible Club has listed one veteran Player on the Club's Veteran List, the Club may nominate one Player from its Rookie List as being available for selection by the Club for Home and Away and Finals Series Matches. ( If an eligible Club has not listed a veteran Player on the Club's Veteran List, the Club may nominate up to two players from its Rookie List as being available for selection for the Club for Home and Away and Finals Series Matches. © The right of an eligible Club to nominate a Rookie Player under this Rule is subject to the club demonstrating to the satisfaction of the Investigations Manager that it can accommodate within its Total Player Payments the percentage of Football Payments which must be paid to the Rookie Player as prescribed in Rule 21.10.3.

This thread simply highlights the absolute stupidity of the discussion about Hansen. The bloke was advised to retire and has a history of missing games through injury. We know PJ is not up to scratch either in ruck or forward. Look elsewhere, I say.

Agreed, but it doesn't mean we should be surprised about anything clubs, players and their managers might do from time to time.

I'm surprised that so many around here are concerned with loyalty or even common decency in professional sport. Of course it exists because there are lots of decent people involved in the game but where there are business decisions to be made we are going to have to learn to accept that both clubs and players will ultimately be loyal to themselves and look after their own interests. Back in 1964, Ron Barassi made a decision in favour of his own interests in choosing to advance his professional career and although he didn't show loyalty to his old club, he was perfectly entitled to make that decision. I believe it was announced on Christmas Eve, hardly enough time to allow Melbourne to locate a replacement for their captain and marquee player, was it? How indecent was that? Still, most people have forgiven him by now as they will also forgive Cam Bruce for the way he left the club for less money but at least with the guarantee of a game for two years. Who showed the loyalty/decency there when Melbourne was prevented from having the opportunity to trade for him? I'm not advocating that clubs and players shouldn't act morally and ethically. What I'm saying is that in reality they sometimes don't (whether we like it or not)!

The only thing I don't understand is why Scott Gullan didn't mention in the article the possibility of plucking Ben Holland out of retirement to fill the role of protecting our young forwards. Come to think of it, The Ox himself could make a comeback if those knees aren't too shot.

I'd be interested to know where the club sees these players fitting in at the club. Howe looks like a full forward who could be every bit as exciting in a couple of years time as Jack Riewoldt was this year at the Tigers. If you eventually play Cook at CHF, where does Jack Watts fit in? Liam Jurrah? It's going to be very, very interesting.

I'm not so sure that Walker is going to be a priority in view of the type of player we drafted already at the national draft. Do you go for needs or best available at # 14 in the rookie draft?

The fact is we don't really know whether he was treated with dignity or common decency because we have no idea what the club said to him in the months leading up to his delisting. What we do know is that had he been a realist, he would have known to expect what was coming. It wasn't hard to figure it out. Clubs and players look after themselves first these days.

Surely, he must have known that this was coming given the fact that he hasn't been a regular for four years, that he's constantly had injury problems and that he's not much good any more. The Eagles want to draft a player with pick two in the PSD. What did he expect? Loyalty?

Sheedy's the coach. Say no more.

I'm sure I heard the name Johnson called out but it wasn't one of them.

If James Cook is only 36 years old, why hasn't he been playing at the club on a one year contract?

According to a profile in the Age Lynch came stone motherless last in the 20m sprint but has good endurance. Strangely enough, some so-called experts are still comparing him with Jack Watts who excelled in the sprints.

Until now I hadn't given much credence to the view that Bruce was spooked by the club's decision to "retire" James McDonald because I felt it was more motivated by his dissatisfaction with the deal on the table. However, after reading today's article in the Australian - Cameron Bruce blows one-club deal, I'm not so sure. The article suggests that money was not the motivation behind Bruce's decision and that he might end up getting less elsewhere. I'm getting the vibe that he might have felt very insecure about his position in the team and his inability to hold a place in a young, emerging team. While this is an obvious compliment to the quality of the list that was being gathered around him, it also reflects a lack of self-confidence in himself. To my mind, it certainly reflects poorly on his ability to be a leader at the club, a position for which he might once have had aspirations. Only Bruce can tell us the real situation but I feel he has made an emotional decision which he might one day regret. Being a one club player should be high on one's agenda. After all, this is a team game.