rumpole

The same newspaper keeps referring to one of the draft chances as Trent Kotchin .

Debatable but only if you consider that Collingwood's 2 premierships in the 1950's were worth > Melbourne's 4 premierships in the 1950's which I doubt very much. I would take four flags ahead of two any day but your comment on this point says a lot about the standard of your debating which is becoming as insufferable as some of your fellow supporters at games. Could one of the moderators please put an end to this stupidity?

Rumour has it that the mfc has apparently told a host family to prepare for a kid from Perth.

How do you compare two players who play in different competitions? Masten has been playing senior football this year against men but Cotchin has played half a dozen TAC Cup games and most of the season with his school. The only times they played at the same level was in the U18s where Masten was AA and Cotchin disappointed. A player can be as brilliant as you like when playing with boys but if he can't adapt to playing with men that all means jack squat. Stevo's assessment is probably based in part on the fact that he knows Masten can cut it with the big boys.

Interesting because the judge will take 2 - 3 months sifting through the evidence before making up his mind and then passing on his report to the AFL for action. This conveniently avoids imposing any sanctions before this year's drafts and while that is fair enough, where does it leave those players and parents who have concerns about being drafted by a club that might be the most suitable of workplace environments for a young 17/18 year old.

And apparently he's with a big girl - Ben Cousins mystery blonde "A neighbour, who said that Ms Ela worked in the computer industry, said: "There are always men coming and going from her place." Is that computer dating by any chance?

Yeah, poor guy - "and was picked up at the airport by two mystery blonde women in a Mercedes-Benz sports car."

It's not as if all rejects turn out to be bad. Look at a few who couldn't make the gradeat one of the AFL's least successful clubs Fremantle. There's Peter Bell, James Clement, Brodie Holland, Nathan Carroll...even Trent Croad. Sooner or later we'll find one out there somewhere.

OH, AND A QUESTION ON NOTICE ABOUT DICKY BARRIE CASSIDY: Just one final question. Dick Pratt, guilty of price fixing on a massive scale. Is he a fit and proper person to remain President of the Carlton Football Club. PETER COSTELLO: Look, that's a matter for the Carlton Football Club. BARRIE CASSIDY: Hang on, why is it? When you say that it's a matter for ... the government has an interest in what players, whether they ought to be suspended for smoking marijuana, but for a president it's a matter are for the club? PETER COSTELLO: Well, the club elects its president, they can elect who they like. BARRIE CASSIDY: Clubs choose their players. PETER COSTELLO: But if you want my view on this episode, fixing prices is against the law. Nobody should do it. Our ACCC (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission) has successfully investigated it. It's been the most successful investigation of a cartel ever. It's a serious contravention of the Act. It will go to the court. The ACCC has recommended an extremely large fine, which could well be the largest fine in Australian history and the court ought to decide what the fine should be.

Apparently the Wizard was his mentor this year. Does that help?

So the wrath of the football world is being felt by the West Coast Eagles over their handling of Ben Cousins and rightly so - the Eagles have failed to curb their rock star and the chickens are coming home to roost. But if the Eagles have been a party to bad behaviour by allowing Benny to put the game into disrepute, what about the Blues who have a history of leaders involved with rorting the system? Drug taking by individual players is certainly bad news for football but doesn't it also bring the game into disrepute if a club's leader is involved in large scale rorting of the system in the business world? This is especially so since good corporate governance is so vital to the orderly conduct of our football competition. Should the AFL look at taking away Carlton's draft picks?

Carlton have flagged the possibility of not even taking part in the PSD - Carlton considers bypassing pre-season draft. The article states that they would do so "if a suitable seasoned player is not available at pick two" but my guess is that salary cap onsiderations might play a part given the squillions Judd is costing. This part is of interest as well - "Melbourne, which has the third choice in the draft, also is considering Tenace, whom Geelong wishes to keep."

A very slick and enjoyable read. You might however, consider tuning into 3AW to listen to the football once in a while. Rex Hunt and company are far more interesting people to listen to while driving around on a Saturday afternoon. Yibbida, yibbida. That is all, folks!

Doubt whether CAC1963 would allow the club to get screwed over like that.

How does it feel to have your leg pulled?

Whispers isn't our own Whispering Jack is he?

If Dean Bailey is going to be the new broom, he should start sweeping clean. A new leadership group headed by McLean, Rivers and Carroll who are all currently cultivating a new tough image for the Demons over there in Europe.

Power by 1 point - a premiership victory achieved thanks to the great input of one Dean Bailey. Norm Smith: someone called Burgoyne or Cornes.

Spot on. I can't believe the club has offered him two years with that wonky knee of his. If another club or clubs have expressed interest then all I can say is give him a rest this weekend because if he does his knee a la Neita, his trade value would be south of zero.

2007 Jim "Frosty" Miller Medallist - Nick Sautner Season 2007 was another record shattering year for Sandringham full-forward Nick Sautner. A five-time Premiership player with Sandringham and a three-time Victorian representative, Nick booted 59 goals from 17 home and away season matches. He kicked seven goals on three occasions and had a season average of three goals a game. Through his feats, Nick climbed to tenth on the all-time VFL goal kicking list with 675 goals, surpassing greats Ron Todd and Jamie Shaw. Season highlights for Nick included his nine goal haul for Victoria in its 119-point thumping of Western Australia and his 200th VFL match. At 30 years of age, Nick has created history in the VFL by becoming the first player to win seven Jim “Frosty” Miller Medals. At the end of the 2007 home and away season Nick’s career statistics stand at 210 games and 675 goals at an average of 3.2 goals per game.

That's one of the problems we have at Melbourne. As much as the boys might "love" him, it's necessary for us to act rationally and to retain players for better reasons than that one.

I agree that the club has to nip Sylvia's tendency to be out and about at night spots till all hours of the night and I agree with your solution Chelly!

Interesting to read that the mfc sounded out Dean Laidley earlier this year about the coaching job and that he's not interested in talking now or after the season (when it's going to be too late). Seems he wants to caoch only the Roos and good luck to him. However, on looking at how he's been going this year, it's amazing how much his team's season has tracked that of the mfc in 2006. We lost the first three games last year and so did the Kangaroos this year. We then won 12 out of the next 14 to make the top 4 after Round 17 (one of the losses to WCE at Subi) in 2006 and so did the Kangaroos this year. Both sides lost in Round 18 of the respective seasons. We went on to win only one more h/a game and one final and then collapsed in a heap. Hope that doesn't happen to Laidley but it shows what a fickle game AFL is.

By golly I hope you're not the real Bluey Adams because I was a fan of his when I was a kid and I had a lot of time and respect for him when he retired from the game and took up a role as a commentator in the media.

Agreed. Play the youngsters at Melbourne and let the older players help out Sandringham.