It's interesting how some folk are keen to include in our best 22 blokes who couldn't crack it for a game in other sides.
If they're good enough, the additions to our list will force themselves in to the 22 but I suspect that most will be depth players at best and list cloggers at worst.
On the basis that the new blokes have to earn their place rather than being rewarded for wanting to join us, my team for Round 1 is:
I have taken a chance with Jones because of his form in the VFL and his pre-season endeavour.
I reckon Carrazzo will line up for Round 1, and the team will perform better if he does play. That would push Graham or Cripps out of the 22 but, if they're good enough, they'll force their way into the side.
International Rules is a contrived game that doesn't do justice to either of the indigenous codes. Give it the flick pass and focus on getting the domestic game right - and that includes banning drug cheats!
I'm afraid Watson would be lucky to be still on the list in 2016. People are reading way too much into the rd 23 game. He is a slow dumb footballer who is too small to play KPF. His one attribute is his kicking. I'd love the kid to prove me wrong.
Too small to play KPF? He is 195cm and 100kg and Jones is 197cm and 97kg.
Watson is 18 months younger than Jones but their stats are remarkably similar. We're pinning our hopes on a new bloke who hasn't shown much apart from a bag in the VFL grand final while writing off another bloke who hasn't had the same opportunities.
I'm not confident that either of them will be the answer, but I'm hoping like hell that one or both of them will bag 40-50 goals next season.
Pretty sure it will depend on how pre-season goes as to who gets the starting spot. Both training and games. That is the fairest way to do it.
Yes, no-one should be guaranteed a spot and the best performing players in the pre-season should be selected. If that is Watson, Jones or someone else, so be it.
I reckon Watson is a better option as a forward; he just doesn't seem to have the anticipation and reflexes to shut down an opponent. As a forward, he has more say in where the ball will be headed. That's not to say that he won't develop as a defender by playing as a forward.
Based on his form at the end of the season, he and Jones would have to be neck and neck as far as selection goes. Watson probably has a slight edge because he can play as a defender if necessary, and Malthouse prefers versatile players. It will be interesting to watch both of them in the pre-season as at least one career may be hanging on cementing a spot in the 22.
I think that it's good that we have two players competing for a spot, not that I'm convinced that either of them will be entirely successful. Hopefully my doubts will be disproved and at least one of them will go on to have a long and productive career with us.
If Watson can't cement a spot in the 22, his career with us will be over and he may not attract much attention from other clubs. Perhaps a club with a greater focus on development will give him a chance but I can't see a huge trade dividend for us.
Of course, if Watson does become a regular forward, what will that mean for Jones? I don't think he will displace Casboult as he isn't a competent back up ruckman.
The main problem Gough faced was that he had far too many incompetent and dodgy characters on his front bench. With that hindrance, he still managed to bring in sweeping reforms that we're still benefiting from today or we will at least until the Suppository of All Wisdom takes them away.
Gough was a great Australian and will be sadly missed. RIP
By the way, Malcolm Turnbull certainly went up in my estimation today. He is a statesman.
Good to see our Irish blokes have got their priorities right . . . or they can see that it is a farcical competition.
I thought that only AA players could represent the AFL and that would rule out Judd, Thomas and Murphy. If they are eligible, I hope they follow Tuohy, Byrne and Sheehan's example and focus on getting right for 2015.
Hopefully we see him getting 2 or 3 a game rather than 4 or 5, and the rest get a couple a game as well. Id rather have 5 forwards kick 40+ goals a year than one coleman medalist anyway.
How about a Coleman medalist and four >40 goal forwards?
Henderson does a lot of work up the ground and I can't see how he could consistently kick 4-5 goals per game with that role (he's not really in the Buddy or Roughy class). No-one on our list stands out as a potential Coleman medalist and I don't think any of the touted trades or draft picks will either. Our best chance of improving our position on the ladder is to have a good spread of goal kickers, say 3 or 4 forwards with 150 goals between them and 3 or 4 midfielders/rucks/defenders contributing another 60-80 goals.
I wonder whether his athletic prowess will continue to be so superior when he's in his 20s. It could be that his physical maturity is well ahead of where it should be.
I hope he is a genuine superstar in the making; it would be nice to have someone that is competitive in the sprints.
Not according the Sheik Abdul Azim who says that ISIS/ISIL is the enemy of Islam. 99% of the people they kill are Muslims.
That maybe the case DJC but they are still using parts of the Koran as a basis for the killing to meet their ends.
No they're not LR. They rely on an interpretation or corruption of the Koran rather than what is written. A bit like the right to lifers who use the Bible to justify killing folk at fertility centres.
I don't know how you can misinterpret the koran.
It is very succinct and to the point.
What ISIS and many other Islamist extremists do is take the Koran as the literal word of God as written by Mohammed in the 7th century. And if that is what you are doing then it is very hard to misinterpret because it is all there in front of you.
Not correct LR. In the same way that Christian sects place their own interpretation on what appears in the Christian Bible, Muslim sects and interpret what's written in the Koran; and that's the mainstream sects rather than the fundamentalists. No document written more than 1000 years ago can accommodate 21st century technology, mobility, communications, etc and the priests, imans and whatever determine how their followers should behave.
Islam is actually a religion based on tolerance and the Middle East used to be notable for the diversity of religions practiced there. That has changed dramatically in the last decade or so.
Not according the Sheik Abdul Azim who says that ISIS/ISIL is the enemy of Islam. 99% of the people they kill are Muslims.
That maybe the case DJC but they are still using parts of the Koran as a basis for the killing to meet their ends.
No they're not LR. They rely on an interpretation or corruption of the Koran rather than what is written. A bit like the right to lifers who use the Bible to justify killing folk at fertility centres.
