But lets wait a second.................

if Mr Pratt was happy with 4 wins.....or lets say....
"wanted" 4 wins..........?

there's not a hope in HADEES that he would ADMIT
it........i believe we take the 10-11 wins comment
with a grain of salt............!

we could get the salt from that "thank you tonne" the
AFL sent us for our wounds last year......you know.....when they
changed the PP rules again...............!


kindest regards tommi

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that'siti'mnotchangingthistagain......!

Things are all on track boys.

We wont beat the Crows next week, or the Doggies after that or Port the following week. We will be 2-9 after round 11...the future is bright.

_________________
Walk on, Walk on,
With hope, in your heart,
And you'll never walk alone,
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!

08/02/1981 - GATE 7...Our brothers will never be forgotten!!!

A realistic look at our next 11 games...

Adel (h) - L (2 and 7)
WB (h) - L (2 and 8 )
Port (h) - L (2 and 9)
Haw (h) - L (2 and 10)
Freo (a) - L (2 and 11)
Melb (h) - W (3 and 11...although Melb may have sorted itself out by then)
Syd (a) - L (3 and 12)
Bris (a) - L (3 and 13)
St K (h) - L (3 and 14)
Coll (h) - L (3 and 15)
Port (a) - L (3 and 16)

That leaves us 3 wins and 16 losses (without even needing to think about 'tanking'), and presumably with a new coach, or at least sans the current one.

Last 3 games...

Ess (a)
North (h)
Melb (h)

All winnable. Win 2 or more, no PP. Gets interesting at round 20.

I still subscribe to the view that a discussion of 'tanking' at this point of the sason (round 8 ) is mute, as no team will. Supporters feeling like it's better not to win is a separate discussion, and a worthwhile one.

Come the last 3 rounds, however, and suddenly there becomes value, not in throwing games on field (no team will), but in slecting line ups that might make losing more likely.

Personally I hope we're 6 and 13 come round 20 (with a new coach, or a new coach brewing), but I can't see it. I would prefer to win 7 or more games, but if it's a choice of 4, 5 or 6, I'll take 4 and the PP.

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Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

Our club and fans have become the new St.Kilda

Lets accept mediocrity and hope everything falls into place with first round selections, while we recruit ball winning midfielder and let the rot in the back pocket or the bullants

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SMFC 1959 : ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE CLUB

Thrylos, I can understand why supporters want the PP (I'm one of them) but there is a bit more to it than you might think.

We have been a poor side for so long (because of reasons self-inflicted and/or otherwise) but you cannot honestly say that we have the right percentage of quality young players to reflect that. There is no use trying to climb higher unprepared when the likelihood that you are going to fall back down again is overwhelming. It is like trying to swim against the tide when you can only dogpaddle.

Most Carlton supporters think that our record with the draft is a fait accompli. It is tiresomely unconstructive but it is so much the general consensus that I am surprised that the 'tankers' get as much flak as they do.

I cannot understand the indifference towards the draft when the whole idea is to get a group of players who do the footy thing better than the opposition. There is only so-much you can coach and train into players and what if the other side(s) do that part well too?

If the odds of finding players that will make the required difference are as big as they are supposed to be, isn't it better to substantially reduce them?

I have just been finding more holes in the Carlton side than I thought we had and they go deeper than depending on the midfield and ruck 'messiahs' that we would get with picks 5 and 23.

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Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

I haven't read the whole thread but if we get picks one and three and end up with:
3 x #1 picks
1 x priority pick (Walker)
1 X #3 pick
1 X #4 pick
1 X #9 pick (Russell)
....in the list, plus Simpson, Fev, Carazzo, Stevens, The Irish couple and pick one of Hartlett, Edwards, Bower, Waite or Fisher...
and they all fire up and turn into gun players, we will have to get rid of half of themin a few years to stay under the salary cap.
Brisbane only kept their trio of Brownlow winners together because of their salary cap concessions.
West Coast will find that they have problems at the end of the year or the year after that with having to match Judd being offered enormous sums to come back to Vic. Plus Kerr is an ace and if he can keep out of gaol will command a hefty fee. Plus a couple of youngsters they have coming on will jump up a lot.
It is a two edged sword, the draft combined with the salary cap and we will have to comply this time.
I think we should go flat out and develop a winning culture with what we have got over the next two or three years plus try and pick up a seasoned 25yo midfielder to go with the youth and a nice #5 or #6 in the draft.

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Let slip the Blues of war (with apologies to William Shakespeare) (and Sir Francis Bacon, just in case)

What type of logic is that? I would much prefer to have the luxury of a list that is good enough to cause salary cap headaches than have one that is most likely not up to it . What is this great cosmically significant 'winning culture' thing anyway? Would people be happy if it fluctuated between five and ten for the next 15-20 years?

_________________
Just because I'm offended, doesn't mean I'm wrong.

I guess an extra first round draft pick will prevent this from happening eh? Maybe we should tank next year also so we get another top flight draft pick?

Or perhaps we should just focus on quality recruiting - leaving no stone unturned to find the best young talent in the country regardless of what draft picks we have?? Oh, sorry, that's called hard work to develop a list as opposed to tanking - it's ok pafloyul - we will just follow Stkildas lead and tank - it's worked for them right?

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Between our dreams and actions lies this world

I think this is the take a bottle of sleeping pills, drink 2 bottles of whisky and throw yourself off a cliff at 27 years of age because you are going to die anyway at 80 kind of logic.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

just a quick thought.... how many number 1 draft picks played in the west coast, sydney, port adelaide, brisbane, Essendon* and kangaroos premiership sides???? in fact apart from drew banfield and des headland have there been any other number 1 draft picks play in a premiership? those 2 #1's hardly played a significant role in either side winning the premiership anyway.

whilst pick one would be more than handy, it is not the be all and end all. it all comes down to good coaching, smart recruiting, and an ounce of luck. if pick 1 comes to us, i'll be more than happy to accept it (mostly cos it would be piss funny to rub richmond's nose in it) but i'm not going to get hung up on it.

Having Picks 1 and 3 THIS year becomes a very handy trading commodity given a certain West Coast player is coming out of contract.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Do you reckon if we could get our hands on Judd, he could talk his current coach into following him over the Nullarbor to Princes Park??

_________________
Mens sana in corpore sano.

Bring back the laurel wreath logo!!!

Well we did once before, and besides we do have a President with deep pockets and long arms and he doesn't actually take no for an answer.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

AGRO wrote:

The_Cranium wrote:

whilst pick one would be more than handy, it is not the be all and end all. it all comes down to good coaching, smart recruiting, and an ounce of luck. if pick 1 comes to us, i'll be more than happy to accept it (mostly cos it would be piss funny to rub richmond's nose in it) but i'm not going to get hung up on it.

Having Picks 1 and 3 THIS year becomes a very handy trading commodity given a certain West Coast player is coming out of contract.

Judd is no chance to leave, Cousins may have to though because I cant see Worsfold wanting him back.

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Blue blood is running through these veins!!! Go Blueys!!!

Spot on

_________________
SMFC 1959 : ONE LIFE, ONE LOVE, ONE CLUB

ultimetly two picks inside the top three would be great.

If we finish with 1 pick inside the top three it will still be valuable, and so will the subsequent picks with our resources now doubled inthe recruiting deoartment thanks to big dick..

the last two year are the years we needed to really bottom out and we did just that and recruited to the best of our ability.

We are in a good position folks for the first time in quite a while........

_________________
Circumstance has no value. It is how one relates to a situation that has value. All true meaning resides in the personal relationship to a phenomenon, what it means to you.

West Coast will offload Cousins and have the money to keep who they want....

_________________
"When you have the attitude of a champion, you see adversity as your
training partner."
- Conor Gillen

Your're out your're free you're REHABILITATED whats happening, what you doin, you got the money you owe us mother flower.

_________________
"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill

Yeah I can answer that one for you... or part of it for now. It's factual proof that you don't need 10 first round draft picks to win a premiership. But a lot of pro tankers don't like facts. They would prefer to be spoon fed and not do it with hard work.

West Coast 2006:
David Wirrpunda 1
Drew Banfield 1
Chris Judd 3
Beau Waters 11
Darren Glass 11
Daniel Kerr 18
Quinten Lynch 19
Sam Butler 20
Mark Seaby 22
Daniel Chick 25
Steven Armstrong 25
Rowan Jones 28
Adan Hunter 29
Tyson Stenglein 29
Ashley Hansen 38
Adam Selwood 53
Michael Braun 53
Andrew Embley 57
Ben Cousins ??
Brett Jones Rookie
Chad Fletcher Rookie
Dean Cox Rookie

Sydney 2006 (pretty darn close to a premiership and most played in 2005)
Nic Fosdike 3
Jarrad McVeigh 5
Jude Bolton 8
Barry Hall 19
Nick Davis 19
Luke Ablett 24
Ted Richards 27
Lewis Roberts-T 29
Craig Bolton 33
Michael O'Loughlin 40
Adam Goodes 43
Amon Buchanan 52
Ryan O'Keefe 56
Adam Schneider 60
Nick Malceski 64
Sean Dempster 34
Stephen Doyle 26
Ben Mathews ??
Darren Jolly ??
Leo Barry ??
Brett Kirk Rookie
Tadhg Kennelly Rookie

Just like the international world of financial management where the tag line is past performance is no guarantee of future earnings.

It shoots down your argument and it shoots down mine.

Now get back to work and start managing your clients portfolio.

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"Hence you will not say that Greeks fight like heroes but that heroes fight like Greeks"?

Winston Churchill