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"You are being watched. The government has a secret system. A machine that spies on you every hour of every day. I know because I built it." - Finch

Hey FS............

i thought the main forum had gone a little.........
"whaka-chuka bauuum chuka-whaka bauuuum"...........!


kindest regards tommi

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

I think French is underated and having started his career late will just get better and better.
I also believe that starting late keps him a young 30 y.o and with his athleticism and great fitness , if he stays injury free he has at least another 3 or 4 years in him.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Wasn't there an article exactly like this last pre-season?

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Formerly: Ackland the Wonderkid / Army the Wonderkid / quivering mess / molsey / Tony Lynn Fan Club

I think French will get his break from Aisake or maybe Batson or Setanta...

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I was wrong about French, I thought he was the worst ruckman I've ever seen back in 2003. His hard work paid off because now he would be in the top 6 ruckmen in the comp.

Yeah i agree.. hes a champ really!!!
He would be the ideal ruckman for a club like StKilda....
Hed carry them there.. he runs and runs like ruckrover.. not perfect but he just does a job..

And you know youre good when you can shine for a club thats last...

I think he will be around for a while yet... unless he gets injuries.

I have this sneaking suspicion you have to look out for Aisake in three years...

Hes starting to remind me of a mobile Madden with his left palm.. and he is pretty smart too....

Needs to bulk right up!!..

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

Synbad, surely French is going to be relieved by McLaren this season? We wouldn't have recruited him otherwise

John, i really dont have faith in cLaren at 195 cms.. and looking closely at him live hed be stretched to be that.

I know he was ok at Brissy but theyre a different side....
He didnt star for them though.. and now he comes to the bottom team and it all gets harder.

I do wish him all the best.....

Im just not convinced.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

He does become our number 2 ruckman though. Deluca and Bryan aren't much chop in the ruck.

Synbad, I know what you mean about short ruckmen, particularly given the new rucking rules. He's hardly our future, that's for sure.

But I'd be really surprised if he doesn't get first crack at relief ruck this season anyway. I can hardly see Pagan chasing him, then leaving him in the bullants all year.

Yeah McKernan was a gangly 197cm.


However I think whilst we wait for Deluca (202cm), Aisake o'hAilpin(203cm), Batson (203cm) to gain from a years tutelage under Gary Dempsey. Mclaren will be able to offer a better pinch hit option to relieve French than say a Prendergast (192cm) whilst lion-hearted in the ruck is probably better served being a run with/round the ground option.

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

Winston Churchill

Not only does french ruck well but he is also fit and can take a contested mark. All he needs to improve is gettin more possessions. <- Although he does need support around the ground.

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"Dont count the games, make the games count"

Hopefully Barney and McLaren can stay fit and let the other young talls properly develop.
It seems the term "development" is well and truly on top of the priority list of the footy department at last. I cannot remember a time when we have had so much young raw talent developing at the same time. And reading the training reports it seems the additions of TD and Dempsey has been very successfull. Next year is going to be interesting but I can't wait for the 2007 blues.

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There's so much I could say...

John im sure he will get first crack,...
I just dont know how effective he is and how in front of Bryan or Deluca he is.
We have six ruckmen and only one that is a real ruckman.. there are only around 40 spots on the list...(Dont forget Prenda too)- he makes it 7
Thats an insane amount of ruckmen.. when only one can cut it.. it just makes the list feel unbalanced.
There were three very good and promising ruckmen last year...we chose not to draft any of them and the thought process was "Ruckmen take too long to develop so lets not waste a pick on one"

Well so far we have just recruited a bunch of ordinary ruckmen from all kinds of places.. hoping one would pop out and be our Madden...

Investing in the future was too long sighted for us.. so we will continue to bring in Motts and Bryans and ultimately use Prenda because we dont want to take our time...!!!

Its the thought process that frustrates me....

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I don't know why (because he has not really done very much to indicate he will so far) but I reckon Deluca can develop as the "Madden" especially with some intensive work from Gary Dempsey.

Just remembering back to Justin Madden's early days at Carlton he was no great shakes in his first season - and wasnt till he was given extensive ground time (probably when we cleared Wow Jones) that he started to blossom. The lowpoint was in about 82 or 83 when he wore that silly bicycle helmet, , at 6foot 10 inches the only thing that was going to hit him was an out of control Cessna.

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

Winston Churchill

I read a training report from a fan on another Carlton forum saying Dempsey was contesting with Deluca one on one and was pushing him around like a rag doll.

As I said INTENSIVE work from Gary Demspey, at least our ruck coach is hands on - rather than getting driven to the ground in a Ministerial Car.

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

Winston Churchill

Could be worse.. we could still have that clown with that bells palsy thing ... teaching our kids..like we did a couple of years ago.

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Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas, and oil....... the Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off. We apologize for the inconvenience.

I agree with you Agro that Adrian has all the tools to be super ruckman especially with his mobility, lets hope Dempsey can make something out of him.