Wednesday, July 30, 2014: Killing it at Diamond Valley

For a team without any semblance of a forward line, Collingwood are actually doing okay. Sure the newspapers are taking every opportunity to run hundreds of words on the problems; the lack of scoring, the increasing scores against, the general hopelessness that has gripped the club, but that ignores the fact that we've been competitive without any semblance of a forward line.

We're not alone. Richmond are in the same boat, Vickery was a necessary evil in a dysfunctional forward line. Melbourne have lacked a midfield for years, Brisbane have just lost their only forward, Carlton are pretty much terrible all over the field. That's why we support Nathan Buckley's proposal for a mid-season draft - a chance for clubs hit by injury or general poorness to top up their stocks with players from outside the AFL.

"You've got blokes who are killing it at Diamond Valley or in the SANFL, or in the WAFL and they might have just missed out on being drafted or a rookie-listed player, but they've had a really great start to the season" said Buckley, struggling to deal with a mess of injuries to key defenders leaving him to play players who should probably be in Diamond Valley. In fact, we want it to go another step and allow trading. For example, Collingwood could trade Clinton Young back to the suburban obscurity he deserves.

In the news...
Tyrone Vickery has been handed a four-game ban for clobbering Dean Cox on the weekend. He has accepted the ban and will be available for the Tigers last game of the season, which will hopefully be a playoff four ninth.

Shannon Byrnes, the dual Premiership player at Geelong now at the Demons, has announced his retirement due to injury. The 30-year-old played 131 games.

Crows midfielder David Mackay has signed a four-year deal with the Crows. "All the ingredients are here for something special and I want to be a part of it" said Mackay.