Was thinking about Wayne Johnston and what a great player he was and how we could do with a player of his ilk today.
Then it occured to me he is part of a rare group of players who completely changed the way he played the game. He started as a flimsy, nancy boy half forward flanker with Prahran in the VFA and had no physical side to his game at all , he was purely a specialist goal kicker....bit similar to Craig McRae from Brisbane....then after about a season or two in the AFL he did an about face and became this hard nosed agro get under your skin player who loved nothing better than dropping a elbow into a Tony Shaw or diving on an opposing players boot to smother the footy....its hard to think of another player who turned his method of play around to such an extent.

Of the modern day players Lenny Hayes from Stkilda is the only one that comes to mind that has done this...remember first seeing Hayes and thinking just another soft reciever but he has proved me wrong.
Not only does attack the footy well he also gets in and gets under players skin and flys the flag for his teammates and is a good leader...maybe it was the leadership rotation that brought out the best in him but he like Johnston has changed the way he plays the game and is one of the few players who I have seen do it and be successful..

Mick Malthouse was another.....also ran player at the Saints who had no edge to his game but gained an edge at Richmond and probably has that to thank for his coaching career.....

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

In fact I reckon it took him about half a season - and his Grand Final in 1979 is a testimony to that.

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

Winston Churchill

I hope Houlihan can change his spots this season.

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There's so much I could say...

Yeah, i'd like that too. But I wouldn't count on it.

I've been a fan of houlihan, until last season. Heres hoping to a better season and I hope he proves the critics wrong. We are still a long way off in the talent stakes as a team, he is one with a lot of talent, but seriously, he must toughen up (His efforts against the hawks were pathetic) considering he has bulked up otherwise he should be traded by seasons end.

Best of luck to him because he has lots of talent. He can get away with being a reciever if he produces the goods consistently on the footy field. He was doing that consistently the previous couple of years under Pagan.

Best of luck Houla!

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Corinthians 9:6- 8

I really do hope that Houla has a good year but please can we refrain from drawing comparisons of him to Wayne Johnson

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If you allow the Government to change the Laws in an emergency
They will create an Emergency to change the Laws

Not as silly as you are trying to be there verbs - DeIulio showed great improvement in his last couple of seasons at the club especially out of the back pocket and made it to his 100 games.

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

Winston Churchill