I'm talking about that clown Mark Duffield writing in today's West.

He writes that Freo fans are "relieved that the club is finally addressing its aging list problem". I'm sorry, but where does that come from? That's certainly not the impression I get from the circles I move in. Perhaps he should accord readers the decency of naming his source for that factoid.

To make matters worse (for themselves generally and Duffield in particular), the West then lists Freo's trades since 2001. On any objective analysis we haven't done that badly. Consider:

(i) Sam Mitchell and Luke Hodge for Trent Croad (in effect Ryley Dunn) and Luke McPharlin? I'd take McPharlin over both Mitchell and Hodge any day of the week.

(ii) Stephen Koops for (in effect) David Mundy? Considering the Western Bulldogs only got two more years out of Koops while Mundy's best football is still ahead of him, that was a bonus for us.

(iii) Pick 55 for Ryan Crowley? See (ii)

(iv) The Solomon Trade? Wasn't Solly considered the Trade of 2007?

The other trades I forget (don't anyone ever think I actually buy that tabloid abomination) but they weren't that bad for us overall.

In short, Duffield and the Worst should stop insulting our intelligence. They are not fooling anyone, except themselves.

I'm just thankful he didn't give his much loved conference system another run during the slow week.

In other news. Latest imagery from US military satellites shows what appears to be John Worsfold living in a cave in the Pakistani highlands. Updates every 48 hours (somewhere between the netball and the horse racing news).

If the West intends to publish articles regarding the views and opinions of freo supporters it might be a good first step to hire a freo supporter...

I'm pleased that the interview was with Duffield (in Perth) rather than Steve Butler (in Melbourne, where Pav is actually located this week). His petty 'Pav won't confront the media' on Tuesday really meant 'Pav wouldn't answer MY question, despite the purpose of the media conference being about the Dream Team'.
I agree with EJ that the trade list shows no great disaster - especially two of the latest 3 years with 'no trades' - without too much brain strain i can work out that we must have used the draft picks! Apart from MJohnston and KBradley I think they were all used on young players?
I detect significant statesmanship in Pav's reported answers - IMO he has done a lot to counter the negativity of the earlier reporting.

Will we ever see a second West Australian daily or weekend paper?

This 'aging' list bunkum is a crock I tell you. The average ages of clubs lists are like days or months apart, and I think from memory the spread from youngest list to oldest list is like 12-13 months apart.

I am also bewildered by the Duffield generalisation of the Fremantle supporter, sounds made up to me. Imagine that. As a supporter my main problem in that we have temporarily forgotten how to win. I imagine that might strike a closer chord.

If the Duffer has bothered to any research at all on this (and it is unlikely, he is a sports journalist), then I'd reckon the extent of it would be to cruise a few other message boards and pick the posts that concur with the article he's already written.

We'll never see another paper in this town, I can guarantee you of that. Although, due to my extensive message board research, another paper would be welcomed by all journalists to get some competitive juices flowing.

Print circulation is on the decline, and almost any daily the size of the Worst upwards has an online presence. This online shift almost guarantees we won't see new newspapers launched almost anywhere. Look at fairfax and Murdoch. When was the last time either launched a new daily? Murdoch buys papers to increase his empire, and will try and boost their numbers, but that's about it.

Kerry Stokes is blowing smoke. He won't launch a new daily here, as he's threatened, if he doesn't get control of the Worst. He just being mischievous to get people's attention on the issue. The issue for the Worst is when are its advertisers going to start baulking at their rates, which have continued to increase, despite a steady decline in circulation. It's costing advertisers more money to reach less people.

This is something the Worst doesn't get. They're the only daily game in town in a growing population and the direction it's taken for the last few years has seen fewer people interested in buying in.

All Freo fans blame Mark Duffield.

I'm as big a freo fan as the next bloke but i have to agree with anyone that says we made a blunder when it came to the 2001 draft. If you look at it as it is today from the trade we have mcpharlin (considered one of my favourite players and a champion) and ryley dunn (played a handful of games and is on the rookie list).

On the other hand Hawthorn are with two of the premier midfielders in the comp in hodge and mitchell (also there capatin and vice captain) and are actually getting some good service out of Croad (once he went back he was an all australian). We could have been made to look even more foolish had Hawthorn actually taken a decent player with pick number 20 which we also gave them.

I hate what i read the majority of the time when it comes to west australian journalism but you cant argue with the fact that this was not the worst trade ever (and thats not even taking into consideration the other brownlow medallists we could have picked up instead of hodge or mitchell in that draft)

You could also argue that they would have taken Sampi and Polak in the draft, missed out on McPharlin, been forced to play Pavlich as a centre half back, lost Pavlich to Adelaide where they promised him a gig up forward and then had Gypsies steal our children and sell them off to the Orange People.

Neither argument is particular insightful or helpful.

Great, so now Gypsies are going to steal our children when he eventually goes back to Adelaide.

If thats the case, why did we draft him in the first place? He can't even kick 60 metres on his left sometimes.

Trade him for some lava beans I say.

What you have to realise is that "Joumalists" have been fully trained to be able to tell you today exactly what you should have done yesterday.

Perhaps Duffield can do some research about the Eagles' trade and recruiting blunders. In case he needs some help:

SHANE SIKORA
ANDREW GEDDES

and perhaps the best of all time:

TIM WATSON.

Could anyone tell me how many games Tim Watson played for the Eagles?

Surely the fact they number Lynch among their best 22 is proof that their recruiting policy is an unmitigated disaster.

I'm still waiting this wonderous team of egirl recruits that have been waiting in the wings to step up when required. How about now?
And for how long have we been hearing about the marvellous depth of the egirls, due of course, to their very clever recruiting.
Silly old Freo should have taken a leaf out of the Egirl Guide to Trading and Recruiting. Oh, I forgot about all their unfortunate injuries. Funny how that's never been allowed as much of an excuse for us.