To the EPL folk out there, I just need to apologise.

I missed getting the data for round 17, and as such, this weeks salary predictions are going to be incorrect.

They should be fine from next GW though!

ps- Damn you Wigan!

Alright, with all the teams down for the Christmas period, this will probably be my last post for the year.

Unless you cop a drunken Christmas/New Years greetings.

So I figure, I’ll make the last post a spot check for where each team is. Broken down into the three major categories we care about.

1. Who’s injured?
2. Who’s been pencilled in for the midfield
3. Who’s been training the house down!

Adelaide:
Injuries -
Otten (knee)
Moran (knee)
Symes (knee)
Bock (heel)
Van Berlo (back)

More in the midfield – Dangerfield
Training the house down – Walker

Brisbane:
Injuries –
Clarke (knee)
Bartlett (knee)
Golby (knee)

More in the midfield – Brennan, Staker

Carlton:
Injuries –
Jamison (hip)
Waite (knee)

More in the midfield – McLean.
Training the house down – Gartlett, Yarran

Collingwood:
Injuries –
Medhurst (back)
Anthony (sholder)
Fraser (knee)
Dick (shoulder)

More in the midfield – Ball
Training the house down – Jolly

Essendon:
Injuries –
Neagle (groin)
Hurley (wrist)
Slattery (leg)
Hille (knee)

Fremantle
Injuries –
Dodd (shoulder/wrist)

Training the house down – Palmer, Hill, Mayne, Duffield, DeBoer

Geelong
Injuries –
Johnson (hil)
Menzel (groin)

Training the house down – Drum

Hawthorn
Injuries –
Franklin (minor foot)
Burgoyne (knee)

Melbourne
Injuries –
Garland (foot)
Blease (leg)
Wonaeamirri (hamstring)

More in the midfield – Bennell, Jetta, Morton, Watts
Training the house down – Grimes

North Melbourne
Injuries –
Wells (The dreaded OP)
Anthony (hand)

More in the midfield – Greenwood
Training the house down – Warren, Wright, Grima, Ziebell, Bastinac, Edwards

Port Adelaide
Injuries –
Rodan (knee)
D. Motlop (ankle/shoulder/groin)
Carr (ankle)
Davenport (shoulder)

More in the midfield – Lobbe (as ruck), Gray, M. Motlop
Training the house down – Hartlett, Broadbent, Lobbe, Gray, Ebert

Richmond
Injuries –
Foley (ankle)
Cotchin (achillies)
cousins (hand)

St Kilda
Injuries –
King (knee)
Goddard (collarbone)

Sydney
Injuries –
Bolton (shoulder)
Seaby (ankle)
Kennedy (hip)
Thornton (knee)

Training the house down – Kennelly, Malceski, Barlow, Johnston, White

West Coast
Injuries –
Waters (knee)
Cox (groin)
Mackenzie (shoulder)

More in the midfield – NOT Lecras – has remained training in the forwards.
Training the house down – Kerr, Sheppard

Western
Injuries –
Reid (groin)
Tiller (groin)
Murphy (knee)
Hall (ankle)
Howard (hip)

More in the midfield –
Training the house down – Giansiracusa, Akermanis, Everitt, Johnson

It’s just a simple chart to refer to as the pre-season ticks on.

Anyways, I hope that you have your Christmas shopping done early, I hear that the Prospectus is availiable if you haven’t finish yet.

Heck, there might even be a word or two in there written by yours truely… maybe.

But, however you spend your holiday season, enjoy yourself and stay safe ok. It’s a long pre-season ahead of us.

While everything is coming out in bits, I’m just going to randomly be throwing up posts filled with disjointed information that I pick up about various clubs.

So without further ado, can I present part one of Dribs and Drabs.

Adelaide
By now we all know, Andy Otten is out for the year. First picked 2011. Good luck mate- get well.!
In short, it will be interesting to see who fills the hole.
Symes looks set to miss 6 weeks.
Sitting on the sidelines with Nathan Bock (heel), Nathan van Berlo (back) and Brodie Martin (knee)

Brisbane
A bit of talk on Cornelius stepping into the departed Hendersons shoes. Could be one to look at in a year or two.
Leuenberger has bulked up which should help- and could place a question mark over Clark.

Carlton
Reports are all positive with McLean, Henderson, Yarran and Kruezer all being talked up at this early stage. To be taken with a grain of salt though.

Collingwood
Enjoyed a nice restful trip to Arizona. Not. Most players came back knackered.
The ruck work of Jolly brought “tears to the eyes” of the mid-fielders. Augurs not so well for Josh Fraser, but could prove a bigger bounty for Swan, Pendlebury, and … LUKE BALL.
Ball has settled in nicely. Leadership is his middle name.
No injuries to speak of, apart from the “rehab group” who didn’t get the trip to “Zona”. Players left in Melbourne included Davis, Prestigiacomo, Anthony, Harry O and a handful of other triers. Their benefit was catching up with new board member and mad (and I mean Mad) Magpies fan Alisa Camplin.
And the rumours of Travis Cloke and a knee injury. As fake as Tiger Woods’ drink driving excuse.

Essendon
Neagle- Surgery- Won’t start training proper til after Christmas
Hille- Has been looking sore and is still in the modified training group
Hurley- Charged with assault – Will it affect his season? Who knows- keep an eye on him.

Fremantle
DeBoer- My early pick for “best value rookie”.

Geelong
Speculation on Gablett moving to the Gold Coast.- The premier player in the comp- will be a *huge* story, whichever way it goes!

Hawthorn
Minor surgery for Franklin- Should interupt him too much though!
Guerra- Broken leg on the Kokoda trail rumours turn out to be false.

Melbourne
Maric- Bulked up already- Which is a good sign.
Tapscott is good value to lineup come round One.

Kangaroos
Bastinac- Looking the pick of the litter thus far.
Edwards- Classic puff piece on “training the house down”.
Greenwood- Has been training with the midfielders.
Warren- looks to have bulked up and could be a decent option up forward.
Wright- Looking very good to hold down a top 22 spot this year.
Ziebell- Training well- One to keep an eye on.

Looks to be a lot of value early on in the Roos camp.

Port Adelaide
Ebert- Traingin the house down”- With added “potential move to the midfield” flakes.
Hartlett- Seen to be running well.
M. Motlop- Keep an eye on the boys midfield time through the off season.

Richmond
Cotchin and Foley- Spending another pre-season in the Mod group.
Cousins has had hand surgury.

St Kilda
No open sessions til the new year.
Lovett- Did bad- But shouldn’t suffer too badly from it.

Sydney
Rehab group- Heath, Seaby, Kennedy and Thornton- Always a promising sign.
White- “Training the house down”.

Western Bulldogs
Talked up their flag chances.
Barry Hall looks ripped.
Brad Johnson “could play another few years” – watch out KB/Tucky

West Coast
Cox and Kerr – Completed first full training on 9th December
Sheppard- “Training the house down”
Beau Waters – Arthoscope on knee- Out for 6 weeks.

Anyone with anything they would like to add, feel free to throw it into the comments, and I’ll be able to add it to the original post!