I still think we've got a long way to go before we are anything like a power club. One of the reasons the Brisbane Lions then Geelong and even Collingwood now had success was players making sacrifices for the common good and wanting to play for the club over money or personal gain. Do you think any of those clubs would have let a 240 game player who had the chance to be a one-club 300 game player walk away for less cash. And now we've got a situation where we are being tested to our core. Do we cave in and pay overs for a young up and coming champ or do we hold firm and pay him his right wack and keep him on the list?

If we pay overs it's the beginning of the end I can assure you. Coz none of those great teams of the past twenty odd years did that. Especially not before they won a premiership together. So if we pay overs for Scully there will be a queue of players lining up for their slice of the pie and all of a sudden base camp will seem a long way up!

And if he takes the money and runs then we are nothing more than a soft touch. Ooh look the Dee's have trained up another one lets go see if he wants to play for a real club.

This is a huge issue for this club. If we are to be successful we must not pay overs and yet we must find a way to keep Sculls on our list! Look at North and Swallow. He was all but signed for GWS and he came out and signed with Nth FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM AND CLUB! Nth have passed the test. Can we?

Maybe Bailey realises, rather astutely, that we need to set our sights higher?

If we honestly think we have a side capable of winning multiple flags, and we set the bar at just winning one, what happens after that..?

The goal you have been striving for has been achieved, and it is natural to relax a little after that.

We don't want to be like Hawthorn in 08.

I think their biggest problem since was that they felt like they'd achieved what they set out to do.

New goals are set, but I think some individuals set different goals and the team wasn't on the same page.

One premiership in my lifetime. That's all I ask. And I can die a happy man! Multiple, well of course, but that is getting greedy surely! But of course I won't complain :_)

I would rather the club strive to become the team of the decade both on and off the field than to merely only want to be successful. The club currently is in a state where we have an opportunity to be successful on the field as well as being in the best position off the field for a very long time.

The club is not failing if they do not achieve this but by acknowledging that this is our aspiration gives a clear indication that the brilliant work of late will continue for many years to come.

Our goal is to be the greatest. The transformation of our club in the last few years has explicitly been about becoming a mighty, dominant club. Dean Bailey has stated that we right now have an opportunity to be the greatest. We all know this to be true.

He is implicitly asking the question 'Are you going to do whatever it takes to be the greatest?'.

Poor title for thread.

Yep.

With the list we have, and with the turnaround that Jimmy, Cam etc. have brought to the club, if we don't believe that we can be serious contendors for the next 10 years, we're all wasting our time.

When Bailey speaks about being "competitive", he's slammed for being cautious, yet when he lays the challenge on the line he's over-reaching?

I think it's a great title, because it makes the OP so ironic.

Maybe Bailey realises, rather astutely, that we need to set our sights higher?

If we honestly think we have a side capable of winning multiple flags, and we set the bar at just winning one, what happens after that..?

The goal you have been striving for has been achieved, and it is natural to relax a little after that.

We don't want to be like Hawthorn in 08.

I think their biggest problem since was that they felt like they'd achieved what they set out to do.

New goals are set, but I think some individuals set different goals and the team wasn't on the same page.

Hawthorn '08 was my first thought on reading the OP.

For a team of very poachable youngsters at the dawn of their careers,"team of the decade" is a brilliant mission statement, and we are the first to have laid claim to it. It's the ideal incentive for every single one of them.

We've definitely got the list to achieve it, with more than enough ability and balance. It's the intangibles (teamwork, desire, commitment and so on), to be sustained over a long period, that will determine what level the list performs to, and therefore what each of these guys will get out of their respective football careers.

No better way to foster those intangibles than to offer "team of the decade" as the prize.

As dandeeman and others have posted, DB knows exactly what he's doing & saying and why. This isn't a throwaway line by any means.

I still think we've got a long way to go before we are anything like a power club. One of the reasons the Brisbane Lions then Geelong and even Collingwood now had success was players making sacrifices for the common good and wanting to play for the club over money or personal gain. Do you think any of those clubs would have let a 240 game player who had the chance to be a one-club 300 game player walk away for less cash. And now we've got a situation where we are being tested to our core. Do we cave in and pay overs for a young up and coming champ or do we hold firm and pay him his right wack and keep him on the list?

If we pay overs it's the beginning of the end I can assure you. Coz none of those great teams of the past twenty odd years did that. Especially not before they won a premiership together. So if we pay overs for Scully there will be a queue of players lining up for their slice of the pie and all of a sudden base camp will seem a long way up!

And if he takes the money and runs then we are nothing more than a soft touch. Ooh look the Dee's have trained up another one lets go see if he wants to play for a real club.

This is a huge issue for this club. If we are to be successful we must not pay overs and yet we must find a way to keep Sculls on our list! Look at North and Swallow. He was all but signed for GWS and he came out and signed with Nth FOR THE GOOD OF THE TEAM AND CLUB! Nth have passed the test. Can we?

That really is a stupid post. You start out by saying we stuffed up by not keeping Bruce, in other words, by STANDING OUR GROUND and not caving to his contract demands, he walked. Then you go and say we will be 'a soft touch' if we pay over the odds for Scully (read: NOT stand our ground). So basically you won't be happy either way. What you want is for the club to be strong and pay players what they're worth, but somehow in doing that they are not to let any players walk to other clubs. What you are asking for is impossible, it is a total contradiction. If we don't pay Scully and the like buckets of cash, someone else will, and the sad thing is we won't be able to afford them all. Unfortunately it is just the way the cookie crumbles. How anyone could be down on the club in terms of list management is totally beyond me, we have gone from train wreck to superpower threat in a few years. Show some respect and have some perspective.

To Curry and Beer,

Firstly about Bruce, in monetary terms he went to Hawthorn for less, and even though he was concerned about his prospects of playing on for more than one year at Melbourne the point I was making was that a super-power club would have not have let that happen. Bruce may still become a 300 game player but sadly not with us. I think this has the potential to make us look bad. But somehow a lot of posters don't want to acknowledge this and carry on about how great we are. I think Bruce's departure was messy and caught Bailey unawares. I like Bailey but I think his "Bruce" moment wasn't his finest. You ask for perspective and I just felt it was all one way traffic.

As for Scully you are right, I would like the impossible. I would like him to stay and I would like us to pay him what he is worth and no more. But I will repeat, if we pay him more than what he is worth we will shoot ourselves in the foot. Again, strong clubs work their way through this. I'm not saying we won't and I certainly hope we do but we haven't yet so why gush on about our "decade of glory" prospects until this issue is resolved.

To Curry and Beer,

Firstly about Bruce, in monetary terms he went to Hawthorn for less, and even though he was concerned about his prospects of playing on for more than one year at Melbourne the point I was making was that a super-power club would have not have let that happen. Bruce may still become a 300 game player but sadly not with us. I think this has the potential to make us look bad. But somehow a lot of posters don't want to acknowledge this and carry on about how great we are. I think Bruce's departure was messy and caught Bailey unawares. I like Bailey but I think his "Bruce" moment wasn't his finest. You ask for perspective and I just felt it was all one way traffic.

As for Scully you are right, I would like the impossible. I would like him to stay and I would like us to pay him what he is worth and no more. But I will repeat, if we pay him more than what he is worth we will shoot ourselves in the foot. Again, strong clubs work their way through this. I'm not saying we won't and I certainly hope we do but we haven't yet so why gush on about our "decade of glory" prospects until this issue is resolved.

NO MORE BRUCE PLEASE!

To Curry and Beer,

Firstly about Bruce, in monetary terms he went to Hawthorn for less, and even though he was concerned about his prospects of playing on for more than one year at Melbourne the point I was making was that a super-power club would have not have let that happen. Bruce may still become a 300 game player but sadly not with us. I think this has the potential to make us look bad. But somehow a lot of posters don't want to acknowledge this and carry on about how great we are. I think Bruce's departure was messy and caught Bailey unawares. I like Bailey but I think his "Bruce" moment wasn't his finest. You ask for perspective and I just felt it was all one way traffic.

As for Scully you are right, I would like the impossible. I would like him to stay and I would like us to pay him what he is worth and no more. But I will repeat, if we pay him more than what he is worth we will shoot ourselves in the foot. Again, strong clubs work their way through this. I'm not saying we won't and I certainly hope we do but we haven't yet so why gush on about our "decade of glory" prospects until this issue is resolved.

I agree we should have kept Bruce, but we don't know what goes on behind closed doors and in the end you have to back the club with their decisions. At the end of the day, being without Bruce is not going to have a huge effect. Scully looks destined to be a top5 of the comp type player, the type of player that leads you to a flag, must be kept at all costs

Love it, good on you Dean.

About time those at the top stuck their necks out.

Now we must follow.

Yep.

With the list we have, and with the turnaround that Jimmy, Cam etc. have brought to the club, if we don't believe that we can be serious contendors for the next 10 years, we're all wasting our time.

When Bailey speaks about being "competitive", he's slammed for being cautious, yet when he lays the challenge on the line he's over-reaching?

That is right. He's damned if he doesn't and damned if he does around here. Usually come from those that have trouble identifying game plan (*A or *B)..or even *C.

I reckon' the footy dept have put together a good list and since Jim Stynes has taken over and got so many people involved I think he's actually shifted the way outside people view MFC for the better. I do respect that and think Jim deserves some good Kharma for himself and our club. I'd love to witness that come to fruition over the next decade. I hope the players and their !@#$%^& managers respect the hard work and sacrifice a lot of people have put in just to get us into a position where we are a chance.

I prefer humble to arrogance though and I have a feeling Jim would too.

I am all for confidence and aiming high, but as CTD mentioned, let's make the finals first. The last thing you want is players running around thinking about how they are going to celebrate their Premiership three-peat. The focus, both publicly and behind closed doors should be the job at hand, all the other stuff will come later.

And no, it's not a poor title for a thread, it is a fair and justified opinion to have.

It's unfortunate that given all that has happened since 2007 and since Jimmy, Schwabby took the reins...many forget or misplace what these guys have been planning ( and are still in the process ) to build.

Instead of being on edge and in shock when somebody like Bailey says something like this. Ask yourself, why ?

The reasons may be quite varied, but they also might be specific. ie. Reinforcing to the playing group (and individuals) that exciting things are going to happen at this club, you may want to stick around and be apart of it. Join the ride. Stay the course. It's another underlying message by Bailey, Schwab & Co. for all in sundry - "stick together" because we are building something great. It's another reminder for the members and the supporters.

There is another thread doing the rounds at present, you may be familiar with it. It has something to do with Tom Scully. Not that the message may have been directed at him, but you never know.

It's selling the club. When was the last time you heard a coach or official say something like that ?

I recall the Kangaroos singing their anthem in '98 after their many wins and it included "...will be Premiers in 1998.." - now they didn't win it, they went close. I thought that was cocky (as many did I'm sure)...but good on them.. they had a focus and they almost pulled it off having made it in the Grand Final which they lost to Adelaide in an upset. They went on to win in '99.

Schwab mentioned the Geelong's, Brisbane's and "hopefully" us performing as well as they have (but nothing specific like multiple premierships and three-peats) - but made the point that those players from those clubs stuck together in the main to fulfil their dreams, play lots of games together, play finals together and yes if lucky enough to perform well and win premierships through hard work. Many of them were great mates and many made sacrifices to be there for their teammates whether through pay cuts or whatever, to be a part of something great !

That's what our club is trying to do. You can't knock 'em for that.

I have no doubt behind closed doors, the focus will be on the job at hand.

Spot on HT.

Bailey has used words like hope and opportunity. He isn't announcing that it will happen, merely that the opportunity is there.

Can anyone give me one good reason why any of the 17 clubs in the comp shouldn't hope to become the best team of the decade?

Anyone who disagrees with what Dean Bailey said are scared to go to the top of the mountain. Who said it was going to be easy?? No opposition club is going to give it to us, and yes this era of the club has got to do it alone (it's not as if we are repeating what was done 10 years ago-this is season 47 since glory)

Some may think it is a big statement he made...yes it is, and about time. This club has been kicked around like a plastic bag in the wind for way too long.

Bailey made the call, he is the senior coach..He will now Prosper or die on that statement in the years to come.

I want to sit on that mountain top-with opposition supporters hating it (and me)

Good on you Bails...Believe in your ability to coach this list that shows so much potential B)

I met Dean Bailey in Perth at a function in 2009 and was most impressed. He has a dry sense of humour and refused to believe

me that Aaron Davey was slow as a wet week when he was 15/16 so he called Aaron over and it was confirmed. After that I asked him to tell me

about Jordie McKenzie ( when he was a rookie) and he said 'who'. I repeated the name, and he said 'where did you hear about him' and I said around he then leaned towards me and whispered in my ear as if he didn't want to be overheard and said 'he's going to be a very good player for the MFC'.

And was he right. From then on I have been impressed with the man.

I think now is the time to start ramping up expectations.

For a couple of seasons we've had a softly softly approach from the Club.

While I have no doubt the Club still thinks we're a long way off, now is the time to raise the bar on the playing list.

I would have expected this to be welcomed by forum members who seem to whinge a fair bit about 'accepting mediocrity' and the like.

PS. Yes, this thread is a couple of days old, but it's better than posting in yet another Scully thread.