A great pick up for us - allows us to be far more flexible.

He will probably play as FF / CHF freeing Watts, Howe, Petterd, Jurrah from the key defenders, speeding their development.

Allowing Martin to play CHB if Big Max progresses quickly - he showed great promise 2011 (one set shot excepted)

Filling in ruck if there is an intra-match injury, or to share the forward ruck work.

I think a lot of people are forgetting that Watts will fill out more over the summer as well. Having Clark as the focal point will take the pressure off Watts but he'll also be bigger and stronger than what he was this season.

I love how Howe is included in everyone's forward set ups. This kid has really impressed us in his debut season hasn't he?! What a great find by the dees.

But why does somebody always have to be negative?

FFS this is a massive win for us, and Clark hasn't put a foot wrong yet, but someone just has to come along and have a sook about Melbourne stuffing up.

Why can't supporters just believe that we're capable of doing good things and trust us to deliver?

This woe-is-us attitude is so pathetic in light of the great pre-season we've had thus far.

I can't begrudge any supporter having negative views in light of the last 47 years. At the end of 2010 we were all pretty optimistic but look what happened again this year - more failure. Everyone loved the appointment of Bailey, everyone knew McLean was going to be a star of the comp. The same is happening now with Neeld and Trengove. Of course I'm positive with the poaching of Clark, but the track record of things not working out for this club has to be recognised and for that I respect those that don't jump into elation with news like this, it's called realism.

With Clark to take up FF, where does this leave our two big men on the fringe, Lynden Dunn and Matthew Bate?

If I were coach I'd keep both, Dunn because he is contracted and still a pretty decent footballer on his day, Bate because he is versatile and has showed heaps of promise in his early years (top 3 B+F at one point I recall).

In saying that, neither of them can fit into a forward line of Clark, Green, Watts, Jurrah, Petterd and Howe (plus Cook, Fitzpatrick and maybe Wonna/Davey) unless one of them gets injured. They can both play midfield roles but need to improve to be in our top 22.

What makes it interesting is that Bate wants to leave and is guaranteed a gig at the Bulldogs. The Bulldogs want to give us a mid-range pick for him, which could be very handy given we've just lost our first rounder. Will Clark's inclusion change our policy on Bate?

Don't be surprised if the club keeps Warnock. Our game plan will change, with less emphasis on precision kicking out of the backline.

Can't see it happening. I'd prefer Joel Mac that Warnock for sure.

Can we find some room for Mitch on the Demonland header?!!!

Would be more than happy with that, but would be super unhappy with taking any of the blokes on there off.

A much, much more gifted player than Dawes, and I'd have nervously settled for Dawes, thank god he declined our offer.

Normally I'd just let the "Like" feature say it, but very well said Deestroy. I was all up and about at the thought of Dawes, and now I'm all, "Dawes who??"

it's called realism.

Or negativity.

Lets just all enjoy this little win FFS. I understand the need to avoid the seemingly inevitable feeling of being massively let down, but this preseason has been stellar so far, just enjoy it. Lord knows we haven't had much to celebrate this year, so just let it loose and enjoy peeps

But why does somebody always have to be negative?

FFS this is a massive win for us, and Clark hasn't put a foot wrong yet, but someone just has to come along and have a sook about Melbourne stuffing up.

Why can't supporters just believe that we're capable of doing good things and trust us to deliver?

This woe-is-us attitude is so pathetic in light of the great pre-season we've had thus far.

It's called an opinion, not a whinge, you seem to have one, you think this is massive for us, I don't, I stated that, sorry for not bowing to your opinion, did not realise we were living in East Germany.

But why does somebody always have to be negative?

In this instance I don't agree with them, but surely they're allowed to express a view ?

Nathan Jones making Mitch feel right at home hahaha

http://twitter.com/i...me=nathan2jones

yeaaaaaaah @MitchClark1 awseome to have you on board buddy!! youll love it! cant wait to get amongst it with ya... fresh #demonblood

cant wait to get amoungst it with ya....fresh

Jones is always a good laugh, surprised he didnt mention surfing

Melbourne Football Club.....Just Build It.

So can anyone remember the last time Melbourne actually won a bidding war for a sought after player? I can remember a few times when we've been beaten out by more popular clubs. I can even remember a player flatly refusing to come and play for us after being drafted. Someone tell me how long it's been since we pulled something like this off.

Jeff White

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/125166/default.aspx

Jeff White

That's a pretty fair while ago. This makes me happy. We're obviously doing something right.

http://www.melbourne...66/default.aspx

Great article, mentions Martin still being ultra flexible around the ground.

Also mentions our compensation picks, and that we can still trade with them for needs, or draft

Also mentions the benefit of knowing the type of player we will receive with our first pick next season Jack Viney, so we can draft another type now

All sounds good

It's called an opinion, not a whinge, you seem to have one, you think this is massive for us, I don't, I stated that, sorry for not bowing to your opinion, did not realise we were living in East Germany.

There's still an East Germany????

There's still an East Germany????

Of course there is, it's just not a country anymore

looking at his stats on footy wire he is high on 'goals contributed' for Brisbane, second in average to Jonathon Brown only. His average goal assists were 2.4 (Browns avg was 2.9).

To give you an idea, at Melbourne he would be 2nd also, beating Sylvia on 2.1 but Jurrah averages 2.78.

How would he compare at Geelong? he would be 3rd behind Podsy and Stevie J.

Exciting when you think we could supply more ball to him than Brisbane.

I think this is why we are paying him good money.

I've been hearing a bit of criticism about the whole thing over the past couple of days so I made this.

http://gifninja.com/animatedgifs/340957/mitch-clark-haters.gif

This is absolutely fantastic! Gold MFC. Pick 12 is useless in this draft, we had cash to burn and we needed a big strong bloke who can play. And Mitch Clark CAN play.

Absolutely rapt with this - sticking it to Freo is the icing on the cake. Next stop will be sticking it to Sheedy and GWS. Their time will come.

I've been hearing a bit of criticism about the whole thing over the past couple of days so I made this.

http://gifninja.com/...lark-haters.gif

Another place to find some good ones is http://www.bigfooty.com/forum/showthread.php?t=686789&page=36

Its called the MS paint thread for all you Bigfooty haters its all MFC and its all funny

http://www.melbourne...66/default.aspx

An excerpt - "Harrington said Melbourne was delighted to secure Clark after the Demons “stuck to their plan and persevered” with him.

“We had targeted specific objectives and we had a course of action where we thought ‘this is how we’ll play it’,” he said.

“It’s no secret that we have a real need for a big-bodied presence in our forward line to compliment a range of players we have in our forward line."

If we had failed to get Clarke, who else was available? Have we just selected the only experienced player 'on the market' who could fulfill our need for a big-bodied presence on our forward line? I'll assume here that we asked Tippett and he was not interested in playing in Victoria.

Other websites are saying we paid too much for him, but the price is not the real issue here. We don't have salary cap issues and we only had to give up pick 12 which seems a fair trade. I also don't think we could have drafted an 18 yo at pick 12 in this years draft with the same height, weight and mobility as Clark. The new coach needs immediate results next year - and Clark is 24 and ready to go.

The big bucks were paid to stop him from returning home to Perth. That was to our disadvantage, but we also lucky. He scared off other clubs by clearly stating he was not available.

It never hurts to ask.

fair go, there's about 2 negative posts to 68 positive

Agree. And that's probably a record for the positive.

Am also of the opinion that Clark is probably a better more rounded get than Dawes. I'm pleased for the club and all supporters. It was obviously a secondary pitch of some significance of for the turnaround from Mitch.

I'm quite strong on the opinion that our midfield needs an injection of quality, because the mids will need to service the forward line. Certainly having Clark down forward will help with structure and diversity in terms of strategy, but our performances in the middle against the better sides stands out like dogs plums and it needs to be addressed. Granted improvement in development will go some way, but we've lost T$ and are yet to find a replacement, we've lost some speed and elite in and under quality with that.

Obviously this can be addressed in another thread...but well done on the signing of Mitch Clark.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-great-david-schwarz-rates-mitch-clark-better-than-tom-scully/story-fn69a32t-1226167931549

David Schwarz welcomes you too Mitch !

HT we're probably 1-2 blokes away from a top 4 calibre midfield. But its not just the the manpower its the skills, the structure and methods which are as important. I think different ideas and coaching will also manifest dividends.

One bloke is coming so we arent that far away maybe.