Mitch at the Cats

[Left Field 313]

Roos said the same thing about Frawley, wish him to stay, then tried to window dress him for a bargain sale as a multi positional possibility, and won a round one pick.

Yep - I also felt this with both players.

Reality is you don't want the wrong people around you when there is hard work to do. Both could play but neither would improve the team because their commitment was equivocal. If we paid overs to keep them, then the rest of the group suffers. Roos and co have made the best of their exits and probably engineered a win in the medium term.

[Alcho Dee 269]

There will the infrequent thread pop up every now and then just like it did with Scully as we vented and purged as was necessary.

I know it's not healthy, but I would have MC in my top 5 of the most punchable heads in footy right now.

Who would be the other 4 in your top 5? Does anyone else have a punchable heads top 5?

[jumbo returns 6,619]

Who would be the other 4 in your top 5? Does anyone else have a punchable heads top 5?

This question was asked before and my vote would be Judd.

[SaberFang 7,141]

On Judd, certainly had a chuckle reading today's AFL article about how he's "training the house down."

Means nothing when he does yet another hammy in round one. Maybe he can just chicken wing tackle players instead.

Edited January 10, 2015 by Lamashtu

[Traja Dee 105]

Maybe he did Melbourne a service...

What if he knew that he was physically and mentally fragile; either a big risk on Melborne's list or a sunk cost if he retired?

By "coming out of retirement" and asking for a trade, we got H which was exactly the sort of player we identified as a priority in mid-2014.

Roosy didn't seem to put up much of a fight to keep him... Also, the Melbourne players seemed to have too much respect for him to have done what he is accused of.

Finally, I always assume that tweets and pressers are always spun by a club's marketing department anyway; take them with a grain of salt myself.

I'm not letting my knickers get on a twist just yet. I'm tipping maybe 5 good games from Mitch in the next 2 years, maybe another 10 OK ones and then an anti-climatic retirement due to injuries at the end of 2016.

[dee-eee 231]

One of the worst aspects of Demonland are posts of regular updates on former players now at other clubs . Can't we just move on and concentrate on our promising young talent ? Maybe with the single exception of the detestable $culs who was virtually gone before he started .

[the grint 71]

Makes me sick that he could play 22 games for Geelong but agreed, too many of MFCs key players still on good terms, especially the skipper. If Clark had done the dirty, surely Jones would have to set an example? Thats who i'd want captaining my club... regardless, pains me to see him "recover" so quickly at another club.

[Ethan Tremblay 28,937]

Honestly, I'm over it. When we first heard he was looking to join a new club I was one of the most angry, now I couldn't care less. I have no feelings towards him nor do I care how he goes this season.

[Damo 3,044]

I keep hearing how HL is just what we want. If Hogan is injured we will have a gaping hole at full forward. If Clark plays well, it will be hugely disappointing.

[SaberFang 7,141]

Our backline is stacked as far as I'm concerned. There's barely enough room for our best defenders and recruits at once.

The forward line is the obvious problem, and we desperately needed to fix that in the last trade period. Garlett was a great outcome, and Petracca (although young) will likely start at FF or HF, hopefully providing another target. Get Hogan on the park and expect natural improvement from Kent/JKH and we have a semblance of a forward line at last.

That said, next year we really need to target another key forward because our depth is simply not good enough. We're stacked with developing mids but not forwards.

[Macca 16,174]

I keep hearing how HL is just what we want. If Hogan is injured we will have a gaping hole at full forward. If Clark plays well, it will be hugely disappointing.

I reckon Roos will have it in mind to create 4/5 marking options in our forward line ... not necessarily to all play in the one side but if we're going to win games, we'll need to have more than just Hogan & Dawes as targets.

So, who are the other options? There's a number of possibilities ... from those who were on our list prior to last year's influx of new players - Watts, Pedersen, Fitzy, Howe, Toumpas, Vince, Gawn/Jamar are all candidates. They could all play as a 3rd tall/tallish forward.

Of the new players, O-Mac & Petracca could possibly play that role - even Brayshaw might be tried. It's not unusual for a new player to start off with a role in the forward line and we're not talking about the no.1 or no.2 target - a 3rd forward just needs to be able to play a 3rd forward's role.

Most here probably know what that role is but here are my expectations of what a 3rd forward should be capable of ...

• Sometimes decoy
• An ability to create space
• Can lead to the right spots
• Half decent hands
• Play the lead up role when needed
• Can consistently get to the front position
• A reasonably accurate kick

We probably only need 1 or 2 of those aforementioned players to click and away we go. Hogan & Dawes need to be firing to a certain extent but we'll need to have good back-ups regardless.

Roos likes versatility in his players and he also likes to build players to play that sort of role. I'm expecting the unexpected with regards to the line-up in our forward line.

As for Clark - we got by before he rolled up and we'll certainly get by without him. Plus, a large chunk of our salary cap has been freed up. I'm actually quite relieved that he's gone.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Macca

[Crompton's the man 635]

Hope Clark's contract wasn't front-loaded

[Alcho Dee 269]

I think Howe and Watts should be played forward instead of in the midfield, both have great hands and set shot at goal, these two are normally injury free aswell and we should get 20+ games out of them.

For as long as they have been at Melbourne, they would be disappointed to have eithor Toumpas, Salem or Petracca etc take their place in the team.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,054]

Our backline is stacked as far as I'm concerned. There's barely enough room for our best defenders and recruits at once.

The forward line is the obvious problem, and we desperately needed to fix that in the last trade period. Garlett was a great outcome, and Petracca (although young) will likely start at FF or HF, hopefully providing another target. Get Hogan on the park and expect natural improvement from Kent/JKH and we have a semblance of a forward line at last.

That said, next year we really need to target another key forward because our depth is simply not good enough. We're stacked with developing mids but not forwards.

Needs to be a prize for who ever can guess the makeup of the backline for round 1.

I think the club is aware of where our list sits but it comes down to immediate needs and what's available at the time.

[McQueen 17,864]

Who would be the other 4 in your top 5? Does anyone else have a punchable heads top 5?

Dwayne Russell is the clear number 1.

[jazza 1,323]

Dwayne Russell is the clear number 1.

Definately top 5

Carey.

Cousins.

DaWaayne Russell

Derm the Germ

[Pipefitter 2,096]

Yep - I also felt this with both players.

Reality is you don't want the wrong people around you when there is hard work to do. Both could play but neither would improve the team because their commitment was equivocal. If we paid overs to keep them, then the rest of the group suffers. Roos and co have made the best of their exits and probably engineered a win in the medium term.

Interestingly in one of the twitter wars Clark had with a dees supporter he said something like "Do you ever think that maybe they didn't want me to stay?"

Love to know the full story one day.

[Moonshadow 16,659]

One of the worst aspects of Demonland are posts of regular updates on former players now at other clubs . Can't we just move on and concentrate on our promising young talent ? Maybe with the single exception of the detestable $culs who was virtually gone before he started .

So it's bad of us to do it but it's ok for us to do it? FMD.

[SaberFang 7,141]

Interestingly in one of the twitter wars Clark had with a dees supporter he said something like "Do you ever think that maybe they didn't want me to stay?"

Love to know the full story one day.

His manager shopped him around before he even approached the MFC, so that's just revisionist history from Clark.

Wouldn't surprise me if they went completely completely cold on him after he showed his true character. Doubt Roos would want him anywhere near the club after the way he sold us out. I'd wager he was pretty fed up with more than one member of the "leadership" group by the end of the season.

All speculation of course. Maybe there is some truth to the other rumours.

Edited January 11, 2015 by Lamashtu

[juzzk1d 1,354]

This might have nothing to do with it, but when Trengove nearly was traded to Richmond before his foot injury to me that seems like Roos is after a solid durable team. If he was willing to trade Trenners I have no doubt Mitch could have been in the same boat and they did what they could to ensure we get something in return. If the media and teams caught wind we didn't want him, clubs could have played hard ball.

[Melbman2 226]

One of the worst aspects of Demonland are posts of regular updates on former players now at other clubs . Can't we just move on and concentrate on our promising young talent ? Maybe with the single exception of the detestable $culs who was virtually gone before he started .

Agreed. The next worst thing is people complaining in a thread about the topic to which the title was fair warning enough.

The next worst after that is people complaining about other people complaining ;-)

[FireOath 290]

I disagree. I reckon the club were just as filthy on him as we were, but had to play a straight bat in public. Roos did refer to him as our best player at some stage last year. I seriously doubt he was happy to lose him.

I think it was more seeking the best compensation possible?

[dee-eee 231]

So it's bad of us to do it but it's ok for us to do it? FMD.

Gee you're a hard marker Moonie . I'm no Nelson Mandela . Surely you can allow me the SINGLE exception of the greatest double-crosser in the history of the MFC .

[ManDee 7,101]

In my opinion with the most recent scumbags to double cross us (you know who I mean) we have won in the deals.

So I refuse to cry over Scark or Clully.

[Moonshadow 16,659]

In my opinion with the most recent scumbags to double cross us (you know who I mean) we have won in the deals.

So I refuse to cry over Scark or Clully.

Got a better deal out of Chip leaving too IMO.