Agree. The red and blue look bloody fantastic.

Best looking Guernsey in the competition.

I might be little biased..

I am sure only a little.

Amazing how good just RED and blue looks!

Vice Captains don't tend to nearly end teammates' careers by concussing them at training, nor do they drop knees in to teammates' kidneys or give away stupid free kicks and 50m penalties being idiots on match day. Hopefully Dunn knows this.

Not sure if he was ever Vice Captain, was definitely in the Leadership Group at the time, but I recall Corey McKernan plastering Matt Capuano's nose across his face during a training drill at Norf. Two rucks vying for the one spot, the old bull "teaching" the young bull how to give yourself the best chance of obtaining said spot.

I have read it on here about Dunn tackling Bail when he was off-limits - can someone who was actually at training that day back this up?

The story with kneeing Viney - would Viney want it any other way?

Not a Dunn apologist, but as with a number of things on here, I am taking it with a grain of salt.

FWIW, the training session I went to at Maroochydore, I stood at the fence within arms reach of a group of players during one drill. Was good to hear them talking/encouraging/instructing during a drill - stuff you don't get to read about on DL or see on TV. This particular drill, Jetta was scrapping the hell out of each of his opponents, probably 30 metres or so from where I (and the group) were standing. At least four of the players were yelling out to Jetta to stop it as it was deemed a "non contact" drill. Terlich, who was in the group, explained that Jetta does this during a game and never gives away a free kick so he keeps doing it. The talk went from a few players yelling at Jetta to stop the contact, to yelling at his opponent to "fcuking punch him". A member of our 2015 Leadership Group was among those yelling.

In regards to the LG, I think it's a great group. They are a group of mature bodies who, I hope, reagardless of the game status (ie on the line, we're getting smashed, or god forbid, us smashing someone), none of them will put the cue in the rack, and will play "team first" footy, rather than worrying about individual KPI's and trying to impress (and earn the respect of) fellow teammates, something that younger leaders often feel obliged to do.

Our record of nominating and developing leaders in recent years has been nothing short of abysmal, and I remain sceptical that this group is a significant improvement on previous years.

Jones is the stand out player and leader on our list, and deserves to be stand alone captain. Dunn, thankfully, seems to be far removed from the player who gave us mediocre performances interspersed with moronic actions over the first 8 years of his career and deserves his title. Grimes is also clearly a leader, and I am glad he remains part of the leadership group, but clearly he needs to step up as a player this year.

After that, I'm not so sure. Dawes proved with his two shameful suspensions last year that he is not a leader, and I'm disappointed that Roos hasn't given him a roasting for these. Lumumba has not played a game for the club and was shown the door by his previous club for not toeing the party line - what part of that says leader?. I love Cross and the way he approaches his footy but, if he is still a walk up start by round 23, it will be a fair sign that none of our fringe midfielders have stepped up.

Getting excited about the season TGR?

Not like I once did Fan.

At this time of the year, I feel like Bill Murray, seeing the clock hit 6:00; with Sonny and Cher belting out "I got you babe".

Ross Lyon and Paul Roos are my 2 favoured coaches in the AFL, but I am still not convinced they have unlocked offence. I don't know if it is in their DNA to be frank. Maybe Goodwin might have an influence here....who knows. Garlett and H taking them on will be great, and the MFC might finally register in the stat "bounces" and "metres gained without kicking".

I incorrectly predicted Port would not sustain their success they enjoyed the year after their McCartney year. I hope I am incorrect with my hunch that it might be a year of slight improvement at best. In 2014, it was amazing how much went our way with opposition club players with selection (injury and suspension and influential players playing seconds (T.Walker, Garlett, Robinson, Waite etc....). We wont have it that good in 2015.

I will enjoy watching Frawley on Friday night footy in the heat of battle in the brown and gold; and watching Clarkson swear his ass off in the phone after another turn-over.

Happy for chunk and dunny, should form a good duo

Perfect leadership group.

It's funny, under the new guard (Roos, PJ etc), I no longer find myself thinking the club is doing 'curious' or 'interesting' things.

It now just makes common sense, almost boringly obvious/measured decisions, about pretty well everything.

This is just another example.

Not like I once did Fan.

Yep, the same. I'm sick of waiting for the kids and sick of leaving home to go to the game wondering if I'm going to the footy or the dentist.

Either way it's got to be done.

Perfect leadership group.

It's funny, under the new guard (Roos, PJ etc), I no longer find myself thinking the club is doing 'curious' or 'interesting' things.

It now just makes common sense, almost boringly obvious/measured decisions, about pretty well everything.

This is just another example.

Not perfect, nothing is perfect but agree with your sentiments. No left field decisions and no surprises. The positive response from supporters tells the story. On its own not a big deal but just another example that the club is getting it right. Slowly changing the perception of the club and creating a feeling of confidence and stability.

Not perfect, nothing is perfect but agree with your sentiments. No left field decisions and no surprises. The positive response from supporters tells the story. On its own not a big deal but just another example that the club is getting it right. Slowly changing the perception of the club and creating a feeling of confidence and stability.

Earnestly spoken.

Earnestly spoken.

That's important

Lumumba has not played a game for the club and was shown the door by his previous club for not toeing the party line - what part of that says leader?.

You and i obviously have different definitions of what a leader is. A follower mindlessly toes the party line. A leader refuses to be a sheep and stands up for what they believe in.

Anyway, different strokes for different folks.

Our record of nominating and developing leaders in recent years has been nothing short of abysmal, and I remain sceptical that this group is a significant improvement on previous years.

Lumumba has not played a game for the club and was shown the door by his previous club for not toeing the party line - what part of that says leader?. I love Cross and the way he approaches his footy but, if he is still a walk up start by round 23, it will be a fair sign that none of our fringe midfielders have stepped up.

On Lumumba, didn't realise we were selecting our LG based on what collingwood thought of players? If you haven't figured out yet, Buckley and lumumba are two extremely different types which caused his exit. I'm pretty sure roos would be selecting this group based on his own interactions with the individuals, and what they have done at the mfc. And every single action of cross screams out leader, follow me, this is how it's done. He played great footy last year, and if our youth can grab anything from anyone, I hope it's cross's professionalism. That's why he's in the leadership group.

I am sure only a little.

Amazing how good just RED and blue looks!

Agree that the "Red & Blue" jumper look fantastic and it is a distinctively unique combination of guernsey design and colours! On this basis, can anybody explain to me why we need an 'away' jumper?

Our record of nominating and developing leaders in recent years has been nothing short of abysmal, and I remain sceptical that this group is a significant improvement on previous years.

Jones is the stand out player and leader on our list, and deserves to be stand alone captain. Dunn, thankfully, seems to be far removed from the player who gave us mediocre performances interspersed with moronic actions over the first 8 years of his career and deserves his title. Grimes is also clearly a leader, and I am glad he remains part of the leadership group, but clearly he needs to step up as a player this year.

After that, I'm not so sure. Dawes proved with his two shameful suspensions last year that he is not a leader, and I'm disappointed that Roos hasn't given him a roasting for these. Lumumba has not played a game for the club and was shown the door by his previous club for not toeing the party line - what part of that says leader?. I love Cross and the way he approaches his footy but, if he is still a walk up start by round 23, it will be a fair sign that none of our fringe midfielders have stepped up.

Dawes' first suspension was a block gone wrong. The second was silly, but again it was hardly a blatant act of thuggery. I can't believe he was suspended for the first one, which then hurt him for the second which could've been a reprimand. Either way, he was actually playing with some spirit and energy, if more of our players did this we'd win a lot more games even with guys missing through suspensions.

Cross doesn't have to be a walk up start to be in the leadership group.

Lumumba was shown the door by Buckley at a club where the coach doesn't have control over his playing group. I'm not sure he even has respect for or from the senior collingwood players although most are now gone. It's unlikely any of the issues he had at Collingwood will arise at Melbourne but likely that he'll do all the things that had him a leader at Collingwood for so many years.

That's important

Back from the wildes

WB fans are still filthy that they got rid of him after 2013..

Ask any of them and not one single bad word to say about Crossy. They still love him and respect him highly.

Reminds me of Junior. I bet you would not find one Melbourne supporter who has a bad word to say about him.

Culture killer for the WB? Lost their captain and coach as well. They could be in for some lean years.

On Lumumba, didn't realise we were selecting our LG based on what collingwood thought of players? If you haven't figured out yet, Buckley and lumumba are two extremely different types which caused his exit. I'm pretty sure roos would be selecting this group based on his own interactions with the individuals, and what they have done at the mfc. And every single action of cross screams out leader, follow me, this is how it's done. He played great footy last year, and if our youth can grab anything from anyone, I hope it's cross's professionalism. That's why he's in the leadership group.

FWIW - my husband and daughter(Collingwood supporters) are furious that they lost Lumumba. Its a big win for us. Having suffered through many Melbourne/ Collingwood clashes, it always made me nervous when he got his hands on the ball. I think he will be a good leader and I'm happy he is in the LG.

Reminds me of Junior. I bet you would not find one Melbourne supporter who has a bad word to say about him.

Culture killer for the WB? Lost their captain and coach as well. They could be in for some lean years.

Biggest difference, Cross' career was not done and dusted. Our visually impaired friend, Frederick, could see Cross still had something to give. That same chap could clearly see that Junior didn't.

Juniors case wasn't about why the did it, it's about how. For Cross and the Dogs, it's both.

Ironic that on the same day Melbourne announces their leadership group that Cricket South Australia appoint a 21yo capt.

SA get lauded in some reports for having the guts and foresight to appoint a young capt to lead them into the future when older wiser options where available.

While Melbourne get the tick of approval for going with a more experienced leadership group this time after the “ failure “ in appointing young unproven captains in the years before???