Hey all,

Went to a footy club function tonight, as did a few fellow demonlanders.

Bev spoke, followed by El Presidente, Daniher and Paul Williams.

A few of the take away messages as I saw them were:

1. Club will be in new premises 2009/2010

2. The Board is acutely aware of our status as a financially disadvantaged side. They are working on many initiatives to remedy it. Nothing new, but good to see that there are people who spend every working minute making our club better. If you can donate to the MFC Foundation, do so! It's tax deductible.

3. We really are coming from a very disadvantaged position in terms of our ability to put a team on the park each week and for the team to be constantly focused on the job at hand. THEY weren't making excuses as such, just presenting facts. Facts such as: We only get access to junction Oval at Round 2 of the season. Before that point we train at Sany, Whitten Oval, Prices Park, Trinity in Kew. Meanwhile, our base is over 2 floors at the MCG and Junction, when we do get it, is too small. Sometimes we get a bit too forgetful of the impact of these things. Paul Williams copared it to Sydney's facilities in 2000 (similar to ours now) and their current state of the art facilities, and mentioned the difference it makes.

4. We are not throwing it in for 2008. We are still trying to make the finals.

5. Daniher knows full well that some of the blokes in the side are not performing as they should and/or may not be up to it. PJ will be persevered with to see if he can answer the question mark over his head as to whether he can play. Fergs is "too slow for full back" and "too weak for the big forwards", and whilst he isn't bad at CHB, Rivers is better.

6. I asked Neale whether he is confident Melbourne players are as hungry 4 the ball as their opponents. He dodged it, except to say that when a bloke like Garland is on a bloke like Leo Barry, who is going to look better?

7. Warnock is going to be looked at - Neale didn't say it, but I suspect this week.

8. Neale dodged the question about whether he would be coaching the dees next year, except to say that planning for 2008 goes on irrespective, as planning has always gone on for the year after he is out of contract.

9. Solid evening, good fingerfood, plenty of (Luke) beverages.

All in all, not that eventful, but there you go!

Thanks for the info.

Any word on whether Newton might be a chance this week?

  Choko said:

5. Daniher knows full well that some of the blokes in the side are not performing as they should and/or may not be up to it. PJ will be persevered with to see if he can answer the question mark over his head as to whether he can play. Fergs is "too slow for full back" and "too weak for the big forwards", and whilst he isn't bad at CHB, Rivers is better.

Did Neale actually say this?!

Refreshingly honest but wouldn't do Fergs confidence any good with the senior coach 'outing him' like that.

  Tequila Mockingbird said:

Did Neale actually say this?!

Refreshingly honest but wouldn't do Fergs confidence any good with the senior coach 'outing him' like that.

Yes, Neale did say that. He is a refreshingly honest character most of the time, and he said it's something Fergs knows because he told him too!

Said nothign about Newton, but we will be having a look at Warnock.

  Choko said:

Yes, Neale did say that. He is a refreshingly honest character most of the time, and he said it's something Fergs knows because he told him too!

Said nothign about Newton, but we will be having a look at Warnock.

Well, if nothing else, at least the coach is realistic about some of his players. Not that it takes a genius to realise Ferguson's flaws. I love his courage, but his negatives far outweigh his courage.

I'm hoping that Juice hasn't missed the boat with the return of Neita this week. Would be keen to see them drop the extra ruckman (probably Jamar going by what you said), and bring in Newton. The output won't decrease much, that's for sure. <_<

Thanks for the report on the function Choko.....

It was informative especially since some of us can never really attend these things

I really appreciate the effort and the opinion .

  QueenC said:

Thanks for the report on the function Choko.....

It was informative especially since some of us can never really attend these things

I really appreciate the effort and the opinion .

I was there as well and can confirm most of what Choko said other than the latter part about questions asked (I had to duck out and go to another function). Neale mentioned Warnock as a chance because the club needed to see what he could do under AFL match conditions.

No mention of Newton. He was pretty confident that Neita who trained well today, would make be cleared for this week's game. Brad Green to miss another week. James Frawley is likely to play this week at Sandy and if he progresses as hoped, could be in the red and blue within 2 or 3 weeks.

He didn't talk in a defeatist frame at all and emphasized that we're only 5 weeks in and we will get the bulk of our team back over the next few weeks.

For mine, I'd still go with Newton but I think if this was the club's intention, then Neale would have announced it. That suggests to me that the FD thinks he might still have a few things to prove to them before he gets his chance.

BTW - it was a function for members of the legal profession including some judges. Probably explains why there were plenty of beverages there.

(Thinks: geez I hope I don't get hauled up for contempt of court for that)

Good to hear ND is open to seriously see what some of thses guys can do.. im on the play Juice first bandwagon, but certainly wont cringe should Warnock get the nod.

lets see more of it.

  Whispering_Jack said:

I was there as well and can confirm most of what Choko said other than the latter part about questions asked (I had to duck out and go to another function).......

Cheers Jack !!!

  QueenC said:

Cheers Jack !!!

Well Jack, there were a lot of beverages before you slipped out!

The worst thing about going to a function for lawyers is that you have to spend your time with lawyers!

The only other thing Neale said was that we are deliberately putting ourselves in a position to try to poach a big name (i.e. we will have a lot of room in next year's cap). Matthew Reiwoldt and Frank Judd were the examples Danners used (perhaps W_J gave him one too many reds! The difficulty in the past has been the lack of attractiveness of our facilities, but the 2009 plan is going to be extremely appealing to prospects.

And yes, Neale is very excited about Frawley - thinks he may play seniors in 3 weeks, and is gong to be a super gun. He also said that he sees Sylvia more as a power forward than a midfielder. I found that peculiar.

Regarding yesterday's Herald Sun article, Neale said "Yes, I thought I wrote that one very well!!!"

  Choko said:

Well Jack, there were a lot of beverages before you slipped out!

The worst thing about going to a function for lawyers is that you have to spend your time with lawyers!

The only other thing Neale said was that we are deliberately putting ourselves in a position to try to poach a big name (i.e. we will have a lot of room in next year's cap). Matthew Reiwoldt and Frank Judd were the examples Danners used (perhaps W_J gave him one too many reds! The difficulty in the past has been the lack of attractiveness of our facilities, but the 2009 plan is going to be extremely appealing to prospects.

And yes, Neale is very excited about Frawley - thinks he may play seniors in 3 weeks, and is gong to be a super gun. He also said that he sees Sylvia more as a power forward than a midfielder. I found that peculiar.

Regarding yesterday's Herald Sun article, Neale said "Yes, I thought I wrote that one very well!!!"

The best way to grab a great player is to have first crack in the pre-season draft....

  Choko said:

Hey all,

Went to a footy club function tonight, as did a few fellow demonlanders.

Bev spoke, followed by El Presidente, Daniher and Paul Williams.

........

All in all, not that eventful, but there you go!

Thanks Choko for your diligence on this front and it is apppreciated.

  Choko said:

3. We really are coming from a very disadvantaged position in terms of our ability to put a team on the park each week and for the team to be constantly focused on the job at hand. THEY weren't making excuses as such, just presenting facts. Facts such as: We only get access to junction Oval at Round 2 of the season. Before that point we train at Sany, Whitten Oval, Prices Park, Trinity in Kew. Meanwhile, our base is over 2 floors at the MCG and Junction, when we do get it, is too small. Sometimes we get a bit too forgetful of the impact of these things. Paul Williams copared it to Sydney's facilities in 2000 (similar to ours now) and their current state of the art facilities, and mentioned the difference it makes.

4. We are not throwing it in for 2008. We are still trying to make the finals.

5. Daniher knows full well that some of the blokes in the side are not performing as they should and/or may not be up to it. PJ will be persevered with to see if he can answer the question mark over his head as to whether he can play. Fergs is "too slow for full back" and "too weak for the big forwards", and whilst he isn't bad at CHB, Rivers is better.

What is the details of our agreement with the MCC re: Junction Oval.

Surely the board could come up with a better short term arangement for next year.

Is there any avenue for us having both administration and football departments at the MCG as well as training there? What is the MCC's position?

We were the same entity at one stage, isn't there scope to reunite?

  QueenC said:

Cheers Jack !!!

QueenC a QC?

How did I miss that one?

There was an interesting conversation before the start of proceedings in which it was put to Paul Williams whether he noticed the difference between Magpie and Swans supporters at the clubs he played for and Demon supporters and whether he thought Melbourne players were affected by the fact that Demon supporters are so fickle and so much less passionate and feral compared to say the Collingwood supporters. He answered it quite diplomatically by saying it had no effect on the players but I wonder.

The question came up in a discussion on the differences between Liverpool supporters (fanatical like Collingwood) and those from Chelsea (well played number 9).

IMO I think it's pathetic that our supporters don't come out in force when the team's down and that it's an embarrassment that we managed such a poor crowd against the Dockers a fortnight ago. I hope we can give the boys abit more support this week against a club that has never beaten us at the MCG.

And just to add to the occasion I'd like to see fans come out and contribute to our Demonland/Demonology Sponsorship of Clint Bartram by turning up at the Mountain View Hotel at 12 noon on Sunday for our first function of the year. Cost of sponsorship is $110.00 and all money goes to the MFC. You can pay by drip feed method if you're short of cash.

The big incentive should be that every time we have one of these functions, for some reason the team plays inspired football that day. A few years ago we beat Carlton by a record 105 points on one of our function days. Last year we won both times we had our function. There's apparently some magical vibe that we establish in the two hours before the game that gets the team firing.

See you there!