Speaking of preseason, anyone knows when it starts for us? 

4 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

 

Picket, your training threads - and all training threads - are great value.

I would just restate   this

Let's hope Max grows some balls and has a crack also

 

Get's bullied too much 

On 11/11/2023 at 17:36, rjay said:

I'm a big believer in the Alan Jeans school too 'picket'...give 'em nothing.

The most boring press conferences in the history of AFL were Jeansy's..

...but alas 'picket', 'titan' is right, we're living in a different time.

Players now have responsibilities to promote the game and the club.

I really hope we see none of the BS like tough love, we've turned the corner, last year really hurt, we've learned our lessons kind of stuff.

Max gave none of that, just a few generic comments, no promises.

 

Brayshaw should have done an interview.... Yeh right

16 hours ago, SthSea22 said:

Let's hope Max grows some balls and has a crack also

 

Get's bullied too much 

Thanks for forcing a horrible visual image on me.

On 13/11/2023 at 08:24, layzie said:

One of the best captains we've had. 

I still reckon David Neitz was certainly the beat I've seen in my time.

For a club that went through so much off field turmoil his ability to galvanise the playing group and achieve what we did with little to zero assistance from the AFL, no training facilities and a coach that was always under internal scrutiny. 

I also loved how Neitz was such a fierce presence on the field and was the first to run in and stick up for teammates at all times. Him and the Ox were very similar in this approach. Any defender that sat in the hole would cop an absolute knee from a charging David Neitz and you could tell that would lift his teammates. 

Some would say that before that Garry Lyon was one of the best Melbourne Captain we've had since the 60's also.

Edited November 13, 20231 yr by dazzledavey36

I have no doubt we'll train the house down and tough love will be enacted. If you believe analysts like David King, we train the hardest in the league. Who remembers the fellas doing running drills after the praccy match V St Kilda in blistering 32 degree heat.

The results from rounds 1-9 speak for themselves over the last 2 years as we jump out like a rocket in the practice matches and generally have our dominant wins in the first couple of months. For example this year our early season wins over the Dogs and Sydney were first class and we also walloped North by almost 100 points.

It's after round 9 (2022) and/or finals (2022 and 2023) that the club loses its way somewhat and fades in the final 300 metres down the straight.

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I still reckon David Neitz was certainly the beat I've seen in my time.

For a club that went through so much off field turmoil his ability to galvanise the playing group and achieve what we did with little to zero assistance from the AFL, no training facilities and a coach that was always under internal scrutiny. 

I also loved how Neitz was such a fierce presence on the field and was the first to run in and stick up for teammates at all times. Him and the Ox were very similar in this approach. Any defender that sat in the hole would cop an absolute knee from a charging David Neitz and you could tell that would lift his teammates. 

Some would say that before that Garry Lyon was one of the best Melbourne Captain we've had since the 60's also.

David N was for the most part a great competitor. Just burst packs apart. Never noticed the captaincy, but I was not around much then.

G Lyon on the other hand had so much skill, When he played we played like we had an extra player in the team and the players responded.  When he was missing, even though there was a replacement, we were playing one short.

 

just my view from my side of the fence

3 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I still reckon David Neitz was certainly the beat I've seen in my time.

For a club that went through so much off field turmoil his ability to galvanise the playing group and achieve what we did with little to zero assistance from the AFL, no training facilities and a coach that was always under internal scrutiny. 

I also loved how Neitz was such a fierce presence on the field and was the first to run in and stick up for teammates at all times. Him and the Ox were very similar in this approach. Any defender that sat in the hole would cop an absolute knee from a charging David Neitz and you could tell that would lift his teammates. 

Some would say that before that Garry Lyon was one of the best Melbourne Captain we've had since the 60's also.

He’s right up there.

The thing I love about Neita’s story is the leader that he became in his time as skipper. Plenty of off-field turmoil as you mentioned, the Crown incident and the age-old argument that you ‘cannot captain a team from full forward’ to contend with but I believe his leadership improved each year. They all walked taller with Neitz as captain. 

Garry was the best natural leader we had in my time. Connected so well with others and well respected in the league captaining Victoria one year.

 

1 hour ago, layzie said:

He’s right up there.

The thing I love about Neita’s story is the leader that he became in his time as skipper. Plenty of off-field turmoil as you mentioned, the Crown incident and the age-old argument that you ‘cannot captain a team from full forward’ to contend with but I believe his leadership improved each year. They all walked taller with Neitz as captain. 

Garry was the best natural leader we had in my time. Connected so well with others and well respected in the league captaining Victoria one year.

 

Flawed argument given captaincy is not just about 3 hours or so on gameday. My view has always been that the gameday component of captaincy is only a small part of the role.  

39 minutes ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Flawed argument given captaincy is not just about 3 hours or so on gameday. My view has always been that the gameday component of captaincy is only a small part of the role.  

I never liked it either, it ranks alongside the argument that you need to be big in stature to be a captain. 

4 hours ago, Bring-Back-Powell said:

I have no doubt we'll train the house down and tough love will be enacted. If you believe analysts like David King, we train the hardest in the league. Who remembers the fellas doing running drills after the praccy match V St Kilda in blistering 32 degree heat.

The results from rounds 1-9 speak for themselves over the last 2 years as we jump out like a rocket in the practice matches and generally have our dominant wins in the first couple of months. For example this year our early season wins over the Dogs and Sydney were first class and we also walloped North by almost 100 points.

It's after round 9 (2022) and/or finals (2022 and 2023) that the club loses its way somewhat and fades in the final 300 metres down the straight.

Don’t agree that 2022 and 2023 can be seen in the same light.

Whilst I get the straight sets outcomes in both seasons I think our 2022 form after Rd 11 is vastly different to our 2023 form from Rd 11 was different.

We were banged up in 2022 and didn’t rest the players, 2023 injuries to Melk and Petty were just poor luck. Think both those ins give a different dimension to our forward set up

What a trashfire this thread is. 🤣

Ah well.

On ya everyone.

2 hours ago, layzie said:

I never liked it either, it ranks alongside the argument that you need to be big in stature to be a captain. 

Or the argument that you have to be your team's best player. Sometimes that works (James Hird) and sometimes it doesn't (Gary Ablett Sr). Conversely, some of the best captains were clearly nowhere near that team's best player (Tom Harley, Nick Maxwell).

We had a teacher at school (in the MFC heydays of the 1950s) whose used to say (pardon my Latin if not strictly parsed) "res non verba"  which he said meant "deeds not words".  

Maybe MFC needs such a motto.

Demon fans' motto should be "illegitimi non carborundum".  

Ahhh debating Latin mottoes, this is what I love about Demonland

On 10/11/2023 at 09:47, Checker Mate said:

Am I missing something here ?
Max is the ONLY one that I have seen so far that has admitted that there are some issues that need addressing. Yes, he said that the culture is pretty good BUT there are some things that need to be looked at. That is a helluva lot more than Goodwin & Pert said. They just kept the line going about great culture & nothing to see here.
As for May: FFS, he was at a CLUB function, having had a few beers (by his own admission when he was interviewed at the time) and made a comment from the heart to HIS people (not the general football public), If not then, when the hell CAN he say something ?  He has now said "okay, probably could have chosen my words better" which should appease all the butt hurt [censored] out there. If not, WGAF ?
At the end of the day, the proof will be in the pudding, but slagging off players for actually answering questions ain't helping anyone.

There was absolutely no problem with May making those comments. And, as you say, particularly in that company. 

On 12/11/2023 at 10:15, jnrmac said:

Been watching some 2021 games.

Thee is no doubt we played with more freedom in 2021. We were extremely unselfish and looked for other players nearly every time. Lots of pats on the back, helping players up when they were on the ground, stepping in when an oppo player was trying to be tough etc

That care for our team mates and 'selflessness' disappeared in 2023. Maybe the 2021 hub was conducive to playing like that but thats what we have to get back to.

 

Bit unfair. Smith helped Weitering up.

There are two highways to hell . . . one of them is for any sane person who reads this thread.

9 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

I still reckon David Neitz was certainly the beat I've seen in my time.

For a club that went through so much off field turmoil his ability to galvanise the playing group and achieve what we did with little to zero assistance from the AFL, no training facilities and a coach that was always under internal scrutiny. 

I also loved how Neitz was such a fierce presence on the field and was the first to run in and stick up for teammates at all times. Him and the Ox were very similar in this approach. Any defender that sat in the hole would cop an absolute knee from a charging David Neitz and you could tell that would lift his teammates. 

Some would say that before that Garry Lyon was one of the best Melbourne Captain we've had since the 60's also.

I also think Nathan Jones should be mentioned, he was such a gigantic figure when the club was absolutely on it's knees, it's a real shame he wasn't out there in 2021

On 14/11/2023 at 17:51, monoccular said:

We had a teacher at school (in the MFC heydays of the 1950s) whose used to say (pardon my Latin if not strictly parsed) "res non verba"  which he said meant "deeds not words".  

Maybe MFC needs such a motto.

If it's to be it's up to me