2 hours ago, picket fence said:

People with opinions!

On here then LOL.

1 hour ago, watchtheeyes said:

Seriously this whole thread is a sad indictment on the mindset of large swathes of the Melbourne supporter base..

Tom Morris.. Tom Morris, off all people, throws out an unsourced piece of ambulance chasing “journalism” and such is the desperate despair of the MFC fans, we immediately accept it as fact, reach for our pitchforks and seek to burn the barn down.

Get a grip. 

Not only accept it as fact, but it also magically becomes incontrovertible proof of all that is supposedley wrong with the club.

It feels a bit like the one day stock market crash the other day that had maga so excited - finally proof of the inevitable biden/harris economic collapse they had long predicted!

Nek minnit, stocks stabilise and it's crickets.

I don't doubt tracc and his family are, or were, frustrated with how the club handled his injury.

To be honest I think it was yet another example of our poor comms and crisis management, not dissimilar to the mismanagement on the comms front (my view) of clarrys hamstring and associated noise last year

I'm hoping the new comms person sorts our issues in this space because for mine it is a recurring problem. 

But rather than allowing a tool like Morris pull my strings, I'll lean into known facts.

Which include the fact that petty, kolt, Windsor, koz, mcvee, turner, jvr, Jefferson  and langers have all signed new contracts recently.

That fact suggests it's a pretty good environment.

Perfect? Of course not. Footy clubs never are. 

And another fact is there was similar noise and hand wringing (both in the media and ondemonland), in fact much louder, about clarry leaving after our crappy 2020 season.

Ditto viney to the cats and koz to the crows.

Every season there is such noise - particularly during down years.

Where there's smoke there's rarely fire. 

I gave up worrying about losing players after Gerard Healy left. Of course I'd be gutted if we lost tracc, but I'm not going to waste a scintilla of energy worrying about it.

Edited August 12, 20241 yr by binman

14 minutes ago, DeeSpencer said:

Devils advocate here:

But if we can't trade Oliver, can't trade Fritsch for fair value, can't get enough picks or cap space to bring in players and hit the draft effectively is there not some value to trading Tracc if the price is absolutely the top of the market? By that I mean a proven young player and a very high pick.

I just worry Tracc's lack of tank and dodgy kicking means he isn't the midfielder he once was and he's always going to be a bit iffy as a forward with his set shots.

I think the preferred option is a retool and build around what we have and Tracc is the number 1 piece of that but if we can't make moves that improve both our draft and trade hands it is going to be very difficult to pull off.

The club is right to say he's untradeable but with our list the way it is nothing should be truly off the table.

Hang on, why do you want to trade Trac, but not Clarry?

1 hour ago, Fork 'em said:

And ... 'Crickets'.

If I choose not to reply to the poster formerly known as Jimmy Gadsden that’s my prerogative. He was a [censored] then and he’s a [censored] now. That is all. 

23 minutes ago, Ted Lasso said:

How this bloke got another gig in the media after his shameful comments and treatment of women is baffling, the guy is a joke. 

Shame on the media for employing him. Shame on us for taking notice of what he says.

27 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Yes because he was in isolation, hence nobody was allowed to visit him. Maybe he’s upset that the club didn’t maintain contact with him while he was in isolation. That makes more sense. 
Imagine Goody turning up and giving Trac a secondary infection. Tom Morris would be frothing! 

Do we know he was in isolation? That would be unusual... (I know a bit about splenectomies)

2 hours ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Peter Jackson who ran a tight and disciplined ship.

Is badly missed 'dazz', the Premiership was won on his back & others have used up the good will.

5 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

Apparently Max Gawn told him to ‘man the f up’ and get back out on the field when he was injured, and that Goody gave him a spray because he went down to the rooms instead of staying out on the ground at quarter time

if he wants out, he wants out

no point having a player who doesn't want to be there

Apparently.....

 

Imagine how much bigger the story might have been if Tom Morris had discovered that Petracca is really happy with how the club is travelling right now!

 

 

 

It’s a [censored] rumour FFS !!!!!

12 minutes ago, frankie_d said:

Do we know he was in isolation? That would be unusual... (I know a bit about splenectomies)

He was definitely in isolation. They couldn’t take any chances since him picking up an infection would’ve been catastrophic. For the first week or so it was only Bella who was allowed to visit him. Then his parents were permitted.

Edited August 12, 20241 yr by WalkingCivilWar
Added pic

11 minutes ago, Binmans PA said:

Hang on, why do you want to trade Trac, but not Clarry?

I said 'can't trade Oliver'. There's a world where there's no deal at all for Oliver, or at least no deal that's worth taking.

I know trading Tracc would be the nuclear option but I feel like we have to do something pretty drastic to change the balance of the list and add some more midfield skill and run. It certainly wouldn't be my preferred option but I wouldn't entirely rule it out

Corn " Kozzie going to Adelaide.   Signs for another 4 years a few weeks later.

Raalph " Sparrow going to play hardball with Demons foe new contract.... Signs extension a couple of hours later.

Morris, Say no more.

Tracc may well be concerned with the direction the club is taking, so are 75% of the posters on here. A good opportunity to sit down with the club and put forward his concerns, may be the best result for everyone. Doesn't mean he actually wants to leave.

I’ve read some terrible threads on here 

and this is one of them

I'm with Garry Lyon ... I want to hear it from Petracca, not Tom Morris.

43 minutes ago, WalkingCivilWar said:

If I choose not to reply to the poster formerly known as Jimmy Gadsden that’s my prerogative. He was a [censored] then and he’s a [censored] now. That is all. 

I'm quite content with having the ability to express an individual view on our club, no matter whether it gels with others or not. 

Something that can't be said about you. 

And like dazzler said, it seems I live rent free in your head! Happy to do so! Catch. 

 

 

3 hours ago, Flowergirl said:

Where are you getting your mail from?

I will help you out Flowergirl. Picket Fence knows Bernie Dunn and Bernie Sheedy. Bernie Sheehy coached Essendon Reserves under Kevin Sheedy and coached Fitzroy Reserves. Both Bernie Dunn and Bernie Sheehy have strong connections with the Melbourne Football Club.

I'm a bit more old fashioned and go to the people are involved inside the club. I went to the AFLW match between Carlton and Melbourne last Friday afternoon and had a quick discussion with Todd Patterson but he didn't give me much information when I asked him to get straight to the point. 

However, I did speak with Tim Lamb when we played against the Giants and had a good discussion with him during half time. But I don't come on here and tell everyone what he told me. There are so many variables will change between now until draft night. 

2 hours ago, Dee Boys said:

A major part of the Petraccas’ frustration was the isolation. In the first 10 days following the injury he had not seen anyone other than his parents and his fiancee.

Another example of how AFL related media looks to construct a narrative via the use of selective innuendo style reporting to up it's online traffic via click bait.

In Tracc's own words he was advised to remain in isolation for a number of weeks following surgery due to the spleen being compromised.

While this report got the "No visitors were allowed other than his parents and fiance' " and "frustration" parts correct, they conveniently exclude that he also (reluctantly) accepted the necessity for the isolation in the weeks following the injury & surgery.

It is my understanding that the club also remained in regular contact, looking out for his interest at all times,  during this period of isolation.  This part was also omitted in the above report.

Edited August 12, 20241 yr by Demon Dynasty

One things that is irrefutable is our game style this year is shocking. So much so the unexplainable drop offs in games, lack of intensity, walk out front of stoppage style defensive [censored] actually is the playing group crying out, not believing in the game plan and method. This does make sense. 

By extension , it also does start to explain Oliver’s frustration , potentially Tracs frustration and god knows how many other players. Now none of this is proven but the talk of Viney, Trac , Oliver all in a matter of weeks is not all all made up - maybe it’s blown out of proportion- but I certainly think something stinks.

 

 

2 minutes ago, Gawndy the Great said:

One things that is irrefutable is our game style this year is shocking. So much so the unexplainable drop offs in games, lack of intensity, walk out front of stoppage style defensive [censored] actually is the playing group crying out, not believing in the game plan and method. This does make sense. 

By extension , it also does start to explain Oliver’s frustration , potentially Tracs frustration and god knows how many other players. Now none of this is proven but the talk of Viney, Trac , Oliver all in a matter of weeks is not all all made up - maybe it’s blown out of proportion- but I certainly think something stinks.

 

 

Is it too soon to ask if McQualter is the right guy?

10 minutes ago, Storm Boy said:

I will help you out Flowergirl. Picket Fence knows Bernie Dunn and Bernie Sheedy. Bernie Sheehy coached Essendon Reserves under Kevin Sheedy and coached Fitzroy Reserves. Both Bernie Dunn and Bernie Sheehy have strong connections with the Melbourne Football Club.

I'm a bit more old fashioned and go to the people are involved inside the club. I went to the AFLW match between Carlton and Melbourne last Friday afternoon and had a quick discussion with Todd Patterson but he didn't give me much information when I asked him to get straight to the point. 

However, I did speak with Tim Lamb when we played against the Giants and had a good discussion with him during half time. But I don't come on here and tell everyone what he told me. There are so many variables will change between now until draft night. 

I get you cannot share specifics, but how did you feel walking away from that conversation? Optimistic, nervous, shocked?

6 hours ago, MurDoc516 said:

If you told Petracca he would be playing with the likes of McAdam, Billings, Fullarton, Schache post 2021 GF win he would ask why he was traded to North.

Our recruitment has been so [censored] bad it's insane.

Other than mcadam, the others were depth player bought for a packet of chips. When you lose trac, Oliver unfit and max for parts no team can sustain that ... can you imagine pies without nick and pendles and a few others ...

I remember Goody kept on telling us that Jackson was staying . Supposing Tracc wants out that is sending a message to other players not to come to this club. Roffey and Pert must step in before we go back to the dark ages. 

First area for the club to sack is whoever is looking after the long-term-injury players… that program has eaten up Clarry and Trac in the space of 12 months!