How often over the last decade has the MFC suffered the embarrassment of carrying these tags?

It was recognised by ND that our playing group lacked hardness so we went about correcting it by recruiting McLean, Silvia, Whelan, Pickett, Jones, Holland, Bell, Moloney, Rivers and Carroll. Add to that list other hard at it players such as Miller, McDonald, Neitz, Godfrey, Bizzell, Brown and Ferguson and you have a nucleus of a group of players that will win hard ball contests, not shirk an issue and put unrelenting pressure on opponents.

Great theory but why do we continually fall into playing lame football like we saw last Friday night? That sort of insepid, weak and soft football is something that the MFC has put on show probably 3 or 4 times a year for the past decade. But why? Can we blame the coach for not pumping up the group before the game and making sure they are focussed on what needs to be done? Is it the players getting into a comfort zone (hard to believe when you are 2 and 9) or is it a cancerous culture of backslappers around the club that accept mediocrity?

We know that our players are not physically insepid, weak or soft but what about their mental toughness? The new coach must be tough and uncomprising and fix this problem once and for all. I want the MFC to be feared by opposition teams regardless of where we are on the ladder so they know they will be in for a tough encounter. And as supporters we deserve the right to go to the game and expect that our players will put it all on the line and leave nothing on the field week in and week out.

As the MFC enter a new era I want this tag dropped once and for all!

I think ND made a fundamental error over the summer by allowing some key players to lose weight to enable them to play the fast run/carry game. Unfortunately, due to injuries, we'll never know whether this would've ever worked.

My wish is that the group of players remaining after the 2007 cull put on the weight & return to the 2006 high tackling skillful group we were expecting this year. The names you mentioned Pello, are the key players that will lead us into a successful 2008.

I think ND made a fundamental error over the summer by allowing some key players to lose weight to enable them to play the fast run/carry game. Unfortunately, due to injuries, we'll never know whether this would've ever worked.

Maybe they are directly related?