Ben Cousins shows up at Junction Oval

[beelzebub 23,313]

Ok Bub, you've got me on all counts.. I'm knackered. Just between you and I, I would not turn in my membership if he 'came along'. But then, I've never turned in my membership before, have I? Like Y_M alluded to, I'd have to go down for a look.

Its only about the consideration. Probably a discusions are moot really as I doubt he ( too) would come and in all likley hood theres probably 4-5 other teams who will clamber over the top of us to secure him after all is said and done.

What the Ben Cousins situation highlights is that if you are to succeed in this game then as a team you have to look beyond the obvious and consider the "other " aspects. Some would jump on this aspects and suggest here all the "negatives" that would suposedly come with his signing. Yet there is actually no proof whatsoever that would be the case. Its just become modern lore that it would be...so it must be true !!

Those that are privvy to th einer canctums will have a far better understanding of what is REAL and what is supercilious.

If Melbourne is to advance and to advance with sufficient gusto as to become relevant to finals and in turn not just make them but be competitve then it must grasp every opportunity that comes along no matter what shape or form. They must look carefully and evaluate according to what willbetter the team...not what suits popular football mythology.

Go Dees

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Media Announcement

"I, Ben Cousins, have called this media conference to let the football public know that I am back. A lot has been written over the past year or so, and obviously not all of it has been good. I let certain things in my life get way out of control, and it has taken a lot of time and hard work to get my mind back to full fitness.... But I am clean, fresh, obviously physically fit [tears open shirt] and will be going into the PSD...

Now a lot of media people have linked me with clubs like Collingwood and St Kilda, because I am only going to a side that will give me a crack at another Premiership..... But I am here tonight to announce that this is absolute crap! I have been in regular contact with the Melbourne Football Club and will be taken as their No. 1 pick.... I am happy to announce that I will be signing a 3 year deal worth $150k a year.... To those of you who presumed I was going to a club for a flag, you were wrong!

I have a flag.... I have a Brownlow.... I have achieved success at the highest level.... But above all..... I have F#@*ED Up!!! I owe it to myself to repay the game of Aussie Rules and it's fans.... This great game has given me the opportunity of a lifetime.... I took that opportunity.... And then I threw it back in the game's face.... I am embarrassed about this.... And so I make it my mission to pass on as much knowledge, skill and committment to the oldest club in the game..... The Melbourne Football Club..... This proud club does not deserve to finish last.... And I will repay the football world by doing everything in my power to bring this great club back to where it belongs!

One last thing..... Those journos who linked me with Collingwood..... That went against your whole Premiership theory.... They are further away than Melbourne! Goodnight "

Great stuff - I love it. But I don't want him.

[mo64 5,853]

If Melbourne is to advance and to advance with sufficient gusto as to become relevant to finals and in turn not just make them but be competitve then it must grasp every opportunity that comes along no matter what shape or form.

Agree. There's too much of a "she'll be right" attitude amongst the supporters. McNamee was sacked because he tried to think outside the square. We have a reputation as being a conservative club, and everything that we've done in the past 12 months supports that.

[Goodvibes 3,596]

Agree. There's too much of a "she'll be right" attitude amongst the supporters. McNamee was sacked because he tried to think outside the square. We have a reputation as being a conservative club, and everything that we've done in the past 12 months supports that.

Surely the conservative thing for a new board to do would be to avoid the negative publicity of another sacking and keep McNamee at the club.

[kramer 0]

ben cousins.. wot a crock of [censored] , the only reason he was at the junction oval was to tell us our training facilities are sub standard before he signs on with carlton.

[kramer 0]

That's a good call DD. I've been a bit worried about the direction of Demonland lately too and have tried to increase my contributions over the past week as a consequence . There's some very good posters out there who don't seem to visit much anymore.

too many dipshits peddling rubbish, thats why.

[beelzebub 23,313]

Agree. There's too much of a "she'll be right" attitude amongst the supporters. McNamee was sacked because he tried to think outside the square. We have a reputation as being a conservative club, and everything that we've done in the past 12 months supports that.

You actually touch upon an interesting aspect. Much that has been done to 'survive' in recent months is the old ...retreat to a fortress of known entities. This in itself is fine whilst you convalesce and catch your breath. But as a plan going forward..well ..it isnt one. Its a "stationary" procedure. I.e We all march time in the one spot...going nowhere..neither forward..nor importantly backwards. in the short term it allows the ability to regroup and muster whatever resources available to mount another offensive.

The danger is to spend to olong inthe one spot. The other danger is to fall back on ALL things nostalgic and 'known" .Not all of these worked in the past so why will they suddenly work in the future ? Must be magic

The tag of "conservative' is our Albatross...We need to jettison it very very quickly and replace it with a more astute and modernist image. Thats not to say that all that is old id bad..but neither is it good.

Casey needs to be embraced , enshrined and extrapolated to the Max. It wil be generational with only marginally observed changes to the wider publics view of us to begin with. But its that one leg of a stool. By itself useless..with two others a very sturdy foundation. Some sort of success is another leg.

MacNamee did actually have some idea of where we needed to venture. He was scuttled however. Instead iof helping him..others chose to set traps..Kindergarten stuff really isnt it !!

We dont need or want an old boys club. We want a New Boys fraternity with more scope and better vision with less bickering towards old partners such as the MCC etc. Stynes does seem to be moving in this direction but hopefully listens more to Cuddles and less to his seemingly narrow stance.

We cant really go back to the G as many want..its not ours and in many ways depite our eras of glory there its actually been our nemesis as well. Its because we were born of thisstadium and not elsewheres that we arpresently lost in many's eyes. To go back there again in the SAME vein will only compound the problem. To embrace it as PART of a NEW MELBOURNE is the only way to succeed..MacNamee understood this as his knowledge and experience in teh BIG world is now wasted. Stynes better know what he is doing...shouting and waving a scarf is all well and good but it seems he really had NO idea of where we were before he started his crusades. So far he's managed to tug the heart strings.. but thats a onceonly call. He will scuttle this if a decent sponsor isnt garnered sooner rather than later ..Caro puts an interesting aside on this AFL must do more the danger is if we seem to conservative again then many of the current crop of cashed up companies ( if any stil lexist ) wont be looking to staid vehicles to carry their messages.

Melbourne cant go back into theshel of what it once was. By all means cut out al the articles and stick up al the pix etc. But that was then..this is NOW. Now requires a NEW MELBOURNE, one that is relevant to the kids and the upcoming followers of the game. Al our success was last CENTURY...just consider how that sounds for a moment ..LAST CENTURY !!

What does a 10-yo make of that?..thats like SOoo yesterday .

Much about fashion is the taking of something from those same yesterdays...giving it a new cut and line and rolling it out as TODAY !!! We need to do exactly that. Sticking to last century's suit just wont work.

Theres the old adage ..Fake it beofre you Make it !! Well this club has to fake some success and utilise it to present an image of something that is not only worth continual support..but worth joining. We have some very good ad -gurus on board ..They should be working overtime to think of very cost effective ways of promting the club..Viral campaigns etc.. all out of the box stuff.

If we are serious about being around.. then the club needs to sort CAsey out.. and NOW. It needs to get out there..NOW.. it needs to promote itself ..NOW...and the likes of Jimma and company need to come clean about what they intend to do and how they think it can be done NOW.

We've missed so many opportunites . We need to be a lot more clever than clinging to the success of the 50-60's and the coat tails of limited success of the 80's etc. They are either only memories now or illusions. The kids coming up need somethng tangible and today.

[Deeoldfart 8,005]

You actually touch upon an interesting aspect. Much that has been done to 'survive' in recent months is the old ...retreat to a fortress of known entities. This in itself is fine whilst you convalesce and catch your breath. But as a plan going forward..well ..it isnt one. Its a "stationary" procedure. I.e We all march time in the one spot...going nowhere..neither forward..nor importantly backwards. in the short term it allows the ability to regroup and muster whatever resources available to mount another offensive.

The danger is to spend to olong inthe one spot. The other danger is to fall back on ALL things nostalgic and 'known" .Not all of these worked in the past so why will they suddenly work in the future ? Must be magic

The tag of "conservative' is our Albatross...We need to jettison it very very quickly and replace it with a more astute and modernist image. Thats not to say that all that is old id bad..but neither is it good.

Casey needs to be embraced , enshrined and extrapolated to the Max. It wil be generational with only marginally observed changes to the wider publics view of us to begin with. But its that one leg of a stool. By itself useless..with two others a very sturdy foundation. Some sort of success is another leg.

MacNamee did actually have some idea of where we needed to venture. He was scuttled however. Instead iof helping him..others chose to set traps..Kindergarten stuff really isnt it !!

We dont need or want an old boys club. We want a New Boys fraternity with more scope and better vision with less bickering towards old partners such as the MCC etc. Stynes does seem to be moving in this direction but hopefully listens more to Cuddles and less to his seemingly narrow stance.

We cant really go back to the G as many want..its not ours and in many ways depite our eras of glory there its actually been our nemesis as well. Its because we were born of thisstadium and not elsewheres that we arpresently lost in many's eyes. To go back there again in the SAME vein will only compound the problem. To embrace it as PART of a NEW MELBOURNE is the only way to succeed..MacNamee understood this as his knowledge and experience in teh BIG world is now wasted. Stynes better know what he is doing...shouting and waving a scarf is all well and good but it seems he really had NO idea of where we were before he started his crusades. So far he's managed to tug the heart strings.. but thats a onceonly call. He will scuttle this if a decent sponsor isnt garnered sooner rather than later ..Caro puts an interesting aside on this AFL must do more the danger is if we seem to conservative again then many of the current crop of cashed up companies ( if any stil lexist ) wont be looking to staid vehicles to carry their messages.

Melbourne cant go back into theshel of what it once was. By all means cut out al the articles and stick up al the pix etc. But that was then..this is NOW. Now requires a NEW MELBOURNE, one that is relevant to the kids and the upcoming followers of the game. Al our success was last CENTURY...just consider how that sounds for a moment ..LAST CENTURY !!

What does a 10-yo make of that?..thats like SOoo yesterday .

Much about fashion is the taking of something from those same yesterdays...giving it a new cut and line and rolling it out as TODAY !!! We need to do exactly that. Sticking to last century's suit just wont work.

Theres the old adage ..Fake it beofre you Make it !! Well this club has to fake some success and utilise it to present an image of something that is not only worth continual support..but worth joining. We have some very good ad -gurus on board ..They should be working overtime to think of very cost effective ways of promting the club..Viral campaigns etc.. all out of the box stuff.

If we are serious about being around.. then the club needs to sort CAsey out.. and NOW. It needs to get out there..NOW.. it needs to promote itself ..NOW...and the likes of Jimma and company need to come clean about what they intend to do and how they think it can be done NOW.

We've missed so many opportunites . We need to be a lot more clever than clinging to the success of the 50-60's and the coat tails of limited success of the 80's etc. They are either only memories now or illusions. The kids coming up need somethng tangible and today.

That's a great, thought provoking post 'bub. Thanks!

[Yze_Magic 3]

Add to that the fact that I've spoken to more than one person (in real life) who don't post, or even visit demonland anymore, and claim that Y_M's omnipresence is the reason. And they're hardly big Bruce fans...

.

So you mention a couple of mentally weak saps, but fail to mention the thousands that come here to see what I have to say.

Me leaving Demonland would be a disaster for the website.

Traffic would be down by 98%, and the place would be full of children of Brighton doctors and lawyers who think everything is rosy at rhe MFC.

Oh what fun.

[LeBron James 41]

So you mention a couple of mentally weak saps, but fail to mention the thousands that come here to see what I have to say.

Me leaving Demonland would be a disaster for the website.

Traffic would be down by 98%, and the place would be full of children of Brighton doctors and lawyers who think everything is rosy at rhe MFC.

Oh what fun.

I think you should send them one of these wristbands YM.

[Yze_Magic 3]

LOL couldnt agree more.

Sounds like they need it.

[Guest red and blue thru n thru]

I think you should send them one of these wristbands YM.

LOl hahahha

can u really get one of those?

[LeBron James 41]

LOl hahahha

can u really get one of those?

http://store.ronniejohns.com/?show_product=HTFU

[Guest red and blue thru n thru]

lol cheers mate

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

So you mention a couple of mentally weak saps, but fail to mention the thousands that come here to see what I have to say.

Me leaving Demonland would be a disaster for the website.

Traffic would be down by 98%, and the place would be full of children of Brighton doctors and lawyers who think everything is rosy at rhe MFC.

Oh what fun.

Yeah. Because you're the only thing holding MFC together, right? Stop being a tool. I know, quite literally, NO-ONE who comes here to listen to what you say. At best, you're a diversion, and a pissweak one at that. Did the site crumble and fall when you were banned recently? No. It was a joy to visit in those sickly-sweet few weeks.

And hey, if the kids of Brighton doctors bother you so much.... GO AWAY!!!!

Jesus. Bloody keyboard heroes that think it's up to them to fix everything.

[Mono 455]

Me leaving Demonland would be a disaster for the website.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[beelzebub 23,313]

fellas...get a room...Not really interested in you all sharing your love !!

[Yze_Magic 3]

fellas...get a room...Not really interested in you all sharing your love !!

Dappa seems a tad obsessed with me.

I must admit its quite amusing.

Sounds like hes gonna give himself a coronary.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Dappa seems a tad obsessed with me.

I must admit its quite amusing.

Sounds like hes gonna give himself a coronary.

Wow. Didn't think you'd take it to THAT place, Y_M. Says a lot about you though...

Please stop posting at demonland.

[beelzebub 23,313]

ffs cant the two of you leave it alone..its boring <_<

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Me leaving Demonland would be a disaster for the website.

You mean like when you were banned recently? And everything continued as though nothing had changed? Yeah... disaster.

ffs cant the two of you leave it alone..its boring <_<

Absolutely. Remove the tool and we'll get back to talking Cuz...

For what it's worth:

I reckon if we're just going to pass on the PSD pick, then why not consider Cuz? The training aspects alone are enough to give him a sniff.

I don't reckon he'll come. It would almost certainly just be another paycheck situation in the way Byron was. And even if he inspired a Jones or Valenti to train as hard as the Crawfords and Harveys of the world, it's only one player, and from our vantage point we'll never get the opportunity to see any REAL change other than the on-field stuff that Cuz makes with the handful of years he has left. Ultimately he won't win us a flag and we won't witness (directly) any influence he has over the playing group. Also, if someone goes bananas, or gets on the [censored] or drugs, Cousins will be the first name brought up, and subsequently blamed.

The whole thing leaves me feeling a bit "meh." And when that happens, I say look elsewhere.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

LOL! Most ironic statement ever! Dappa, if you don't stop bitching about YM at every opportunity, some others might get my sick of this site and stop coming here. As much as you'd like to think you're "fixing" Demonland by inundating it with anti-YM spam, you're not. Some of us find your bitching far more off-putting than anything YM does.

You're a good poster 99% of the time. Don't ruin it.

I'm only trying to maintain the integrity of 'land... I'm not arrogant enough to claim I'm important to it. Hence the keyboard heroes comment. I PMed you... continue there with me if you wish.

[mo64 5,853]

Ultimately he won't win us a flag?

After 44 years in the doldrums, who is going to ultimately win us a flag?

I'm sick to death of continually reading "don't trade for so and so because he won't be there when we have a shot at our next flag". FFS, we need to start developing a winning culture before we remotely think about winning a flag.

And as I said previously, the conservative elements of Melbourne continually bring up the "what if" argument for not drafting Cousins. If the football dept. don't have the confidence in their ability to deal with troubled souls, then they are in the wrong job.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

FFS, we need to start developing a winning culture before we remotely think about winning a flag.

And as I said previously, the conservative elements of Melbourne continually bring up the "what if" argument for not drafting Cousins. If the football dept. don't have the confidence in their ability to deal with troubled souls, then they are in the wrong job.

Well said about culture and its important. I think the Club are making strong steps to addressing that through a more sensible player selection of leaders, trading of TJ and the focussed attempts to exit Carroll. Small steps but the right direction

Cousins comes with many positives and negatives. The positives we have seen on the field. He could have been one of WCE greatest players but..... and thats it with him.....he blew it. And as for culture he was front and centre of responsibility for the destruction of the winning culture at WCE. His negative influence has damaged not just himself but also other at the Club. As a leader and one time iconic player his black mark on the Club was everywhere.

The critical issues are we is really at and what is he wanting to achieve? And does he want to play at MFC?

If he was open to MFC and was still a troubled soul then why would MFC pick up such a player when it just trying to build in the early stages such a winning culture?

Its academic because he does not want to come to MFC.

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

He doesn't? Oh. Well, that's hardly a surprise. We seem to be the leper colony of the AFL at the moment...

I understand the frustration with the whole "winning culture thing... But this is a delicate time. I'm not saying the age thing automatically rules a player out of contention... But it does seem ridiculous to suggest that we've looked to trade players 27 and up, and then we recruit one who's older. It's like saying we're going for a youth policy, but only when we feel like it...

I've been saying for ages that it's a worry that we have only 10 players over 25, and some of them are hardly considered leaders of the AFL... Jamar, Wheatley... My only query with that is that only SOME players can be recruited to a club and be considered leaders automatically. And Cuz isn't one of them, in the strictest sense.

Also consider that yes, our on-field fortunes would almost CERTAINLY improve. But to what end? Winning 6-8 games instead of 3? Where does that get us? Back to mediocrity? But then that's a discussion for another thread, as it gets dangerously close to tanking.

Ultimately what were talking about is timing. WHEN do you go to recruit mature players, WHAT types... you have to look at a time frame. And I would have thought at the end of 2010 MFC would be the place to be, as we'll have an entire list getting mature by then, and will have more like 15-20 players in their prime.

IMO, this lack of maturity is the main reason we had such a bad year. You just can't win games of footy with so many kids in so many sensitive positions.