Leaderboard

not having a go at you, but my sister was a nympho and it didn't help me at all

I personally found Denham's reported comments re Austin Wonaeamirri both offensive and ignorant of what this young man has gone through over the past few years. As a big shot reporter for the Murdoch press I can understand that he lacks the necessary sensitivity to report on Austin's situation. He certainly hasn't been up with it while the young man battled with injury after injury and then with the passing of two important life figures. To use him as part of his irrational and idiotic vendetta against the Melbourne Football Club is nothing short of disgraceful.

Perhaps you weren't her type.

I don't think that there's any Melbourne supporters that would say the club has never made mistakes in the past or even the recent past. This isn't about a journalist unveiling internal mistakes like a Caroline Wilson might do and perhaps even providing constructive criticism or opinion on the matter. This is about someone making nothing statements, like the club doesn't stand for anything and he would be ashamed to support MFC, as well as having a go at the club for ridiculous things like not paying 100% of the cap, over-paying for Clark & not hunting down Wonna without knowing all the facts or even attempting to know them or put them into context. I think it does raise an interesting debate though which seems to have ben lost in the last few pages here and that is as supporters what is the best way to support the club? Is it by blindly applauding every move they make? Is it by constantly criticising everything they do? Is it by deriding our own supporter base for being passionless and the club for being soft and weak? I don't know the answer but I think the closest thing we can do to what would be "right" was mentioned a couple of pages ago and that is to defend & support the club at every opportunity conveying a united public front while working things out behind closed doors. In effect it is "don't air your dirty laundry in public". This is what the big clubs do or try to do and it seems to work for them. Others like Richmond who eat their own in public are seen as rabbles and the public perception feeds off itself. I sometimes think what is the best way I can help the club? I have been a member for a long time but don't have any access/knowledge of the inner workings of the club other than what is in the papers or on Demonland. I think the answer is to support them to the hilt but to also question the decisions being made and the direction of the club. This may sound contradictory but I don't think it is. For instance I liked the member survey sent out yesterday as it gave me the opportunity to provide some feedback to the club about where I see us without having to resort to ringing up 3AW or SEN and bag them out on air. I am pretty happy with the current board however there are things they can handle better and although we have cleared the debt I still think our financial position is very bad and needs to improve. We are a proud and strong club with as much history as the game itself. Despite being rubbish for almost half a centuiry we still sit 4th on the premiership table. Despite falling short of the ultimate prize we were still seen as one of the most successful Vic clubs of the modern era until 5 years ago making the finals more often than not. We have had and still ahve our problems but no club is perfect and we are working these out. We have some historical disadvantages but those same things also provide us with other advantages and we need to accentuate the positive and minimise the negative. We are stabilising our off-field position and now have some of the best facilities in the league giving our team and club the best opportunity it's had in a while to match it with the big boys. Hopefully this translates into off-field success and I think it will. The worm always turns it wasn't so long ago Geelong were seen as a rabble, soft "handbaggers" who couldn't get the job done. We will make finals and challenge again soon and when we do we can turn around and rub it in the faces of morons like Denham who will then have moved on to their next whipping boy in a desparate attempt to remain relevant.

Okay. Let's talk about how the team is going on the field instead. Oh wait...

When I read the thread title I thought it was referring to Phil, then thought 'he won't have a problem there.'

Video on www.melbournefc.com.au

Predicting a ginormous year for this guy next year. He's still young and by my reckoning is one of only a few senior players who have improved every year since coming to the club. With his results in the 3k time trial today, I really feel that he's set up to take his game to the next level. If I'm right, I hope you all remember that I called it. EDIT: PS, Bump

Any chance of an introduction DC!

Probably asked Schwab what he was doing whilst trying to board a Brisbane flight and got an answer something like, "Off to Port Douglas, via Brisbane champ" and then followed a muffled sound (so mind your own f'n business).

Tom $cully wishes to remain Rich all his life...The source of this income is quite obviously of small concern. March 5 Tom....Do you think we have just forgotten about that whole statement?

I believed it the first time he said it - but I am not stupid enough to fall for that "one club player" crap a second time. Tom - better to say nothing and have people think you are liar and money grabber, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt

That's it ! He's off to Richmond ! 007 style.

Maybe he (Denham) is dirty with us because when we tried to call Aussie and got no answer, it didn't give him a chance to listen in on the conversation...

Pride has no place when firing a coach. It is always a messy demise. As for the business with Schwab - it is Caroline Wilson's contention that Schwab was 'gone' and not fact, from what I have been able to get out of people it was debatable whether Cam was going to get his option for an extension but that he was never fired on the Infamous Friday. And I am saying that you are putting together facts and your own supposition together in a 'vigorous meld' so that no-one can tell what is fact and what is supposition. No he wasn't. He had the promise to be one but that is different. Potential marquee player is as meaningless as it sounds. We lost a promising kid and, no it didn't hold us in the greatest light, but that is not losing a marquee player. The fact that we were also able to snare Mitch Clark should, and has, motted the situation and muted the critics. A poor placement of the word "now" and suddenly all the great things that Stynes has said about Bailey is thrown out the door. It shouldn't have been expressed that way, but it shouldn't have been interpreted the way you have interpreted it. I think the opposite, we always sit in silence and take our lot. If people want to say their piece about Denham saying his piece then that is fine. Big, strong clubs are thunderous and arrogant and lack self-reflection and over-react and don't like criticism. They do something about it internally but show a strong, intimidating front, and I would welcome that - even if it was from the fans.

There is no doubt we have been poor on the field over the last five years. There's a fair argument that for many of the past 47 years we've been ordinary on the field. And IMO the Bailey sacking was handled terribly. I've got no problems with an opposition supporter telling me this because it's true. But Denham's comments go beyond this. His constant focus on Melbourne and his repeated negative generic comments are vindictive. He has it in for the MFC for some reason and can't get enough of sticking the boots in at every opportunity. Can I cop a bit of stick from other supporters? Of course - you couldn't be a Melbourne supporter without having a thick skin. But do I have to listen to Denham making ridiculous comments like "I'd be embarrassed to be a Melbourne supporter" and "The MFC stands for nothing" and then justify it by saying, 'yeah, we have been ordinary for a while, he's pretty much on the money there'? No way. I'll never be embarrassed to support Melbourne.

I've just realised what an ordinary operation the Geelong Football Club is. They lost Gary Ablett Jr. They couldn't convince 3 time premiership ruckman Brad Ottens not to retire. They were nearly broke until they did a cosy stadium deal and their fitness bloke nearly destroyed half the team till they sacked him. That Thompson bloke was pretty ordinary the way he shafted them too. And I heard their president talking about how good a coach Scott is. Ordinary club. Poor look.

lets win a flag...that will shut him up

Scully was a "marquee player"? Go figure? How many times did you come home after a game saying "Scully won the game for us today"? Zero. He was not a marquee player and neither Melbourne nor any of the other AFL clubs could have stopped him from going to GWS. The AFL saw to that. Geelong couldn't keep Ablett and the Dogs couldn't keep Ward. Yet Denham and his apologists single out Melbourne and Melbourne alone as they do over the tanking which was carried out by at least half a dozen other clubs. Yet Denham and his apologists pick on only one club and rub it's nose in it.

''It looks like we have a coach now that is really serious and he is not going to relax,'' Stynes said yesterday. ''He is not going to sit back and let it all happen. He is going to create it - it's good.'' Where does he suggest that Bailey was not serious? All I read is that Neeld must be very intense about achieving success with this group of footballers now. Not achieving competitiveness.

In the wider world of footy I'd like to ban Craig Hutchison (could just end there) from using the term old mate incorrectly. Old mate is meant to replace somebody's name but this idiot loves saying Old Mate Pickers, Old Mate Doctor Turf etc.. If you're going to turn the Aussiemeter up to 5000 at least get it right.

To borrow a line from Peter Griffin "This really grinds my gears". The use of the word ELITE in football circles also grinds em.

After he won the 2007 Norm Smith medal, Steve Johnson said "We cannot rest on our morals."

Must keep for 2012. Quite possibly beyond. A senior player who gives his all...an area in which we are not exactly fully stocked. The amount he gets potted does not equate to the calibre of his performances overall.