Leaderboard

This is why I like my club being a club that asks 'how would the person feel about that'? It has a part to play in every organisation. Including a multi national company. Jimmy Stynes and the MFC have been in a long term relationship and it has been functionally good for both parties for decades. The day the MFC turns on Jimmy due to his inabilty to act as a functional President will be the day i turn my back on the club. He is the 'Spiritual Leader' and that plays a pivotal part in the make up of the club. His illness transcends the MFC to every club and the AFL. Every club supporter, AFL supporter and non supporter are dropping any deep seated bias and banding together to hope for the well being for the guy This post is not sentimental tripe. To talk tough and suggest to drop the guy as he is unable to function at 100% is just wrong. Its not even human. Jim inspires ppl and the players/club.

And that comment depicts exactly why IMO I consider him to have been on a hiding to nothing. August 2011 - Lyon agrees to come on board for a brief period of time to help his mate and his club to perform what's described here as a "rescue mission". If he fails, he's the one who cops the flack. If he succeeds, it had nothing to do with him - he just lucked out because the money was magically there and it was all really the work of others. He therefore deserves no credit at all. That's clearly an unfair appraisal but it's now being spun that way and that's why I make the call about him being on a "hiding to nothing". FWIW, I also agree with Fan on the matter of Cameron Schwab's role in revitalising the club, but then I could never understand the scathing criticism of him from some sectors of the media because all we ever got were vague allegations and innuendo about his role as CEO.

Yeah I went down for an hour or so. Jurrah, Tapscott, Blease, Williams and one other who I couldn't see (could have been Tynan/Taggert) went off onto a separate oval to do what looked like medium distance running. At Casey you can't see both ovals at once so couldn't really make out what they were doing but they were over there for over an hour. The main group consisted of 25ish players but the players who I didn't notice participating were Grimes, Jamar, Sylvia, Cook, Jetta, Davey and Bartram. They started the session with some warm up kicking and then a very sharp handball drill. Skills were up, however some players lacked a bit of intensity. Some things I noticed were: - J. Watts needs to up his intensity, look a bit more interested and look like he is working hard. Seemed to just go through the motions and look bored. - Joel Mac was very clean and working very hard making sure he was pushing right through. Skills looked great. - Fitz..... The only one who didn't look sharp. I do not know how he has played a senior game. They must see something in him that I can't. After this they split into two groups doing some contested work in the goal square, however I only saw one end so comments are a little bit limited. - Bennell has really improved his one-on-one and gets in great positions. Leigh Brown very happy with his efforts in this drill - Cale Morton battles with strength but persisted and persisted (looks like he should be playing in the Aus Open) - Howe has unbelievable hang-time, he jumps, holds, then marks. What a gun. - Jones has been working on his kicking style I reckon, slightly changed for the better. Then after that drill, they just did some goal kicking. - Funny how good they all are with no pressure however Fitz struggled and Martin put one out of the full. They then had a drink and a mini break. - JT and Moloney are very vocal and natural leaders. Always on the jog and always yapping. - Frawley is the popular one in the group, they all get around him whenever they can. I think he is too much everyone’s mate to be the captain of this team. After the break they went into a stoppage, full ground drill which was great to see. I could hear the coaches harping on the defensive pressure and it seemed a real focus in this drill. The intensity was right up and the skills were reasonably good too. Some things I noticed in this one - Watts took a nice mark over JT and was happy about it - Green is all class, need 2 of him, one in the forward line and one in the midfield would be perfect. - Joel Mac was looking good - Ricky Petterd had a nice smother which lead to a score - Garland was very instructive of his defenders around him. - Tommy Mac was playing as a forward - Rivers is a natural leader too They had another break for goal kicking. - Clark can kick a goal! - They all joke around with Green about being old, needing a wheelchair, calling him fossil etc. - Dunn has slightly changed his routine, looks better than his old one with the ball waving all over the place. After their goal kicking break, they went into a clearance/stoppage drill which ended up having to pick the right option up forward. From where I could see there were a lot more defenders then forwards down there which made the execution crucial. It was full contact, full pressure and full on. - Jade was harping about defence the whole time, I really like his instructions, I learnt a lot for my own game by listening to his words. - Jones was always yapping and ordering people around - Bate had a shocking kick where literally the whole group cringed at. Jade was angry but it was pretty funny actually. - Great lead and mark from Clark into the dead pocket, hard kick and missed. - Nicho has a shaved head and soooooo quick! Going to be a gun! - Watts needs to look more hungry in his drill too. They continued a similar drill but moved the stoppage into CHB. - Joel Mac sells JT into trouble and stuffs the drill, Mac very angry with himself. - Magner can tackle! - Gys kicked a lovely long goal - Howe was showing some class on the half forward line, he will definitely be playing there this year. - Martin loves to play on, pity he can't kick. - The coaches really get stuck into Magner, maybe he is lazy or maybe they need him to work harder on his fitness? - Bate has picked up some pace. - Love Mitch Clark The last drill I saw before I left was a one-on-one drill down in the goal square with Jade (they also had the video camera out) - Jade very instructive and supportive - Cale is not strong - Garland has amazing body position - Bennell is looking great in these drills The drill then turned to focus on three efforts, a spoil, run to make another spoil and then go back with the flight. Was a great drill! - Loving Jade's work So overall that’s some of the notes I took from what I saw. It was a good solid session but would have loved to see more of the players out there and a bigger turn out by the Dees faithful (maybe only about 30?) Happy to answer any questions.

Most fans are under no illusion to what is happening with Jimmy's private situation and also with his role within the club but most choose to show respect and empaphy. We know he now has a limited duties and others are rallying around him to help but he is still our figurehead and even if his position becomes completely honorary he will not lose that position.

Grimes captain. Trengove and Mckenzie vices. They are young but IMO if you're good enough, you're old enough.

I do not understand how players are respected and viewed from a player standpoint however from the outside this is my view. Moloney and Frawley for mine do not have the polish that I think is required from a corporate and media standpoint. Rivers had an improved year last but I am not convinced he is firmly entrenched in our starting 18. Jamar I think needs to step into the leadership group before I would go the next step with him and at his age I doubt that will happen. Jones is an interesting one, starting 18 player, good trainer and hard worker on the field reasonable media performer. I would not rule him out but for me there are still intangible things with Trengove and Grimes that make me lean to one of them.

Yes.

daveytrain1: tappysquads: Don't read too much into the training reports people.

I should let this go as I know many won't want to read or hear criticism of the club at this most optimistic time of year. It was the same last year and all turned sour fairly quickly. I give little credit to the Board because they were primarily responsible for the fiasco that followed the Geelong game and when you compare the way in which Footscray and Adelaide handled their coaching transition and the way we did I can only come to the conclusion that we were amateur hour. As a supporter I was embarrassed. I was embarrassed by the Geelong loss but I was so much more embarrassed by the 48 hours that followed. This was the makings of the Board and G Lyon with McLardy a prominent figure in the post match and a totally inappropriate figure before hand. That's my interpretation of history pure and simple. What has happened since is that the MFC has recovered wonderfully. Operational head Cameron Schwab would be front and centre I'd think and he would have had help from Matt Green, Tim Harirington, Todd Viney, Chris Connolly and perhaps many others. Whilst Don McLardy and others on the Board would have been involved in implementing these changes they would not have had the contacts or footy smarts to expedite them. Garry can be the messiah this time round because as rpfc says, we need our heros and I believe Garry has been part of a team that has put us in a good situation. But we appear to be in that "good situation" every January. For me the hero is probably Cam Schwab who has overseen a major restructure, additional AFL funding, as good a compensation package for Scully as we'd ever get and the generation of optimism in a very short period of time.

There are clearly some issues with having as President someone with Jimmy's health concerns. I doubt there would be many who haven't had at least a passing thought about whether it would be good for him or the club to remain as our leader. But I see no reason why the situation needs to be changed at this point in time while his deputy and his CEO are in place and Sugar is apparently about to come on board. The current set up might not be ideal but it's a hell of a lot better now than it was six months ago and if people are concerned that we might have looked bad because Bailey wasn't told to his face that he had the sack that would look like a mole hill compared to telling Jimmy to move on. I'm glad we have a moral compass because it will hold us in good stead in this new era to come.

I'd select Grimes first. Some people see things others don't, I guess.

Bravo....This is the exact point i have been trying to get across...we can still be a tough as nails club that has a soul...

You think Jimmy should be "moved on" as well do you?? You think the MFC could look itself right in the eye after doing that do you? This place is only just starting to rebuild because of Jimmy....The whole club would fall over itself like a pack of cards....Let the Stynes energy through the place as long as we can.....once he has gone he is a long time gone-don't forget that.

Yeah, a shame all those realists who were asking the tough questions last season got toasted by the likes of E25 and his ilk.

Then you need a perceptual readjustment old boy. Green was a shadow of his former self in '011. Re the captaincy, people need to disabuse themselves of this tired notion of it being too much of a "burden" for a youngster. It's a worrywart mindset, not a winner's one.

Great post? Give me a break please and forgive me for thinking there's a touch of revisionist history mixed up in all this but when Lyon took on the task was he even aware of what funding he was going to have at his disposal? IIRC he was one of the Demon heroes who attended that function in August that raised 800k for the club? Did he say he was only going to take on the post if the money was there for him to spend? And if the AFL money was there for us then wasn't available to most other clubs looking for coaching personal or the likes of Craig and Misson? Was he guaranteed back then that the club could attract such people or for that matter as impressive a candidate for head coach as Mark Neeld? Was Lyon a "shoe in" at the time to be a part of prising away a Mitchell Clark from Fremantle? Now, he doesn't deserve any accolades for overseeing the process because the people under him did all the work. And he wasn't helping an old mate, he was just doing it for ... um ... a joke? Right? FMD, the nitpicking over this beggars belief!

Perhaps he just forms his own opinion without agenda.

Bailey wasn't sacked in 48 hours, I am certain that his position was under very close scrutiny from those who knew football from very early in the season. Evidence was overwhelming that Bailey was just not working. I am not too sure what could have been done differently. Lyon was able to do the job without emotion and with only the interests of the club at heart with and no allegiances.

Fan, I totally agree. If it was up to me, I'd choose Green for another year with Trengove & Grimes as VCs & other senior players in the LG. I agree with those who say that there's no ideal candidate, but I think that this time next year that either Trengove or Grimes will have stamped themselves as an obvious choice, and we will then have a much firmer knowledge of who's the best to take us forward. My point is that Neeld has clearly stated the way he's going to do it, and it doesn't sound like the way I'd do it, but it's probably for the best. And I'd say that if we end up with one captain, that's because one player has clearly stood out through this process as having the best captaincy attributes right now rather than in 12 months time. If there are two who are neck-&-neck - whether it's an "older" & a "younger" (e.g. Green & Grimes) or whatever - we may end up with co-captains.

Interesting juxtaposition. Stynes and the Kim Jong dynasty? As for the use of the word "sycophant" such an epithet is very unfair and unwarranted. But hey, RR has a 'docket' as long as your arm. May I be so bold as to suggest, whatever Jimmy's condition, it is not for us to make "editorial" comment about it. Those closest to him and the big fella himself know best. Whoever and whatever, we are in a much better place than we were 8 months ago.

FMD, you must be kidding? Breeze in for 6 months, spend more than twice as much as before on the FD, leave the actual work to others prepared to stay the course and leave labelled "the savior".

Neeld was quite explicit about the process for selecting the captain in a radio interview on Saturday. He said that the coaching staff were drawing up a list of leadership attributes that they consider to be necessary for a club captain, and they will each rate every player under every one of these attributes. The input of the playing group will also be sought, but it sounds like it won't be as influential as it seemed to be under the Leading Teams model. The final decision will actually be Neeld's and his alone, though obviously you'd expect he'd take the views of others into account to some extent. The implication of this is that there are unlikely to be maneouverings in the captaincy - i.e. Green (for example) to be appointed captain for this year to allow Grimes & Trengove a year to "audition" for the captaincy in 2013 & beyond. Furthermore, it looks like the captain will be selected purely because of their leadership or captaincy attributes (they may or may not be the same thing) in the here and now, rather than their potential at some time in the future. Therefore, if a young captain - Grimes, Trengove, or even Jones - is selected, it will be because of their demonstrated leadership attributes as of late 2011 & early 2012 in the opinion of the coaching staff overall, and as such, they will have immediate legitimacy. This only makes the final choice even more interesting. It won't necessarily be the most popular with the players, or the one who may be the best captain in 2015. I think MFC has had enough of "selections" (in various ways) being made on future potential rather than on current form, and it seems to me that Neeld has made a strong stand against this type of thinking. This process of selecting the captain bears this out even more strongly IMHO.

Adelaide and the Bulldogs did not have the rarest luxury of a 186 point hiding. And Bailey was going to get another 2 years on the back of another insipid year. Finally after 4 years of delusion those 48 hours was realisation of a grave mistakes made and being made and of graver mistakes to follow. Gary Lyon was finally shaken off of his backside. People harp on how it was inappropriate that Bailey got the sack via the phone. Might have been ugly but pales into insignificance of the shameful 186 and of a wasted four years. Those 48 hours was the best thing to happen to the club IMO when the club finally cut out all the BS thats been going on and took real action.

I'm in. Thanks. 52,114

Of course I'll be picking SF for the win. We beat them mid-year, and despite them almost scoring on the final drive (A timely Justin Smith bat-down put paid to yet another Manning fourth quarter TD drive) I felt we handled them well that day, importantly our defence was pretty effective. Admittedly the Giants are peaking form wise but my heart and head are pointing in the same direction of a win for the team in red and gold. As for the other game, its a tough one. The Ravens havent even been tested in the playoffs, despite the Texans best efforts last week. Ray Lewis is a beast. Ditto Ray Rice. The Pats dismantling of an out of their depth Broncos was predictably clinical. I feel against a stiffer defensive setup that the Ravens present, then the Pats will be beaten. So to a dream matchup in the Superbowl, "the Brothers Harbaugh". What a great promoters dream that would be. Only I dont want to see a repeat of the Thanksgiving massacre, where the Ravens D consistently blitzed, and the Niners O-line fell apart. It was the only time Ive seen it all year done so effectively, theres no reason if this game happens we wont see it again. Smith became nothing more than a punching bag for the Ravens. It was brutal, ugly and highly effective. Still Frank Gore was playing hurt that day, hes back in business now. If this matchup does occur, it will be the top two ranked defences playing off, quite ironic in a year where quarterbacks were smashing historical records all over the place!

Is don, is good. 53,598.

My suggestion would be for a division based system, with people submitting scores from last year to be ranked. Also you get 5 leagues so those interested can form a league with the same as last year also to retain the rivalry?

Fan, stop finding grey where there is clearly only black and white. Demonland regulars have already confirmed and published the MFC 20011 - 2012 chapter in our soon to be relased online club history. Jim saved the club, Bailey almost killed it, Garry stepped in when Jim was too sick to save it twice and Neeld will break our premiership drought. Trengove will hold aloft the premiership cup and Scully will cry himself to sleep lamenting his career-crippling knee problems. It's that simple. In all seriousness, as sloppy as the Bailey exit was, I couldn't imagine the club recovering in a more efficient manner. The Neeld, Craig, Misson trio plus a significant off-season trade has most supporters scrounging for their rose coloured glasses again. And of course, I'm no different. That's what we do!

firstly, thanks for the reports guys! hang out for them every mon wed and fri. am loving the reports of doing drills under pressure and match simulations. i did some sport related courses as part of my university degree and i coached the womens footy team and basically all i did was contested clearances and half court games (i only had 15 or so at each training) and when it came to play games they smashed the clearances (seriously, some had better hands than some afl players ive seen in close) and by crikey they knew how to defend and attack inside the arc. they started out as beginners too. anyway the moral of the story is that im awesome. but seriously - drills under pressure and match sim is the balls. rick charlsworth of hockey coaching fame said he used to play 1 or 2 extra on the opposition team so that training would be HARDER than a game. works for his teams - the won gold medals.

Just got back from my own training, and low and behold, there has to be a negative spin on the training session. Firstly, unless you have either watched several training sessions (as I have) or more importantly, you are part of the coaching staff, I would not be commenting about JW's lack of intensity. I have seen him and he has been one of the most enthusiastic trainers there, in particular his voice. He may look like he is taking it easy at times, but I would say he is working as hard as anyone out there. In regards to injured players, Blease and Tapscott were doing some drills on another oval, and from what I saw, they were both running. Michael Evans has been training, but he is recovering from some sort of injury so I have only seen him walk laps. Gysberts was looking good out there today, and he seems to be stronger and fitter. I also forgot to say how impressive Bate looked when doing the competitive 1 on 1 drills. I can see he has the potential to be a stong mid this year, as long as he takes his opportunity when he gets it (again though, this is training that he looks good in)!

Awesome reporting folks. It really does help those of us who can't get to the training sessions to have such detailed descriptions of what the boys are doing. Really good to see that some of our less frequesntly mentioned players are showing good signs, and that Clark is looking like a forward. One other small thing. - Watts took a nice mark over JT and was happy about it Am I the only person here who thinks Watts should be outmarking JT pretty much every time?

I was happy with Jack's progress in 2011. He showed plenty IMO.. there was a drop off from round 18ish, but some of the anxiety here makes it sound like he was a failure last year. I'm expecting Jack to have more impact in 2012 because he is bigger, fitter and confident. No stress... sit back and enjoy!

I guess I'm obliged to defend my title! =)

I was there too. I will not give a drill by drill run down, as it has already been done. That being said, I cannot remember any of our sessions in the past few seasons being as organised, structured and purposeful as today. All the drills were done at full pace and under match conditions. There was barely any rest in the drills. You can see Neeld is very big on contested football, 1 on 1 football and decision making. All the drills incorporated body contact, pressure and running. As a teacher and coach myself, I know there is a large focus on "game sense" which is basically learning and practising under actual match conditions or in match simulation, and that is what Neeld is brining in. I know personally I would rather incorporate all my running into drills rather than a 400m sprint. You will find most players will work harder to chase the ball than following a white line. There was also a large focus on running both ways, where the ball would be pumped into the forward line for the defenders to take the ball out to the other end, and the forward needed to put pressure on or get the ball off the defenders. Once the ball got to the other end all the players had to run back and the drill would begin straight away again. Viney was with Blease and Jurrah etc doing some other running. Taggert and Tynan were not there. Some interesting things I noted: * Morton was playing as a defender in most drills. * Nicho was playing in the midfield and I think there is no doubt he will be on the list before the season begins. * Tom Mac and Watts were getting plenty of practise deep in the forward line. * Howe will be a GUN. Will play as a leading CHF and dominate. He is almost the best mark in the league! I know that is a big statement but his hands when on the lead at full pace are fantastic. * Martin, Tom Mac, Watts and Fitzy all need to learn from Howe on how hard to attack the ball and hopefully get cleaner hands. * Bennell was training with the backs, maybe one of our running defenders, he just needs to get more of the ball in the game. * Jack Viney is a large unit, however they are carefully monitoring his training. * there was no actual running, it was all done in the drills, which I think is better as it is more realistic. * Garland showed poise and speed. He shows he has the ability to become a more attacking defender. * For me the most impressive trainers were Howe, Garland, Moloney and Nicho. * We may not be the greatest team this year, however I believe everything we are doing at the moment is the best training I have seen in years, but of course this is training and not an actual game! Also happy to answer any questions, as I have been to several sessions while I am on holidays!

First time at a training sesh, first time on here as well...... First impressions, Jurrah is a lot taller than I had thought; makes his athleticism more impressive. Beamer and Magner are stand outs because of their size. Chip did most of the talking in the warm up and was asking the boys for more than Monday, saying that Monday was terrible. Greeny was loud but joking around a lot early on. Once the ball work started I was suprised by Clark's foot skills, was very sharp. After some handball drills which looked very clean, they went into a transition drill, in which the first thing I noticed was Sellar looking slow and making poor decisions in congestion. As opposed to daveytrain, I thought Watts stood out in this drill, moving all over the ground confidently and winning 1 on 1s consistently. Garland's run also shone in this drill, just taking players on. I thought Jones skills looked sub standard even when in the clear. At one stage Watts ran down JB trapping the ball in the fwd line, which impressed me. Dunn looked like he needs to slim down a bit, very solid. Sellar was full back on Martin and doing well, but to me Martin just doesnt look like a forward. During the set shots I noticed Bate very rarely missed, very good shot. The fact that every drill involved hitting up leading forwards gives me hope that our fwd line might actually click this year and could be very dangerous. I was impressed by Gysberts' skills in pressure, one of my favourite players but looked good. Magner seemed to be very quite in the contested drills, needs a voice as it was costing him touches. I was expecting Howe to be bigger. Jmac continues to miss kicks and handballs AFL players shouldn't, he's a worry for me. Ricky P was great across half forward, and I think he is gonna be a star, could have a big year. looked strong, fast and a great contested mark. The backs started recording one on one body work during marking contests, in which Sellar impressed me, but you would expect him to when he's that big. The next drill where the midfielders worked it round before hitting up the fwd's saw Nicho playing the loose QB role out the back of the pack. Beamer looked like he was playing against kids, and dominated. Bate was clean and creative. At one stage Trenners outbodied and then marked against Martin. The kid is gonna be a superstar. In the next 1v1 handball drill Beamer made sure he went against Morton, which I saw as a tactic to get him a bit more physical. Just my opinions, could be wrong but its what I took out of the sesh.

Maybe that's in some other thread - I didn't see it in here. I like him as a defender who can take the kick-ins but agree he will have some stiff opposition for a spot in the back 6 - particularly if as seems likely Grimes plays there. Frawley, Rivers, Garland, Sellar, Grimes, Bartram, Bennell, Tapscott, Strauss, Macdonald, Nicholson - they can't all play together. I think the back 6 remains an area where you're trying get some stability and a group that is used to working together. Midfield and forward rely on rotations - backline relies on flexibility, stability and co-operation.

a tasmanian captain under fire with a young "pup" at his heels...hope the MFC take a look at the model provided by the ACB. let a young buck take over (my vote would be trengove or jones) but keep the experienced vet in an on field mentor role providing much needed assistance and watch him flourish under diminished responsibility. let him go back to what he does best and hopefully recapture his 2010 form that almost got him AA. if melbournes clark can score 300 (50 goals aint bad) and the taswegian ex captain can score 150odd (25goals from a pocket/flank would be a fair contribution??) it would go a long way towards us kicking competitive scores each week

Pray tell me, simple minded as I must be, just how has Strauss "improved his game" since his injury??? I am not aware that he has actually played a game, so how could he possibly improve it?? Have I missed something? He may have improved his "approval rating" here, but not his game!!

I was a bit of a sceptic about Lyon at first but I think done a wonderful job. It isn't easy moving people aside, sacking others and then making the right appointments. There's going to be some criticism and some resentment but things have gone remarkably smoothly in what has realistically been a period of great upheaval within the ranks of the football club. The big test of the work done will come at some time in the future but given where we've come from just 5½ months ago, I think both he and Don McLardy deserve great praise for their efforts in backing Jimmy to the hilt and giving us some hope for the immediate future.

Barrassi was and is a great servant of our club. We owe him far more than he ever owed us. I have no doubt that the forums would have been alight with indignation and venom. At the end of the day the universe was balanced in Karmic harmony when we gave them Johnstone and McLean. That i'll teach them.