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You can say that again Smithy. At last year's Foundation Dinner, I put in a bid for Aussie's jumper and won it. Shortly afterwards, he did his ankle on comeback at Casey and didn't play another game in the red and blue. I sponsor Big Maxy and the day after I send the payment to the club, he does an ACL (sorry Max). I was a bit worried about these extraordinary powers of mine until last week when I took out a player sponsorship at GWS for Tom Scully.

Training today at Gosch's Paddock. I got there at about 10.am and saw 1½ hours of training. About 15 -20 other spectators were scattered round ground over duration of training. Things noticed were, Jack Watts' polish with ball in hand and seems to be able to hold position against the bigger bodies a lot better i.e. in competitive drills against likes of Sellar. Jack Grimes looking good to go for start of season; he looks like has built upper body strength fair bit. Jack Viney was doing repeat 300m runs with LJ and, as they continued, Viney left LJ in his wake. Viney looks built to go now one of the most well-built 17yr olds you would see. If he plays u18 this year it would do nothing for him, he would dominate. Tom McDonald up forward in drills looked impressive but of concern to me is his delay in getting boot to ball in timely manner although once he does, he generally hits his target. However in competitive AFL matches he will have less time to spot up his targets. The lads had a short burst of goalkicking practice with Green and Watts consistently accurate. At about 10.30 the boys had some structured match practice led by Neeld which lasted for about 45 minutes with breaks every 10 minutes or so. It was heavily focused on playing the boundary line and stoppage work. Standouts here for me were Trengove (great footy brain) provides teammates with time and puts ball to their advantage. Jamar just goes about his business clearly the only true ruckman we have to operate with right now and so cannot afford him to go down at all. Nicholson gets so much of the ball by positioning himself in the right spots I just hope that his awareness improves once he has the ball as him getting it doesn’t necessarily translate to a clean clearance for his teammates. If only Morton had Nicholson’s attitude and desire but unfortunately I still see Cale as unfulfilled potential due to lack of desire to push himself. Leigh Williams was impressive in the contest clearly has a competitive streak in him and so does Mitch Clark who will be an outstanding presence on the field, Clark definitely has a bit of mongrel in him. The boys then split off again into a repeat lead drill where the 6 forwards would supply blocks for one another and repeat leads while the coaches would honour 1 of the leads this would have been very taxing on the players as it was performed at high intensity and for most part the defenders were very good in particular Jamie Bennell impressed with his ability to beat his forward opponents. While the forwards and back were involved in the repeat lead drill a midfield group was going the some centre setup work. I was surprised at how small this group was it featured Jamar and Fitzy rucking to JT, Bate, Nicho, Gysberts, Beamer and I believe Magner. Looks to be a case of you only enter the centre of the ground if you have the body to play as an inside mid. James Strauss appeared to be moving reasonably freely which was a really positive sign. Over the other side of the ground McKenzie, Spencer, Bartram and believe Tappy were doing running drills together. All in all it was an impressive session I really believe there should be massive improvement this season the coaching to me seems far more structured with the players not having much down time and learning the structures right under the nose of the coaches. Previously under Bailey I noticed him doing a lot of teaching out on the ground while players just stood in a position listening while not really being involved in a hands on degree, which is what I’m noticing is different under Neeld’s teaching all the coaches seem to have the players attention a lot more due to them being more interactive with their guidance to the players. Note I didn’t see likes of Davey, Sylvia or Jones.

That's quite wrong. Geelong needed a KPF because of the Mooney/Pods/Hawkins issues I explained (IMO they still do), Gold Coast needed KPFs, Carlton needed a KPF - all needed KPFs and particularly needed ready-to-go KPFs at least as much if not more than us. And 3 very experienced recruiters with excellent records passed on Darling in multiple opportunities to take him. It's impossible to say whether any of them would have taken Cook - Gold Coast took Day and Lynch and I suspect if they hadn't we would have taken one of them ahead of Cook and Darling. Carlton and Geelong couldn't take Cook because he was gone, but they didn't take Darling who wasn't.

I am not casting judgement either way. I was only talking about 'unconditional support'. Not specifically to you (as I understand what you mean) but there are many who are viewing any discussion on the issue as being blasphemous. I'm not saying we should get rid of him, or keep him, but people can (and should) ask the question. I certainly agree with your point that boards are hard to judge. Especially from afar. Which is why I tend not to get involved in that sort of stuff,

I don't agree with this theory. Frawley's primary value to us is his ability to beat his opponent. Yes he is clearly a good attacking defender because he has the pace and strength to take players on. But at the end of the day he's in the side for his defensive ability more so than his attacking rebound. I don't think the value of a tall defender who consistently performs against the oppositions' best tall forward should be underestimated. It's not easy to find a gun tall defender who can match opponents for strength and speed. IMO it would be a bigger waste of his talent using Frawley as a rebounding, attacking defender. It's much easier to play the Heath Shaw role than it is to match up on Jack Riewoldt or Jon Brown. Unless another player steps up as a gun tall defender, I think the loss of lock-down from freeing up Frawley would outweigh his attacking benefits. And just because he plays a defensive role doesn't mean there isn't scope for run and rebound within that role.

Valentine's Day, a very enjoyable movie with a football theme is screening on ABC 1 at 11pm tomorrow - 29th January. Worth a watch.

Where, as been pointed out, there were plenty of mids. You've chosen to take onboard the "facts" that support your argument, while ignoring the "facts" that don't.

So how does that father/son rule work again ? I tied a piece of string to my finger but I can't remember what it's there for !

Who has proof that Cale is not pushing himself? I have been to three training sessions and have seen no reason whatsoever that justifies him being targetted over anyone else. Not being built like Frawley is no reason as he obviously does not have a frame that is going to bulk. I do not expect Cale to be a superstar but again the constant criticism of him over the pre-season is a joke.

you mean they weren't already doing this kind of stuff? nah, just kidding. a great idea and i hope they can make it really work

Point taken re Junior. I'd rather a captain put in a B-grade year, more to the point, 22 B-grade performances, as opposed to 3 A-grade ones, followed by 2 D-grades, then 3-C grades, etc, etc. Using those players I named shows that you don'thave to be an A-grade player to be a captain. I also question everyone's opinion to so confidently say what a player is like amongst his teammates, especially offield where the public don't have access to such happenings. I have just watched the last 3 interviews of Jones on Dee TV. The latest one was with Ellie McKenzie, which are generally more light-hearted than informative. Then I watched his B&F speech, and the interview after the Gold Coast game. I see a bloke who is honest, wears his heart on his sleeve, is straight to the point, and would only need to tidy up in some very small areas, of which a little bit of media training would easily fix. While he has been called a meat-head on here, I think he's a lot like where Shane Crawford was around the same time in his career (in terms of media potential). That's my opinion, and I couldn't give a toss if you don't agree!

Shooting Bambi is exactly the reason why Stynes should stay. He's the face of the club, and without his 'aura' we'd lose some support, and forcing him out would create huge negative press. As is usual with a dilemma, you need to sieze one of the horns. At the moment I'd still take the 'motivational horn' ... keeping Stynes on for his public presence, his ability to galvanise support and raise funds, even the ability he has to engender empathy for the club. It's far more valuable than shunting him off to overcome any deficiencies in board management due to his health problems. The rest of the board needs to work around the 'management horn' and do a good job, which I think they currently are after Lyon's intervention.

Playing ability-wise, I would have Jones along way ahead of Junior at the same time in their careers, and in all honesty, Junior was never in our Top 5 players. But then come to think of it, neither is Nick Maxwell, neither was Tom Harley (he was along way from their Top 5), Brett Kirk would've been near it. A lot on here don't rate Jones' onfield ability very highly, which we're all entitled to our own view. But as it currently stands, we have a lot of players who could, should and hopefully WILL be better than Jones, but they aren't...yet. There's a lot less risk putting him in instead of Trengove, but the return of taking a risk with Trengove is undoubtedly greater. Again, I think a Green/Grimes joint venture is the way to go.

Didnt want to seem blunt if i did, your point regarding Hawkins ability is correct, much like us with Watts really, in that when we recruited Cook we didnt know what Watts would become in 2011, and hopefully 2012....ect and also that we could recruit Clark ect. Knowing what we know, picking Darling may have been smart, but at the time i firmly believe Cook was the right choice, also Howe is more than capable at playing a darling style role also, if not better at this point imo.

I would say the fact that it is 'unconditional'. Like, say, the unconditional faith that the christians had when they went on the crusades. Or the unconditional support the Nazis had from the SS. Or the unconditional support that Jim Jones received at Jonestown. I could go on. Would you have unconditional support for the country if it invaded New Zealand and said that they'd exterminate the entire population? No support should be unconditional.

In the interests of assisting Melbourne supporters get over Scully I'm closing this thread. Had a gutful of the little #£}€$x&.

don't you mean WGAF?

It was all ruck duties for him today and working with the midfield group, he ran with Jamar for the 45 minute match practice drill. No doubting his speed and athleticism for a big bloke (200cm) but i think its just a case of waiting for the switch to go on that make's him want the ball more and demand the ball more. It can take awhile to click as it did for Jamar but once it does all of a sudden the big blokes just have a presence about them. I hope Fitzy gets to that point where it clicks for him but so many just dont get there. One thing though is our forward line could potentially be the biggest in the league the way we could lineup with likes of M.Clark, S.Martin, J.Watts, J.Howe looking as if they could all work in the same forward line together Watts and Howe have the footy smarts and motors to not congest to close to the bigger blokes and they are repeatedly beating thier opponents from what i have seen over the duration of pre season so far. in my own opinion this could potentially be Melbournes most damaging forward line i have seen since 94' when we had Jaka, Lyon, Schwarz, Pike and Charles. Its the charles type we are blatantly missing but hopefully someone will bob up be it likes of a Davey, Blease, Jetta etc. 2 types of players we need IMO is an out and out small forward that can kick a goal and tackle, and a quick midfielder that can break the lines and use the ball, as at the moment Blease has neither the tank or body to play midfield all day and he is the only guy on the list with the pace and poise we need running thru the middle. Jack Viney will help with the quality midfield grunt we also need, cannot wait to see him in a demons jumper the kid already puts enormous effort into his training that 1 or 2 of the listed players could well follow. The great thing is the vast majority of players are putting in like i havent seen for quite some time.

Look, it's an interesting argument, and maybe AoB should bring a post or two over from the training report thread that points out his argument. I am of the belief that a Frawley game where he keeps a gorilla to one goal while getting 10 touches himself and no defensive rebounds is better than a 18 touch game with 4 defensive rebounds if we struggle to contain that gorilla forward. And I realise that the premise is reliant on Sellar being able to contain that gorilla, but that premise has little bedrock beneath it. Personally, the more pressing issue for me is finding a small defender who can compete well and kick well. Seems to be either or at the moment...

It's the money we won't get by not having a sponsor between October and March that's a problem. We obviously don't have one and that is fine, I hope we get it done soon. But the allusions by some on here to timing of the announcement just makes me roll my eyes - Chinese New Year, the Tennis, the release of the latest Mass Effect game... And can we put this to rest - the Demon Shop will know we have a sponsor the same day that Twitter does.

From those Photos all our guys are bigger through the shoulders and considering the amount of running they have been doing this is good. Our players just look different players to what we saw last year. We expected to see good body devlopement from our younger guys but even Green looks bigger and Moloney looks in better condition not bigger, it looks to me his body shape has changed not so top heavy more balanced with his muscle mass.

What an absolute load of nonsense. You state that it is a myth that Jim saved the club because he did not personally improve our facilities, build our list or develop Casey etc.. Yet you acknowledge that these things wouldn't have happened without him - and you agree that he inspired and united. What the hell do you expect a leader to do? Under your thesis, Churchill didn't beat Hitler because he didn't get into the bunker with a a machine gun! What has JIm done wrong? Was it his fault that, our Football Director ( Andrew Leoncelli) moved to Sydney - and that no-one else was prepared to step forward to fill the void? I am delighted that so many others have torn this critical post to threads

It's not a crisis. Conundrum is more the word. We need to expunge words like 'crisis' and 'burden' from our club vocabulary when it comes to leadership. Let's view it as a challenge to be overcome with confidence, rather than getting all angst-ridden about it.

two words: Matthew Scarlett - Geelong have had some pretty average footballers rotating through their forward line, even in premiership years

Why? Members with less than 11 game memberships might just take umbrage to these comments. Some supporters simply can't afford it whilst others, mainly interstaters can't extract maximum value from higher membership without spending thousands of dollars extra to fly over for games.. Segregating membership tallies would be a pointless exercise that would lead to polarisation. We all support the same team so why should we be classed as different?

It appears I am one of the few on here who hasn't got a man-crush on Jack Darling. Even as a Weagle, the flame still burns for a lot of MFC supporters. He was a kid who had his growth-spurt early and was able to fill out his body a lot earlier than the competition. That's why he dominated as a kid, looked super impressive in youtube footage and had many supporters begging for him in the draft. Sure he was going to be ready for AFL footy in his next year but that doesn't make him the best available at pick 12. He took Ashley Hansen's spot and looks a bit more effective than Ashley so far but what's to say Darling won't become the next Hansen? He's already filled out and I'm of the opinion he looks as good now as he'll ever look at AFL level. Another Rhys Palmer or Daniel Rich type... impressive first season proceeded by stagnation.

You're right titan, I was of the same opinion. Playing darts with a group of mates last night - no-one gave her a chance of beating Jankovic. Couldn't believe it. Most thought she had just played her "Grand Final" beating Serena. As she one, she didn't carry on - that's a sign of the 'work is not done yet.' Played magnificent tennis did Stosur, defeating Jankovic in straight sets in a most dominant display. I think she will win the title (oops - I hope I haven't mozzed her). Samantha Stosur. Well done ! But one more ! Then Wimbledon !