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Martin will be a gun. Go Stef.

Sounds like the coach reads Demonland, g'day Neeldy!

We had insert-what-you-want-here at the club over the last 5 years and look at the results .... For me, the problem hasn't been the leadership group, it's been the lack of leaders to put into it. Now, hopefully, we're starting to get a few, on field and off.

your wish is my command.....

I agree with the idea but the great thing about UF is the connection you have with the other competitors. With trades and everything happening during the year you begin to make somewhat of an alliance with some whilst refusing to trade with others knowing how they operate. It is this that seperates just names on a page like SC and DT and the reason why changing it each and every year may not be a good idea. I always play closer attention to the posters who I played UF with simply because I see them as good blokes. For this reason also it's why I'd set up two threads one for League JA and one for League IWAP. Theres no one and two but its simply easier to connect with your league than going through all the post because last year League 2 got lost because League 1 were all so active in the thread.

Off topic I know, but I'm sick to death the amount of smart arse comments made by a select few Demonland posters, but on a more and more regular basis. It happens in every thread, and it's terribly sad that some posters feel the need to over-power another posters opinion by making personal comments. Lutz - so what if Old Dee "doesn't understand". Actually, what is it that he doesn't understand? Your opinion? Maybe you don't understand his either, but I don't see him question you about "understanding". There's always things I don't agree with, and more to the point, a lot of my opinions people don't agree with, but when you continually here things like "whether you understand it or not" or "it's quite simple, but for billy2803, maybe not", etc, etc, where do you posters get off? Unless it's a misinterpretation of a rule, most other things we discuss are all based on our own opinions, and just because you don't agree doesn't mean you're wrong, but it also doesn't mean you're right. But whichever way it is, personal attacks or smart arse comments are totally unacceptable.. I apologise for being "melodramatic" (according to one poster it's something I suffer from), and "those" posters would most likely advise me to read a different site. Well, I, like most of you, live and breath MFC, and when you're an interstater (in the non-AFL-dominant area of South East Queensland), this is the best way I can get my daily Demon fix. I enjoy the posts of most, especially the likes of Old Dee, and I would hate to see him crack the sh!ts and not contribute due to someone else going on their little power trip. We are passionate, we want the best for the Club, we want a premiership and lots of them. Don't be scum supporters like Collingwood and Richmond, we are all Melbourne fans and should respect each others views in a constructive way, not degrading, disrespectful and immature. End rant.

This argument keeps raising it head- "we should known". Every single expert had Scully going number one twelve months prior to the draft and nothing changed. I dont believe any club would have passed up Scully at number one. To level the accusation that the MFC got it wrong is putting on the retrospective glasses to the extreme. Happy to hear anyone say "in hindsight we got it wrong" but to say we didnt do our homework is plain wrong. Maybe if we do want to learn something from all club previous drafting then we should steer away from any interstate draftees because of the go home factor (sorry JT). Makes it difficult for GWS and GC to draft anyone. Stick to local boys who barracked for MFC growing up. Wait Juddy was coming home and barracked for the Dees growing and didnt come back to us. Maybe we should just pass on draft picks - too risky that they may want to leave.

From the Herald-Sun: Neeld said Davey was still managing a knee injury, which was bandaged again yesterday, but confirmed he had done enough to get a tick from fitness boss David Misson to play on Friday. He said perceptions that Davey had struggled through the pre-season were wrong. "What I'm learning is that people will come and watch a one-off training session and if they don't see someone train the perception is they're behind or they're off or they're injured," Neeld said. "The way all clubs do it, it is fair dinkum an individual program. It is all very scientific." Perhaps that needs to be taken into consideration with all training reports here, and assumptions not made too quickly.

Perhaps instead of talking about the players in the midfield, we should be talking about the coaches. I don't know about the rest of you, but I think that Brian Royal being retained is a big plus, considering how our backline have performed over the last couple of seasons. And being a former rover himself, it makes sense that he is now our midfield coach. And no doubt he will adapt his coaching to Mark Neeld's input, especially as Mark was in charge of perhaps the best midfield in the competition. I don't think it's a coincidence that players suddenly improve when their coaches change - and our midfield is a fairly unchartered area when you consider who's been in charge over the last few seasons (Scott West was probably in over his head, and DB may or may not have noticed)... I think the midfield will improve 100% this season, no matter who we throw in there, PROVIDED they follow instructions and execute...

Think that applies to everyone..... This is a disappointing attitude especially after one, yes only one really poor year. And opinion on his contract negotiations are pure conjecture as we have no clue what goes on behind closed doors, so you are choosing to think that he is screwing the club. Is he really? Prove it? And where does it say that he (or anyone else for that matter) can't try to get a good contract, I appreciate the frustrations about delays and money, but you are choosing to ignore the loyalty and great play over years of service. Did you disrespect and dislike him to this degree when he won the Best and Fairest at the end of 2010? A bad year does not make a bad person and certainly shouldn't make loyal supporters black ball classy life long Melbourne players so easily. Was he a poor captain? Yes. But you are questioning him in his entirety and that is unacceptable and disappointing to me. I just hope that relieving him of the burden will give him the chance to retrieve the form that won him a Bluey. Plus no matter who you are being sacked is never easy, but he has handled it with nothing but honesty and class. He deserves better than this crap.

Footy is such a drug that demands my attention even when I resolve to be a little more balanced. I think that I’ve attended every MCG game in the past 3 years bar 2 (both of them were wins as well), and I’ve read, aborbed and enjoyed all of the training reports on Demonland and ‘Ology, despite them seeming to be pretty consistent. Last Monday, I took advantage of the 8am start to training at the Gosch to watch my first training session since the boys trained in the twilight at Junction Oval in 1992 (I was working in the “cheese grater” next door back in 92). Watching training on Monday morning met many of my expectations based on the fabulous training reports, but there were some quirks that took me a little by surprise. I’ve really enjoyed the training reports, but I thought that I’d share some of my observations that I did not see in others’ reports. My first observation was how smooth and gradual the warm-up was. From memory, it consisted of the following: Players arriving at the oval took a gentle walk in groups of 2 to 5 for one lap around the boundary. The coach who led the warm-up said a few words that I could not hear, then I heard him call out “do a single”, which obviously translated to jog a single lap. There was an array of stretching exercises for the legs and groin. As an ex-amateur player (from the mid-80s to the early 90s), their stretches looked really well thought out. There were a series of kicking exercises where players would start in two rows, 15 metres apart at first moving out to 30 metres, kicking one-on-one to each other. By the time I thought to look, they were tending to kick with their non-preferred foot. I remember Robbie Flower’s dead-eye aim in the 70’s World of Sport handball competition, and these guys looked more like amateurs than Robbie Flower. (Readers, please don’t get worried by this – I saw this as merely a part of the warm-up routine.) The players then did some good-old circle work, though with stations positioned on each of the flanks and in the goal squares. I moved into the boundary to watch closely how well each of the players were handling and disposing of the ball. By this time, the players were pretty much moving at full pace. I also realised after 5 or so minutes of this that I was so absorbed that I had almost forgotten to breathe – I love footy so much. Flowing footy is like poetry in motion for me and completely absorbs me. As far as skills were concerned, I’d say that about half of the disposal / accuracy / receiving was clean enough to withstand a defender one metre behind and hot on the tail of the target. At the end of the circle work, the players did something that I’ve never seen in Aussie Rules but it is a feature of sports like Rugby Union and hockey. The players formed two rows facing each other like a sausage and rotated around the group and “congratulated” each of their team mates with a hand-shake, should pat sort of thing. As a Dees fan, it looked good. A trainer then brought out a bag of GPS harnesses and the players stripped off their red shirts to put the harness on and to don one of the white or royal blue jumpers that others have described in their reports. There was a few minutes break while a steady stream of players almost sprinted to the heritage green public lavatory on the corner of the park next to the entrance to AAMI Park. Seeing the players resort to using the public toilet struck me as a bit odd; a bit inconsistent with being elite sportsmen and trainers. I won’t say who was first to do a whiz, but that was only 20 minutes after they started. I’m sure that they drink buckets of water but I’d be surprised if someone attending a training session at my work excused themselves 20 minutes after the training started. At first, I thought that this was an aberration until there were about another 5 players who did the same thing in the next 5 minutes. After the short break, the players moved into the match simulation with directions from Choco in the middle. Boy it felt weird watching a match simulation on the boundary line rather than up in the stands as I found it really hard to process any of what was happening. Most of the players were hard to distinguish and, frankly, it looked pretty scrappy. It did not help that most of the action was taking place on the opposite wing. One thing that interested me was that they operated an interchange bench, with Tappy and Willow interchanging and even with an official with a whiteboard. I could almost imagine one of those umpires with the tight trackies making sure that the Post-it notes were in order. At the end of about 10 minutes of match-simulation, they called a break. By this time, it was 9:15 or so and I had to head off to work. Some other observations. Neeldy and most of the other senior coaches spent quite a bit of time standing around chewing the fat with their arms crossed, hands in their pockets or pulling up their shorts. (Those shorts aren’t the sort of clothes you’d see the Fonz wear on Happy Days, if you know what I mean.) It struck me how different their work environment was to my work environment, where appearing as though you are loafing is seriously frowned upon. These guys get paid mega-bucks and obviously know when to sit on the perimeter and observe, and when to step in, absorb the pressure and make some big calls. I sensed that Neeldy was very comfortable with empowering his assistants. Immensely talented players who can do freakish things in a game blended in at this training session (at least for the 45 minutes of training that I watched). Guys like Killer, Greeny, Rush, Chipper didn’t stand out like what I’ve come to expect. I’ll finish up by stating that I think that they guys will be really competitive this season. I went to AGM (and even asked a question), and I had the distinct impression that the top-brass are conspiring to keep a lid on expectations, a la the “under-promise and over-deliver” mantra. The vibe at training was quiet but positive, along the lines of follow the process and the outcomes will look after themselves. The match simulation may have been scrappy but I got a real sense of steely determination. I’m not supposed to go to so many games this year as I’m starting a part-time Masters degree, but I sense that I’ll be down at the G more time than I plan for. Go Dees!

You would have to be stiff to play DL7 in round one

100% retention rate!

I wish you all the best in your quest.

Mark my words we will smash them by smash i mean 30 to 60 points not really a smashing but a good win all the same.i have great trust in our coach and list to beat the lions with comfort at the m.c.g just heard nathan jones on MFC website and he talks about making sure the gameplan/machine runs well as part of his new midfeiald role and also says this pre season really has been almost double what they had done in the past i cant wait for the footy to start i might sound a bit cocky but neeld has me thinking we finally have some good structure around the club and our rise to the top is coming GO DEES

I have been to one training session at Casey, the windy monday morning one about 3 weeks ago. The forwards were practicing whilst under defensive pressure and Flash was being coralled closer and closer to the boundary. 30m around from goal he baulked his opponent and slotted the goal. Through the air it was never in doubt. On a degree of difficulty it was as close to impossible but he made it look simple. I was leaning over the fence no more than 3 metres away at the time. I have no idea how Davey will go this year but I love hearing training stories like this Same for this one below from a training report on"Ology by George-on-the-outer "Really, really interesting was at the first break. The whole group brought together to gather breathe and drinks. Jack Watts singled out. I think it was Brian Royals booming voice that could be heard all around the ground as he threw Jack the ball….” Its Queens Birthday weekend, you have the ball and kicking for goal to stop Collinwood going back to back, it’s all up to you Jack….” With other coaches shouting at him as he came in to kick, and the rest of the players standing around with expectation, he slotted it from the 50m." I also very much enjoyed hearing Morton doing well recently and stories of McDonalds fitness for a someone 194cm tall is exciting. There is lots of time to find out if he can kick and mark It is the time to believe and dream and I'm all for it.

Gysberts is a strange one. He just always happens to be where the ball is but I don't see him working for it. I don't know what to think when it comes to him

I meet trenners at the b&f and said to him when you see scully sling him into the ground. And he give me a great big smilen and said he will do his best.He is a very smart young man.

Hindsight is such a wonderful thing. Show me a post that you stated this just before or after the draft.

I am with you on this DL. I never doubted his football ability but his persona was always "odd" That was proved correct as only certain people could go through with lying in public for over a year. Extraodinary mental strength, but also deceit. You cannot compare Ju$$ to $cully. Wet Coke bought on their own problems, and Ju$$ had had enough. We couldn't even sign $cully to more than apprentice wages. Tom is a loner and aloof. A trait that we should always now be wary of. That is why i will always believe we picked the wrong kid.

Scored 10 votes in the Brownlow. 2nd best of all players at MFC, led the club for goal assists and second for tackles, and top five for possessions better than Trenners,Jones,McKenzie ect. A lot better than people give him credit for.

Exactly DC. Claims on here that people had concerns with Scully back then and that it was obvious (only in hindsight) they we should not have picked him at #1 are ridiculous.

The reason we keep harping on about scully is we know how good he is going to be and what he would have meant to this club. We are not going to pick up another one with 2 compo picks. We lost. He lost. Footy lost. It was a lose lose lose.

Link to a post where you doubted we should draft Scully.

Gee, I thought I did alright! It's not September so I get to see finals, it's not October or November so I don't miss the Spring Racing Carnival, it's not Christmas or New Years, or Easter for that matter, I just didn't take this pr!cks birthday in to consideration. Maybe I should change my name to Philly2803??

I think LG's are a necessity. If all clubs have them, including the last several Premiership teams, what is to say it doesn't work ? With two young co-captains recently installed, they most likely need the support of a LG behind them.

Mark Neeld's comment: "The other really big eye-opener for me was, unless you are working within the inner sanctum of a football club, it is impossible to understand how the club operates - from an on-field perspective right through to the boardroom." This could very well be applied to some of the slap downs on the concept of leadership in this thread. Bing's comment "the problem hasn't been the leadership group, it's been the lack of leaders to put into it." is closest to the pin.

Was he the only coach still under contract?

$cully's teammate and fellow GW$ leadership group member Setanta showing true leadership by example in an intraclub match whilst he was still at Carlton - A class act and could there be another AFL club around with a better balance of professionalism in its leadership group than this mob? Setanta and his antics and Voldemort and his loyal and honest approach to his club?

Ha! It's a bit late Billy if your worried it may be like the Skunk in May. Maybe you should have tied her legs together earlier? Don't you know you shouldn't plan things for the footy season, LoL?

Love the Bloke, i really liked him down back last season in his 2 games. He has obviously worked on his fitness lately and as he continues to put on muscle and build strength could really become a weapon. The thing that i worry about is that he hasnt found a position, that we know of yet, with Neeld trying him forward.....put him somewhere and let him settle.

Queeny I have just returned from a nice restaurant down the road, Illoner Staller, and my outlook on the world and Brad Green has changed. Im happy you've been in his corner as I have myself in the past. I accept your argument and concede. I was too harsh. I reflected over a nice bottle of Sangiovese and while all looked cool around me, I wasnt very classy in what I posted. I withdraw and reckon you did well standing up for him. Cheers.

Setanta is right in saying that both Judd and Scully adopt a very professional approach to the way they train and how they apply themselves to their game and, of course, they're both highly paid footballers. But the similarity doesn't just end there. The circumstances under which Judd found himself at Carlton were clouded by claims in some circles that there had been deception in the way he offered himself for interview with four Victorian clubs (including Melbourne) before deciding on Carlton. Later, it was suggested that the Blues had already secured their player before this charade had taken place. Further, Carlton got away with having a sponsorship deal with Visy included in Judd's remuneration outside the salary cap meaning that the other clubs bidding for his services would never really have had the opportunity to compete for the player. Similarly, the stench of deception will forever surround the Scully name whenever it's discussed in football circles in the future. That's his historical legacy. The Voldemort deception went deeper than that of Judd but the connection will always be there as far as I'm concerned. I might add that there are some differences. Judd has served two clubs with distinction, won a premiership and a Brownlow at the first, another Brownlow at the second, captained both of his clubs and he doesn't have a dodgy knee.

Rhett, if you're still watching this thread the following sentence this page (http://www.foxtel.com.au/xbox/packages/default.htm?presel=pbtm) is a shocker: "Don’t add AFL now. For free^ AFL trail just add Sport. If you like it add AFL post 17 March." As a professional writer, I've taken the liberty of reworking it for you into something that makes sense! My invoice is in the mail "AFL coverage is free on the Sport Pack until the 17th of March. To continue to watch live AFL games after this date, you'll need to add one of the following options:"

i'd run laps for 2 hours a day if someone paid me $250,000

Just watched the video, Brad Green is a complete professional and took it the way any professional should. He might play as a 'Ricky Ponting' role to the younger captains, which personally i think will be beneficial. All signs are looking good for the dees, cant wait to get down to the G rd1, im like a little kid before christmas Giddy Up!!

The way that Brad Green has handled losing the captaincy and his attitude to the news has, from the very beginning, been all class. Dare I say it, but after a torrid 2011 season for Brad, he will in many ways be relieved that he can now go back to concentrating on his game and being a part of the team's revival where he will still have the capacity to lead by his example on the field. Time has moved quickly for those who have now become the club's elder statesmen. Players like Green, Davey and Rivers who have for so long been regulars at the club, now need to concentrate on holding their places in the team and once they have done that, they will still be required to provide leadership as the more mature players in the group. It's going to be fascinating to see how these players go about this because I see them as still having important roles to play if they rise to the challenges that face them. At the same time, Mark Neeld had taken a bold approach in giving the mantle of responsibility to the youth upon whose shoulders the long term future of this group rests. It's refreshing and exciting and the logical way to go after what happened in the last half of last year.

btw, not only will Gysberts be an absolute jet (not far off it now), but Morton will prove a lot of people wrong. Bookmark it.

Dear god.

Eddie McGuire is a self serving control freak and will push Collingwood where he can. I don't like his head on my TV.