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Since when did Joel Macdonald become "McDonald"? Not meaning to pick on you specifically DD, but I've counted at least 5 people in this thread do this. I wouldn't mind so much (at least, I'd ignore it) but we do have a player named "McDonald" on our list too (Tom), so it can be confusing. Not to mention the fact that I think it's respectful and really not that hard to get our players names right - we all know how much we hate it when commentators call our co-captain "Trengrove" - this is no different! Everyone repeat after me: Joel Macdonald (Mac, lower case 'd') Tom McDonald (Mc, upper case 'D')

I know people often have trouble spelling Beamer's name, but this is ridiculous!

Personally I dont like the idea. I do not want the boys to play FOR Jimmy (unsustainable). I want the boys to play like Jimmy (acheivable).

Compliance is about performing in accordance with a set of rules and/or expectations. Neeld makes it clear that these expectations have been established not by him or the coaching panel but by the way the successful clubs go about things. He's simply saying that if MFC wants to be successful everybody has to comply with the expectations that lead to the rewards. i'm sure he doesn't exclude himself from that sort of compliance. I'm also sure that he expects to be judged according to the standards he sets for others. My guess is, at this early stage, that Mark Neeld is prepared to be tough, demanding and uncomromising with the players and that he expects the club to be the same way about him and his performance. Only time will tell if he has the substance to back up his words. I'm hoping he has.

Maric looked to me last night the same as he did for MFC - almost good enough. Richmond have a lot of garbage players playing senior footy. There seems to be a huge gulf between their best and worst players - they remind me a lot of Carlton circa 2008.

Just quietly have a look at their fwd line! Lester, Leuy, Polkinghorne Banfield, Patful, Polec Now please, if we kick 10 its game over!

Really? Match ups aside, one has played a lot footy, the other hasn't. I think Sellar is a good pick up for what the team needs, but he has been overrated by many here so far.

He's very special. So I call an 18 week toe injury, or at the very least a 4-6 week paper cut. Thinking of starting another "weeks played without death" signature counter. Worked a treat for Rivers. Clearly I'm a magical signature healer!

That's scary for society!

Father of the year .

As part of research I have been doing over the last few years I have had the privilege to interview several people who are widely recognised in Australia (and the rest of the world) as some of the leading thinkers in harmful substance use. These 'experts' have been working for many years, in some cases decades, in this field and admitted there is no easy answer to the harms caused by 'ice'. They had never seen such a harmful drug in their experience and were concerned with the unpredictable behaviour frequently displayed by problematic users. They were hopeful that trials of substitute pharmacotherapies might prove effective - but such trials take years. It's all too hard!

It seems sarcasm is too.

Wash your mouth out! Grimes will play. He'll play for 5 minutes before somehow breaking 8 toes and not resurfacing for 18 rounds.

I'm really glad that the club has gone down this road instead of a minutes silence. The rest of the games (as far as I know) have been doing a minute silence and I think this does put us in a different category when I comes to Jimmy. I've seen it done at EPL matches and it just seems right. In Jimmy's case it seems even more appropriate because his life and his achievements should be celebrated. In terms of a song, I would think an Irish song of some kind would be the way to go. Danny Boy comes to mind (with changed lyrics), but I reckon I'd tear up every time I heard it!

True, but their midfield sh*ts all over ours. I'd give my left knee to have Martin, Cotchin and Delidio running around in our midfield. Sure beats having to resort to the likes of Bate. No offence to Bate.

Great. Now trade period will be 2 weeks and 4 days of no action, instead of 4 days of no action.

With the utmost respect to Jim, no one man will ever be, or should be bigger than the MFC. Not even the late and great Jim Stynes. Even Jim would agree with this. The club was around long before any one of its living past/present players, and it will be around (hopefully) for another 150 years at least. And with regard to the idea of a chant, it would need to be pretty decent, or else it would just be lame. If we were able to create a chant/song that was as unique and spine-tingling as Liverpool's 'you'll never walk alone' then i'm all for it (yes i know that Celtic also uses this song as well).

haha I'd like them to get it, and be working hard together with the coaching staff to achieve the goals they'd identified. Fine by me for the coaching staff to have put a fire under them, and so on, and to have come up with the goals, but in the end the players have to own it too. Coaches would do well to at least publicly talk up the players' ownership of the big enterprise. I dunno how you say that, but it is a different story to "comply", and "comply" does leave room for the players feeling maybe not quite included. Part of success has to be intellectual property, and I don't think it's so great when the way things are described sounds a bit like the coach is the owner of what's going on. I just think that a different way of saying some of this stuff would look better, and I hope that the authoritarian/paternalistic/threatening tone that some of us bleeding hearts fear we are hearing is not actually representative of the way the new coaches are interacting with the players. I guess 99% won't actually go for that, either, now that I look at it. But still, it's my opinion.

yipee! more threads, longer threads

"The ruthless element is interesting. I’ve heard people say that, but for me, my role in the football club is to coach the team. I don’t want to be here happy being an AFL coach. I want to be an AFL coach who has an impact on the Melbourne footy club - and a positive one. Right now, there are a whole heap of AFL footballers, who are just happy to be an AFL footballer. I don’t want to coach them. I want to coach people who are prepared and want to be an AFL player who has an impact on their football club and the competition. They’re the ones [i want to coach]." I LOVE THIS! No passengers....

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/131813/default.aspx I don't think he means negotiate a consensus.

Ok, so our coach takes responsibility for his decisions and uses politically incorrect pronouns... Impatiently awaiting 1.45pm tomorrow.

This strikes a chord with me. These choice-of-words things may be little things, but actually the words can skew the message. In the trenches, when it got really out-of-the-question awful, what soldiers continued for apparently was their mates. If the players know that Neeld is thinking "us", it must be easier for them to go with him when he keeps pushing them further and further outside their comfort zones. If it hurts, does the one making it happen feel any empathy, any appreciation of what they are doing? There has to be a bonding between coach and players, and language could interfere with that. At really tough training, do our players see their coach out there pushing himself too - that earns respect, and provides perspective when you think you've had enough. I appreciate that Neeld sees the need to make changes (we are grateful!), but he also needs to develop the right relationship with the players. We will want them to follow him absolutely. "Comply" worries me too, as a them-and-us word. A top-down word, implying a very strong focus on the coach's demand rather than the players' growth. A really good balance would allow for the nature of each individual, so that the Liam Jurrahs of the world would never be left wondering whether they belong... Still, Neeld says he has been focused on individual development so far, and perhaps we are reading too much into his choice of words. I hope so. Norm Smith was at times hated for his toughness, but he was loved for his personal connection with the players' lives. The Red Fox tells us that he knew them individually well enough not to have a one-size-fits-all approach.

Magner trained superbly on Wednesday.Seemed no issue with hand.

Hard to tell from TV coverage but it looked as though Maric was playing on Yarran who kicked a couple of goals from half back. It was the defensive part of his game and lack of second effort that really lacks in his game and why he is a good VFL player but doesn't step up. One glaring effort was when he lost his feet in a contest and sat on the ground exhausted whilst Yarran took off down the ground with ball in hand.

I love the excitement shown by Tynan in his press conf on the MFC website. I love that Magner in his describes his natural game as "aggressive". I love seeing players debut. Cant wait for tomorrow.

two reasons We didnt present an option hard enough and quick enough. And two - even if we did, we did not enough confidence in each other to pull the trigger quickly on anyone presenting

Bartram better be careful or he'll give away 20 frees a game .

While I only saw about half the Richmond v Carlton game last night, I thought Maric was just OK. Did a few nice things and then a couple of poor decisions. More relevantly, though, if Richmond is going to better than Melbourne this year...we'll be having a shocker. Richmond has a few terrific players (Cotchin, Martin, Deledio) but still a lot of gaps currently being filled by battlers (Miller, A. Maric, Edwards, Nahas, and most of the backline).

And good ball movement is dependent not on pace but on the desire to work hard and keep spreading and keep presenting options. I keep rabbiting on about Nat Jones. Definitely not quick but works his arse off to present an option.

http://www.bbcshop.com/content/ebiz/bbc/invt/ltdmg012/bb_flobbatastic_300.jpg

What??? You are kidding!!!!

You didn't notice a Tasmanian going by the name of Howe on the team sheet? :-)

Agree that lack of pack can be countered by good ball movement but it has great importance when you dont have the ball. I thought last night's game was a great example of that.

Not surprised that McDonald is in ahead of Sellar. Sellar is very one dimensional, and with no Brown, he really has no opponent. He will only play when we come up against a big forward line. Think Hawthorn, Collingwood, North. McDonald can play much smaller and is much faster. I don't mind him defensively, just FFS don't give him the footy. It's a good line up, and I'm sure the listed positions are not correct, but I do worry about a lack of good foot skills down back. Bartram, McDonald, Bail, they are all average users. No doubt Blease and Grimes will play a more sweeping role. Bate is bloody lucky. I tell you what, 6 months ago I thought he was gone. Clearly Neeld like him, but he needs a damn good game because Petterd, Strauss, Tapscott and Sylvia will all be available shortly, and all 4 are better players. P.S.- Morton continues to let me down.

RF - you have outed yourself as an abstainer, and good on you for making that choice. My question is: If the govt suddenly announced they would revoke legislation that made currently illicit drugs legal would you go out and try some? I know I wouldn't, nor would most people I choose to associate with. To think otherwise shows a lack of faith in our fellow citizens - even though neoliberals could argue that it is their right to choose. All the evidence shows that prohibition has failed and is one of the most harmful social experiments of modern times. We need to try a more rational approach, one that places more emphasis on prevention and evidence-based treatments and less on the failed approach of interdiction. Is that so radical?

Gysberts has been woeful this pre-season. In the intra-club he was poor, in the NAB he played he was terrible and I was disappointed in his efforts against Frankston for Casey a week ago. He greatly needs to improve his endurance and upper body strength. That said, his game last Saturday against Williamstown was good. It was his first good game for the summer.

Perhaps if we took the crime out of drugs there would be less victims of crime.

I thought this was supposed to be a forum for 'supporters'. There are so many who do not support... they just want to tear down a 21-year-old before the season even starts. And perhaps those who sing the praises of Nic-Nat should take their 'support' to West Coast. Do any of you think about how all the negative comments from so-called Demon supports could be affecting Watts? I am not going to read another post about Jack Watts during the season. Let him listen to his coaches, continue to learn and improve throughout the season and judge him at the end of September.

Robbie Flower's the most exciting Demon I've seen . By a street . Back in the day most of our games weren't "On the replay" so many of Robbie's great exploits weren't captured . We were sometimes the "3rd" game televised and we were often confined to "The late replay" . Many times with with the "electrifying" commentary of Bill Twomey ! Cheers

We're going to thump them and will be sitting pretty at the top of the table at the end of Round 1.

sometimes i'm so radical i even scare myself od B)

That Richmond full forward line looks sensational with Miller and Maric in the two pockets.

No we are not surprised, but he is definitely not "dumb", but rather messed up as are most people with drug related issues. A little compassion wouldn't go astray (although if the sell and supply charges stick, I might reassess that).

Needs to cheer up.

It's interesting how negative everyone is about all our players this pre-season as compared to the start of last season. I also find myself very negative for some reason. Probably just the sustained long period of crapness has taken its toll. But i think we are all being a bit too negative. Bennel is a good young player. I think he could make it as a backman, he has pace and kicking skills and could be a Chris Yarran type i think. A relatively loose rebounding defender who sets up play. He will need to tighten up his defensive skills though. Just a little perspective. Last 3 years we have gone from 4 wins, to 5.5 wins, to 8.5 wins. We have been slowly (VERY slowly) improving. We now have a strong key forward. Our kids are not so much kids anymore and should be ready to push on. We've got some stronger bodies in (Magner, Couch, Seller). By all accounts we should improve this season. Plus, when you think about it, last year everything that could go wrong, did go wrong... surely we'll have a bit of luck this year. i'm thinking 10 or even 11 wins!

Sorry if this has been posted before. http://www.melbourne...95/default.aspx A few things I've gathered from Neeld's rhetoric since signing on: 1. The club hasn't been up to standard across a number of facets (der!) 2. There have been a lot of changes to bring the players up to the standard of the top 4 (or Collingwood) 3. Neeld may have been challenged by how hard he was working the players: suggestions that journos asked if he was, certainly suggests that they were driven to ask the question in some capacity 4. He acknowledges that sometimes the powers that be can be a little overbaring on what's happening in the football side of things. He said they "respect" the history, but that sometime's it's good to try new things. I really like the man, but he's brought up a few interesting things for me. For one, it's quite clear that he's come in and been shocked at the lack of quality across on the board. Says quite a lot about previous coaching teams (namely Bailey and co.) Also, I think it's quite clear in the video that he is fighting resistance to aggressive changes he's implementing, which is no surprise. I've always felt that Melbourne the club would never be bigger than Melbourne the establishment, but he seems to be trying to buck that trend while still maintaining strong historic ties with the club's past. I also think Schwab is party responsible for this on an aesthetic front, bringing certain things back (logo, blazers) that obviously allude to past great years. It's great that we have someone like Neeld here. I think his commentary on what the club NEEDS to be is better than saying what the club WANTS to be, and it's clear that he knows what it takes to succeed with the best in this league. It's also clear that the club is no where near the best, but we're making strides to get there. What did you think of the speech?

Let the young JV create his own number.

give him 23!!

Sylvia shouldn't feel any pressure whatsoever. Twelve is HIS number and should/can finish his career with the same distinction Todd left his. I feel and hope Jack has same attitude towards numbers as Gary Ablett jr did.