Leaderboard

After watching mitch clark in the red and blue last week i have to say this guy could and should be captain of this great club. He has spirit and fight and can have a great impact on a game when a strong leader is needed. He IMO is the best man for the job and has shown more BALLS then any other demon. Mitch is a fighter and a fighter is what we need. Thoughts? Let the jacks go back to learning to play AFL.

Maybe the reason is we're just not good enough through the midfield. With all due respect to players like Moloney, Bate and Jones, they really should be the 5th or 6th best midfielders, not the ones we rely on every week (please don't take that as meaning I don't like what they do and how hard they try). The young players we were hoping to build a good midfield group around are just not there: Scully's gone; Blease, Gysberts, Grimes, Strauss, Tapscott and Jetta hardly get on the field, Bennell doesn't go, Morton's too light, Trengove is still learning. Now we're trying to cobble together a midfield by using Howe and Watts, who really should be on the end of leads provided by the others.

I must admit I got a chuckle out of "is David King ever right?". King annoys me - he's one of those people who sounds as if he knows what he's talking about, but when you listen a bit closer...

Look (free kick ahead) - I'm not a poet, artist or anything like that. But amongst all the crap going on this year, here is my attempt to engage the other part of my brain and express some of what I see. I welcome any additions - in fact I'd like others with better skills to step in and make their own contribution. There is a wide range of people who inhabit this site, and maybe this will spark some with the right talent. There once was a team called The Dees Playing like they had knobbly knees They couldn’t get the new plan They couldn’t kick to their man And the crowd said ‘we’ve seen enough please’ They had Morton and Watts and Macca For whom many would not give a cracker ‘Just give them time’ ‘They’ll come along fine’ ‘One day they’ll go flat knacker’ And the old guard have gone out of favour But Moloney and Russian still labour They try to help the young team But they’re missing Brad Green To kick the sweet goals that they savour Among the faithful there are views that are plenty There are pros and there are cons - just as many But we're into the season With no time to reason We just want to see goals - more than twenty! Now the supporters are getting the sh!ts And the coaches are taking some hits Till round eleven we’ll go Without a win you know While Demonland goes into fits It’s sad but it’s true none the less These dark days are causing us stress We’ve seen much better days And played better ways And have ended up right in a mess And we've lost our great Champion Jim Who lived with such vigour and vim He's left a great hole In our heart and our soul Life's not the same without Jim But blue skies are not far away Our boys WILL rise up and play To the best of their skill And with a Demonic will And the crowd will say – at last –'hooray!'

Once again, every f*ing thread gets taken over by this mindless rear-view-mirror wisdom. It's the nature of drafting 17 and 18 year olds - some turn out great, some don't, some surprise, some don't, some come on quickly, some don't, some rise to the challenge, some don't, some adapt to the rigours of AFL, some don't, some get injured and never quite recover, some don't, some deal OK with leaving home, some don't, some come off the rookie list to captain clubs and be champions, some don't etc. etc., blah blah blah. Get over it. We took who we took. in any case, these guys need at least 5-6 years before any kind of assessment, and I for one don't have any problem with Cook over Darling, which was a sensible, logical choice ... AT THE TIME.

The co-captains we have is the best option of a bad lot. They'll be fine.

Why don't we just give the captaincy to who was BOG or the most courageous from the previous week? Sounds like a solid plan... Gippy

Cook is 86kg and has put on 10kg since arriving at the club.

Just a quick report from today's training. Sylvia, Taggart, Petterd, Strauss, Viney and Jurrah all took their places with the main group for a 2 hour session this morning. Training consisted of lap work, short kicking, circuit work, a bit of match-play, some competitive handball and tennis ball work, and finished with goal kicking practice. Jurrah looked a little tired during the latter session with the tennis ball, but he completed the full session. He didn't seem at all bothered by his bandaged wrist. There was no sign of Evans, Green, Jetta, Tynan and Gawn. Williams and Lawrence also unavailable due to a bout of gastro. Gotta keep them away from the rest of the squad. Martin, Gysberts and Frawley were on a restricted program; Clark was on a very restricted program. If Gysberts has a sore ankle then it's getting much better. He did numerous sprints and agility work and should be available soon. All in all not a bad session, and their spirit was good. Give 'em time.

It's a Mark Stevens article. He probably got the idea by reading this forum.

All clubs bag their players when they are not playing anything that resembles footy. We promise to be better behaved when the players show up. And the kids will like us when we win.

Ridiculous post and ridiculous feedback. Chook how on earth can you stereotype our supporters to be the quickest to bag our players? What about Essendon supporters with Brent Stanton who is actually a gun? What about Hawthorn supporters with Schoenmakers? What about dogs supporters with Gia? All teams have well behaved supporters,ferals,supporters with no teeth,supporters who are CEOS from toorak and supporters who are drug dealers from sunshine etc etc. To put all Melbourne supporters in the same bracket is just horribly ignorant. Dr Who I'm sorry that is just football. People are passionate about their team and the game and there will be vocal supporters who have a right to let off some steam (providing there is no racism) and it will happen at any football match anywhere (not just Melbourne games as youre hinting). If anything it should be easier taking kids to MFC matches when there's 30000 as opposed to 80000 at Carlton,coll and essendon matches. If your kids are not old enough to understand then maybe it's best to watch the game on TV until they are.

For Quitting "The Thunderbirds"

Other than the Neeld comment, because, how would he know, I see nothing wrong with his remarks. The Bulldogs were utterly hopeless. We we worse. They are in for a long season. Us longer.

Ok... I have not posted for a little while now but, as always, have been getting my daily/hourly fill of Demonland reading.... As would be the case with most of us, I have not enjoyed what I have seen over the first 4 rounds (I don't count pre-season as anything to base gameday opinions on). We have all basically come to the agreement that our beloved club is bereft of mature leaders and of players with the quality of most other clubs... Yes we have recruited with a high amount of stupidity (in hindsight) but also without a lot of luck along the way.... We still have some players at the club who you can build a team around, without naming the obvious ones.... But we also have a $hitload of players on our list who would not be getting a game in any other 22.... The Melbourne Football Club have recruited 2 key people over the last six months.... The first being Mark Neeld.... This guy WILL get us somewhere! More on him later.... The 2nd key recruit is Mitch Clark... His effort and attack on the pill is exactly what our forwardline needs! We are just not seeing how good this guy is purely because of the cattle playing up the field... Our forward structure is ugly because our current list of available players is ugly... FFS you have Mitch as our go-to forward with James Sellar as his wing man! Our small forwards are either not playing/past their best/lost in previous drafts.... We rely on getting certain players back into the side who can hopefully have an impact under the new coaching regime... A forward line consisting of Mitch Clark, Liam Jurrah, Jeremy Howe, Ricky Petterd and maybe a fit/hungry Nev Jetta waiting at ground level would kick a winning score if the ball was coming down to them often enough (even if bombed in)... Currently Howe and Watts (both natural forwards) are having to play roles further up field because we simply lack quality midfielders who can find a teammate by foot... For all of Jack Watts' faults, finding a target by foot is not one of them! Our midfield is easily the worst in the league! Attack on the footy is not the issue with our mids (Nate Jones is at the base of EVERY pack all day long)... Disposal and the lack of outside mids with devestating kicks is! Unfortunately this will take time to rectify... Something we as MFC members are sick of hearing, but we MUST listen this time! Our defence is not bad... Take out Joel MacDonald and inject a running half back with silk (draft?) so we aren't relying on Frawley to try and evade 6 blokes and run the ball out of the backline and you have a core group of players who will stop opposition forwards from scoring.... Again we need the quality midfield to stop the ball coming into their F50 with reckless abandon! Now Mark Neeld... Give this guy a go people... Yes, I said this about Bailey after his first year but Dean was the unfortunate victim of a club bereft of money and resources.... Have a look at the quality of assistant coaches and fitness staff at the club now... A group consisting of Neil Craig, David Misson and Todd Viney is a group that will bring professionalism at the Dees to a new level... They are building what will give the Melbourne faithfull what we want... Finals football and a chance at success! They cannot do it with what we have on the park at the moment! End of story! We are in a position to draft well over the next couple of years... Make no mistake about it! The first half of this season is going to be hard to watch... Let's be realistic... But I have faith that the 2nd half of this year we will start to see some serious improvement (barring our injury list growing) in the results... As Mark has stated, the effort is good... But he cannot come out in a presser and say "The effort is good, but our skills are the $hittest I have ever seen!" Which is exactly what he will be thinking... Our current administration MUST keep this group of 4 men at the helm of our club together! Outside pressures will peak on Mark Neeld when we are sitting at 0-8... But we MUST be patient! I strongly believe that come the end of the year, the media will be saying that we will be pushing for finals in 2013... If we can string some exciting wins together in the middle/latter stages of the year there will be draftees WANTING to be part of our club... Football these days is all about professionalism... And the 4 coaches I listed earlier are demanding this! They will weed out the ones who won't make it and will be ruthless in doing so... External pressures will be massive on Mark and his crew.... But you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out the issue at the club is with the cattle and not the coaches! Anyone who can honestly argue otherwise has rocks in their head.... Patience is not one of my strong points.... But I can see what Mark and the guys are doing... And I like what I see.... Call me Krazy

Whenever I read these threads I get incredibly frustrated with people who don't take the time to spell our players' names correctly. We all support the same team, but as a matter of respect to the players, spell their damn names right! We do not have a Bartrum, Sellars, Tom Macdonald, Joel McDonald, Pettard, Maloney, Silvia, Clarke or Trengrove. It takes two seconds to get it right; please make the effort.

Just to clear things up, it's Tom Mc and Joel Mac.

Please reserve your serious rants and raves about Jack for elsewhere. I just thought it'd be fun to make light of what is an almost week by week byplay on this forum (and in the media) about where he's at and the blame that's often ridiculously laid at his feet (ie. 'we lost because he dropped a mark' was a favourite from over the weekend). This thread takes a lighthearted swing at that sentiment. I'll get the ball rolling first ... I Blame Jack Watts For ... Overpopulation in third world countries.

In 2007, the then Gardner Board undertook a search for a new coach. They chose Bailey. Presumably during the interview process they established Bailey's football philosophy, game plan, strategies and measured those against the then "best practice". Bailey would have outlined the type of players that were needed to implement the strategy and then undertook the rebuild of a terrible list in conjunction with Cameron (2007) and Prendergast (2008 - 2011). In February 2010 the Stynes Board extended Bailey's contract by 12 months until the end of 2011. They had had the benefit of seeing Bailey in action for two years, had a chance to determine if his philosophies were sound and had seen how he managed the players and the other members of the club. Clearly they thought he was doing a good job and hence was extended on the back of 2 years "exposed form". in July of 2011, some 18 months after reviewing his performance and endorsing his direction they sacked him and undertook a search for a new coach. Among others Sanderson and Neeld applied at a time where Collingwood were seen as clearly the best side in the AFL. Sanderson would have come to interview and said "I've been at Geelong since 2007 and experience 2 GF victories and one defeat. Melbourne play a "Geelong" style of footy and I can take your group and build on what has been done since Bailey's appointment. It needs development but it's the same genre." Neeld would have come to interview and said "I've been at Collingwood since 2008 and I was involved in the 2010 GF. Collingwood are now the benchmark of the competition and it's game plan has superseded all others. It's designed on defence, stoppages and strength. Unfortunately your recruiting and coaching for the last 4 years is contrary to this game plan and I'll have to go back to square 1, rebuild your list and completely deconstruct the game plan. It will most likely take 3 to 5 years to build a list capable of competing at the top level. The last 4 years have been a waste." History now shows us that Geelong beat Collingwood in the 2011 GF and there game plan is being copied by most teams with the centre corridor being used much more frequently. Why did the current administration abandon 4 years of work and pain and opt for a complete rebuild last year when there was an equally well credentialed coach who could have taken that previous work and developed it? The only reason I can think of is they didn't believe the Geelong game plan could stand up. To make that decision a sophisticated understanding of game plans and the future direction of the game would be critical. And guess what, there wasn't a coach on our selection panel just a couple of Board members, a footy commentator who hasn't coached and an administrator. IMO Sanderson was clearly the correct choice because he would have develop and used philosophies based on Geelong and endorsed by the very people who extended Bailey contract and run our club now. Neeld was a knee jerk reaction to copy the team of the moment but which ended up failing in September and are struggling now. Our management panicked and abandoned their 4 year strategy and we are now back to square one where we don't even measure our performance by wins (Neeld presser after Bulldogs) and a President who by his own admission has got no idea why things have gone so wrong. Encouraging isn't it! Clarification: This is in no way a criticism of Neeld, it is a critique of the management flip flop that has given us the laughing stock of the competition and consigned us to yet another rebuild.

If you carefully watch the footage of Matthew Newtown bashing the hotel clerk, you can clearly see Jack Watts in the background cheering him on.

Who controls the British crown? Who keeps the metric system down? Jack Watts! Jack Watts! Who leaves Atlantis off the maps? Who keeps the Martians under wraps? Jack Watts! Jack Watts! Who holds back the electric car? Who makes Steve Gutenberg a star? Jack Watts! Jack Watts! Who robs cave fish of their sight? Who rigs every Oscar night? Jack Watts! Jack Watts!

Robbie Grey's injury makes me want to vomit. From someone who suffered a serious knee injury, that vision of his knee bending backwards makes me tear up. Poor guy! Clark is bloody lucky!

Bad behaviour by those supporters........ but frustration due to 48 yrs of no flags! No Heart! last 5 yrs of rebuilding & no improvement! Looking at possible 0-11 ( look at our draw) I know I will get shot down, but its only so much supporters can take!

Losing Jamar would open up a spot on the list and free up the cap - that's hardly nothing in return. He's 29 and is barely holding his spot in the team. We have to rely on Spencil, Fitzy and Gawn to come good. With Martin and Clark capable of rucking losing Jamar to free agency may be unfortunate but hardly detrimental to the team at this point in time.

Dr Who, Given that you've been lurking on the board for the last hour and a half yet still refuse to answer the question (I even went to the trouble of bolding and underlining it so that you saw it), one can only assume that you actually don't know. You are speaking a lot but have no idea what you are saying. Unfortunately it is left to other posters to read. The only victim in this is your credibility as a poster ........ again.

Who's paying the (presumably ludicrous) amount of compensation to the catering contractors?

The elitist attitude of MCC members. Yes I went there.

Disagree. He does not even sound like he knows what he's talking about. He is actually a dunce.

Who is Lucas Cook?

Is it? Matches aren't training drills. They're matches. For points. That members and supporters pay money to watch.

I estimate that our season will take the same length of time as theirs .Our perception of the passing of this time may vary.

Or get his hands on the ball first, which he did. Which is what every kid has been taught for 150 years. I don't even call it a slide. I doubt I've seen a more frivolous charge brought before a tribunal.

I heard a rumour that Watts was the second shooter, from behind the grassy knoll..........

vIns make sense except I don't think Petterd should come back in until he puts a minimum of 2 or 3 games together in the twos. If a player is dropped (as he was) it probably indicates that he lacks effort, fitness or skill. I think that players need to earn their places in the team barring a catastrophe. Fitzpatrick always puts in and has probably earnt a spot given Sellars has struggled. I could also understand if the selectors decide to persevere with Sellars for a notes couple of games to see if he can lift.

You definitely have this the wrong way around. Our players all get way too close to the contest, particularly in packs at stoppages, but also our crumbers at marking contests. To often we have ask our players either on the ground/in the contest our standing 1m inside their opponent. When the ball spills out, if it goes directly to us we are tackled immediately by the outside player, if it goes in a gap the opposition get the loose ball as they run out with a 2 step advantage. Watts and Howe do this better than Moloney, Jones, McKenzie or Magner, who ask get too close. These three are inside mids, we don't have any outside mids.

I want to know how you handball over your head within a split second. I thought the holding hand had to be still.

For a lot of the game on Sunday, I felt that we were the superior team. It was the breaks in the possession chains that caused us the most problem and gave them easy scoring opportunities. When we don't have the ball we look kinda ok structurally except for commiting too many to the ball carrier, instead of adding pressure by reducing that players options. I can sort of see why the players and coaches would be happy with Desire Indicators. The next step is to gain confidence in each other that running to space, and running early even before we secure possession won't go unrewarded or wasted by poor disposal. As for a possible friendship divide, well it would be nice if it was a really tight group, but as Adelaide showed for many years, it's not the be all and end all.

You're confused. Kelly O'Donnell is a Pro-Scout. He looks at the VFL and other state leagues and players of other AFL clubs. We have Gary Burleigh and Tim Lamb (recent appointee from Vic Metro) - http://www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/default.aspx?newsid=132818 - reporting to Viney for this season. With a replacement for Prendergast to made at the end of the season. Can't help you with the Neeld Doomsday chatter. We have made our decision and things are not going well at the moment. I think it will turn around. Don't think we need to spill the board because players aren't working hard to spread and get some uncontested footy...

circa 2012 there will be three ways to improve your WHOLE list a/ recruit players either 18yo's or older b/ trade for players c/ Free agency However, what you must understand you have a limited list size. So for every addition you must have a deletion. or if we delist 7 players we create 7 spots. So who is best placed to assess that? Your recruiting manager who deals with just the talent identification process? - NO No the person who deals with(coaches) your list on a weekly basis - pointing out the weakness & strengths of the opposition. But by sheer observation he will be identifying the strengths and weakness in his own list. So he is perfectly placed come draft time to answer the following question a/ Club x want to trade player y to us for picks x in the draft or player x - tick b/ Player x is up for free agency - yes he can improve our list because player x on our list has the following weakness - tick c/ Should we use pick x in the draft or should we not? How will that improve our list? - tick d/ How deep is the draft? How does the player most likely to be avaliable at pick x suit our needs - tick etc the questions can go on & on & on. Oppostion Analysis - is a [censored] name - it should be something like COMPLETE STRATEGIC LIST DEVELOPMENT OFFICER - that has a complete understanding of your WHOLE list and ways to improve your WHOLE list - I think we will be in good hands with Todd Viney circa 2012. Consider him as a bridge between your coaching team & your recruiting team. Its not all about getting the easy call right - the true win is when you get those 50/50 calls right. B) The key is the AFL season last 26 weeks - you get 4 weeks annual leave - what do you think the "Oppostion Analyst" (terrible name) does for the other 22 weeks - play with his old fella? No the game has moved forward in 2012.

Well, that's good. We are not getting enough 'cheap stats'... What you think is cheap may be golden - we get slaughtered in the uncontested possession counts this year. We need more players running looking for 'cheap' stats. Then you have made your mind up. If you get on here after that game, in which Morton would have been top 6 or 7 players and attack him for being insipid - you have unfairly damned him by not mentioning the dozen or more players that were worse than he was. You're tired of insipid players (I am tired of insipid performances) but if you are tired of that then you should look further than Cale.

Amongst other good creative play, Watts missed 2 contested marks - one in the backline in the 3rd which he should have taken (a stretch to even call it contested) and cost a goal and one in the forward line within range in the 4th which was harder but I'd expect him to ultimately clunk - if he takes them, we quite possibly win with the associated momentum shift and he's the match-winner. I'm thinking glass half full - it was a move in the right direction. If we try to spot up Davey in a contested marking situation against an opponent who is 15cm taller again I will spew up, we continue to do this - and yes I'm talking to you Chip amongst others. FFS if he's the only option (which he wasn't in the Chip case) then kick it along the ground and give him a better than 50-50 chance.

Sadly Davey should be out. He is way to soft. He's not going to be around for the next premiership. The last thing we need is the young guys watching him Jib every contest.

How on earth can we win with this deplorable game plan. We won't beat a mid tier vfl side at this rate. We continually kick the ball to a pack only to lose possession. We have no skills in finding and hitting up a loose player. No wonder we have the lowest possession count in the league. Mark neeld has to change this game plan and start telling the players not to kick to packs

That ageing has-been is a brilliant footballer who was stunning in the first half yesterday. He was all australian for a reason last season. (just thought I'd correct you on this one)

Don't get me wrong, I'm not chemically fortified and I'm not saying we'll win any of those. I just think that the prevailing view of assuming absolutely zero improvement from here on in, and that not a single team will have an off day against us, might be misplaced and that 0-11 isn't a dead certainty.

Wow, you're not are you. Saints, Bombers, Swans and Collingwood will slaughter us.

http://www.opel.com/vehicles-and-services/concept-cars/gallery/exterior-views.html Just like our midfield. Sleek, smooth and not quite in existence yet.

I had a really good chat to him at Family Day, he is well on the way back from all the injury woes he has had, he is at least 10kgs below the playing weight the club wants him at........club is happy with his progress, learning a bit of ruck work for versatility and roaming far and wide to use his kicking skills..........which by the way after seeing quite a few times last year with Casey are excellent...why must we always compare...Darling had a good year because he had LeCras, Lynch, Kennedy playing alongside him...if Cook would have got a run last year...he would have had those giants Watts and Jurrah......he said also he learnt heaps off Fev

Dustin Martin was a big miss!!! He will be the No. 1 player in the comp in another 2 years. Absolute gun! Better than both our Picks 1 & 2 combined. And will be better than Chris Judd!!!