Leaderboard

Make no mistake folks. Liam is champing at the bit and ready to go!

there is always someone........................

I can't imagine Cloke in the Red and Blue, but, I am pleased to see aggressive play by the administration to drive his price up. Will this squeeze out a Wellingham?.. It's obvious we need a good mix of quality mids, actually aside from a genuine Full Back, we need everything. As it stands, it will be quality mids that move this club forward, assuming the right development. People allege Mitch Clark is overpaid, if this is true, then our entire list is overpaid. Clark has shown everyone at the club how to attack and contest both ways and he has been here for 5 minutes. He has exceeded my expectations thus far, with very limited opportunity due to lack of Inside 50's. I can’t see the Demons throwing big dollars at another KPF, this in turn may limit our exposure to quality mids whom should provide more frequent opportunity to our forwards.

Thanks for pointing out that this was a forum - I hadn't noticed after 7 years of running it. One great thing about forums is that you're able to air your opinions, as you've kindly pointed out to me. The other great thing is that others are able to challenge your views, discuss the data and hopefully both parties can learn something. The alternative is to get narky and defensive, and we can both take sarcastic shots at each other and we'll both just walk away grumpy and none the wiser.

Well, Eddie was true to his word and got one of our sponsors... so I suppose that clears the way for us to lure Cloke away ;-)

This whole thing could just be a ploy to scare Watts into becoming aggresive.

ahhh its all a game...within games. How much fun it is to set cats among pidgeons, to turn hunters into hunted and upset applecarts We knwo ourselves how unsettling talk/rumour/inuendo etc can be to a club. So lets turn the torch on someone for a change. I have no doubt Melbourne is seriously interested in Cloke. I imagine well be known to have been seriously intererted in a dozen players before the trade week's come to an end. And we will have picked up and traded a few for sure. We HAVE to. But theres also much value in niggling others. We ( the MFC ) needs to poke a few nests and see what might shake loose. In some ways announcing our intentions may serve as a catalyst for other possiblilities. Again...its all a game...A game Ill enjoy. After all the real one isnt much chop at present

As others have commented, thursday's hearing will only last a few minutes. If the case proceeds then it is likely to drag into next year. In the meantime Liam is available to play in Sydney this weekend. Believe me the Jurrahcane is ready to rumble!

What after he has kicked five goals in the first half! ( oh no dreaming again )

WoW - thats a pretty good team on paper. Let's see what reality holds for us. I hate reality.

Our best side of the year by a mile.

mark my words - the cloke thing is a smoke screen - we are inflating his price, he has no intention of leaving and its our way of distracting the media from the players we are really pursueing.

I have no idea how French Connection plays into this...

how about "if we don't win blame jack watts"

The Sewell comments make all sorts of wheels spin in my head...

has to be 25 characters or less though DWA... how about: free bruises, enquire within

The reason why this is a hard call is because the players that we have to chose from (ie Trengove, Watts, Tapscott, etc), are needing to step up and carry the load that other teams have decent/reliable senior players carrying. Because of their age/development/etc, carry such responsibilities will see more poor performances than good ones (hence our ladder position), and in turn, will see us supporters losing faith and confidence in these kids abilities. This is probably the biggest challenge Neeld will have as a coach; keeping the spirits and confidence of these kids as high as possible, all while they are continually getting their arses kicked both during games, as well on the training track. It will get to a stage in the very near future where they are official senior players, as the likes of Green, Rivers and Davey are not in the team. They will then be the ones that have to stand up, as they will be leading the next bunch of "potential young stars". That said, and so that I'm not seen as sitting on the fence, I think the 5 players that have the potential to be stars are (in no particular order); * Trengove * Watts * Howe * Blease * McKenzie When the likes of the named players above have played 50-100 games, and have got Frawley, Jones and Grimes as the "older" players, it's then when the likes of Jack Viney and hopefully our number 1,2 & 12 pick from this year will have decent players to look up to and take a lot of the hard tags, freeing them up to thrive and reach their potential quicker.

I have no respect for the team right now, so why should anyone else?

I doubt we will get Cloke, although a twin tower with Clark i like. But we have already raised The Filth firs offer by 25%that is good already. Have a good day Mc Eddie.

This is how I see it.. We have a "Open for Business" light on.I also see it as putting a few lazy bums on notice that we're serious about moving forward and Players either have the choice of participating and contributing to this or becoming collateral damage inthe progress. All good to me.

He might have dropped a lot of marks, but he's also held a bloody lot of them, especially in the last few weeks: 8 marks against Geelong and 9 against Hawthorn in sides where the delivery was poor and infrequent. In the same time Cloke took 8 and 8 against shite sides where his team won comfortably and the most he's taken all year is 9, so I'd say it's hard to argue that he's a materially better mark than Clark. (Unfortunately there's no stat for dropped marks) I'd like to see stats (or something other than "I think you'll find"s) to back your assertions that 1) "lots of his goals come from ground work" and that 2) "[Cloke's accuracy] is much better than Clark's from a set shot" because both sound false to me without looking too closely.

Barassi's 1970 Grand Final half-time instruction of "Handball, handball, handball" would be a fair starting point. The strategy and consequent 54 point turnaround didn't go unnoticed.

Fairly offensive and IMHO ignorant comment. Just because a player isn't the toughest on the park, doesn't make him a "pea heart." I've seen some brave acts from Bennell on the field.

We have none of it. From anyone. Media, other supporters and most importantly other afl clubs. Why? Because we haven't earned any. And I hate it. But what I also hate is that we don't seem to give a frick. We need to start earning it by playing hard, tough, accountable footy, and not being out smashed at 4am Sunday morning like a player who shall remain nameless. Or smiling when we've just lost by 8 goals. It's killing me /end rant

I'll throw in Magner. He's on the cheap anyhoo.

You are right re the last comment Nasher. IMO he is close to the poorest player on our list After 53 games one would expect he would be getting more than 4 posessions a game. He has been given a lot of games in his four years at the MFC. Seldom has he produced a game that would warrant a game the following week. Every time I see him selected I think we are starting with 21 players again this week. I truely struggle with what the FD see in him.

Keep in mind...we WERE soft !!!

JM i have been to every game that Bennell has played Ive seen no brave acts in fact his lack of go and poor skills costs us during the game and he adds absolutely nothing to the team in fact he is one reason the team cannot get on a roll during the game because of the weak displays he produces All my opinion of course

Bottom line is we've got one slug left in the chamber ... Neeld, the current crop and an injection of talent in November after we cull the dead weight. The club must be a force by 2015/16 or we will wilt and die.

i think of it more as a shakespearean tragedy.. with more than a hint of 'dude, where's my car?'

I'd like for it to not be handed out every year. Only for when someone has consistently shown a real standout effort. And no, blogging doesn't count as community commitment, Harry O.

... and 50/50 to hold a single mark over the course of that game.

When your club is presently the laughing stock of the AFL it's terribly stupid to act as though you're not emotionally invested in the result. Rightly, or wrongly, the perception is that the current plight doesn't hurt enough. It's not a hanging offence and when young guys are in a group you can easily understand how it happens, but I doubt you'll see that type of behavior for the remainder of the year.

I don't agree that it's a huge problem, but it isn't a good look considering the situation we're in. I think it's nice in a way though because players of different teams must know each other and I like the idea of being enemies during play and then acknowledging each other after the siren and having a chat. The problem is we aren't getting absolutely demolished but we aren't losing really close games, so I'm guessing the players aren't too distraught and are just getting used to these medium losses. We need pride as a football club though, we need to show that we are 100% in it for winning. No strings attatched.

Someone here mentioned a couple of other Grimes brothers younger than Dylan. Anyone know if they are any good? Also, I believe there is another Viney a couple of years behind Jack. Do we have any current players with siblings that are worth a look? (and yes, I know we'd all like a good look at Jess Trengove...)

They would have gone through the motions of required etiquette but their heads and shoulders would have been lowered. Not too many smiles. Even normally puffed up self postulator Dermott Brereton would have been visibly deflated. Pretending it doesn't hurt means your ain't hurt enough to really feel it. Or just a weak ego afraid to admit it.

I've been known to get soundly beaten, then hear a snide remark from the opposition that causes me to smirk and even sometimes get involved in a bit of light verbal. It's more a sign of fight than anything - you may have won this round, but we'll come at you harder next chance we get, and this will change. I don't necessarily say that, but it's what I'm thinking. There's something in there that amuses me, that an opponent thinks they've got my number in perpetuity. The alternative is the stony faced dropping of your head - to me that's a sign of resignation to defeat, and that you're at a loss to explain the result, or you're helpless to change it. It looks like you're bereft of hope, and you don't want the opposition to see that. I subscribe to the "never let them see you hurt" mindset. And I'd be crucified by supporters and the media, because they'd misinterpret my mindset. * If I was in any way, shape or form good enough to play AFL. Which I'm certainly not.

Sometimes during a 2 hour match something funny will be said, that incident could even be mischieviously replayed out of context. Players will no doubt encounter opposition players that they have shared experiences with on international rules or U18 and it's reasonable to expect some exchange of pleasantries even after a thumping. But IMO these are the only acceptable circumstances. When a player is playing for or watching Melbourne or Casey he is on the job. I hope the club will identify players who don't understand this and re-educate or eliminate them.

the "modern afl game" begins in 2013 with a demonstration by the mfc yeah i know - my middle name is pollyanna

Press release from the "Melbourne Football Club" The club today would like to acknowledge that senior player Stefan Martin was witnessed to smile and laugh at training yesterday. Chief Executive Cameron Schwab today announced "We take these indiscretions very seriously, and can announce that player Martin has been stood down from the non-leadership group indefinitely, and will be required to undertake 34 hours of community service manning a gate at Parliament Station, considered the bench-mark for people who show no joy in their work". Martin said in a prepared statement "I understand my actions were wrong, and if I had my time again would do things differently. I today humbly apologise to my teammates, coaching staff, family members and most importantly the fans. My attempts to show a glimpse of enjoyment from this season were insensitive and may have offended many people" Schwab added "At the Melbourne Football Club, we are striving for a professional environment at all times, and we are extremely disappointed in Stefans actions. We will not tolerate such actions, and have made our stance on this quite clear in past. Last offseason player Addam Maric, who had previously had an exemplary record of discipline in not showing emotion, suffered a rare lapse, smiled, and we could no longer continue to ignore his disruptive influence. Addam unfortunately as a result is no longer at our football club." In other news, the club also today announced the termination of its dental sponsor, The Smile Clinic, due to a conflict in core values. We thank the company for their previous valued support as a Bronze Sponsor.

nutbean it is just a bit of fun on a Dees supporters web site. Why not? It is not the end of the world if we get it wrong. Just part of the fun of being able to discuss things about the MFC with fellow supporters. Do you think Blease knows I exist let alone cares what I think of his ability. I am struggling to see the harm

I was making the point that protracted injuries don't just hurt you for the time players are injured, especially with young players ... they hurt you because their development is also hindered. It's different with a 100- or 200-game player because they have developed nearly as much as they are going to and they can come in from even a 6-8 week injury spell and still be nearly as effective. Here's the actual games each player has played versus the total AFL games that Melbourne have played since they joined the club (not counting NAB etc.). It shows how little AFL football they've played, due to a combination of injury and development time. Six of these players were top 20 picks, some are players on which we were basing our future midfield, the area that is so lacking at the moment. Cook 0/29 (0%) Fitzpatrick 2/51 (4%) Gawn 4/51 (8%) Blease 6/73 (8%) Strauss 11/73 (15%) Gysberts 18/51 (36%) Tapscott 19/51 (38%) Jetta 30/73 (40%) Grimes 38/95 (40%) Contrast Blease and Strauss with players taken in the same year (2009) and the number of games they've played e.g. Stephen Hill 74, Sidebottom 66, Rich 66, Redden 54, Yarran 49, Hurley 47, Vickery 45. Many of these players have already had finals experience. If our players had managed 50+ games with a couple of finals we might be in a different position.

As strange as it sounds we have the best Morton!

I see dead posts

Not directly, but the fact that we've only been able to get: 0 games into Cook 2 into Fitzpatrick 4 into Gawn 6 into Blease 11 into Strauss 18 into Gysberts 19 into Tapscott 30 into Jetta 38 into Grimes Is one of the reasons for delayed development.

He's not going to impact our winning or not, but I think he'll be a good player and pressure on the players in the side is a good thing. I'm seething about Gysberts because I think he'll be an important player in our side so I'm impatient about his development, and he got injured in his first game back so it's yet another setback. I know these things happen and so forth, but that one just annoyed me.

Our old hard nuts created respect - Viney, Lyon, Tingay, Stynes, Lovett, Febey/s.... Now, it's all gone.

The money we have would be better invested in a gun midfielder than a gun CHF/FF! We need to be able to get the ball down there first.

Anyway that's not the point - the point is gws have more respect than us right now.

I am not motivated by anything resembling club politics when I post here ,merely by boredom generally .I find that the site is ,on the whole ,a good distraction occasionally ruined by by axes needing a place to grind themselves .I support current administration at this time because I feel that off- field ,things are going pretty well in between machete allegations and brand new BMWs being flipped near the casino .I am happy with the coaches appointment ,and unhappy about on-field performance currently but I can see some gradual progress on that front .I reserve the right to post things on here that differ from the moderators opinions and/or the clubs .Whilst seeing that this forum could have some power in mobilising our support base for some action or another ,I think it would be a pity if things got so divided that some disgruntled dudes used this spot to run against the board or destabilise the club .In short ,I want stability for the club and to still have the right to express lunatic /ridiculous viewpoints on here . Those with an agenda are pretty easy to spot . I applaud the former mod for his decision to join the swill!