Leaderboard

Updated: Demon Trade Bait/FA: Rivers (Cats, Saints, Hawks very keen, Lions now also upping the ante) Petterd - (interest from 4 clubs blvd to be Pies, GC, PA & Bulldogs) Martin - (interest from Pies, & Saints) Cook - Seems likely to stay but Roos & Blues have interest Bate - Seems certain to move North most likely to Lions potential swap for Karnezis or to GC for Toy Bail - 2 Clubs making enquiries, Lions blvd to be very keen Garland - Fate will depend on Rivers but Dees keen to use as bait for a speedy mid such as Pearce Morton - Small interest from Swans & Cats, most likely to stay a Demon Moloney - Seems Brisabe or Bomber bound with PA trying hard still. Gysberts - Cats keen but Demons playing hardball & asking for Brown plus a mid pick or an established player w/pace, Motlop mentioned. Demon Targets: Shannon Byrnes - Good as signed - may be announced today/tomorrow Sharrod Wellingham - In talks this week with pies but potential Martin trade appears a long way off, will either be a Demon or a WCE. Angus Monfries - Had talks with Management, waiting on PA to finalize offer & Demons may match depending on other pieces - most likely ends up @ PA Patrick Karnezis - One of many clubs with medium interest, potential trade for Bate or Bail Danyle Pearce - Not far off if mail is right, she blv he will be in red & blue by next week,firming by the day! Chris Knights - Demons very confident, blv they are ahead of Tigers offer - Tigers win out & will announce probably today he has signed! John Butcher - Hearing more today, Demons going HARD. Could be part of Caddy monster deal. Gaining momentum in many circles =, that demons may be his home if a deal can be agreed on with PA Levi Casboult - Inquiries made & may be an easy get if others don't fall Dees way - Now looks close to re-signing with Blues. Tom Swift - Early days but discussion has occured Ben Warren - Most certain Demon among the lot, could even be PSD Christian Howard - Potential trade for Petterd Steven Salopek - Dees fighting it out with Dogs & Bombers. Aaron Cornelius - Seems to be available & Demons watching closely Cam Pederson - Now appears to be a Done deal according to many. David Myers - Seen as a key target with much more to come on this one, hearing it more & more! David Rodan - One of 6 clubs thinking about signing him, some feel Demons may even announce him today also, Dees see his pace a real plus for them! Quinton Lynch - Dees & Pies now in box seat, Demons offer far better will depend on how much Q wants immediate success. Nathan Lovett-Murray - Demons again like his pace, seems to be a back up plan but interest is noted. I'll update if I can be bothered later as I have a few more from this arvo.. For those who enjoy just knowing & understanding its all just talk & to make even simple trades happen can be tough.. ENJOY!!!

Bump. I was trawling through some old posts about Jones and came across the above - it's a small snippet of a post by a poster named two sheds jackson. I didn't know the guy but he was great value on here and had 299 posts that many of us wished could be more. He wrote eloquently about his cancer here: http://demonland.com/forums/index.php?/topic/16543-cancer/ 2SJ passed away in 2011. But the eternity of the internet allows us to know a little bit of a great person and you should read that OP in the above link.

Speaking to one of my friends who works at the AFL as a writer this is what i can conjure up. Angus Monfries has met with Port Adelaide officials and a four year deal was put in front of him. He looks certain to accept it. Ricky Petterd held discussions with Collingwood today. Travis Cloke set to sign with Collingwood for 5 years $800k a year. Fifth year based on performance. Eseendon have made another big pitch for Goddard. Four year deal with $700 to $750k a year. Didn't get along with Watters. Danyle Peace has had interest from a couple of Victorian clubs. Apparently, we are the front runners ATM. Troy Chaplin and Chris Knights are certain to pull on a Tiger jumper next year (though Melbourne is still intrested in Knights). Andy Otten has had five clubs inquire about him. We are one of them. Ben Jacobs obviously wants to return home. Richmond are into Patrick Karnezis. We, along with a couple of clubs, are into him as well. We are still heavily into Wellingham. Martin or Gysberts could be used as part of a trade with the Pies.

Heard that Neeld met up with Harry O. No idea if it's true and if so, what it actually means. But with Trav set to sign, Melbourne would surely be able to offer him a lot more $$ For what it's worth, I do not want O'Brien at Melbourne. I'd rather persist with guys like Strauss or Tynan, than an overrated, unaccountable and potentially overpaid player like Harry.

For those that don't get this: Hannabal was BH's best friend until they fell out. They thought along similar lines but there is only so much one can take of 'themselves' before it gets old...

I would love him at the club; an All Australian, premiership player and only 25 years old yes please. Not only this but he is a leader and a great person who would have a positive influence on the group The Collingwood head recruiter told my mate a story of how he got drafted by Collngwood. He had been overlooked in the national draft by all 16 clubs, not to be deterred Harry called all 16 clubs pleading for a chance to train with them and show he was deserving of a spot on their rookie list. The recruiter initially declined but after 4 or 5 more calls from O'Brien he said he could have a training spot but said he didn't guarantee anything. For the week or so of training O'Brien was the first one to each session and had to be asked to leave the gym at the end of the day. Collingwood obviously impressed, picked him up in the rookie draft only seconds later he received a call from Harry saying how thankful he was ensuring they wouldn't regret the decision. Supposedly it was the first time a player had ever called them first after being drafted. He is a proven winner, something MFC is devoid of and clearly nothing to scoff at.

I suspect people in this forum are confusing supporter loyalty with footballer loyalty. Why would anyone come to Melbourne, why did Garry A go to Gold coast, Scully to GWS or McDonald go to GWS, Money and opportunity. That is what Melbourne offers, there are some good players who cannot get a regular game with their clubs who are not prepared to sit on the sidelines while they get older and their dreams pass. Melbourne will get players, it may not be the side that some of these players would have chosen with their first pick, but it maybe the club that provides them with the best opportunities and financial reward. GA got 25 votes playing in dare i say a side worse than we were this year, that may appeal to some. Who knows maybe Swan from the woods will be a bit [censored] that those two games he was suspended in may have cost him another brownlow and that playing with melbourne may mean he does not have beams and others taking votes away from him. This draft is about picking up the best players we can now through FA and trading so that we save our draft picks for new or high value talent. It is also a time to clean house a little, in doing so it puts the players on notice that they must lift their intensity if they want to continue to play AFL football, cause if they get dumped by Melbourne they are unlikely to be wanted by too many other sides.

Grapevine that Melbourne are trying to sabotage Tigers getting Chris Knights. We are very keen on a left footer and Crumber and it seems the race is on. Further Melbourne also dipping its foot into Travis Tuck

The Hawthorn board are waiting until after the grand final before deciding on whether to launch major legal proceedings against the Melbourne Football Club under trade practices legislation for deceptive and misleading conduct in allowing it to poach Cameron Bruce and Kyle Cheney from the club at the end of the 2010 season.

Thanks Prodigal Son. That's a good one to kick things off. By the way, in the true spirit of the thread, please keep the discussion friendly and on topic. There is no need to argue about the stupidity of any rumour. We'll take that as a given.

Eddie? The guy who held Taylor to his contract and left us in the uneviable position of moving Todd Viney down and sideways to be Head Recruiter for a year? Yeah, we really showed him...

Enjoyed that

And neither playing group permitted a loss of 186. The playing group which you so support produced one of the wretched performances in AFL/VFL history. BEFORE neeld, not after. They played weak, unacountable footy all that year and only beat teams when the opposition was at a low ebb. I'm glad you embraced such a shameful set of performances produced by that group. I'm rapt that you 'back' the playing group - a group that is rumoured to have had half of its members not complete Dave Misson's fitness program before pre-season commenced. A group whose members have spoken alomst openly about not buying in to the new coach's plans for part if not all of the season. Be proud Hardnut. The group has done a wonderful job under adversity.

Morton for Albett?

Both the above posts give at least some reason for optimism, unless you are one of the several trolls - and I won't name them but hey are well known to regular readers - here who seem to just see negatives everywhere (maybe they worked at Kodak before it folded ). GO DEES,

If Norm Smith saw that piece on the MFC website he would probably say: "What is this magic box in front of me? A computer you say? But they are the size of a large, and yet affordable, house in Burwood! A house in Burwood is how much?!" There is no point slagging blokes off on the effing website. Leave the bloke alone - he has heard it all and he is trying to turn it around. He doesn't need a public bake in September when he cannot do anything to respond.

Pretty hard to pay as an inside mid when you can't win a contested ball.

I heard from a very reliable source that two clubs are rumoured to be exchanging players in a deal that will send forums into meltdown.

Double the irony.

A lot of Carlton people think Ratten is a lemon. So I guess he would be quite bitter. *groan*

Quite ironic then that the only pivotal contest Jack has won was against Jobe in the dying minutes of our only true win this season.

May be some room if Monfries is moved on to Port. Heard McPhee is on the move again. He should work for Getaway.

I would imagine its unlikely that Ratten would want the job at Melboure, but I'd have him in "in a heartbeat' myself ,as the saying goes. He's got 'assistant' written all over him. I know ,because he's told me, that Ayres would like another AFL job and I reckon he's more likely to get an assistants gig than he is a big one. Good record at Port Melbourne,stand alone club. Worth a try I think,but who knows what Neeld thinks...maybe Ayres is too hard arsed and just one of them around the place is enough. Surely mfc ARE looking for a new midfield coach...I mean really

paraphrased: - could develop into an inside midfielder - needs to develop his contested game - needs to show consistency when i get my kids to swallow a bitter pill i ask them to wash it down with a sweet drink

His year wasnt that bad, give the kid a break

From what i saw of Wellingham during the finals he isnt worth 500-600k guys... In a bad team he is no better than a Jones or Sylvia lets be honest and i would prefer if the club went after Goldsack who could really be a steal if we could nab him. If we get Sharrod as well fine but lets not trade heaven and earth for him he has a big name because he plays for Collingwood not because he is the next Gary Ablett Junior.

I have an uneasy feeling about heading into such a big draft for the club with the recruiting setup as it is currently. They really can't afford to fudge this year up with such a strong draft hand. Hopefully it is not one of those things we look back on and say how the hell did this happen. Obviously they can't do worse than CC and BP, but they must do a hell of a lot better.

O.D. You do realize when the MFC win the 13th & more 'Land is going to buy you so many stiff drinks the last 50 years will be wiped from your soulWe all feel the pain. No Dreaming of Whorethorn tonight ok...

Because he is shiny and new.

Im not sure it would be this black and white ( pardon the pun) . For a start we have two perhaps three high picks ( depending on Viney) this year well before the pies. He may be asked his impression on the picks we are leaning to as they wouldn't be around at collingwoods pick anyway. Or, if we were deciding between 2 or 3 players in a late pick, he may also be asked his opinion. I dont think there's too much untoward in any of that and it would be naive to think we wouldnt be interested in his thoughts. Also, I may just add that this is the rod COLLINGWOOD created for itself by making him stay another year as assistant. We shouldnt have to be TOO careful in this situation. We need to be respectful...but not overly so.

Harry O is a holier than thou [censored], but he can play footy. I'd happily have him in our side.

David Hille remains unsigned...worth pursuing? Back up for Mitch?

While playing pool last night a bloke told me that he'd been told that Malthouse is trying to get Fev back at Carlton.

Watching the Swans on Friday night I was awestruck by just how good this footy club is. They have hardness and determination in spades and an appetite for the contest that is utterly mental. They don't get ruffled by the mind games and they don't swallow the bait when teams try and goad their players. Except for Malceski maybe. I'd give my left nut for the MFC to have 1/10th of whatever it is they have But anyway on with the theory Being in an NRL city seems to have really rubbed off on them by certain stoppage tactics they employ. I noticed that in the packs one of their players would often hold the ball in close with one arm, duck their head and attempt to "tunnel" through opposition bodies. When they get through they stretch upwards and handball backwards over their heads or shoulders where time and time again, three Swans players would be waiting. One guy grabs the ball, the other two shephard which gives them that spli-second they need to clear it. They did this a lot against Collingwood and it was bloody effective. Other teams, notably ours, just try and knock it forwards or, (more often than not), panic, drop the ball, and just go to ground. We share facilities with the Storm, arguably one of the greatest NRL teams of the modern age, I'd be filthy if I found out the MFC was not trying to engage the Storm to learn these pack busting style techniques. Considering Neelds style of game we need to become like the Swans in this area.

A few years ago when Dimwitiou called their football ugly they had the NSW ruby union boys in to help them with tackling and getting the ball out of mauls. Very successful = a flag, and has kept them at the top. Wonder no other club has picked this up. The maul tuition in Union as opposed to League would be invaluable in today's AFL climate.

This. I was very disappointed that he missed out.

Ahhhh... respect at last.

With so many potential players leaving I dont see any real value in getting rid of Stef? He is agile, can mark, can kick goals, can run. Another good pre-season and try to bulk him up and he could play potentially forward in the pocket which would soak up another tall backman taking some of the load off the other forwards. He can also play ruck and back in a pinch, a bit of coaching to help improve his shepherding and tackling would certainly not go astray. He may occassionally run into some wrong spots but when you have a side that goes backward as often as we do what where is the RIGHT spot. Stef would do very well at another club, because that club is likely to provide far better support for him than melbourne players do for each other which will allow him to mature and play better. We have some decent draft picks, and the potential to pick up some reasonable FA's that will add to the quality of the team.Yes I believe we have some quality players, but we also have some lazy players who turn the ball over far to easily which kills us. If we now just kill of the 'zone' or lazy mans defense and spare man in defence and maybe we would be more competitive. I would keep Stef and play him forward and concentrate on getting some more depth in the midfield and defence with our picks and FA signings.

Lots of opinions and speculation on here. I think I'll add mine. Martin has a lot of value in trade because a lot of people can see his freakish athleticism. He could very well be the poor mans NicNat if given the opportunity and proper coaching. We may even see that happen at Melbourne if he i still there next year. I would not be at all surprised if a number of pretty good clubs are looking at him and speculating. The question is whether we can get enough in trade for him to make it worth letting him go.

That's interesting. They must think Fletcher only has 3-4 years left. I thought they wanted mids, like us.

You could see that he was a player that would never accept the staus quo of the club and consistently pushed himself out on the ground, often beyond his abilities and to his detriment in the short term. He would often run himself into trouble, choose a low percentage option or put himself under pressure. Now I believe he is reaping the rewards of of pushing the envelope, having fine tuned his game, he is now capable of attacking football that not many of our list are. He is a player that takes responsibilty, is physically durable and a hard worker. He was always going to succeed. Among claims that he would never be anything but a C grader, is too slow, with poor disposal I always believed differently. Nathan Jones plays to win games of football, he an a select couple of others will be the ones to drag this club upward, hopefully

I know 'I should get over it', but it was pleasing to see the huge bag of votes Scully got. Imagine how we'd be feeling if he got more than mfc-Jones.

his hammy injury took a long time to recover. How many games could he have played at top level in 2011?That was the quandry the club had.

stop it!

I get it. Brynne Edelsten was carrying the Brownlow votes into the room inside her dress. She's working for Armaguard. Either that or she thinks it's a fancy dress ball and she's come kitted out as an armadillo.

Are you deliberately ignoring that if Hawthorn kicked as accurately as Adelaide did, then the hawks win by 8-10 goals? Is this one of those situations where the reality just doesn't suit you so you will just spend time ignoring it and speaking in strident tones? As for Craig, well, it was him who got them fit, got them ready and stated that it was a team with more talent than he had seen before. But you'll spit on everything he built and crown the blow-in as a champ. FMD.

I wanna plead "the vibe" on this point. It wasn't purely the numbers of entries, it was the quality. Very few of these were shallow entries that were rebounded straight back out by offensive half backs. These were generally deep entries which resulted on gettable shots at goal (this being the main issue as indicated by the scoreboard). I stick with Hawthorn should have won by further. But they looked a little bit "dis-integrated" and will need to all get on the same page next week or they will lose.

do you reckon Hird thinks about that bump when he loses to the Dee's two years in a row??? Probably doesn't but I'd like to think so.

old55 is nothing but a troll.

The hit on Hirdy...love it!