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Thank you Jbag for broadening my education - specifically my vocabulary. I just researched the previously unknown "chode". Fantastic- I cannot wait to use it. In the most inappropriate circumstances of course.

This site seems to be divided between Watts supporters and Watts bashers. Fact is he led the league in intercepts in the 2 month period he was playing without injury last season. Fact is he has taken more marks kicks and Handballs so far in his carreer than Natanui and Hurley,who he is constantly compared to. Fact is he is a year youngerthan both of them, and infinitely more skilled. As an effectively 3rd year player he is the second most efficient by foot at the whole club. He will fill out, only still a kid really. Lastly, he is here to stay so get used to it , all you so called supporters of the Melbourne football club.

If Gutnick had not come along,we would be non exitant as a club or we would be a merged club.....We took his money willingly and even though he had no idea how a footy club ran....He still deserves some credit for a spare $3 mil......No?????

Fan i happen to agree with many of your points. As i've said before she was doing her job, it was a nice juicy story and any journo would have loved to run with it. I had no real issue with her articles (other than the fact they were pretty poorly written and changed in detail from day to day eg the Vault changing from a code word to the name of a tin shed!) - that is 'till the last one. Terrible article and bordering on defamatory. It is no exaggeration to say that if posted on DL by a poster they would have been howled down and almost been suspended (its attacks were personal and quite extreme). But i can't agree with the with your point about us making it easy to identify and prove. At least not i if understand that what you are saying is that the incompetence of senior staffers were the reason for this (eg CC raising it in a large meeting and making the comments he allegedly made). Where i differ is that as one of the very few reasonable articles about this matter (Jake Niall i think but could be wrong) noted the reason this came out was the because of how poisonous and divided our culture has been at the board and FD levels over many, many years. Indeed CW herself has noted this culture. Other, more united, clubs are less likely to leak. My concern about CW is she is both playing on this culture and fueling it with a clear agenda of attacking CS and CC. I have concerns other people, some of whom post on DL are trying to do the same - which of course plays straight into CW's hands. I agree with Jnr mac (at least i think it was him) that said we seem to be more united now than we have been in a long time. I hope all dees fans, whatever their allegiances can drop the agendas and focus on the unification of the club. If they can't then i hope they use the election process not the press to prosecute their case.

Caro is presenting pieces on information in a distorted way to push an agenda. She is not presenting facts and an opinion - as if they were separated in any of her articles! She is presenting information shaped by an opinion - the information may or may not contain 'facts'. The distortions evident in her pieces on the MFC to date call into question the manner of her reporting, the quality of her sources and her own motivations. That is not, to my way of thinking, journalism of any quality beyond muckraking. The investigative reports of Nick McKensie into racing, into the RBA; the articles of Michael West about power companies both represent good journalism: a heavy reliance on information, corrorborated sources, careful argument and balance. Caro's articles about the MFC lack any semblance of that.

This is an example of someone not lying but knowing very well they are misleading. He put in $2.7m. Can we just stop bringing up this crap? We are a divided club at the minute (as an anonymous few are trying to bring down Schwab) and I know that you yourself, jnrmac, have riled at my suggestions we are divided but what do you think your views are? They are divisive. Just move on. The Merger ©, Gutnick, Szondy, Gardner... We all need to move the F___ on.

Denham is a chode, id never even heard of him before I came on this site. He sounds like a nobody

The Paul Chapman role - slightly outside, playing around a HFF but running through the middle and either hitting a forward on the chest or kicking it themselves.

bit late the eclipse was yesterday lol

now we just need to have photos of Dawes and Pedersen standing next to Morton and Gysberts

How many Goddards, Riewoldts, NIk Nats and Murphy's are there? And when did NikNat become a superstar?

Let's make an assumption that 2012, was just a season of preparation for 2013. We quickly learned that we were a long way from the hardest team to play against. So neeld, knowing that everything was on the line, made bold decisions, with the help of viney, to make this club the hardest team to play against. He knows that 2013 is the year it must be done, so it is. It was a pity to lose moloney, but in saying that, we will have the hardest young midfield in the land. Grimes, jones, trengove, tapscott, viney, wines, mckenzie, magner and Sylvia. We have the toughest full forward in Clark and the hardest full back in frawley. Howe is a freak. We have tough honest centers halts in Dawes and McDonald and nuggetty small crumbers in Nicholson and rodan. This is the core nucleus of hard nuts. Add the absolute class of watts, blease and davey, and we have a structure of the hardest team to play against. We must be aiming finals for 2013! No more excuses.

I'm sick of people with axes to grind continually rocking the boat there is a time and place for grievances. public sniping and leaking is disloyalty

What about the "Secret Meeting" that was actually a routine meeting? What about name of the meeting being called "The Vault" even though it is what the tin shed was called? I mean god damn it, Fan. You can have your preconceptions and you don't have to embrace the current Admin, McLardy or Schwab but Wilson has had an awful month on this and embracing her now seems indefensible.

I was at training this morning. I am from the bush and was quite excited being there for the first time. Had a good chat to Theo from this board. From what I saw, Watts looks very fit. Davey was there for a while with Jordie Mac and two others, doing close in handball on the net. Col Sylvia was there as well, doing some end to end kicking with a trainer. Pedersen is a big unit. He was quite vocal in the drills and Rodan was yelling encouragement and is fitting in nicely by the looks. Some of the drills were pretty full on and pretty much at full pace. As mentioned previously Jamar was in pretty good nick. One of the fittest I saw was Lynden Dunn, He is really looking good, dunno if he has lost weight or what but he looked toned and ready to go. Saw Dawes early on running laps, didn't see him much after that and I had to go shortly before the press conference. Quite a bit to like about our team going in to 2013. I really enjoyed seeing the team train.

For what it's worth... I had a chat to Neil Craig, and we've all heard already that we're in better shape than last year, but he seemed genuinely enthusiastic about it and emphasized that we are in much better shape now than this time last year.

I'm sure some of you have noticed the new faces at MFC of late...but look at the size of our tall units! Gawn 208cm 107kg Clark 200cm 99kg Fitzpatrick 200cm 93kg Spencer 203cm 105kg Jamar 198cm 104kg Watts 196cm 91kg Sellar 196cm 95kg Dawes 193cm 105kg Pederson 193cm 100kg Chip 193cm 93kg Would be good to see Gawny make it also.Lets hope the injurys dissappear for him.

Tapscott has a nice long kick, but he's yet to use it in games. Same goes for James 'the Elite kick' Strauss....... Both lads need to find more of the footy so their field kicking can shine

I resolve to ensure that the first song that my newborn son (after 4 daughters) will hear will be the Melbourne Club song and that I will make it mandatory that he watches every game with me in the new season.

Yep, Demonlanders are more concerned about the standing of our club when attacked in the way she has than anyone else. Surprising isn't it. She is a 'villian' when she allows personal vendettas to distort her work. I'd feel the same if she was illegitimately attacking the AFL on an issue which hurt us, ie to MFC's benefit. But then, not being a supporter of the AFL administration, I wouldn't bother to complain about her journalism on the Demonland forum about it. But then I'm a MFC supporter, not an AFL admin supporter. The world's full of crap journalists and I'm not chasing every one of them. I trust your support for the MFC is not being distorted into support of CW's hatchet-job by some personal gripe against the current admin.

I acknowledge that in general terms Caro breaks a lot of stories. My issue with her reporting on the MFC issue is she has presented very little of her opinions as opinions. She has presented a whole lot of her opinions, assumptions, snippets of untested truths and the words of a player with credibility zero as FACT. She has not editorialised - she has factualised with little facts.

I don't think Fan gives a rip about Wilson. I think it is, and this is just my journalistic instincts at work here, more about a stance that is anti the current admin as he can see the pressure being lessened after the the last few weeks. I believe, and this is just my right as a person who is often right and knows his stuff, that Fan has an agenda and loves to be the enlightened minority harrassed by the unthinking mob. At best I am just 'sussing out the facts' and at worst I am being a d!ck. But it's my right to say it - you know because I am me and I know my stuff and all...

I disagree with the previous poster. Tapscott is the best kick at the club along with Watts. He needs to get more of the ball, but that comes with games and confidence. I like him as a prospect. That said, we've invested heavily in Blease, Strauss and Tapscott for a very poor return. We need to develop these guys into seriously good players. It's very important to the club's fortunes.

Denham called us the Bears again this morning. Don't forget....

Neeld is building a team of absolute units, if we can get more of the ball into tappys hands, our forwards will benefit from his exceptional delivery.

Tapscott is one I have earmarked to step up. It goes without saying how important an uninterrupted solid pre-season can be for a player. It's important he gets one under his belt. If that happens, I'm bristling with confidence that Luke can be a big improver and solid contributor for the side next year.

If Tapscott could be half the player that Jones was this year then that would be a huge win for the dees. I reckon Tappy has shown a lot of promise in the early part of his career and just needs to string a few games together this year and get more of the pill.

One issue Watts has been criticised for has been his aggression and not being a mongrel. I saw a side to Jack when he was easily beaten by Swan on the goal line resulting in a Swan/Collingwood goal. He may of been beaten by a far superior and stronger player in Swan, but Jack was so upset he screamed out loud. It showed that he cared and hated losing the contest. If this continues then Jack will become a far better player. Watts is only a victim of other peoples expectations that was fed to them by the club when he was played way before he was ready, and the club promoting him as the messiah. He is a very good player who may turn into an A grader. I believe the clubs new direction/culture will result into a player who wants to win every contest and who will work hard to get the best out of himself. In reality Jack is still a baby and is still learning his craft.

Anyone else notice Neeld during the interview... sat there like an ALL-Knowing -Yoda. Finally heading in the right direction, Melbourne is. Herh herh herh. not just because of Dawes, but as result of trades and drafts ( and picks to come ). The big picture is clearing Our way at last, on. Hmmmmmm.!!!

I'd correct "fist" before we get another English lesson.

I think the real question is: Why is there an umlaut above the 'o' in the thread title?

There are plenty of lockers changing hands at the club this year:- MELBOURNE FOOTBALL CLUB LIST 1 Hogan, Jesse (new) 2 Jones, Nathan 3 VACANT 4 Watts, Jack 5 Toumpas, Jimmy (new) 6 Dawes, Chris (new) 7 Viney, Jack (new) 8 Frawley, James 9 Trengove, Jack 10 Byrnes, Shannon (new) 11 Clark, Mitchell 12 Sylvia, Colin 13 McKenzie, Jordie 14 Dunn, Lynden 15 Rodan, David (new) 16 VACANT 17 Blease, Sam 18 VACANT 19 Strauss, James 20 Garland, Colin 21 Pederson, Cameron (new) 22 Magner, James ® * 23 Tynan, Josh * 24 VACANT 25 McDonald, Tom 26 Nicholson, Daniel 27 Gillies, Tom (new) 28 Macdonald, Joel 29 VACANT 30 Sellar, James 31 Grimes, Jack * 32 Evans, Michael 33 Barry, Dominic (new) 34 Kent, Dean (new) 35 Tapscott, Luke 36 Davey, Aaron 37 Gawn, Max 38 Howe, Jeremy 39 Jetta, Neville 40 Jamar, Mark 41 Davis, Troy 42 Spencer, Jake 43 Taggert, Rory 44 Bail, Rohan 45 Jones, Matt (new) 46 Terlich, Dean (new) 47 Couch, Thomas ® 48 Fitzpatrick, Jack 49 Stark, Nathan ® (new) 50 Clisby, Mitch ® (new) * changed number

May the forwards be with you. And to our onballers...'Use the forwards'.

I agree rpfc However I don't really care what number any player wears. What i really care about is winning games. To do that we need good players what number is on their back has little apeal to me. Just win games

Speaking of, ahem, malaphorisms - "all beat" instead of albeit and "changing tact" instead of changing tack.

IMO a fit Colin Sylvia would walk into any other AFL team. Ironically, he'd have more value to the top 4 teams than to the bottom 4 teams. And, to me, that says it all. If we're genuinely building to a flag, we need Colin Sylvia up and firing. He's the type of player that good teams need in big finals. He has the 'X' factor. And these guys don't grow on trees. Many people here would prefer him to be Jordie McKenzie. But he's just not that type of player, or personality. There's no doubt he needs to grow up and focus more. That said, I think under Neeld he has. We'd be crazy to let him go.

Amazing. These people who compose mock drafts What do they do the rest of the time?

Thanks very much bd !! Of 131 posts on this thread, this is one of the only training reviews. I'm happy to read any review from anyone who's at training.

'All goes well', instead of 'Augers well'. No surprise though that people write what they hear, or what they think they hear. I read a reference the other day to an incomplete report being 'a working progress'.

Clint Bartram just gave a good one in his exit interview with Burgan. Talking about his plans for the immediate future... "I've got a few things in the pipe works"

I am and I do. It's not just how he spells it. Hopefully anyone that reads it that doesn't know the difference between his and he's takes note and makes life moron free for all of us. It's never too late to better yourself, especially if it's something as simple as a three letter word.

4 pages so far and I can count the amount of posts about the actual training session on one hand. Standard.

"Its no skin off my back." - Olisik, Nov 14th Training thread. Missed the apostrophe too

It's a pretty simple correction, you can either take it on board and apply it in the future, or get all defensive about and continue to post like an uneducated dunce. Do you spell 'he's' correctly in private but not in public? Somehow I don't think so.

He's*

You'd be surprised. How about you offer an opinion instead of judgmental qualification nonsense?

Looking forward to him giving Reiwoldt another bath this year. Quietly confident he'll add a few more scalps as well. Rawlings must work hard on his rebounding and make sure his possessions count. His clangers last year were a by-product of a lack of confidence or probably more composure. Very happy to hear him talk about wanting to add the weight/muscle bulk but still remain fleet footed. He's got a big frame, big tank and long arms and has tremendous potential to be a real key defender fo many years to come. Also I think it should be mentioned that the new coaching group should be given a fair amount of credit for the development of young Tom. Looking forward to another big step forward this next season.

Misquoted clichés seen a few times on this forum... - "for all intensive purposes" - "I'd has at a guess"

Holy sh*t let it go guys! How about we talk about Oliver Wines in the Oliver Wines thread? I think he's a certainty to get picked up by us now, although I don't agree with it. We'll certainly be well stocked for inside mids next year and going forward. We desperately need some outside spread and skill now.

we've all heard it we just want to see it that simple