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Hi melbourne supporters I'm a tiger supporter from Dean's local area. I have umpired school footy in this area for over 10 years. In that time I have never seen a better dual sided kick in a schoolby footballer. I am disapointed he never made it to the Tigers but I am glad he made it to the AFL and Melbourne will find it has picked up a gem with its late pick. For those interested in stats he does the 20mt sprint in 2.88 secs, he can run 2kms in sub 7 mins, his vertical leap is 64cm and despite his athletic abilities is more of a natural footballer. I hope for his sake he has a great career with Melbourne.

Things were looking pretty good when 2012 dawned. We had a new coach with many new assistants and we were on top of the world. Then things went awry and our enemies tried their very best to destroy us and it nearly was the end ... but now, with new found strength, we're on our way back like the hero of this advertisement - the Big Cheese ...

For me 31 holds no emotion whatsoever - in my lifetime it's been Donald Cockatoo-Collins, Paul Wheatley and some other chump whose name I've forgotten. To me this inheritence of numbers like this is just another reminder that it's been effing ages since we've created any legends of our own.

I too went to training. I cant really add to much more to what the players actually did it training, but I can say that I was impressed with the skill level, the effort put in and the proffessionalism of the training session. Having watched many sessions over the years as well as coaching my own football team, i make a point of watching not only how they train, but what they do. The difference between our sessions now and in previous years are (in my opinion): * there are obviously more coaches, so they can spend more time teaching specifics, such as the big blokes doing body work while the mids do crumbing under pressure. Nothing better than being able to spend more time with individuals and being able to give direct instructions. * it does not matter how long the players have been playing AFL, they can always learn more. There is always room for improvement, especially how we have been going. * the drills look to have a real purpose and you can see how they uild from the simple stuff to full ground movement. * the skills have improved, especially under pressure and lethargy. * you can see the enjoyment and hear the voice from the players when they train, it was the loudest I have ever heard them at training yesterday. * you can see the improvement in individuals, both fitness and skills wise. Personally I can see what the coaching staff is trying to do, they are going through a system of develpoment and teaching, it may take a couple more years to show on the ground consistently, but I have faith they are doing the right thing.

Congratulations & welcome Dean Terlich! His selection is a rational "moneyball" decision at pick 68. As a Norwood supporter, I have followed Dean this year. Nathan Bassett switched this former forward with kicking skills to the half-back line & he blossomed. Clearly BOG in the Grand Final. He's almost 23yo and his application at Norwood FC shows that he's turned his football career around after a brief stint on Sydney's list. Another product of the Nathan Bassett-player development line, who may serve MFC as well as Puopolo & Duigan have served Hawthorn & Carlton, respectively. The Norwood connection continues remembering that Rodan played for Norwood in the SANFL. The South Australian influence at MFC also is increasing: Viney, Craig, Toumpas, Viney, Trengove, Tapscott (3 ex-PAC students), Jamar & Sellar (& Rivers until recently). And Stretch is coming in a couple of years to play in our premiership side in his first year. My only other suggestion tears my loyalties between Norwood & MFC. Get Nathan Bassett as an assistant! God knows why no AFL club got him in this off-season. Great development coach who had Norwood playing one of the most-disciplined game plans in the country (more structured than some AFL teams). After all, he started at MFC in the first place!

It's officially over. No more choir boy stuff. As the AFL world knows, upon securing the senior gig, Mark Neeld stated: "I simply want to coach the team that is the hardest to play against in the AFL. That means all over the ground we're going to be the hardest to play against. There will be a number of components that come with that." He was ridiculed for saying this, including by some posters here. Well, who's laughing now?! He has taken to the soft players on this list like Tony Montana. And he has replaced them with hard, fiercely competitive players who are determined to succeed. This bloke is the real deal. He endured a simply ridiculous amount of carp last season, virtually from day one. Strangely, the anti-Neeld voices have gone quiet. Eerily quiet. We will only field "hard" teams from now on. Of that, have no doubt. Thank you Mark Neeld. Thanks very much. Bring on 2013.

I played a 20/20 match for echuca thurs night with half a dozen of Ollies good mates. The moment it finished everyone ran into the rooms to watch the draft to see where he would end up. When PA read out his name there was just dead silence until one of his best mates says, '[censored]... Ollie will be [censored] at that!' Haha. Doubt we would ever get him in the future though. Would you really want to go to a club who had a chance at you but passed for someone else? I'm stoked at selecting the Greek adonis, can't believe he slipped to 4.

I've always found this a fairly shallow argument myself. That was a one off ... confirmed when we couldn't repeat it the following year, even though we had basically the same players ... who, BTW, also travelled down to Geelong one fateful day in July last year, if we really want to put the Sydney win in context. It's a bit like taking our Essendon win this year as being representative of where the team is at. The rot started long before 2012, and was never going to be turned around (on-field) in one season.

Ok, so apparently the 'silver tails' explains why we don't want to touch him. But why did 17 other clubs not even want a bar of him with any pick. If anyone thinks this is about a couple of beers and the odd [censored], you are delusional.

To my mind, moving on Gysberts was the boldest of the swag of changes made by Neeld this off-season. High draft pick midfielder, talented and with just three years in the system, yet the coach clearly saw something he didn't like, something he felt didn't fit in with the ethos of the new Melbourne - physical presence and wortk ethic.

So thats why I say to chook, his tone seemed one of total indifference, when its obvious about the affection of Melbourne supporters toward Ron. So because your youger you sound like you have some sort of high ground on this issue. Who is this Barassi & why should we care! They same could be said about Flower in a few years. I think everyone who is really Melbourne would have read stuff & should understand, just by listening to other Melbourne folk. But then again some people take no notice of more mature folk. Make take on chooks tone was he couldn't care less about Barass.

How about "The Cale".

Morton was a complete and utter failure. What do you call 65 games of crud and 5 serviceable games??? Don't start revising history around here......

I would have thought that ONLY drafting kids, and expecting that to turn into a premiership was an "extreme approach". With the players we've brought in and moved out, we now have a list with an age distribution much more in keeping with that of most clubs.

Wines will be just one of several on our radar over the next 24 months. Expect us to make plays for several GWS and GC youngsters coming out of contract in 2013/14.

Nathan Jones ‏@nathan2jones “@JToumpas: I'm gonna miss you Adelaide...But come at me Melbourne! #firstandforever #Melbourneboy” get over here kid!#wontlookback

Jordon hadn't convinced FD after three years because of a philosophical shift in coaching. He hadn't been a failure (As neither Martin nor Morton had) but didn't fit the preferred type of player. Neeld has taken the club in a completely different direction to the one we were previously committed to for three years as the premiership template. Will the new approach work. It didn't the first year. It's an extreme approach to have topped up with good VFL players at the expense of young developing players. Pederson came virtually at the cost of Gysberts and Martin.(Martin was given away for nothing) In my mind Pederson has to be better than Martin, Fitzpatrick and Hogen to have justified giving up on Gysberts for his inclusion. He couldn't make it at North so he has to really step up with us. Neeld has taken an extreme direction that had better work by the end of three years, or we will be needing to clear out a dozen good VFL players and have a new hole where we gave up on developing players. Yes Gysberts has gone and their is a lot I like about several of the new young kids. But one question remains as a result of Gysberts going. Will Neelds extreme approach work?

whatever it takes..

am i a bad person. I just want to see Melbourne physically batter other teams, i want to be a dirty team. I want us to be rough, add extra to tackles. We have been a soft team the whole time, we need grunt, anger. I love Tappy and what he did queens birthday highlighted he is a grunt player. I dont want too see us hurting people, just grunt players.

If I can highjack this to back on topic. When loud mouth Robinson made that comment, and it went viral. At the time ... (well I cant repeat what I said the whole sentence would be censored out). Now I am glad he said it.it needed to be made known. We are soft?, far from it. We are guilty of not putting pressure on the opposition and making it hard to get a possession, Yes we were. Is the end of playing "bruise free football" over? .not yet,but then has been a huge shift into righting it. I have been following this thread ,having a chuckle, nodding in agreement and shaking my head throughout. Lets take a constructive look and break down the issues. 1st: Fitness levels ..... have been terrible (under Bailey, we thought we were travelling ok) Mission and Co are addressing their fitness, to get it somewhere where it needs to be to perform where Neeld wants the players to be able to play the type of game HE wants. You cant expect to be able to chase, backup or run to position,if you havent got the fitness base.Anyone who has played any form of sport will know,if the legs go, the will remains, but its not phsyically possible. Our fitness is being addressed. I expect a big improvement now 2nd: The skills they are there, we have seen it (in glimpses) IF the fitness drops off,so does the skill, or the penerating kick fatigue makes it look worse and it seems they dont possess any, or lack thereof. Confidence is another factor, when it gets better, suddenly everything falls into place. 3rd: A game breaker We dont have, havent had one for awhile, someone to stand up to give guidance, to show the way, to give a spark when its needed. But we do have a team, if we play as a team, we will start winning more games.Give us a game breaker or two, we can start talking finals. As for loudmouth, lets take a leaf from the West Indies cricket team from the 70s -80s ,then Aust followed suit..... Thats target the opposition game makers,shut down their best, one at a time,as we improve,we can takeout 2 or 3 whatever it takes during a game.We dont have the cattle,to shut down all the top team match winners every game. This will come over time, then they we be more worried about shutting us down than us stopping them. It will come.Bit by bit improvements will be made. Their roles will become 2nd nature. IT will happen ,slowly, we wont notice it happening, it wont standout like a Howie speccie but it will slowly evolve. A good start ..lets single out Carlton (as an example). Just a couple of players only need to remind Robinson about his comments,and just point out to him. to watch his back, and every chance they get, let him know they mean business.(wont take much to put him off his game) The same applies to every other team we play, make it known about our intentions,should anyone else start taking cheaps shots. We have some big lads in the team now, more than capable, For now its about concentrating on fitness,and playing as a team, and getting the basics right. The end of bruise free footy?.... not yet. The end is in sight. Nobody could expect a bunch of underdone kids to keep up with seasoned players. With the influx of this years drafts, we can expect a bigger effort. edit spelling

Recruiting Garlett? Some people just want to see the club burn...

Wait, what? How did the MFC ruin Miller? He was given about 2 years too many and did sweet FA at Richmond. A one dimensional forward who couldn't kick goals. Jesus, talk about rewriting history, Miller was given every opportunity to succeed.

Sorry Bossdog i am still drinking it's party time.This kid will bring membership up over the next 10 years. Welcome to all our Greek family. Jimmy will win a brownlow in the next 6 years. Big call i know but put it on the record now. I have the feeling this will be MFC Judd,Buddy,Swan Our next true A grade star has been born. Sorry guys just very happy.

Yep-there is no mention anywhere of drugs and the photo is four months old probably posted by a "mate".This is the kid that stood out in the games I watched on Fox . He slotted goals in finals for Cales new club , Claremont . Some people can never see beyond the obvious . To the hand- wringing goody-goodies I say "Let he who has never had a beer and a smoke be the first to cast nasturtiums upon the young gun". The photo worked-watch him star for the Bummers now . Remember this is a footy club ,not a church group. If a player has a beer ,we can handle it ,we will live through it .

Interesting observation that all four players that have now departed are stepping forward on their right foot, out of line with our current captain who is leading with the left. Conspiracy theorists.... GO!!!

It was a near perfect morning for training. Having read the previous reports / posts on today's training it has been summed up perfectly. I will reflect back for those that never get a chance to see them training in the flesh. Going back to the Bailey era, the drills were a bit hit and miss back then. They always seemed to me, as it was the same ol, same ol, with not much thought with structures, drills and fitness. It mostly was all about reflexes - handballing in close. Lacked direction somewhat. Come last pre-season, the step up was enormous, the players were being flogged, with more considered and thoughtout training drills. It came across as they were building up their stamina,and 90% of the players were really struggling. I almost felt sorry for them. This session, a big change again from last pre-season, from my point of view. They have the players primed to take the next step up into more structured and intense sessions. Players that looked like slowing down, were told clearly and loudly not to drop off, and do the drill perfectly. Encouragement was given constantly to press that home. And most time the players were doing it right. They kept encouraging each other to go harder or at least keep to the level required. You can be sure, on the track, the players are giving everything they have. Its pretty full on, whether it was the repeat spints (100mtr x 3) short break for a min then another 100mtr x 3. Then that group moved on to another drill. No break. Went straight into, leading and hitting a running player with 30mtr passing to handballing to a running player. Lots more running, its non stop. All this over 30-40mins before they had a breather. I can add, MY (our) favorite player, No 12 has a slight injury and they are easing him through it. My thought was, 'yeah, whats new, he always seems to find an out, whether a fault of his own, or a mishap from elsewhere'. I was told, fairly bluntly, he is well aware of the need to be involved, and nobody knows better than himself. It was also added, after I dropped a subtle hint, he needs to step up, and was told Col is well aware of that, and wants to show he can perform better so perhaps a new Col this year. (if he completes all the drills, instead of being an onloooker) Pickles said he will be ready soon, He should be right to go for the third practice match. He had learnt a hard lesson, by coming back too soon. He is raring to go, is back on track, and looks like his probelms are behind him (lets hope). No Neeld, (stayed with the new recruits at the Gold Coast). No Watts, or Hogan. They were at AMMI. Magner has trimmed down, looks more like a greyhound, as do most of the players. Rodan is built like a mini bulldozer. Flash was struggling with the running drills. He looked to be moving ok, just his tank is ½ empty. Everyone else there, looked fit, and look ready to keep building on their fitness levels. Overall it was a long, intense and impressive training session. The players are all under the pump to compete, without making mistakes. If I were to put in into 4 phases, we have entered phase 2, nearly ready for phase3. The difference now with a handball drill, has changed a lot, from years past, they would almost stand toe to toe, and fire handballs to each other (and we wondered why, under pressure, they shot off a handball to a standing target, then that player would be buried) Now in groups of 10 (x2 groups), they do the keeping off, from the other group who were trying to put pressure and win the ball back for their group. If the group that had control of the ball, they had to work their way through traffic and pressure, and try to keep possession. It was full on, only the tackling wasnt slightly eased, nobody got dumped. If somebody in either group, erred, it was 10 pushups,no just for the player, but the entire training group, that happened a few times. Footnote: I stumbled across this. Always interested to hear where our ex players endup after being delisted etc. Seagulls secure Ex-Demon

I had almost forgotten about Maric's infectious smile.

Well said. Champagne corks remain unpopped until we see what the team is actually capable of in 2013. I'm excited sure, we have done tremendously well in this trade period, but pats on the back all round are premature as far as the bottom line: RESULTS. We were horrible this season, and that's putting it mildly. The only way is up.

Uhhhhh what? You would know that how exactly Mr Been A Member For 12 Days........ Have a read back through mate, the only one I was against was Gysberts, I was all for a heap of changes and have been on record as saying how happy I was with our trade period in general. But don't let the truth get in the way of a good lynch mob when someone is tagging the sunshine and lollipops line

With the amount of new players and improvement in our younger players, it is going to be very difficult for a rookie to make an impact. FD is therefore justified in picking a couple of project players who may improve in a year or two, to give themselves a chance.

Most of this wasn't Neeld's doing though - he inherited a dog turd. And, plainly, he has done his utmost to change things. Devil's advocate - but would you prefer that he did not adopt such a ruthless strategy and simply retained our senior players (eg, Moloney, Green etc) and those players like Morton, Bennell, Gysberts and Petterd in whom we'd invested quite a bit of game time but who, to date, hadn't consistently delivered? Personally, I am much more enthusiastic about the alternative approach which, thankfully, Neeld adopted. IMO Neeld can only do so much, and what he has done to date has inspired a truck load of confidence. In fact, I am amazed at what he has achieved in terms of list restructuring in such a short period of time. That being the case, I'm bloody excited. The signs are there. Hard players. Ruthless, professional, disciplined approach. This formula will drive success over time. So what's not to be excited about?! This whole "I will wait to see the results before I get excited" approach is far too convenient IMO. Players and supporters need to commit to the strategy/approach prior to the actual results being delivered for it to succeed - not merely sit on the fence and applaud it only after it has worked. That's just a flabby way to approach things.

Why didn't WC pick him up then?

Wouldn't they have drafted him if it was a trick?

When we stop getting beatan up and bullied by the Hawks then that will feel like the tide has turned...our matches versus them have epitomised our last several season....to weak, pushed around, bullied not good enough for anywhere near long enough...many of these clashes were round 1 and felt like they set the tone for the season. As for Neeld, I don't think anyone can really claim to have any idea if he can coach, but we do know he is prepared to make the tough calls and will do everything in his power to succeed. Now that he has a bit more of a balance and competitive (we hope) list we can start to find out if he can in fact coach.

what about Guy Smiley? Pedo Bear is a dead ringer

Yeah, he sounds like a great kid and very mature but seemed to just enjoy the day more than the other boys. I really can't wait to see him play - he has played a bit in the backline so that might be where he starts out. Toumpas, Viney, Dawes, Pedersen, Byrnes, Rodan, Gillies, and Terlich are all chances for Rd 1, 2013 and that's what I wanted - to improve immediately while still getting in a great deal of young talent. We have done that.

Correct olisik. He was informed by John Worsfold 15 minutes prior to the draft that West Coast would take him with their first pick if he was still available. He was asked to wear the shirt by John in good faith. Sadly for West Coast he was not still available.

Deeeeeeeeeeeeeee Mitri!!! I am as happy as fat kid with a cupcake. The way he handled himeslf in the interviews last night...all class. Was thinking lst night, I cant wait to see Viney and Toumpas in the guts next year....lets just say the fiancee is walking funny today!

Ron, I am man enough to put my hand up and say that I had concerns of a few things that Neeld done throughout the last 12 months, none more so than making Trengove a co-captain. He even summed it up perfectly during the year when he commented about putting blind faith in players. Well, I refuse to put blind faith in Neeld. I want wins, followed by premierships. Yes, I acknowledge the fact that he had to make changes, and those changes were going to take time. I have patience, it is a prerequisite to barrack for the MFC, but he also has a timeframe where I expect improvement. This is the year (2013) where I expect it, and the following year, and the years after that. I'm quite sure Neeld himself wouldn't want it any other way. He would want people questioning his decisions, that's not to say that he should be a puppet, but it's the sign of good management if you process the feedback you get. He's still learning, he will make mistakes, but it's what he learns from those mistakes that will decide if he is a good coach or not. Until then, I'm on the fence, and will try not to get splinters in my arse. As long as the evidence keeps coming in, like it has over the past 6-8 weeks, I'll be happy to keep an open mind about his coaching ability. The thing that I'm the happiest about is that he has/helped remove players like Petterd, Rivers, Moloney, Green. I think this was 12 months too late (I know I'm likely to cop it for that comment), and have no doubts that Neeld should've made those decisions this time last year.

I have seen enough false dawns to last me a lifetime so in the words that Ronald Reagan borrowed from Vladmir Lenin "trust but verify"

Yep, loved his interview, loved his smile (he was probably relieved to avoid internment at GWS...), and I love love LOVED that his highlights package is about 90% made up of shots of him sticking it right on the chest of a leading forward, something we haven't done a hell of a lot of recently. Clark, Dawes and Pederson are probably smiling just as much as Dimitri is ...

First impressions looks and sounds like a quality kid. Refreshing to see a first round draftee beaming from ear to ear, happy to be selected to play for the red and blue.

Maybe the club thinks he is a better option than Magner, maybe they didn't think he would be around at the RD. When Sellar was taken last year did we see it as a rejection of Nicholson? We kept Magner on the RL because we are trying to maximise our ability to take talent in this draft. And quite frankly, to state the bleeding obvious, we won't know whether we would be better off or not for a while yet. Analysing late picks at the draft is frought in my opinion. Even more so than early picks.

My new second favourite club is GWS. Not only did they take the 'fraud' off our hands and his pay packet, but one way or another they delivered Clark, who I doubt would be with us had he stayed, Hogan, Dawes and Barry. And in the piece de resistance they inexplicably handed Jimmy "the gun" Toumpas to us on a plate. It doesn't get better than that.