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Don McLardy: "As I stated in my last update, we will not take short cuts, we will continue to make hard decisions and we will continue to have high performance expectations of everyone associated with the Melbourne football club. In time this will translate into a club you will be proud to be associated with." No need to worry about me Don. I have, and always will be a proud Melbourne member ......... and rarely have I felt as proud as I have during the year from hell that we have just endured. Well done to everyone involved at the Melbourne Footy Club, and well done to all the supporters / members who have stuck fat during the lean times. The groundwork is being laid, and our day will come! There is a new spirit at Melbourne, and I really believe that one day in the not too distant future, we will once again be able to hold our own with the best in the competition. The expectation is palpable.

Got down there for about 90 mins this morning. Hopefully if I forget anyone others that were there may post. Without going any further the highlight by far was seeing Mitch doing some 1/2 pace run throughs for about 30 mins and then kick to kick with Dawes for about 20 mins. Was using both feet with his kicking. Even better was when he was finished he stayed out on the track to watch the guys do a full length training drill. Itching to join in he was. The only player i couldn't see out there was Grimes but everyone else was out doing something. Evans, Dawes and Hogan did laps as did Dunn. Sylvia and Trengove with Gillies and two others did about 80% of the work I saw. The new draftees were doing 3/4 pace run throughs on the far side of the ground before they joined in some of the ball work drills. They along with Tynan and Barry then went to athletics track for fitness training. Plenty of those 150 - 200 m sprints with the majority of the group doing those. Standouts Mc Donald, Nicholson, Howe, Jones, Watts, Blease (relative to where he has been) Magner. Couple of full length kicking drills with fast ball movement with hands to carry the ball some beautiful foot skills on display from Jimmy Toumpas and Dom Barry doing this drill that got Neeld excited. Toumpas looks like an absolute jet. Everything he did looked athletic, smooth and with control. His kicking was superb. Then some full length drills where basically it was "chaos calls" by the coaches and working really hard on transition from defence to attack or vice versa. Guys i noticed included Howe, Jones, Taggert, Blease and Jetta. Viney was involved in everything to today but was really blowing hard afetr the 200m sprints. looked quite distressed however motored on for the rest of the 90 minutes I saw. Jack Hannath trained the whole session. Any questions happy to try and answer They were still hard at when I left.

I managed to sneak down there for a quick look. Not a bad morning to be training, overcast, light breeze, both stands packed (with seats), could do with a few more to view training, as the players would feel inspired with the extra support. It was touch and go, if the spectators out numbered the coaching staff. I considered stripping down for a bit of a hitout with the boys, but felt a slight twinge in the hammy while bending over to untie the shoelaces.So thought better of it. I will try to put another view out there, rather than repeat what was already been posted The previous posts on training are right on the mark. (Do we miss FNQ? his missus must have got him back in line,nowhere to be seen). A good 1st up post by TM, I too thought the skill level was down on the last trip out to Casey. I was asking myself, was I now marking them too hard? The reality was, they were fumbling, missing targets under or no pressure when doing simulated game drills. Not every player, but I was disappointed to see some old habits still lurking with some players. Overall it was a good hit out with lots of running. One drill I hadn't seen before, apart from passing to a leading player, they had a drill where they deliberately 'shanked?" a kick ,when I 1st seen a ball that had been kicked forward, it was wobbling along the grass, I quickly looked back to see what dork kicked that!. Then I realised, they were practising handling a bouncing ball and picking it up and the run. I got there as they were running 10 x 200? mtr spints (in pairs) after they got to the end, they would all walk back to the start, and off they went again. (TMac and Nicho and Howie stood out) there were a lot more not that far off their pace. Except one. Anyone care to guess? Jimmy "totone" Toumpas looks fit,nice built, but he was blowing hard, from running laps, he looked like his race had been run. Nicho wasn't well, after the repeat sprints, he looked cooked, and ready to keel over, he was having his pulse monitored and looked about to pass out. He looked like he wanted to continue with the rest of the drills, but he didnt. He might have a virus, as I heard him say he had headaches etc. I liked the look of Jack Hannath, I hope he gets a spot. Sylvia trains like plays (at least he was involved), seems to do no more than he needs to.I was watching him closely, I wasn't all that impressed with some of his efforts. He should be setting an example. Mitch Clark, was running laps, and heard him say later,he was happy with his progress. Howe and Chunk love getting stuck into each other with barbs to each other. Howe taking set shots on goal?? I hope he plays midfield,and let others take set shots. He is great on the run, but misses a lot from a set shot. (I was trying to spot what he does different on the run to having a set shot on goal,I couldn't spot any major) Must be a head thing with him. Nobody seemed to be too worried about it. I thought one of forward coaches might have had him practising one on one. Everything else has been posted already, so I won't repeat that. Overall a good training session,they look fitter, lots of chat to encourage each other. I am not sure where Flash is at, He kept trying, but, something is not right when him. If he was injured he would have been in the rehab group,but he wasn't. Fitzy was being played at FF in one of the drills, so from that I would suspect, he might get a gig up there. Neeld was right onto him when he took a pass from Viney,and took a chest mark, Neeld yelled out to him, then indicted hands out in front of his face. He then went back and had a shot from 45mtrs on a 45% angle hit the top of the goalpost. (nearside) So perhaps if Clark needs a fill in, Fitzy might be our man. I hope that covers it for those that couldn't make it.

I was at Casey from 9.15 to midday and they were still at it as I left. Just doing their final kick to kicks, I guess. Everyone was there and participated in something except Grimes. He was just walking around the ground when I got there but had a heavy bandage on his left leg (I think left). He wan't there long and spent the rest of the time in the gym. Also noticed Dunn in the rehab or others group but by the end was also heavily bandaged on one leg. So much happens at these sessions it's hard to keep track of everything. Trengove doesn't look right. The other week he looked like he had just got out of a sick bed. He was very quiet again today. and he looked very slow when he had to chase. Jordie Mc looked sharp and a lot quicker than I had seen him before. Tappy disappeared after the sprints and I don't recall seeing him anytime later. Evans continues to just run but a smooth runner he is. Ditto for Toumpas. Jetta was good in the drills Big Maxy Gawn did quite a bit of running and is looking good. Taggert fumbled a lot I was keen on seeing Gillies and Pedersen to get some idea whether they are first 22 or not but I couldn't see alot of them in the drills. Hannath looks good. Good ball handling skills and kicked some good goals in the drills. I like him. This session was not as good as the last Casey session, not as crisp but then the drills were different.

I popped down for a while, few things I noticed.... As stated, clarky was running well, and still looks a massive unit. Gillies looks a lot thinner already. Could be a steal. Nicho and tmac push each other real hard in the running. Nicho was sick and coughing his guts up but pushed through. Barry was lucky it wasn't windy, would of blown away. But his skills where very sharp. Got told of for pulling up short in a 200. Great to see nothing gets missed with so many coaches on the ground. Raising the bar. Despite all our recruits,I am most excited about Howe this year. Was burning jones in the running, is a standout in most drills, such a smooth mover. I really believe he could be anything. When viney and tappy where running together, viney surprisingly still looked rather solid. Both large units. Bit of grunt. Every run of the 200, the boys where giving there times to be recorded, impressive and shows how structured and detailed our pre seasons have become. Dawesy was taking it very easy. I would like a massive pre season from him after disappointing year last year. Watts was in the fourth pair of running with mckenzie. Worked hard and as others have said, is a great trainer. Never misses a target in the drills. I assumed the tall kid in the hat doing handball drills was the kid who didn't get drafted. If so he is a rather large unit, with very very clean hands in marking and handball drills. But then during the 200s he began barking orders at players such as chip which made me think it might not have been him, unless he is one very confident kid. Whoever it was they looked real good. Was disappointed to see Sylvia train the way he did. Takes it half assed and never looks serious. Rodans skills and delivery to forwards again was sublime. Big fan. Pedo started as a defender on the leading forwards in one drill.

I think all the crocs in Kakadu cleared out of there when they heard that Jack Viney was coming.

I disagree with this - I hope he plays midfield too (and he will) but I think nailing those set shots is essential to taking the next step as a player for Howe. He's a midfielder who can go forward and be a marking threat, so he needs to be able to turn that in to damage on the scoreboard. Some of those misses last year were easy and were real momentum killers; it's definitely a part of his game that needs improving and when it does he'll be a real danger to opposition sides. Thanks (to you and others) for the great reports; they mean a lot to many of us.

Sorry if someone's already said this. haven't bothered wading thru all 6 pages of comments. The exercise of naming a best 22 is just impossible to do at this stage. HOWEVER, the fact is that it aint beyond the realms of possibility for anything up to TEN debutantes in our Round 1 team: Viney, Toumpas, Taggert, Terlich, Jones, Dawes, Pedersen, Rodan, Brynes & Gillies. Probably won't happen. But, just the fact we can even entertain the possibility has me salivating at what could be in 2013. Go Dees!

Another #%#*^ profit!!! I blame all of this on Schwab. Never used to happen in the good old days.

The club needs to improve on field to compliment the hard work done off the field by the club and it's generous supporters. I can't imagine how hard it would be to develop and improve the supporter base, assets and sponsors with the onfield results we've had since Daniher and Co. who 'walked' mid 2007 with a playing list resembling a disgrace under Paul Gardner's watch. Clearly put in the too hard basket by Daniher. It was akin to making progress whilst in quick sand for the likes of Bailey. So bad, that Neeld has felt more than a ripple effects from the Daniher era, having now cleaned out with up to 15 changes. How does a club go from playing in consecutive finals series through 2004-05-06 and get further behind in debt significantly(>$5m) to a club that has languished in the sellar for four consecutive years yet maintained four consecutive years of profit? Better management (and generous members)?

In the first half of last season he really struggled, but as has already been pointed out his 1% were still quite good. At all times he worked and ran hard, especially when we didn't have the ball. He looked like a kid who was trying too hard, and my opinion is that he really struggled with the pressures of the captaincy. It was almost like he ran so hard to get the ball that when he did get it he was exhasuted to do anything decent with it, his disposal and goal kicking was ordinary. He also tried too hard with the physical stuff, trying to be the enforcer. After the wins against Essendon and GWS though I think he looked much better, a lot more composed and less stressed and looked like he was running better. His disposal quality was much better and he was linking up really well when we actually moved the ball with purpose down the ground. The captaincy issue didn't seem to effect him as much. It was a hard year for him, not only did he have to worry about his own development but he had to take on the issues of trying to lead a poor team. There were many factors effecting his performance but I firmly believe that he'll be a much better player for going through it all. I'm expecting a big improvement in 2013.

I'm finding elements to this thread to border on the hilarious. The negativity , the pessimism and the seemingly blind indifference to change. it also reminds me of the old adage about a Broom.. Yeah, its still 'original" ...yeah the handle been replaced 5 times and the head 4 , but its still "original" !!! Weve gone from a 1999 model base model clapped out one tonner to a recent model 3 tonner with more than a few handy options !! What we would have struggled with last year we will make a decent fist of in 13. Yes other teams will have changed also but dont expect too much out of the giants as they are still predominantly a bunch of kids and we all know how well that goes. A lot of "potential " there for sure. A team of seasoned MEN will maul them !! simple as. Look for the Giants to trade out and up to more seasoned players over the next few years to address that very shortcoming. Have no doubt they are 'banking ' players to do just that. The Suns will light up the bottom of the ladder again, just watch. For us to go backwards we would have had to remained the same whilst others improved their lists. That simply hasnt been the case. To the nay-sayers show me 1...yep just ONE area we havent addressed and are worse in !! go on.. I'm waiting. Dont give me that crap either about losing Green . Rivers Barty and Moroney ( intentional ). As WJ has already well addressed this in reality wasnt a huge loss and more than ably compensated ( x3 ) by recent additions We wont be flying til about 14/15 but we will be dead set seriously competitive in 13. The list now comprises footy players ( and not namby pamby wannabes and look at me traffic cops ) who WANT to be there, WANT to play Neeldy's game and WANT to win. Could we go backwards...... Only if Hell ices up !!

As a regular training watcher I can assure the OP that we won't be going backwards. I could mention the improved forward-line - with Dawes and Pedersen complimenting Clark we no longer have a front half of pygmies; I could mention the continued maturity of the defence - with Watts training there all preseason, and Nicholson and McDonald, et al, continuing to gain experience to ease pressure and help release Frawley; I could mention the midfield that has lost nothing, but gained an injection of class with Viney, Toumpas, a rejuvenated Trengove, and the big Kent; I could mention that I haven't seen the main training group this large at this time of year in a long while; but these are bit parts that add to the bigger picture. We will be better because our fitness levels, strength, understanding of the game-plan, and competition for spots will be nothing like last year. Even our running patterns at training, i.e defending and spreading, is far better. When they run to position they run with purpose. They sprint hard and they're more vocal. Our work at the stoppages is noticeably better - thanks to Viney and Rodan helping Jones. The poor fitness levels of 2012 meant that Melbourne struggled to run both ways last year. They couldn't defend, or play Neeld's game-plan because of their poor fitness base. They got sucked into contests only to be burnt on the spread. They'd have an OK quarter against a top 8 team, but couldn't sustain it, which is a hallmark of young sides lacking fitness and match hardening. Things will be much different next year. That's not to say that I don't rate our inclusions, I do, and they serve a really important ingredient to the club's overall psyche. Fitness, strength, and a unified team all backing the coach and his vision does wonders. You can tell at training that everyone is on the same page. And the injection of class and leadership in the club helps foster trust and confidence. With those intangible ingredients you start developing momentum. You get players "buying in". It's all part of a seismic culture shift. And it's happening right now. I don't think we'll make the 8 next year, but I have no doubt that the dark years are over and that we're on the incline. Supporters will notice a tangible improvement next year. There will still be inconsistent performances that send Demonland into meltdown, but there will also be wins against teams we haven't beaten in years and a sense of purpose that hasn't been evident for some time. Some will prefer to not believe, such is their want, but I'm going to enjoy summer in the knowledge that this club has turned the corner.

My preference is to ask whether we can go forwards in 2013 and I would say "yes" because I don't expect all of the things that went wrong for us both on and off the field in 2012 (all well documented) to go wrong again in 2013. I'm reasonably satisfied that our inclusions will help us improve and that we have a number of up and comers who did little in 2012 due to injury or lack of experience who can help improve of playing stocks and depth. As far as our losses are concerned, I recently came up with the idea of giving each of the departing players a rating for their contribution to the club in 2012 and came up with this: Retired: Clint Bartram - injured by mid season, minimal impact. Rating 2 Brad Green (veteran - outside list) - last third of the season very good but either injured or out of form before that. Rating 3 Unrestricted free agent: Jared Rivers (Geelong Cats) - a good contributor in defence or attack but was no longer important in our defensive structure. Rating 5 Restricted free agent: Brent Moloney (Brisbane Lions) - looked uninterested. Rating 2 Traded: Jordan Gysberts (North Melbourne) - one ordinary game in 2012. Rating ½ Stef Martin (Brisbane Lions) - injuries and ordinary form sealed his fate. Rating 2 Cale Morton (West Coast Eagles) - limited influence throughout and injured at the end. Rating 2 Delisted: Matthew Bate - failed to impress. Rating 2 Jamie Bennell - struggled before season ending knee injury. Rating 2 Lucas Cook - no AFL appearances. Rating 0 Liam Jurrah - a major distraction for the club and one below par game. Rating -3 Kelvin Lawrence (second-year rookie) - no AFL appearances and went home early. Rating 0 Ricky Petterd - season ruined by injury. Rating 1 Jai Sheahan (rookie) * - no AFL appearances. Rating 0 Leigh Williams (rookie) - no AFL appearances. Rating 0 The total of my rating of the departing players is 18½; out of a possible 150, barely above an average of 1 per player. I would be surprised if we can't improve on that with the influx of the new players and improvement among existing members of the list, especially with better fitness and less injuries in 2013. * I liked him at Casey and was disappointed that he was delisted but the FD must have had their reasons.

Here is something for all Melbourne supporters to start the holiday season. Bring on Queens birthday.

After reading the training reports my flicker of hope is currently on life support!

It's a fantastic result to remain in the positives and have an increase of ~$1.6 mil spending in the footy department in relations to all the off field issues and the loss of a major sponsor. I would love to see what the club starts turning when they rise up the ladder and all the supporters in the wood work jump back on the band wagon and buy memberships. WELL DONE MFC!

Big difference in cases. AFL always said don't cheat on contracts and salary cap, that is an offence and you will get hit hard, unless you are the Crows. With "Tanking", the AFL ( CEO and Footy Manager) have said all along that what we did was OK and has been done ever since footy started. It is called "List management and Experimentation". That has been ticked off several times already. To now say it is an offence will see litigation come long and hard, as well as more from the Bookies and Punters. Andrew will be in a Court for weeks getting no work done. Then the other clubs will get dragged in. This is not what the AFL wants or needs at this point in time.

Dear Fan and other Axe-Grinders, I'm sure the figures are available for all to see. If you are a financial guru and want to fix something that aint broke then have a crack. No point talking to us keyboard supporters on here about the board . There is little support for toppling the current regime on here. I am not against people speaking their mind at an AGM or even having a whinge about the Status Quo but what is the point of whinging about something if you are not prepared to have a crack ? Peter Costello made a career out of it but not a very brave one. Like Paul Keating said, "You have to have the ticker for it ,you have to be able to draw the sword".

An point that hasn't been mentioned is this: "The latest profit was achieved despite the club increasing their football department spending by $1.674 million this year.The latest profit was achieved despite the club increasing their football department spending by $1.674 million this year." If we had maintained the same football department skills/resources as last year we would have made a $1.5m profit in real terms. So yes overall we did improve this year despite a low book profit. What I am more interested in is our turnover for the year? Anyone know?

Once the toumpass family signs up 40,000 members is a easy target.

This has been another absorbing thread which makes this site compulsive viewing. I dont know the answer either Have used drugs during those loose living days Have witnessed tragedy of drug use HAve worked in Health industry where the evidence of swelling impacts (including cost) is obbvious have heard same arguments and seen same impacts with alchohol and cigarettes and Gambling Legalising surely means greater ability to control. The dangers and damage must be more clearly and broadly understood although the risk taking element will still not be persuaded until they are addicted when it is too late. Support must be provided at that point by a compassionate society Legalising can allow cost apportioned to compensate harms (like gambling Tax) and assist research to diminish harms Use legally or illegally must be treated relative to the harm. Sports people may be doing themselves less harm on some drugs than on others with recovery etc and may have less impact on their workplace. The amount of money they receive could be seen to represent compensation for the greater role they are perceived to have and therefore control (demand for testing etc) may be diferent than other workplace requirements. As I said I dont know the answers but am certainly interested in the views others have expressed. Greater discussion will improve our knowledge and assist in resolving the many sides to the issue.

Gonna be a headache listening to the footy on the radio now if we have both Jones's playing in the midfield.

I was initially inclined to take a risk on Garlett, but have come around to the view that it would be a wasted pick at the moment. If the kid likes to party more than he like to prepare professionally for his footy, knowing the eyes of the footy world would be on him in the lead up to the draft, he's either super arrogant or stupid, or both. Both of these character flaws, once revealed to his suitors (the club's recruitment teams), require a period demonstrating humility and smarts in the WAFL, VFL, etc... prior to him being able to claim he's "reformed" his character and is ready for the big league. Unfortunately for Dayle the days where talented player could get through largely on talent are past. Clubs invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in pay and development effort in developing an AFL player. Melbourne has performed badly in this area recently, having lost our investments in Morton, Gysberts, Wonna, Jarrah, etc... over the past couple of years. In retrospect, all these players lacked one (or more) aspect of the "four pillars" that the club is now espousing as the criteria to be recuited by the MFC. I like this approach and if it means we pass on "Party Boy" Garlett then, well done us.

Don't confuse Desire with reality. The simple facts are we were uncompetitive in 16 games last year. We have added one good player, two average players, a number of players that were not good enough the first time round and a couple of talented Kids. The kids will hopefully show their worth over the next 2 -3 years With a little luck with injuries and the hope all the new players gel quickly we should improve. However to expect a enormous jump from uncompetitive to finals in one season is wishful thinking IMO. After being uncompetitive for most of the time between 2007 and 2012 we have no choice but to endure modest improvement each year for the next 3 years .

Think about the background he came from. Then to work as hard as he did not only to learn the sport and get a game at the highest level, but also to revolutionize the role of the ruckman. He was Melbourne's best player in a losing Grand Final effort in '88. He won the game's highest individual honour after having only picked up a football seven years earlier. He played 244 consecutive games, despite having his fair share of injuries. He made the MFC's Team of the Century, and won four club B&Fs. That qualifies him as a champion of the game in my books.

The notion that if we regulated drugs we would see a contemporaneous rise in drug use always fascinates me. For me such a view shows very little faith in human nature. I believe most people don't want to be high all the time - many might like to have the choice to consume whatever quality controlled substance suited the moment, but would otherwise carry on living, working and (hopefully) learning as they went about their lives seeking some form of contentment and balance. Continuing to support a policy response that has failed to deliver benefits (prohibition) is a failure to apply logic to policy development, implementation and evaluation processes. From an economic rationalist perspective it makes no sense to continue to invest in such folly. Or does it? RJ - why we continue to slavishly follow the orthodoxy of abstinence in an age of hyper-consumption is a good question. Work by Nils Christie and Sam Friedman about drugs being a "suitable enemy" for those in power partly explains it for me - but what I can't figure out is how people haven't wised up to this. Perhaps we really are stupid and need strong moral leadership from government and religion after all! As for US influence on global drug policy, that would take too long to go into here. One thing I do know as fact is, when the ACT Government proposed a clinical trial of heroin maintenance for people who had failed on available treatment programs, US interests actively lobbied the Tasmanian Government and let them know that such a program would place the State's lucrative poppy industry at risk. Sadly a 17 yo Tasmanian male died from consuming an extract from this crop a week or so ago. As a parent of a child about the same age it made me wonder if a regulated dose may not have proven fatal. Unfortunately drugs can bring out the worst in people - both the users and the abstainers - moral and political factors have so far outweighed a rational approach to the issue. Many people use a variety of drugs without problems - but every weekend in any city large amounts of money pass into the hands of criminals. This makes no sense to me. People that do experience problems from using substances need to be treated as having a health problem, not a morally framed criminal one. The war on drugs is over - drugs won.

I highly doubt it.

This is indeed thinking outside the box. Well done. I wonder if this is behind Moloney's leaving the club? Hard to imagine Brett being Dux of the class year after year.

Just what we need - another negative thread. Of course we could go backwards. Anything is possible after all, But really, what's the point of asking people to comment on this? Before you know it we'll have 70 or 80 pages of tripe from all the negative Nellies out there. Did you really mean that without Cale Morton we might go backwards? Hard to replace this...

Personally I think we are better than both the Bulldogs and Power. We were ravaged with injuries and have far more polish than both sides - not to mention our foward line looks miles ahead of both teams. With Clark, Dawes and Pederson we have a more mature and talented foward line than both those sides. Our backline looks stronger, considering next year we'll drop Garland back there and Grimes if needed. If Jamar is up and running, our midfield would smash both Port and the Bulldogs. We will demolish both of those sides next year, we have far more class, talent and improvement in our list than those sides.

Neeld is making us a lot like Collingwood but with a lot better looking supporter base.

My wife believes in that [censored].

You and others are welcome to your opinion, but I don't consider him a great of the game. I wouldn't get into a heated argument over it and nor do I wish to upset anyone, but for me he never reached the heights of players such as Matthews, Carey, Greg Williams, Hird, Voss, Locket, Dunstall, Simon Madden, etc. Keith Greig won two Brownlows and was named on the wing in the TOC, but I also don't consider him a great of the game. No-one is disputing how great a story the Jim Stynes story is, or what he had to overcome to be the player he was after he was sent packing back to Prahran. It is the greatest story of all time, but as a player he never reached the heights to make him a genuine great of the game for me. I don't like the term "great of the game" being bandied about. People too easily class players as champions of the game. The ones I mentioned were, Stynes wasn't. I'm happy to disagree and leave it there.

What?

Don't know about anyone else, but I'm looking forward to what is left of this Test.

It's an interesting question B: Terlich Davis Strauss HB: J.Macdonald Gillies Tynan C: Kent Magner Evans HF: Jetta Sellar Barry F: Fitzpatrick Hogan Davey R: Spencer Bail Couch I: Gawn Taggart M.Jones 2 rookies to come

Eight wins gets us back to where we were under Bailey. We need to play finals, and fast. Anything less is failure. Our club has been at the bottom of the ladder since 2007 and we can't last there too much longer. We play finals, or it starts getting even more ugly.

In my opinion 264 games of which 244 were without a break and a Brownlow medal makes you a great of the game

In round 4, 2000 Matthew Richardson suffered exactly the same injury. The following year (2001) he played every game and kicked 59 goals. Richmond finished 4th for one of their few finals appearances over the last 30 years. You may well be right about Clark, but please expand upon your opinion.

Yeah, you should bring it up at the AGM! Utter disgrace if we overlook this troubled teenager with a history of application issues. I mean, he was only photographed once under the influence of narcotics. I am sure that was the only time he took drugs. And the AFL will straighten him out. No-one takes recreational drugs in the AFL. And the final thing is we have a Leadership Group that is young and needs all the help they can get - what better experience than to throw this wayward teen at them while they are training hard to make the Dees relevant again. It's a real no-brainer, you know, when you think about it...

How to win away from the MCG course 101.

I agree 100% Saw all of what you describe yesterday. I know this guys family. I Think he was coasting under the previous FD. This one has inspired him to believe he can be the Dees no.1 ruckman. It is the next two years or never for Jake. He knows he has to improve substantially over the next two years or AFL is done. Time will tell if he has the skill But I don't think he will falter because of a lack of endeavour. Believe me he wants it badly

I got down there about 9.30 and stayed for an hour or so. I agree with most of what has been said already so will keep it down to specific observations. Neeld seems very relaxed; I guess I was expecting a more intense personna but I was really impressed with how he interacts with the players. As an example there were a couple of love taps with some of the senior players (Mitch in particular) and most impressively he took time to walk a full lap with Hogan. He appeared to be offering a bit of low key input which I would imagine for a 17 year old boy 5000ks from home would have been really valuable. Taggert has inherited the worst Mo award, it is a shocker! I tried to get a bit of info about where the 2 skippers were. By the time I left they had still not appeared. I asked one of the support staff who suggested that Grimes is on a modified program but he could not say where Trenners was. I also did not see Col. Pickles was with the group doing laps but he managed to snag a classic drop kicked goal I too could not get over the chirp amongst the group, really impressive. Jimmy T is a rolls royce; before I left I wanted to have a look at the newbies who were up the north end of the paddock doing time trials. He moves like a cat and has a really sunny disposition. I welcomed a couple of the new recruits who seemed slightly taken aback, hey said that they were being eased in slowly. I think that these open sessions are great. As long as you pick your moment there seems to be no resistance to questions from the players or staff. That is about it but am happy to answer any questions. Go Dees

yeah same here, hopefully he gets a run and makes the most of it, would be good to see him out there again.

Kitty who? I've got the Ad Blocker installed on Firefox, no ads anywhere online, especially YouTube. It's a beautiful thing.

Well they've got me again regardless of the new inclusions. A few more wins will obviously pick it up. That said, I reckon if we can get at least a 50/50 win loss by the time memberships close, we should be aiming for around the high 30's.