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They'll cover Port Adelaide, but you will have to use your imagination to work out how Melbourne are playing.

Well, as they say in New Zealand: "It's late and I'm off to beard"

At a base level his words were a pressure valve. So unless you think the AFL was ever going to meet us with 'nothing to answer' for their troubles, CC gave them (and us) a convenient patsy. He could have fought this nonsense but he didn't and for taking this bullet we thank him. With your objections noted, Billy.

Martin Flanagan is a shining light at the Age newspaper and is one of the few reasons why I regret that I no longer subscribe to the newspaper these days. He writes stories about the people of the game and his article about Chris Connolly yesterday (difficult to find on line via the iPhone but worth the search) is sheer brilliance - A good man to fill a silence. It touches the heart, essence and personality of the man who was much more harshly treated than the salary cap cheating CEO of Adelaide and who obviously took an enormous hit for the club he loves. Flanagan - There's lots more in Flanagan's magical writing and I understand the man has his detractors (and I'll come back to this later) but I feel that for the time being we should just reflect on the above and ask why such a dedicated person and a hero of the club has been made to pay such a heavy price for being loyal.

It's not a tumor.

I actually think Hogan will develop better within the VFL system than throwing him in the AFL Deep end Neeld IMO has made a common sense approach in regards to younger players as soon as he walked in the door We all know we are not premiership contenders and waiting 22 games might be strategically the best decision for player, coach and club

No, if CC didn't make the comment, they'd have focused on something else, or the fine and penalties coupled with "not guilty" would've just seemed even more implausible.

Don't agree. CC's comment just became the most convenient way of penalising the club without finding them guilty.

I was pleasantly surprised by the four jovial, pleasant, sober young Tigers supporters in front of me. I even had a bit of a chat to one of them and he was capable of more than just a few grunts. Extraordinary!

So if I reckon we'll be better than you do does that make you realistic and me unrealistic, or does it just mean that our opinions vary ? We're so much fitter than last year and will be more adept at the game-plan that I can't see how we won't be better. We've got an influx of players that were better than those departed. And we played two teams that most suspect will play finals. If you're Hawthorn, or Sydney and started your pre-season 6-8 weeks behind the majority of our group then you take nothing from these matches. But if you're Melbourne and you want to see the running patterns, see who looks comfortable against senior players, see who's making the right decisions then these games offer relevant information. It's silly to get hung up on these games, but it's equally as silly to dismiss them altogether. The playing group and coaches will get a lot out of both games - good and bad - and educate the group accordingly. That's what these matches are for.

With Frawley's concussion, let's hope he doesn't accidentally fly to Denmark instead.

Cliches should be avoided like the plague.

Went to the Demons shop on Fridiay to get my 2013 guernsey CC was there tidying up some things as it was his last official day at the Club First thing he said was to thank ME for supporting the club Told him how I felt and how he was a scapegoat He has always put the Club first He said he was going to do a bit of study and media work for the year I made a joke about giving Caroline Wilson the No 1 ticketholder at MFC He is not a fan

Buddy. Would be great depth in case Hogan gets injured

Liked what FootyRhino had to say about him: "Settle down fantasy coaches, you can’t touch Jesse Hogan for another 12 months. If I’m Mark Neeld, I’m shoving the 18 year old in a dimly-lit room, with just a bench press, a mirror and a picture of Jonathan Brown circa 2007. Every now and then, I’d slide a live cow under the door with a hack saw and a blow torch. Hogan already weighs 100kg and was super impressive in Friday night’s games; it looks like Melbourne might have a game-changer on their hands."

Chill guys. The Ox did his knee in the '95 Pre season. That was Gut Wrenching. The kid sprained his ankle. Coupla Weeks he will jog and run again.

Yep, we're on our knees. And all because of one sprained ankle.

There's absolutely no way this would ever fly, and we'd piss people off in the process of trying. Imagine that: the AFL rules decree him ineligible for the draft, we take him through the trade/mini draft system, then he's allowed to play as a normal draftee would. The other clubs would crucify AFL house. I'm all for using "innovative" ways to gain a competitive advantage, but trying to circumvent the rules isn't the way.

No they shouldn't. And Bate was exempted pre-being drafted. Just let the kid follow the system that the three other boys followed and get him to start strong in 2014.

Still another year of hard work in the gym, a year of practice at Casey and another pre-season for Hoges before he steps out round 1 2014. He can be even better. Stuff keeping a lid on things, we all deserve to get excited over something- and this is as good as anything!

I have seen this site blow up over Miller, Juice and others in the past so Ill wait to see where he is at in 3 years. A lot to work with here!

AFL clubs study the make up of past premiership teams closely. I've seen break downs before, but off the top of my head you need roughly 10-12 players with over 100 games experience, an average age of approx. 25/26, and an average games played of roughly 120. This may not be exact and there will always be premiership teams that buck the trend, but an experienced group with a genuine star of the competition, or two, give you the best chance of developing a premiership capable team. You'll have a core group of 14/15 made up of A graders, or very close to it, and 2 or 3 stars, i.e. players that are rated in the top dozen in the competition when fit and firing. Add a strong culture, good coaching group and a bit of luck and you have a chance.

If you had ever spoken to CC you would know that he bleeds red and blue and now he has shown what a true MFC man that he truly is. Sure he can be a little loose lipped but all that know him know that is the way he is, never short of a word and always happy to speak to all and sundry. It is a pity that all this support did not come out when he was facing the interrogators. Why he was not accompanied to the inquisition by a lawyer is beyond me and in this respect he was let down by the Club for not providing legal representation at the time.

I am pleasantly surprised that the Watts-bashers on here have quietened down. Lets hope he continues the good form throughout the season proper. I'd love to see him win the Bluey.

I do.......

It wasn't just the one mark where he shoved aside a seasoned player like he was a 13 year old, it was his movement in general, hard leading, footy brain, the excellent final mark on the flank against North and the execution of the goal. Most of all he confirmed everything I had already thought.

now THERE was a beard...

I don't know about champs, but you need a leader on EVERY line. As for playing for the coach, the last coach that had that effect was Swooper Northey - the boys ran through brick walls for him.

6. No, wait, wait...7.

I feel the need to draw your attention to hair-dos. On Friday night, I think we witnessed 3 of the top 10 shocking hair-dos in the league. Jack Pepe le Pew Riewoldt. What the hell is that? Did you scalp a polar bear and glue it to your noggin? Dustin Martin - Setting the pace in bogan Maric - A mullet is wasted without traccy dacks and moccs The Watts beard makes him look tough(er) if nothing else

The beard is awesome! All hail he beard!

It was an impressive debut. But Barry Predergast will tell you he's no Lucas Cook.

Spoke to him at the family day and he said the girls don't like it. I think it may be gone soon. BTW he is just the nicest boy, always friendly and happy to chat. I hope he becomes a star for us, enjoys team success and shoves it up a few people.

The following was posted by a Richmond supporter elsewhere. It actually puts things into a better perspective. We played an inferior team against Richmond and we were also fatigued, while they were fresh with close to their best line-up. Some game time percentages for Richmond from the two games tonight: vs Dees Rance - 100 Nahas - 94 Astbury - 93 Houli - 90 Vickery - 88 Batchelor - 87 Maric - 85 Riewoldt - 84 Cotchin - 84 Tuck - 82 Ellis - 81 Grigg - 80 Pettard - 80 Deledio - 77 Newman - 75 S.Edwards - 76 Morris - 75 Martin - 72 Conca - 72 A.Edwards - 70 Vlastuin - 67 Jackson - 61 McDonough - 13 Arnott - 13 So pretty close to best 22 playing most of the game. Given the Dees were tired and Richmond fielded a pretty strong team the result of that game is not surprising. vs North Riewoldt -100 S.Edwards - 94 Ellis - 93 Rance - 90 Dea - 89 Griffiths - 88 Batchelor - 86 Derickx - 84 McGuane - 84 White - 82 Morris - 81 Martin - 79 Jackson - 79 Newman - 77 Vickery - 74 O'Hanlon - 72 Vlastuin - 72 Knights - 64 Conca - 64 Arnott - 60 Tuck - 55 McDonough - 51 Cotchin - 42 Deledio - 38 So the stars sat it out more and fringe players got a lot more game time. The only team that should be suggesting Richmond "played like it was round 1" is Melbourne.

Do you know Hogan is unavailable for Melbourne this season? I do now, after Dwayne Russell told me 563 times last night.

I posted this a while ago on Demonology: Imagine a scenario in which there are at least a dozen allegations made in various places about different police officers involved in corruption in the State of Victoria. Now, imagine what would happen if the government called a Royal Commission to selectively investigate the allegations of corruption against one cop and one cop alone and refused point blank to extend the enquiry to police corruption in the State generally. And what if one of those allegedly corrupt cops who the government refused to investigate had a close association with the Premier of the state? You would have to start wondering about who really is the corrupt one in this scenario, wouldn't you?

My only criticism of the coaching panel on McKenzie is he had a particularly good game last year when he had about umpteen handballs - all pretty effective - and the coaching panel said - all good but we want you to kick more. If his handball can be effective as opposed to his obvious sub par kicking then why not let him play to his strengths ? I dont recall anyone coaching Greg Williams and telling him to handball less ( not that I am saying Jordie can handball like diesel)

Just watched the replay of the North game. Midfield looked ordinary and I honestly believe it will be another year in the bottom 4. Just being realistic. The large number of changes to the playing list will take time to gel. I guess I'm getting a bit disillusioned after the last 6 seasons and am struggling to see light at the end of the tunnel. Have already renewed my membership though and will hope for the best with realistic expectations.

Not just no forwards perhaps ... as mentioned above: "Mahoney said the club would send a young squad to Renmark, and use the match to get more game time into players who did not get lengthy runs in last Friday's NAB Cup. ''I don't think we'll be sending a very senior squad,'' he said. " In other words, getting games into the kids. Perhaps better that it's not on TV, we'd need to put a few around here on suicide watch. 


So how do you get a champion team? I think there is a sense in which certain champions will help make a champion team, and others who won't, or as G.K. Chesterton put it "There is a great man who makes every man feel small. But the real great man is the man who makes every man feel great." For mine, Robbie Flower was the kind of champion who made teammates into better players; we can probably all name some others who aren't or weren't. I am also reminded of a debate in the NBA yonks ago about the relative merits of Michael Jordan and Earvin 'Magic' Johnson. Every NBA coach surveyed said Jordan was the better player, but each would choose Johnson over Jordan as the foundation of their team. (PS sorry about the font colours --- I just had this feeling that text in this forum should only be written in red and blue ... )

RPFC, who are these people and what are they actually doing? Right now we have whispers of a conspiracy that no-one can name, with proponents no-one can name, doing things no-one can substantiate for ends that seem stupid across a period of 6,12, 18 and 48 months. We have a board that has made a decent handful of errors that we know of being defended against a 'shadow' conspiracy that no-one can prove or bring evidence of. AND dissenting voices here are criticised as supporting the nameless conspiracy. WTF? To say that this is primitive and circular is to give it more credibility than it deserves. I'd argue that unless you have something huge, you shouldn't be besmirching the reputations of anyone. That burden of responsibility seems only to travel in one direction ATM.

Aside from the rookies, the biggest positive to come out of the NAB round 1 is what appears to be a massive set shot accuracy improvement from Howe.

The next FC on Thursday should be interesting - GL to the Poisonous Female Dog " so what did you make of Jeff's comments regarding the Libba interview? PFD "I don't know what your talking about Gary, I haven't seen it, and you don't have any credibility in this matter".

Unfortunately the writing is on the wall and the fix is in. We were unceromoniously boned. When there is a corrupt regime who are only too happy to work hand in glove with feral elements of the 4th estate you really are up against it. Whilst Vlad and Fitz are anywhere near the helm no more will be done about tanking, no other teams scrutinized. They have their sacrificial lamb. Ive taken some time to mull all of this over. Im still disappointed we blinked. In all seriousness id rather we put it all on the line. Sometimes you have to. Don and co did a commendable job but we lost. Quite frankly those that are suggesting we were officially exonerated are deluding themselves. McGuire never would have stood for such an outcome. Im not sure what we stand for now. Offically or unofficially were now the 'tankers" . Its like being found guilty without a conviction being recorded. There are 500,000 reasons to back that notion up. Ive become a little less interested in football now. I love footy. I am passionate about Melbourne. This club just continues to suck everything out of its followers and delivers sfa. For me they had better bloody well look like something this year or after nearly 50 years of unwavering support .I might flinch. Lifes too short. The AFL are nothing but a but of f'n self serving egostistical bullies. Sometimes the only way you deal with such is to smack him from one end of the hallway to the other. Thats all i really care to say on the matter. On with season 2013. wants to get better. Not overly impressed to date.

What were his stats for arm waving and pointing to spaces for other teamates to fill??? Yep, he would have topped them too....

Heaps of faith in Jack and the beard....easily our most skilled player,get ready for a big year from Killer.

I have just read this whole thread and I cannot believe it is the 22nd Feb.....Yes that's right....22nd of FEBRUARY...... Ten posters have gone out the back and shot themselves Five have cut their wrists 7 have bought sniper rifles to shoot half our side. and one has such a bout of depression that nothing will save him All on the back of a 3 way practise hit out in FEBRUARY.... Lets keep it a little bit real folks.....

Jeff basically demanded that the Blues be investgated and the Tigers probably as well. He said the Libba statements which he had not seen previously were so far worse and more serious than Brock's, that the AFL would have no choice but to give them the same treatment we got. When Fev's comments were added he was adamant that if the AFL had any integrity they must investigate. Hutchy said on the back of that how can the MFC be the only club dealt with. Lloyd then questioned CW's prior knowledge of the penalties handed down, before the MFC even knew what charges they may face. He said the AFL had leaked and that was an integrity issue. Best Footy Classified episode I have seen, I am keeping it for viewing again. I want to see what the AFL comes up with to avoid investigating a big club.

I'd rather have Caro on than JGK. And that is saying both a little and a alot. What he knows about footy and the business of footy amounts to not very much.Just another retired polly addicted to the spotlight. Sadly his stint as Hawthorn President now sees him qualified as some sort of uber football sage. Fair dinkum Ian Dicker rebuilt Hawthorn with Dunstall. Dicker on. Kennett off. I had to smile WJ when you referenced an article in the News Ltd Press which described the awful editor of the Oz Chris Mitchell as being 'respected' or somesuch! Very much a case of 'they would say that wouldnt they'! Caro is indeed reflective of the decline in standards of journalism across all areas. In politics its an endless fascination with leadership challenges and controversy and a complete inability to examine policy in any meaningful way. In the footy medjia its the same. Heaven knows any of them might give more than a cursory glance to tactics for instance. The way journos and commentators reverentially discuss each others opinions like they were handed down from Mt Sinai on 2 tablets gives me the heeby jeebies. An endless incestuous circle jerk. Thats the mainstream media in 2013.

Bit of blue sky mining here but maybe the answer is to take medical care and welfare of the players away from the individual clubs and placing into the hands of the AFL. A pool of medico could rotate through the clubs on a rostered basis. Due to continuity the medicos would need to spend a reasonable time at each club, maybe a season at a time and then rotate. They would have no allegiance or obligation to the individual clubs and could operate entirely independantly of the club. They would be paid for by the AFL and answerable only to them. The players welfare would be their only concern and clubs would be unable to influence their decisions as to whether a player takes the field or not.