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For those interested, Austin Wonaeamirri will captain theTiwi Bombers in tomorrows grand final against St Marys in the NTFL. Tiwi Bombers captain Shane Tipuamantamirri will miss out on this weekend's NTFL Grand Final after being suspended for rough conduct. This year's Nichols Medallist, Tipuamantamirri, pleaded not guilty to the charge at a tribunal hearing this week which was unsuccessful. Tiwi went down to St Mary's dismally in the semi final between the top two sides by 51 points. Tiwi 10.12.72 St Mary's 19.9.123 Aussie booted 3 goals in the loss. It will be a great honour for Aussie to captain the proud Tiwi Bombers in a grand final and I will be going to cheer for him and hopefully they go back to back. My verdict: St Mary's have been the standout team all year and if Tiwi try to play their game style St Mary's will win big. If Tiwi play their own style I think they'll win a close one. St Mary's by 38. Cheers, Hells Gates

A lot has been said and written about Neeld's revolutionary list overhaul in the off-season. Can Clark and Dawes gel effectively? Will Rodan and Byrnes be worth the punt? Can Viney and Toumpas have an immediate impact? But for me the greater question will be how the blokes who've already been there for four or more years will go ... the 50 - 150 game players who until now, if we're being honest, have not exactly set the world on fire. We've seen cameos here and there, a couple have even cracked it for a one-off All-Australian nod, but none of the following players could confidently stand up as of today and declare themselves to be a top-line AFL player. From my vantage point, it's time for the following guys to quit flying under the radar, to end this habit of "just getting by" each week. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Jack Watts You were adjudged the best young talent in Australia five years ago. Time to show us why we shouldn't be weeping every time Nic-Nat lights up Subiaco. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Jack Trengove They said you were the second coming of Nathan Buckley out of South Australia. You have been appointed Captain of the oldest and greatest football club in the known universe. Start playing like it. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Colin Garland The difference between your best and your worst is far too great. Give us supporters a reason to stop thinking that this is because you lazily switch off, opting to coast laconically through games. Also, you are a backman. Start getting on the angry pills and make forwards hate playing on you. I don't get the feeling that has ever been the case. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Colin Sylvia A Demonlander I can't remember said it perfectly of Col last season when he posted ... "Sylvia merely likes the idea of being a footballer". The Tarzan physique, the half-million paycheque, the birds hanging off your arm at the Middle Park. It's all for nothing Colin unless you consistently put it together on the field ... especially in big games. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Jordie McKenzie Okay, you're a footballer with limitations. But that doesn't mean you have to limit the impact you can have on games. If it's your bag to be a run-with player, be the best God-damned run-with player in the competition. Have the elite opposition ball players consistently cited for for striking you out of pure frustration and annoyance. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Luke Tapscott We love your brute physicality. Adore it. But what else have you got mate? With an injury-free run now's the time to show your coaches, MFC supporters and the footy public what all that 'next Paul Chapman' hype was about three years ago. Because if toughness is all there is ... that 'aint enough. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Mark Jamar Injury and form have seen a significant drop off from your sterling efforts of 2010. In 2013 - as the main man in the middle - the acid is well and truly back on you to recapture that form. A few more telling grabs around the ground each game wouldn't hurt, either. Quality ruckmen must help control the air. It's time to Raise The Bar .... Lynden Dunn You have been much maligned over the years. Most of it justified. I dare say there was a time last season when you were penciled into the "gone" column of the coach's list clean-out ledger. But to your credit, you worked your way back from the abyss during the second half of the year. As one of the most experienced, harder-bodied players in the team, the onus is now on you to show us all that that form was not just a blip on the radar. Impose yourself on contests Lynden and demand to be selected each week. You have it within you. It's time to Raise The Bar .... James Frawley Like the Russian, 2010 seems a lifetime ago. Whereas once you asserted yourself with Scarlett-like authority across the last line, of late you look indecisive and out-of-step. Get your mojo back ... now. Raise The Bar!

I'll stick my neck out and say that, unless the club is falling apart halfway through next season, the Board should offer him a contract extension ahead of time. It gives him confidence that he has adequate time to build his list and gives the club a stability that it hasn't had for a long time. He's clearly not here to feck about and neither should the club.

Moloney spat the dummy. It doesn't matter how well he plays for Brisbane; he had to go.

Exactly. I happened to listen to Denham on on SEN yesterday and he was scathing about how much we were paying Dawes and banged on an on about it. I know its all part of a shctick to rile people up and get them to call etc but his ignorance of the facts, how the salary caps work and the dees current position is still staggering. In response to KB saying something like they had to pay someone he had no intelligent response and just repeated several times that no matter what we should not be paying Dawes so much. I've never called in to talk back but i was sorely tempted. Few dees fan would not agree we paid overs for Dawes however: 1. We would not have got him otherwise 2. He met a specific structural need 3. There were few players in that price range out there 4. GWS or Freo would have paid way way overs to get cloke as we would have - its the nature of the free agency (and trading) beast 5. We have to pay 92% of the cap FGS. Maloney, Green and Rivers all left the club last year - probably 3 of our top 6 highest paid players last year. 6. Given that, and the fact that we have a very young list, how on earth would we have met the 92% threshold without paying a new recruit overs. Of course we could have paid all players more but that has huge risks - who wants a bunch of over paid players running around, not great for culture. Also we have already front-loaded a lot of contracts so we are limited how much extra we can pay Again i know he is there to deliberately wind people up but Denham's lack of knowledge about footy given he is a footy writer is staggering.

The key line is ... "We have said we will coach the players in a way that stands up in finals. And I think 95% of Melbourne supporters get that". There will be growing pains, particularly during the first half of the year. But I'll bank that that won't stop Demonland's noisy 5% from calling for Neeld's head before round 11. It matters not. He will forge ahead ... and he will turn this club around.

if cale morton plays well at west coast i am not going to be a happy camper.

I like Neeld the bloke as much as the next guy. Straight forward, says the right things. But some of the fawning here over a coach who took us to 4 wins last year is WAY over the top. We already know he can say the right things, but we won't know until the end of this year if he can actually coach or not, and I'd rather a good coach than a good interviewee.

I know I will get some heat for this but I feel that regardless of what happens herein Neeld has been successful in his first phase of his attempts to reshape the football club. And that to me speaks of his ability to manage and direct. So now we wait to see if the next phase is successful.

If we "won" the spoon every year for the next 10 years the glad handler would be content. If your opinion is supportive he's happy, because he thinks you're an optimistic. If you're critical he thinks you're a pessimist, who's just wanting to "bag out" players. When in reality, rightly or wrongly, you're merely making observations about those who represent the footy club. This is a forum to share views, we won't always be right and we won't always be wrong, but critiquing individual players and assessing their strengths and weakness, and discussing their worth to the team is part of the fundamental analysis supporters love making about the club and its servants. We do what the coaching panel does every day, just without the same intimate knowledge and expertise.

I absolutely love Mark Neeld.

An early call (and the commentators made it as well) - 'looks like Carlton are struggling to adapt to the Malthouse game plan' - what a surprise, Neeld still hasn't taught MFC that game plan! As for Martin and Moloney, if you feel the need to criticise, get a life and move on - they have!

Hahahahahahaha... I'm making this my new sig.

When players do well at other clubs i'm not angey at them, im angey at our FD of the time who couldnt get them motivated to the same level. Its as much of a reflection on the club as it is the player

It's futile mate.

I don't think you do understand... The Frontloading of the contracts is not something that ALL clubs can do, it is only something that can be done by clubs that have space in that year. Collingwood cannot do it for example. The Lions went through real troubles when Brown's backended contract meant he was suddenly being paid double what he was the previous year. The more good players on their second or third contract a team has, the less space they have on their cap and the less ability to frontload contracts. It is a fortunate byproduct of how bad we have been... If the cap is $10m and we are frontloading $1m (so effectively paying 90%) then that means that if salaries are equal for the next year you have 20% free for the next season and gives us great flexibility and ability to chase a FA in that year or in the next few years before the 2nd and 3rd contracts of our kids are signed. There would only be a few clubs in our boat - the rest are pushing players to sign below market to keep them, trading out for more freedom, or allowing FAs to leave to keep the bulk of their list. I really wish we could get the PFA to sign off on the contracts being made public - but that is another argument.

I'm still dark on Gerard Healey.

Yeah, I hope that bloody Chris Dawes doesn't turn it on this year.......

What.. the people that say that Jack Watts needs to go harder, or Col Sylvia needs to be consistent? How dare those Naysayers..

It's to stop clubs from trying to save coin by paying their players less; before the salary floor was introduced, clubs like Footscray were paying in the order of 70% of the cap. This means the club will be uncompetitive in the long run, as well as being unfair to the players at that club who were probably being paid less than their true worth and had no easy path for exit.

Initially if Clark isn't playing, Dawes will have a minimum of two opponents most of the time, as we saw against North in the NAB. How will you blokes who are counting his goal tally as the measure of success factor this in? And how will you factor in the "structure" he adds, even when he's not playing well? Again, going back to the NAB cup games, our forward line looked notably less cohesive in the second game, when he was absent.

HT - throw your mind back to the big V games in the late 80's - Dunstall and Lockett both playing out of the goal square with Ablett roaming. Was a treat to watch - no reason we can't have that set up with Clark Dawes and Howe

Have to say I agree with Lloyd. There is a lot of pressure on Dawes to perform this year. Big bloke on big coin playing reasonably close to the big sticks. Yes his main gig is to provide contests but f he can't average 2 goals each week across four quarters of footy it'll be a fail mark. Let's start expecting more from our highly paid players and not get into this habit of bracing ourselves for mediocrity.

yep, spot on Ron. his approach and attitude is superb I reckon. Him, Craig and Misson the 3 best recruits the dees have had in a long time.

True, but having the energy for the job is another matter: Tom appeared on the sidewalk with a bucket of whitewash and a long-handled brush. He surveyed the fence, and all gladness left him and a deep melancholy settled down upon his spirit. Thirty yards of board fence nine feet high. Life to him seemed hollow, and existence but a burden. Sighing, he dipped his brush and passed it along the topmost plank; repeated the operation; did it again; compared the insignificant whitewashed streak with the far-reaching continent of unwhitewashed fence, and sat down on a tree-box discouraged. (Mark Twain: Tom Sawyer 1876)

I really like what Neeld brings to the club. What I find interesting is that one of his key factors to change isn't just the playing culture but the behind the scenes culture. I'm sure he has roles in mind for Byrnes and Rodan but he also spoke about the feeling they bring to the club. He's also very smart not putting solid expectations on himself and the list. All he expects is for us to improve and win more games than last year.

I lol'ed at the Sylvia lifts weights magnificently well comment. I backhanded compliment if ever I saw one

All I'm going to say is there isn't a club in the AFL, that wouldn't love to have him.... We are very lucky to have him.....

James Frawley deserves more kudos from the media, from AFL aficionados, from every footy follower. He rarely gets beaten. Has survived an avalanche of inside 50s over the last five years that would have broken many a defender, remains strong, committed and brave. ALWAYS beats the Riewoltds. Our lazy (inept?) midfield rarely give him support - Jonesy excused. Very, very, important player.

I think it may be two short, sharp sentences, albeit minus the apostrophe: "The IQ level's on. Here is seriously funny."

Hehe...a thing of beauty.

Goal assists by Dawes should also be factored in to his output for the year.

Considering he was injured virtually all of last year. he tried his guts out to clear the ball single handed, the other backs were playing up forward. Then when he did run around in circles and got tackled it was only because our totally inept midfield gave him nuttin, along with his newly formed back line with no experience. Sure he fumbled a few times but where was the assistance when he needed it? Things started to click when Dunn with 100 games of experience went down to help. One player does not a back line make. The new members that will be rotating through this year will certainly allow Chip to do one job not three.

That's why they were given the sars.

I actually agree with a lot of what you have to say ... on footy matters. The political dogma I can do without. I can never understand why seemingly intelligent people engage in such one-eyed partisan hackery. Life is surely more complex than that.

*** Attention *** For all those interested, I am having a wager that Stef Martin will touch his hair more than he touches the pill in tonight's GF. Will report back after the game with how many touches but I'm going to say at least 15 will be visible from the cameras.

Godwin's Law essentially states that the probability of any Internet conversation mentioning Hitler approaches 1 the longer it goes. 186 is our Hitler.

I'm a Mark Jamar fan, I think Jack Watts is finally improving and Lynden Dunn looks so much better in this new role. But I cannot agree more with the OP. Especially on Garland, Col and Tappy. If all 9 play their guts out week in and week out. it will make the difference to 4-6 extra wins. Then all the kids have much higher expectations to fill. It's how all the big clubs do it.

How anyone can poo-poo a poster effectively imploring 9 players to "raise the bar" and lift in 2013, is bewildering. I reckon 99% of Demon supporters (probably more) would think and want the same. B-H is 100% on the mark when he states: -

Dean is that you? Kids learn to play and grow in the VFL, they should play AFL when they deserve a spot. We've seen how it goes when you gift kids games. If Matt Jones demands a spot in our midfield (which is a pretty low bar relative to other AFL teams) why on earth wouldnt you play him? He's 25 not 30 anyway.

Dangerfield is 22, Stu. Just saying.

I like Neeld but it's results that speak volumes in this case, not words.

In my view a club is more likely to be uncompetitive in the long run if it's forced to provide players with dessert before they have eaten their brussels sprouts. There's probably a smart mathematical formula there that could be worked out, one which solves the issue you mentioned yet still honours the fundamental concept of "reward for results". This one-size-fits-all policy is bogus.

Lloyd should focus on his own team's circus of events. I'm not in the camp that says Dawes must kick X number of goals this year. If he can help create a good number of goals each week, that will do for me. I don't care who kicks them, as long as Dawes, Mitch, Howe, etc contribute enough to make it happen. Given that a third of our list is new, it will take some time for them to gel and for this to happen.

I also thought he made very poignant comments about high draft picks once they are at the club: "Neeld reasons that when clubs become seduced by the draft pick attached to a player's name, it can only lead to trouble. "When the list management group sits down to go through our list, we put the players' name on the board, a summary of his performances, the results of his endurance and strength tests, a welfare report, and nowhere in all of that is the number he was drafted," Neeld says. "If we decide this player is at his ceiling and there is nowhere for him to go, where he was drafted is absolutely irrelevant." And also about the salary cap and how much new recruits get paid: Neeld is a very straight talker.

I will vomit if they go to the g then we have to shift say games against interstate sides to etihad. Mcc should not allow it, if we are truelly together now.

I hope so - I don't expect we picked a 25 year old out of the VFL to play at Casey this year. From the little I've observed of him, I reckon he looks good.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2013-03-14/injuries-slowed-frawley-down-in-2012 Maybe some posters might wanna rethink a few comments made in this thread???

I'm hoping to get to the game. I'll share some thoughts when I get back near a computer on Saturday night.

You are the only one who has been taking this off topic... most posters have discussed the sad fact that LJ's life has fallen apart for whatever reasons... you however, come in as judge, jury and executioner, without so much as a modicum of consideration for the most basic tenet in our legal system, "innocent until proven guilty"; you simply laid into him, boots and all. You tried to take this further off topic with accusations of racism supposedly being directed at you, you take this off topic by referring to anyone who has anything nice to say about Jurrah as a "Jurrah defender" in a belittling way, you take this off topic by posting over the fact that posters are abusing you, while you close your comments by doing precisely the same thing. So how about you stop feigning offence at what others might say about you and try to make a meaningful contribution to the discussion.