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I heard Choco speak at a GWS Coterie function two years ago. He was absolutely sensational. He is a fantastic communicator in a footy environment - bloody funny, has a bucket of larrikin war stories as long as your arm, clearly a wealth of football experience - and he undoubtedly knows how to control the sheds/motivate players/create a bullet proof culture. I really hope he's our coach at the end of this year. The case for Roos is compelling, but I don't think his heart is in it. Choco would inspire something this club has lacked for far too long - PASSION. For the first time in living memory, the MFC may actually develop a personality/some character. My wish list: Head coach: Choco Williams Assistants: Junior McDonald and Wellman (offer to double his Essendon pay cheque). And then keep the best off the current assistants (Rawlings, Brown etc). Football director: Neale Daniher Fitness guru: Dave Misson Head of other elite performance stuff: Neil Craig Head of player development/recruiting/some other important role: Todd Viney Sylvia, Gawn and Watts to re-sign, and Frawley to sign a contract extension. And secure a couple experienced A grade mids from other clubs in the trade period. I reckon this is achievable if the AFL is committed to assisting us with the rebuild/restructure. C'mon MFC Board - it's about time for some character/personality to be injected into this club.

Guys, I've already finished the banner and there are no past players. We've done that and it's time to move forward. The banner is completed and a new player will be revealed each day leading up to the game against the Saints. i appreciate the suggestions but I can't please everyone. I also can't just change the banner every few days or weeks as it takes a bit of time to do.

Demonland is proud to announce the signing of a future star of the MFC - Jasmine Garner! The 18 year old, who plays for the St Kilda Sharks, will make history as she dons the famous Red and Blue on the 29th of June to do battle in the inaugural Dees women's team. A profile of Garner can be read here and a summary of the donations page - including the official information of Demonland's involvement - here. We wish Jasmine all the best in the lead up to the game, a wonderful game on the day and a bright and prosperous career. Go Garner, Go Dees!

Heya team, Just finished an interview with Mitch for the newspaper in his home town, and thought I'd post it on here for you guys just to provide some insight that city papers probably won't provide. Can tell you guys that you've got a great kid on your hands, and I really hope he does well. Has plenty of class, and if he adapts well to the pace of AFL, should be a very handy player. Haven't submitted this for sub-editing or even spellchecked it yet, so don't hammer me if it's still full of errors lol. Cheers.

What a friendly bunch a blokes. Hi guys!

Agree, I'm convinced we have to get an experienced, successful coach and I think we need to stitch someone up so we don't waste a year of list management, therefore Roos, Williams or Eade: - persuade players to stay - attract free agents - decide trade and recruiting strategy, we'll have pick 1 or 2 and 20 and maybe a PP, that's leverage - decide who has no future at the club We can't wait for Clarkson-in-the-bush. Ratten, Knights, Harvey, Laidley etc just don't have the record to survive the pain still to come.

I like the collar on the jumper and the logo. It's being a pathetic club that loses all the time that I hate. How about we fix that first?!?!

Landing Roos would be the equivalent to when the Blues got Judd and how it completely turned around the perception of the joint. Of course winning the occasional game would be nice but we urgently need a positive future - sorry for stating the bleeding obvious.

I like them. Well, I dont like them as a try hard collar, but like how they create more of a gladiator style look.

A feel good training thread at last. Takes me back to the pre season when everything was just fine and dandy.

It doesn't standout as much because his DE has been above league average every round he had played. But lets not let stats get in the way.

Is that including or excluding finals? ;-)

I found this youtube video, which was an intro to a new Tom Wills documentary Since he is the founder of Australian football and Melbourne football club, I thought it was appropriate to share this video with the Demonlanders.

god no.

Spencer over Gawn is an interesting one. Really can't see how Spencer is better than Gawn. I don't like that one. Also can't say I'm a big fan of Nicholson but they will have gone for someone with pace to replace Evans. But the biggest glaring thing about this team is that Dunn has kept his spot. That is disgraceful.

That's why we provide each poster with a little avatar. Can't see Jimmy in yours.

Love the banner. Everything around us is changing (hopefully for the better) so a fresh banner makes sense. Three remaining places I am thinking Toumpas, Viney and ??? I cannot believe the vitriol directed toward Garry Lyon. Granted, his work helping appoint the last two coaches reeks of nepotism and inability, but no-one should ever forget his role in helping the Dees emerge through the late 80's early 90's into a team that was a serious challenger. He bleeds red and blue. He simply does not want to get involved in a position at the club. Why is everyone so miffed at him for this? Have you ever thought that the reason he does not take on a role is because he would be poor at it, as indicated by being the swingman who came in a couple of times to help Jimmy out? Look how that has worked out!

Bad call. Branding is vital to a footy club, we just didn't nail ours.

Hope they have a nice sturdy industrial strength red and blue tie should Chocco come on board

You can't rule out Craig. If he turns the team around in the 2nd half of the season and wins say 3 - 5 games with significantly better performances it will be difficult not to give him the role. Perhaps only Roos would get nod in front of him if this was the case. Neeld was a cancer, the players hated him, he put in place an out-dated inappropriate, copied game plan, players were not allowed to play their natural game, went into their shells and lost self confidence, self belief and thus the ability to play. Honestly Neeld should have been sacked at the end of last season. The writing was well and truly on the wall last season. If confidence can be restored, performance could turn around quicker than people think. I am expecting a much better performance this weekend and through to the end of the season. It is my hope that there will be a slow improvement through to season ends. The job will go to one of: Roos, Williams, Eade or Craig

Clearly an error - but press conferences with Choco will be far more entertaining than under Ross Lyon. I agree with the comments his brother made in that article. This club, in its current circumstances, is ready made for Choco Williams. IMO he is far better suited to the MFC at the moment, than a Geelong or a Hawthorn or a Swans.

Seems to be a vastly different scenario this time than last.. here and now we re looking at Roos , Chocco , Eade last time thank god things can and do change....t f f t !!!

Thanks. A new player will go up each day.All current day players. Enough looking back. It's time to look forward.

I suppose this is based on Sheedy's awesome coaching record in 2012/3 with a win/loss ratio of 6% which makes Mark Neeld's 15% appear to be Vince Lombardi-like in comparison. We'd be mad not to grab him.

excluding training

Wayne is back, but with better spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Good job Wayne.

Tapscott has been poor and rightly deserves to be dropped. its disapointing that his form as been ordinary.

Why the hell is Spencer in the team ahead of Gawn? They are awful selections.

Disagree. The saints midfield will run a mock against our unaccountable lot.

Ron, this sounds like the Schwab model: let's take these guys with names and find them a job, rather than working out what the jobs are and then finding the right names. This is how we end up with the situation where we've got staff with wishy-washy titles and seemingly no real responsibility. To that end, I'd be surprised if Viney and Craig were both employees of the MFC in 2014.

I can:

Demonland has had Jimmy on the banner for the past 3 years. I have the utmost respect for the guy and everything he did for the club on and off the field but the time is right to start making our own history and being at the lowest low is the right time to get up off the floor and move forward. We will never forget the past and the long list of champions.

Yes, I think similarly. As I said in another post - if we can convince Roos to coach again - great. But don't twist his arm too much. Malcolm blight was torn from the golf course to coach St Kilda. His body went, and his mind remained at the golf course.

Forget Clarkson. If you were him and could stay at a list you'd built and a strong premiership winning outfit, or go join a basket case what would you do ? I wouldn't even take Melbourne's call. First preference would have to be Roos. He's won a flag, helped develop the club with the best culture in the AFL, and was the mentor to two of the best coaches in the AFL in Lyon and Longmire. If I couldn't get Roos I'd target Williams. He's scaled the mountain with a poorly resourced club and won a flag. He's known for being a great development coach. Forget assistants that have a record of great development, clearly being at the helm is a world away from taking directives. Gillard, by all reports, was a terrific deputy, but will go down as the Prime Minister with the worst judgment in history. Being a good assistant doesn't mean you'll even be competent as a senior coach. Mark Williams has a winning rate of 55.47%, which is excellent, especially at an under resourced club. Ten other notable coaches and their winning percentage: Blight: 55.6 Roos: 57.92 Eade: 54.46 Barassi: 53.88 Malthouse: 58.43 Matthews: 58.79 Parkin: 59.27 Norm Smith: 56.65 Clarkson: 59.05 Sheedy: 58.53 If we can't get Roos it has to be Williams for me.

As painful as it is to recognise, the playing field is not even. Clubs like Collingwood and WCE have so many advantages over us, the dogs, roos and the saints etc.. the 'big' Vic clubs can compete, but everything that happens at the MFC is compromised due to our financial position. Do you think we have the best doctors and physios in Melbourne? Of course we don't! They are at Collingwood, Hawthorn and Essendon because they have the financial clout to headhunt the best in every aspect of running a football club. I don't care it what it is, from the website geek to the pretty girl at reception to the grizzly old boot studder. Are you aware that the Eagles membership base has a waiting list to get on it? In other words, they couldn't possibly be making more revenue from that point of view. You know how the basic principle of 'supply and demand' means that that he who has the in-demand product can capitilise? Look at us, we are, as a business, in the red, and we have been for a long time. Is it any wonder that with this situation in place we get high draft picks that end up being 'also-rans'? This is why it is difficult to attract any player or coach of high quality because we are viewed, and rightly so, as a sinking ship, amateur hour, diet-coke football club. I'm not interested in whose fault it is, or what has happened in the past - it's just the way it us. It obviously has a LOT to do with the fact that for the last 50 years we have been easybeats, punctuated only by some brief moments where we looked like we might challenge somebody. In that time our momentum, our swagger, and our status in the competition has gradually eroded. The last 6 years has hit us very hard, harder now than we realised at the time.. at least part of Bailey's tenure gave everyone a bit of hope and stopped the flame from burning out (think smashing Sydney, draw/1 point loss to Coll), but that glimmer of hope has now been extinguished in spectacular fashion by the ball-hurtingly bad results that have occurred in the Neeld era. Although weak in the knees and staggering, we are still standing. The fact that we basically started this game of football gives us a heritage value which is the only reason we haven't folded by now. I am dubious as to how much that means to supporters of other clubs but clearly it means a lot to us and the AFL. That's why the AFL have backed us and are continuing to back us despite our repeated failure over and over again. Who remembers a few years back where Stynesy had a meeting with Demetriou and was told basically that our brand stands for nothing? Hearing that interview, at that point, I thought we were stuffed, I really thought 'gee this might be the end'. Somehow, despite things only getting worse since then, the AFL seems to be still going in to bat for us, something we should all be grateful of because we certainly have not earned it, either by our on-field play or by the way have managed the administration of the football club. Why do you think there is such thing as the CBF? The 'competitive balance fund'? It's because the AFL realises the inequity. They accept the fact that playing us on Sunday at 4.40 against Freo on Mother's day is unfair vs putting us against Collingwood on Friday night. The problem is that the CBF is a joke compared to the real disadvantage we are at. Why do you think the reverend Neale Daniher came out talking about a cap on football department expenditure in the same way there is a salary cap? Because he understood that the salary cap is in place to try to give a 'fair go' to every club regardless of their financial status, but unbridled expenditure in the footy department brings that supposed equality down a number of pegs. Apart from the financial side, look at the fact that a two horse town means 50% share instead of 10% in marketing revenue and support, and when you go there to play them it is a vastly different proposition than what a 'home' game means to us. Playing or Coaching at WCE is like wearing silk slippers and a nice dressing gown while at the MFC and other smaller vic clubs it's like sleeping on the street and getting your hands dirty to claw at whatever advantage you can get. This is the way it has been for a long time and it will stay that way until we can ever get to the point that we have enough on-field success, enough members and enough gate receipts to create adequate sponsorship and media support, advantageous fixturing etc. It's not impossible, both Hawthorn and Geelong were able to raise themselves from the lower regarded clubs to powerhouses, they did on the back of (unsurprisingly) high quality performance on field. I don't think there is any doubt that our supporter base in particular will explode positively with any on-field success, you only need to look at the numbers for memberships and attendances from 2006 or so when we were a football side worth going to see, we only marginally dragged behind these 'big' clubs. Make no mistake that we, even more than most clubs, will see a swell of support if we start winning games. This is why it is unfathomable to me that any supporter could question the (admittedly, probably-inflated) cost of getting the coach (and player(s) for the matter) that we need. In the context of the above, there is no way in hell we can ever reverse the cycle of failure we are on unless we invest right now on the correct people to make it happen. I know nobody rates Dermie, but he was spot-on the other day when he said that we always seem to look for a 'bargain' coach, somebody that will come cheap and easy and turn out to be a success. Bailey and Neeld have shown us, in the hardest possible way, that it doesn't work like that. The proposition that is now on offer for senior coach includes: an understanding that you are going to have to try to compete with the big boys using half the expenditure of most of your competitors, and youre going to have rubbish crowds, and half your players are thinking about taking more money elsewhere, and your supporter base is about as irate and devoid of patience as you can possibly imagine, your crowds are tiny, and your general respect in the league is laughable and the media takes delight in stomping you at every opportunity. Somebody like Worsfold (or any other silver-spoon alumni) has no idea what it means to do it tough, like so many (ie Daniher, Bailey, Neeld) have found out the hard way. We need the absolute best, indomitable, unshakeable old war horse we can get this time.

Out of interest there have been a couple of ex Melbourne people maligned on here recently, and i have read people say they aren't welcome at the club. Cameron Schwab is Melbourne supporter who made an absolute mess of his CEO role, but tried to do his job. Brent Moloney is a Melbourne supporter who carried on like a pork chop and hurt the club with his antics on field after a number of years of service and one good year. Both should be and will be welcome back at the club. That should also bee dependent on both of them being willing to embrace they club, admit mistakes and not being malice towards others. For some reason I don't think Beamer will ever be able to do that. My two cents: the image is petulant, childish and exactly what most of us expected from him (apart from two or three on here). It proves he isn't a leaders boot lace. I would have liked him to remain part of pour club because he isn't a naff player, but he is certainly a bad influence and associated with poor culture. I bet he doesn't back chat to Voss. (Although I think Voss probably isn't far above Moloney's level)

There's more to life than looks you know.. It's what's on the inside that counts

Got there at 3:40 so missed the first 40 minutes but stayed until the end at 4:40. Can neither confirm nor deny that the time was changed to allow the players to watch the NBA finals. Neil Craig running the show very vocal and engaged, looking good in his short shorts and long socks. I missed any/all of what Frawley, Dawes, McKenzie, Macdonald, Viney and Jamar did. When I got there they were doing a match simlution drill. Regulars in blue, back ups in white. Spencer and Gawn in blue, Fitzy in white. Tapscott in White. Byrnes in blue. Clisby in blue - I expect to see him soon in the AFL team. Some nice passages and others (Spencer kicking OOTF from 10 out infront of the behind post) that were more suited to a team 17th on the ladder. A reasonable vibe and most blokes working hard. Hogan stood out with his work rate and also he won't tolerate niggle from Dunn or McDonald. On McDonald I really see a bad future for him if he doesn't learn to kick. He needs to back himself, his slow and deliberate style is just as bad as his aggressive spraying it style. He needs major remedial kicking or he won't make it as a player. Maia Westrupp was surprisingly effective at finding the ball and getting to the right spots. Needs to work on his handball but I've seen enough to say hey he's worth another year and some more development. Similarly Dom Barry shows some nice patches but he really has to work on how timid he is at a lot of things in his training. He needs to train with more oomph if he wants to play with the big boys. After the main drill it was into group drills and also a lot of little specialty drills that dragged on as some players left. Mainly the mids practiced clearance work with Spencer Fitzy rucking and some of the mids wearing the hip protector gear. Jones, Magner, Sylvia, Couch's hardness stood out and the way Toumpas can run to receive in the right spots. Terlich left after the main drill finished after getting some work on his lower back. Still able to run freely just might be a bit tight. Little drills everywhere such as Jack Watts and Matt Jones practicing tackling each other and not getting evaded. Watts looking a bit more physical but wouldn't want to bring what he did to this drill to AFL level. He needs to not only wrap up an opponent but then drop them. Same for Matty Jones. He's a bit too much arms with is tackling at this stage as well. Towards the end Strauss and Andrew Nichol who's a big bloke and still in good shape had a good wrestling contests over a few rounds. Obviously they are trying to work on Strauss' physicality. He's not soft but if he wants to be a starting defender he needs to relish the contact. He's no different to Dunn or Watts in that regard. Take home points: - If today is an indication expect training under Craig to be less regimented but more hands on from what I saw under Neeld - Spirit within the group seemed pretty good - Big Maxy Gawn is a larrikin loves showing off to whatever crowd - With a few injuries to better players the class of training might suffer - Terlich and Jamar candidates for mystery injury of the week - Clisby getting close to an AFL debut - Cam Pedersen needs the phone number for lite and easy. With his 3 year deal he can afford it. He should shout Leigh Brown a few meals as well, he's trained off since preseason

He is looking very likely IMO.

I know it's a trivial thing and we of course have bigger issues, but they just look absurd. Let's get back to looking like a footy side.

You're a funny guy. Nobody other than perhaps a small handful of flogs are going to be upset if Clisby has a poor first game. He's a rookie pick, essentially pick one-hundred-and-something.

If Roos' heart isnt in it 100% then I don't want him. Choco will give us unconditional passion and hunger.

You need a cup of tea,a bex and a lie down. The Moloney story... Played with the club for years, sometimes well sometimes not won a B&F, fell out with the coach (my view is that Neeld handled this really poorly but it's irrelevant and if he'd been replaced with a decent midfielder probably wouldnt have batted an eyelid), moved on to another club, tore us up, was the subject of a revisionist comment from the coach (we tried but couldn't match the Lions offer blah blah) watched on while MFC board finally worked out that coach wasn't going to get us anywhere and sacked him posted a pretty tame instagram message that's it.... If you want to get upset about something take a look at the debt demolition money we've p1ssed away and our complete loss of independence as we hop on the AFL teat.

I doubt Woosha will coach anyone in 2014 Looks gaunt and washed out and i expect him to walk away from football altogether

A lot of selective memory by many on this site, Garry Lyon was a champion on the field don't let the decisions with the coaching choice sway your views on that. For me Demonland banner should consist of Checker Hughes - Created the Demons Legend Norm Smith - Greatest Coach the game has seen Ron Barassi - Legend of the club and the game Rob Flower - another club legend in barren time for the club Jim Stynes - a legend, a great man and a true demon These 5 should always remain on the banner and IMO the other spots can change with current coach, current captain/s & the Bluey winner from the previous season

This is one of the reasons that Roos would be the must get. He will make the older players want to stay, the youngsters keen as mustard to learn. Imagine how excited Viney, Toumpas and Hogan would be to play under Roos not to mention a Trengrove, Grimes, Watts. Then new draftees wouldnt be wishing against coming to the demons. Then you have sponors who would be climbing aboard to be part of the ressurgence. It would totally change the mindset of the club. But i dont think money is it all, Im sure hes set up for life. I think the club has to sell the romance of it. Turning the oldest club from the duldrems to premiership chance in 4-5 yrs. That would lock him into legend status and give him satisfaction of saving the Melbourne Football Club. Hes still young and i reckon his family would back him in while he is not to long out of the game. Fingers Crossed.

The thing he had over Moloney with his pointing is that Neitz would do it after kicking one of his 631 goals during his record-breaking career at Melbourne. Moloney would do it when he couldn't be bothered manning up/running. Back to the banner - I like the old faves.

I'm no graphic designer, but I love this shot of Neita.

As for Neeld, I think he's as stubborn as a mule and lacks emotional intelligence. There's a bit of an ego in there too. He was never going to dump on the club tonight. That would have been committing industry suicide. "All class". Lol.