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I don't care about the start of the season, we just need these boys right come September

He's already one of my favourite players - that is, along with my other favourite Demons: Bernie Vince, Daniel Cross and Viv Michie.

There is one difference YD that I can see. A number that were learning so much are now so clever they are now somewhere else. That has got to be a good result for education.

Actually I was intrigued by Georgiou so I had a chat to him at Family Day His attitude comes from being a highly educated guy who was on the fast track to success as an engineer with an international company, who also played a bit of footy He knows this is just footy and if it doesn't work, he can go back to being an engineer without a problem, playing with that mental freedom, hence why he looks so relaxed on the field.

Fascinating how it's the Coach Neeld's fault when we drafted badly under Prendergast in 2011 but we credit the recruiter Viney not the coach Neeld when we recruited well the next year. I would love to know how much of the recruiting decisions are made by the Coach and how much by the recruiters. Is the coach's input just about what type of players are needed for the game plan or are they out there finding and selecting players. Everyone blames Bailey and Neeld for the disastrous recruiting during their coaching periods but is that correct. Bailey evidently wanted tall players who had stamina to run and carry all day and thus we got a bunch of tall skinny players. The game was changed overnight from non contested, run and carry to contested footy when the bench was changed from 4 to 3. Not necessarily entirely Bailey's fault. Morton was the standout player at pick 4 in his draft. Wasn't entirely Bailey's fault that he ended up the player he did. Neeld seemed to have a philosophy for big bodies for contested footy. Seems about right for the way footy is heading. Don't know if we can blame him for all the duds that were recruited. He might be responsible for getting the older players to add off field experience but none of them cost anything in picks. On the other hand he seems to have had his hands all over the selection of Dawes and Pedersen. Clearly in the last draft period all we needed to get was mid fielders. Always a much easier task than finding key position players. Can you credit Roos with finding all the recruits we got for this season or is it the recruiters. I reckon there was an element of luck involved as well. I doubt Adelaide would have let Vince go if they hadn't have had draft picks stripped from them. People are going to keep crediting Roos but is that right. My guess is he says what type of players he wants and the recruiters find them. I wonder if it was him or the Swans recruiters who started looking for players who couldn't get a game like Josh Kennedy and Mattner and poaching them. Now we have Michie. I would say Roos's genius is communicating clearly to those players what their role is and they execute it better than they would have where they were. .

From the Misson injury update and Clark article it sounds like a 22 regular season side featuring a sub to play the Hawks. Pedersen, Toumpas, Strauss, JKH, Viney all mentioned as due to play. I'd go with: FB: Dunn Frawley Georgiou HB: Grimes McDonald Strauss/Terlich/Clisby C: Watts Jones Cross HF: Michie Pedersen Toumpas FF: JKH Hogan Howe Foll: Spencer Vince Tyson Int: Fitzy, Trengove, Viney S: Bail Left out who could feature in round 1 ahead of that 22: Left over small defenders, Byrnes, Blease, Matt Jones, McKenzie?,

My info is that he will be with us for 3 years at a minimum.

Batting stats for all current test captains. I've given their average overall, their average when not captaining and their average when (since) captaining. Michael Clarke Overall 51.82 (8240 runs - 27 centuries from 105 matches) Captain 60.05 (3543 runs - 13 centuries from 37 matches) Non-Captain 46.97 (4697 runs - 14 centuries from 68 matches) Mushfiqur Rahim Overall 32.43 (2173 runs - 2 centuries from 38 matches) Captain 42.52 (978 runs - 1 century from 14 matches) Non-Captain 27.15 (1195 runs - 1 century from 24 matches) Alistair Cook Overall 46.51 (8047 runs - 25 centuries from 102 matches) Captain 47.02 (1834 runs - 7 centuries from 21 matches) Non-Captain 46.36 (6213 runs - 18 centuries from 81 matches) MS Dhoni Overall 38.77 (4459 runs - 6 centuries from 83 matches) Captain 42.18 (3037 runs - 5 centuries from 53 matches) Non-Captain 33.06 (1422 runs - 1 century from 30 matches) Brendon McCullum Overall 38.09 (5219 runs - 9 centuries from 84 matches) Captain 50.95 (1121 runs - 3 centuries from 14 matches) Non-Captain 35.63 (4098 - 6 centuries from 70 matches) Misbah-ul-Haq Overall 48.75 (3218 runs - 5 centuries from 46 matches) Captain 61.38 (2210 runs - 3 centuries from 27 matches) Non-Captain 33.60 (1008 runs - 2 centuries from 19 matches) Graeme Smith Overall 48.72 (9257 runs - 27 centuries from 117 matches) Captain 48.32 (8651 runs - 25 centuries from 109 matches) Non-Captain 55.09 (606 runs - 2 centuries from 8 matches) Darren Sammy Overall 21.68 (1323 runs - 1 century from 38 matches) Captain 22.43 (1032 runs - 1 century from 30 matches) Non-Captain 19.40 (291 runs - 0 century 8 matches) Brendan Taylor Overall 35.00 (1260 runs - 4 centuries from 19 matches) Captain 52.37 (838 runs - 4 centuries from 9 matches) Non-Captain 21.10 (422 runs - 0 centuries from 10 matches) Some interesting reading. Of note, IMO: Brendan Taylor of Zimbabwe. Averaging 21.1 in 10 matches, has belted 4 centuries at 52 since taking over as skipper. Mushfiqur Rahim is another of note. Smith's amazing record - 109 matches as captain after serving an 7 game apprenticeship. Leading the way he does with such minimal technique. (I actually started this two nights ago before I heard about his retirement - a great career, a shame that it ended on such a poor note form-wise, though that's often the way sport goes) And the first bloke's average as captain hasn't been too bad, either. Clarke and Misbah have really blossomed since captaincy. Amazingly, Misbah has passed 50 24 times in 47 innings since taking over, though Clarke's centuries have been impressive. He has a touch of feast or famine about him.

you are generally more cynical than that od do you really think you could run a program with those large numbers on so many people for such a long time at such a big cost without records? how would you even measure the effectiveness of a costly program without records there had to be many records. the club cannot find those records......put 2 and 2 together

I'm feeling much more positive about the upcoming season than i have in years, although i don't believe that the suns and giants will be easybeats like they were in the past.

Jack Fitzpatrick rang tonight. Said he wasn't sure if he was playing against Hawthorn I congratulated him for his 2nd half of last year and wished him well for this one. Told him the team deserved some success He took my money Seemed like a fair exchange

Oh i heard all this stuff before Ad';s retirement announcement. I think the Essendon situation has hastened his exit but that is all. AD in my view still is trying to sort through all this in the best interests of the Game. It is Hird (egged-on by his lawyer wife) who has made this outcome so much worse than it need be, not least for Hird himself. She may be a good lawyer, but she has no idea of how to play the political game, and no idea about how to get the best outcome for her husband. By her actions, she has condemned him to obscurity. He will never work again in the AFL industry.

Honestly that sounds brilliant. Congratulations to the organizers. Unfortunately I just miss the age cut off by 18 years

didnt see it coming....you ?

Dawes and Clark making about 50K a game each at this point Very annoying

My theory is, if there is substantial improvement this year and everyone but especially Roosy is loving the season, he might decide to review his decision to only be here to groom a successor. We have already seen him change his mind about coaching and explain why he changed his mind. I don't regard it as impossible that the same thing might happen about a longer tenure as head coach. His kids are both out of school now. He is earning more money than he could doing anything else in the AFL industry except for Vlad's job. If he's enjoying it, why wouldn't he stay longer. The signs are already promising that improvement is happening.

I don't see Roos as someone who will leave a job half done, i reckon he will want to be around the group in some capacity until we have our chance to win a flag

29,114! More than 1000 in the past week and a bit - 1400 actually, which is a great boost but still 7500 unsigned from last year. Should be able to set some kind of record whether we make 40,000 or not.

The reason for the AFL punishing Essendon was for the injecting program bringing the game into disrepute. Remember, not only did they have an injecting program but they apparently have no documents or knowledge of what was injected. The Infraction Notices do not in any way alter that position.

Not to mention he said we went with another 'Scattergun' approach in regards to our drafting & trading in picking up Vince, Cross & Tyson... Nek minnit they are our top 3 leading disposal getters and are forming into a credible midfield unit. He is a [censored]

Should put this in the thread about Georgiou, he was actually encouraged by senior management at Lend Lease (who he worked for) to give it a crack, their attitude as well is engineering job will always be there, chance of being an AFL footballer is only given to a few

Gee wiz. Small mindedness in questioning this pissy role. Haven't we moved on since Terry did Talking Footy? Our sponsors must love the fact that Roos will show up to this show, I assume, wearing Melbourne's uniform. If Allison, or Miller are on Fox, good for them. But if Roos is on, I won't miss it. Full stop. Andrew Demetriou made nearly 3.8 million last year; and this clown belly-laughed at a dwarf with a burning buttock! Mark Neeld earnt 800,000 last year when you really think about it. The football world will soon work out that the 1.5 million Roos will earn this year, will be well-earnt, and almost under-payment for the hardest job in league football. pTGR

They've probably lost the paperwork anyway or didn't keep records.

Yes penalties were for governance breaches and bringing the game into disrepute (which would be hard to argue against). However they do set an interesting benchmark in terms of severity of penalties. One assumes club penalties for systematic doping would be considerably harsher.

My wife would be a genius if she could get me half that. PS. Make that a quarter.

Internal pressure from Members and coterie members after the Essendon game last year led to the aftermath.

i hope andy D and the AFL let Essendon burn. Essendons conduct has been nothing short of disgraceful and they deserve to have the entire book thrown at them, while andy D and co watch on and throw their own books.

I try not to individualise drafting, recruitment, or development strategy - it's been a collective failure on all fronts for the club over the past decade. Those that want to hold grudges can do so, it looks petty anyway. But those who are genuinely looking for ways to get better (or reasons why we have been so bad) - can't ignore past failures as a point of reference. Ignoring the reasons that have led us to this point is not healthy.

Can we just win CBD? Forget percentage at this point.

After the last couple of weeks and considering St Kilda's potential side for the first game I have a strange feeling. I actually feel confident we can win this game. Now it may all come tumbling down if the Hawks hand out the usual thrashing on the weekend. But it is a strange feeling. It is actually so long ago since I had this feeling I cannot remember when it was. I suspect early in 2011. I can handle the feeling Just please let it be the real thing on Saturday evening 22nd March.

What i didn't appreciate is how hard he works already, between him, Chunk and Cross there is abit of honest hard work in the midfield which i really like, Hard working mids stand up in finals.

Young iPad carrying,beard growing,cider drinking,vinyl collecting,pansexual,ironic t-shirt wearing bastards. Don't worry about the older members who smell vaguely of urine and port. Us gen x crew will take care of them and listen to their fake stories from the 50's and '60. As long as you metros can laugh at your in jokes and ride your low bikes around without us around then that's ok. Young tirds.

Well we won one and lost another close one. You might not want to believe this but the only stat that really matters is the final score. Sydney Premiership win 2012 Hawthorn inside 50's 61 score 81, Sydney inside 50's 43 score 91. Looks like we are already converting better than Sydney. Look, I'm sure we will improve our inside 50's but at the end of the day all that matters is we score more than the opposition. If that means we play kick to kick around the back line for a bit then go forward and score so be it. Stats really are misleading in isolation as is that Sydney Hawthorn stat by the way.

Well care to spill? Personally I thought his skills and potential upside showed enough despite modest output. From the limited I saw of him, plus training, plus stats he certainly didn't get involved in games enough but seemed to have the ability in skills to mark, kick, tackle, handball etc. So if he got a preseason or two under his belt he may have taken it up a notch. There was also something a bit odd in that his VFL performances were reasonable and pretty much the whole list got a game besides him. I'd be guessing but I'd say it was either - His attitude/training/preparation was poor or - His body was a concern and thus they didn't think they'd ever get him to AFL fitness I haven't said anything about Neeld in this thread and not too many have. I've said BP was a bad recruiter but I've got no problem with that statement. His draft record (even influenced by substandard development) is pretty ordinary. Last I checked he's got a job at Carlton (not in recruiting) and is probably doing well. From my understanding he wasn't a specialist recruiter when Melbourne hired him and so I'd put the decision to hire him for that position as a club wide failure. That means the board and by extension us, the CEO, the coach (Bailey), the head of footy are all to blame. This thread was created to look back. It was a shocking time. Therefore the reflections will not be great. As long as the discussion is mainly about where and why not who then I don't see the need to be upset. Neeld and Prendergast will be mentioned, it doesn't have to result in outrage.

I don't mind if we only get 35 inside 50's we just have to decrease the differential. By spreading the ball around our back half we can control the time of possession and in turn stop the other teams inside 50 count swelling. Geelong's went through the roof in those periods they had the wind and control of the game. One thing I haven't seen us do a lot yet that isn't really related to tall forwards is lock the ball in our forward 50. So far Roos has been dragging the ruck behind play as a spare man which makes it easy for the other team to win a clearance and Spencer isn't all that useful as a loose behind the ball. I'd rather he pushed in and we used a midfielder like Watts just skirting between the pack and the other teams remaining forwards. Another thing I'm yet to see is enough intercept marks between the 50's. Garland is our best at that. But Frawley back and hopefully freeing up McDonald, Dunn and Grimes across half back should result in them halting attacks there. Terlich started to grab some marks on the weekend and it's something he brings to his game.

rule 1 in footy - GET BALL ya gotta walk before you run (so to speak) small steps and we are on the right track nice to have a coach with a strategy that the players can believe in give it time

Posted elswehere: On the other side of the coin why should we look at any player's performance with anything but honesty? Why should he or any other player be immune from having his game honestly appraised by spectators, as well as the game of the whole team. There is a happy medium here and it starts and begins with being respectful but also being frank and honest. There will always be the the "Watts is a spud","Watts will be a star" brigade. A few are capable of objectivity.

really liking the look of this kid so far.. didn't realise how good he was against the cats until the second viewing.. one of those players that is just so strong, agile and clever in the congestion, he does all these little things that just win us contests and possession of the ball.. even when he is being gangtackled he seems to get it to our advantage every time.. Roosy would absolutely love him

Whilst it's easy to pot this draft performance and it's a clearly poor haul, very few players taken after Taggert would have made a demonstrable difference. Grigg would have been a good pick but other than that it's almost irrelevant, there just wasn't much talent to get at this picks.

Melbourne was ranked No. 1 for disposals and time in possession over the NAB Challenge pre-season series, according to Champion Data. ​Yes it says Melbourne, that's us. Carry that into round 1 and look out Saints.

It's a shame Robbo is on 360. I like Whateley. but I just can't stand Robbo. Does anyone here like him? He's both dumb and inarticulate. How on earth did he get the job?

I go to round 1 every year............................

Loves her Demons. I suspect La Fontaine was her first "schoolgirl crush". Even though he was North coach at the time, a newspaper photo of a shirtless Barassi adorned our laundry wall for many a year. Born & bred in the Benteigh / McKinnon area she was getting on the train to the footy from a young age. She used to go to most games except Geelong (distance) & Essendon (Windy Hill) but rarely attends games now - crowds & cold have become two of her pet hates (along with interstate footy teams) - but she'd have clocked up a fair few over the span. She got to see the golden era, obviously got to see a fair bit of crap as well. She still retains a membership though She's now embraced technology and gets most of her footy fix from Foxtel. She has IQ and with an arsenal of remote controls at her disposal, doesn't miss much. She also got herself an iPad & has discovered the club website on that. I might give her a yell & pose the question in the OP

He's entitled to his say, dont read it if you dont like it. Now get back to stalking the players at training

I think there's enough evidence to suggest this isn't a false dawn. There are 10 players delisted from the team that beat Port last year plus they had their A grade midfield missing. It was almost Casey playing their seconds. From memory Sellar kicked 5 goals. I wouldn't read anything into that game. These are very different circumstances. Besides, we now gain possessions.

There's one certainty around Round 1, I think - in the hours immediately following the game Demonland is going to go off.

+1 All of my fathers side of our family are big on the Saints (they are quiet supporters who appreciate the game, not maniacs in any way) so I have a soft spot for them and hope they are at least competitive at least this year. I wouldn't wish any supporter to have to go the continued heart break what we have had to over the last few years. Unless they support Collingwood, Carlton or Essendon. They can get stuffed

Well I guess its ok to use my username, its for a good cause.