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The footyshow appearance this Thursday is very interesting. Firstly and most importantly it is clear from this appearance that he is feeling much better and is over this bout of depression. He would not be appearing if he was feeling depressed in any manner. This is excellent news, lets hope this is permanent. As for his playing future, he will obviously be asked the question on the Footy Show and he will respond either No, Yes or possibly. If he does not completely and absolutely rule it out a return, the odds of him playing for the Dees next season skyrocket. I expect him not to rule it out, as this is what I am hearing from inside the club. Lets wait and see.

Yeah. Fascinating.

Think they'll isolate Rivers in the square with Cloke.......... oh, wait......

Funny how the fwit liked his own post too.

Debut him this week then. Watt could go wrong.

I'm sorely tempted to close this thread and all other Barrett threads so we don't have to repeat ourselves every time he farts. We'll keep one thread open and if you really need to vent you can use the search and risk the ire of the rest of the board for digging him up from the bowels of Demonland.

Multiple gameplans is a form of mixed messaging... And it is simply confidence that Bail got on the end of that kick. Ability of both players to see it as a possibility (because what the hell was that?), and confidence.

When I saw Dawes, Toumpas and Salem playing Richmond each with a similar beard and swarthy skin colour, I thought we'd invested in a set of life-size babushka dolls, Dawes being the outer doll, Toumpas the mid and Salem the one on the inside.

very simple answer - kick a higher score !

The kick from the boundary under pressure to hit Bail (I think) running into an open goal was an absolute gem. And the dragging the ball down one hand was pretty good too.

He means that much to me/us that I won't feel settled until he's signed on for another 4 years min.

Bit sad when you see a young bloke, with a child due any day, now out of work and presumably out of a career, all over some stupidity.

If Clark was planning on hinting on a return at some stage, considering the reason he retired was to remove himself from the spotlight as it was affecting his mental health, then its fair to say a medium such as the Footy Show would be the last thing he would want to use to announce a possible comeback. Whether he plans on returning or not, i dont believe we will get a hint either way on thursday night. It just wouldn't make sense

Curry & Beer (in response to your post about boycotting - apologies, my quote feature isn't working)... The longer this season goes on, the more I'm starting to appreciate that dikhead McLean actually said what he said. It allowed for a very ruthless investigation in to our club, which cost people their jobs, as well as confirming in a public forum that we urgently needed to get our shite together. I'm starting to treat the $500k cost as an expensive consultant fee, rather than a fine for being found not guilt. If CS spent $80k on a review new desk, I think spending half a mill on someone from the AFL forcing us to make change has been worth its price. We are a better club for it.

Overreacting much? I could name about 30 players who have looked comfortable from get go.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/afl-funds-club-to-pay-100-per-cent-of-salary-cap-players-win-payrise-cost-of-living-allowance-to-be-phased-out-through-equalisation/story-fni5f22o-1226942014359

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/lost-for-words-afls-first-female-coach-peta-searle-20140602-zrulm.html This is an extraordinary earthquake in football culture, and I think a really big step forward for the game, as it demonstrates innovation in a very reactionary culture. I for one choose to believe that this is based on merit alone and has nothing to do with the Saints recent off field shenanigans, although I'm sure it will be alluded to (and I only mention it from a devils advocate POV). Having worked with some brilliant and brave women in traditionally male only enterprises, I don't see any reason why Searle can't be an ace coach, anyone who is able to make their dream come true against adversity is worthy of great respect. edit: the references were included as support for the merit of having Searle as coach, with such high female participation either as audiences or otherwise compared to the other codes, it seems to me to be a natural evolution to have a woman coaching. by the by, my father (who was a fantastic kick of the football) was taught by my grandmother, not my grandfather. ABS : http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/Lookup/4156.0.55.001Feature+Article1May%202009 The Australian: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/opinion/columnists/afl-a-universal-favourite-thats-a-force-for-good/story-fn8qlm5e-1226483479334# Impact of this across community engagement is strong. The AFL claims 42 per cent of its national television audience is female and 35 per cent of its club memberships.

How can something be 'in the past' and be a myth that didn't happen? It's like saying Game of Thrones is a Fantasy/Period piece.

Boy oh boy wowee. This is the 'not sexist' guy, apparently. The champion of respect. "Women behave in the following way and it shows how they don't know what they are doing" It's nice when the prejudiced dummies provide the plain, unambiguous evidence that it is ok to write off their opinions.

Wise words often bear repeating.

For all the negativity about the ability of our fitness staff at the beginning of the season our injury list this year has been exceptional.

The guy is acquitting himself pretty well already physically as well as mentally and with sound judgement and poise, in a modest manner without appearing to be getting ahead of himself in any manner. What little I have been able to see of him excites me more than any of our first year players in my memory. The pick up, quick thinking and pass to the running Bail was awesome; but I think even more impressive was the teaming with Toumpas, laying the solid shepherd (very un-Melbourne like pre 2014 - the Port guy actually fell over, when have we seen that from a MFC shepherd?) then running on to receive the beautifully weighted and timed pass from Jimmy (even more un-Melbourne like pre 2014). The underlined bits are totally new to this year's team. I remain stunned by the change.

The great debate between clubs. There is a fair and responsible way to equalize to competition with out tax and hand outs, but the AFL doesn't have the guts to do it. The bigger clubs will complain, [censored] and moan today but if they look at this fairly at what they are given they should just shut up and cop it sweat. The AFL through the one tool they totally control could equalize the competition. The Fixture, I read the age and it all about attendance, memberships and TV Audience. Looking at our club we sit second last on this table, why our draw and in particular our home games. We play Sydney, WCE, Gold Coast, Western Bulldogs, Collingwood, Port, Fremantle, GWS, North, Geelong, Brisbane as home matches, this draw smashes any club. You replace three games say GWS, WCE and Brisbane with Essendon, Richmond and Carlton , we would average over 50K attendance compares to what will be approx 17K. The attendance is only one thing our TV audience increases, our corporate entertainment increases. By changing these three games only it would add an extra $500-750,000 to our bottom line, this doesn't include addition sponsorship revenue that could be generated by the increased Audience. So when Edi and Co jump on their high horses today someone should remind them all on the free kicks the currently receive from the AFL.

Forcing teams to pay the full cap kind of rewards mediocrity, does it not? Unless teams can devise a "bonus" system for top performers as part of reaching the total cap? Say, best three performers every round, as voted by coaches, get a $10k bonus.

Bit harsh seeing that kind of behaviour gets you into the leadership group over at the saints...

?He posts so much more Melbourne related content than any other club, seriously who killed his puppy

about 10 years ago when I started reading footy forums, I did not laugh at these type of posts 8 million times later it has not increased in comedic value

I'll leave it to Roosy and our selected 22 to continue on their established path of continuous improvement, but I'll also assume that the question posed in the header refers to the collective 'we'. If 'we' all get along to the 'G' on Monday arvo, and match the noise made by the 'filth' supporters, I reckon we can help lift our boys over the line. I'll be going home hoarse, but be saving just enough during the game to belt out a few healthy renditions of the Grand Old Flag after the siren.

I don't think Bail would be defending space when we were in possession of the footy. I know Salem had to freakishly win that 1on1 contest, but it was kicked to him by a teammate. I'd say the difference is in confidence and clarity of what is expected of you.

Confused inintial reports were that carlton player Josh Coxsma had sent pictures of his boots over social media.

Another one of these whiteys off the rails. I tells ya, they just aren't worth the risk to recruit.

..of blood that is.....

jeff White says "hi", with some difficulty.

Long term injury list

Im a big fan of the footy department cap idea, mostly because it would screw Collingwood over No reason we can't get 1or 2 really good players at years end

I have a different take, Wilson is just jealous that there is yet another woman with a more meaningful role in football than herself, bitterness on display.

lol that was actually an accident due to my phone having crap useability. There was merit to my post but I guess you fail to see it as per usual and need to resort to pathetic personal attacks.

Whatever the case it's great to see we have drafted some quality, I was getting sick of seeing most other clubs getting good players at both ends of the draft whilst we struggled to get anything good with high picks. The choice of JKH was inspired and this kid will be a star, although I'm not sure where he will finish up playing, he can just about play anywhere, forward or back or midfield. Tyson, Salem and JKH, then throw in Vince, Cross, Michie and Riley and you have 5 long term and 2 teachers all in the one draft. Of course you have a few young kids as well, Hunt, King and Harmes; you have to wonder where we'd be if Roos, Taylor and Viney had had the opportunity to do this last year and the year before.

Mitch Clark would absolutely thrive in this current team with the way they're starting to play.

This is somewhat of a myth that Port turned their midfield around quickly, I would argue it has been a work in progress for some years in 2007 that made the GF on the back of some older boys left over from the 2004 flag and since then they have drafted very well and the likes of Kane Cornes have grown from young understudies to seasoned veterans 2006 - they had drafted Grey & Boak (pretty sure Boak played in 07 GF), 2007 Lobbe was drafted and took some time to mature into the version we have had since late 2012 to current 2008 Hartlett was drafted 2009 Andrew Moore no world beater but decent depth 2010 - Nothing 2011 - Chad Wingard & Ebert was traded in at the end of the season Meth Coast 2012 - Ollie Wines So I would think this is a steady building of the list and is they continue with this formula with constant turnover they will continue to have a decent midfield

Jetta and Georgiou are both on the Primary List due to LTIs for Clark and Hogan. I believe in a week the mid season Rookie upgrade is possible and that will allow both those players to remain in the Primary List even when Hogan comes back off the LTI. Remembering that 8 weeks is the minimum a player is on the LTI, the maximum being 24 (the season).

I think yr being a bit generous - I would say he's on the edge of being a solid, regular B grader. Long way to go before he's an A grader.

What? Last round? It was indigenous round. Every single club wore some altered variation of their strip. Not sure what the problem is.

Jack Watts spoke well, 6 years in a bad place and accepted as part of life..Hope his next 6 years is reward for the hell he went through as number 1.... Jack Watts On The Couch http://www.melbournefc.com.au/video/2014-06-03/jack-watts-on-the-couch …

Rubbish.We have a female trainer at our football who is also a qualified in doing physio. She knows her stuff commands respect and we absolutely respect the work she puts in to getting us ready for week after week. I would have no worry in the world if a woman was my assistant coach. If she knows the game then half the blokes in the footy club then why wouldn't she get the respect from the boys.

That's only because the average footy club is a few decades behind on the social evolution scale. Give it time. I expect my children's generation would be much less prejudiced than my generation, which is much less prejudiced than my parents'. This particular appointment should prove to be a huge step forward in that regard.

Watts actually handled the interview and spoke about footy, not off-field stuff. How anyone can have anything negative to say is beyond me.

I am told he has not ruled out playing AFL next year, and if he does he is a delisted free agent and will nominate Melbourne. I am told he is not considering playing for any other team. Don't get excited this is still a long shot.

the missionary position isn't great for shoulders/pecs/upper body.