Leaderboard

Neita - a champion bloke and player. Watching some of the vision played made me realise I had forgotten how good Ox was also. Some of his marks and goals were top shelf stuff. Will never forgive Essendon for what they did to Brad Green and Troy Simmons in the grand final. Michael Long is held up as a great hero but to me anyone who did what he did is contemptible. Dean Wallis is no better. Strange how that interview stirred up old hostilities.

If we're going to be training at Melbourne Uni, surely the most important question to be asked is whether Satyricon can get there.

I am happy to go on the record and say that if someone is willing to pay Chip 700 large plus, I hope it isn't us.

Watching Gazza couldn't shake the feeling he knows more than we do, with regards to Frawley's status. Sounds like he's out the door and Lyon is letting him know what he really thinks.

I am an employee of The University of Melbourne at the Sport Department here. I can't go into too much detail, but there have been official meetings between the club and the University. These have mainly been around research and an education partnership for players and administration (like the Uni has with the Melbourne Rebels) - as far as I'm aware there's never been any proposal or thought broached about moving the club here and building a facility, which would obviously be a huge investment. I don't know who thought of 'the move' but it definitely hasn't been on the agenda. Someone making a mountain out of a molehill I think. I just can't see it happening.

Don't ask Saty, even though Neita said there was a disconnect, he heard that everything is perfect! Just kidding. Seriously, was an amazing ep and he's a great bloke. He's always sitting level 3 and 4 at every Dees match. He still Bleeds Demons and I couldn't respect him more.

I don't expect Roos would be particularly impressed with Frawley from a club leadership perspective. Nate Jones, and virtually all other really effective senior leaders from other clubs who are determined to be one club players, would not be approaching this negotiation in the way Frawley has IMO. To my mind, it has appeared opportunistic. And it is causing some harm to the club IMO - if only because it is disrupting the 'we've turned the corner' narrative and it is slightly destabilising the momentum that's occurred under Roos. And before anyone cites Boak, Pavlich or Cloke, the list of senior players who would willingly sign up to their respective clubs well before the season end is much, much longer - other than, obviously, if they are actually intending to leave. This is perhaps the very reason as to why Frawley is likely to be so sought after. Most other good senior players put ink to paper a long time ago - and the list of decent UFAs is now pretty skinny. If Brett Kirk's Paul Roos' benchmark for club leadership, I'd say he's pretty underwhelmed by what he's observing with our Chip Frawley.

Saw Roos on the TV tonight firmly putting the pressure on him, said it is time to say if he is staying or not.

There must be history behind Lyons comments. I'd say he knows he's going and there's background to the decision we don't know. I've been a defender of Chip on this forum as a footballer but always felt sure he made the decision to leave ages ago ala $cully. Also hated the way he used the successor issue as a smokescreen. Now I'm over him and couldn't care less if he goes. We don't need manipulators as part of our culture. If he hasn't bought in by now then bugger off.

Nik Nat has amazing athletic ability with a limited tank He has absolutley 0 positional sense and footy smarts Watts uses the ball well and is a good decision maker 9 times out of 10. Agree with you that he needs continual physical development but IMO he has come on a hell of a lot this season and I believe the penny has dropped

That's Dave Mundy...

I do Col. Not just a billboard but an exclusive partnership with the airport so the likes of the Pies & Tiges don't go plastering their propaganda all over the place. Making Melbourne FC part of the Melbourne experience Getting into hotel rooms so that when visitors pick up those "things to do" brochures, MFC is all over it Tapping into real estate databases so that when someone moves here from interstate or overseas, the club sends them a "welcome to Melbourne - hope you love your new home" pack. Here's your free tickets to a MFC game. Again, forming exclusive partnerships with the major agencies so other clubs can't pinch our idea Bartlett's overall vision of making MFC part of the Melbourne experience is a great concept. But there are better ways to do it than having a presence in Collins St. Or Parkville

and don't forget the one he missed from dead in front in first qtr running into the fwd 50. should have been a simple gimme for jack

Those quarters went on forever. We should have conceeded the behind and given ourselves the chance to go again. We lost because we played awful football for 40 minutes, but if you watch that last quarter again, especially the last few minutes, we were seriously robbed of a couple of holding the ball decisions that could have made a world of difference. Then again, Jack Watts kicks that goal as he should, and maybe it's game over. Gees we are a frustrating team.

One of my all time favorite players even to this day. How good is it to see this cheeky fella playing in the legends game. Hope he turns it on tonight. I remember that 9 second half goals against Collingwood like yesterday. One of the best half I have ever seen from an individual AFL player! Love ya Wiz!

North of the wall.

And there are also posters who will happily slam a player if they postpone contract talks and tell all and sundry that we don't need them on our list to make themselves feel better when they inevitably leave. I'm not saying I'm saying we keep him as I'm still on the fence, but it goes both ways on here. While he has his deficiencies we need to remember that, yes, he can play at an AA level and that decent tall backmen don't grow on trees. Just ask the Dogs, Saints and Blues for example.

it's a big river in egypt bub - lol

Dont want anyone from that club near ours. Ever.

The voice of reason. Thanks Toot182. Research and education link with Melbourne Uni, perfect fit. Moving the club HQ and training there, not going to work. Melb Uni would not kick out the local sports clubs from its only oval and let MFC take over. ^^ This. Having taught Uni classes with international students for over 20 yrs I can count on one hand the number that showed any interest in AFL. Domestic Uni students have little money to spare and would be underrepresented in club memberships IMO, but would already follow a club.

I’m in full agreement on Casey. I don’t think that’s an either / or situation. We can consolidate a City of Melbourne presence and still develop our relationship at Casey. They are two parts of one big picture. Casey is going to be more work than we may have initially thought. In the short term we have to return their footy team to being competitive and that might require a bit more subsidising to ensure their non-AFL list is stronger. We need to increase our visibility out there. More players in their schools more often. More kid’s clinics. More training sessions in school holidays held there. But Casey have to embrace MFC too. I can live with their jumper as the colours aren’t too far removed but eventually they are gonna have to become either the Casey Demons or the Melbourne Scorpions. They don’t get to keep both in my view. It is a long term project but I dream of the day when they have to put on special match day train from Cranny, express from Dandenong to Richmond ! I may not be around to see it but I hope my kids will. Someone mentioned the success that Hawthorn have had getting buy-in from the residents of Waverley. They have done an outstanding job, particularly under Ian Dicker’s leadership (that’s not a slap at JK but the heavy lifting was done under Dicker). It also helped that they had a good product to sell. A successful team and a highly marketable player in Buddy. On the back of success in each decade since the 70’s. The Hawks took full advantage of this. Our biggest problem, before any marketing strategies or branding initiatives is that our product is still on the nose. Everything will get easier if we have a successful team. If you have a winning team then people will come Ray. People will most definitely come. As Jackson says – footy first. That doesn’t preclude planning for a consolidated home or an expanded imprint. But fixing the footy has to be the prime focus

Of course there are better ways: again, I interpret his comments differently. I think it's integral to have a physical presence somewhere, somewhere where even people that don't care about football will see the brand in a fashionable light. I don't give a crap about baseball but I buy Dodgers merchandise every year when I'm in LA for work. They have a store at LAX for a reason: so morons like me lap it up. And I do. I have no idea whether the Dodgers are any good, it's just a cool brand and I've adopted them as my team. It all adds to the worth of the club, and it's a tough metric to measure, but I'm one fan they previously never had. This is Melbourne's vision. I think Parkville is a good choice for that reason: an international student need not be here for the long haul, but sports teams have historic ties to cities, and their brand stands out. It means something. We need to provide an avenue for them to build a different sort of tie to Melbourne, and trust me when I say international students at Melbourne Uni DO know about AFL. They can't ignore it, and they're intrigued. I spent two years on campus there. On top of that, people from interstate have a fascination for Melbourne because it's not, well, Sydney. It's a special town. Give them a souvenir that is distinctively Melbourne. And what is more Melbourne than AFL, really? They should be walking about with something that brands the city as much as it brands the club. When people walk around with a "NY" cap, it's as much a Yankees cap as it is an NYC cap. That's the vision. It's all a branding exercise. The other things you mentioned are important, obviously, but having a physical presence, somewhere where people can directly engage without even having to go to a game, that sort of support is unmeasurable, but it is important in today's world. This seems less about getting people to games, and more about giving people a REASON to attend games. Just like improving on-field, it's not something that changes overnight. You need generations to be able to recognise and support something. We need new avenues to build a support base to amplify the club's brand because in today's world, tucking yourself away on a no-standing road at the bottom of the MCG is not going to win you new followers. People underestimate how important this is these days. We've been an amateur club with amateur branding for too long.

Lamashtu, will be interesting to see if anyone above our second rounder bids, I reckon we will get him for a third rounder

I don't disagree, but I go every week, and to me that was our worst performance of the year (keep in mind I wasn't in the country and have never watched that West Coast game, so I'm probably wrong). We were pathetic in that first half, and in the last 10 minutes of the match when it was there to be won, we made so many idiotic errors. This was only the first time Roos said we played like we didn't care, which is just going back to the Neeld days. If there is one thing we have done well this year, is play with intensity. In that first half we played like we couldn't care less if we won or lost. Even guys like Jones and Vince, who have been wonderful all year, played terribly. It was a scary reminder of what this team is still capable of producing. Yes we came back into the game, when last year we would have lost by 10+ goals, but we never ever should have been this far behind against the Dogs. That our opposition wasn't much chop and were missing their 2 better tall forwards, their best midfielder and their Brownload medallist and we still got smashed in the clearances and conceeded plenty of dumb goals, only made it worse, especially when we won the ruck comprehensively.

Dean Wallis is one of the biggest scumbags to ever play, another Sheedy special.

Evans was given a two year contract last year during a period where he was showing promise. Two year contracts are standard and he clearly wasn't a "delist" priority at that stage (and we delisted a shirtload of players as it was). It's frustrating when you find yourself stuck with players who appear to be no good, but at the time I took no issue with his re-signing (and indeed, was pleased with it), so I'll pass on the Harry Hindsight analysis of it now. And as rpfc said, who's to say he won't pluck a rabbit out of the hat like a few of the other NQRs of yesteryear?

The great man acknowledged that getting rid of Junior was a mistake. I can't understand those who continue to defend it. It was clearly a mistake. Was a good interview. I love how genuine he is about everything.

It's not the concept of removing players I object to, it's the slobbering, blood thirsty attitude some people have to delisting players. We need to continue to steadily improve our list through turning it over and internal improvement. We do not need to "cull" players as if they are some out of control pest destroying our crops. Our number of delistings won't be any larger than most other clubs, or any larger than our own in the last few years.

Actually it's quite a funny point. A few years ago when travelling to the states we left the JFK airport and not long after leaving sighted a billboard advertising the New York Yankees, I remember it looked like a movie poster. Anyway at the time I thought it looked cool as [censored] and couldn't wait to go see a Yankees game, I did and I purchased a ball cap and guernsey.

I interpreted the potential move to Melbourne Uni as being part of something broadly associated with the city itself: the MCG is worthless to people that didn't grow up here, or have no interest in AFL. Let's face reality here. This is the club's view imo. Also, the club's affiliation with the MCG shouldn't invalidate the fact the club has zero presence in what is arguably the youngest community in the city. The current location has similarly close proximity to the city, distance wise, but it's not quite in a community-centric part of the city, is it? And I mean, isn't that part of the club's problem? We've gone out to Casey to address that issue, right? The CBD is growing fast and no club has a presence there. We are Melbourne. We should be all over the place. You don't need to break away from the MCG to do that. What purpose does being near the MCG have apart from playing there on game day? The place is a ghost town on non-game days apart from those working within the stadium. The playing group doesn't train nor do they have access to the ground. Training across the road has no influence, and I imagine having a club divided between two locations doesn't help, either. Currently, the club has a wonderful, romanticised tie to the MCG and MCC. I don't see how that is damaged by reestablishing ties with Melbourne University. I think it's a superb fit. The problem is that the same dilemma keeps raising its head over and over and over again: that the club is divided across many different areas. The club needs a "home". It doesn't matter if it's in the same suburb as another club: so long as the location itself is distinctively Melbourne. ATM we have gone from crappy facilities, to awesome facilities shared with other teams. IMO that's no better than the other situation. How can a club create an identity when it's sharing clubrooms with other organisations? I just think that a lot of the issues you raised are part of the problem: the club is struggling to find an identity, stability, a presence. You can't do that by tucking yourself away on some parkland across the road from the MCG. You can't even see Melbourne branding anywhere when you drive by. Just consider the prospect of a Melbourne team shop on Collins Street. Do you think it would do any worse than the current store, located at the MCG, with full-time staff? How much business could the POSSIBLY do in a location with NO walking traffic? It's any wonder we have such a small support based, really. Get out there. Get involved. We are Melbourne. Instead we wait until someone else jumps into the deep end, and we watch while they learn how to swim. It's always a lot of talking, a lot of cynicism, and nothing gets done. They need to do something like this.

Send me your number and I'll text u goal by goal updates so you don't miss out on the fun!

I like this idea, we could potentially even use the alignment with the university to try develop kids on scholarships through the university, similair to the way they use the college system in the states.

There was 3:25 to go....

That takes a quick mind.

er, looks like that boomerang came back after all

Maybe he thinks that Chip is really just a Spud!

I like it, would finally be a link to Melbourne the city again. Plenty of potential for growing the supporter base by attracting interstate students who haven't watched a lot of footy and international students as well. The danger is all the Kim Duffys walking around, I guess.

I hate Essendon even more, he reminded me of that.

There's absolutely no doubt the first half was diabolical. It was. Roos even used that word himself. What annoys me is one half was diabolical, the second half was OK (the coach said 'good' - but I'll stick with 'OK') - and in some people's mind, that averages out to diabolical. In case I haven't made it apparent, I get very frustrated with people who seem to default to looking at things from the worst possible angle.

You might be vomiting. And Spencer was given that contract a month ago. So Roos must have no idea, amirite? What about that clogger Pedersen or that spud Jetta? Can't believe they were given the chance to redeem themselves that they have taken. Their spots on the list should have been taken by Pick 95 and Rookie Draft pick 55 last year!

FMD you have over 2000 posts and you're amazed with the negativity on Demonland!

I'm amazed at the negativity on this board. Yeah, very annoying loss on Sunday, and we should be dissapointed as Bulldogs had a few out, but we had Trengove, Cross, McDonald, Hogan & Clark all out of the team who were all in our 22 at seasons start and we also had McKenzie out who would be the first to play Cross' role, so it's not like we were full strength. We may loose all 8 of our last games, but at the same time I reckon we're capable of winning 5 of them so I think we should sit back and enjoy the ride. Demand more of the team absolutely, but considering where we've come from, 2-20 with a 54% to now 4-10 with a percentage close to 80% and we should probably be 6-8 in all fairness (should of beaten Dogs twice & St Kilda, we pinched Essendon though must be said). This season was never about games won, but getting back to being a football team, being in matches and restoring belief. As annoyed as I was, I'm still enjoying the season compared to our last 2 and a half and am confident we can run out the season in as decent and competative a fashion as we've seen so far.

I gotta say, I'm glad many are contextualising and defending Dawes! He has played a lone hand in a make shift forward line. The only other natural forward he has had to work with is a 2013 draftee. JKH. As others have said; Poor delivery Competes on very level Kicks goals Tackles And is leading the way as a forward. Let's wait til He is able to team up with Hogan, JKH matures and he has quality midfielders resting next to him. I'll add, Watts has improved a lot having Dawes In The forward line. Watts can now take the third tall or a shorter HBF and exploit who ever is playing on him. That's with Frawley playing the second KPF.

My mate and I were at the game yesterday and sat next to an old man.He was sitting at the end of the row of seats so he had to stand up to let us through.I cheekily said ' hurry up, we want to see the game."He replied " if I was younger I would give you a good hip and shoulder!"I had my Demon scarf and hat on but he didn't, so as i was sitting right next to him I asked who he barracked for."Melbourne" he saidThis is good, I thought.Anyway as the players warmed up we exchanged comments about various players.Then he (we still hadn't exchanged names !) said he hoped we were going to win because it had taken him 5 hours to get to the game!He had travelled down from Kerang on the bus and the train.This man's name is Roy.He said don't tell me I'm crazy because everybody else has! And it turns out he is 85. Roy was hoping we were going to win because he wanted to sing the club song at the end of the game.( so did my mate and I!) Well we lost didn't we ? But think of the long trip home for Roy.After the game he was going to have a feed and a couple of beers ( he wouldn't have one at the game as he would have to go to the toilet ) and then go home on the train and the bus.He would get home at 10 pm.On ya Roy, a really nice bloke.

Kicked two goals despite shithouse delivery, and provided amazing forward pressure for a big man. Also give us really good leadership. Criticise this guy last, because he is just about the best player in our team on a number of very important levels.

Yeah, he should change the way he plays, it's clearly not working for him.

I can...but is there running involved !!!

Anyone who can kick 30 metres to position would be a hell of a start!

Maybe I am a sap but I am still looking at the Geelong game... Bump this when we get flogged but we played terribly today and got beaten because God smiled on a teenager with a long last name.