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Just got off the phone to my best mate who has spoken to Jesse today, she said you can't wipe the smile off his face, absolutely stoked he is staying another couple of years Can confirm there has been really strong interest from not just west coast and Freo but other clubs as well but Jesse knows how much we have invested in him and he's got some really good mates here in Jack viney Jimmy toumpas and Dean Kent He's in for a significant pay rise but I wasn't told an exact figure and also Jesse is hoping to play against the lions but the club may make himwait an extra week, he's really working hard to get back asap

Daniel Cross = Stannis Baratheon

You will note that there are only 5 players there. Therein lies the problem. The other part is that two of the five are pups and haven't developed consistent performances yet. We have a midfield nucleus of 3 players, one of whom is 31 years old. Our midfield still stinks.

10 posts in a row, dee-luded. Wow. I'm impressed - or concerned, not sure which. I've merged them all in to one mega-post, for everyone's enjoyment.

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!

I say we should live with it. For every mistake made by the umpires, our own players committed half a dozen. If we can reduce or eliminate our mistakes we'll soon start winning - and winning well against similar quality opposition.

Last time we played Dogs we also copped a few shockers in the last few minutes which turned the game. Dogs always seem to get dodgy goals against us, it has happened often.

You should just picture another poster with the same arguments that I have - you would give a more nuanced and sensible response. If our backline is running at 85 out of 100 right now without Frawley, he would lift it to around 90 out of 100 but is that the reason we are on '4 effing wins' as you so eloquently point out? Hardly. We are where we are because our midfield is consistently beaten by better players and deeper rotations. If we were to 'raise our bar' as a club - it may involve letting Frawley go so we can invest his worth in the midfield.

nick kyrgios

Probably the previous school holidays.

I believe the extension will see him paid $500k in 2016 and 2017, not this year or next. So if he plays well next year, he may well be worth it by 2016...

ah, the spontaneity of un-synthesized footy. Huh, the fun it was. I bleed for its return.

North of the wall.

Now here's a kid who gets it. The club invests high draft picks + countless hours and medical expenses - and he sees fit to repay the faith. Even with the lure of going home and/or more money elsewhere. Kudos to you Jesse. Compare it to $cully who was in a similar position - remember the 'bung' knee? - and jumped at extra bucks the first chance he got, then had the audacity to pot the club as incompetent afterwards. Worlds apart in character. Can't wait to see Hogan in action now. I reckon this kid plus a few other signings (hopefully) will push us a lot further next year than most expect.

must be tough over there......no padding on posts

One of these days the poor bugger under the pack, we all know, the one who has shown the guts to go in and get the ball, is found to be unconscious once the pile of vultures on him is cleared. Will the bloody maggot he embarrassed then??Applying the rule in the manner it is now only encourages packs, scrimmages and mauls - the very thing it is (supposedly) designed to prevent.

An outstanding commitment by Jesse .............. an outstanding investment by the Melbourne Football Club. Our star is most definitely on the rise, in every sense of the word. Edit: I spelled his name wrong. Better not do that on Demonland!

time to send in Whelan

Chips stance is becoming increasingly silly. He's painted himself into a corner.

But the otherside of the argument is our midfield is 55/100, if Frawley leaves and Shiel comes in his stead that number jumps and is of more value than Frawley is to that backline - that is the essence of stmj's argument.

picky bastard aren't you

Word coming through he has now signed. Hogan extends Demons deal

Get used to it. This is what FA is all about. Rivers, Sylvia and Beemer didn't hurt us. In fact we are better off. So if he goes he goes. So long as we get decent compo - as we did with $cully - then Roos will trade for a good replacement. And if we are being honest there are good replacements for Frawley who has not played anywhere near his AA year.

Country vic - Gippsland. 150 k to a game..... 150 k makes for a long depressing drive home after a 440 sunday thrashing.

Roosy is treating him like a first year player. If we were a Hawthorn or Geelong we would be laudingnon how Toumpas is developing just fine at Casey. But because we have so much relied on our first round draft picks to make an instant impact straight most supporters are ingrained that these kids will carry us and make an impact straight away. Thats not proper development. Earn your spot in the twos, make good habits, Play consistent footy in the twos and continue to learn as much as you can from your coaches.

I had a family get together this week. The in laws come from up Shepp way and found myself talking footy with Tom Rotcliff's uncle. It seems MFC threw every thing they had at Tom at the end of last season. He talked about Tom meeting Roos and PJ at the Gee and Tom being blown away by Roos knowledge of football in general but was astounded by Roosey's knowledge of the Lions game plan and that he kept asking why they failed to follow their own plan. It seems Vossey under pressure would ditch his own game plan and the assistant coaches didn't like it one bit. And it seems Roosey had a fair idea that was the problem. Tommy agreed. The uncle said if Voss had been retained as coach Tommy would have come to Melbourne. But in the end they doubled his contract offer after five young kids left o he took up the offer. With out that he might be a Demon. The other MFC issue he brought up was Chris Connolly who played for Shepparton United. He said they brought him up especially one night to look at A young Micheal Barlow at training when he was still playing for SHepp United at 19 and had won the B&F for the comp. apparently Connelly had a look,and said there was nothing there to work with. And moved on to pick the young kids in the National Draft, who we know went not so well. Of course Barlow was over looked by many and went pick 80 to Freemantle but then played phenomenol footy in his first year before he was injured. But if only we took some of our inside knowledge and used that for picks.

I wouldn't be against Bolton in the slightest and I think spending some time under Roos, coupled with his extensive experience already, would make him an ideal candidate for the job. Worth a serious look if he's interested.

Great debate from both of you. I'm changing my mind all the time!!

Yes, I'm sure Roos would keep him.. But I'm also sure the ammunition we'd receive from Frawley would also be on Roos' mind. I definitely don't think it's a 'must keep Frawley at all costs' type situation.

While you are home,without hesitation call AFL headquarters. They love these stories and are quite happy to spend some money by sending a pump and 100 footies back with you. My son did some volunteer work Os and the afl had no hesitation in giving some supplies for him to disperse.

For the last 12 months: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Currently back in Victoria for a month before heading back for another stint in Addis, so looking forward to actually seeing us play live against the cats with my old man (Geelong supporter). Been a long time since we played them at the G!

They dont get to pull on teats. They stink like old men{similar to yourself}. They all look the same and its difficult to remember their names.{pigs that is} They dont do what the dog tells them.{the pigs and the farmer] Last but not least,a dairy farmer will be proud to introduce his occupation,a pig farmer says he is an IT expert.

And to misquote Ron Burgundy, "60% of the time, you are right every time".

Bit disappointing. 30 touches and 8 tackles not enough to dislodge some of the riff-raff from Sunday's game.

He is also James McDonald's brother yeah? Wondering if there could still be some bitter feelings towards the club that unceremoniously ditched his brother. At this stage I'm not really fussed iof Frawley goes if it means we get a top 5 or 6 pick. A pick 20 or so though wouldn't be anywhere near enough and there's not many players left for us to throw huge dollars at that the Clark & Frawley salarioes would elave - maybe Dangerfield?

^^This. At least the players are learning that a) their best is good enough to win games; but b) if they don't bring AFL level intensity for full games they will lose (Essendon game aside)

midfielders, midfielders and more midfielders, then an elite kicking, ball carrying half back before we even think about drafting anything else

Farmer was the most exciting player we've had in recent memory. Here's a toughie - who was more exciting, Farmer or Jakovich?

It's easily one of the most gutless and sickening bumps I've seen. Troy Simmonds can't remember the day.

I think he has recently said how much he regretted going back to WA. I was shattered when he left. He still has the silky skills too, still a joy to watch!

Wiz should never have returned to WA in 2002. Mad work by his management.

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.

G'day Bub, I assume you're referring to the current action brought by EFC and Hird. I believe mediation is unlikely although the Judge did make the suggestion (which they usually do). The parties know that a mediated result is unlikely so they won't be wasting their time and money on a worthless exercise that would otherwise cost in the tens of thousands. Discovery of documents would be limited to those documents relevant to what the Applicants are claiming so I don't expect that ASADA would release the meat and bones of its case. Whilst the proceedings are playing out, the show-cause notices are on hold so ASADA is not obliged to give the players any details of the evidence they have against them and I don't expect anything to be forthcoming until the trial on 11-13/8. If the application fails, (and the decision could be handed down on the spot or more likely, a week or two at best after it ends) the show cause notice period of (now) 14 days will start running and by the time infraction notices are issued the season will be over. With that, will be gone any opportunity for the players to cop the supposed 6 months on offer and serve it in the second half of season 2014 which was apparently available when the show-causes were first issued. Best case scenario is that players would probably have to stand out till mid season 2015, worst case that they could cop 2 years. I expect that if the Federal Court action fails, it won't be long before some of the players cave in and Dank and Hird are likely to get infraction notices and they will go as well. But by then, infraction notices may well be Dank's least concern.

I actually agree. Trengove was my favourite player in 2010 and 2011. I reckon he'll hit way higher than that even next year. He's a freaking gun when on and Roosy will turn him into a champ

Great interview and good to see some footage of brighter times and reminisce about players past. I really enjoyed watching Melbourne playing the mid-late 90s and early 2000's. Even though we didn't win the ultimate prize back then, we haven't had magic like that for a long time. Remembering The Ox in his prime, he was an incredible player cut down by injury. Little Wizard Jeff Farmer was just great to watch as well with the speccies and goals. And big Neita charging out of the square and banging through bags of goals from 50 out. I long for the day where we have supremely talented players who can win us games off their own boot, it's just been so many years now it's rather depressing.

Maybe a name change to the Melbourne Wanderers. We cant be seen to stay in one place for to long now can we

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.

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.

hey picket, you been taking lessons from dee-luded?