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"MFC Blindsided" As many of you know, I have excellent contacts in the MFC at administration and board level. Over recent years despite the roll over of staff I have been able to maintain these contacts and often share some of what I am hearing with my fellow heavy hearted Dees members via this forum. After the weekends revelations I did not want to make comment on the MC situation until I had made the contact with my sources. This what I have been told. The decision to retire from AFL was always with MC health in mind. In reality it was always a break that may have become permanent rather than a retirement. MC always (even at the time of retirement) maintained ambitions to play again, play for the MFC and repay the MFC and its faithful for its investment and support. The decision to retire was ONLY to give MC the best chance of recovery by taking all pressure off him. The full process of playing in 2015 were set out in the retirement discussions. MC only ever expressed complete desire and loyalty to the MFC. As such MFC continued to support MC in the ABSOUTE belief that if fit he would play for MFC. Essentially the ball was left with MC. MC has been in regular contact with fitness staff and coaches and on a MFC derived fitness plan. MCs return to physical and mental health has been fantastic. So much so that up until about 2 weeks ago, the MFC were extremely confident he would be recontracted to play for the MFC in 2015. In fact the confidence I was hearing from within the club was much greater than what I expressed on Demonland. MFC were 100% certain that if MC did play it would be only in red & blue and it seemed the only question would be whether to rookie him or place him on the senior list. Approx. two weeks ago MC manager was contacted as to whether MC would attend the Best & Fairest and also to initiate contract discussions. Misson had been training with MC that day and had been excited by MC developing fitness. Contact between the club, MC, and his manager has been ongoing and until this point there had been no hint of dissatisfaction or expressed desire to play for anyone else. It was at this time that MC manager let the MFC know that MC did not wish to play for MFC next year and wanted to play for another Melbourne club. The club was completely blindsided. Roos had steam coming out of his ears. I have been told by one of my sources that Roos almost blew a blood vessel. I think its fair to say, that Roos dig in his best fairest speech was directed squarely at MC.

And if you're a guest who supports another club and you're interested in what eight years of unmitigated failure and humiliation does to the human psyche, why not visit our "The No T$ No B$ Thread" to find out what it's all about?

Anyone claiming that Mitch was faking his depression does not deserve their opinions heard. You're worthless as a poster.

When Mitch either returns to us or does the right thing by us ie. agree to a trade, a lot of demonlanders will need to have a good hard look at themselves. The disgusting vitriol shown here is an indictment on our club and the majority of supporters. Based on nothing but speculation from journos who have repeatedly been discredited and chastised on this very forum, many have chosen to attack personally a man who is suffering a mental illness. Get a grip!

In the event he leaves, I suggest this draft order for Melbourne: Pick 2 Pick 3 (Frawley compo) Pick 4 (Clark Compo) Pick 5 (Priority Pick) Pick 6 (The priority pick they didn't give us last year because Clark was coming back)

If any of the guests are Barrett, you are a floggggggggg, f[censored]k oooooooffffffffff.

If I had a bottle of wine at work... Yes, that's the infamous Schwab desk too

"In a dramatic twist, mitch clark has been announced as paul roos's successor"

Agree absolutely. Along with GNF I have pushed the "MC to play for the Dees again" line. If GNF is correct and if MC has told the MFC the truth, this has come about due to his medical treatment. I have no clue as to the veracity of this. Presumably until advised by his Doctors to play at another club, he was loyal and determined to resume with us. That loyalty will now be put to the test as Robbie 57 suggests. MC can insist that we get a good deal from his new club or refuse to play with them. Considering what we have done for him and paid him, I would expect nothing less. I still believe as he is on our list we have the whip hand during trade week and as a result of the AFL Retirement Clause he could be bound to us for another year. The AFL will have to look favourably on us given our position and what we have done for this player and what we stand to lose. I think we need to draw breath, stop abusing this bloke from behind keyboards and await the final outcome. No one could argue we got the better of the deal for the GWS player who left us. We have PJ and Roos in charge to get the best deal out of this. Lets see what happens, we may even be better off with what we end up with. Remember if MC had stayed retired we would probably have got nothing.

I have never understood the term " dog act" people use it to suggest someone or something is disloyal, but dogs in general are very loyal anyways... back to the topic

Can report that Clark is 100% go on the comeback and his first priority is to talk to Paul Roos. Talking Footy and 7 news will go with it tonight.

Uber Alex Georgiou ‏@UberAGeorgiou 4m Just had the weirdest meeting with Roosy. He just handed me a fistful of cash & asked me how I'd feel about killing a key forward #xmas4alex

So Clark out. Lumumba in. Depression must be contagious, I feel a bout coming on.

Wow. He was my daughters fav player and has his signed jersey. She is devastated. We have a go at Watts and the Toump but geez at least they are sticking around to try and help the club. This is disgusting. What is it with Melbourne a current player wants to leave and even our retired player wants to leave. My god when will this madness stop? We need to use this to our advantage and draw a line in the sand. Its time MFC.

HERE WE GO, PARAPHRASING: "always concerned about his wellbeing, first thing i said how you feeling, how you going, making sure he is well looked after." "i broached the subject of playing at MFC next year and we will have more dialogue on that." "i just want to make sure Mitch is in a fit healthy state as he is only 26." "he is a listed player, but he would have to sign a new contract for us, or get traded etc." "i've only been at MFC for a short space of time but i couldn't be more proud of how we (MFC) handled the situation (went on to list names)" "I don't know how to answer the question (robbo asked if he felt MC owed MFC)" Robbo then ranting (too much red wine again, although this is a good rant saying he does owe MFC), then after he said Mitch is gone. "we have potentially lost our best player, alongside Nathan Jones, so i don't know what the compensation is for that." "we would want some compensation" "if he absolutely believes not playing at MFC is the right thing to do, then we will do some research, but ultimately his welfare is first" "it all got out before we would have liked it, Mitch's intentions were always to catch up with me"

Hahaha Wayne Carey's face is priceless. You can tell he wants to say something he can't. Looks very unhappy that Clark would dare leave Melbourne. Clinton Young is a piece of work. Clark did us a favour by walking away from his contract did he? We payed him handsomely for 12 games and he did us a favour? How about the support we showed him while he was battling depression? Give us a break you scumbag manager.

Dermott Brereton - "Having depression doesn't exonerate you from doing right or wrong"

Being a Melbourne supporter hurts. The trick, my friends, is not minding that it hurts.

and i'm out...

GNF has great sources but his sources may not be fully informed of Mitch's intentions - Mitch or his agent are not his sources... I can see the darkness coming but I won't react until it comes and a few hours later the sun will come up and we will move on again. Never a more resilient club was born on this green earth. Would be nice to get a few things going for us however...

If these rumours are true and Mitch plays with another Melbourne based club next year, then to me that makes him a lying cheating [censored]. As someone who has been suffering from depression for over a decade, you don't just get over it in a few months. It is an ongoing thing that would need to be managed, and if he is now saying he is already ready to enter an AFL environment with all that pressure again, then IMO he is a liar and never even had depression. A good way for him to get out of a contract, Mal Michael style, and just pop up at new club with a new contract. I'll wait and see what happens, but if it's true and he winds up elsewhere, IMO that would make him the biggest dog in the AFL in my lifetime, and a hopeless example of a human being for everyone to see.

No way. Depression is a serious illness. He wouldn't be screwing someone over and getting himself into a contract for Melbourne. Consider the fact that any club that picks him up will only do so after extensive dialogue and a medical - and you have your theory debunked. The way I see it is this. A mate said to me it's all or nothing and I don't disagree. Either Mitch was being truthful all along and will now come back to the Dees, or he saw a way out, ft. payday, and decided he'd pursue his options when he retired. I know I've posted a lot in this thread, but I don't mean to slander the guy yet. It's an emotional issue, from the perspective of a long suffering MFC fan and a sufferer of anxiety and depression independently. In real life, you can't take a severance package on account of depression and then hand pick your new career after breaking a contract in good faith. In real life, and that goes for most of us, you get up and go to work and try and get on with things as best as you can whilst sorting yourself out - often with expensive help. In a footballing sense, Mitch Clark absolutely owes a debt of service to the club. If he was to, as we thought he planned, walk away from the game forever - we move on from what may have been. If this turns out to be a 9 month sabbatical and he goes anywhere else but Melbourne (or Freo, at a stretch) - and I hate to think about the idea of it - then we have been royally shafted. I think Paul Roos and Peter Jackson are far shrewder operators than Schwab/Neeld/Clark/Young and more, so I don't see us being [censored] over, but Mitch is a chance of trying. If what has been suggested - and we need to give MC the benefit of the doubt until we know more - is that he wants to go to a successful club because losing exacerbates the depression then I say get real. Life isn't one big orgy, and you were incredibly fortunate to be paid the amount that you were for doing nothing for over a year. He's simply not cut out for life if that's the case, because it's pure petulance. I feel we will be hearing a lot about this over the next week. Clark has to show his hand soon if he wants to start negotiating a return, because any club who takes him back will be very wary of him. Melbourne also needs to resolve it soon, because the issue was dead until today and we can't afford the negative press. I feel we'll announce something before Roosy gets on 360 and he'll do his thing from there.

In the spirit of transparency and not wishing to mislead fellow posters, I feel obliged to let everyone here know that I'm not actually Ron Burgundy. It's merely the avatar I use on this forum. He is my hero though.

I dont think Roos is ambivalent, I think he is mightily disappointed Mitch is the sort of player virtually any side would scramble to get. I think he is gutted in loosing possibly his best player for a second time, i.e. lost him to retirement to then find there maybe a chance of a return to now find he wants to go somewhere eles. But what can he do about it on national tv that will not either come back on him, the club or mitch. he played it cool as he could. It now about where we go from here, i have to question the depression bit, for a guy who quickly went into depression he seems to have quickly found his way out again as well, and in doing so have negotiated not only a healthy settlement to his multi year contract with the MFC but possibly a nice healthy new contract with another club. Gee things seem to have really worked out well for Mitch and his manager financially. If mitch was really seriously depressed then my deepest apologies to him, but unfortunately the world is full of unscrupulous people/managers who take advantage of other peoples good will and good intentions. I hope this is the former case, but fear it is probably the later.

There have been some pretty disturbing posts across a number of threads in the last couple of days, and none more so than some of the vitriol on this one. As i have posted if Clark goes elsewhere I'll be livid but jeez some of the stuff posted has been beyond the pale. I reckon his manager deserves a whack, talk about incompetent. he could not have handled this any worse - particularly in terms of failing to protect his client (who has experienced mental health issues) from innuendo, damnation and character assassination . All he needed to say was Mitch considering a comeback and will be sitting down in due course with dees to discuss his future. Full stop. Even if MC then decided to move on the story could have been contained and spun in a way where MC didn't come across as a turncoat and the dees could have helped control the narrative. Instead the manager comes on radio saying he is shocked at how it has all gone crazy in the media. Who could have predicted that? What a doofuus. That's who MC should be leaving.

Have the Ox and GNF ever been seen together in the same room? Hmmm.

Demonlanders LETS not abuse Mitch Clark or judge until we have heard from Mitch himself or the club. Lets just keep in cool until we get further understanding on what is going on.

Will still be top 5 at the club if he walked back tomorrow after 2 years out injured. Lets not kid ourselves. Had Clark played this year, we would have won at least 3-4 more matches. He would have made us twice as good. Roos said he was our best player and he was right. If he's fit, and his foot is fine, which by all reports it is, he would be a walk up start at any club and would be a very good player. Of course he is a risk, and depression is not something you just 'get over', but lets not kid ourselves into thinking that he wouldn't be a massive loss if he goes somewhere else.

Seen at Westpac Centre. Whoa real sea change there, nothing says fresh start like a 20 second jog down the street..

Just jumped on this thread. 'Sup? Have I missed anything?

My take is that Roos knows he's gone and is pretty annoyed at how this has all transpired - its ridiculous to think we wouldn't want him if he was right to come back as Roos said he is the best/equal best player on our list! He is also a goal kicker something we clearly lack and can play on the ball. There is clearly more going on than Roos was willing to divulge but after viewing that I'm pretty certain he's gone and not because we don't want him. On another note Frawley is clearly gone and we are heavily into Lumumba, Roos was pretty glowing in his praise of Heritier.

On Harry Lumumba, Robinson asks if Melbourne is "mature enough" to handle him. ME: We're over 150 years old. I think we can handle it.

I wish they would cut to the chase. Who cares about the finals. I want to know what's happening with MC.

Because he's got good sources and this is where Melbourne supporters come to get information? Everyone was hoping he'd comment, given he was the first to make the statement that Clark is a strong chance to return to footy. I'm really confused by why you're confused. His motivation was to keep us informed on a subject we all clearly care a lot about. I'd rather hear what he has to say, then read yet another "Watts sux" thread, or have a thousand posts everytime Damien Berrett says something negative about our club.

I've been avoiding the scores all day so I could watch it when I got home...

- Mahoney has stated publicly that he would hope and expect Mitch to speak to the club directly, meaning he hasn't done so yet. Not exactly an act of diplomacy to come out and make such statements. - Alterations made to his social media pages to remove references to the MFC. - Manager has confirmed he wants to make a return to AFL. MFC never specified. - All media channels reporting that it won't be this club he plays for. You'd have to be a serious optimist to think he will be playing in the red and blue next season.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, let's make judgements once we have all the facts, making decisions based on a muppets guesses (ie Barrett) is pretty silly.

He retired on the 8th of April 2014 and now 5 months later he is back ready to saddle up again. really this needs to be investigated.

It depends on what comes out about the whole saga. I won't boo him if it turns out that Melbourne didn't actually want him and preferred the compo return. If he's just completely stooging us though, I'll cheer with great vigour if he blows out both ACLs against us in front of Section M50 while simultaneously being mauled by an escaped grizzly bear from the circus.

Rubbish. If Clark leaves Melbourne I'll be very unhappy with his behavior, but to claim somebody faked being depressed is to belittle a very serious condition. It is offensive not just to Mitch but anyone who has or knows somebody who has suffered from the condition.

The kids are gonna get the fastest bed time story in recorded history tonight so I can watch this. Also today has been my least productive work day since Roos was appointed.

Abusing him or name calling won't change anything. While I feel gutted and furious that this could all turn out so badly for us as a club, I still believe that Clark deserves to be treated with respect until it is known with 100% certainty that he wants out, and why. I understand that a doctor might tell him that returning to where his depression began might not be the best thing for him. If that's the case, what is MC meant to do? He obviously doesn't want to relaps and that is completely understandable. However, I expect him and his management to treat us with more respect than empty statements and no follow up. And as Redleg said, I expect him to do his best to ensure we get the best deal for us. Going to St Kilda would absolutely screw us to no end, as we have no upper hand, and will also most likely lose Pattrecca in the draft. Double blow. I know that Scott Thompson said to Melbourne that he's open to going to either Adelaide club to ensure we got maximum compensation. I expect Clark to say the same to us. We deserve back the same support and understanding as we've shown to Clark, who has earnt well over a million dollar for playing 12 games.

Guys, really, just showing a pretty poor level of maturity here, without pulling out the "I've gone through this or I have a friend" lines - Mitch was genuinely a very sick person and it still surprises me now after the recent news and education pieces following Robin Williams etc. that people still have this outlook on people that have been ill will depression. I'm right there with everyone that it is painful to imaging Mitch playing in other colours next year but we WILL be compensated in one way or another, lets try and be mature enough to say "it's crap that you're not playing for us any more - but it's good to see that you're well." I've got faith that Roosy and PJ will look after us to get us through.

I'm not sure that people are reading the situation properly and perhaps I'm not either but it's worth considering a few facts which might possibly be related. 1. The club applied very suddenly after the GWS game for draft assistance from the AFL; 2. Paul Roos recently commented in relation to our fortunes over the past season that, among other things, we lost the services of most probably our best player, Mitch Clark, due to unusual and unforeseen circumstances; and 3. At the "Bluey" Night, Roos said we should never look back (or words to that effect). One interpretation of these three points taken together is that perhaps the club has already decided that Clark is not in its plans (either through its own choice, that of Clark or the circumstances where both might have mutually agreed that it's best to part ways), that it wants to move forward and take other options with regard to regenerating its playing list and that it's seeking any draft assistance and possible trade benefits to cover the loss of the player. Anyway, time will tell.

I'm not giving him the benefit of the doubt but I am waiting for something a little more concrete. It's not looking good but I can just as easily get angry in two weeks time as now. I'll happily go into meltdown mode when there is something more definite to go into meltdown over.

Do people really think harassing him via social media is a great idea? It's been 10 hours and people here have wound themselves into a state of paranoia. Just like Frawley, lots of people savaging him before a comment/decision has been made. Calm down, wait for an announcement from his camp. As many rational people on here have already said, there has been no quote from his manager saying it won't be at MFC.