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Kudos to the club. They responded to my email and have arranged for me to have 300 scarves to distribute to students at my school. Thanks to Georgina for making this happen. Time to start converting the kids of East Bentleigh to the MFC.

Buglergate was overblown IMO.

Sorry to disagree with most of you but surely this is a mountain out of a mole hill. A small aside I have the last umpteen scarves hanging in a wardrobe. my wife calls it the "closet of despair" I get a laugh out of it every time she says it

I just spoke with Georgina at the club and fired off the below email to her. Here's hoping for a positive response. Hi Georgina, My name is........ I'm a long time member and player sponsor of the MFC. I'm also a teacher at .......... Primary School in East Bentleigh, a school of over 600 students. I was wondering whether you had any merchandise (E.g. old scarves) that you could donate to our school so that I could use them as gifts for students in order to convert them into MFC supporters? A lot of the students come into prep and have no particular allegiance to any AFL side. What an opportunity to hand them a red and blue scarf and get them following the Dees! Let me know what you think. Kind regards,

Very sad news.I was lucky enough to talk to Tunna over several years at my local licensed grocer before he moved down Hastings way. He was a lovely bloke who was always happy to talk about the Demons. He was modest unassuming and had a wicked dry sense of humour. At times he was quite grumpy but never rude. RLike many from that era he felt that players today were overpaid and spoilt although recognised that times had changed He talked about how happy he was when Melbourne paid his petrol money to drive to training from his teaching job in Ballarat. He talked with reverence about Norm Smith and his love for the man. He talked about his great mate Ronald Dale. He often talked about his hate (perhaps strong dislike is more diplomatic) for Collingwood and Carlton. At the time of our meeting he enjoyed going to the MCG to watch the Demons often with Ron and enjoyed the get togethers with his mates from the glory years. The mateship that survived from those great years was very special. Sad that Geoff did not get to see the rise of the Demons. He was a great fella. T

They tried to give them to charity but they said they weren't that desperate.

Hi guys and gals, My wife and I help out with a few Victorian Rescues, we help case manage and we foster. I know this is not for all but if any could help out in any way, even copying this flyer and posting on their facebook that would be awesome!!! No animals get put down, we foster until adopted. Any more info I'll try and answer any questions you may have. Cheers

Missing Terlich, Riley, Petracca, Hunt, Trengove,, McKenzie ... Cross and Newton were sent indoors by Misson after coming out. Howe and Vince did most stuff today. Mostly drills in their respective groups, again ball movement. We now have a 200cm full back in training, Fitzy trained with defenders, spoke to him, was told last Thursday he was going to be trialled at fullback at Casey, said he enjoyed it, only cocked up once when he went on a good lead, only to remember he was now a defender and his opponent had gone other way. Frost trained with the midfield mostly? JKH issue was an infected cut, he is fine now. Also spoke to Aaron Vandenberg, he agrees he took one bounce too many on the run in for his goal, and shanked the kick, happy to see it go through. Spoke to Brendan McCartney, said Friday was ordinary, only good thing was it showed the players what happens when you don't play as a team, said it was only NAB Challenge, how the team is travelling is something to look at 7 weeks into the season, finds it hilarious the Pies are already being written off. Roos had a good chat to the squad at the beginning, must have gone for five or six minutes, they had a good laugh about something at the end, which is good to see. Pics on Twitter Demonpk Any questions feel free

I dont think essendon are travelling quite as good as they might think !!! All starting to come apart......

As other clubs deal with drug and gambling probes, just be glad the biggest scandal at the MFC at the moment are some scarves thrown in a bin.

This must be close to the most illogical conspiracy theory ever seen on Demonland. And unfortunately I've read more than I care to admit. Unless you're joking?

There probably isn't one single reason for this move. My guess is that firstly they want to see how he goes because he has a lot of attributes that suit a key back, secondly they want to play him on good forwards to show him how to play the position and how hard good forwards work and finally to instil greater intensity into his game. I doubt they've written him off as a forward. It's probably more for his development.

And Clint Bizkit's 'Air Jurrah' t-shirts..

I have had the good fortune to be away for all of the practice matches. I watched the Dogs match on the internet feed and listened to the first quarter of the Dons match. Last night i watched the Freo match and for those who are in deep dispair about the Dons match they should go back and watch it. We were in that match up to our necks against some quality opposition. Indeed but for a clear wrong call on a goal that hit the post, Russians amazing miss and a few holding the ball decisions (which we will learn from) the result would have been a lot closer. Our weakness in the match was our ability to deliver to the forwards and their ability to lead into space and hold the ball. Our issue in the Dogs match was after being dominant in the frist 2 quarters our coaches decided they had a licence to try a few things which didnt work out including changing our midfield set up which allowed the Dogs midfield to get on top. I cant comment on the Dons match but we shouldn't discount the positive aspects of the first 2 matches based on the 3rd alone. Sure we dont have depth or any real A+ stars yet but there are some good signs emerging. We will continue from time to time have a gap between or worst and the best. Garland will not continue to make poor decisions as he gets back into the game. Hogan will learn where to lead to. Viney will not repeat his mistake. We will start to take the game on a bit more as Lumumba and Frost do to greater effect. One thing you can guarantee Roos will be having a discussion with the coaches about what they learned from the practice matches and the same discussion with the players both individually and collectively. I expect we will see the gap between best and worst narrow over the year.

Dam walls in serious damage ... About to crumble ... WADA reports soon ... Sleep well James.

Reckon we have seen close to our starting 22 B: Jetta, McDonald, Garland HB: Salem, Dunn, Grimes C: Lumumba, Tyson, Newton HF: Kennedy-Harris, Pederson, Watts F: Garlett, Hogan, Frost R: Jamar, N Jones, Cross I: Vince, vandenBerg, Viney SUB: Kent Emerg: Howe, Toumpas, M Jones Think only one of Howe and Vince play. They won't risk both players. So I go with the experience and class of Vince. Howe will play one more week then come in. Kent gets a game as the sub. If he had've played one of the last 2 NAB games he is starting. Frost plays as the second ruck and gets subbed off. I don't think the forward experiment will last too long. Pederson plays for Dawes in Rd 1. We will miss him, he is in good form and has had a big PS Bail makes way for JKH, who will come straight back in. I think M Jones will play, but have Vince as the player who takes his spot. We need Viney more as we need the midfield rotations, plus he has been used as a tagger in PS. Toumpas needs confidence in the twos. It won't hurt him. Brayshaw is a massive chance to play rd 1 too. Think they will give him another week or 2 though.

Dishonesty and disloyalty.

Don t worry about Toumpas , Olly Wines is better than Jack Viney by a mile as well.

It was an enjoyable night. Keep an eye out for a new video to be released by the club about our link to the city of Melbourne. Goosebumps stuff. The highlight of the night for me was breaking bread with Chunk. I can now say I've had dinner with a 3 time Bluey winner!

CHIEF executive Peter Jackson says the club's overall aim was to win back respect in 2014 and he believes it can be “satisfied” that it achieved that last year. Speaking at Melbourne’s season launch at the MCG on Monday night, Jackson said the club had done “a complete overall of the club” and it was now “on the right path” even if there was some way to go. “We righted the ship in a financial sense and have built the foundation for a sustainable future,” he said. “We have changed the football department quite dramatically.We have 22 new players, including some exciting talent but also some mature depth. “[We have] a new coaching panel, including the succession plan for Paul Roos – that Paul and the club committed to – through to the appointment of Simon Goodwin. [We have] increased development resources with Brendan McCartney, as well as a much stronger development relationship with Casey Scorpions, through to the appointment of Justin Plapp and Shannon Byrnes.” Jackson said the culture of the club was also making “some real ground”. “I think it’s fair to say that it took most of 2014 for players and staff alike to realise that it will be them that have the greatest impact on the success of this club. Those of you here last year heard Paul Roos say this directly to the players,” he said. “My own view though was that most people in the club, players included, thought Paul was a messiah or saviour and like Moses would somehow perform a miracle like parting the waters. “This is no longer the case – I think we have achieved more on this front since the new football year started in November. Both players and staff alike do fully understand they are the people who will drive success. I see this in the actions and attitudes on a daily basis of everyone around the club.” But Jackson said the club still had some areas it needs to work on. “We still have what I have coined our ‘Petracca moments’ – sorry Christian and I will pay you the royalties from that – but what I mean by that is we do sometimes fall back into a feeling of pessimism when confronted by individual moments of anguish or challenge. We must rid ourselves of these by believing that we are on the right path,” he said. “Being on the right path does not ensure instant success, and it certainly does not mean we won’t have times of challenge or failure to achieve what we hope for. We just need to fight through these moments and keep focused on the journey down the path. “Achieving what we did in 2014 allowed us the freedom to look a bit further into the future. We prepared an initial three-year strategic plan that the board endorsed and the whole club is now focused on.” Jackson said that Melbourne will continually do everything to not compromise the team. “Football success will drive all else. It will drive the number of supporters and members; it will drive increased crowds; it will drive sponsors to be involved with us; it will drive financial success; it will ensure long term sustainability,” he said. “It is not the only strategy we have but right now it is the most important. The rest won’t amount to much if we don’t get football right.” Jackson said it was critical that the club achieves 50,000 members by 2017. “We aim to achieve 50,000 members and 350,000 home game attendees by 2017. Winning football games will help. So will re-connecting with our heartland. We appreciate the support of City of Casey in our fan development and we will continue to work in that region. However we need to balance it up by not forsaking our heartland – those people and families that built this club,” he said. “I am on the record that we have lost a lot of members over recent years because the club on and off the field breached their trust. When that happens, we can’t just wave a magic wand and get them back – we need to win back the trust we lost. I’m sure we have started to do that, but we must improve onfield and start to win football games. They must believe in the future.” Jackson said the club must also know what it stands for as a club. “We have also looked at what we stand for as a club and what our brand should represent to people,” he said. “We have some very strong brand truths – we started the game/wrote the rules, the MCG is our spiritual home, we share the name Melbourne with the city in which play. “We have a great opportunity, provided we are a good football team, to connect strongly with Melbourne and win the hearts and minds of all those who live in Melbourne and those who come to Melbourne. “You will see us position the brand of the club over 2015 to be closer aligned to Melbourne.”

Finally International Rescue have responded I hope they arrive in Thunderbird 2 Always my Favourite mode of transport!!

Paid up Life Member to the site bluey, not hiding behind a nickname. Do you have to have a minimum number of posts before you create a topic?

Number 1 - you obviously agree with my definition of skill set so you can stop harping on about it now. And lets look at the rest. I'm going to enjoy this. Attitude - I agree. Come back from some seriously bad stuff. Good on him for that too. Fitness - being quick over a short distance doesn't mean you are fit. And he is the fastest 200cm player over 3k? Who is his competition? The HMAS Gawn and Jamar? Kicking - it's average. I don't care what the coaches say - they aren't going to say anything else are they? Footy IQ - 10 marks in a game doesn't equal good footy IQ. How many of those were side or back kicks? Laughable comparison here. Handballing - never seen him handball so how would we know? I like how you say he doesn't like it and that's a tick - shouldn't we want to see him enjoy it and play the team game and put others in a better position to score? Tsk, tsk. Physicality - Good on the lead, no good one on one. Marking - again, ok on the lead, no good one on one. Going by your description of him though he should have played every game last year and be one of the best players in the competition.. There is a reason he only played 4.

Fantastic work Tough! I'd like to try and match that but at my school they'd only strangle each other and cause me paperwork. Well done to you!!!

Crouches Tiger, Hidden Dragon?

wow I'll never get that 5 minutes back get a room lads

You would have to think that if there was ever any doubt in anyone's mind that the players were taking banned substances and that there was a systematic/organised off-site program of injections taking place (or a thought that lack of hard evidence could somehow wash), then this must put an end to that doubt.

In recent weeks we have seen the attack dogs of the EFC barking loudly and often, and by attack dogs I mean News LTD. I think that WADA may just have had enough and decided to put these dogs in their place. WADA is running this show, not Essendon, not the AFL and certainly not that pathetic excuse for a news organisation News LTD.

Well, there is another way to look at it... by wearing the scarves, they could feel good about themselves knowing they have been able to help someone worse off than themselves.

Where does this end?! We can't trade them for each other now. Toumpas wasn't a surprise pick, he was taken where he was expected to be. The only purpose any of this serves is for whingers like WYL to fill Demonland with more complaining and ridiculous conspiracy theories. Seeing names like Morton, Scully, and Neeld show up in this thread just shows what a bunch of sooks 'Land has become.

Great work mate! I got our cat from the Cat Protection Society here in Sydney... they do a fantastic job.

All Dazzles post highlighted is that TV considered Toumpas a better choice. If you are alluding to the JR post where he suggested that TV didn't pick Wines because he didn't want someone better than his son...you couldn't possibly be giving that theory oxygen. Patently ridiculous when you consider how many onballers that Viney has put forward to come into the club that could all be seen as competition for JV's place.

I can guarantee you this. I am a teacher at an East Bentleigh school of 600 kids. A lot of kids come into prep having no allegiance to any AFL team. If the grade 6 teacher could flick a heap of them free MFC scarves then I reckon we'd pick up a few supporters out of it. It's a bloody waste!

Thanks for sharing dazz - but I reckon this is a bit of a "no duh" type story. I've never understood why everyone flocked to the conspiracy theory ("Neeld vetoed the decision") when the simplest idea was the most likely: the guy in charge of recruiting picked the more highly rated player to the surprise of absolutely nobody with any credibility.

Ouch. Is he one who doesn't talk to you much?

My support for a player in our colours is not unwavering - we give a contract to perform - I expect a player to perform. I haven't written off Toumpas - but I have seen enough of Wines to know that Toumpas is going to have to perform out of his skin to be half the player - Wines is an out and out gun and Jimmy has a loooong way to go. We have got so many wrong in retrospect. We just need to get some right (where can we get some beforo-spect ?) The one thing the likes of popular picks like Scully, Toumpas, Morton and the like have shown me - the expert watchers are simply working on way too limited information - there is too much growth left in the seedlings when we draft them to have any confidence that the ratings we see every year trotted out by experts will be anywhere near accurate. What I would like to see is where get on the end of a surprise packet !

Umm why did you leave out the final two games of the season? Round 22 - 13 disposals, 7 marks, 2 goals Round 23 - 12 disposals, 4 marks, 2 goals

Follow Melbourne FCVerified account‏@melbournefc PR: what you've got to do is give your footy club hope: whether that's winning a premiership, making the top 8 or just showing improvement. PR: We saw in those 3 games we have the capability to be a very good football team but if we don't do those things, we'll go away from that. PR: Some things just haven't changed in football: the hardest team generally wins, the teams that's toughest and wins the hard ball. PR says successful clubs will have role models that drive the success of the group, that drive the standards and behaviour. PR: Part of a football club is developing players, no matter how long it takes. That's what we're here for as coaches.

Whats the big deal? I throw mine in the bin every year. Usually at the end of Round 1.

Would we? What's wrong with: A) giving them to the homeless/charity B) offering them to volunteers to stitch together, we could do with more red and blue quilts in the crowds come game day C) possibly returning them to the manufacturer for rebranding as 2015 scarves or; D) at very least throwing them in the bin discreetly enough that we don't get caught!!!!

We could knit them together and make a throw rug? Sorry. Throw away line.

Disgraceful. Why not earn some goodwill and get a few players to hand them out to the homeless on weekends? You seriously have to wonder about the people employed in admin.

The original will o' the wisp half forward. In my mind's eye a high, looping punt wobbles through the goals at the city end.

He would be a walk up start. They would have taken him ahead of Frawley if they could.

So, how about that Training Thread eh? Oops!

Should did a little deeper. There might be some blazers under there.

I usually spill more than $250 worth of drinks over a weekend. This is fantastic value. it's like mad Monday but at the START of the year.

Actually I wouldn't mind going. I'll be back on the booze with a terrible thirst so I might knock the fundraising aspect around. Then again .... I'd probably get [censored] and make a [censored] of myself. Mmmm second thoughts needed maybe. I'll see if Biffen can come up with the cash - he's currently running some scam against the health system so he may be good for it.