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I liked your posts better when I had no idea what you were talking about.

The Casey Scorpions have signed Beaconsfield twins Damien and Daniel Johnston who both played representative football with the SENFL this year.

I can gilt-edge, sworn oath, holus bolus, fair dinkum, blood oath guarantee - Robert Flower WAS a superstar!

Yes but the fundamental trademarks of a champion and super star is consistency. Unfortunately it was always flashes of brilliance from Travis.

Profound at times yes. New low.No. Let your high horse relax in the stable and you might enjoy life more. Merry Christmas to you oh enlightened one. Hoping you have a nicer 2016.

Let it go, Jurrah was a disaster. We could have had Rockliff......

I don't need to see Watts crash a pack of spear himself at a ground ball contest because we've got enough of those players. I would however be happy to witness a higher intensity and fierceness shown in his tackling efforts. Some of them have just been plain lame over the years with his general tackling technique poorly executed.

He's the only MFC person in my lifetime who has stood up to the AFL and the power clubs of the game and for that I'll always have a spot in my heart for him. He helped make us relevant and refused to let us be the pushover we have so often been.

Lacking the motivation to go to sleep right now, I had a look on a USB I had sitting around and discovered us vs Collingwood on there. Round 18 that is. It's funny looking back and remembering watching it live. I seem to recall commenting on here about it being a stereotypical Melbourne start to the game. There's a dodgy free kick directly in front of Collingwood's goal to open the scoring. Nathan Jones tries to show leadership by playing on blindly and getting into trouble. Grimes takes a little too long with the ball and winds up kicking it out on the full. Fortunately, this is the incarnation of the Demons that was starting to show that they can hold their own in this weight division and rather than dropping their collective bundle they were able to keep their [censored] together and play like footballers after the first few minutes. I'm quite looking forward to the rest of it.

They usually have the first few sessions at Gosch's apart from the time trial at Princess Park (this could be on any of the first few sessions so check with the club) then move on for a couple of weeks when the tennis kicks up. Last January ran this way and the following week shifted up to the Sunshine Coast.

As a kid I loved Steve Smith..I've always prefered a tough backman over a flashy forward. Matthews.... Great player but a thug. He could have won multliple Brownlows but he was a thug. Some of the thing he did should have seen him in jail. I don't mind biff when 2 guys want to go toe to to toe - happy to do it myself if that is what it takes -, but Matthews was never anything more than a king hit coward

that's the definition of trolling

Tell me why a night GF will be better to watch? Why will the TV stations get higher ratings in the evenings when the city already stops during the day? I do not care about fireworks... those YES arguements are very flimsy...

Tomorrow, December 26, 2015 is the 11th anniversary of the tsunami which hit the shores abutting the Indian Ocean and took the lives of a quarter of a million people. One of its victims was Melbourne defender Troy Broadbridge, a much loved figure at the club, who perished while on his honeymoon in Thailand. Tomorrow, we celebrate his life and his memory ...

Congratulations to the boys on becoming life members.

another amazing night in an amazing season. Gunners smashed, MU chit the bed again(LVG saying he can quit and doesn't need to be sacked), Liverpool bearing a tired L City, Chelski drawing. Massive next few games coming up.

Joe has an appalling business reputation for a good reason. Google any of his companies to fnd out why. Spent millions of other peoples money searching for diamonds because his Rabbi in New York told him where to look. Seriously? Charlatan of the highest order Complete disaster for the MFC. Squealed to the AFL about salary cap breaches hoping for a reduced or zero penalty, The AFL slapped us with fines and draft penalties as well as players receiving tax audits. Did it off his own bat without discussing it at board level. People who think Joe was good for the MFC should learn more about what he did and what he was like.

What does DAMM stand for?

Joe will now be entitled to life membership at MFC now!!!

Can the AFL be banned from there 'own' competition? Maybe they need to be banned as well.

The AFL should definitely be looked at, and their tip off / cover up exposed. Wont happen though. I still haven't read anywhere if essedon itself can be banned from a competition. It's my belief that they should.

Not bad with a little Chianti

Rip to Troy and all the other people lost .

yeah I saw Rance is the new "superstar" obviously not playing the Melb v Richmond game from this year ?

Someone at Fox footy must like really like Richmond with Rance on today that makes 3 supposedly " super " stars that still can't crack a finals win. Over used term today anyways....should just have been a superstars week, far more realistic, At least I know when we get to September our players will actually turn up. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we won a final before Richmond

we've tended to go for the 'flashy' over hard & tough workers at the dees, or have done in the past. lets hope better footy judges will prevail for our futures sakes, & our supporters well-beings.

It's the most I've enjoyed a win in a long time. And what I love most about the Roos era is putting embarrassing records to bed. Adelaide at Adelaide, the Etihad hoodoo, Geelong in itself (let alone at Cardinia Park) and Collingwood. Beating Hawthorn and Norf in 2016 would basically complete the set.

Pretty much right Bob although supporters of Joe would maintain that the practice of rorting the salary cap was widespread and began before Gutnick and Schwab took up their positions and that Joe did a deal which saved us a heftier sanction because we'd been caught with our hands in the cookie jar. I share your confidence about the future. Hopefully, our Chairpersons, Boards and CEOs turn out to be largely anonymous in the future and let our footballers do the talking on the field.

But its ok for him to say i have lost the plot..? Right i see.. Fmd..

As i mentioned we got a DVD made of Robbie Flower from his best years. From his AA days, BnF to his 1987 year which he turned it on. Now i understand there was lack of coverage in football back then compared to now but i honestly don't think its not much difference so say some people who did see him around that time. There is no harm that i have dismissed him in fact i think thats a silly word to use. I have already stated that this was no intention at all to put Robbie Flower down in anyway but in my personal opinion i just though he was just that one step off from being the absolute superstar of the game in the way the likes of Voss, Carey Ablett are spoken about today.

One of the worst posts i have read

Fair enough. You can only judge players against other players from their own era. Flower is named on the wing in every "best of" team of the 1980's and has been named on the wing in some from the 1970's. In my opinion he was without peer as a wingman in his era. He was a better footballer than Keith Greig. Flower kicked 315 goals, Grieg kicked 47. To this day it annoys me that Flower didn't take Greig's place on the wing in the TOC. By the way, I'm not just judging them on goals kicked, but overall skill and ability. You wouldn't see a better mark for their size than Flower. And no-one sold candy like Flower. Craig Bradley, Dipper, Hawkins and others rated him the best they played against. He's not in the same stratosphere as Matthews, Whitten and Carey, but he's definitely worthy of superstar status and sits comfortably alongside anyone the next rung below. Flower wasn't a key forward, so it was virtually impossible to have that type of impact, and we must remember that the game was played differently in those days. It's also worth bearing in mind how hard it is to play in a crap side. It is FAR more difficult. Imagine how Flower would be remembered if he was surrounded by quality for the bulk of his career. Flower and Peter Matera are the two best wingmen I've seen.

Is there an AFL Ethics Committee?? One which can hand out 8 year bans?

A great synopsis of events of the day BB. We have a lot to thank Joe for (I still have my No Merger banner in the garage) as we do Brian Dixon and others. Unfortunately Joe tried to run MFC as his business, never really understanding we are fundamentally a sporting club with need of good business acumen in management. It's a fine and difficult balance to find and maintain but he will still be remembered as a saving grace when we needed one - and he did put his money where his mouth was.

Joe was never one to back away from a battle and it looks like he's going as far as he can with this one. A fascinating character in Melbourne's history. He took the opportunity to lead the fight against the merger in 1996 when approached by Brian Dixon. Whilst the official result voted in favour of the merger many argue there were such anomalies in the count we (Joe) would have challenged it in court had the Hawks not rejected the proposal and saved our bacon. I remember after the vote feeling that Joe had the opportunity to galvanize our club which he did for a time. He appointed Neale Daniher and we had some fantastic times under his leadership but by 2001 with many influential (and normal) supporters and members of his own Board dissatisfied with his leadership it all hit the fan. Joe threatened a spill of the Board mid season but thankfully that was averted and he lost the subsequent election battle with Szondy, who I backed, and who was to turn out to be the worst Chairman in recent times. Joe put a lot of money into the club but sadly his style was confrontational and controversial with his many battles with the AFL doing little to help our cause. He decided to expose our salary cap rorts (overseen by guess who - Cam Schwab) when the AFL had no interest in them causing many to question his motives. He exposed them by getting his own lawyers to audit our payments but the auditors report, as I understand it, was never tabled with the Board and his Board were unaware that he was going to have a news conference exposing the breaches. I think I'm right in saying all this but perhaps either Redleg or WJ would like to comment as I think at the time they were quite close to Joe. Of course it's all water under the bridge but as Whispering Jack has said on so many occasions - if you ignore the lessons of history you are prone to repeat them. I still believe that our greatest failing has been having Chairmen who did not necessarily have MFC as their primary motive for holding the position. Joe arguably led the rest of the field in this respect but he was a larger than life character who certainly made life interesting and promoted our club. Anyway thankfully after many years the AFL has taken control and we have a fantastic CEO and a Board who know their role and I think we can be as confident in our future now as at any time since the AFL was formed.

I am always happy to give him a break. Why? Because he is a good bloke, who tries hard and is a good club man. If he isn't up to it, the way we'd like him to be, he will get repaved when better players take his spot. He isn't commanding crazy high salary. He isn't settong a poor off field example for others. He isn't wasting his talent by not traininf hard or by partying. When Watts stops getting a game this team will have seriously improved. Until then he offers a better on field option than many other available options while at the same time offering off field value. Why the hate?

Bloody hell SWYL. You post some crap sometimes. I wonder why you are a member these days given how unhappy you are with the state of things. I know......It was all Cam's fault

yup, couldn't agree more binman. just pure mean-spirited churlishness

Obviously injuries will be a major factor during the season, but gee Casey should be strong - particularly the backline. I reckon the following will be Casey players: Backline: Grimes, Terlich, Lumumba, Oscar M, Frost, White, Wagner (assuming MFC of Jetta, Dunn, Garland, Salem, Tmac, Melksham) Centre: Trengove (maybe), Michie, ANB, (MFC Stretch, Jones, Vince) Fwds: Weideman, JKH, Pedersen, King, Newton, Hulett, Smith (MFC Petracca, Dawes, Kent, Garlett, Hogan, Watts) Ruck Spencer (MFC Gawn) Mids M Jones, Oliver, Kennedy (vs MFC Tyson, Viney) MFC interchange VdB, Brayshaw, Harmes, one other of Kennedy, Frost, Tengove, ANB etc). Casey probably need a bit more run and goal-kicking, but should be challenging for the flag provided injuries are not too brutal for both MFC/Casey

You can relax now. Jake Lovett has penned a two year deal with the Casey Scorpions. He was the second son of a gun to sign with the club in recent days after Todd Vander Haar. And to top it all off, James Freeman, 189cm (son of former Saint Peter) has also joined the club from the Dandenong Stingrays. He kicked 33 goals in the TAC Cup this year.

Tom Baker ... Doctor Who?