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Nothing to do with our training, but it was nice to see that Roughead is back training with the Dorks...hopefully that is an indication that he is winning his health battle.

Two kids from the AFL academy I assume (don't look like Casey players). 1 in rehab wearing 31, the other in the main group wearing the vacant 8. King, Viney, T Mac (in compression socks and shorts), Wagner, Hannan, Vanders, JKH, Pedersen, Flippers, Trengove, Maynard, unknown 31 in rehab. Lewis back in the main group. Hogan on deck

Yay. Wish that would happen. [censored] the [censored]'s ego. Is there a more repulsive person on television? Heard him somewhere recently (think on radio, talking to Steve Price, so I know, my fault, self-inlicted wound) talking about Barack Obama - and my god, the bile Newman spewed - going on about how Obama was destroying America - and yet if you'd asked him for the slightest detail about which aspect of Obama's policy he was referring to, the pig-ignorant, plasticated fool wouldn't have known - it was just unadulterated racism - and then I remember reading last year that he'd renewed his contract with Channel 9 - for a million bucks a year - jesus - and i thought about my father, who had just died - he was a very humble working man who never had two sticks to rub together but who'd flown in Beaufort bombers against the Japanese in the Second World War and always told us as kids how important it was that we work to establish friendships with our Asian neighbours, and how kind he'd been to my Asian friends in his later years - and i thought the world is a rather upside-down place

Split in to forwards, mids, backs now. Petracca, Harmes, Ben Ken fwd. Salem, Melk, Lewis in the mids. Vince with the backs. Spencer held his own against Gawn in throw ins. Clarry went over to the physios with what looked like a sore hip flexor. Now jogging laps at various speeds. Must be something preexisting because I'm surprised given his grimacing they didn't just shut him down for the day

I'm not an expert on the workings of AFL contracts but: He could turn up, go through the motions at training, play at Casey and collect a full wage. Or he could turn up, take a bump in the first training session or VFL game and probably collect injury payments for the rest of the year and an injury settlement as well, we can't exactly say he doesn't have concussion now. And whether he has a case or not he could file some sort of grievance about the performance based aspect of his contract and how missing games affected that. Paying Lumumba a percentage of his yearly salary to go away sounds like the best of the bad options. A sad end but seemingly necessary. AFL players must get good protection within their contracts which is probably fair enough because once the contracts are finished the get very little.

Read the first post in this thread, and the riddle will be revealed...

New Category B Japanese rookie. Although I might be wrong.

With Brayshaw out of the picture we'll never again get to see that hilarious clip of Garry Lyon being carried off on a stretcher. My god, what a side splitter. And then we'll never see it repeated. And then we'll never see it repeated a few second after that. And then a few seconds after that. And then a few seconds after that. And then 5 minutes later. And then a few seconds after that. And then a few seconds after that. I'm shaking just thinking about it!!!

You won’t see Lumumba play again. Club is working on an injury settlement that suits both parties. It will free up a spot on the list for a rookie upgrade. It’s between Joel Smith and Tim Smith at this stage.

Surely Max is one of the big stories of 2016 for the Melbourne Football Club? With his knee reconstructions and other injuries, it took him a long time to become an overnight sensation but that's exactly what he became in 2016. Of course, I could be biased because I happen to be one of his sponsors and have been from the very get go after he was drafted. I even went out to Casey Fields to watch him play in his first game on comeback from his first ACL sustained in a TAC Cup game in 2009. Here's my picture as proof:- He's come a long way since then culminating in selection as 2016 All Australian ruckman and becoming a very popular and polished media personality to boot. Not many people know about his coaching prowess but I can tell you that whilst recovering from injury, Max took up coaching and during 2014 and 2015 he co-coached Ormond's Under 16 and 17s where he had under his wing a young convert from basketball in Lachlan Filipovic who moved on to the Sandy Dragons this year and was drafted as a rookie to Melbourne last Monday. Max also did some ruck coaching with him whilst at the Dragons. I also have a little anecdote about Max's coaching. As his sponsor, I invited him to a training session at my grandson's Under 12 team on the eve of the finals. The coaches were a bit wary at first thinking an AFL player might be a bit of a distraction on the eve of their first finals game but they were gobsmacked when he took over the training drills and ran them like a professional. He had the team and members of some of the other teams training that night, eating out of his hands. The boys won their final easily and needless to say, our ruckmen dominated (unfortunately, the lost narrowly in the grannie). Anyway you look at it, Max is a real gem and one of our big stories for 2016.

27,914 We're pretty much on last year's tally for 1st week of Feb. At this rate we should certainly crack 30,000 prior to Christmas. Based on previous years rates of increase we are definitely going to crack 40000 this year and should be looking at somewhere around 43,000 or more.

Is that show still on?

Intelligence and the Footy Show are oxymoronic.

Reading between the lines - and taking into consideration the pride of the man - I reckon all was sweet until someone told him , truthfully, that he wasn't a lock-in to our best 22. Confronted by this he worked out that his contract might not be renewed for 2018. All of a sudden he's confronted with a season in the VFL -and the end of his career " Hang on - I'm a Premiership player and I came to this club as a leader. Now -your telling me I might be washed up.... that's not what we planned when I signed up ..." He's a sensitive man - and he might have found this reality difficult to deal with. The unfortunate thing about this is that his status stayed in limbo- and didn't become an issue until the list management plan had been finalised This should have been sorted in September/October - so that even if we had to absorb a payout we would have had the extra slot on our list to play with. Prior to locking away Hibberd did we see the Prince as an important part of our defence? If not - then we should have given him a reality check long ago. I saw him at the VFL GF telling a few fans that he was looking forward to 2017. Whatever changed was nothing to do with concussion!

Indeed. I think most posters agree that we are a bit light on with outside mids. If Salem is able to deliver on his potential then we will all be very happy. Also, Melkshem reported on Melbournefc.com.au that he was told when joining the club that he would be playing off half back but now is training as a mid. Lewis will also be adding to our outside mid arsenal and I am predicting Stretch will make great progress this year. All of a sudden we are starting to look a lot better in this area.

Worth reading just for the bit I have bolded.

Whatever, he will be more useful than he whom he replaces ☹️️

Brayshaws presence was not the high point of that show. He is the sycophants sycophant. He was only there to laugh at Billy Brownless, roll his eyes after any reference to North Melbourne, say Nicky Dal at any opportunity and rub his hands together at the start of the show. Tasks he managed to master. He's run out of ideas now.

Two AFL academy guys for next 2 weeks, one in 31 and the other wearing 8, the one in 31 is from Stingrays, one of Stingrays coaches also in attendance Could only stay for an hour so took photos Only piece of information, Filipovic has been given the nickname Flipper, not impressed, hoping it will evolve overtime The bits I watched, Hogan and Watts outstanding again, this is getting wonderfully monotonous, Lewis with main group, Tommy Mac got dressed in the dark

Care factor on this is zero as I can't remember the last time I watched that dreadful programme, however, Brayshaw added absolutely nothing to nine's already very ordinary cricket commentary team so I am not surprised. Interesting to note that the Herald-Sin rated this story as worthy of front page headline and a page 3 story. FMD!!!

At this point they should just bring back Ed and Trevor Marmalade for a farewell season and then just salvage the whole set (and/or its hosts) for glue.

Must have been caught reading a book to get turfed out of the team. I am curious to know what he has done apart from being his usual obnoxious self.

Brayshaw has obviously upset somebody - off the cricket and now the footy show. Not good for your self esteem to be replaced by the moronic Hutchy. Even more reason not to watch it.

I know a lot of people are really positive about them but i think that in a couple of years time they will be seen very differently, i don't think they have enough top end talent compared to the other young sides coming up and they are relying way to much on the older guys to hold things together. i can see them being a North Melbourne, consistent finals but not really getting close to a flag

Classic

Just a comment on the non preferred kicking drill, seems to happen every session now, Hogan is one of the better exponents, looks at ease on both It is getting better, they even have a drill where they receive a kick with back to goal and have to turn left or right and kick with non preferred to player running wide, a few wayward and ground balls, I nearly wore Sam Frost coming straight at me, he decided to leave ball and avoid fence, I reckon Goodwin will have a team who can kick and properly by April They are also doing a lot of agility work, seems to be get it out of the traffic and run Forest run, Salem got a huge pat on the back from Macca for just hitting a dropped ball forward into the path of a player running past, instead of stopping and trying to pick it up

These things are always more complicated than they seem on the surface particularly with legal ramifications involved. Sometimes in organisations it is best to act quickly and decisively to remove the problem before it affects others. It seems that no good can come from letting this situation go for too long. Easier said than done but I hope the club is working to cast HL adrift as soon as possible so that all can move on.

Agreed, I decided many years ago that watching the footy show was a poor reflection on me. Life was too short to watch such infantile pathetic drivel. Hopefully, the death rattle has sounded for this show. It is well passed its use by date and should be guillotined as soon as possible. And Sam should be first cab off the rank..

Was he sponsored by Western Star?

His schtick comes straight from 1984. Not the book - the year.

Tom McDonald looks like a mix between Jason McCartney in his final game and Bad Grandpa. Fakemumba 8 is a tall athletic lad. Dec Keilty is a surprise contender for worst tattoo. He also has unusual long arms. main drill split in to 4 groups for keepings off. 2 kicking. 2 handballing. Kicking, bag tackling and other skills stuff for the rehab group

Listeners to his Sounding Board podcast will know the real Hutchy does appear to be a understandingly flawed person, a loyal friend, a cunning and eager businessman and a savvy media mind. The footy classified Hutchy is largely an act and he suffered this year from no Garry Lyon and Lloyd battling along in the 4th chair. He could do well on the footy show. Bec Maddern has proven herself to be a pretty decent host. The issue with the show is that it's Sam Newman's show. Everything revolves around him. And he hasn't changed his act in 20 years and it's more than worn thin with most of the viewers. Given that he's the centre of the show, the show also has struggled to adapt to the change in AFL media circumstances and technology. There's no need to watch the footy show for the teams anymore. There's little need to watch it for news or opinion on footy stories besides the occasional interesting Damo news break. If I were in charge I'd probably just carry on with Sam as the show whilst enough idiots watched it but it must be getting close to having to really reinvent itself and not just shuffle hosts in around Sam.

Now, if they just got rid of Sam...

Thanks Wisey B.

Who could forget?

Good to see the mods on top of all the bickering and derailing. Or does it only apply to some? Thanks for the reports and insights.

To borrow from a golfing analogy, while there are some good swing plane fundamentals that most good golfers try to adhere to, there have been some very good golfers with some pretty ugly off-plane swings. Jim Furyk has won 17 PGA Tour events and a US Open with a loopy swing that is almost vertical at the top. You wouldn't teach his swing to a beginner. David Duval was known as "Duval the Shovel" but got to World No. 1. Craig Parry was famously ribbed as having the swing of an 18-handicapper. However, at the critical point of impact, all were on-plane and powerful. Similarly, the trajectory of a football depends solely on what is happening at the point of impact with the boot. What happens in the run-up is not necessarily material to that impact. That is not to say you can't improve impact by improving the fundamentals of your run-up, which might well be the case with Hogan, but if the ball is sailing through the goals long and straight then the point of impact is fine (Kennedy). Hopping, skipping, twitching and stuttering can be irrelevant to the actual impact of the kick. More than a few very good golfers have ruined their game by mucking around too much with their swings (e.g. Woods, Baker-Finch) and therefore mucking around with their heads.

Easy, I know all and am always right.

Have you forgotten the Roman sandal and that great current language, Latin.

Little you know Moonie! What about those very smart off the shoulder dresses the blokes used to wear? Tugas I believe they were called.

Could not agree more - after the first couple of years, the show seemed to pride itself on being boorish, mundane and dull. To now recruit a balding sock puppet like Hutchison surely suggests the end is nigh.

Not a great Footy Show fan, but when I do watch it, I thought Rebecca Maddern and Brayshaw were ok together. But to replace him with Hutchison!?!? A surly, sefl-inflated grand stander who likes to take a contrary position on most subjects to make him look intelligent (which never works) and who does not let co-hosts finish their sentences because he has another pearl of wisdom to share or another contrary statement to make. The worst footy person on TV, and that is a huge statement considering some of the gits who get given air time. Nothing of substance holding the Footy Show together now. The bell is now tolling...

Bah! ...What have the Romans ever done for civilisation?

Oh no!!! Now we won't hear James say " Nicky Dal this Nicky Dal that " any more. Now I'm really upset !!!

Melbourne will be a whole lot better when we have a world class population, say 15,000,000. And the sooner the better!!! Heck, São Paolo is the most populous city in the Southern Hemisphere. We can easily surpass them if we try a bit harder. We will all be better off if that happens. I have 50 square metres available in my back yard. More than enough room for 4 triple story town houses. Think how much money I can make doing that. Let's build a mass of apartment towers on the land currently occupied by the Botanic Gardens. It's only a miserable collection of old trees!!! Who needs them when there's money to be made building lovely housing close to the city?? I'll shut up now. It's time to take my medication. And write to my friends in Rome and tell them how liveable and fabulous Melbourne is.

It isn't easy to hit the side of a door, it is much easier to hit the side of a barn, which of course some players can't either.

Essentially he dropped from 62% in '15 (which was better than Watts that year) to 49% this year, only marginally better than Daniher. However stats only paint half the picture. His head space was visibly affected for most of the year, be it contract issues or normal second year blues. He dropped his bundle in a few games and missed some serious sodas but in my opinion to his credit he attempted to influence the game by aiming for goal assists in those same games once he realised his eye was out. He is a serious confidence player, uses a lot of passion out there which will make him a weapon in big games. In the mean time the coaching staff need to work with what we have and develop his mental maturity to get him to that Nick Riewoldt level where he never believes he is beaten and can ignite into a game after 3 poor quarters to still turn a game.