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So, I finished University last spring and moved to a different state. The address from my 2013 club membership was for my university dormitory. I haven't ordered anything and haven't renewed my membership yet so I hadn't got around to updating it yet. Well last week, I got a call from the dormitory I lived in saying i'd received a package from Australia. I argued with them for 10 minutes trying to get them to forward it to me. But apparently the school is run by idiots and they wanted me to come in person and show ID to get it. So I said i'd try and work out coming down over the weekend to get it. But plans fell through. I called my old school to try and work something out. Turns out they'd all ready returned it to sender, last week. So I emailed the club and told them the situation, and asked if they could forward it to me and that I would be more than willing to pay the shipping costs. I got a reply today. They said that they wanted to send me a little something for my continued support from the states. (I'm assuming it's stemming from a blog post I wrote a few months ago that eventually got retweeted by the Demons.) Then she said they club will pay the additional shipping costs and will notify me when it ships out after they get it. This is about the third amazing experience i've had with the staff of the club. I've heard about five stories from other people who have all had great experiences with the Demons front office. I know we've been [censored] on the field for the past few years, but the way they have treated me, has earned them a life long member.

A recent Trade Week Management Meeting

Thats amazing. I was blown away when I made my first post on here last summer about how they sent me an autographed team photo. There were a handful of stories about how great the club is to members .My favorite might have been on another website but it sent chills down my spine. This woman was visiting her sister in Australia. She was from Switzerland. She wanted to go to an AFL game, just to see the spectacle but knew nothing about the game. Her sister couldn't go with her so she ended up just going to the G alone. In between quarters she had gone to get a drink or something and got lost. A tall man in a suit walked up and asked if she needed help. She explained that she needed help finding her seat, and then said how she didn't understand the game or what was going on. The tall man in a suit was Jim Stynes. He invited her to sit with him in his box. Explained the game to her. And then after the game ended he took her down to the club store and bought her some merchandise.

at both clubs, MFC when he arrives and Carlton when he leaves.

I just saw Brisbane list manager Rob Kerr chatting with Tim Harrington in Gloria Jeans, Docklands. Got excited then I realised Harrington has left the club.

The operating table, presumably? His shoulders are shot.

As a club we have worried about perception for far too long. If we pick a talent at 2 then great. If those experienced bodies have to wait a year. Then that is fine. If Frawley decides to leave, we will make him rue the decision and move on. I don't care if we don't get respect or things don't go exactly to plan, just develop a backbone and some ruthlessness and make some good decisions.

I'm going to go ahead and pretend I didn't read this. I'd like to live in fantasy-land a while longer. It's nice over here.

I'd have a talk to Frawley if I was Roos and ask him what his long term plans were. If Chip want's to go next year then why not trade him this year and what better way to find out than to ask him.

That's not a fair comparison at all. Frawley is a gun, the best defender we've had in a long, long time and one of the best full backs in the league. Colin was an underachiever, though a solid contributor the last couple of years. No one will be saying we should have traded Frawley because he will be signing an extension in the next year, no doubt.

If a post finishes with'more to come' or 'watch this space' you know it means business..

Probably not the reality bus though.

we are in a win- win situation really: Win 1. Use pick 2 on a star/rising star a la Rockliff etc. OR Win 2. Pick the best young midfielder in the country through the draft. Happy days i say.

Viv Michie is about to sign with us! Will be announced in the next couple of days

The post about Fitzpatrick being a better mid than Fyfe and Judd already has

This year on the radio I heard Col best summed up by Leigh Mathews - I thought at the time it was great insight. Lethal said Col would never be an elite footballer as his size didn't match his abilities - and he didn't have a natural position. Said he was a natural leading key forward but was 10 cm to short to hold down this position. However had the body size and foot skills of a midfielder but didn't have the peripheral vision, clearance ability in close or tank to mix it in midfield. Though Lethal was spot on - therefore, think he'll be handy on a fwd flank for Freo but not move into the category of elite AFL footballers.

agreed - but doesnt it strike you as odd that not one journo has asked the question " with the uncertainty surrounding Essendon players, will you consider trading for them ?"

Until the players have infraction notices (or told there will be none) by Asada , high risk recruiting them imho

Except for Brisbane who get raped

Has fallen out with Mick. I'm thinking Roosy can turn him around and make him the player he can be. Better option than Heath Shaw.

Or they can all jump on Nathan Jones' back - he's had some experience at carrying 21 blokes at a time.

Like Song Formerly Known As, I know in my heart that we won't get either of these, but I enjoy the titillation of reading this stuff on the forums. *snigger*. Titillation.

Source is a family member

Boo hoo. He has left, and he may bring more in leaving than he would have in his last three years.

Sadly, we remain hoisted to this day almost 50 years later. The old school tie, the hushed tones and plotting in the gentlemens clubs and the born to rule attitudes that won't accept others in control of the place. I was once told by someone who was close to the club at the time that Norm Smith was sacked because "they" didn't like the way he ate his peas and potatoes with his fork. At the time, I was incredulous. Today, I'm a believer.

There are many mythologies perpetuated on this site. The current trending topic (in the wake of Sylvia's departure) is us not being able to hang on to senior experience. This post is an attempt to set the record straight for the bunch of posters who are making emotive statements that are perhaps not based on actually looking at the facts. Here is a look at our departures since 2006 (end of Daniher era). I'm only considering players that were regulars for several years (not fringers), and/or actually functioned somewhere else after they left us - not the plethora of Isaac Weetras we have gone through... also I'm not talking about anyone that came to the club from 2010 onwards b/c we are talking about senior players here (eg. minimum 6th season in 2014). Scully is not considered because a)he left under special circumstances, b ) we were very well compensated and c)he is not in the above stated age bracket NATURALLY RETIRED Neitz, Brown, White, Yze, Robertson, Whelan, Green, Davey, Bartram, Bizzell, Holland, Ward, Godfrey, Wheatley, Nicholson, Warnock, Jurrah(!) MOVED ON PERHAPS A YEAR EARLY McDonald, Bruce, Miller TRADED/DELISTED TO OTHER CLUBS Johnstone, Moloney, Rivers, Sylvia, McLean, Petterd, Martin, Morton, Bennell STILL HERE Jamar, Garland, Dunn, Frawley, Grimes, Jones, Clark, Dawes Watts, Blease, McKenzie, Strauss, Jetta, Spencer (this group will be 23/24 years old in 2014.. I know not really 'seniors') Now the only categories of concern to this discussion are MOVED ON PERHAPS A YEAR EARLY and TRADED/DELISTED (these are supposedly our 'lost seniors'). Now ask yourself how many of those players you would consider to be assets for the club moving forward - the answer for mine is only Moloney, Rivers, Sylvia, McLean.. all of whom will be aged 28-30 next season. Don't forget we also got pick11 for McLean and probably pick19-ish for Sylvia (the fact we misused that pick11 is irrelevant to this discussion). Compare that to the STILL HERE list, the players that have NOT left us. Of importance is Clark and Dawes, who are genuine senior assets that have actually arrived at the club in this period. so I'm saying in eight draft/trade periods we have lost a total of FOUR senior players that might be of value to us for 2014 onwards, two of them for good draft picks. These four might have a combined total of ten years of footy left in them. Meanwhile we kept a good dozen others on the list as senior players going forward, including the addition of Dawes and Clark. You could say it is Moloney, Rivers, Sylvia and McLean in exchange for Pick11, Pick19, Clark and Dawes. The reality of the situation you will find is vastly less disastrous than some here would have us believe.

We are interested in Yarran.

Shane Savage is looking to move out of Hawthorn.. 22 Year old. Inject straight into our midfield! Get him i reckon!

I just use demonland as my "I have heard a rumour" source. I then tell mates and people IRL... occasionally makes me sound like I have 'inside knowledge'. So no pressure guys and gals, but I need some more good oil... stop feeding me the carp

Terrible shame Colin.Anyway, I'm due for my Elevenses at the club and I will discuss this further behind closed doors. As long as the boys hit the track by early February we will muddle our way through another season and do the best we can. Cheery pip old egg!

That was then, this is now. Melbourne is no longer an upper-crust, private boys club. One look at the grammatical errors and the phrasing from some of our contributors shows that there are many people with state school education or worse, tech school, getting around in Melbourne colours. The question is how did these plebs ever get a membership and why weren't they blackballed? The gradual relaxation means that now even a factory worker can get a Melbourne membership and we have lost our appeal to the would-be social climbing downhill skiing set. Where once we had doctors playing for us in the ruck, I have noticed several people in the stands who were possibly not even born in Australia, let alone South Yarra, our recruitment zone. If we are going to run down the path of acceptance, eventually we will have to accept a lower class of member, perhaps even New Zealanders. It is part of the inevitable push to professionalism and we must begin to embrace it in the next fifty or so years as we consider the change. I am as appalled as all of you that the most important thing in the world, tradition is being compromised by that terrible quest for success that the aspirational lust after so vulgarly. We must put a stop to it and simply do nothing, as we have always done.

Or someone 'high up in the Club' is a euphemism for 'I'm at the TAB with my mates, having a bet on Dapto dogs, having a frothy, and I have no idea.'

Olisik posted: Fitzy and pick 2 for Fyfe. Similair deal as the juddy one without visy involved. You replied: No, no, no That is way over the top. Fyfe isn't that good. Fitzy will be better than any of them, and be a gun in the midfield - mark my words.

It's bliss given what we've all been through.

Rohan Bail is a decent young man. If I was his GP I'd tell him to quit now. Another blow to the head and we have the Danial Bell problem all over again.

I don't think a day is allowed to go by without someone at Melbourne announcing that the club is likely to trade selection two in the upcoming trade period. In fact, it's getting to the stage where it's downright embarrassing to hear the trade pick two mantra from our officials because it sounds very much as if we're inviting all comers to make us an offer and nobody's biting. I know the official trades haven't started yet but I hope we have somebody or something lined up because, notwithstanding that the second pick will get us a very good player, we're going to look fairly incompetent if we come up with nothing during the trade period after so heavily promoting this idea.

If we got Mitch Clark for pick 12 imagine what we could get for pick 2.

So I'm the only person not picking KC? If we lose, I blame you all. Actually, Tennessee have started really well. I know they have the hurt Locker situation, but Fitzpatrick and Buffalo have had some success against us the past couple of seasons. Mind you, every man and his dog had their way with us the past couple of seasons I suppose. Hopefully Dallas can do the job on Denver but I fear it could get ugly. It pains me to say but Denver look a cut above most teams thus far. It's four games in, we are undefeated, but realistically we are playing for the wildcard. It'll be interesting to see how they fare against really good defences the rest of the way and not the playoffs. Great D often has a way of beating great O when the big games arrive. Anyway, it will be good to have buffalo and Cleveland on tomorrow. I like to get a glimpse of all the teams rather than just the same ones every week.

I hope we don't use pick 2 and turn it into two average players. I would rather we used it to get a really good mid and used our second rounders for the roll types. Otherwise we should keep pick 2 for the draft. Don't dilute it by going for quantity.

Im not so sure they are so brilliantly run anymore. Time will tell but I think some wheels re wobbling.

And in my opinion that didn't actually happen. I think you have no information and are just an attention seeker. You relayed a rumour and, after a positive reaction, you are trying to keep riding that wave of self worth. But you have nothing and your rumours are getting worse and worse as you try to scrape the barrel of attention. Hey, don't shoot the messenger.

Sydney operate the way I want my club to.

Roos said on the news I watched earlier that "Colin has done the best thing for himself." Whilst he made it sound a sincere remark, I also believe it was double-edged.

i'm sure somebody has said it already.. but 10 seasons his best finishes in the B+F were 5th,5th,6th and 10th. Hardly stellar in a team that has been shizen the last seven years

I find it impossible to believe Rockcliff is on the market. He is contracted and there is not a pray in heaven chance the Lions would want to do anything but keep him. My Little Bro ( Bris fanatic )laughed for five minutes when I mentioned the rumours. Said something about letting go of my d...

I'm usually on the sauce!

Pick 21 would be an excellent result, perhaps better than we would get in a trade.

See ya Col. Thanks for the good times. ( None really stick out atm) Good luck hanging out with the mafia over there and frequenting the same two nightclubs. Hope you can get a game with the Wanchors.

This is a load of rubbish. If I was to post a link to a video that a friend of mine sent me, and that video happened to be of 3 naked people beating a child with a corpse, what do you think would happen to me? What would the reaction be? By passing on the information (the 'message') you have made a conscious decision to do so. If people tell you that your rumours are rubbish and that you are a tool for posting them, then they are completely within their rights to do so. By doing the sort of stuff you have been doing, you invite scorn upon yourself. This is a community of people. I will treat everyone with respect until I deem them not worthy of respect, and this is the same online and in the physical world. If you're a tool, you'll be treated as if you're a tool.