Leaderboard

- Didn't ask for a Priority Pick but "Special Assistance" - Mitch Clark was a huge loss - 10 wins over 3 years - Can't compare the present to the past. It's a new club. New CEO etc - Skill errors = Unbelievable - Couldn't finish off games this year which was disappointing - Frawley gone. Offer on the table for a while, and hasn't accepted. Reasonaby assumption PJ thinks he is gawn. - Culture is better than 2013 from when PJ walked in - We will get compensation that we will deserve for Frawley - We got to re-build the list. 10-12 good young players. We got to rebuild the list and we will. - PJ in discussion with the board about new contract - Informal chats with a couple of assistants regarding the successor position Not much we really didn't know but Hutchy is a total [censored]

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this season. A lot of players missed huge slabs of the preseason before the season proper started, and the only one of them to produce a decent season was Dom Tyson - and his season was an absolute ripper. Losing Clark, Trengove and Hogan was a huge blow and we never recovered. Recruiting of Vince, Tyson, Cross, Salem, Riley and Michie at least made us competitive in most games. The form of Garland, Viney, Watts and Toumpas was embarrassing at times, at least Viney showed some grunt and tackle pressure at times. Toumpas and Viney can be excused for being young at a club that has struggled with player development. Our skills, whether under pressure or free outside, were deflating, embarrassing, hardly VFL standard, and the reason we lost so many games when we were in front during the last quarter. This has to be a major focus of the post-Christmas training. The form of Dunn, N Jones, Pederson, Jetta, Tyson, Cross was our saving grace. Well done to these boys. The enraging footskills of co-captain Grimes who reads the play as well as anyone in the AFL, gets to contests, has courage and leadership, but is a worst turnover king of any player at MFC in my living memory. Might cost him the captaincy in 2015. I love the strength and consistency of the coaching panel. Even when we were losing games we should have won, they did not change their attitude, their public persona, the message... they just kept on with it believing it will work. Gotta applaud that. Loved having Roos as our coach this year, but thought late in the year he used the "this is a damaged group" line too many times and he needs to remove it from his chosen language for 2015. I am disappointed that a succession plan coach has not be named and added. However, this makes me think that MFC have already chosen and signed their candidate, but he is an assistant coach at another club, waiting for season 2014 to be over at his club prior to coming on over. I predicted 4-6 wins, thinking we would get only 1 in first half of season, and a few more in the second half. I was only partly right. I have to admit to feeling very deflated with just 4 wins, knowing we were in front during the last quarter in 10 games. And lastly, having to watch another finals season with Hawthorn and Geelong in it (I can just hear the commentators stiffening up at the prospect) makes me want to throw up. And now, I have the increasing frustration of a growing hatred for North Melbourne who have made finals ahead of us, and whose coach reminds me a of a incompetent, steriodal meerkat - standing up barking rubbish at all and sundry if they come to near "his precious players". I %&@#*& hate this time of year as a Dees follower.

On iphone so apologies for spelling / format * Deserves priority pick with new management, coaches, etc and based on 10 wins in 3 years * Forward with no Hogan or Clark was never expected and hurt - the ability to score * basic skills errors are a big issue * Tyson, Bail, Kent and Jetta have had great seasons * "fair conclusion" that frawley is gone * we have purge the list a fair bit. Got to change the list * expects Jack Watts to stay at Melbourne but no certainties - anything is possible * Jackson will be at Melb for a while - got the sense that will be announced at B & F but likes succession planing * not close to an appointment for assistant but talking - couple in mind and will progress to more formal conversations now that season finishing

Advice for anyone with criticism of Riley. Go home, snap your leg in half, and see how [censored] well you can kick a football in 8 or so months. If that option doesn't sound appealing, shut the [censored] up!

"The initial reports from the scans have shown that his ACL is stable but there is damage to his medial meniscus." From Dees website, so it appears not to be an ACL. But this of course will be confirmed during surgery.

I went last night and can't recall a game where there have been so few Melbourne supporters at the ground. It was a crowd of 17,000 and I reckon at least 15k of them were North fans. Thankfully, the cheersquad was in full voice and flying the red and blue flag. They were sensational, chanting and cheering at the top of their lungs virtually the whole game, not just when we scored. In contrast, North supporters had to be told when to make noise by the scoreboard, which literally carried the message "Make Some Noise" after Kangaroo goals (to the accompaniment of some ridiculous rolling crescendo music). What a lame and artificial gimmick to create atmosphere. Have we really reached that point in the game where we need to be told when to fire up? Anyway, the point of this thread was to acknowledge the awesome work of the Demon Army, faithful to the cause to the very end !

Have heard from someone close to family that they are hopeful that only a clean out will required which sounds more like cartiledge strain to me, however they won't know for sure until tomorrow. Let's hope that's all it is as he'd barely miss pre season if that were the case!

Hoping it's not an ACL but if it is, there's no way known that its career over for Max. He's still young enough and knows what it takes to recover from such an injury. Max Bailey played in a premiership after 3 knee recos and our own Ox won a b & f.

Oh for god's sake. We are not shot, we are not finished, we are not a basket case. We have experienced, successful, insightful, capable people involved at the club, led by Roos and Jackson. It's a process. The year was garbage, but nothing like the garbage of the last few, and heavily compromised by the blight of (serious) injuries to a handful of the key players we needed to help take the off-field work on-field. Add Hogan, Clark, a fit Trengove, full pre-seasons into Kent, Riley, Jamar, Garland, Gawn and Dawes ... oh what might have been. People forget that we started the year with a makeshift forward line, and the only ruck we could get out there was Spencer. I also don't think people should underestimate how catastrophic it was to lose Clark - we'd been without him for so long it's easy to forget, but he was pretty well the one player we had who could have made a difference just being out there.

'Cause that one example is what a contract extension should be based upon. FMD.

I would happily blame Chip for leaving. He has used the line of "I will wait to see the direction of the club" yet has done nothing himself to help move the team forward, instead spending the year treading water. As for the no success line, that is not guaranteed for anyone when they play footy. Gary Ablett Snr., Bob Skilton, Robert Harvey, Robbie Flower, the AFL/VFL road is strewn with some of the greatest players to ever pull on a boot who never experienced the ultimate success, but what set them apart was they never stopped meeting their own high standards and trying to drag their team mates along with them, they didn't cry about it or wait for someone else to put their hand up. The fact of the matter is that Chip and many of his modern contemparies think that football somehow owes them a premiership medal whether they put in the required work both on and off the ground, I manage a staff of about 60 and if any of them put in a shift like he has this season he would be lucky to retain his job much less receive a golden ticket, if his workrate both physically and mentally don't improve markedly he will struggle to cement a place at a top club. If or when this does happen it will reflect how terrible he has been this year when he had such a great opportunity to help lead us forward but decided that would be all to hard. His actions have smacked of someone who wants success but are unwilling to pay the required price.

I don't want Frawley next year. He typifies everything that is wrong eith out culture. His form is inconsistent. He will require overspending. If we got no compensation, I think I'd still hold the same view. I'm actually looking forward to removing one of the key problems with this side.

Today I was lucky enough to be a part of my first ever footy premiership as coach of my son's u14 team. He also took out best player on the day and won the club b and f. An amazing day that I will remember forever. Thanks for listening.

Rory Sloanes 100th was celebrated big time at Upwey Tecoma today. Hardwick and Rory are the only 2 100 game AFL players from there. It would be a big surprise to Rorys mum and dad who just moved to Glenelg beach if he came "home". But I expect this wish to raise its head every year, just shows how good he is and what a F### wan%er big Barry Prendergast was when he promised the family Rory was going to MFC with a late 1st round pick. he took 3 stooges and blatantly lied to a close knit family who were shocked at the time.

Glad to hear hes staying at the MFC long term thats a huge relief

Preseason - No Established AFL player with 50-70 games - No Continuity in the team - No Playing in a competitive team - Mostly No Until at least some of those things are turned to yes it's a bit hard to judge. If he had clean skills he wouldn't have been available for us to poach from Adelaide. He wont ever take a backwards step on the field. That's a start.

So, looking forward... Next year we may well see the debut of a hard-at-it young mid by the name of Harmes, and possibly even a lightning quick winger called Hunt. Both have shown god signs playing for Casey and with the benefit of a full pre-season and a few more kilo's of muscle should be ready to show their stuff. We should also see the debut of an highly anticipated Hulk in round 1. Coupled with this, there is every chance that we'll be seeing the return of a few quality ball-users who have had injury issues his year, so with luck the delivery to Hogan will be better than the crud we saw this year. There will be a number of new faces around the club, hopefully a couple of experienced playmakers to balance the inside mids we seem to have stockpiled. With a bit of luck Salem will have the legs to impact games and JKH will improve on a stellar first season. Let's hope that next year things start to turn a bit more in our favour.

Deadset had a [censored] gutful. The manhandling of our guys that doesn't get paid, the holdng the balls where our bloke gets the footy and tackled while still in the air ( the McDonald one) other times when jetta is tackled as soon as soon as he gets the pill and has no chance of getting it out while basically directly in front. This just deadset pisses me off Yes we've been garbage for some time. It's not our ineptness that is turning me off the game. As a 40 year old who played at various levels for 30 years but the way the way the games officiated and what appears to my eyes as deadset [censored] cheating and deliberate officiating against the club I have ingrained on my DNA that has pushed me away. It's not the carp umpiring tonight - I've come to expect it but it's now a generation worth of it. Someone posted the numbers of frees against us at Perth compared to Melbourne, it happens everywhere against us. And I for one am absolutely [censored] sick of it. The powers that be need to return umpiring desicions to something that should by any means be an even affair and not be deliberately influencing games. \end drunk rant

a well paid senior player in the leadership group waiting to see some improvement? not for me. get me a team player who just wants to get on with it

For risk to reward for us it has to be the form of Tyson. For warming the cockles of my heart it has to be Jetta.

24 hours ago I couldn't wait for this horrible season to end. Now I find myself missing it already. Like most people on this site....I need help!

I didn't see the interview today but I agree 100% CBF. The list/team will take 3 seasons to become competitive and this is being left to the football dept, recruiters and coaching staff. PJ and the Board have quietly and skilfully done work to make the club strong behind the scenes. This is like electrical conduit - it runs underground and no-one sees it but its just is vital. Landing AHG as a sponsor, getting rid of the cronies and chronic MFC hangers-on, and getting seasoned professionals into senior admin roles has been a difficult and important job. Well done to all involved in this herculean task. And I love the silent way they have got this job done. No press statements, no noise, no "look-at-me". They have simply got the job done.

For the record: I always confuse "The Morning After" with "We May Never Love Like This Again".

Regardless of Dawes' behaviour last night, he is still 10 times the leader Frawley will ever be.

Myself and plenty of other MFC diehards will not miss him. When will people realise that 'honourable servants' of this club are not the ones who are going to drag us out of this black hole. Especially those who are supposed leaders. We will continue to be second rate until we have a core group of leaders who share the same philosophies and mindset as players like Jones, Cross and Dawes and have the talent, professionalism and work ethic to match. Frawley has the consciousness of a minnow and those who believe he is any sort of 'loss' to this club still have no idea the kind of club culture we are searching for to improve. And no I don't care what Paul Roos' spits out to the media in regards to the situation. He'd know very well that we're much much better off with the compo pick. Bring on the new breed.

Stevens just said Mitch is in training and his manager said he'd make a decision on a comeback in a month

I think we're all a bit numb after another rubbish season, NSC. I'm going to give it all a break until the trade and draft period. It's been another draining year.

Mitchie and Kent were good tonight. Liked the way Kent looked for an option in the f50 instead of blazing away. Liked the way Kent looked for an option in the f50 instead of blazing away. Said it twice cause he did it twice in the last qrt and congrats Macca for kicking your first two goals.

I should also mention that Michie looks really good. He has a cool head on his shoulders. And that stands out like a beacon in this side. He will be a regular next year, I reckon.

NFI. Roos' philosophy is obviously: keep the hard working honest triers with poor skills, get rid of lazy supposedly-skilful no-hopers, and bring in skilful kids, but tell them they won't get a game unless they work as hard as the hard working hacks. Bail, Riley, Terlich et al will get games until skilful kids replace them by showing they'll work just as hard.

Pig dog is my fav new player, if you where watching the game you will he has such a big heart he got so many free kicks. wow I loved how he put his body on the line.. He has a style about him that reminds me of grinter. I think with another year under roos he could be one of our best players.. Pig dog is part of our future, if you can't see you are complete bline!! In fact I thought he was in our top five tonight and part of the reason we where competitive. Finally I would like to say what a great decision by our management for resigning him, and I can tell you that our management know alot more about football than the person that started this pathetic thread. Kind regards Donny .

Is it just me, or does anyone else really, really, REALLY want to punch Ben Brown in the face?

would just be our luck (and his) that its an ACL How many blows can this club take?

i think you spelt Mourning wrong

The update is that Jake Lovett is playing for the Stingrays. He's been out with a foot injury but made a successful comeback with his local side last week and was picked today as an interchange. He's a bottom ager which means he's not eligible to be drafted until next year. 2014 TAC Cup 2014 Western Jets 1.2.8 5.6.36 7.8.50 10.11.71 Dandenong Stingrays 4.3.27 7.4.46 9.7.61 13.8.86 Goals Western Jets Manivong Menadue Payne 2 Coletta Holdsworth Spiteri Viola Dandenong Stingrays Weitering 3 Tomkins Wilson 2 Capiron Dale Gray Lamb Mullane Williams Best Western Jets Menadue Monk Viojo Duggan Carter Myers Dandenong Stingrays Moloney Harnett Mullane Kempster Weitering Pawel

Thing is he will try his arse off at his new club, that's what makes it worse.

Chipper was a complete liability last night Absolutley didnt care and played lazy rubbish football Let him go and become somebody elses problem

I'm not sure how AFL fans and media can just brush off talks of other clubs offering Frawley or any other free agent deals before free agency begins as though it's not a big deal. It's probably just scuttlebutt and maybe they haven't spoken to him, but if they have, it's tampering and any club guilty of this should be stripped of draft picks and fined heavily, and player and manager suspended. Chip appears from the other side of the fence to have ambled through much of this season as though his mind is elsewhere. The solution clearly isn't in the idiotic NRL method of having someone still run around in your colours after committing to someone else for the next season. The current system needs to be policed heavily and if that means someone gets an enormous paddling on the backside to set an example to the rest of the league then so be it. Of course, unless we are the first ones to stuff it up blatantly, then just give us a small fine.

I felt tonight was a bit like an apology. Sorry for all the stupid [censored] up holding the ball (etc) decisions through the season, here's an 'in the back' for ya champ. But still those HTB calls were horrendous. Felt like TMac should have let the umpire have it, and he almost did. I mean he'd already made it a certain goal with the 50, make it count, make a point of telling this clown how [censored] wrong he was. All of those decisions throughout the year were disgraceful, but that's not what pisses me off the most. What I find completely out of control is how we're called to play on after a mark if we even look sideways. WTF? Every other team is allowed to look around and take a step or two off the mark for an option, not us. If we look sideways it's [censored] play on. Umpires G&GF

Not currently worth his price tag.... But no doubt will perform well in a top 4 team........ Free agency hey....this competition is turning into a EPl were only 4-6 teams will win flags as they will raid the best players.... I guess that's the even competition the Afl are talking about!

He was better today than he has been in a long time. Plenty of ball, did some damage with it, took players on with his pace and I think he even tried to put a block on at one point. Of course, he was also [censored]-poor whenever someone put a hand on him, but it was still an improvement.

Accusing players of being scared on a forum like this is out of order. Thread closed.

Matt Jones sums this club up at the moment. The bloke runs hard to position, has a good turn of pace and can find the football. And then he either drops it, kicks it to the opposition or misses a handball from 2 metres away. The sooner we get rid of those types, and there are many, only then will we begin to turn the corner.

But I'm looking forward to next year!

Please stop making threads.

Rather have to be teaching disposal than teaching intent and hardness at the ball. He'll learn, even if that just means learning to keep it simple and not do anything fancy.

Well Demonlanders thanks for the fun over the season. I have a confession I am not a MFC supporter (but I do own a membership). I admire you lot as you have passion and it must be difficult to support them. but you keep each other sane by venting here. Probably suggest you don't attack each other so much. I will be back supporting Cross and Michie next year. Hopefully there is some good recruiting over the lay off and you get some games worthy of your support. Love this forum and wish you all the best until next season. Cheers

What, and miss the best part of the season?

And I am outta here......

I think I speak on behalf of everyone when I say: thank heavens it's over.