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He can get my details from Optus like everyone else.

The coaches have voted Oliver the best player in the league the past two years running. No other player has achieved that feat since Gary Ablett Jnr in the late 2000s. Cripps has never won this award. The coaches are more knowledgeable about the game than any media personality or umpire. They know what roles a player has been asked to perform and the true value of their effort, output and impact on the game. I trust their view above all others. Oliver is the best player in the league. It's scary he's somehow still got more improvement in his game. If he adds consistent goal scoring to his repertoire, he could reach the Ablett Jnr, Dusty, Judd levels and be considered one of the best players in the AFL this century. Cripps may have (wrongly) won the Brownlow medal, but he is an inferior player in basically every facet. He's also far less durable.

Is Patrick Cripps no 1 player over Clayton Oliver? According to Robbo in his top 50, Cripps is No 1 L Neale no 2 and Clayton Oliver no 3. Cripps should never ever have won the Brownlow, and he was third in Contested Ball and Clearances. Clarry was NO 1 IN CONTESTED BALL, AND NO 1 IN CLEARANCES. To me then this should have read, 1 Clayton Oliver, 2 Neale and 3 Cripps. Oliver is head and shoulders the better of the 3 IMO

I am like a lot of relatively passive members when it comes to the politics of the board. The last thing I want for Melbourne FC is an "open slather democracy" that runs the risk of degenerating into unnecessary dissension, infighting and ugly coups (much like Essendon at the moment, admittedly due to poor board performance). The second last thing I want is a closed board that runs the risk of degenerating into an arrogant autocracy (much like Eddie McGuire's reign at Collingwood). That said, and just looking at it from the outside, I think the Deemocracy proposal is sensible and avoids both. From my experience on the board of a golf club, in regard to member contact it's a requirement of the Corporations Act (and the Incorporated Associations Act) and often the constitution of the club itself, that the member's roll is available for viewing by any member on application. It's hardly ever asked for, and privacy considerations prevent the organisation from divulging addresses for general use. For elections etc. a sensible organisation would offer to send e-mail communication on behalf of the member, provided they can show that their purpose is genuine, constitutional and not vexatious.

Close the thread, keep a lid on it

51 weeks a year people treat Robbo like the guy who runs the ferris wheel at a local fair, then his top players list come out and there's genuine surprise that he's got NFI.

I like robbo, he's passionate about the game and clearly loves football. But twice a year he releases his top 50 and reminds us that he's a dumb [censored]

We were that club before intervention and Paul Roos. I really feel for their supporters. They don't deserve this. Rebuild then rebuild then rebuild then rebuild. Sound familiar? They're not irrelevant, they are essential to a vibrant competition as are Norf. Be angry at the clubs that seem to get gifted a ride by the AFL. Maybe there's a new thread. Would the demons have won a flag without AFL assistance? Mmmm

Ed Allan isn't just the best choice for us at pick 13, I'm starting to think he's the best player in the entire draft. I didn't really want to start a thread because Hawthorn or Geelong will probably take him with picks 6 or 7, if not, the Eagles will pounce at 8 or worst case 12 - hence their trade down. But maybe, just maybe, clubs will be worried about the small sample size, lack of representative or highly level footy and injury and he'll slide to 13. Here's the case: 1. Size: He's a 195cm - that's Bont, Cripps, Goodes kind of stuff. At 82kg's he'll fill out well too. 2. Athleticism: He just ran a seriously quick 2.81 20m sprint, one of the quickest times ever recorded and has very good endurance too. 3. Production Off an interrupted preseason with stress fractures in his back he averaged 25 disposals from 5 games in the WAFL colts 4. Pedigree Son of Hawthorn B+F winner and Freo captain Ben Allan. 5. This video. I just can't stop watching it: a. Lovely right foot set shot b. Weighted left foot kick on his non preferred c. Quick hands under pressure, gets the ball well clear of tackler, receiving player makes it look worse d. Weaves on to his left and puts it right on his tall forward e. Hits up a forward, or 2 forwards really, who can't seem to get the ball f. quick play on through the corridor g. makes his decision on the run for a lovely diagonal kick h. plays on, lowers eyes for the hit up i. regulation handball, whatever j. I love this one, pulls a handball once, then fires it again on his left to hit the runner in stride I watched the full WA v SA state game that he played in, as well as the WAFL Colts grand final last year. Both games he played on a wing and was fine. He's not a natural wingman IMO. He holds position well but is fairly passive in waiting for the ball to come to him (think James Jordon) rather than looking for those Langdon type moments to really insert himself in to play. He's also not a great mark for his size. Gets a bit flummoxed in loose ball situations too. But look at this, Claremont stuffed up their rotations at one stage and he ended up in the ruck, look at the vision and execution of this handball on his non preferred at 1:28:57 He'll need some time to fill out and round out his marking and contested work but those things can be taught by good coaches. It's much harder to teach high level decision making and skills. And you can't just create gun athletes either. Want to replace Luke Jackson with a big bodied midfielder (not ruck) who can do special things - this is the guy.

I must say chaps, I am rather looking forward to receiving my telegram.

The word 'bias' according to the Cambodge English Dictionary means: "the action of supporting or opposing a particular person or thing in an unfair way, because of allowing personal opinions to influence your judgment." A person who holds or forwards such an opinion is 'biased'. This is not about Clarry - he is the greatest footballer to have ever graced a field in a billion years - it's about this creeping use of people saying that they are or may be 'bias'. @Demonstone: you've been slacking off on policing this one.

I stand 100% with the Board on this issue. I’d be furious if they gave out my email address without asking me. Especially if not required to by law. Lots of people here seem so willing to give up their personal information… it’s bizarre.

Always a highlight on the football calendar.

I can assure you this is not about ego on behalf of Peter. He is simply trying to get the MFC a constitution which is in line with 21st century principles. And about giving the Members the option to vote for it or not. It is 15 years since the last changes...are we going to wait for another 15 before we modernise? At the moment the Board is only presenting their truncated version, and refusing to offer options to the members ( too confusing for them). Not what the members might want or asked about, while leaving all sorts of antiquated clauses which suit them. To give an example: The Board currently is allowed to set the rules for election procedures. This will not be changed under their proposals. So we presently see: 1. Director nomination period advertised in the classified section of the HS and is only open for a limited time e.g. 1 week. When it is placed is at Board discretion. 2. Candidates have to be vetted by a Board nominated "independant" committee 3. Candidates can only submit a 300 word case for their election 4. No "electioneering" allowed, including mailouts, advertising etc. Does this seem fair and democratic? Perhaps voters in Hong Kong would see certain similarities. So the Board is adopting the same tactics as were adopted against the Demon Alternative in the merger scenario. To quote from "Between the Flags" by Ian Munro: "To argue the case for access to the full list of members, he ( Jenkins) began Supreme Court action. Only then did the Board agree" That is why Peter has been forced to pursue this action to obtain the email addresses which the Club hold, and should be provided under Corporations Law and subsequent case law.

The Board didn’t want us to hear from alternative Board candidates and limited them to 300 words. Now they don’t want us to hear suggestions to improve the constitution. What’s so dangerous about letting the members have access to this information? Muzzling Board candidates, denying members access to ideas for a better constitution, making it harder for people to stand for election, endorsing longer terms for Board members and the failure to even inform us as to what’s happening on the training facility is a pretty damning scorecard. Looks like this Board wants tenure and is very scared of scrutiny. I was a Roffey supporter but these are more the acts of an autocrat, not a member elected Board.

This. I can never understand why people want other clubs to be inexistent. A rich tapestry is the AFL, and we don't get to laugh at St Kilda if they move to Tasmania. I still miss Fitzroy.

Personally I'm annoyed that someone (Peter Lawrence) can apply to the Supreme Court to obtain my personal information. While I get that Peter is a passionate supporter I don't have any issue with what the club is proposing and have more pressing matters than rewriting our constitution.

I can't wait to experience (endure?) the excitement of somebody trading pick 43 and 27 for pick 21 over the coming weeks. I really hope we just take our two picks this year and preserve our strong hand for next year.

Our stubbornness to have a facility in the shadows of the MCG is killing us. Does anybody really care if our training facility is or isn't in the sports precinct? From what I'm hearing we could get approval on a number of different locations but for some reason we have to be next to the MCG. I agree Casey is to far out for a permanent base but if there's a number of closer locations then let's get moving.

We would also not be facing another ego-driven court case disrupting the club if not for Lawrence. Feels like his passion and want for reasonable change was on point early on but it's now becoming all about him and is damaging the club.

I reckon Brett should apply for the St Kilda Senior Coach position...

I think the legend of LJ and the 3rd qtr of the grand final is well and truly overstated I’m not suggesting he isn’t a talent - he is but the 3rd qtr was all about our midfield he did handball to Clarry for one goal but having watched it several times it was all about Trac , Clarry and Viney imo

Too late - every other club's recruiters surely read this site several times an hour for inspiration! 😊

It was a short story?

Ross Lyon and the Saints deserve each other. Total mystery how this club has ever won a flag. Massive overachievement that.

I reckon it's good to have a few non Dees related usernames to balance these out so you should keep Jibroni! E.g mine has nothing to do with the Dees but was a throwaway line I overheard a posh guy say about him getting sunburnt.

I'm not sure why so many get wrapped up in Board machinations and functions. I only care about winning and the Board not steering us into Essendon and St Kilda type areas.

I thought Duhwaynes would’ve read: Cameron Hawkins Stengle Dangerfield Guthrie Blicsavs Duncan Stoneham Bruns Hocking

Personally I don't really care about the constitution but this Board has now got form on being autocratic and non-inclusive. If it was just the constitution, like you, I wouldn't really care but their whole behavior is to protect their position and exclude any sort of input from interested parties. Frankly they are protecting themselves from scrutiny and from review. They protect their positions through a deeply flawed election process, and they only want their mates to join them. They are living off the work done by Peter Jackson, and I've not seen anything they've done that gives me any confidence they are improving us. I think you should be worried about this behaviour BDA (and I'm not having a go as you) because a fish rots from the head and their attitudes will seep down into the rest of the Club and we will not be as good as we could possibly be. To use Goody's words "we will not be the best versions of ourselves". We've all seen often enough what happens when you have bad Boards with ourselves and with others. Just look at Essendon and Saints. The one thing I think the constitution should do is allow those that want to stand for the Board to communicate with members. Ours doesn't, the Board won't allow it. It's wrong. They're behaving like a group of entitled elites. They're not.

c'mon mr. fence, stop beating around the bush and tell us what you really believe 😲

I don't like the Petty forward idea, at allllll. To me he's a future AA key back and for someone who had next to no pre-season, his impact was just absurd. Reads the ball so well, body work is brilliant, confident in the air and high footy IQ. I don't know why we'd play him forward when we know Gawn will be spending time forward, T Mac, JVR and Ben Brown are there for the second tall post with Fritsch as that hybrid third tall. Petty is too important to our defensive system structurally. Lever doesn't get to play the way he wants without Petty and May wouldn't have the same support either. It's a ripple effect and I don't think people realise the impact it'll have on the entire unit. Tomlinson is just not a like for like and since his injury, he seems completely lost and shot of confidence. And please do not name Joel Smith as a replacement because I won't take you seriously. We won a flag without Petty playing forward, I don't know why people think he is the answer after a poor finals campaign. It's game-plan tinkering, execution of role and consistently executing the fundamentals of the game that will see our forwardline function to its potential. * Edit - Also forgot Schache. He'll be given every chance to cement a spot forward over the pre-season.

I think it’s a clear and deliberate strategy for us to consistently trade our future picks for current picks, and I think it’s a sound one. Every year your future picks replenish, so you’re able to keep front-loading talent onto the list a year ahead of time. You might not get the exact pick, but you should have a fair idea. Barring a disaster drop in form, I think it’s one we’ll try to continue this year. Others will always get seduced by the dreams of absolute top end talent falling to you the following season, like we are thinking of our future pick haul, but as they say “a bird in the hand...”

St Kilda suck. They’ve even made it hard for Ratten to get another job now because they left his sacking so late. Garbage club. They deserve Ross Lyon.

I’ve told this story here before but that doesn’t stop me from telling it again, amirite?! Heads up, it’s a long one. I chose the Dees as a 7yo within months of emigrating to Australia. And that was as one of eight siblings, the other seven of whom had adopted Carlton, the team for them to the death (and still is). The first time I saw Melbourne play was vs. Carlton, of course, and I don’t quite know why but I was instantly drawn to this team. They caught my eye, and before long, my heart. But I didn’t tell a soul. I especially couldn’t tell my brothers, in particular my eldest brother with whom I was extremely close. I knew it would break his old dark navy blue heart to discover that my heart was beating true for the red and the blue. So for a couple of decades I masqueraded as a Blues devotee. I only got to watch the Dees twice a year when they (we?) played the Blues. My older brothers took me to every single Carlton H&A match, countless finals and three grand finals (all Carlton). I wore a duffel coat with Bruce (11) Doull, I had Carlton posters on my bedroom wall, I went to training and met the players, all those things a proper diehard does. This continued until August 2000 when my brother tragically died, at which time I “came out” as a Dees supporter. One of my brothers to this day doesn’t talk to me because of this. With hindsight I guess it was a bit insensitive that I adorned my house in red and blue leading up to the 2000 GF. I came home one day and he’d left a note on my (red and blue) front door which said something to the effect of “His body isn’t even cold yet, and you’ve tarted up your house in those revolting colours like a circus tent.” Anyways that might explain why I’m so overtly (and loudly and proudly) passionate and devoted to our Club. The dam walls had burst and I could finally adore them with unbridled passion and now there’s no stopping it. 😁 PS: Told you it was a long story 😉 PPS: I lied. We went to every H&A match EXCEPT for Windy Hill because feral Ess thugs + small child = potential bodily harm, or worse. 😬

I have it on good authority they’re strongly considering welcoming back Nick Riewoldt, BJ and Lenny Hayes as players. Baldock has also been discussed although there is some debate at board level about his ability to run both ways in Lyon’s game plan

If I give my email address to any entity I expect to receive communications from that entity alone. When as a result of that I receive unsolicited stuff from anyone else (I.e. spam), I bin it unread and block the sender. I particularly don't want to hear from a disgruntled, failed board candidate shoving his agenda in my face.

Very small sample size, but fair to say by the majority of comments that old mate isn't winning himself any fans by trying to obtain personal data...

Sorry, I should have said ‘biased’, not ‘bias’. I understand your frustration. It’s like reading ‘I think it’s really f*#k annoying when people go on about spelling’. When clearly it’s meant to read ‘I think it’s really f*cking annoying…’ Sincerest apologies. 🤣

I got pressured into watching Kojo on Disney plus last night, and i noticed that rival dog Balto got all the credit for an act of heroism when actually Kojo was the rightful hero dog. I don't think either dog really cared either way. But i do think Disney Plus is slightly over-rated.

This

Yes he is. Because he was delisted and rookied, now every time he comes out of contract, including next year, he's UFA.

He kicks more goals as well but leadership is the most important attribute Cripps has over Oliver. Head to head I’m taking Clarry of course but there’s an argument that Cripps has the weight of an entire club on his shoulders and should be factored in to his ranking. As Clarry continues to mature he’ll get better in that aspect and the Brownlow votes will flow and anyone questioning his ranking will be silenced.

That also means there’s 20 people to blame if a candidate starts spamming us with mail, emails or otherwise. A handy level of protection for everyone no matter which side of the privacy vs open democracy you fall on. You could buy 2 memberships for your dog and cat and endorse yourself.

I've got no issue with Cripps being rated ahead of Oliver this year, because I think Oliver was below his best in the weeks after being maimed by Selwood. Nobody in their right mind could possibly rank Oliver below Neale though.

The Robbos of that universe see the metallic paint bonnet above the engine steel: Goals - Cripps 20, Neale 11, Oliver 5 Marks inside 50 - Cripps 16, Neale 7, Oliver 1

James Jordon and Luke Dunstan are Unrestricted Free Agents

I think we want to hold onto next year's draft currency given it's meant to be a very good draft, and there are a few KPFs coming out of contract that we might want to lure. A strong hand next year gives us lots of options

No argument from me picket!

I do not want my email/contact details made available to just anyone and I do not give permission for the club to release them to third parties. I expect the club to defend this issue. A local govt councillor friend of mine says its against the State's electoral Act , for example, to use business mailing lists to cold-canvas voters in Council elections. Why is this any different? Go Dees for 2023.

My first kick in Under 12s went through for a behind ... for the opposition. A loose ball luckily bounced my way in the back pocket, I grabbed it and kicked it and it grubbed off the side of my boot and rolled through the other team's goal. Things went downhill after that. I've always maintained that I could have played VFL but that my career was cruelly cut short by a tragic lack of talent and courage.