Rhino Richards

*Sarcasm meter* not working. The comment was tongue in cheek about Sylvia who always shows great potential but....

What we may see from afar may be different from what actually happens behind closed doors. If players have a modicum of smarts then they will know that when you change the Coach and FD all cards are on the table. But as rpfc has pointed out there seems from reports a lack of mojo about the way Davey has gone about things. Hope its not more of the petulant 2011 performances.

The irony is that up to Rd 14 it was a pretty crud year where we were 6 and 8 and had just been beaten badly by an apparenrly weaker Fitzroy at Princes Park. Then it started to change....and we won 7 of our last 8 games....Wow. Finals in Flowers last year.

Your first sentence is ably backed up by your strange use of stats. It does not show hard ball stats so it hardly derails my argument. And for the life of me the "cheap" possessions you claim did not happen on the backline. Can you point me to the posts that spoke of Morton having elite skills? Thats certainly not the argument most have. The ironic thing is that in the last 2 years Morton has been struggling to get games both through injury and lack of form and has been the first dropped for it too. And while Watts is a good prospect, both Bailey and Neeld have publicly spoken about Watts needing to lift. There is no doubt that Bailey, rightly sort to put games into young players. It was critical to the development of the list and experience of the players. Its trite to try and claim that Morton was "gifted" games while Watts wasnt.

I am not sure that is the case. Given how bad our midfield has been in his first two years, his ability as an 18/19 year old to find so much of the football in heavy traffic without support was meritorious. There were every kicks being had by the MFC midfield and few of them were cheap. There are a number of reasons why Morton has not fulfilled expectations. At 196 cm his development is in the same boat as other players of that size regardless of the positions he has played. And I am sure the timing and impact of injuries could have had an impact. There is no doubt that Morton needs to make an impact this year particularly under a new Coach but those closest to the Club will know his true disposition.

I think it would have to be more than that.

Colin Sylvia is not in the leadership group and once again is seemingly showing great potential (as he always does) for a big season... Has not had it yet. IMO, the two people Sheahan may have been talking about would be Davey and Rivers. Even more so that he did not mention Green. If Green has taken the loss of the captaincy in his stride then its a good test of character.

Agreed old dee. People are coming up with all sorts of theories to explain what they cant accept/understand. Not when he decided on the leadership group. It should be a better leadership group to watch. But that would not be hard. Perhaps some of the older players are not considered leaders by the FD....Hmmmm. Neeld has made a clear statement about the future its up to Green, Davey, Rivers and Beamer to fight to work out whether they are part of that future.

Agree on both points especially the last one! Lke Fan said, I dont believe that McLardy should have gone around management to the players on the issue. Mclardy will have some high points at MFC. IMO that was not one of them.

Far better for it he had done nothing in this instance. Its disturbing that the Club did not re appoint the FD role after Leoncelli departure. It was a further worry that the consultant report commissioned 12 months recommended that they re appoint that role. It was further worrying at the time that McLardy went behind managements back and went directly to the players to air their grievances about management because he did not know what was going on. Hardly the right climate to prepare players for a tough match. Agree. There isnt in this instance. McLardy was dealing with troubled youths. He was trying to sort out his own mysteries Agree on the speculation. There may will be rare occassions. This was not one of them. And the catalyst for the situation was the Board's inability to ensure proper communication to it post Leoncelli's departure.

Warming a list berth for a draft pick next year.

Feel the same Nasher. Its better that the FD and new Coach chooses the Captain/leadership than journalists in the media. Watts wasnt ready for leadership and needs to focus on his game. He get more abuse in an AFL ground than a suburban ground. And Davey needs to show he belongs. Given the leadership disaster of last year, he was the worst culprit and should not have been in to start with. Neeld has sent a clear and unmistakable message that he is putting the leadership of the playing group in the hands of the future not the NQR leaders. NSM and brownlow leads by example and impacts games with every touch and never flinches. Fantastic leader and how do you know he does not say much on the ground from where you sit?? Leadership is more that butt slapping and being boisterous. It looks good for supporters but he disappears when the heats on in the kitchen. He can still smack butts and rev players at 1/4 breaks but he aint a future leader. Could not agree more about Garland. Undervalued at MFC.

Great moves and congratulations to the new leadership group. Not surprised Green, Davey and Rivers werent there. Well done Barty. I have always wondered which MFC players dont bleed red and blue. I guess it shows the real worth of whatever bleeding red and blue means. Maybe Moloney was not chosen to be in the leadership group...period.

Actually we did not vote them back in at all. If there is no other challengers then no vote is held. Ample of opportunity to assess. I'll move on from here. I'll let you work out the logic Bailey was many things but he was no inspiring orator. Normally delivered the same message in a flat unemotional manner. Never found him inspiring.

Billy, Its not a matter of laying 100% blame on the players and I did not hold you to that all. Its just that you only singled them out for the 186 debacle and asserted that they went to management with grievances and held supporters and members to ransom with their performance. And its not just me that had that impression either. Fan corrected you on that impression and you acknowledged that. So much for form!! Good points Old about media but I am not sure it would have overshadowed the Stynes announcement.

McLardy should not have asked for that at the AGM and should have been prepared to address all questions. The Board could have used that platform to clear the air. They didn't. An opportunity lost.

You dont understand accountability. Its not a matter of just tossing the incumbents. How can you logically and vaidly assess performance if there is no clarity of what actually took place aside from what is leaked or published in the Press. Surely members deserve better than being treated like mushrooms. Particularly when its many of the said members that showed the leap of faith to make donations to the Club that wiped out over $5million of debt. And they were the only party you singled out for admonishment for the result and your take on what happened was clearly incorrect as you have acknowledged. I am glad that no one at the Club is pointing any fingers because the failures that contributed to the results involved not just the players,

FYI. The moderators have deleted a number of posts from a number of posters which have frankly been personal (and often puerile) attacks on Tom Scully and those associated with him. Please resist from falling into that trap. No player whether he plays for MFC or not should be subject to that sort of language on this forum. Warnings will be issued for further unacceptable posts and the thread will be closed. If you still feel angst towards he who shall not be named, then take it elsewhere from here. Thanks

No need to be inflammatory Billy. I was not meaning to be. While you are entitled to your opinion it does not seem that the basis you have for it aligns with the events that occurred. It would appear by your response that you have hypothesized the scenarios and drawn conclusions. I dont think it is right to lay the blame at the players feet solely. Clearly they share the heat but as Fan has said there were other involved from Board members down that contributed to a terrible day against Geelong. I dont believe the Club set the agenda for the expectations you had. The Club had clearly outlined the issues with the youth of the list getting at least 50 games into the playersetc. It cant be helped if you ignored the request for patience and resolved that the year would be brighter than what was being painted by the FD. Agree stranga. Well then that comforting indeed that he happy to do that........ except he didnt want to do that at all. Postcript I think Fan's last post nails it why the members deserve accountability.

Questions over the last 4 years and in particular the past 12 months should be definitely answerable and members have every right to raise those questions. If McLardy was refusing to address issues of the past 12 months during question time then that is disappointing and disturbing. The honeymoon for Neeld will finish when the playing starts. We certainly dont know if he can coach or not. Its easy to trot out the words. Geez I went to 2 of those you mentioned and I did not have that impression. I had always thought that the Club had clearly outlined the need for patience, development, youth. I also think that these messages passed at the AGMs were consistently reinforced publicly through the year.

Simple but sharp humour. You must have been rapt with his 2nd year. Icing on the cake of achievement. He may well go on to be a star of the AFL and an expensive one at that. But aside from acrimony he achieved zip at MFC.

I think your take on 186 is idealistic rather realistic. You may wish to revisit the threads in your own time that events that actually occurred.

Thanks all for the summary of events (or from some perspective non events). Thanks WJ for your news and I agree with that. In respect to the past 47 years, the current Board cannot be held answerable for that and its a trite question. McLardy rightly said for us to look forward. And we should especially do so given the changes at the top. Good post Scoop. I think its been a hard slog for the Club both on and off the field particularly in the past 12 months. I am happy for the Board, the FD and players to re focus under a new coach and show us what they can do. That's one big piece of revisionism there. Its pity the Coach got the sack when it was the vindictive players. How could they?

I did not see Australia bowl.How did he keep? No issues there?

You can feel the jet burners getting hotter under Haddin at the moment.