Rhino Richards

The problems were only glaring in hindsight. There was a long period of evolution of issues And to set the record straight it was the MCC hierachy that controlled the outcomes. Football was changing and it was no longer appropriate to have the football club treated on a similar amateur basis to the cricket, hockey and other clubs. During the 70s there was growing tension between the football club and the cricket club which culminated in the football club went its own way. By that time the glory days for MFC were well and truly history.

The MFC era of success was not just one man. It was a number of players, officials. The success did not stop with the departure of one person. Smith's departure was the highest profile of them. But MFC enjoyed access and service from some of the top footballers in the land. Through the MCC, MFC was able to offer benefits that other clubs could not. MFC had access to the benefits of the MCC and MCG that belittled other clubs. But the game was slowly changing. And many of the people who saw the rise of MFC in its heyday were also prominent in its fall from grace (eg Jim Caldwell - recruiting). It was more than just Smith and Barassi going. Great point about the advantages of the MCC and MCG. As far as recruiting is concerned, MFC no longer had the leg up on other sides in regards benefits. And its also worth noting that we lacked a product suburban base to source supporters.

Good thoughts bush demon. It would also be instructive to know which player losses we had in the period from end of 1960 to 1964. At the time Adams Roet and Barassi were big losses. But there were also retirements of a number of players from the great 1950's teams. It was the end of an era. There were winds of change in the game which in hindsight should have seemed easy to predict but in reality were clearly not so at the time.

I'll join Nasher in having a chuckle.

The only highlight in this thread has been the Dicky Knee re-runs. Wishing injury on any player in AFL seems morbid. Bad luck for Patton. I hope he get over it quickly and we get to ensure his skill.

THanks for the comparatives HT. Love em or hate em, you have to admire Tiger supporters. Their club has served up crud for 30 years and still their members get on Board. Over 25k members at Christmas. Good effort.

You are in fine form in the lead up to Christmas atm Keep this up and there would have to be an opening for you in the Boxing Day Test!!!

Ed Cowan should definitely play for Australia on Boxing Day Hilfenhaus should definitely not play for Australia on Boxing Day. Unless he learns to bowl left handed, I have seen enough of Hilfy to believe he should wear the Tassie colours with pride for the rest of his career.

Nothing like the facts. Skilton was coach 1974 -77. Alves left MFC at the end of 1976 and played the twilight years of his career at NM where he won a flag in 1977. It wasnt a call out of the blue. Barassi targetted him and Alves was treated abysmallly by MFC during his playing career.

He shouldn't be in the leadership group in 2012 and should focus on fitness and form. Evolving into cat that is burning credits based on past glories. Agree I think Spencer could be very important for us now. He has been a sleeper and unfarily maligned alot of last year. Edit: Just saw Fan's post and it captures the Spencer equation very well

I would have thought the players who were the backbone of our great 1939-41 flags who never played again or had their careers interrupted due to WWII deserve a mention. Bluey Truscott, Harold Ball and Syd Anderson died in WWII. 3 flaggers like Wartman and Richie Emselle (Father of Ken) were barely seen again as players. Players like Norm Smith and Allan La Fontaine missed many good years

Have not had a best year yet. 1987 was the closest by a long shot.

George, I thought the pendulum was starting to move at the end of the 3rd quarter. The two players who had lit up MFC, Trapper and Yze looked spent. In 2002, We stopped running in the last bit of the 3rd quarter and stopped alltogether in the last quarter. We burnt our fuel in a frenetic 2 quarters. But the truth is we lost it in the 1st quarter when we were about 7 goals down and looked listless and got spanked out of the centre. We came from too far back and worked at such a rate in the 2nd and 3rd that we ran out of fresh legs. However it was a weakness of the side that we did not a bons fide CHF and CHB in 2002. FWIW, I hated the game. It was such a letdown. Cant see why we cherish it? Trapper plays his best game ever. Typical and it only lasted for 2 quarters. Give me the 1987 finals against Swans and NM anytime.

Struggled to pick the better one. Agree. Big hopes after kicking over 100 goals in the U19s then did not have the heart for senior football. Cutho was a one trick pony who at least played his tricks on Collingwood. Part of the 1994 year when we had some truly big goal kicking efforts on show. Fair call and Kouta was very very good that day. i seem to recall an MCG final where James Hird almost dismantled WCE on his own. They took him off in the last when the game was won to save him for next week. Five minutes later, someone is injured, Hird runs out and straight into the play. Running the same way as the ball in flight, launches himself directly into the oncoming pack with eyes only on the ball. As only Hird can do...takes the gutsy contest mark. Gee he was majestic at his best and missed a number of years at his peak with the feet splint issue.

Good pick up Hoopla! After their first game against Geelong I could not believe we actually selected one C Collins let alone two of them. They were thrown aside like rag dolls that day and clearly lacked the physical frame for AFL football.

Both Dean and Cook did ACLs. If you are applyling the no injury criteria. St Kilda were not a quick team at that time and they tired in the 2nd half. And with the turnstile interchange arrangements, the game got noticeably quicker over the past 5 years. McLean....not slow??? Someone must have slowed the tape speed. The same could be said about Luke Molan and Nick Smith. High picks that did not make it because they were not good enough. Shame about Belly's condition.

Wow MFC is an old Club if we did indeed have Lord Byron in the side. For a while I thought you were speaking about Pickett. Two fat pre seasons and being too fizzed to turn up to a match more than outweigh the limited cameos. Passed it and disinterested and just took the club's money in the contract.

C'mon Redleg you have to put them in order. Here are mine: 1. Flower - Better than Keith Greig IMO and played in some carp sides and still his class shone through 2. Hardeman 3. Schwartz 4. Alves 5. Jakovich 6. Fowler 7. Johnson 8. Neitz 9. Lyon 10. Wight Postscript: Alan Johnson and Brett Lovett were worthy mentions

Now that is game set match. Nasher was talking about Katich and not Clarke. Talking about saying absolutely nothing under the naive pretence you are actually making a statement.

When Bailey joined MFC, the list was a train wreck where there was a complete re build which was always going to take a significant number of years. MFC focussed on collecting talent through early draft picks, trading surplus players and careful rookie recruiting. The focus was on getting best available at the time because the list had so many openings. Given what MFC have been through and the evolution of the list to date, its not a surprise that Neelds is seeking to plugs. Given the immaturity of the list and the questionable future contribution of the senior players it was reasonable to expect Neeld to seek more mature players. However if Neeld had taken over the train wreck in 2007, there is no doubt he would have had to engineer a similar rebuild to what MFC have done to date.

I didnt know Clarke was right into spin....... . Good summary. This is what Bob had put down earlier in the thread. In favouring bowlersday one, you look to extract the venom early out of the wicket to allow you to enjoy better batting conditions later in the Test. This was exactly what happened at Bellerive notwithstanding those that have their deckchairs facing in the wrong direction.

Agreed. WYL's shooting the breeze again

The real culprits are actually elsewhere but the association of AFL with gambling odds on TV and Scoreboard is a scourge.

Good. There goes the horse racing industry. This is far more complex issue than your one liners. Fat chance of that. Shaw......Wallis......Bock......the list goes on. Increasing fines will do nothing to counter player stupidity or lack of ethics.

Jake Spencer may not be a "list clogger" after all. There is good reason why we have a panel of ruckman. Hope Gawn gets back from this. Nasty Edit: Just saw DemonWA's post and agree you need to have enough rucks to cover this situation. Thankfully we are well placed with Jamar, Martin and Spencer.