Rhino Richards

Its just a win for us. They dont need stocking fillers for Xmas. Clubs arent that dumb.

Petterd's perennial problem of not providing defensive pressure when he does not have the ball was showcased today. Its not a one off. Its the reason he spent time at Casey this year. Lively at times when he gets the ball but lack of effort and accountability when he doesn't.

Hardly. Clubs wont buy showbags of other clubs NQRs.

You mean we have not been doing that. It would be nice if we could keep our best kids on the paddock to get game time and experience. This was always going to be a development year and a few supporters are having to adjust their expectations.

Yes opposition league clubs will pay highly to get a player that avoids the contest and cant handle tags. Definite bidding war.

Poor vision and blunder by Jmac in the last quarter...Terrible 50m by Davey though

A thread with the lead "Davey....squibb. I think you have already aired your insights on other threads. Nothing lost there by deleting it.

A legitimate spoil is the defender getting his hand/fist to the ball without impeding the forward's attempt to mark. Grabbing/holding the player, impeding his run at the ball, chopping the arms or attacking the contest where your eyes clearly are not on the ball are not legitimate.

Oops. I should have said mainland national! Apologies.

This is the crux of the problem. The layout of the ground was wrong and killed the atmosphere at the ground particularly in finals. This coupled with the oversized ground space made viewing sub optimal. And yes it was freezing there! The public transport issue was never going to be properly addressed by either major party. VFL Park was doomed on that issue alone.

I dont think Fitzroy was saveable. It was on life support system and had no plausible way of surviving unless the AFL stumped it up big time. It had a great history, crippled present and no future. It was a good decision from the perspective of the national competition. If you were a Fitzroy supporter...it depends. I knew a few guys who worked for the FFC at the time and one has never been to the football again, two others have realised that Fitzroy could not go on and thought the Brisbane solution was the better than disappearing. If we were struggling financially, then our future would be in doubt. While I would prefer we didn't become a basketcase, I could understand that what has happened to Fitzroy and will happen to North could happen to any team.

1. Any rule that protects the player actually going for the ball should be applauded. Although some new rules have been better than others. I dont mind the hands in the back rule. 2. I thought the same about WCE, Crows and Lions then..... 3. I think issue is not the MRP as much as the rules they are required to adjudicate on. 4. You dont like Vlad but you want Richard Branson..you will definitely get more of issues 6,8,9 and 10 with Branson and more scantily girls on display on draft day, B'low night and the Grand Final parade. 5. They did. They sent it to Brisbane. North looks like a powerhouse compared to the last 15 yrs of Fitzroy. 6. Etihad is the right size, crowd wise but its a lifeless venue with poor ground surface and shadows. 7. Every week is State of Origin given that AFL is national. 8. This inevitable as the game has got quicker, players bigger, faster and coaches far more scientific in the way they seek to manipulate the game to win. 9. Meh. More [censored] off about the royal blue in the guernsey in the 80s. 10. Nope.

They have won 1 game in 7 weeks. How desperate are they given they have to select a 3rd up defender who had lost form and was dropped? I do note that that have brought Kozi in as well and he should be rucking some of the game. They are in no position to take anyone easy. They would be desperate for a win to keep their very slim hopes of Sept action alive. And given that Jamar is out, how poorly do you think McEvoy must be playing not to have trusted/selected here? We might be having a bad season but for a team that was a kick from a flag last year, its been a disaster. And they would be desperate to get a win. Fair comment OD. The only thing to counter that is that St Kilda are having a Melbourne year too. Its easy to write us off but the otherside is not necessarily a sure bet.

Right Winmar is no slug and picking him is showing us no respect. And we have selected Evans (not on performance we could have kept Bennell in)and that shows we respect them less. Gotcha. Given how poor we were against North, it could be easily argued that the Dunn, Wonna could have been omitted with Bennell. And if you did note that the players they axed were Gram, McQualter and lost Baker. So while they have gained Montagna, Peake they have lost some foot soldiers. And seeing Blake named a first ruck is as effective as naming Newton there. St Kilda are struggling and are in much the same position as us. I would have thought given their aspirations this year that St Kilda are chock full of non performing options and bringing back underperformers like Blake and Peake they have added to the collection.

You could apply your flawed logic to Melbourne atttitude toward St Kilda by debuting Evans. Its got nothing to do with respect at all. And given St Kilda's performance this year, I would not suggest mobility is going to be increase through the addition of a first gamer.

Its amazing how many supporters value a jumper punch or "flying the flag" or wanting some sort of tough agressor type. People dont realise that the players who are tough in AFL are the ones who are tough and uncompromising at the contest. Sniping jumper punchers too often reveal a yellow streak in my book. I have been a fan of Warnock over Rivers from early last year. However Matty is struggling for this reason. And I am not sold on Rivers yet at all.

Agree. You cant graph recession. You could possibly grapg quarterly GDP growth. And "recession" is a label to series of a economic outcomes over a period of time where the measure of recession is not uniform. For the record, 1974,1983,1990-91,2008-09 were periods of economic downturn with the label recessionary periods.

You should stay away from sharp objects this week. I would have thought on form both sides are a definite chance. However, I recognise that MFC have their own mountain to climb.

Agree but not for some. They may as complain about University Football Club being shafted by the VFL 100 years ago. And its laughable that people complain about the demise of Waverley, a lifeless concrete monstrousity that was a tribute to the complete lack of planning, design and arrangement. What a white elephant.

Neither do I. And I was questioning why it was raised by the culcha vulcha WYL as some demonstration of a winning culture. Hell, given the media attention I would have thought EOS trips are as publically acceptible as Carlton's boat cruises on the Yarra.

Hawthorn were a team that certainly had some high spots during that 20 year period. They also had some not so high points during that time. And you find in Dermot's era all teams (not just Hawthorn) went on end of season trips...Even Fitzroy in its final year had an EOS trip to Bali when they wrecked a hotel. I dont know why an EOS trip was anything special because having known a number of the players of that era of Dermie, the EOS trips that Hawthorn went on were more an event of men behaving badly overseas rather than a demonstration of culture. And in the times when the Hawks were successful and the VFL/AFL system was what it was, most young players at HFC (unless you were a Brereton) did an apprenticeship of 4 to 5 years in the reserves before being promoted. They were grown men when they got to play VFL football. It was not a case of step or you get 100 ressie games. Another spin of fiction.

Its a sadder reflection of other "more successful" or "richer" Club cultures than tried and could not control or gain positive contribution from a footballer that "has the lot" in over 12 years of football. And given MFC young list there is a greater caveat on introducing culture stains. The Club has been clear and consistent in its communication of what it is trying to achieve. Supporters need to have the patience to see it through and not go high risk quick fixes offering false dawns that would be contrary to interests of developing both a winning side and a successful culture. Stynes and co are smarter than to do that. And the last I looked, Casey is not our reserves team and if it truly was Fevola would not be part of it. Hmmmm.

Well done WYL. Missed the point again. B)

Now your becoming like WYL! You claimed Fev was a positive for our forwards and I challenged you that it was circumstantial at best. Now you are claiming he is not a negative for them. Its two different opinions. That's gold. One of the quotable statements of the year. You should seek that satisfaction from more appropriate providers.

Thanks RN. I have to laugh when you talk of a winning culture with Fev's name posted to it. What has done over 12 years at 2 clubs that has contributed to a winning culture? And any game time you give Fev means you are not giving it a recruit with a potentially better and longer future. I dont care if he kicks bags of goals at Casey, I would not take him. Actually I do care. If he is kicking bags of goals then our other forwards are being starved of opportunities to do likewise. I love stories of redemption but Fev is far from it. While its hard to see where his personal life is from the self created trainwreck, his footy is at such a low ebb. MFC have a broader long term plan to develop and nurture a group of talented young recruits so that they peak together in order to maximise the outcome. If its to make finals then that group needs to achieve it on its credentials. We dont need a cheap scrotum tickle like Fev. And for that matter neither do GWS if they really want to taken seriously in the AFL. At best that claim is circumstantial and has no basis whatsoever. Newton and Bate are still fringe forwards in their 7th year in the AFL. Howe went well because we beat an opposition for 3 quarters not because of Fev. And if you take the 3 tall forwards you talk about out of the Casey, Casey would have Cook who could develop but there is Fev... MFC had a similar problem with Saunter at Sandy. Can you name any forwards at Carlton or Brisbane that developed or bloomed as players while Fev was there? He is a one man show who iced those around him and too often got besotted with ME rather than team.