Rhino Richards

I am not surprised. You have got to laugh at Hawks supporters who apparently bemoan a Coach who took them to a flag against the odds only 3 years before against a crushing side like Geelong. The criticism of Clarkson as a "one trick pony" is sorely misplaced. And its a bit rich claiming Clarkson as coming back to the Demons. He spent most of time at North and spent two ordinary years at MFC as a fringe player (one then as a runner). I am not sure I would want him as the next coach of MFC but I sure as hell respect what he has done in his time with Hawthorn (particularly dealing with Kennett)

Neitz struggled as Captain in his first couple of years and he had been at the Club a number of years before that. Relax. No the players select the captain and leadership group under a system set up some years ago by the FD. Junior would have been his usual selfless inspiration. However he could never make up for the almost across the Board leadership vacuum provided by most of our senior players this year. At times in games last year, the lack of leadership was an issue with or without Junior. Fair assessment. Particularly on such a puerile and cringeworthy show like the Footy Show.

Naming future leaders is easy. Grimes, Trengove, Scully, Watts ..... I just have trouble naming the true current leaders. A Demon realist. While they are the most important players in the side (I question the criteria) we will only have pretensions of being a top side.

Good point. I think MFC have given supporters plenty of opportunity to vent their disgust/anger over issues despite the hyperbole of some.

I didn't. It was a dumb statement about the supporters cracking it for the first time in 47 years. It was clearly not the case. In fact given there was no facebook or internet in 1996, the collective naked rage of the fans at Dallas Brooks was one of the most amazing experiences you could see Irrelevant. Supporters were extremely upset at each occassion. And 2011 is the same as 2007 and 1996 -its about success and survival I never stated that was your claim. I challenged your assertion that the broad media speculation and coverage of Bailey were mere rumblings. As other posters have pointed out, the issue of Bailey had moved beyond that point after the Hawks game.

This was the quote from Caro " Melbourne has not had a football director since Andrew Leoncelli stepped down as a director at the club's 2010 annual general meeting." The appointment and involvement of Stynes is intriguing not only for Bailey but for people like Connolly, Schwab etc.

And no one is arguing that supporters were not enraged but he was claiming there was no media attention on this issue prior to the game and stated that it was only "rumblings". That was pure carp. The media had Bailey well and truly in its sights across every outlet and were behaving in exactly the manner you were applying to them. Not diminishing the extent of supporters anger its naive claim to suggest that the media had no part in fuelling the dissent (unless of course supporters dont read the papers). Clearly you werent a supporter of the club during the 1996 merger. Keep up the hyperbole.

The last six weeks makes a fallacy of that belief. Stynes has been highly visible around the Club for some time and if the players have not been inspired to date by Stynes battles and charisma well....

Given MFC have: 1. A coach in his final year of contract with question marks about his future and the Board not having a Board director reporting on football operations. 2. A CEO that would seem to have some questions about aspects of the FD. 3. A comprehensive external study of the Club and its football needs that highlights the need for a Football Director. Why has the Board been so slow to have replaced Andrew Leoncelli who had resigned from this critical role presumably prior to his announcement at the AGM? This announcment while welcome is a knee jerk reaction by Board that has seemingly been asleep at the wheel.

Garbage, while Trengove and Grimes will get better as they get older and will show there true class, Moloney and Jones are C graders. Moloney too often looks good against poor opposition as another poster described him "a flat track bully" When the chips have been down against the Hawks and the WCE, Moloney and Jones are out of their depth. Sylvia ...elite??? Spare me. Still living off his potential and producing cameos. Yet to see a breakout year from this player. As for Lake, people seem to forget that he has had shoulder hip and knee surgery over the off season that has killed his pre season. While it does not excuse any alleged attitude issues, he is definitely underdone coming into this season.

It must have been quite a mess.

Its hardly rumblings if every major media outlet has already had 1 or more articles often by lead or name journalist saynig the heat is on Bailey and his tenure was at risk. It had moved on from there weeks ago particularly after the Hawks game. Clearly there are no windows in your workroom at the ABC. This sort of thing happens at every Club when the Coach is under heat and the team plays badly. The same happened in 2007 with Daniher and probably worse when there were expectations we would move beyond 8th on the ladder and it all came crashing down. Get some fresh air.

Correct. I will judge on what you have said on the forums. You get skewered every time when you fall back on "this is what I meant to say" routine. Post 44 has shown what you have said in the past. Keep digging. And whether you buy a membership or not is irrelevant. And you know as well as I do that Dean does not have his destiny in his own hands. Your dribbling over the Australian article suggested so much. And your repetitve roasting of the coach in the past few weeks says plenty how you treat a person who you rate a "good man". Pathetic. I let you keep festering on this.

I knew you would retort with that. And its dishonest. You have said that he should he replaced as senior coach. Its inexplicable that he could possibly stay on as an assistant. And you know he will not leave of his own accord. Its a pity you never actually compared Dustin Marin and Cale Morton but insinuated something else about the respective coaches. Its embarrassing I know you work in the media so this may not apply in that industry. But if anyone put an argument/point of view in the same manner that you have in my line of work then they would have at the very least have their integrity and a number of other fundamental aspects of characterbrought into question.

1. Tanking doesn't necessarily pay off. is Dustin martin the best of the lot? Tanking or no tanking. It was between Scully and Trengove. Martin was always considered a close third. But its too early to tell who go the better pick as all 3 could be elite. 2. The Darling decision was a bad one. Too early to tell as Cook could well be a star. Measure your talls in 3 to 5 years. Darling has been good to date in a team that has their A graders fit and firing this year. 3. Grimes and Gysberts were great pieces of recruiting. THe decision to trade Brock and Trav were gold and the picks used well. 4. We really need Blease to make it. It would be good. 5. Strauss and Maric appear our worst picks....albeit at the moment....they are both young. Strauss is injured again. Maric is a tweener. 6. Bailey has done everything expected of him. Up to date probably right 7. The board is undoubtedly looking to replace him and our assistants at years end. Malthouse would be magnificent. Personally I can't see a position under Buckley that would excite him. Time to get the cheque book out. Interesting outcomes ahead. 8. Grimes needs to move into the midfield. Will happen in time 9. Davey needs to work a hell of a lot harder. Look at Daisy Thomas, similar size, similar role, similar skill set, very different output. Davey has been a terrible disappointment this year as have a number of senior players. 10. We need at least one of Watts, Scully, or Trengove to become elite. No we need at least 3 of them to become elite and stay at MFC.

OK so what happened at the Jordie McMahon game is not relevant to now. And how you tweak a list at the end of round 6? What would you tweak?

Bailey's position was clearly in the media gunsights and in the press prior to WC game. Its not wrong what you feel its more the case that you weren't aware of the extent of media exposure on Bailey. It had gone well past the point of rumblings. And you are only restating my point that the WC game heightened the pressure. You seem to have got yourself a little over excited about the Facebook page. Enjoy. Any windows in the room at ABC?

Here is a sample of your opinions which clearly indicated that Bailey should go as senior coach and replaced by someone else.... I could have posted more. And please dont try and stretch the truth by saying keeping him on as an assistant fulfils your criteria of allowing him to coach the side. That would be plain dumb. As others have pointed out if Bailey is not head coach he is headed out the door And here is the inferred comments that Bailey coaches soft and either does not demand that players regularly produce. Its another uninformed slur without the facts.

Relevance???

You miss the point. Richmond's class is based on the midfield and Riewoldt. Riewoldt aside, he is a genuine A grader and we have nothing like that on the ground at this time. The players I mentioned in the midfield for Richmond are class and will get better and give them a good basis for the future. At this present moment this year, they are more accomplished than the best we can put out in the midfield. Our situation is not helped by having two crucial players in the midfield missing (Scully and McKenzie), Morton has had no pre season. At the moment our midfield is 3rd world with senior players that are C grade flat trackers that go missing and young players that are still learning the caper (Trengove - he will be good) Neither side has to date beaten much this year and both will be lower 8 of the ladder at years end. From an overall list perspective I still think the MFC list has greater potential for improvement in the coming years. I think Richmond are getting the max out of some ordinary players who I believe will be steamrolled against good opposition. But Richmond has still recruited some good gems but they have alot of ordinary pebbles. They will improve but i think MFC upside is greater.

They also recruited (or Visy did) a genuine superstar and leader called Chris Judd. Gld plated A grader. We have nothing in our senior ranks that gets anywhere near that.

You werent right just misinterpreted it as usual. Caroline Wilson, a front line journalist wrote the following pieces in the Age in the lead up to the WCE games. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/stynes-steps-in-to-ease-tension-20110420-1dox8.html http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dees-magic-flickers-20110422-1driv.html?from=age_sb If you can use Google, then you can access Hun and other media article on the Bailey situation. CLearly the disposition of Bailey was much more than a rumbling prior to the WCE. There is no doubt that the WCE loss intensified the scrutiny on a coach with his contract due. You entitled to your opinion but when it clearly flies in the face of the facts it becomes a bit of a fantasy. And you claim to work in the media? Well done. Your last sentence is exactly what I am saying and the loss on Thursday only heightened the existing media attention. And you're with WYL??

I did and you have been sprung once again. Its the bleedin obvious that the Coach and the players need to stand up in the coming weeks. However, you have focussed repeatedly on the coach and demanded he must perform (without mention of the players) and your question before involving Hardwick and Bailey was clearly a none too subtle criticism on Bailey. Why do you suggest "this is what I meant" when you are caught (frequently) by many posters for saying something ridiculous when "what you meant" clearly is not what you originally stated nad were challenged on? At best its disingenius at worst its plain dumb. Pathetic really.

Garbage. It has everything to do with the media. Artie is on the money. We already had Caro and the press corp pulling to pieces Cameron Schwab's alleged gaffe in not publicly supporting Dean Bailey. They were already circling for a kill so much so that Stynes had to publicly step in and defend the coach. Even you dined out on the Caro article. Thursday's events only heightened the smell of blood for the media. The knee jerk reaction of supporters was there own issue and provided a side show for the media to feast on.

Funny...its only been you. No it was you that drew the inference on the coach as 45 has rightly potted you.... I can only guess where 45 will file it and its sure not to recyclable.