Rhino Richards

Fair enough DH. Its a sad case and I dont think the media have done anything but report his presence and exit at a place he should not have been at.

All that was said was that he was paid $30,000. There was no nexus that he had that money at Crown. How dare Channel 9 pay anyone for interview?? Fev is responsible for his own actions and he is making poor decisions. Indeed. At best his actions are a cry for help. I dont think anyone guru or not can help Fev when the man does seem to be able to help himself. It does seem like a desperate act though to be seen at Crown all things considered.As someone else pointed out there are more discrete locations to flutter.

I doubt Crown would have let him stay. Just because he has left a rehab clinic does not mean he is clean of his issues. He is only starting on a long road to recovery. But you're right the media's attention and the reaction by posters is greatly overblown. Might be food for thought for the blue sky merchants over Fev though at Casey though.

Sandringham did with MFC. Casey did it with St Kilda. Williamstown did it with Collingwood. Bendigo with Essendon Bombers The list goes on. There are a number of ways you can effect a change of control of a Club without having the Board agree to it voluntarily. I dont think its a good look for an AFL Club to abandon a local club to wither and then set up a parallel operation in the same area. Surely there is a more sensible method.

Well done Ross Taylor. (Just need a certain "expert" to cut down Taylor's innings as not much chop because he was lucky earlier with the dropped catches!) Fabulous knock and a great run chase.

MFC has a 30 yr contract with the Casey Council. This is seperate to the 10 yr agreement we have with the football club. I am not sure if the Council contract requires as a condition an ongoing affiliation with the Casey team. The Council own the facilities so our access to them should be safe. But unless we takeover Casey FC I cant see how the community will want us if we squeeze their local club to death by having our 2nds team based out there and playing there.

Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is otherwise. Other AFL clubs have had and are having problems with their alignment clubs. I dont think Casey believe that at all. They are acting in their interests which in certain points differs from our own. Its not arrogant at all. If MFC want to commit to Casey and the community then it should consider taking over Casey at the end of 2011 and running it as an MFC reserves side but keeping the name and showing a commitment to the broader community. I cant think of bigger way of p1$$ing off the local community if we shun the local community side and set up an MFC side in Cranbourne. A real David vs Goliath and MFC will lose any sense of goodwill down that way. As rpfc says, if MFC is going to jettison Casey then it needs to build and communicate its case very well.

Your point emphasises his unquestioned talent but it does not prove his consistency from a game to game perspective. As I said his performances range too often between match winner and team loser. One week he can kick a bag and the next week he can be selfish, disobedient of coaching instructions and a dead weight on the team effort And in the last 2 years there has been a growing tendency towards the latter and not the former. And its been a combination of his off field and also on field misdemeanours that have been the root of the destructive outcomes.

Agree Nasher. Good analogy. Rather than differentiate Warne from Fev, I should have put forward Symonds. Good get.

Well done on missing the point. Warne was a great. Warne like other greats have the ability to play great sport notwithstanding their personal lives are in turmoil. Sobers and Lara would players of similar ilk. Fevola is not a great and is not of Warne's capability or standard. Fevola is a talented but personally and culturally destructive sportman who in the past two years has been sacked by 2 clubs and performed at times brilliantly and at other times was woefully inept. He personal issues were far greater than Warne and others and were slowly destroying his on field performances Fev hasnt always played good football and thats the issue. The gap between his best (which is very good) and his worst (appalling) is as wide as the Grand Canyon. Too often its been at the extremes. I dont know where you have been to suggest otherwise. And my comment on his weight and other issues was in direct reference to your needing evidence of why he might not play below his capability. It was not made in isolation and does not infer at all the cause is lost at all. You just seemed to be poorly informed on his disposition. And if he does get fit and it will take time he will have the capability to play outstanding football at this level. And if he does this then Howe and Cook wont get a look in as a Fevcentric midfield pumps to the main target repeatedly. At the end of the day, it might be a good deal for Casey. I dont think it is necessarily so for MFC.

Lyon has expressed a clear point of view that differs from the MFC line. Hardly fence sitting. Jason Dunstall has been on the HFC Board for a number of years. Hardly fence sitting at all. Agree. Could not be clearer than that.

If falls back on his past ways he's poor role model and influence around the Club not to mention a bad PR experience. If he succeeds, Howe and Cook will be denied opportunities in the FF position or on the ground in a Fev centric side. We wont know if they are good enough because their opportunities for selection and performance will be restricted. Surely you jest on what evidence? ..... 12kgs overweight, no pre season,just started training just come out of rehab, on medication for personal issues and then there are the personal issues. Or is it just you?? I would have thought his fractured career at two AFL Clubs would make this view folly. Players like Sobers, Lara and Warne arguably 3 of the greatest cricketers to have ever played the game were freaks in that they could put aside some terrible personal life issues and still perform. Fevola is talented but he is not in the ionsphere of those greats. And the last I heard was that Warne has been into Ashley and Martin and not serious drug rehabilitation. And none of the above have as a consequence of the off field turned in such prolonged rancid performances and destroyed relationship with teammates and the general public like Fevola. I think you'll find its a poor analogy with Warne but I know you will realise that.

Think about it JCB...really. What else would you expect Schwab to say in public? If he said otherwise in public his comments would have been seen as ungracious and derogatory towards someone who has just emerged from rehab for serious social and personal problems. It would further blacken the AFL in the eyes of the media and drawn the ire of Fev's manager and the AFLPA. It would have been a PR disaster Of course Schwab is concerned about Fev off the field. Why would MFC have gone to great lengths to have "sacked" Nathan Carroll a couple of years ago? His issues while paled in signficance to Fevs. If Schwab or any other club was not worried about his off field antics, why arent they showing interest and chasing his talent? And why did 2 clubs dump such a talent?

Any assistance that Fev afforded Betts was a product of the game plan where Betts took opportunities in the space afforded Fev by Ratten. And the same issue will apply to Wonna playing to any existing contesting forward. And further I would be worried for Wonna if he is spending considerable time at Casey given there could be more preferred options. Ah its fella. I remember to keep it simple next time. Agree it is. If Cook and Howe can edge some sort of influence in a Fevola centric forward line then we have A grade stars on our hands. Its both naive and unrealistic to expect 18yo green potential KP forwards to compete not only with men at VFL level in the first season but also for opportunity against a 30yo talented misfit who realistically is playing well below his capabilities. Cook, Howe and Fitzy will struggle for oxygen up forward.

That's good. Lets not talk to them between quarters either. Telling them not to go out at night with Fevola is as effective as telling footbsllers not to go to nightclubs. You will find MFC have already being doing that.

Fev's continued behaviour and character problems would destroy any Club culture given the chance. He has done well to derail two other clubs. We are a smug group to think MFC has a strong culture. It was only two years that we were berated that we did not stand for anything and were (and still are) financially screwed. What fantasy is it that we can trade TJ and ditch Nathan Carroll (and rightly so) for culture issues and then suddenly we can naively overlook all the past 13 yrs of indiscretion and punt on Fevola? The asylum is working over time it seems. As for Fev's mentoring role, you would be dreaming to think that Fev who had destroyed his life and adversely impacted others, spent time in rehab and is trying to get his fractured life together can all of sudden be a shining light to younger players. And FWIW, Fevola is an individualist who has squandered his rare skills. Hardly an example that you want to develop young players on. And yes I like a good fairy tale but I would share MFC's consternation about Fev. FWIW, a father of a player in my son's sporting team that I know well is a long time assistant AFL coach with a Melb based side with a young list. When asked hypothetically if Fev were available, would his side take him and the answer was a clear and emphatic no. And the reasons were far from complimentary about Fev's record and issues.

JCB you often miss the wood for the trees but you have missed the forest here by a mile. He is a proven and perpetual cancer to young players at 2 clubs. For all his talent he is trucculent and selfish forward that so often at Carlton played for himself and not the team. We have coaches to teach positional roles not social wingnuts like Fevola. And FWIW, Betts was not assisted by Fev at Carlton particularly off the field. And further while no where near the behaviour galaxy of Fev, Nick Saunter was an extremely selfish forward that did little to assist and blocked the Melbourne's development of younger forwards

Ha ha no you didnt say that at all.You blamed MFC performances on the lack of TV coverage. Caught you.

...sacked the year after.... You must be smarting over the Nathan Carroll sacking. B)

You would hope that he gets to that position in a shorter time frame. You are right footy isnt everything. And I not sure why some posters are pandering that Fevola needs football around him. It has not done anything for him personally to date. FWIW, I note Brisbane police have dropped NYE charges against Fevola in favour of "mediation". Read "Its not a good look for the Police to press criminal charges against a public figure now in rehab with suspected depression". I can see some other elements backing off Fevola too so long as he does not re offend like he has in the past.

I am not telling you at all. But please do pander generalisations about Fevola when you have as much idea as I do what his true state of health is. If Fevola is assessed as suffering a mental illness and this is made public do you think the general public will look favourably on a media witchhunt on man who is try to re build his life and is not straying to his old pasttimes. And Cousins did exactly that and the media backed off. And wouldn't a press release stating that Fevola is suffering a mental illness and is trying to rebuild his life address all relevant questions or inquisition. I never said the media are wise. I said there not all stupid. There are enough examples of people in the public eye who under a media storm have tragic personal circumstances befall them. The media usually draws a line in the sand when things are grave for the personal circumstances for the individual. This is but an example. However, if he screws up again after he has left rehab then I think public sympathy will evaporate significantly and overtime so will the media interest.

Too often the associates are about as competitive as country jolly game. IMO, playing the associates makes the WC too long and drawn out. FWIW, i thought the WC in the WI 4 years ago was a big yawn until the semis and then final ended in high farce.

Brisbane have not handle this well in recruitment or annulment but the whole matter was heading in one direction based on Fevola's antics. Given his litany of issues, I am not sure this is a bargain price for Fevola and caravan of catastrophe he will bring with him.

My understanding was that he had number of altercations and falling out with senior players at Brisbane and also at Carlton.He was also seen as a negoative influence on younger players and was undermining their focus on game day preparation Its not a good position to be in culture wise particularly when you are in the public scraps he has been in. Agree with that. He may have been a willing or a compliant participant but it was not a case of him necessarily taking the action solely. It appears to be that others close to him are taking the initiative to point him in the right direction. There is no evidence that he has or will go in that direction. Gulp! Brisbane all over again. Agree with Nasher, I would not have him in cooee of 18yos.

I am worried the Dutch have played all their form in the one game. If only they had Moses Henriques in their team!!!