Rhino Richards

Clarke has a back injury and Katich a shoulder injury which is preventing them from any sustained bowling. The real issue is the failure of Hauritz as a 4th innings bowler. This will crucify us in the coming Ashes series.

They are now one of the main reasons for it occurring. And your analogy is a strange one for the argument you are trying to make.

He played two seasons at Casey and Sandringham. Some of his games in the VFL were so underwhelming that even the sugar and treacle coaches reports on the website could barely talk up Meesen's performances. Clearly you are a smart one. Fine. But when the umpire held the ball in the air to start the quarter Meesen just did not have a clue as a player. I hope he turns out to be a better Coach than player. In some respects it would not be hard.

If they are being influenced by what is posted on places like Demonland then the FD should be sacked and competent professionals brought in to replace them who can make sensible judgements without the naive misconception that the members and all supporters think or know is the right thing.

You're not Blind Freddy are you? In the year Jolly was traded, White was AA ruckman. Jolly could not crack a game at MFC as a young raw ruckman. When he went to the Swans in 2005 he spent his first year there playing 2nd fiddle on the pine to a 34 yo Jason Ball. He has matured well in the past five years to be a very capable ruckman. But your spiel has to be some of the worst revisionist history I have read on D'land

He was on the rookie list and his contract expires at the end of this month. Are you waiting for a Press release??

What else was he going to do after being injured for nearly 18 months? I wonder what your source is on his astuteness re coaching. He showed very little nous as a player. Athletic..maybe when fit. Footy Smarts...Not obvious as a player.

He isnt at all. What is proposed is effectively around what Swans paid for Mumford. Steven King was offloaded at pick 99 for salary cap reasons at GFC not market value. The true value of Hale is what the market will pay for him.

From an AFL perspective he is starting off. I wouldnt overvalue the WA experience in that context.

Absolute garbage. You are making this all up...again. His contract was renegotiated post the B'low. We would not have got rid of Woey earlier as he was contracted. The contract was structured by the Club and was back ended so the contractual pain was at the final years of the contract. It was dumb business by the Club and not the "greedy manager" as you implied Your grasp on issues is tenuous at best

Might it not be the Club's responsibility to manage the salary cap issue? Think about it.

You are kidding. Winning a B'low medal caused problems?? I have heard it all now. When Woey's contract was renegotiated at the end of 2000, he still had a year to run on his existing contract. Who started the renegotiations?? MFC to ward off potentially big offers from over West in 12 months time. They raised the $$$ and back ended the contract. Dumb move on two counts. And can you imagine a player manager being "greedy" for getting the best deal for his client??

Lets deal with some facts about Woey: 1. He has no AFL coaching experience at an assistant level so he's a greenhorn. 2. His manager negotiated an attractive contract for him. He just plays the football. 3. He did not have the nous to work out that when he was getting paid top $$$ at MFC, performance had fallen away considerably from his best year and playing off the HBL that his role might come up for review. And when it did he cracked the sads publicly. 4. He went to Collingwood and as the no 4 midfielder carried by Bucks, Burns and Licuria did well in his first year but was humiliated performance wise in the GF. Spent the final year of his career at the Pies in the reserves. When the Pies refused to enter a new contract for him, he once more publicly cracked the sads. 5. Then pursued further AFL opportunity in futile pre season try outs. He was a player that did get the most out of himself and he should be acknowledged for that. However he had absolutely little street sense to realise when the game and its opportunities were changing around him and where he stood. And lacked the where with all to handle it professionally.

Fair assessment. Firstly, Thompson is moving away from the senior coaches role which has been an 11 year pressure cooker. He will join Essendon in a different role if he joins at all. Secondly, he had every right to feel peeved that his number 1 player would not commit to the club in 2011. I think the impact of Ablett going hastened Thompson's decision. Some of the criticism on this thread of Bomber has been petty to say the least.

Another player/manager spruiking that there is a hot market for one of their clients. Zzzzzzzzzzzz! Are the Club looking for speed? What does it mean MFC has made an "enquiry"? Given we have offloaded Junior, Miller and Bell and are likely to elevate Spencer and McKenzie, we still have to offload another player to even get to our 2nd draft pick. Only Bruce and PJ are uncontracted and Bruce is close in negotiations atm. Now where would we fit in Sherman on our list? We dont. Suggest pass. And I dont think what Sherman says publicly should have anything to do with our interest in him. Where do you fit him in on our list?

I am not sure why we are so keen to make MFC an "old boys" sanctuary particularly when we have been starved of real success for 46 years. Woey is starting off in the coaching caper. There is no certainty he is any good at all. I hope he shows more guile in coaching than picking the winds of change in his playing career. MFC should only appoint the best available for any coaching role regardless of whether they played for MFC or not.

Salary cap penalties in 1999 and 2000??? Only time we got top 10 draft picks were from the worst draft ever...2003. Cameron got it wrong on drafting in 2001 and we got little from the draft.

Short and tainted memories here. People need to remember that MFC actually punched at times above its weight given the list limitations it had that were often countered by the individual performances of White, Neitz and Yze. What carp. He was sixth in the Bluey this year. Miller had one good game and Dunn was rubbish until the final six or seven rounds.

Correct. I think the poster may think there is a game plan for every letter of the alphabet. B)

Its not a fact....its an opinion pumped by rhetoric without basis. For someone who will not accept mediocrity and that the entire club dodged bullets for years and years please explain which club players or officials have accepted mediocrity in the past? Just a tip while you huff and puff about standards...20 game footballers dont become experienced 100 game footballers overnight. Swan, Pendlebury and others all went through a learning curve. The new training facilities will not quicken that development. That's a great load of crap if ever its been written. The players have been right in the front line of the transformation. During the tougher results Bailey and the players have been put through the mill by the media. None have been shielded whatsover. How have the players been hidden?

It was embarrassing and he made a goose of himself when the world was his oyster. He could have basked in the glory of his victory but chose to do so in a vindictive, unprofessional and immature fashion. Its no wonder he burnt so many bridges at Port.

1. We had few reliable leaders in the senior playing group this year. We have one less in 2011 with Junior gone. Collingwood had the following players with over 100 games in their GF team. Ball Brown Cloke Didak Swan Pendlebury Jolly Shaw OBrien Maxwell etc. Getting the picture. Over the year Collingwood have evolved out of the 22 Davis, Fraser , Lockyer and Presti. A BKK D has pointed out there is a hard core there 2. Do the sums and you will see that Collingwood are further along the evolutionary path. You are bleating on the same terms as "we should stop accepting mediocrity". Its boring and its ill informed.

The Pies premiership team were a good 12 months on average older than the MFC side this year and had a cumulative 400 to 700 games more of experience. And the numbers look a little worse if you take Junior out. There is a huge gulf of experience between the Pies and ourselves. In 2010, Collingwood brought in Ball, Jolly and Brown all with 180 games experience. MFC brought in Scully, Trengove and Gysberts who had little. Ring a bell. And as for sorting out mental toughness, we will still be blooding new players next years in Tapscott, Blease and others while we try and get games into other young players who have played 50 games or less. We should expect improvement next year but it helps to have a sense of realism to that expectation. The Pies in 2010 were formed around a nucleus of experienced, mature well coached players. We are getting there but we aint at the flag stage yet. At least the football club have a better idea of where things are at without having to stoop to ra ra statements and cliches. If any side should feel like they have missed the boat is St Kilda with an average age of 26+ years. Gone so close in consecutive years and might end up being the perennnial bridesmaid

Agree. He needs to back it up again in 2011. On the money with that comment. My view as well. Ugh. I hope he does not.

Hawks won a flag on the back of having a fully fit list for most of the year and players like Franklin/Roughhead contributing 200 + goals. The Hawks were crippled by injuries in the past 2 years. Its more than just gameplan.