Rhino Richards

If only that were true. It isnt. Agree with ID on this comment. But...I dont agree with Newton being the worst footballer MFC have ever had. He not good but he is not the worst. From the late 60s MFC have had a bevy of players who would compete for that title. I dont want to go into a naming of names as I dont think it befits the site. But I have not seen an MFC listed player in the past 6 years that would get on my list.

McLean is a notable distance runner with very good aerobic stamina. His times with MFC on pre season runs were always good. At Carlton this year he was one of the leading runners on a distance time test beating home Chris Judd. The issue is his acceleration from a standing start to 20 to 30 metres. He might have one speed but he can maintain that all day and I think is an accumulator of possessions rather than the a contested ball winner.

Brock has a large tank to be able to run all day. He just gets found out in the 0-10 and 0-20 dashes and is a risk at losing opponents in the first 7 to 10 strides from a standing start.

Not at all. A midfield is made up of players playing specific roles within the midfield mix. McLeans role is to win the contested ball and to create play by feeding the ball out to better runners and users of the ball like Judd, Murphy and Gibbs. I am not sure its the perfect role for McLean and I will watching with interest as to whether he succeeds or not over the course of the time at the Blues.

Matrship has never stopped players playing with the vigour of the situation in the past. I seemed to recall Marcus Seecamp getting 4 weeks for belting one of his best mates in a game some years ago. I would expect Beamer to be front and center when theres the opportunity given the way Beamer plays.

Fair enough. THere are other posters Jack that think Gysberts should seriously be on him. I would certainly be looking to Jones and Moloney to be at him and make his day hard and unfriendly. He is their firs dibs supply to their stars and we need to cut him down big time.

McLean is the in and under play maker in the Carlton midfield. They wont give him a tagging role of a 2nd gamer. McLean has not got the pace to go with any target And Bailey wont make a 2nd game kid responsible to nullify a mature player in the congested contests in the middle.

Why? How about the Club actually do match ups based on the best player for the role rather than shoddy self seving one up manship that at best suits supporters who are still smarting over McLean leaving? Honestly Gysberts is in his 2nd game. McLean will be in and under packs looking for the first possession and handball out. Why wouldnt we be looking at Beamer, McKenzie or Jones for that? I am sure the Club will be more sensible in their approach here.

Talk about making a melodramatic mountain out of nothing. FFS. If Reilly believed he was not going to get the MFC job he had every right to explore other avenues for work including Carlton. You do fester on the frivolous and miss the bleeding obvious.

Thats not what Reilly was told when he took over the MFC coaching job. But as you say Melbourne were always going to win so its pointless inflating an irrelevant conspiracy theory. Its not that hard but keep trying....

In 1999, we lost Viney,Lyon, Tingay and Stynes had good recently. A big dip. In 2001, we lost Powell, Rigoni, White to LT injuries. Schwarz had begun to fade as an AFL footballer.A few more injuries also In 2003, we made wholesale changes to the side in an effort to correct then identified structural faults in the 2002 list (eg no CHF, CHB etc). We never achieved it. Yze, Neitz and TJ did not repeat their unbelievable performances of 2002. Possibly "dropped" a few games. In 2004-6, we were a middling side that never threatened. 2007 - The last roll of the dice and the wheels fell off...badly. By Round 4, the season was as good as gone as so was ND.

Why?? He had been dumped from the first round of the MFC coaching selection. So what was he to do?? Stay unemployed??? Glad you agree that Riley's future appointment had nothing to do with it. Dont know why you carp on with the rest. You just get found out continually.

It was ND's plan A in his final 5 years that brought him unstuck. However ND did well with the list he had, the carp facilities, Board, resources, fixtures and salary cap penalties

Its a fair metric used and we have nothing to boast over Freo, Tigers, Dogs and ourselves who have all got pitiful records. Our finals performances have mostly been stocking filler cameos without seriously threatening the top sides when it counted. FWIW, I hated the 2000 GF. We were outclassed badly and thrown around like an old rag doll. The same as we were in 1988. I cant work how anyone can tout our "success"! What success!! C Boy is close to the mark here.

Doh. Hardly a certainty and its better your money lost than mine. Whatever Reilly did in that game was neither here nor there to his future. The outcome was pre set by Ratten As you should note from the Melbourne vs Richmond game last year, coaches will go to some lengths to ensure they will lose the most winnable of games. If I remember closely, the MFC coaching position was still open and Reilly in the mix at that time. Reilly should never have been told by the Club when he took over after mid season that he would be judged for 2008 in part on his success in the rest of 2007. We should never have beaten Carlton earlier that year and the win against a failing Dogs team set us up for the 3 card trick in R22. Doesnt bear thinking about does it??

Typical AFL fluff in the paper. What would you honestly expect Ratten to say? "I think MFC are soft and they tanked last year" Better reading your tea leaves than putting any weight on Rattens comments. Nope. Carlton were never going to win that game. If they were serious they might have tagged TJ and not benched their leading players that day unnecessarily. However, MFC should not be criticising Carlton for tanking.... You shouldnt gamble. B) Not take Nik Nat at 2!! Why would we depart from best available? We could have played Kruezer forward and fill a big hole in the forward line. Stephen Hill is a going to be a good player but I dont know if MFC rated him at 2. I dont think they had D Rich close to pick 2 in his draft.

How long is a player out for with a cracked windscreen?

A least for his first contract at MFC.

We were certainties to win at Geelong if it wasn't for Darwin. On the plausible scale that scenario comes in at an all time low.

I csnt see how Henry Playfair will grace any best 22 for a premiership. Now why did Geelong get rid of him? Hmmm MFC traded they traded draftc picks as part of a deal involving Bizzell and another player. What Geelong did with those picks is a separate issue. And hindsight is a good skill but a great skill if its actually foresight.

Martin has had a number of good performances this year. He played well on Saturday in a winning side. This selection was true to form by the Rising Star judges. Its take a really good performance to crack the Rising Star in your first game outside Rds 1 to 2. No shame of Gysberts. His time will come.

His 2005, 2006 and 2007 form the nucleus of this side. He got the best out of the early picks in 2003. There were some disasters taken in the 1st 2 rounds.

The issue with 2003 was not so much our selection but that it was just a dud year. McLean is just a stock standard midfield without flair. Sylvia is a player with some flair but after seven years I am still waiting for the big payback. I know we could have done worse. If we were targetting big forwards, why did we pick Moloney at pick 12 and then Bate and Dunn a couple of picks after? It would suggest we soought to cover Thompson's loss with Beamer. We took Bate and Dunn as young players who would develop. Bate has developed but Dunn is a good VFL player. On 1999's strike rate the first round pick we might have had could have yielded us Joel Corey, Robert Murphy, Luke McPharlin or Darren Glass...Bugger!! Agree on 2000. Lost the second round pick to penalties. Agree. The drafts of 1999,2001 and 2004 set the Hawks up. Geelong's recruiting was first class when you consider Corey at pick 8 in 2000. Father sons help too. Craig Cameron posted on Ology some years ago that they erred in choosing Molan because they chose for needs and not the best available. I would suggest Cameron learn a lesson on that at some cost to MFC over the coming years.

Crikey that's two in row!!!! Thanks guys for the correction. My bad. Apologies to the Talia family for any slight from my error

Add Jamar and Bartram at pick 60 was not bad. All these picks should have been the icing on the cake. The problem was the ingredients in the cake!! I dont think you can judge Daniher solely on that. For what he had, facilities, lack of money, distruptive Board he had a credible record.