Rhino Richards

None of those are mids and none would play midfield in our best 22. However even with our best 22, our midfield in 2009 was third world and besides a couple of promising youngsters lacked real class, clearance ability, pace and good ball usage. All four mids chosen as best available go all along way to addressing that in the coming year.

Spot on. And Ratten looked good in 2004 because Thompson was outstanding up to Rd 18 as the first dibs midfielder when he was injured. And White was AA. However from Rd 18 onwards when White tired and Thompson injured our midfield was pedestrian. Ratten had the two quality footballers in that year in the midfield which we did not have in the surrounding years. Unless you are on the inside of the footy operations, I cant see how the average supporter can make an informed assessment of the performance of the assistant coaches.

Well done 45HG16. Deserving an Order of Australia for that fine bit of community service.

Brad Hodge retires. Good on him and well done on a fine career. Hodge has scored the most runs for Victoria in first-class cricket, 11,278 at an average of 47.39. Dean Jones is next best with 9622 at 54.05. Hodge has played 222 first-class matches making 17,012 runs at an average of 48.88 with 51 centuries and 63 ffities. In one-day matches, he averages 41.80, with 23 centuries and 35 fifties. In 73 Twenty20 matches Hodge averages 40.10 with one century and 17 fifties. Hodge has played 25 one day matches for Australia, averaging 31.33, with one century and three fifties. Time to focus on international 20/20 money now his Test window is closed.

Just dealing with the reality of the situation JCB but dont you fall off your pillar.

I dont how you can assess ruck stocks any other way than on quality. Number of talls and how tall they are, only blindside the true picture. Currently our true ruck options are the same as they were in 2009. Jamar if fit is the only player who offers us any real competitive. PJ is not good enough and Meesen is finished. If MFC are serious, they will be focussing on VFL game time on GAWN, Fitz or Spencer to the detriment of Meesen. Neither GAWN or FItz are likely to play AFL in their first season. They are project players like Spencer. They may or may not work out as AFL footballers in the LT. They are unlikely to be plausible solutions this year. MFC were right to draft them given our predicament. But they are a LT solution and not a quick fix.

Agreed. Unless either or both agree to be delisted and paid out, I dont think its in MFC long term interests to do so unilaterally. Meesen cant get his body right for AFL so its not much of a mature body. And Newton lacks the maturity above the shoulders particularly for such a young group of players. Surely there must be better options then two "cast offs" from a bottom dwelling club.

At the end of 2010, I reckon Junior will retire. PJ, Bell, Bail, Bartram, Miller, TMac and Cheney are out of contract with no certainty of renewal. Meesen and Newton are already on the "rookie" list and should be careful planning their 2011 season. Barring a miracle, they wont be at MFC once their contracts expiry. Unless Garland's injury is deemed terminal to his career, he wont be cut at the end of 2010. If you look beyond the contracts, if a player is not best 22, fit or in their first season in 2010 then they are at the "cross roads" because I would like to think there will be no easy positions and every spot will be heavily contested each week.

He should also be recognised for his contribution to the current list. Most of the "bashing" is mostly ill informed at best

It depends what judgements you want make. The start of this summer was not unexpected. The opposition this summer is pedestrian at best. But if there are wickets like Brisbane through the summer and you cant make runs against the Pakis or the Windies then it does send a messge. FWIW, I think the Windies have got a player in Barath. A plucky innings at 19. They need six of him. Gayle should have missed this Test. His batting has been poor and his judgement challenging the umpire on both occassions was just dumb. Its interesting I looked at the 2000/2001 Windies series in Australia where Aust won 5-0 and easily. It was a quick drop from world champions in 1995 to basket case in 5 years. They continue to bounce along the bottom of the standings 9 to 10 years later

BP has been with us two years and he has three No 1 picks. He should do well with those. However the real test will be when the late first round, 2nd round and third round picks are in their 3rd to 5th years. If you want to look at the quality of our list, lets identify who on the list was not recruited by BP and wonder who was responsible for their recruitment. Lets not undertake any pointless naive revisionist assessments.

David Hille. Paddy Ryder, Brett Deledio, Jarad Waite, Brad Johnson, Luke Hodge, Cale Morton for starters......... Its more a case of Pickering flapping his gums on SEN. I wouldn't worry reading things into it that clearly weren't intended.

If Jamar is fit and shows the form of 2009 consistently then he is safe. At this point he is our only valid ruck option. PJ is in the gun and his future is uncertain. Meesen is finished. Spencer, GAWN and Fitz are all green, 20 years or under but will take time to develop. I can see Martin developing as a pinch hitting ruck. Numbers wise I think we have the ruck numbers right on the list. Its the quality of some more experienced players than have me worried.

Well done Wolf

If we are looking at Round 1 and Junior is fit he will be in the 18. We must dreaming if a young side with a lack of experience would have their experienced captain starting on the bench and not on the ground. B: Frawley Warnock McDonald HB: Rivers Garland Bruce C: Morton Moloney Trengove HF: Bate Watts Sylvia F: Scully Jurrah Green Fo: Jamar Grimes Davey I/C: Jones Petterd Martin MacDonald

They have no chance of playing AFL with Melbourne so the almost no chance is better than none.

6/371 WI plucky but lack class and application. Australia bats had nearly all got good starts and had thrown away a great opportunity to dominate despite the scoreboard. And who have thunk it? Qld wins toss and sends a strong Victorian batting line up in on a moist wicket with overcast cloudy sky and they are 3/47 with Hussey on 17 and Rogers GAWN cheaply.

The incentive was they had a chance through the ND and PSD with another Club. I think the Club would have told them they are finished If they can do that under AFL rules then can they rookie others or are they blocked from rookieing replacements?

We signed him in 2007 on low bucks for 2 years at a time we had no forwards to speak of. It was a long shot punt that did not work. Agree that both should go. Meesen was as much an error as Newton, Hopefully GAWN and Fitz rectify that in years to come. FWIW, I would have thought Meesen was as bad if not worse. We gave him 3 years and Adelaide pick 37. Newts renewal cost us nothing. Meesen....

We declared an interest in Ball early. I am not sure when "We said we wouldn't speak to anyone who wouldn't speak to us." that we actually compromised ourselves when you think about that statement. Ball would not speak to us (nor anyone else). He was not interested. I cant see how we could have used our PSD more strategically given Ball was focussed on the Pies and nominated the ND. Nothing MFC did affected the Ball outcome. He was never coming to us unless we took him in the ND. And it was clear it was never MFC's intention to do so. But its all moot now. I am comfortable with the outcome. Taking Ball in the ND at say 18 would have been like paying good $$$ for a used car with no RWC, miles on the clock and known chassis damage.

This issue has been done to death elsewhere. Lets p1$$ off every player manager and existing player and impress upon them they when we contract with you, you make a commitment to us but we wont necessarily kept our commitment to you. Also if the AFL are kicking funds into us they wont be happy we needlessly paying out contract early. Building a premiership requires a number of things to happen. Being reckless is not one of them.

I think the case is closed. They're gone If they weren't contracted they would have been cut. The recruitment of GAWN and Fitzpatrick would be the final nail in the coffin. They should give game time preference in the VFL to those players above Meesen. MFC have been generous with both of them. MFC got those deals wrong. Its done we move on.

I dont think we could have "forced" him into the PSD. He and his manager were clearly intent on getting to Collingwood so the PSD was not out. I see no harm in foxing our interest so other clubs force their hand. FWIW, I thought Voss had as much purpose in his foxing as MFC. He could have taken him before pick 30 but did not. And for the record, Connolly and Harrrington echoed Voss's sentiments a number of times in the Press.

Personally, I think Watson is a makeshift opener but neither proposed replacement has scored significant runs or demonstrated they are over their flaws. Anyone for Rogers?

Monkhurst, Spida and Newman....no thanks. There have to be better options than those culture clowns and dinosaurs.