Rhino Richards

Does it matter? Another poster asked which Johnson??? Agree. But in some cases such was the dearth of options in some positions (eg ruck) that one player would get selected under most criteria Agree. I still think a Woey, Thompson or Powell has greater chance of selection than a Miller Thats the simplest criteria. It does indeed. Warnock was in the mix IMO but I thought Ingerson just shaded him. I would like to see Warnock tested in some big games where MFC is competitive against better sides. Ingo placed some terrific games under big pressure against capable opponents early in the decade. I did not have Carroll close as I think he was an ordinary defender with questionable decision making. His tragic behaviour off the ground does little to create some interest.

Tambling has had Foley, Cousins, Cotchin and co and has been well short of sublime. A classic tease at draft time with all the right metrics without the most important and hardest attribute to measure.. the will to succeed. Meesen proves the peril or punt of taking a ruckman with your first round pick. A typical tweener..great at TAC level and a bunny at AFL. The ability to sort out the class from the brass is the real test for BBBP.

Agree. From limited footage seen he looks raw and wont be a ruck in the AFL.

Dont slash your wrists. We should improve on LY. The list management issue cost us 3 to 4 wins. We were better in the 2nd half than 1st half where there was palpable improvement in a number of areas. -16th in clearances - Everyone knows our midfield was carp last year. - Moloney is our best midfielder (good player but shouldn't be a club's #1 ranked mid) - At this point he might but by mid 2010 and certainly end of 2010 he wont be. - Despite his crap 2009, we'll dearly miss a fit and firing Mclean - He had a crap and injury ridden 2007 and 2008. His 2009 was lack lustre and we have lost little on that performance - Jones is 'say-so' - He had a better year than - Trengove and Scully aren't ready to win us games yet - They dont have to win games but FFS even you must see that our midfield with them in it must be better off from day 1 - Not sure if Sylvia is better suited to starting mid or high half fwd? - So long as he is playing and focussed he will hurt opposition team and can break games. I would be expecting 8 wins in 2010 which should put us at around 11-12. Any more will be a bonus. The team is still young and they will tire during a long season. The beltings should be fewer but the performances should be better across the Board

I think you are right BBBP. Prior to this year they have upstaged many in making the finals for the past 3 years even make a PF. Very hard to stock up on draft picks then. They were not good enough to go further. And because of a solid core of Simpson, McIntosh, Petrie and Harvey they have not bottomed out to get the picks.

The only upside Meesen has is based on the fact he was No 6 pick in the 2004 draft (Oops Crows stuffed that one). When fit Meesen has varied from ordinary in the AFL to embarrassing in the VFL. And that's when he is fit. If the Hawks are even contemplating beyond the standard Ultra Tune 10 point check on Bryan and Meesen they really must think the days of an effective big man are over.

They still have a number of injuries to Bracken, Clark, Lee and Jacques. They did have Katich, Haddin, Hauritz and Hughes missing for alot of the summer. Big gaps to fill Each to their own. I guess you liked Australia ruling the No 1 Test and One day spots for the last 15 years. *Cough* much of that was on the back of some great players from NSW, Taylor, Waughs, McGrath, Lee, McGill etc. Victoria did have Warne...but not much else.

Hardly, Lee and Hauritz have been injured/unavailable and have not played a Shield game. Bollinger has played one game since returning from India. Clark has been ordinary. Bracken is injured as well. Katich, Clarke have each hit centuries, Jaques and Hughes have had reasonable knocks. However NSW has had 2 and 1/2 innings in 2 matches. There is a problem with NSW and its called the pitch. Roebuck has been on about it and its a concern. In the game against WA there wer 22 wickets taken for 950 runs In the game against Tas there were 23 taken for 1000 runs plus. Its hard to drive results on lifeless dull tracks. And the comparison with Collingwood is quite bizarre. While Collingwood have won 1 flag in 50 years, NSW have won 15 shields in the same period more than any other side. And if it wasn't for there heavy international representation and the clash of fixtures they would have won more.

We've got good form over the past couple of years. Who cares what they think?

I got to admit...Soccer is improving its disposal of the ball by hand these days.

If he continually bats on feather bed wickets in sub continent he should average 55. Its no slur on the batsman because he has shown a capacity to concentrate but I feel dead as doornail wickets undermine batsmans and their achievement as much as they undermine bowlers efforts.

That the problem with a horrible cricket pitch. If even India are bowled out, 27 wickets in 5 days is an embarrassment. And the batting record that was broken had one of the previous holder being D.G.Bradman. A great effort by the two Sri Lankans in concentration but there is no Bradman quality in that pair. Go Vics. Humid skies on an interesting wicket. It will be interesting.

India 426 & 190/2 v Sri Lanka 760/7d Another fascinating lopsided battle between bat and ball. 19 wickets in 4 days! Its a case of the batsmen getting themselves out rather than the bowlers. Greg Chappell is right in his predictions. RIP Test cricket in the sub continent.

Why should Ball be any different to any other player with or without AFL experience if he enters the ND? Same rules for each person under a democracy. Correct Its against the law for the AFL to do that. What should be done is that upon entering the ND, that a player agrees upon the request of a Club to issue the medical records. The club would be bound by privacy and AFL sanctions not to issue them. The alternative is that the player agrees to submit himself for a medical report at each Club's expense. What is the contractual loss?? If a player is prepared to sit out the compulsory 2 years, he should be prepared to sit out longer. The AFL should blackball the player for good.

Fair comments. Very hard to judge this side as for nearly every spot few dominated and many had question marks over performance at some point. We made the GF and semi finals in those two years and I struggled to find players better than Ingo and Ox for their respective positions. Febey retired in 2002. I thought he struggled in his last two years with injury. McLean peak years with MFC were riddled with injury and average performance (few highs and too many lows). Was about to take the next step after 2006 EF but....didn't. Thompson was fantastic in 2004 and our midfield look great. When he went down against Esse in rd 15 so did our midfield. I could not find another player to better him. Rigoni's best footy was in 1998 to 2000. I thought Woey and Powell (2000) shaded him. Back injury at his peak stuffed him. Moloney no. Lots of passion. Lots of injuries. Started to show something in 2009. Needs to build on it and actually influence matches.

No. 31 1913 F. Ellis (also wore No. 30, 1913) 1914 Jack Woolley 1915 A.M. ‘Max’ Hislop 1919 Leo Little (No. 3, 1920) 1920 Reginald Ellis 1921 – 1922 Fred Long 1923 – 1924 Marcus Glasscock 1925 – 1930 Colin Deane 1931 Lew Gough (No. 39, 1930) 1932 – 1934 Jack Power (No. 12, 1930 – 1931) 1936 – 1940 Ronald James Barassi 1941 – 1942 Leslie Gibbs (No. 28, 1939) 1943 Ken Levey (No. 29, 1944) 1944 Leslie Gibbs (See 1941 – 1942 above) 1944 Harry New (No. 20, 1945) 1945 Frank ‘Checker’ Hughes Jnr 1946 – 1950 Stanley Rule 1953 – 1964 Ronald Dale Barassi 1965 – 1968 Ray Groom (No. 15, 1963 – 1964) 1974 – 1975 Bill Barham 1976 Paul Goss 1978 Peter Garratt 1979 Phil Carman 1983 – 1985 Kelvin Templeton 1990 – 1992 Rod Keogh 1996 – 1998 Donald Cockatoo-Collins 2000 - 2009 Paul Wheatley

You must have had a very bad decade indeed. The AFL is measuring the team of the decade on the 2000 -2009 period. Fair call on Yze. And Woey's stellar year is in the next decade.

I wrote John- ston. Powell had one good year in 2000 then got OP and did little after that before going to StK. Woey had him shaded. But the paucity of talent would have him in the contenders for a bench spot. But not for mine.

Peter Roebuck has written a very sage and long overdue article on the quality of wickets in Australia. Australian wickets have lost their character and its one factor that is killing the game.

Yes. But it was one good year. And on that achievement he had to be selected but his 2001 and 2002 were ordinary. We traded him to the Pies where his star further faded...quckly. It only strengthens my concern with my selections for the Team of the Decade. Who else would play centre? Not McLean. Woey's one fab year outdoes any of the lesser achievement of McLean. I would have Scott Thompson after Woey.

Its a fair point. But who has been a better CHF over the decade? Miller? And its indicative in forming such a team of the decade. I am sure at least 13 other Clubs could assemble such a side that would make my selection blush for talent. I dont think Richmond or Freo could assemble a better team. Richmond had Richo and Freo have Pav and Sandilands but there's nothing really special after that. Given the decade they have had I think Carlton would also struggle to pitch a decent side. Given the hell they have had (and wasn't it great), still to perform player like Kruezer, Gibbs and Murphy would be shoo ins. I have bolded the position where those selected have a flaky hold on their position for want of a better player. Either the quality of football they exhibited was for only a short period (2 years or less) or I could not come up with a better choice in the choice. Whelan Ingerson Bizzell Bruce Rivers Brown Yze Woewodin Johnston Green Schwartz Davey Farmer Neitz Robertson White McDonald Leoncelli Raffle

I got bored and did a team of the decade for the 1990 to 1999 period. IMO this team is far superior than the team for noughties. Some real class all over the ground. However many of those stars suffered terrible injuries durring the latter half of the 1990s Obst Wight Seecamp B Lovett Neitz Prymke Tingay G Lovett S Febey Rohde Schwartz Lyon Bennett Jakovich Farmer Stynes Viney Lovell Yeats Woey White M Febey

Why not? Or can you only choose 10 year players??? Their 2000 seasons were very influential in MFC reaching its only grand final for the whole decade. How much more influential can you get???? And I cant think of players who have been better or more influential than either player over the course of the decade to take their positions. Can you?

Is McDonald focussed on an AFL career in 2010? I think senior list players can nominate their salary package for both the ND and the PSD.

Ironic how 3AW allowed that self serving perpetual court attendee to ridcule Tim Lane as boring (re Tobin Brothers) years ago. I wont visualise it though