Rhino Richards

Save that explanation for your next novel. There were a number of elements at stake on Friday night and laziness was definitely one of them. I just could not believe when Valenti had a 50 metre set shot on goal from a free and not one MFC player positioned themselves in the goal square or around the goal line. Not one. It was no surprise that four Geelong players raffled the Valenti kick that fell short and without a hint of pressure cleared the ball easily. Spare me the dramatics, but that was just plain lazy and unforgiveable.

You are right about the lazy efforts. Our overall reluctance to commit to a contested situation for a ball was galling. Given Geelong had the ball way more than us, our laziness was more evident in the complete lack of defensive pressure we applied on Geelong all over the ground when they had the ball especially in the first half.

Fine and so he should be as well as his CFO. The tight financial ship should be the responsibility of the CFO. The CEO should be out building and developing the brand. Anyway thats not recruiting.

We gave pick 37 for him so we did not go "hard". We needed to supplement our rucks 12 months ago and he was available. Given he was in Adelaide you would have thought Bailey had seen something to work with during that time. But FFS, he has given little of that impression so far. Rogue is right Spencer the rookie to towelling him. The next place for Meesen is Sandy 2nds. Big men if they are any good are a long term proposition. Lucky we have Meesen for 2 more years. I dont want Simmonds either. At 31 he is no interest to me and up to this with injuries I doubt whether Simmonds would have been better value than White.

The whole NRL is "sponsored" by its banker of last resort News Corp. The Storm have not paid their financial way at all. Smart recruiting is the smarts of the Football department not the CEO. Hell, that would be one huge backward career step for Buckley.

No it wouldnt. We have a third world midfield that gets smashed in the clearances. J Brown would only be starved of opportunities. Agree with that. Given the tough economic climate we are in and will be in for the next 18 months, I just wonder how much leverage J Brown gives us. And we are not in a premiership window for 5 years and I dont see JBrown being part of that at MFC. Neither does his management. We will get the best available. We cant get the best with Cook staying at Geelong. And the next two prferred options according to Stynes ... Schwab and Fox not interested.

I should have added if PJ is fit then.................

Neither McIntosh or Hale were as insipid as Meesen has been particularly in their 4th year. You have to show something or at least demonstrate their is a base to build from. Meesen has underwhelmed on every front and the Coaches reviews have been generous. If Jamar is back this week then I drop White to Sandy and based on Lovell's assessment and Spencers ranking in the best from the last game you would drop Meesen to Sandy 2nds. Oh dear.

Exactly. Especially in this age of cheap disposals.

Ask yourself the question who was/were the party (ies) and what were their motives when they successively leaked sensitive and confidential MFC Boardroom discussions about the incumbent CEO (Harris and McNamee) to the press. Both leaks ensured the tenure of both CEOs untenable and both were dismissed.

If it got to the stage of Brown going into the PSD (highly unlikely), then it would be harder for his manager to talk to us given the public comments they have made. What would happen if in the unlikely scenario we took him in the PSD and could not come to terms on contract, MFC would be without a player and where would Brown be then?...without an AFL career.

Given the state of the AFL ladder, MFC likely to have PSD pick # 1 and given that Brown's management has stated that he does not want to come to MFC and wants a hefty retirement contract, I cant see Jonathan Brown drifting into the PSD or MFC selecting him.

Interesting comparison on Spencer and Meesen on the VFL Wrap. They appear to be on different career trajectories.

Diablo, MFC are in critical need of a CEO now for all aspects of the business including sponsoship. The presense of Jimmy does not make a competent CEO redundant in the chase for a shrinking sponsorship pool. I am not scapegoating Harris but he is one of the many issues why MFC are in a difficult situation. Our sponsorship performance relative to the other Clubs is meek at best. The issues outstanding for the current adminstration that need to be and hopefully will be resolved by them may become feathers in the cap for them. However some of the initiatives were well progressed by the previous administration. My comment about the plan for the sustainabililty and profitability is that while the current administration may indeed have one (and may be a good one) it has not been communicated to date to members particularly at a time they are asking members and supporters to dig deep. At some stage MFC would have to engineer a big can rattling arrangement from its dedicated supporters to address the debt. Its not just the wealthy but a wide spectrum of supporters tipping in. Its not "an up yours" vote at all but an expression about the desire to keep MFC alive. And the sooner supporters of the new administration stop the slagging off at past administrations who were also by the way "mentally and emotionally involved" people the better we would all be. No one has said its cataclysmic but to accept the potential upsides on the basis of assumptions and wing and pray logic is setting things up for a fall later. I am sure the current administration understand that better than most and are working solidly to addressing these matters

Absolutely WJ. I dont think people realise how difficult it will be for all AFL Clubs particularly Victorian based clubs to attract and retain major sponsors in the next two years.

About as naive as it can get. Lets all close our eyes and things will be peachy keen. Firstly the charismatic well recognised President makes a well connected CEO redundant. Right. Now if we dont have a CEO by year end where in "deeper muck". Right. It was one of Harris KPI faiures to attract significant sponsorship. We have relatively small sponsorship arrangements in the past five years and have not had a high paying big name sponsor. As for profitability after four out of five years in the Top 8 we could barely cut a profit even given we were underspending on player development. My word the availabiity of a couple of Volvo's has certainly fooled some. At the moment we have got pledges/donations for $2million of a $5 million debt. There is still $3 million to go. At the moment, we have no CEO, no summer training facility, no VFL alliance for 2009 and no clear vision from the Board as to how MFC will become a profitable sustainable operation. You can dream all you like but there are some big holes there Donations/pledges have come from keen and dedicated supporters who realise the funding is for a Club that is not and cannot at the moment demonstrate financially viable. Its got nothing to do with shrewd business decision but a desire to not have your Club of choice go under. You really dont understand the situation. More fool you!

Correct. I would even play Weetra in the ruck before Meesen!

We cant even bag a reliable CEO. So I cant see how we can be gunning full tilt for a new sponsor in that situation. Dont underestimate this economic downturn. Its going to be a far far different economic climate to what we have faced in the past 16 years. Corporates are really doing it hard and are going to be doing it harder over next two years. Before we think of throwing any mud at the Bulldogs and Carlton, our efforts to date over the past five years with sponsorship have been poor. Going forward we are debt ridden club with poor on field performance and poor spectator turn out in membership numbers and attendances. We get publicity for all the wrong reasons. We are the antithesis of any attractive sponsorship opportunities. You can trust in Jimma all you like it but it wont save us from the harsh light of day. Any financial upside from here for the Club is going to be hard hard yards. Be warned.

Sponsorship is never easy to win at any time. As we come into an economic downturn, this process will be extremely difficult not only to win sponsorships but to hold sponsorships. With the departure of Bill Express from St Kilda and a major Richmond sponsor recently it will a very difficult climate for all Clubs.

None of the accredited "talls" at Richmond have established anything yet. They are not established players and have not fulfilled their promise anymore than MFC prospects. If Reiwoldt kicks 40 to 50 goals next year then they can claim one. At this point they cant. They are lucky they are getting a sunset life out of Richo because it would only highlight the problem they have if he was not there.

On what basis do you conclude that? In his fifth year of AFL he has not shown anything of the sort. FWIW, he is contracted for 2009 and 2010.

Not much after four years of Wallet! As you have rightly pointed out the names you speak of are only developing and have yet to nab any KPP position as their own. They are only work in progress. They only have one ruckman in Simmonds at 31 and they have only Richo as a match winning tall. They were there at the start of Wallace's time and Richmond have made no serious inroads in addressing that issue. And that has been a deliberate recruitment decision by the Tigers brain trust. Its worth remembering that every time they see Tambling running around....they could have had Franklin. Five years is coming up and there is very little to show for it at Tigerland. What MFC has or does not have is neither here nor there in regard to Richmond. We have a new football department who understand the need to address some of our chronic issues that were inherited from the previous administration. MFC are at a different I would be pretty disappointed if MFC were in a similar state after 4 years with Bailey that Richmond are with Wallet.

Both Meesen and Carroll are (unfortunately) contracted and apart from stretching the salary cap and the worsening the bottom line it achieves little. The Captaincy should go to the player who deserves it and has shown the requisite leadership. At the start of the year, aside from the incumbent Neitz there was no other candidate showing the necessary leadership. At the time certainly not McLean. So it was hardly a big mistake by Bailey. Its more reflective of the leadership hole Bailey assumed when he took over

Matthew Lloyd

If your quotations are factual and not argument serving then her comments on the MFC were on the mark given Friday nights effort. She has been equally harsh on the Tigers over the last couple of years. I have no doubt she would be castigating them for their performance which did happen after the show went to air. Wallace would have to be on a fine line ATM.