Rhino Richards

Totally agreed H. I started following MFC in about 1967. No pne apologised to me for the crap they rolled out for 20 years and more until I saw them in the finals. Lets get over it and get behind DB and co. FWIW, they have dished up worse in the past. However the last two weeks have plumbed the depths. And there will be more pain to come.

I think we can. They give us no leadership or performance. On performance I just dont see the value of retain old players that cant cut it at AFL level. Best to take the cut now. Yze, Neitz, Holland, will retire at year end. White, Junior and Whelan might be as well Green Bruce, Bell, Wheatley & Miller futures are in the gun. Not all of Sylvia, McLean, Bate, Dunn and Newton will be at MFC next year. Frawley has some chances. Garland is burning his. On the bottom side of the list, Weetra, CJ, Bode & Warnock will be delisted. The biggest challenge for MFC is to get our so called good players to play well to inflate their trade value for year ehd. At present my top 10 bar Jones and Rivers are C graders at best and hardly worth a good trade bid. We are 1 yr into a 3 year clean out with a 4 to 5 yr window before we seriously challenge. We need to build a team that will be competitive where the game will be in 2011-12-13.

Ye gads we missed a slow fringe player like Armstrong. Thompson would have left the following year for nothing if we had not traded him. Not a good time to floss history.

We may have broken even at 1/4 time. But after that we got touched badly. You are dreaming if you think the clearances were nearly 3 to 1 our way. Brock....had a bad game....he could make a string of pearls of them.

I could mention 100s of them. When stupidity is displayed on masse like that where player wont (cant think) and players think they should imitate pillars of salt when they dont have the ball I dont think you can have any reasonable game plan despite best intentions.

You are wrong. The players names may be largely the same but the players are not. All our senior players have deteriorated to the borderline or below AFL standard. Our younger players have stalled or have taled off. Other teams have continued to improved as we have falen behind. Furthermore the game has changed wioth I am not so sure you want to hang onto a game plan for yesterdays players many of whom will be gone or not around within in one or two years. Its up to DB to cut the wheat from the chaff and to identify which of the younger brigade have the capacity and discipline and follow instructions. At the moment few are and most cannot execute enough skills to tie their own laces.

Ahhh No we did not. Not at all. Outside Jones we had no one. Things are dire if you have run out of excuses for Brock!

Quite apt if you look at a 2 yr clean out. Not many

Our ineptitude and lack of skills makes any game plan look ridiculous. The game plan is fine the cattle are not.

McLean, Ray, Cooney, Sylvia and Bradley...... 2003 is turning into one of the most ordinary drafts of all. Adcock in the 30s is the only redeeming factor. McLean and Sylvia are more pedestrian than a school crossing.

Agreed. The word "rabble" definitely comes to mind. And thats being polite.

Funny, so has Yze!!!! And Bruce has been consistently performing and achieving the most important ...helping us make the finals But Robbo is a protected species. Its pathetic you cant see your double standards. Robbo is now a dinosaur in todays game that demands offsensive pressure, mobility and teamwork. He is a selfish GOTY/MOTY specialist who does not chase and has not worked out like you what is required in the modern game. We should have traded Yze in 2004 and Robbo in 2005. We missed how the game has changed in the past 3 years and our list reflects that. Great. He was damaged goods by then with penchant for selfish play and a bad knee. We would have got little. 3-4 years ago Green could have got us a top 15 pick (maybe not a straight swap, but one involving Green and a draft pick, or Green and another fringe player). West Coast, given their lack of forward power, could have used someone like Green in their forward rotation, so could the Bulldogs, just to name a few. We managed to get pick 14 for a troubled, over-the-hill TJ.

Its haunting us badly.

And not Robbo? Oh of course he bleeds red and blue. Green is a run of the mill tries hard player. It would be a bigger steal than the Jono Hay deal if we got a Top 10-15 pick for him.

I'll repeat it for the slow..... Also Shannon Motlop played in a premiership side......it does not make him a capable AFL footballer though

I have edited Reilly out. Does not change the point.

They are either duds or low grade performers that have been no better in performance than Miller especially given their prized draft ranking. You could argue the toss on one or two but by no means is Miller the worst particularly given the prized draft picks given up on other players who have crashed and burned.

For player who was a draft pick #55 and has managed to play around 90 games of AFL, he is far from the worst. In fact there have been a truckload of top 20 picks during the same time that have not played a third of the games Miller has. Miller is an honest ordinary footballer. He is nowhere the worst. Your pathological contempt of him shows your shortcomings up way more than what Miller might have. Franky nailed you in one. Analytical crud. For the record here are some bigger duds taken earlier in the draft who neither had the ability, character and perseverence to play AFL. 1 9 Luke Molan Geelong Falcons Melbourne 1 10 Sam Power Oakleigh Chargers Western Bulldogs 1 11 Richard Cole Eastern Rangers Collingwood 1 14 Ashley Watson Bendigo Pioneers Kangaroos 1 15 Barry Brooks Tasmania Mariners Port Adelaide 2 20 Daniel Elstone Bendigo Pioneers Hawthorn 2 23 Charlie Gardiner Sandringham Dragons Geelong 2 25 Steven Armstrong Perth Football Club Melbourne 2 26 Aaron Rogers NSW/ACT Rams Melbourne 2 27 Tom Davidson Geelong Falcons Collingwood 2 28 Mark Powell Murray Bushrangers Sydney 2 30 Rod Crowe Sandringham Dragons Kangaroos 2 31 Joel Reynolds Geelong Falcons Essendon And if you really want to sink the boots, you might want to do a check on the "best" from the 2003 draft that have already underperformed big time. If you are looking for worst dig in deep here. Even the top picks are just footballers. 1 6 Kepler Bradley West Perth Football Club Essendon 1 7 Kane Tenace Murray Bushrangers Geelong 1 9 David Trotter Calder Cannons Kangaroos 1 10 Ryley Dunn Murray Bushrangers Fremantle 1 11 Beau Waters West Adelaide Football Club West Coast Eagles 1 12 Ryan Murphy Gippsland U18 Fremantle 1 14 Fergus Watts Sandringham U18s Adelaide Crows 1 15 Troy Chaplin North Ballarat U18s Port Adelaide 1 16 Josh Willoughby Glenelg Football Club Sydney Swans 1 17 Billy Morrison Tasmania U18s Collingwood 1 18 Llane Spaanderman East Perth Football Club Brisbane Lions 2 20 Sam Butler Central District Bulldogs West Coast Eagles 2 21 Alex Gilmour Tasmania U18s Richmond 2 22 Cameron Thurley Tasmanian Devils Football Club Geelong 2 23 Matthew Moody South Fremantle Football Club Brisbane Lions 2 24 Chad Jones Claremont Football Club Kangaroos 2 25 Harry Miller Port Adelaide (SANFL) Hawthorn

Brock will never become Captain of the Club now!

As an MCC/MFC member, I can see the challenge without seeing a ready solution. The MCC has 90,000 members. Approximately 28% profess to support Melbourne. About 4000 can be expected to take out a MFC membership this year. The next highest level of Club support is low teens (from memory) - Essendon. There are many more on the waiting list which could be an untapped gold mine for both MCC and MFC. Over the years the cost of an MCC membership has grown significantly. Its approx. $500 to get broad access to football and cricket at the MCG. Its not cheap and in particular for some it is difficult to fork out that amount each year then an additional amount which does not provide them with any extra benefit. On the flip side, i cant see any easy way for the Club to offer any meaningful extras for a low membership amount and make a net gain at the end of the day. On left field note, why doesn't the MCC take control of the MFC football licence?

To be replaced by whom? Its easy to swing the axe out of retribution but harder to come up with more effective solutions. Its a true acid test on senior players and alleged best 22 contenders to step up this week. If they dont and there is another poor performance, DB should have no doubt about depth of character and capability of a few so called stars. I am going with a huge curiousity on how individuals in MFC jumpers will act. It will be telling how they do.

He is employed in some capacity at WB and I have no issue with his preferences for the game.

I agree with that in general. And I agree with G. Lyon coming on the board. But Stan Alves has strong links with 3 clubs. And as I recall it, MFC treated he and other stars of his ilk in the 1970s very poorly and I recall him on radio saying that he was not primarily an MFC man.

They dont get dropped because their on field performance and their contribution demands their selection every week. We all agree that MFC have had deficiencies in leadership qualities. It would be great to have one of our Top 6 six to be the Captain we want. However, for previously thrashed out reasons our Top 6 are either in their twliight, too immature or do not have leadership capabilities. The situation with Yze is not common but not that rare in AFL. I can recall Whitnall, Vanderburg, King and Harley being identified leaders and not being selected in the Top 22 for a game though being fit and available. I think the leadership group is in transition. I would expect at least 4 changes at year end reflecting a number of issues that occur throughout the year.

Why doesn't G.Lyon join the MFC board and make a real contribution to the Club he loves?