Harry Manback

What a great post.

Good to know we're in the mix, but hard to get too excited after the Judd and Warnock sagas... Throw the cash at him and hopefully we can entice him to enter the PSD. Won't be holding my breath though.

How on earth is this an official AFL award? What a joke. Hawkins winning was embarrassing- when they said that over 50% of the votes were for the winner I assumed Mattner had it in the bag as at least his tackle saved the Swans the match... I suppose that's what you get when you let the general public have their say, another idol-esq popularity contest.

Whilst commentating an Essendon game Hird stated he was very quickly "falling in love" with Hurley... Hence, lovechild. They joked about it 'On The Couch', I joked about it in my previous post...

If he had of waited a year he could have given it to his lovechild Michael Hurley... Looks like he did himself a disservice!!

Essendon did Hird a disservice by not retiring his guernsey. Watching Stanton run around in his No.5 must send shivers down the spines of the Essendon faithful...

This assessment is pretty spot on. His defensive pressure isn't the greatest either, seems to overcommit on the tackle and get side-stepped too easily. Love his workrate though, and his ability to drill a low ball into the leading forward (when he hits them flush). Add to that his marking ability and improved goal conversion this season and we have a pretty dangerous player on our hands. He seems to get better as the season gets older, and will only improve as our midfield gets stronger over the next couple years.

Very classy exit from an extremely classy individual. Felt proud to be a Demon watching that. Good luck Robbo.

Great interview. Cheers for the link.

I sent through an email a couple months back about possible membership strategies and heard back from the marketing director about a week or so later with a response. Definitely shoot it through and see how you go.

Kobi Stevens from Gippsland Power and Jordy Gysberts from Eastern Rangers.

Signed myself and the lady friend up today (an Essendon supporter!) - latest membership figures are 14,501.

This was who initially sprung to my mind as well. It's one thing to teach a player how to win the ball, its another altogether to teach him what to do with it when he does. Jones has obviously got the first part down pat, but his decision making and skill execution is really holding him back from becoming a top senior player. If there was ever a player who could benefit from some mentoring from Scott West, it would be Nathan Jones. Good appointment Dees.

Great post. I personally believe our biggest weakness- the forward line- needs to be addressed in this draft. That being the case, Watts is our man. However, all indications would suggest that we will most likely have another top 2-3 pick next season, and we could look to address our forward line then. A name such as John Butcher from Gippsland Power is a standout as an athletic key position prospect for the 2009 draft, and I personally believe he would already be heavily on our radar were he eligible this year. Judging from some phantom drafts doing the rounds, Lewis Johnstone may still be available at our priorty selection which may go some way to addressing our forward line issues. Although it is impossible to rely on him slipping through, if we were reasonable sure he would still be available then I would be all for taking Natanui with the first pick. Whilst his athleticism is obviously his major attribute (not to mention marketability), his versatility could end up being his trump card at AFL level. He can obviously compete at the centre bounces and with his height and marking could pinch hit up forward. People who have seen a lot of him at junior level believe his clearance work alone is worth taking a punt on him for, and if all else fails, throw him in the backline and utilize his athleticism to give the likes of Buddy a run for his money. No doubting he is a high risk prospect- with kicking and reading of the play an obvious concern- but if able to be developed correctly, he could easily have the highest returns of any other player in the draft. Either way you look at it there are question marks hanging over every one of the "Big 3", and a major possibility that one or both of these player's that we don't select will turn out to be better player's than the player we do. However, I personally believe it would be a much harder pill to swallow if Natanui turns out to be the best of the lot, and we overlook him...

From everything I've read, Rich sounds an awful lot like a former no. 1 pick who we recently traded away- supposed elite kicking skills, unable to shake a hard tag, doesn't accumulate a great number of possessions, questionable work ethic and known to show a complete lack of interest at times... but on his day could be one of the most damaging players in the game. Whilst drafting players with elite kicking skills should high on our priority list, I'm not sure if we should be going for another highly talented yet inconsistent mid...

Three-way deal to get Troy Simmonds.... whilst Simmonds has not set the world on fire and suffered a few injuries, Richmond clearly win on that deal.

Like them or not, surely they're better than a pair of jeans purchased at Dimmy's..... (the MCC's attendants suggestion when asked what the F am I supposed to do then!!)

The MCC is a joke. Got turned away from the gate yesterday because my designer jeans had a hole in the back pocket. I paid $300 for my membership (and as much for my Tsubi jeans) and they flat out refused me entry for having small holes in the pocket that nobody will be able to see once I'm seated. It was the first game this year I was going to sit in the members as figured there would be more Demon supporters in there, but was persecuted for having a bit of style. It's not like they could afford to pick and choose who they let in with such a small crowd either- perhaps a "make sure you don't wear them next time" could have been in order.... Utterly ridiculous.

Can anyone else shed some more light on this one? I'm an AFL member so would assume the same situation would apply if this is indeed correct, but interested to hear the rationale behind it and why it would provide more benefit to the MelbourneFC than entry via a club membership would...

Wouldn't exactly say a 5 point loss sealed in the final minutes of the game due to a David Hille goal/ Al Nicholson mistake was barely a whimper.... In 2005 we got smashed by Geelong, 2004 we at least showed enough to get us back into the game after a horrendous start.

My old man spoke to him at the Heroes function, told him that he would be 2-3 weeks away. He has been sufferring from stress fractures in his lower back, he said that the club believed that his kicking action was to blame. Unusual injury for a footballer, more commonly associated with cricketers, and in particular, fast bowlers. Here's hoping he can get his body right and get a couple of games under his belt, would love to see him in the Red & Blue before the end of the season...

Rightly or wrongly, I highly doubt that Harry Taylor was even on our radar, especially at pick 14. Geelong sense that they are currently in the position to win not only one, but multiple premierships. Similar to Sydney who traded away multiple first round picks in order to pick up experienced and mature players from rival clubs when in their 'premiership window', Geelong sought a player that could come straight in and play AFL footy, without requiring 2-3 years in the gym before being physically ready. At 21, Taylor is far more physically developed than nearly all 17-18 year old draftees (take a look at Cale Morton), and would be of more value to Geelong at pick 17 than he would be for most other clubs at that pick. When you consider Geelong lost one of their key defenders in Ben Egan for the finals series last year, it would make sense that they would consider using a first round pick on a mature age player like Harry Taylor, when a club like Melbourne may not.

Just opened the paper hoping to see a couple goals next to Maric's name and couldn't imagine my suprise to see he jagged five! Would love to see him get a gig in the seniors this week (god knows we need something to get excited about) but am mindful of the last time we tried to expose a young talent to the bigtime after a single break-out game in the VFL (anyone else remember Colin Sylvia's debut?). If he can build on yesterday's performance and string together some consistent games down at Sandy, I have no doubt we'll see him in the Red & Blue sooner rather than later.

Agree with everything said in this post. Neitz has been a champion of the MFC, but is no longer showing any of the qualities that once made him so great. His contribution to the MFC should never be questioned, however, his decision to play on this season has every right to be. I'd like to believe that he feels as leader of the club that this would be the worse possible time for him to jump ship with the team in complete disaray, which would explain why he is still currently running around out there. However, surely in his heart of hearts he would admit that he is a shadow of the player (and leader) that he once was, and him playing on is not helping to fix the problem, but rather, a major part of it. If Neitz really wanted to help the club move forward, he would swap his on-field role for an off-field one. I could see huge benefit in someone like Neitz stepping aside from match day duties, yet continuing to train with the playing group and nurture those coming through the ranks for the remainder of the season. He could teach and pass on so much to the young forwards such as Bate, Newton, Dunn, Garland, Maric and the likes through active partcipation with them on the training track, and then allow them to further develop these lessons and skills learned out there on the ground, without being overshadowed by his presence or him taking a position on the field that would be better served by an up-and-coming young forward. I understand that such a scenario would require extreme selflessness on the part of Neitz, as he would be doing all the hard yards without the 'reward' (for lack of a better term) of playing a game. However, at the minute it would be in the best interests of the club for him to retire from playing, yet somehow retain his experience that he has gathered along the journey. This would be one way of fulfilling both interests, and whilst would no doubt be a tall order, if David Neitz's contribution thus far to the MFC is anything to go by, he would be the one person to do the right thing by both himself, and the club.

Did anybody else hear the Paul McNamee interview on ABC radio before the game this afternoon? Whilst I believe he spoke extremely well and has the passion (and I'm hoping, the ability) to turn around our current financial state, one thing he said completely summed up the 'support' (or lack thereof) that this club receives from it's own. A telemarketing campaign was recently undertaken in order to reach the elapsed members from last season, and from the thousands of calls made to those members yet to re-sign for season 2008, they were successful in signing up only 1 member. He argued that the financial sustainability of the club should not have such a heavy reliance on it's on-field performance, and suggested that building and strengthening relationships within the corporate world would be the club's targeted major revenue streams. However, it begs the question, what potential sponsor would want to align themselves with the Melbourne Football Club if it's own 'supporters' will not?