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Absolutely Brilliant! Should definitely be sent to the papers, get the word out! If only we had the email addresses of all MFC members, this would have them signed up in an instant. Our supporters must understand our club stands on the edge, but with our support and fight we can get it back to where it should be. We must fight hard now while our on-field performances are suffering, because we know the wheel will turn, and within a few years we'll be back at the top of the table knowing full well that it was us who stood up at the Club's time of need and saved it from oblivion. Fight Dees, Fight

James Cook! Gold, only problem is he spent most of his career at the Dogs, and only played a handful with us. Would Blues fans even remember him at their club? Toss it in the ring at TalkingCarlton maybe

Demons Duped Yet again Caro stands up for what she believes in, delivering a fair and balanced report. No doubt those who dislike her will enjoy the article, then find out she wrote it and think "well that's a once off," but i say thanks Caro. When our club is unable to stand up for itself, we need gutsy journos to help us out. Thank you

He also saved the Dogs pretty much didn't he?

Agreed 100%, furthermore, I think if the club stood up to it and called the "draw" for what it is, it may help to unify the supporters. Even the tagline of this thread, "The AFL is trying to kill off our club," whilst possibly over the top and perhaps even incorrect, gave me tingles. I'd love the club to start developing an us against them attitude, where we have to fight for each other simply to survive.

So really, you'd have to think this saga will be over within the next week. If we're not going to play him next year even if he's on our list, we'll be paying his salary anyway. If we cut him, we'll have to pay his salary but get a look at another young kid.

Wouldn't a third include whether we can place a youngster from the draft in his place?

So we should bend over and take it Bub? I think it would be wrong of a club's supporters not to stand up when their club gets screwed over. Even if we play well this year, less than half of our games will be shown on free-to-air! How can we generate new sponsors if we have little-no exposure. Maybe foxtel could become our major sponsor...pfft

Fixture - Lol. How can there be integrity in a competition if a team has to "earn" a good draw? The draw should be f$%king equitable! Saying we have to earn a "good draw" immediately admits that the draw is inequitable. Mind you, if this was '06 I'd be very happy with the draw in terms of footy arrangement, but my understanding is that the club asked for more exposure and a draw which allowed us to attract new members/sponsors etc. 2 home games in the first 5 weeks against North and the Crows, how does that ven remotely consitute a fair draw? Not to mention the 4 week stint where we play WC then Port at the G, then the Cats at Skilled, then Sydney at Manuka. Our home average will be pretty good until those three home games, and watch the AFL berate us at the end of it. Laughable. Collingwood don't play a Sunday game until Round 8, and that's against the arch nemisis Carlton! After that, they have 3 more. So do the maths. Collingwood gets the good days because they pull the crowds, even the AFL say that. Collingwood get 4 Sunday games. Therefore, obviously, Sunday games are seen as less favourable to a team that pulls big crowds than a friday or saturday. Yet the AFL claim there's no difference between crowds on a Sunday to that of a Friday night etc. "Earn" a good draw, what a crock. I suppose the Hawks should play the bottom 7 twice, Cats bottom 6 twice etc. Perhaps, the Hawks should have 17 home games because they won 17 last year? Joke! I didn't see Carlton earn their draw last year... *cough* Chris Judd *cough* The AFL is a disgrace. No team should have to "earn" a good draw, the league should provide an even competition for its teams.

White hopeful career can continue Now am I the only one who's starting to think this sounds a bit sad? "The 31-year-old says that while no AFL clubs have spoken to him about playing next year, he still had a small hope that he would be picked up in the national or pre-season draft" Now I love the guy for what he did for a club for such a long period, but, well, I'm not too sure what to say

Departures by Club It's like all my Christmas' have come at once! We simply must get Sam Iles, or Bryce Campbell, Luke McEntree or Chris Schmidt. Who's this Weetra guy? Sounds awesome

Two home matches in the first 5 weeks, against the Roos on Grand Prix day, and Adelaide. Pretty much explicitly tell us what the AFL thinks of our club

CC told me while I was walking to work that we were massively in the hunt for him too, him and Jamie Lynn Spears

I care more about the lineup for Round 2

And is that 13 Sunday matches?

Not one home Friday night game? Yay. 4 weeks in a row, port an wc at the G, Cats at Geelong and then another "home game" against Sydney at Manuka (though apparently, that's not unfair because you must keep intact the integrity of the league) Pies round 2, massive

Would've been great to see it. Good to see Quiney get some runs, and Nannes seems so consistent. Victorian cricket is very strong at present, though I don't really know how. Is it just part of the motion? Will we drop away again soon? Though haing said that, we seem to be there or thereabouts in at least one form of the game. Do we have a lot of players that can hold their own against lower attacks, but struggle on the big stage? (Sheffield Shield and One day final last year) Amazing win though, 8 points from two away games, good start. Ponting has averaged over 60 since assuming the Captaincy, whatever way you look at it, that's amazing. And HT, yes i think it's easy to say the problem is there's no Warne and no Mcgrath, but that's precisely the problem. Take two of the best bowlers ever out of any team, of course there will be a let down. Dropping White will not be the answer, though he may not be up to the standard (perhaps another example of the Vics not cutting it on the big stage). We do not have quality turners of the ball. Though from reports Cullen has improved, and Krezja looks alright(comparatively). Not sure about Mcgain, how can we call an uncapped player anything near a replacement for Warne? No offence to him, but he's only held a Victorian spot for 19 matches, and even that it's only really been for one season (his 37th year). I wouldn't pin my hopes on him You just cannot underestimate how much we're missing McGrath. In India, for instance, obviously a place not favourable to Fast Bowlers, he averaged 21.3. 21.3! He would hold an end as good, if not better (which is my opinion) than Warne would. Our attack lacks control, i feel that's the biggest issue. Too many bowlers that simply don't seem to be able to hit a target consistently enough to force pressure. As for the batting, I've always felt our middle order to be somewhat suspect, and it's only going to get found out more and more. It could become something of an open gate by the time we arrive home from South Africa. The ridiculously arrogant display put on in the run chase symbolized how I view much of the Australian team. They did not show the opposition enough respect and it turned on them viciously. The Indian second innings, whilst brisk, was well played against an impotent bowling attack. The Australians should have recognised that and batted within themselves until they felt they had their eyes-in, and built upon their innings' from there.

Carn the Vics

And Chris Judd chose Carlton because they've been playing passionate footy and it was a place he would see himself being proud to play for? We had on field "pride" two years ago, it didn't help. We need bigger and better strategies than "get on field pride," and i think acquiring the nation's best young talent would have to be a driving force behind rebuilding a list that will be top 4 material, which we were never going to be by continuing to plug holes

5 weeks progression in just two weeks? Better watch out for that, we might be peaking for September form in mid January

It's true B2L. It gets so frustrating when free kicks are given away with no one being impeded. Boils my blood but i can't see the AFL changing it because they want to parcel the game and make it neat and tidy.

The AFL has again put the Laws of the Game Survey on their website for fans to provide feedback. This year has felt much less controversial than last year in terms of rule/interpretation changes. I think the AFL will remove the automatic 50 meter penalty from the centre square for interchange infringements. In the NAB cup i feel that a kick that hits the goal post, but then goes through the goals, should be called a goal because the posts no longer signify a score (given play continues if it bounces of the post) I also like the question about the umpire being used as a blocker for a player to play on from a set shot, not looking at anyone Stephen Milne. Any other suggestions we can think of?

Awesome, maybe you could sponsor our club?

Would fit nicely in the "Inset delisted hack's name here" thread

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