DemonTraveller

Gee....I can hardly wait to see Daniel Bell's silky smooth skills and great general awareness light up our forward line......... He was dead wood by the end of last year and should have been delisted. Play the kids and stop wasting time with a guy who we all know is a dud!

Paul Wheatley (quadriceps tear) 3 weeks...... What is going on with Wheatley. He was listed as 4 weeks away in round 1. 4 weeks later and he is still supposedly 3 weeks away from being right? He was one of our best players last year and we sorely miss him. In a backline that is starting to look defensively very solid, but limited in terms of creative play, skill and rebound potential(bartram, warnock, frawley and martin all have at best questionable kicking skills), wheatley's long runs and good disposal would be a real boost to our side.

I just got an email offering a friday to monday (inclusive) subscription to the age for 52 weeks for $25, only available to melbourne members. $15 from each subscription goes to the club! So i just paid $10 plus a $15 donation to the club for a years worth of the age (delivered). A pretty sweet deal me thinks! (even if the age is not what it used to be!) Great initiative from the club to offer a really good incentive for new members and rewards for existing ones like myself.

to state the obvous, brock is a very important player for us. whilst he played well in patches this year, the most worrying aspect to his game was his slowness. He has really lost his ability to accelerate through packs and looks tired and jaded. Indeed, at times he runs like a guy who is struggling with OP. Perhaps the time off he has had in the last third of the season will do him well. He looks like his whole body needs a good rest and recuperation. Lets hope his body can heal and he can come out firing in 09.

http://sportal.com.au/afl-opinion-display/melbourne-56087 makes some good points. 2 key targets for the draft are pace in the midfield and a forward marking target. Don't know about the wisdom of chasing daniel kerr though. "Get Russell Robertson, Jared Rivers, Brock McLean, Brent Moloney and Aaron Davey playing more often than not and maybe 15th is a possibility." i couldnt help but laugh at that comment, perhaps because its sad but true......we are a million miles away from being competitive.

correct! im sorry to say this, but rivers might be gone for a while too. he has had a niggling groin for a long time now.

I have not heard his name mentioned recently. Has he been playing at sandy??? He is not listed as being injured. I understand he had a major fall out with bailey after the hawthorn game, but surely its time to get him back on board?

http://sportal.com.au/afl-news-display/nei...-greatest-47086 sums it up pretty well. undoubtedly our greatest player of the naughties and one of our best all time. congrats on a great career neita! hope we get to see you out on the park one more time for the send off you deserve!

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/D...px?newsid=57961 This is a link to Baileys match review of the north game from mfc.com Whilst he made some valid points, the most astounding omission from his game analysis is that he failed to comment on the complete absence of any structure or game plan when we brought the ball forward during the game. The amount of times players looked upfield to see no options to kick to, no leads, no forward structure or method of bringing the ball into our forward line....was just astonishing. Indeed, these lack of options created alot of indecision in our players, undoubtedly contributing to the skill errors on the day. The lack of forward structure was by far the most troubling element of the whole game for me. Whats even more troubling is that Bailey isnt seeming to notice it.

http://melbournefc.com.au/Season2007/News/...px?newsId=52992 good article. he seems to have a passion for playing for the club which is good. interesting last line of the article.....i think it says a fair bit about where we are at. i think this is the mentality that we are entering pre season with and possibly the unofficial slogan for 2007. we certainly have a lot of ground to make up.....

hey mate, hope you're enjoying your holiday! just a question, im not so familiar with the new development, but will there be a separate training ground attached to this new stadium? or will we be the only club in the afl training on a rectangle? if it is just 1 ground, its gonna get some wear and tear too...storm and victory both playing home games there and us training. great position though, are they building a social club?

mixed feelings with this one........sad to see him go, hope we pick up a good kid with 14. i think this is really an acknowledgment that we are not ready to seriously challenge in the next year or 2. it will certainly throw the cats amongst the pigeons in our group of older players. hopefully it will break them out of their complacency. somebody big needed to go after the year we had and bailey signaled that travis's head was on the chopping block as soon as he was appointed coach. seems like a man of his word......

thanks for that article. "Being a Melbourne man I would like to stay at the club I have played 11 years at and get the club back into some sort of form," he said. Lets hope we can work it out. He is a dee through and through and it sounds like he wants to stay.

Are you guys serious?? As much as you you have to admire ben holland for getting the most out of his very limited abilities down back this year, we cannot be a serious contender for the finals with Ben Holland as one of our go to forwards, let alone as a replacement for robbo, who has been our most productive forward in the last 3-4 years. If we lose robbo we are in a lot of trouble....especially if neitz's body continues to fail him.

Lets have a quick review of our key position players in the forward line. 1. Neitz: was broken down all of 2007 and has not played good consistent football for a good few years now. It is possible (if not likely) that Neitz is past his best and wont be contributing to the forward set up like he has in the past. 2. Newton: Could become a very important player but is still young and raw (and known to be mentally erratic). 3. Dunn: does not look capable of holding down a key position spot. as bailey apparently touted in his interview, dunn will probably move into the midfield next year, maybe even as a tagger. 4. Miller: completely ineffective disposal. Does not take pack marks. (IMHO should be traded or delisted) Apart from Robbo, thats it (and dont give me Jamar or Johnson as a consistent reliable forward target!!!) Point being, why the hell are we looking to trade robbo???? he is our most promising forward target for the upcoming season by quite a long way. no point having judd in the side if you have no targets up forward for him to kick to...... I think it would be a grave mistake to get rid of robbo (or let him go, whatever the case maybe).

Congratulations mate, you and becks are a beautifull couple! Enjoyed the drinks yesterday and look forward to the upcoming celebrations. See ya soon. Enjoy!

With the big man's 300th imminent, I thought I would start a thread celebrating some of Neita's finest moments as a demon. There have no doubt been many, but i will list a few of my favourite memories of the first demon to reach the magical 300 games mark. Congratulations Nieta, your passion for the club is there for all to see and you are an inspiration to everyone who loves the red and blue. 1. 1994 final series: A very young and rangy David Neitz holding down centre half back with grace and skill belying his young years. He ran up the ground and set up numerous forward thrusts for the young David Schwartz, and the not so young Garry Lyon, to capitalise upon. 2. 2002 when Neita won the coleman. What an amazing year he had. My favourite recollection of that year was watching Neitz kick a bag against brisbane at the gabba, as the demons stormed home to overcome an early 6 goal deficit and stunningly defeat the rampaging lions on their own turf. His leading and marking that day was so powerful and his kicking was dead straight. I remember going nuts watching the game on tv with finks. Join in and share your favourite memories in this special week for Neitz and the club. Well done Neita, your an icon of the club and one of its greatest champions.

I just read the article. Im heartened to hear gardiner finally come out and say something critical about the football department, players and coach. He has managed the finances of the club so well since he has come on board, but its long overdue that he puts the 'kosh' on the players and coach. Lets hope that last night is the nadir and that we are ready to clean out some people from the place and begin to move forward. Right now, the whole club stinks of complacency and inaction in the face of disgraceful performances. Daniher must be close to the longest serving coach without a premiership in the history of the AFL/VFL. He has never had a plan B on game day and has never been able to produce a structure where we can win without neitz. More that just Daniher, i think we need a change of on field leadership. A big name needs to go. The players are all far too comfortable and complacent. Change is needed. Its time. Its way over time.

Dont get me wrong....i have alot of respect for wheels, but his form this year has been a big disappointment. i know he has suffered from injuries, but when he has been out on the park this year he has looked slow and played far too loosely on his opponent. i hope he can get back to peak fitness and play the footy that we all know he is capable of, but his time may be passing by.

whose going to stop dukes??? kicked 6 last week, saw him on the tv, looked very dangerous. could be an interesting task for warnock. also have to cover smith and pitt. the backs will be stretched.

I would agree with that, but too many times saw melbourne players leading their bulldog opponents back into the space in front of neitz. bate and sylvia appeared the worst offenders. there needs to be a clear instruction to get out of the central areas in the forward 50 and drag the defenders wide, so that space can be left through the middle for neitz/robbo/newton(dreaming) to lead into to.

Watching the game on sunday it was very apparent that one significant explanation for Neitz' poor game, was that he had no space to work in. It seems that Daniher likes to plug the space in front of Neitz with Bate, Green, Miller, Sylvia and others. This leaves a congested forward line with little or no room for neitz to make a clear lead into. Im not talking about stacking one flank and leaving the fat side of the ground open either. Im talking about pointless intrusions into space that should be left wide open for neitz. it was very frustrating to see players block up this space time and time again throughout the game. This forced Neitz to lead sideways into pockets or double back all day!!! If someone could explain this tactic to me, please do, but the difference between the open space of the bulldog forward line, in comparison to the prevailing congestion in ours, was very obvious yesterday and one big reason why we lost.

Hello all, For those of you who remember me, its been a long time! Gday Finks, Whispering, Barry, Scoop etc etc I have come back to post about something which i find particularly perplexing. Last year Michael Newton played all year in the sandy 2's and kicked over 100 goals for the year (im pretty sure he did, if not he was close.....) This year Michael has finally cracked it into the senior line up at Sandy and has continued his prodigious output in the forward line and midfield. Yet the team with the worst performing forward set up in the afl (yes there have been injuries, all the more reason to give him a go!) sees no need to elevate him into the seniors. Despite his excellent form, he is not mentioned by Daniher in any speeches to the media or even placed on the emergencies list. We are going to lose this kid shortly if we don't give him a chance. I have heard rumors of attitude problems and a laconic style. I don't understand how a laconic player with attitude problems dominates like he does........ If its a personal issue with Neale.........well personal issues should not come into selection considerations, should they...after all its supposed to be a professional game? The time for Newton to be given an extended crack in the seniors is looooong overdue.