Forest Demon

I disagree. Played some promising games early where he showed he was a one-touch player, had speed, and had good disposal. Since then, he has gone backwards which can't be blamed on Prendergast. If West Coast had of selected him as they intended with their next pick I am sure he would be 10 times the player he is today.

Another case of a player who showed glimpses early on, but for whatever reason has shown absolutely no improvement, and has in reality probably gone backwards. Looking at his stats over the last 3 years since he was drafted his statistics have continually dropped off each year i.e. disposals, marks etc. That just shouldn't be allowed to happen, and I bet if you dug a little further he wouldn't be the only one who has shown a bit of promise early and then just dropped off year after year.

Scully is trying to buck a long trend in recent years of being picked up by another club from Melbourne and being decent, the list of the top of my head: Bruce (Hawthorn) - rubbish, only on list because he was signed to a 2 year deal P. Johnson (Hawthorn) - delisted Cheney (Hawthorn) - on list and gets the odd game but does nothing C. Johnson (Carlton) - delisted McLean (Carlton) - rubbish, floundering in the VFL Buckley (Collingwood) - suprised he is still on their list, but gets little to no game time regardless Miller (Richmond) - giving them similar to what we got and will be gone at years end Maric (Richmond) - 1 game and dropped straight away Scully (GWS) - played 1 game and will be good, just not sure how good McDonald (GWS) - will only get a year or maybe 2 at best at his age, but hopefully he goes alright Their may even be more that I have missed, and probably just about deserves it's own thread.

Looking at the team from that day: Gone: Bruce, Wonaemirri, Johnson, Scully, Maric Still Here: Sylvia, Frawley, Davey, Morton, MacDonald, Bartram, Bail, McKenzie, Jamar, Garland, Green, Dunn, Bennell, Rivers, Jones, Watts, Jurrah Jack Watts and possibly Nathan Jones are probably the only players that played that day that you could make an argument for being a better player today then they were 2 years ago, and even they are debatable. A few others have stagnated badly and the rest have gone completely backwards.

I'll wait and see who performs for Casey before giving my votes

This club has some very deep issues at the moment. Here is my proposal.... 'A Club-Wide Soul Searching Session' including players, coaches, board members, administrators, representatives of the supporters and past players. There needs to be a seismic shift to the culture of this club.

I'll just preface this with saying I rarely complain about umpires, but... I have never been more [censored] off at the umpiring of a game of football in my whole life. A few sloppy high tackles in the 1st...fair enough. Soft frees in the middle, many of which when we have won the clearance, and refusing to pay us anything...pissing me off. We are having a dip which is what I wanted to see. Skills are ordinary and we are having a bit of a flashback to the Bailey days with the going forward with a completely empty forward line. We are down by 8 goals, probably 4 or 5 with some respectable umpiring. They will even the free kick count up a little bit, but they will be token free kicks paid in ineffectual parts of the game well after the game has been won or lost.

'THAT the Melbourne Football Club had to meet at all to consider its relationship with major sponsor Energy Watch is just another unfathomable element in the controversy' I honestly can't believe any sane person would write this. WTF is going on?

Jack Watts, isn't he that guy who did all those EnergyWatch ads...disgraceful

At least you have gone early so you can look back and see whether you are right. Rather than waiting 6 or 7 years and then just picking the best players from the draft.

I am glad some of you wouldn't be so concerned if Jamar left, cause I sure would be. And don't say we have Gawn, Spencer etc. Gawn - has the tools but is injury prone, and has a long way to go. Even if he does make the grade, he is still a few years off replacing a ruckman like Jamar Spencer - not up to it and injury prone Martin - not a first ruckman, better suited to a utility type role ala Leigh Brown Sellar - yet to play a single game for us and not recruited as a ruck regardless Clark - recruited as a forward and would never be a first ruckman I am not saying Gawn and co are not going to make it, I am just saying Jamar is not going to be as easy to replace as some on here think.

Yeah, I want a Buddy Franklin...there are heaps of them floating around isn't there?

Nearly half that list are unavoidable and in no way reflect on the club (Stynes passing) or are not even issues. This club has achieved so much over the last few years off the field, and while things are not great at this very moment, it is far from 'rock bottom', even if the media try and tell you it is.

Sorry, didn't see the posts you were referring to. Think I am going clinically insane this week.

No, it's not even close to 'literally the same thing'. We can still hold our heads high about our behaviour over the last week.

Actually, not that I was one of them, but I have heard numerous people talk about Energy Watch being a bit dodgey.

The most annoying thing is the club has done no wrong, and we are being dragged through the [censored], and I keep hearing news grabs like 'the racism row engulfing the Melbourne Football Club has hit a new low'. And unless you read as many articles about it as we on here do and are educated on this issue, you would be forgiven for thinking we are a bunch of cross burning racists. And the next most annoying thing is we need our team to put up an almighty fight on the field on the weekend, but we are playing West Coast at Subiaco and there is a very good chance this could get ugly. Everyone will be watching.

More great news... http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/jamar-high-on-giants-ruck-list-20120404-1wdac.html GWS are able to sign Jamar as a free agent at the end of season. We need to lock away The Russian ASAP because it is obviously important from a football perspective but it would also be good to create some positive publicity around the club. IMO GWS are more likely to go after Ryder who is apparently out of contract, a lot younger and has a good relationship with Sheeds.

Not as if he just made an innocent slip of the tongue...that is a series of disgusting comments from a complete nutcase. As someone else said, never had a good feeling about this sponsor from day one, call it the Tom Scully of sponsorships.

I know it was a loss but I loved the game against Collingwood in Round 2, 2010 Funnily enough, came after a Round 1 thumping and we were expected to be completely dismantled by the eventual premiers. So if anyone is looking for any positives heading into Saturday this could be it. Collingwood 12.14 86 Melbourne 12.13 85 Goals: Petterd 4, Green 3, Dunn 2, Newton, Bennell, Bail Notables: McKenzie: had 18 touches but laid a whopping 12 tackles Petterd: played a defensive forward role on Heath Shaw and destroyed him, was BOG and kicked 4 Green: 21 touches and 3 goals Davey: had 27 disposals, 23 of which were kicks Other players to score over 100 Dream Team Points were - Bail, Jamar, Moloney and Grimes Brownlow Votes: 3 - Davey 2 - Pendlebury 1 - Petterd

He was on a bit of a hiding to nothing in that press conference. For me, the best bet would have been a simple press release outlining the points he wanted to get across. He was always going to get bombarded with questioning about who was the player who leaked the info etc, and you could see him getting more [censored] at every question. I'm still convinced Demetriou had a big say in the scheduling of this press conference.

Melbourne to be galvanised and come out strongly and throw their body's around like maniacs, matching West Coast's stronger bodied and more skilled line up in front a parochial crowd with pure heart and soul they have for the club and jumper. Lead swaps continually through the game before Melbourne kick 3 on the trot in the last to win by 14 points. In reality, lead blows out early, and the same old players drop their heads, and begin going through the motions. West Coast cruise home and start showboating with dominance and arrogance late in the game to win by 86 points. Brad Green then fronts the media to talk about how he isn't sure what happened, and that they are looking forward to a big week on the track and a chance to redeem themselves at the G next week.

It may be a weekly scheduled press conference, but it was in no way a normal weekly one. Did they think he was just going to get questions on how the boys have been training and how the game plan is coming along.

He is saying it is 'done and dusted', but for me the biggest issue for the MFC is where this rumour started as it could eat the club from the inside out, which is apparently currently unknown. Either Neeld knows more than he is letting on and will deal with it privately, which I hope is the case, or he is just going to try and sweep it under the carpet and get on with it. He repeatedly said he was happy with the way the AFL handled it, when it is clear for me the AFL tried to distance themselves from it by suggesting the info Misfud got was a lie by a Melbourne person, and by trying to turn the incident into Neeld vs Thomas, removing them from the heat. They are as much to blame for this than anyone.

So much for growing a backbone...I think I could see Demetriou pulling the strings in that press conference