mfcrox

Rest In Peace Jimmy For a person I only met a few times and probably shared no more than a dozen words with, I am absolutely devastated that you are gone... I feel like I've lost a family member. That said though, I am glad that you are now at peace. Very rarely do we get the chance to meet people who are so selfless and are able to change the world for the better in their life-time... and we (The MFC) were lucky that one of those rare individuals was one of us. Not only did you get this club back on track, all whilst fighting your own battle... but you also changed the lives of thousands of people through your Reach Foundation. Physically you may be gone... but your spirit will live on into eternity at our club. NO-ONE will EVER let your memory and all that you did for our club be forgotten. NO-ONE!

None of us would have blamed Jim if he stepped down as soon as he was diagnosed, however, he soldiered on and never gave up on us and rebuilt this club when it was at it's knees. The Melbourne Football Club, and all of it's supporters are FOREVER indebted to him, and long after he passes (in hopefully many decades time), he will be remembered as the most influential person in the history of this club. He has done more for this club, than anyone ever has... and all the while, he has been battling his own problems. Words can't really describe this person... he is simply phenomenal. That's all I can really say. Thanks and keep fighting mate!

... and Ding. Haha

Cheers Vanlo :-)

Pretty sure Jeff Farmer kicked more than 35 goals in a season. Best small forward we have had in a LONG time!

The problem he has (my guess as a personal trainer) is he has a 'greyhound' metabolism... and is playing an elite sport that needs a lots of fuel/energy to play. Getting a personal trainer to do 'extra' stuff isn't always the best thing either... despite what most people may think. A bloke like him has an incredibly fast metabolism, and any excessive training would only burn calories that could be utilized by the body to produce more muscle. The key is to find a balance between conserving energy and doing minimal training... Or training too much and burning much needed energy. The problem he also has is that the energy he needs to build muscle, is now being used to fuel the super intense pre-season training sessions that the boys are being put through. This extra size is a LONNNNNG TERM process for him, and he will always be a skinny player I think. Yeah, he could sit on his arse and conserve energy to build muscle, but then he loses his aerobic fitness... or he runs like a mad-man to build his aerobic fitness, but then has trouble gaining mass. Tricky balancing act to build both aerobic capacity and lean muscle mass at the same time.

Agree... #1: Tall, and straight up. Just like Big Max. Haha

Here is mine... although, I'm sure I would have missed someone: B: Bail - Frawley - Garland HB: Tapscott - Rivers - Blease C: Sylvia - Trengove - Gysberts HF: Howe - Watts - Jurrah F: Green - Clark - Davey R: Jamar - Moloney - McKenzie Int: Martin - Grimes - Jones Sub: Petterd I will reserve judgement on a 'rejuvenated' Bate, Morton, and Sellar until I see them in a game... although they could all slip into my best 22.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I read a year or two back that Roo and Jack were catching up at one point too. Sort of a mentoring role... which is unique being they are opponents. If Watts can become as good as Riewoldt was at his peak, then I'm sure we'll all be pretty stoked with that.

I work at a gym and one of our members works with Jack Watts' dad... I'm pretty sure he told me that Watts Snr supports St. Kilda. Whether Jack supported St. Kilda or not though I am unsure. I can 100% confirm Grimes supported Melbourne, as one of my best mates knows the family through Hurstbridge FC. As for opposition players supporting Melbourne... I think that Andrew Gaff from West Coast is another one.

My first game was Round 9, 1994 against the Swans (I had to look up what Round it was). I went with some friends from school and their parents (as no-one I knew followed Melbourne and went to the footy). I'm pretty sure that this was Brereton's first game for the Swans and we just lost! I don't remember much else... except the MCG seemed so massive!

Honestly, I hope that this is the straw that breaks the camels back with him. I'm not going to haul him over the hot coals like some of you have... but I do hope he gets a bit of a kick in the bum for this (whether the club gives it to him, or he takes it upon himself to do so). I dunno... I just have a feeling that this could be a big turn-around for him. Hopefully he has that Ben Cousins mentality (after a few of his 'adventures') of "Okay, I've stuffed up and now I have to absolutely work my arse off on the training track harder than ANYONE else at this club". Potentially, Colin could be anything... he could be an All Australian, he could be a Brownlow Medalist, he could be an AFL MVP; yet, for some reason he doesn't produce his best often enough. Gary Ablett Jnr is a perfect example of someone who had the talent and never utilized it... and then he had a sit-down with the leadership group and coaches at the end of 2006 and had it laid out for him: 2002-2006 Games 100 Average Disposals: 15.2 (Highest Disposals in a game: 27) Average Goals: 1.3 Average Marks: 2.6 Average Tackles: 3.5 2007-2011 112 Games Average Disposals: 30.2 (Highest Disposals in a game: 46) Average Goals: 1.3 Average Marks: 4.0 Average Tackles: 4.4 It's amazing what a good kick in the bum will do... gone from a good-average player, to arguably the best of all-time. Colin, after 121 games of averaging 16.7 Disposals, 0.9 Goals, 4.9 Marks, and 3.3 Tackles, it is now your turn to leave your stamp on the competition and this club Come on Colin... please do the same!

I guess the moral of the story is... don't believe everything you read in the papers. All of the bad-mouthing I have heard the last few months about Schwab and the administration had me really questioning the football club. Anyway, I have a mate who is a relative of someone inside at the club, and they only had glowing praise for Schwab and what is happening down there. Really says a lot about the media and some of the absolute rubbish that is printed these days.

That is well and good... however, like I said, you getting self-gratification from the way this has turned out is bloody low. Why get stuck into a Rpfc for choosing to believe what Scully has said for the last 6mths? All that Rpfc is guilty of (in my opinion) is a love for this club and choosing to believe that no-one would want to leave our club? Your gloating and crap is absolutely childish. Get over yourself!

I thought you put yourself on a self imposed ban until 'The Decision' is made. Haha. I'm still in Scully's court until his signature inks GWS papers, but the whole thing is getting farcical. I'm surprised that a LeBron James-style press conference hasn't been called so the nation can all hear about 'The Decision'... whatever way it goes.

... and a Melbourne supporter when growing up. Haha. Mind you, if we are gonna throw that coin around I would rather give it to another Melbourne supporter in his youth: LANCE FRANKLIN

Well, my mate wasn't mistaken. Hutchy has confirmed on Twitter: @Craighutchy 'Scully looked at ease at melb airport today. family going to syd too for gws tour. Back tues. Tipping announcement by then. #poorolddees'

No idea mate. My mate was heading to Sydney as a connecting flight... so I'm guessing he is probably in transit again, I'll try get more information of him when he lands though.

You can't just assume he is leaving because he is going up to look at the facilities though. Would you buy a house without first inspecting it? I was just forwarding information that he is heading up today to check it out. I'm still a believer... and trust what he has said about deciding post-season on his contract situation. I'm 50-50 about him staying though. PRO staying: - Health pending, he will be a superstar. I'm in no doubt about that. People forget that he has had a massively interrupted season. Even the greats like Carey, Voss, and Lockett struggled at various stages of their careers when returning from injury/or under an injury cloud. - The compensation is not good enough. He is a #1 draft pick, so why do we not receive a #1 pick in return? CON staying: - My biggest concern is cost. If rumours are true, he will cost $600,000 a season for us to keep him. He is NOT worth that at present. If we could keep him for a contract of $300,000-350,000 a year, then I'd have no doubts about keeping him. - Chronic knee problems are also a concern. We have to make sure his knees have not degenerated before we sign him to any long term contracts.

A bit of a Hutchy-esque scoop... although it has already been mentioned, so this is just confirmation. I recieved a call this morning at 8:20am from one of my best mates who is jetting off on a holiday. Anyway, Tom Scully was two people in front of him at check-in... flying to Sydney. Apparently, Hutchy was there with a film crew too There is confirmation that he must be checking out the facilities today.

I've done something different. I've divided the list into squads... and put in order of preference for each role that I see them playing in 2012. From that I have selected my team. Key Defender - Frawley/Garland/Rivers/Macdonald/Warnock/McDonald Rebounding Defender - Grimes/Bail/Blease/Nicholson/Evans Centre Square - Moloney/Trengove/Scully/Gysberts/McNamara Wings - Jones/Davey/Bennell/Morton Tagger - McKenzie/Bartram Crumbing Forward - Wonaeamirri/Maric Key Forward - Watts/Jurrah/Howe/Green/Petterd/Dunn/Bate Midfield/Forward - Sylvia/Tapscott/Jetta Ruck - Jamar/Martin/Gawn/Spencer/Newton. Injured/Untried - Strauss/Fitzpatrick/Cook/Davis/Lawrence/Campbell/Johnson FB: Garland - Frawley - Grimes HB: Blease - Rivers - Bail C: Jones - Moloney - Davey HF: Sylvia - Watts - Howe FF: Petterd - Green - Jurrah R: Jamar - Trengove - McKenzie I: Martin - Scully - Tapscott S: Bennell E: Gysberts - MacDonald - Bartram - Jetta Obviously this will change pending the outcome of trades and delistings... but from our current list, I think this is our best and most balanced line-up

I don't know... I wouldn't want to put myself through it, but he/his management have decided that leaving contract talks until post-season is what is best. He has said all year that he would wait until after the season, and he is within his rights to do so... even though I believe it has been an unnecessary distraction down at the club. I really doubt that he will be up at Rooty Hill doing a press conferance next Monday though.

All of this 'We should have picked Martin' talk gives me the sh!ts! Scully and Trengove were ALWAYS going to be Pick's #1 and #2. Whilst Martin in retrospect looks as though he should have been a top-two pick, it just wasn't going to happen at the time because Scullgove were clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Pre-draft, Scully was considered the best midfielder to have come out of the U18 system since Judd... he was touted as a lock for Pick #1 well over 12mths prior to being drafted, and his performance at his second national carnival did nothing to change that status. Even when he fractured his patella in his final game, it was just considered a minor hiccup and it wasn't going to change that fact that he was going pick #1. He missed Draft Combine, but had he been fit for testing it would have just increased his reputation because he would have dominated in all fitness testing. Kicking test may have found him out a bit, but people knew his kicking wasn't perfect pre-Draft Combine. We were never going to draft Martin, and if we had we would have been looked at stupidly at the time... although hindsight says otherwise now, but don't write Scully off. If he doesn't end up at GWS (and all indications from HIM says he is undecided), then I'm still happy to have taken him. Get a full pre-season under the belt and he could still become what he was touted as pre-draft.

Yeah, agreed... That's why I excluded Tapscott too from the backline. Depends how footy evolves though, because we may still need Tapscott as our booming kick to get over a press. Also depends how Blease goes over pre-season, because if he can get a solid pre-season in and build up a good tank, then I could see him used in the midfield quite a bit too. Interesting times ahead. We keep forgetting that we do have a REALLY TALENTED list. Whoever inherits it as coach is a very lucky man! Mick Malthouse knows that already... just a matter of whether we can get him here or not.

I keep forgetting that we have the likes of Grimes and Bail to come back into the side. Another big pre-season under the belt and a fit and full list to pick from is a mouth watering prospect. FB - Grimes Frawley Garland HB - Blease Rivers Bail We also have the likes of J. Macdonald and T. McDonald as tall man depth, and Nicholson as short man depth in 2012. I've excluded Warnock because I think he will be traded (not because I don't believe he is good enough). I've also excluded Strauss for obvious reasons, and after today I think they will try evolve Bartram into a tagger in rotation with McKenzie. That backline is a pretty good unit I believe with some really good depth too.