Rodney (Balls) Grinter

My prediction is that all these comentators and 'footy experts' that have written us off as virtual non contenders for season 2026 will eat some humble pie and re-rate the side as a contender and be singing the praises of Kingy after the first half of the season.

I could see 2021 coming from watching the way the team played in 2020. We were better that a team that missed out on finals. Along with the horid Cairns losses, we should have also beaten Brisbane in Brisbane in 2020 (they were still a good side then and finished 2nd on the ladder that season, somewhat boyed by all the virtual home games no doubt). The way we finished the 2020 season against Essendon at Carrara you could tell we belonged far higher up than the bottom half of the ladder.

Love Melky and I still think he can play some good games for us this year. But what I really think is that we need to be developing the next bunch of players with a similar skill set. To me one of the closest we have with that penetrating pin point feild pass is 'The Bison' Langford and will be interesting to see if he can go to another level and become even more of a weapon delivering the ball inside 50m. Beyond his kicking, Melksham is also a really smart, strong and tough to beat in a 1 on 1 marking contest and knows how to position himself with respect to feild position and where the dangerous space is within the forward line - also traits I think in common with The Bison. Still think Melksham is very handy depth (perhaps more) this season, but also think he'd be great to have around as a mentor for the next batch comming through.

Well at least Archimedes could have worked out the thing about a deer, buffalo and hippopotamus sitting on the river bank!

If they must breed, at least not paying child support will mean there's less likelihood their spawn will follow that despicable team of their father's.

I still hold that we were beaten by the umpires on Kings Birthday, so there's always that variable as well.

I partially agree with the sentiment, but: 1. I don't think King has as much capital at the MFC to tolerate as many beltings as Mitchell did at Hawthorn, comming off decades of sucess, the last one in particular. Hawthorn also conceded that they needed to pretty much gut the place and that they were going full rebuild, where as I think we're more rebuilding on the run Geelong style. 2. As much as King talks about attacking and taking on the game, I've also heard him talk that we need to also defend well in that phase. I also feel we have a much stronger defence that Hawthorn did during their rebuild, so hopefully we're not as exposed to the blowouts as they were. I'm also not convinced that Hawthorn are the real deal either. They haven't actually won a premiership under Mitchell yet and although they've made finals a few time and played OK in those games, they could just as easily regress or go nowhere for a few years and big question marks will hang over Mitchell's ability to coach.

He's played every game for the past 2 seasons. I think that gives a pretty good indication that if he's fit, he's pretty much a lock.

Chandler will get picked before Jeffo. I bet he'll kick more goals in season 2026 as well.

Kade is a lock. Future captain material. All set to dominate in 2026.

When the AFL ditched the reserves, it was supposedly as a cost saving measure. But I struggle for the life of me, where that saving would be. The current lists of 40 odd players + rookies of various forms mean there would be stuff all saving in player wages and clubs probably still need a similar number of support staff. Now that it's back to almost the entire comp again, I wouldn't even think there is a huge amount to be saved in travel costs. Just bring back the reserves and get on with it.

If Lever was shocked and disappointed about being dropped, how does he think T Mac felt after being dropped to make way for Lever when T Mac was in some great form. In retrospect, it might have actually been better for Lever to work his way back into the side via Casey.

Who shouldn't have even been there after we smashed the absolute [censored] out of them in the first week of finals. We made something of a bad habit of comming up against the better teams in prelim finals in conditions that better suited them. Remember that final against North well. A night game at the MCG, at a time when they played the most night games during the home and away of most clubs. Similarly, we've copped West Coast in Perth in away prelims more times than I care to remember.

Agreed. While he hasn't burst out of the blocks like Windsor, Langford and XL did in their first seasons, he as shown a few good signs and isn't a bust yet by any means. If anything I think the club might have overhyped his chances of playing and performing early which probably hasn't helped the expectations on him.

What a great attitude he exudes in this article. Proof will be in the pudding if it translates into performance, but from all reports, the right signs are there on the training track at least. Hope he has a cracking season, gets back to his best and finds another level as he starts to mature as a key forward. Really love to here the faithful yell out "ROOOOOOOOO" around the MCG.

In consistent all right. We had similar win/loss record in 2021 as Geelong in 2022 and he ranks us 18 Vs them at 12. We absolutely annihilated that same Geelong side in 2021 prelim and our 2022 ans 2023 finals losses were generally by pretty small margins, so to me that gives a better metric of where we should sit compared to that premiership in realitive terms.

Our colours are worth alot to us too. I'm not that rapped with the one on the front as it does somewhat detract from the clean red V that is so much a feature of the MFC jumper and would have rathered it elsewhere, like perhaps under the AFL logo (but I bet the AFL have some branding rule against that!). But in the scheme of things it's not the worst outcome and I agree Penrite are not a Micky Mouse sponsor at all. I actually rarely use anything but Penrite in my personal cars (wounder if there might be any promotional offers through the club!!!).

If I recall correctly, it was something of a surprise that we went so early with Kossie himself (I seem to recall some concerns on here that we'd used such a high pick on a small forward). Similarly Clayton Oliver was something of a surprise pick. Both were shown to be shrewd picks in the fullness of time. I think simply in both cases what it was, is that our recruitment saw something in them, that others didn't and were prepared to back themselves and take a risk. Also with Clarry, I seem to recall that we were satisfied that he had responded to feedback to lift his professionalism and get fitter (somewhat ironically in the end). In the same sense, we probably had a better personal insight into Trelly than most via Kossie.

I watched us make finals out at the Western Oval in 87, us get done by the wees and poos in 88 and then by the Essendon scum on 2000 at the G. Nothing beats being there at the ground and I still want to be there that one day in September when the MFC bring home the cup for the faithful on the hollowed ground that is the MCG (I'm not a religious person by any means, but I actually think that will be the moment the hevens open up and beam their glory upon us!).

That list does also go to show what an absolute beast Matt Rowell is as well. Dion Prestia has the nickname "The Human Meatball", but I really think it is one that more rightly belongs to Rowell.

Some say Steele is too much sameness of Viney, but honestly I think having them both in the same side is going to be an asset to us. Think their leadership will inspire others around them as well. As much as we want to play a free flowing attacking game when we move it forward, the counterbalance has got to be that we don't loose that hard defensive side when the opposition have the ball as well.

I'm totally the same. Not being there in person watching it at the G still leaves something unforfilled for me.

Absolutely dismantling Geelong the week before was almost as satisfying and unbelievable. Max kicking snaps from the boundary out of the ruck and from outside 50 on the run. That whole 4 weeks was somewhere between belief and divine intervention I think.

Just a few?

Don't need an explanation - just enjoyed it, like no other 40mins of football before in my life.