Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Must say I'm impressed and have alot of respect for the players and staff like Crossy to talk to and so fully engage with our supporters in the way it appears evident above and elsewhere throughout this thread. In this day and age of intense media scrutiny, the constant public focus on AFL footballers, and their every move, being constantly bombarded with what may seem as repeditive, anoying/trivial or intrusive questions after a while, guys like Crossy could be forgiven for withdrawing away from fans, treating them as a bit of a nuisance, and responding by providing only very terse and cursory responses, which appears to be the opposite to what I'm interpreting from the above. Full credit to these guys for staying grounded and so respectfully interacting with us mere mortals. Its Time, I'd be interested to understand if you have some connection to the club beyond a standard supporter or basically just walked in off the street and got this kind of response? Either way I think it's pretty impressive.

Need to get brother Andrew into a Demons kit sooner rather than later, their poor mum looks confused with all those scarfs on and none of them a MFC one ? All is forgiven: ‘Very fit’ Brayshaw pumped for 2019 https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-2019-preseason-no-animosity-towards-andrew-gaff-says-mark-brayshaw/news-story/29f8904833d17e9ca00dc78aa1005ca5

Perhaps he's a bit constipated trying to crap out our next premiership cup?

Ray, a few things: 1. I think you are misinterpreting what I am try to say with the statement that most teams would be envious of our defense even without Lever and May. By most I meaning 'the majority', not all teams. I think it's fair to say that our back six defensive personal (less the two mentioned) is better than pretty much all the teams that finished below us, with perhaps the exception of Essendon and perhaps Geelong but that's probably canceled by us having a better defense than a few of the teams that finished above us like Hawthorn and Collingwood. That's also backed up to some degree by http://m.afl.com.au/news/2016-12-29/who-has-the-best-defence-we-rank-every-club , depending on how much weight you want to put on their assessment and some interpretation for the changes since. 2. Is it really reasonable to make an assessment of our backline based on that one game Vs WC in the prelim? On a similar basis it could be stated that we are a 100 point better side without Lever based on the respective Hawthorn games last year. The main point I was trying to make is that we had pretty decient backline depth last year and the guys that were left once Lever went down were still pretty solid options compared to what alot of other teams have thus why was making finals such a surprise. Of course adding Lever and May back into the mix gives us a pretty elite backline that hopefully takes us from a side that made the finals and then put on a pretty good show, to one that is setup to be a genuine premiership contender.

Thanks for the great reports It's Time. Love that from Maca. I certainly hope Jeffy Garlett can get back to his best and force his way back into the side, because at his best he is just so damaging. But to be picky with your choice of words, I'd suggest that both fortunately and unfortunately, it's not his position in the side that the competition is for these days. He relinquished his hold on the spot to a certain extent last year and sadly appeared to be on the outer by the end of the season. Hopefully the break has done him good and he's ready to attack the season ahead and make a big impact for us. Would love to see him win his way back into the side - a 40+ goal small forward would be highly valuable for us.

I know of the daily plannet, but not as far as knowing what street it is on! A mate of mine did use to live in a street in the Croydon area which is "The Nook" - there is a brothel on that street too.

It would be a bit of a marketing fail to open a brothel in the area wouldn't it. ...or conversely is that how the area got it's name originally. Along similar lines, there is the locally based business 'Cockburn Cement' - an early version of viagra for when you've had a big night on the nest, but just need to keep powering on! ...perhaps?

Smokey, the emphasis on this was really the 'most' and with respects to Oscar and Frosty the 'servicable' as previously applied to them (although Oscar's early season form and Frosty's back end were far more than just servicable). Having monster key position backs is somewhat over rated these days. Outside of Hawkins and perhaps one or two others like Kennedy and Brown (...and as you suggest these days T Mac), there are very few other dominant key position forwards going round that require an elite key position back to match them up, because due to the flooding of backlines they have become less effective. You seem to have expectations that good teams only consist of players that are elite in every way sighting Frosty's previously erratic kicking - just look at Frawley's performance in the semi against us ...and Frawley is a premiership player. Good sides rely on system more than individual brilliance and it's clear that under Goody that's what we have become. If there were any two players that really held our backline together it was Nev and Hibbo and I don't think it's any surprise that we lost games when Hibbo (and Melksham) spent time on the sidelines 3/4 the way through the season. It's these two and that we have pretty solid, settled backline around them capable of getting the job done (even less May and Lever) that I think most teams would have been envious of. Having the old head of Lewis to help steer the ship was pretty handy too. BTW, Oscar is only fairly young in terms of key position backs, I think will keep getting better and would slot right into most sides in the comp going forward and the combination of defensive and offensive damage that Frosty can now do quite reliably will also make him a handful for opposition, so I'm not going to under rate their future potential either. As for the backup option of moving T Mac to the backline, the context was last season and last season, we had J Hogan as well who was more than capable of holding together the forward line together if T Mac had been needed to hold the backline together (which he wasn't).

As much as I don't hold anything like the same sort of grudge agains Hoges as I do against that little [censored] $cully, I really do hope we smash Freo this game and send a strong message to Hoges for the sake of any others that might want to jump ship. I'd prefer no uncalled for boooing (though I'm sure there will be some), but just for the MFC to turn up and put on a display of force that Jesse will remember and make him think about what he has walked away from over on the East Coast. ...and at the end of the game when Steve May shakes Jesse's hand, he won't just be saying thanks for the game, he will be saying thanks for this opportunity.

Just need to get 80,000 Demons supporters to the MCG every week and make it a cauldron like the Eagles have over there - seems to work for them. They who booos the loudest wins the most dodgy free kicks!

So according to former team mate Nick Dal Santo a nickname for Preuss is 'Pokey'. Apparently ANB knows the full story now after his chat with Dal Santo the other morning as it sounds like it was too salacious for the on air show.

Ribbish. It would have been more remarkable if we had not have been injured and we went through the season practically major injury free. It's not like our backline is total rubish without Lever and May. More than enough capability to hold things together between Hibbo, Nev, Salem and even guys like Oscar and Frosty proved they can provide solid defensive options. If we had got desperate, we could have thrown T Mac back there and as it was, I think Max Gawn provided any additional coverage in the air we might have needed. Most teams in the comp would be pretty envious of our backline without Lever and May, but having them there gives us so much depth back there now it's not funny. Competition for spots will be fierce and guys like Hore and Lewis will have there job cut out for them getting a game, but that's a great thing because players so often get injured and fall out of form.

Same. But in the mean time until we win our next flag, at the end of the day, at least we can take solace that they belong to the inferiour breed that defines a Collingwood supporter and we are not and will never be that.

Always loved watching Wonaeamirri play. Such a tallent, it's a pitty he didn't have a longer career with us. Don't know if he's still playing for the NT Thunder in the NEAFL or not, but saw him playing against Southport a few years back before a demolition job we did later on the Suns. Bought back fond memories.

Fully fit Vanders after what he did back end of last year with very little training base --- Yes Please.

The copious appearances of gloating Hawthorn supporters in the second video really takes the gloss of it for me. Further until we have actually won a grand final in my lifetime, I don't care how many Collingwood have lost - they have two up on us. Let's hope both those wrongs are righted over the next decade, for Hawthorn to wallow without sucess and the MFC to become truely mighty once more.

Actually I recon a weekend out on the puss with Bernie (and Max the kiwi) would be the best way to spend some time him. That would be a blast I recon.

That was one of the stranger pre-season injuries for sure. Beats knocking yourself out with a brick from your pack. Will be interesting to see if there are any media beat-ups about preseason camp revolts or camps gone wrong this year?

I don't think Goodwin has a complacency gene within his DNA, a trait he will pass this down to the current MFC team as his football decedents.

To add some further flavor to this theme, I think it's fair to state that in some respects none of the talent at the MFC in thay era lived up to their full potential, because as a team they failed to bring home a flag. It's amazing how when part of a premiership team makes average players can be perceived as superstars, with some of that praise warranted and parts of it not. Let's hope that Tom Sparrow and many of his current cohort of teammates can be looked back on as premiership players for the MFC one day and then we can truely appreciate any individual brilliance that the contributed beyond that.

Epson printers (the Stylus in particular) were all the rage back in the day, but don't seem to be as in vogue in 2019. Just a casual observation, no analogy/offence intended @Stylus.

Right at the end of the Bernie interview they mentioned his partner and him are expecting their first child late Feb. Future father-son/daughter material hopefully. Just need to keep those grubby Crows away from it.

He was such a strong unit the old Chopper. Loved his time at the MFC.

Another year older and another preseason in the gym and hopefully Oscar is a practically a T Mac clone anyway. Also one that can keep playing for a few years after Tommy retires as well.

I also like that we have wisely used our low picks well of late on solid compeditive types - Trac, Clarry, Gus. I think there is a higher probability of sucess with this type of player taken at a low pick. ...now if only we had of gone for Wines!