Rodney (Balls) Grinter

It's quite possible that we could be struggling mid-year for a number of reasons other than the coach, but he will enviably bear the brunt of scrutiny. Just listen to PJ's podcast and he is also quite conscious that there could be some speed bumps still to encounter on the road to ultimate sucess. Would also agree that alot of the noise would just be media driven fugazi (as Goodwin would put it), but it might not be helpful to have all that around if we are say for instance trying to resign existing and/or trying to attract other players to join the team and/or it as much as the club would say that the noise was being ignored, it would still be somewhat there as a distraction none the less. As I stated in my original post, it sounds like the club are working on an extension to Goody's contract, and based on everything the man himself has outwardly projected to date, I don't have huge concerns, will just be glad when it's in the bag.

Agree with what you are all saying, but I don't think it's wise to think that Goodwin's comittment to the job he has with us is unshakeable and unchangeable if circumstances change. Let's say we are struggling mid way through the season, Goodwin remains unsigned beyond 2019 and there are noises that maybe he isn't the guy. It might be harder for Goodwin to resist a return to Adelaide if he was not contracted beyond the year with Melbourne and he might weigh up his families finacial stability above any sense of pride of commitment to his present playing group. Real or not even just the media speculation could create a sense of instability within the club. I think the sense of stability within the club over the past 4 years has been a key driver of our sucess. Just my take - Goodwin has shown enough to provide better certainty and stability for all by providing him with at least a 2 - 3 year contract extension now.

That's the impression I get too, but if say an Essendon, Adelaide or Port were to have another horror start to the year, sack their coach and start throwing big bags of money around, it might introduce a risk (particularly with the Adelaide clubs - we all know about the 'go home' factor). Sounds like they are trying to get his contract extension sorted before the season proper, which would be good, otherwise I see potential for it to create an unwanted distraction for our season as it goes on. Last thing we would want is to be half way through a season and heading for finals with speculation about will the coach be there next year.

Well one of those 3 was when we played GC second time around and we gave them such a shalacking that hardly anyone in the whole GC team got a kick, so KK's underwhelming performance in that game is hardly surprising. Imagine saying that about a MFC game 3 or 4 years ago, how times have changed for the better. Having concussion problems is quite from having depression and motivational problems like Balic, not that he was that much of an issue for the MFC anyway. I think that worked out ok for both parties as it was. We knew what we might have been up for, so only had him contacted for a year, so no huge damage done with things ending as they did. I do have much better expectations for KK though.

Mentions Goody as still being unsigned beyond 2019. A bit concerning as I recon there would be a good half dozen teams in the AFL that would like him as senior coach given the opportunity. Not that Goody has given any indication of wanting out (quite the contrary in fact), but I'll be happier once it's a done deal and he has been signed on for another two or three seasons.

There is a fair bit of meh factor about this for me. Clayton Oliver and Max Gawn were busy eating meat pies and left over pizza in their draft years and it hasn't exactly held them back. Is it possible that this bloke is only outperforming his peers at U18 level due to his ultra proffesionalisim, only to be overtaken once they get on the same programs? Maybe, maybe not. Good luck to him, would be interesting to come back to this thread in a few years time to see how it has all panned out.

Could add Baily Freitch to the list of potential players to step-up. He was great in his first year, but has alot of the tools to go from that to elite after getting his first season at the top level and another preseason under his belt. Kade Kolodjashnij is another with potential, not so much to step up, but more to get back to his best.

I recon Oscar may just be a bit of a sleeping giant. With all the praise and attention on the rest of our now star studded backline, his steady progress has gone a little under the radar. His feild kicking is a definite strength compared to his brother. His continued maturity in strength, confidence and experience could help make our backline near impenetrable. If he is to play more forward though, it might help if he could kick his first goal at AFL level. ...I wounder how long it took Tommy to kick his first.

There is a fair few very good players above, but I would have had Wheels and Leoncelli right up the top of that list. Two absolute legends of the MFC. More than just notable.

Sounds like the Josh Mahoney podcast interview has already been recorded. So @Demonland, did you ask Josh how serous the conversation got to including Andrew Brayshaw as part of the Jessie Hogan deal?

Gawn is really a pretty good kick for goal (particularly for a ruckman). There was that absolute numpty of a kick after the siren in Rd 1 and one or two more similar to it in the next few weeks, but after that he tidied up his goal kicking nicely. He kicked a number of great goals in pressure times of the game from 40 - 50m out a number of times during the season and those two checkside/bananas from right out on the boundary against Essendon are ones that not even some forwards and mids kick reliability. Not only did Gawn nail that first on from the boundary against Essendon, but ten minutes later he went back and did it all again to prove it wasn't a fluke. The sledge he gave the Essendon supporter afterwards was pure gold and another 'Max Gawn Classic Moment'!

I know that he can kick a good goal on his day, but Trac has never given me the impression of being a confident or reliable goal kicker since he arrived at the club. He might have gone through a period here or there (2017 I recall he was fairly decient in patches), but that's about it. Based on that, I think it's entirely appropriate that he plays more within his capability and the teams game plan of finding players in better positions to kick goals inside 50.

Exactly. And if Garry wants to be true to the 'be like Gawn' comparison - he had two knee reco's and took a good half a dozen seasons to reach his full potential. ...don't really wish that on Trac. I'm not so sure that this was as much about loosing confidence as it was about playing to team rules/system. Whilst he certainly didn't kick many/any big bags, I think Trac certainly used the ball well inside 50 to give it off to team mates in better positions. This is typical of the play of many of our other top forwards like ANB, Melksham and even guys like Tommy regularly give off to the higher percentage option than go for the kickable but lower percentage goal themselves. A lot of perceptions around this call Garry has made and others hint at, so I'll add some of my own. He's certainly an extraverted, confident character Trac, but I also sence a ultra compeditiveness that wouldn't be satisfied with being an average player in a good side, so I don't have too many concerns that he wouldn't be seeking advice from all his relevant peers, coaches and fitness staff and pushing himself to become the champion he believes he can be in his own mind. The other thought that comes into my mind is a quote from Paul Roos or someone that after players are drafted, the number they are picked at becomes irrelevant. Whilst we all want Trac to become an absolute champion of the game that would somehow justify that pick 2 selection, I'd be quite happy for the rookie Harms to become the champion player like Sam Mitchell was for the Hawks, whilst Trac is just plays a solid team role in the next MFC premiership team.

Agreed. I have high hopes that we will get good value out of our ealier picks, it's just that speculating on who they might be is fairly frivolous. Who knows what Taylor and other clubs recruiters are actually thinking and who is left by picks in the 20s.

I prefer the red back jumper to us wearing white Bali clash singlets any day, but it is definitely still a third preferance behind the traditional and royal blue. I actually find the all red back looks a little strange from side on, a bit like it's two different jumpers sewn together up the middle of the sides. I almost prefer a totally inverted predominantly red jumper with either a navy blue V or MFC logo in the rare instances where both our traditional or royal blue jumpers were not given the ok but the league.

Wikipedia lists it as "played 12 matches for Melbourne in 2009 but only two in 2010, playing the rest of the season with the Casey Scorpions and winning their player of the year award that year. At the end of the 2010 season, Cheney was traded to Hawthornalong with pick 66 for pick 52." Perhaps not quite moved on, but more a case of accomodating his desire for more opportunities elsewhere. Pretty much fits with my recollection that we probably assessed him and wrote him off as being a bit of a nearly, but not quite good enough. His track record since has somewhat demonstrated this to be the right assessment and I guess he could be categorized as the classic frindge player. My take would be that good teams can probably afford to carry a few fringe players for depth if they come at the right price and character propersition. We probably already have a few in this boat, with Stretch, JKH, Wagner and perhaps some others, so I'm not really sure that we'd want to take on Cheny as well from that perspective. Thinking about things further, I wounder if the mid season draft has put less of a premium on depth, which clubs will try to exploit to get more young developmental tallent on their lists

All the media types put out their top 30 draft picks or whatever. I wonder how many of them actually have the inside intel on character etc that top recruiters like Taylor and clubs like the MFC seem to use to heavily influence their recruitment decisions. I doubt many do. Must say unless we had picks in the first half a dozen, I find it had to engage with this pre-draft speculation on who goes when and goes to who. Even then, when it seems to be more obvious, clubs pull unexpected moves like McCartin and Oliver.

If you read my other post in this thread, I think we are on the same wavelength on this DV.

So what you are saying is that we need a backup for the backup ruckman? Not sure that AFL lists are big enough to enable that luxury these days. I know we sort of had that when we had Spencer to some extent, but I think allowing Pedo to retire was a fair sign that we don't think we wanted to go back there. I haven't paid too much attention to what this mid season draft is all about, but I'm wondering if the opportunity that could present to pick up the best/ in form state league ruck in case of an emergency is something that factors into all this?

I think it's a bit more than hope. We have picked up some pretty good players with late picks and I think they would have been pretty purposefully selected. Their is a certain amount of hit and miss at all stages of the draft.

Agreed Roos and most good recruiters mantra is more or less pick best available at the draft and trade to fill in the gaps based on needs.

With the club's first few picks, yes, I think you would pick 95% based purely on best available. By the time you are getting into later picks, the perceived difference in talent, cultural fit etc probably plateaus out and that's when you'd try to pick based on needs. Of course if you the best available at an early pick also aligns with needs, then that's the ideal scenario. I wouldn't be against us drafting more quality inside mids, somewhat for the purpose of evening out our age profile a bit for future years. No doubt Jones will play that role less and less and if we have another young guy that can work himself into an inside mid role over the next 2 or 3 years, then who knows, maybe we can free up Oliver or Brayshaw to spend more time forward (particularly against lesser sides) and prolong their career a bit. Bradtke is probably ok as a project ruck at the moment, but I recon if there was someone we rated, we could probably use another on either the main or Rookie list.

That was more or less my thinking. I feel that loosing Vince, Pedo, Bugg, Kent and with the prospect of Lewis slowing and potentially getting injured in his sunset years does leave us a little exposed for mature, experienced players. From what I've observed, Cheny probably isn't a superstar, but is a pretty solid, reliable type and has only just turned 29. Whilst he was probably never quite in their best 22, Cheny obviously knew what was required and executed well when called up as a backup player for several top teams in Hawthorn (during their prime) and Adelaide. I paid a bit of attention to him when I re-watched our 2018 away game Vs Adelaide the other night and he had pretty tidy foot skills, made good decisions with the ball and has always been a pretty tough, hard and tenacious defender like Nev. Assuming we could sign him on for a reasonable price, he could be both a good insurance policy and also a mentor down at Casey. I guess Wagner, JKH and Keilty and Petty would be the other depth backline players we have, but none of them would have the same experience as Cheny and all could probably benifit from playing beside him at Casey. Don't know if he is future coaching material or not. Part of me also likes the sentiment of him ending up back in Red and Blue, since I always thought when we moved him on, that he was a goer, which I think has been somewhat proved since.

According to the new 'Mumford Rule' any one of the AFL's pet expansion teams that has a list need, may create a new rule to enable them to aquire that player through whatever means possible. Will really get on my nerve if this transpires. I was really hoping GWS were going to struggle to put up a credible ruck option. As an asides he does play pretty angry Mumford - he has taken white line fever to a whole new level.

Just throwing out a bit of a curve ball - what about getting back Kyle Cheney to the MFC for small backman depth?