Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Who cares about the TV ratings, I'd have thought the club would get more from a good gate. What's this notion that Collingwood always get to start the season?

This probably appeals to the 50% of MCC supporters that are not MFC duel members - "oh, jolly good dees, god bless their majesties"

Surely Gunstan or Bruest are up for free agency soon? Didn't they kick 40 odd goals for the Hawks this year? Roughead must be close to pulling up stumps and I'd love to steel one of those two off them to totally cripple their forward line for a few years, just to spite them for Frawley. Plus, how good would it be for the WEEEEEEEED to kick it to BROOOOOOOOST and vice versa.

PJ did provide a soundbite that could get the media and footy comunity talking: "GWS - no one cares about them because they are from Western Sydney" Couldn't have put it better myself. Get writing Caro, Barret and Co.

Agree to a point. I think he was being somewhat gaurded, because he wasn't part of the process to select him, perhaps didn't believe it was his role to be part of that process and thus he didn't want to be seen to responsible for Pert's performance to be associated with the PJ legacy. Who knows, maybe there was some animosity regarding the selection between PJ and the board regarding the selection or PJ not being taken by suprise with a lack of notice from the board before it was publicly anouced to the media. Key thing is that our board and PJ are tight enough and big enough team players that they are not going to air their dirty laundry out for all to see if ever there was actually an issue worth writing about and that it wasn't big enough for PJ to sour his affection of the club as the rest of the interview showed that he was still clearly invested in our sucess without him being there. PJ did give some limited endorsement i.e. something along the lines of Pert having a track record at a successful footy club before, was selected by our board and that we can trust that the board went through a process to get to that decision. No doubt this issue will cause lingering media interest and be refered back to when ever things look like they are not going so well at the MFC, just like the suposed pre season camp issue caused a huge rift with the coach and playing group in the eyes of the media to speculate on. Seriously some of these media types should report for trashy celebrity gosip publications like Woman's Weekly, New Idea, Who magazine or something and not for the football sections of credible media outlets.

Yeah, but I don't think you can take that as anything against Pert. I read it as more that he knew it was an issue that has generated adverse media discussion and was wary of how he answered it for not wanting to generate a headline either way. Also pehaps some frustration and annoyance at being asked the question again. Thought it was just a vanilla and typical straight bat defensive return to the bowler type of response. Seriously what did people expect him to say?

As a bit of a long shot, Sam Frost was recruited to the MFC and played most of his first season with us as a forward. Whilst he never looked completely comfortable forward and has played far better footy for us as a backman, you just never know. Takes a mean grab, that burst of speed he has could be hard to match up on and has a huge boot on him. Frosty could also find it tough competing with Oscar for the second key back role now we have May, however I'd also think that the pace he has could make him quite versatile and I could even see him playing on a half back flank or wing, where his height would also make him very difficult to match up on.

He kicked a +55m goal against us from the boundary at the Gabba this year.

Just hoping that the new World order of Aussie Rules is the MFC dominating the next decade ....decades.

I don't need to know, I don't want to know, I wish people would stop infuring this as being the case. My view is that footballers are entitled to their own private lives to remain private. Unless you are Jessy's, Simon's, Mahoney's or their best mate, then it's too much rumor, speculation and character assination for me. Jessy and the footy club made the right call as far as they were concerned and that's good enough for me.

I see Jessy went missing from the profile pic pretty quickly though Dr. Probably just as well, would have rubbed salt into my wounds every time upon sighting it. Somewhat understanding of the scenario for all parties, but I can't help feeling that Jessy was the next David Swartz/Jonathan Brown/Scott Thompson type generational gun player that the MFC has just lost. If we win a premiership, I'll probably care much less, but both would have been better. Also because we recruited him as an 17 yo, he felt truly like one of ours. Could still hope he does a Beams I guess.

There are some players and player managers that are complete nuffies that would put out some really disrespectful stuff. I thought the message came across as pretty genuine and classy. Photo is a nice touch. Must say I find this all much easier to accept as genuine on Jessies part based on the understanding that he took a pay cut and a fairly modest length of contract. I still think we got significantly short changed by Freo on draft picks they traded, but also acknowledge that it may have been the best all round result we were ever likely to get in the circumstances.

What do you mean just hope? Gus and the MFC should be constantly in his ear telling him how great it is over here and what he is missing out on with the Dockers (the MCG, competing in finals etc) planting and well fertilizing those seeds of thought in his mind like Freo did to us with Jessy. Brothers playing together like you and big brother Anthony did for a few years. How great was that Jnr?

Americanised autocorrect?

Even if he did come back and play for us, I'd still probably boo him. If I reflect back on this, it was probably also about the timing. The MFC was probably at the lowest point it has been in quarter of a century. We were such absolute poo back then, that the only thing that gave us hope was that the elite young tallents that we had recruited and were looking like we could rebuild a team around. Scully fed that hope all year with his optermisitc statements about the club, the wanting to be a one club player thing etc. After all that buid-up his defection was a kick in the guts when we were already down. As you say, his actions since, including his move from GWS (where he said at the time he really wanted to be a part of developing) have clearly shown he was lying through his teeth and that all he was motivated by was the money, which only reinforces why he should be perennially despised by the MFC and it's supporters.

If Scully ever makes it back onto the feild against us, I hope his entire body is smashed, not just his ankle. Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Vanders, Jetta, Harmes, Melksham, Hibberd, Jones - just line him up and treat him like a human pinball or rag doll, like some of the hard but fair hits that Nev, Vanders and Lewis did on Selwood, Mitchell and Worpel during the finals. Just looking at Scully in a Hawks jumper and he is even more hitable and despisable. Turd brown strips suits his persona perfectly.

If Scully ever makes it back onto the feild against us, I hope his entire body is smashed, not just his ankle. Viney, Oliver, Brayshaw, Vanders, Jetta, Harmes, Melksham, Hibberd, Jones - just line him up and treat him like a human pinball or rag doll, like some of the hard but fair hits that Nev, Vanders and Lewis did on Selwood, Mitchell and Worpel. Just looking at Scully in a Hawks jumper and he is even more hitable and despisable. Turd brown strips suits his persona perfectly.

True to a point. The Toumpas case is a but of a sad story and in retrospect who really knows where its all went wrong. Poor development support at the club post drafting him? Perhaps part of it, but Jack Viney was drafted and part of our playing list at the same time and he has turned out ok I think. I'm no complete expert recruiter, but I thought that Toumpas looked the goods when we drafted him, to the point that our present recruiting team may also have drafted him. He certainly ticked a big box with me, which I would have thought Taylor etc would also rate, to the extent that he had played well at state level finals against men in SA. Main point is recruiting 18 year olds in the national draft is somewhat of a lottrie and that proven mature players the likes of Hogan should attract a premium over raw rookies, particularly as a KPP. Hogan is that far ahead of his contemporaries it's not funny. Josh Schache was pick 2, best he has produced in a 17 game season was 16 goals. Tom Boyd a number 1 pick kicked 16 goals from 14 games in the Bulldogs premiership year, but hasn't come close to that since. Jessy Hogan kicked over 40 goals in each of his first two years when the MFC were just as bad, if not worse than Brisbane. He kicked 20 goals from 10 games in 2017 and close to 50 goals this year as well as racking up possessions galore up the ground. All things being equal, I'd say Jesse has even better to come. To say Jesse Hogan isn't worth two first round draft picks an $8M over 8 years is total crap. The only reason I'd hesitate if I had solid medical evidence his foot is totally Fcked, which I don't think anyone has. Just thinking about it, this uncertainty regarding his injury may mean that this is the worst time for all parties to consider trading him, which may even have been part of the MFC's thinking all along.

Muuuum - are we there yet?

I'd be quite happy if that is the case. GWS were given probably the most priority acess to quality young players in the history of the AFL and at the same time that the MFC bottomed out and needed to rebuild, partially impeding our ability to rebuild. The draft concessions given to GWS have achieved what they were set out to do and that is enable them to build a compeditive team in a reasonable time frame, which they did. Whilst I'm sure the AFL would have loved GWS to have won a flag, they haven't and so be it. Quite happy for GWS to simply survive for a few years being an average to poor side. The AFL will probably need to do a pretty good job persuading the rest of the competition that GWS being in the comp is a net benifit through additional TV rights or something (though I struggle to see how), in the context of the team continuing to loose millions of dollars in it's own right every year. I'm personally getting sick of this artificial team being propped up much longer. You would think the additional national interest in the game from a Tassie team would actually give TV ratings a kick and the Tassie government should draw a hard line and say we are not supporting Hawthorn and North Melb beyond 2020 without the commitment to establish a Tasmanian team in its own right.

The tought of Hawthorn picking him up for as low as pick 53 is making me spew. Kane Corns and Tim Watson are also suggesting that the AFL shold get involved and investigate/ interven should he go for that little. Fat chance of that happening, the AFL do nothing in these situations, just look at Luke Ball - Collingwood and Chris Judd to Carlton. Still it suprises me that the likes of St Kilda, Carlton, North and the Doggies are not into Scully and surely those players would have better trade material than pick 53 to offer GWS in return. Equalisation is completely broken if there was ever such a thing in the first place.

Suggestions that Tommy couldn’t be moved back to defense on a semi permanent or swing man on needs basis to me really lack critical thought. Tommy is both one of the fittest players and best defenders we have on his day. Distinctly recall him being one of the few players to curb the super athletic Nick Riewoldt in Nick's prime. I could imagine a scenario where for instance Frost was being carved up by Joe Daniher and we wanted to wrestle back control of the game, so shifted Tommy onto him. Frosty has great burst speed, but Tommy's endurance and aerobic capacity are practically unparalleled for a guy of his size in the AFL post Nick Riewoldt. Concerns about Tommy's foot skills and decision making down back are also being over played. He has moved on from the scared deer in headlights mode that use to define his play down back at times, through a combination of improved self and team confidence and system. He regularly ventures up the ground in his forward role these days and his foot skills can be observed to be quite sufficient and even prolific at times. All the above said, I think he is a gun forward and that's where I'd prefer he was utilized, but the flexibility he provides to be switched to the backline is an asset to the team not something to be dismissed or cringed at.

Fairly sure Tyson was actually uncontracted by us, so I think it's a pretty fair assumption that we would be paying zero of Dom's player payments moving forward. Though as I have stated, I really would have liked to have kept Dom as a pretty handy depth player and I think the club would have entertained that at the right asking price, however in the circumstances, I can also respect and admire Dom for his drive and motivation to be good player in his predominant position.

It would make a complete mockery of point 1, Gold Coast would have to be about the biggest travel from Perth that you could get in the AFL. We will have to wait and see what actually transpires, but if Tony Sheanan is the guy I'm thinking of (bit of an AFL recruiting guru?), then I think this suposed trade offer has more credibility as a rumor than some of the other muppet jurnos.

If Freo only want to trade one first round pick for Jessie, then I could settle for the the Freo equivalent of the Bulldogs deal for Tom Boyd, pick 6 and their then captain.