Rodney (Balls) Grinter

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?

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.

Still on ADSL. For the most part it serves our needs ...on a $40 per month plan if I recall correctly. I'm not really that keen on paying any more for Internet if we don't really need the extra bandwidth/speed.

I honestly can't understand why with all the competition from Internet TV streaming services Foxtel prices haven't come down to better compete with them. I hate the infated Foxtel prices, but our internet service isn't that great, thus I like my footy viewing to be independent of something which sometimes either gets choked up with bandwidth or goes on the blink randomly or when it rains or something. We are only on a pretty cheap internet service and could probably get better by paying a few more bucks, but that becomes a bit self defeating. How/why haven't Foxtel dropped their prices a bit more? Is it the price of satellite access or something? Just curious.

I guess it goes to show how in AFL these days players are only a dozen or so games from being a superstar to an ordanary player - at least in the eyes of the media and some supporters (myself included). When he was at his peak, KK was a player that I really thought, gee there's a player I'd like to have at Melbourne, but those few seasons or so of concussion and average form have just put that question mark over him that can he get back to his best. Really looking forward to see what he can do for the MFC.

A [censored] one. I'm just glad that phone cameras and social media were not a thing back in my youth and I recon alot of players back in the 70s, 80s, 90s era that are pretty glad of that too.

Agree with the above and whilst I think local residents views both for and against are important, I've been thinking that one thing that certainly shouldn't be discounted are the view of us MFC supporters as well. As MFC supporters, we are still part of the comunity and pretty important stakeholders regardless of living in the city council/local area or not. Even though I now live interstate, I still feel a real affiliation for the MFC and Yarra Park area and really don't like 'Plan B' options anywhere near as much, because let's face it, they are further from our home the mighty G, further from the range of public transport options and generally inferior. ...and their are over 40,000 MFC members + more non member supporters. This precinct doesn't just belong to the local residents, there is a degree to which it belongs to all of us. I don't want to go as far as saying that the MFC has some kind of 'native title' to this area, because there is nothing like that level of cultural/spiritual equivalence. However, I do also think that the MFC has a significant historical association with this location and that shouldn't count for nothing either when it comes to planning approval considerations.

Surely with all the coin that the AFL have been prepared to throw at the expansion clubs a bit of funding from them would be a reasonable thing. As for some of the others, like Melbourne City Council, the Victorian and National Governments and even the MCC to an extent and surely they need to reconise the cultural and heritage importance and significance of the MFC and that the club really needs a proper permanent facility around the location of it's historical birthplace and namesake to survive and prosper into the future. Some important negioation, politicing and promotion of the MFC cause to be done by Pert, Bartlett and Co to be done over the next few years I think. Melbourne members and supporters can and should be part of that push.

The opposition to the potential MFC training facility at Yarra Park by some of the local residents assioation has been well highlighted in this thread and is certainly something that the club will need to work on/with. However, it was also interesting listening to the Glen Bartlett interview that one of the things he said is that there was actually a shortage of playing feilds in the area. What I'm reading into that is that is that the MFC needs to build support and alliances with some of the local sporting clubs in the area to them behind the proposal. That kind of local community support would help ballance out the disgruntled resident types by demonstrating real mutual comunity benifit. I recon it's a case of watch this space.

I agree with others views such as @binman and @Lucifer's Hero that a meeting place for members/fans/supporters is important. If we segway to the other thread about rebuilding the MFC as a great club again, then great club's are based around people and I think that bringing together all our people and building a sense of belonging is vital to that. I hear the sentiments of those like @Sir Why You Little that not all MCC members are the wealthy toff types and that stereotyping and segregating MFC supporters is not the way to go. Thus a truely universal social facility that brings together MFC & MFC/MCC members under the one roof would be a good outcome. I 've never been an MCC member myself, but for most of my life I've been a MFC member - presently an interstate one. When in my youth a real highlight of our home games going to the footy was attending the 'Demons Club' (I think that's what it use to be called) in one of the function rooms in bouls of the old Northern stand. I recall it having a bit of a mix of MFC and MCC supporters, they put on a good spread of nibbles and it was a great family atmosphere. In my view that's the kind of thing we need to rebuild as a cultural institution of the MFC and it would be good if that could encompass all of the Redleg Club (which I recall as being more of a MCC crowd, but could well be wrong), Demon Army, standard rank and file MFC members together in one spot. Perhaps that's actually the kind of thing which could provide the value to some of the MCC members to join as combined MFC members.

Talking personally, it's not that I have any professional concerns with him in that capacity and I agree entirely with your remarks on him leaving etc, doesn't really bother me and I thought the way he addressed that question in his interview with Wheatly was very convincing (as he was on most topics). It's more that because he was with Collingwood for so long and along with Eddy often had a very public and parochial pro Collingwood, stuff the rest of the competition stance on things it takes a bit to get that out of your head. It will be a bit different at Melbourne, because obviously we don't quite have the same power base as he had at Collingwood, but thinking about what I just stated, I'm somewhat looking forward to now having him on our side and for GP going in to bat hard for the MFC.

I like how he pretty emphatically stated that the moment he got the job he became a 100% Melbourne supporter and didn't really give much attention to any other clubs. I think the stench of the filth of his Collingwood days has been hanging around Pert for many Melbourne supporters (I count myself in this boat to some small extent). Something that I try to think of whenever the thought of Pert as a filthy ex Collingwood person enters my mind is that Pert is Roosy's mate from Fitzroy and helps the black and white [censored] go away. Anyway, Gary Pert is our man now, his heart beating true for the Red and Blue and we need to get behind him and by extension the club as Demons supporters.

To me I heard it more as the later, that we shouldn't be aiming to mimic any of the other clubs. There wasn't any Collingwood this and Hawthorn that, this is what those clubs do well and we want to become like that... History is obviously part of the uniqueness of a club, but I agree it can be overemphasized at times. On reflection, I actually think PJ started the ball rolling in the right direction on this topic, but Pert has made the right impression on me as well.

“I don’t want Melbourne to be more like any other club. I want Melbourne to be more like Melbourne – it’s a great club with a great history, but we need to re-engage the people.” I love it. I know in some respects these are just cheap words, a bit of a throw away line and that the real test is can it be turned into actions that make a lasting positive difference, but I do really like the sentiment and substance behind the statement as well. Time to rebuild some pride and respect back for the MFC and stop living in the shadow of the 'power clubs' of the AFL.

Agree and plus this - https://www.sen.com.au/news/2018/12/03/are-hinkley-and-pyke-the-coaches-under-the-most-pressure-in-2019/ Now, I don't think Goodwin has show any signs of wanting out/go home, but if we don't get this extension right, then the hungry crow eaters could well come a knocking on his door.

Max Gawn to get back to his best and produce the most dominant season for a ruckman in the modern era, but miss out on a Brownlow medal to some seagul midfielder. ... oh wait, that was this year!

So if all of the MFC, Geelong and Hawthorn miss finals who do you have making finals in their place, given many have also put Sydney as a team on the slide and at rusk of missing?

Oooooh, that would be sweet.

Wow. From clearly missing the top 8 with the aid of the leagues easiest draw to now making top 4. What's he smoking in his pipe?

Lol. Love the analogy Colin. Inspector Gadget - now that takes me back! I must say I'm being a bit of fence sitter on this one. But I also sense where you and others are comming from. It's almost like the club needs to do something with Pert to break the ice, because there almost seems to be a bit of an awkward silence. ...but at the same time, the more that is made of this situation, the bigger it becomes when I really don't think there is much to see, except for some past clumsiness in announcing that he had the job as CEO. I'm quite happy to wait it out and see how it all pans out in good time. So long as we keep winning and the club makes a profit , I suspect Melbourne supporters will warm to Pert in due course. Will probably love the bloke if he can pull off the right deal and get the job done, delivering our new headquarters. Similarly if we win a flag with him as CEO, I think we will all look back and think what was the fuss about his appointment at the start.

Did Santa Claus bring you all the toys you asked for as a kid Werridee? ?

Jacka has been great at re-engaging with fans and the MFC of late. Why not get Jacka and Pert on to do a joint podcast and have them talk us through this game? In all seriousness, I'm guessing thathat whilst engaging with fans would be somewhere in Pert's KPIs, I'd recon that would be for the club to be engaging with them rather than him personally... but worth a try.

Here's one - Jordan Lewis to retire at the end of the season receiving accolades from all corners of the footy globe. Jordan announces that despite the lack of a fifth premiership medallion, that the three years he has spent with the Melbourne Footy Club have been the most satisfying of his career and upon confirming that he will remain with the club as an assistant, states that he is now "a Demon for life".

I'm not too sure where to pitch my own predictions right now, but these are the sort of predictions I can be comfortable with as opposed to some of the ridiculous media hype going around about how great the MFC are at the moment. I honestly don't know how some of these media types still have a job, because their credibility is rubbish. We make a preliminary final with a strong young list and all of a sudden we are practically premiership favorites next year (after many of them wrote us off of even making finals this year after half a dozen rounds). Don't get me wrong I think we have a strong list, are building something and I hope like hell that there is at least one premiership there sometime in the next 5 years, but there is just soo much that has to happen between now and that becoming a reality that it's not funny. I posted a few weeks about my late onset MFCSS and this is essentially it - so many teams over the past decade or so were anointed by the media with greatness and then subsequently bombed out miserably and my worry is that at this point that could still be us. The prime examples of this that stick in my head are: 1. Port Adelaide 2014 - following their 3 point preliminary final loss to Hawthorn in 2014 were touted as a star studded young team on the rise and premierships in the making, with a new bread of master coach in Ken Hinkley, playing a hard, agressive and exciting attacking brand of football (sounds a lot like the MFC of 2018); 2. Western Bulldogs post premiership - most media had them as top 4 material the following year and continuing to go from strength to strength over the next 2 - 3 years based on the strength of their young talent filled list after their suprise before their time flag in 2016; 3. GWS - So much tallent it was a concern they were going to compltely dominate the competition; 4. Adelaide 2018 - goes from Grand finalist to flop in an instant - the competition is just so tight. To be fair I never really rated them that high in 2017 to start with; 5. Collingwood post Malthouse to an extent. I guess all of the above is a bit of an antithesis of a prediction, so if I am going to make a general prediction in the afirmative it is that at some point in the season we will loose one or several games which will have some posters on Demonland sighting huge list and coaching deficiencies that mean we do not actually have a potential premiership team and never will, which won't actually be the case, but it will be portrayed as such.

As well as the mustache Has this guy got a backup career in porn movies or what? Nice.