Rodney (Balls) Grinter

That 4th win we had against them in 1988 to which Sandy refers - the prelim, out at Waverly is one game that is implanted firmly into my childhood memories.

Equally the competition is very capable of chewing up and spitting out the masticated remains of sides that think they are close to greatness, but don't quite have what it takes. Just ask the Saints, Giants, Bombers, Bulldogs, Pies, Blues and Dockers teams of the past decade. No mercy Demons, it's a brutal comp and our beloved team will need everything going our way for once to claim the ultimate prize. ...but surely after over half a century of trial and tribulations, the footy gods can be on our side for once?

And, in good form ot not, players like Tyson, Pederson, Hunt, Garrlet, Stretch, Bugg, Weid and probably a few more I'm forgetting would be walk up starts at probably 60% - 70% of the teams in the AFL. It's a nice luxury to have to be letting these guys develop in the VFL ready for a call up once they hit their straps again or we get an injury we need to cover. As you suggest it's a good indication of where we are at as a team at present.

10.23 Must be getting goal kicking coaching from St Kilda

Bernie fit into this category as well. Have been question marks around his contribution to the team in recient years, which whilst his certainly not the player he once was, I think are a little unfair on him. Regardless of what their onfeild contribution is, I recon that guys like Hibbo, Max and Bernie are the heart and soul of a footy club that make it a game worth playing and trying your guts out for and that can not be under rated.

Seriously, it's just a [censored] toe. If it's going to stop him playing all the time, just cut the bloody thing off. I have a set of bolt cutters at my place and would be more than happy to do the job. What did Chopper say ?- "it makes a kind of popping sound when they come off".

Similar thoughts certainly went through my mind as well. Noticed a few Rye smiles from Rodan at times. I do think he would have been genuinely happy for the his mates like Jonesy, T Mac etc and the team in general and don't seriously think he would have any resentment of his previous service to the club, such is the upbeat impression I get of the guy. Really liked Rodan's contribution to the club in his time there and think it was a small but valuable part of the building process/journey to where the MFC is presently at.

Without getting too carried away with what it means for where we are at as a club, bathing in the glow of Sunday's glorious record win against the Carlscum, it has basically taken me to this point in the week to get interested in Demonland. Can't help but think how much better the win was being played in something clearly identifiable as a MFC jumper and how it would have taken the edge off it, had it been performed in one of those crap white Bali singlets. Also got me to wondering would beating Carlton by 109 points have been the biggest win for the MFC in a royal blue jumper? ...pitty T Mac missed what for him was almost an unmissable goal after the siren, or it could have been a 114 point win.

I guess the cleché line that Goodwin and the coaches would be repeating is that we play to a system and that consistent performance will come when the players have confidence in the system rather than in their ability on an individual level. I think that when this happens we will turn the corner from being a good side to a great one. Players certainly do still need to have confidence on an individual level, but if the side relies too much on individual brilance through players being in form and full of confidence, then we will be in for a rocky road as all players go through form slumps, confidence dips and have bad days. I guess Harmes is probably half way there, because he was still a contributor earlier in the year through tackling pressure and agression at the contest, when his personal form wasn't at it's peak. Probably also still need a critical mass of players having confidence in their personal ability to execute for the team too as well as having confidence in 'the system', which was probably lacking whilst our back six got use to playing together with the arrival of and reforming caused by Lever.

Love Harmesy and the bullish way he plays. A number of people on this forum predicted he would be one of our big movers this year and looks like that might be ocuring at the moment. Without being disrespectful, he is exactly the sort of second tier/lesser widely rated player we need to step up another notch for the team to push further up the ladder. So much harder for the opposition to keep all of Viney, Oliver, Jones, Brayshaw and Co. in check if a Harmes, ANB, Hannan, Melksham pops up and demands equal attention. Whilst Harmes may not be the most tallented player on our list, the talent is definitely there and what he might not have in natural skill and flare, he more than makes up for in endevor.

I'm only suprised his start to the year was so mediocre, but then he wasn't alone there either. I think the asertion of improved confidence leading to improved performance could equally apply to the team as a whole. Again something which I think has been generally universally applicable to both Harmes and the team is that whilst the confidence and form wasn't there early on, the work rate was and eventually that will translate into performance. On an individual level the other that has really got his mojo back in the last two games after weeks of toil is ANB. Noticed he was our only player wearing a black arm band on Sunday, which he acknowledged a few times after kicking goals and I wounder if there was some close family/friend that was doing it tough and providing an additional personal stress outside football that was inevitably impacting his onfeild performance. We expect our players to be super professional elite performers, but at the end of the day, they are venerable human beings just like the rest of us. ANB certainly seems like a high quality individual, full credit to him for the way he carries himself and condolences for the loss he has suffered.

I actually see this as a win-win. Give a young player with a future who is up and about a go and get Jeffy back into form and fix and improve a few points to his game, so he comes back even better and makes the team better. I've been quite happy with what I've seen from Spargo thus far, but nothing he has produced to date is anything near Jeffy at his best. ... and yes Jeffy is one of my favorite players too, because he's a bloody goer and super exciting when his really up and about. I just wish he kicked less posters - must just about lead the league at that stat. Seriously almost rather he'd kick it out on the full than hit the dam post some of the time - such a tease and a let down when it happens.

I don't think any of us standing up for Jeffy are being apologists by any stretch. With stats like those quoted by @Go the Biff (what a lovely set of numbers) there isn't anything to apologize for. Jeffy has been amongst or best forwards since he arrived at he club. Don't see any lack of effort/tackling from him either. Jeffy gets so many run down from behind tackles for us on a regular basis that most players wouldn't even get near. The bloke would also always be attracting the oppositions best and quickest small defender, because they would all know what a gun he is and how he can tear a game apart. I suspect that when he has his quiet spells, it's more about him being sucked away from the ball and put off his game by a smart opposition. I'd be thinking strategies to arrest that kind of thing are one of the things that Goodwin and Co. would be getting him to work on. Asides from that, our delivery into the forward line to this bloke is deplorable at times. I've lost count of the times when instead of a well placed kick out in front of him to his advantage out back, which he would have run onto, burned off his opponents and easily goaled from we have turned into some rubish grubby kick which makes him stop, prop and get run down by the opposing team. Jeffy is an absolute weapon - get him into good form, deliver it to him properly and it will be party time.

While he does seem to go through a dip in form at some point in the season, he has kicked 40+ goals in multiple seasons for both us and Carlton. Need to have a fair bit of consitancy to do that. Per above point, Malthouse was a fool to let him go to us for what he did. Someone here made the claim that Jeffy is a front runner, which I would vigorously dispute. For most of his early years at the MFC, we were a team that struggled to be compeditive, yet he was a shining light within our team. I'd also dispute that he isn't physical or defencive enough. He lays some great run down tackles and is a great body on body mark. I would agree that he is somewhat of a confidence player (though most players are when it comes down to it). In this regard, as much as I'm a Jeffy fan, I'm also ok for him to go back down to Casey to find some form and confidence again when he seems to loose his way a bit. I actually think his latest drop off in form had more to do with how the team was playing. I'd hate to be a forward the way were bringing the ball in and delivering into our forward line against the Hawks and Tigers.

Contact, intentonal contact, careless contact I think are somewhat irrelevant once the matter gets to the tribunal. Tight one, as Mazer points out, the rules state it was reported/refered to the tribunal. Unless it states somewhere that any intentional or careless contact is a manditory 1 week suspention, then I think the tribunal can reasonably use it's discretion to apply a suitable penalty. Both Curnows incidents were significantly less forcefull and less agressive than Hawkins and thus I feel a reduced level of penalty is appropriate. Not 'victim blaming' (because essentially no harm actually happened), but I think the AFL and the umpires need to be reasonable and share some of the fault in these incidents, because the umpires are really too close to the incidents in question. I actually think the players acted quite reasonably in the circumstances and really shouldn't be penalised further beyond what they actually have been. Back closer to your original point, I still think you would find multiple cases of players having similar mild intentional contact with umpires to the Curnows on multiple previous occurrences in recient history that have been either just fines or not even been referred/reported. Huge storm in a tea cup because it happened the week after Tom Hawkins. It wouldn't suprise me if Carlton now capitulate and acept a mild 1 week ban for fear of being banned for further weeks. Typical AFL trial by media/public opinion type stuff.

No inconsistentcy for mind. The respective incidents are significantly differentiated by the levels of force and agressivness in the respective actions Tom Hawkins Vs the rest. Like it or not, there will always be a grey zone. Can not simply be any contact between an umire and player and the player gets suspended. As I said in my original post, if you go back over gamr footage of the past few weeks even, I think heaps of times contact was made between umpires and players. Prior to the Hawkins verdict many people were evendors questioning if it was a suspendable offence. What Hawkins case represents is the bottom threshold (hence he only got 1 week), but stuff less than that is not. The players didn't get off completely, they still had a case to answer and got fined what for most people would be equivalent to something in the order of $250 - $500. Don't know about you, but I don't like parting with that sort of cash for no return. As for the stuff regarding lower levels, by the time kids get physically big enough to be of concern to an umpire, they have enough of a brain that they either make reasonable interpretations about where the line is or they didn't have a brain in the first place, don't care and it wouldn't have mattered what message the AFL sent anyway. Had a mate who was king hit umpiring amerture soccer on two seperate occations and I just can't fathom that the guys that did that ever thought it was just a gentle push like they'd seen on TV. Personally, I think that in the extreme cases of violence at the junior and lower levels the threat of suspension probably doesn't carry much weight anyway, compared to being charged with criminal assault. Even then, I think there are underlying social/mental health issues that do as much to prompt that kind of behavior rather than what is role modeled at the top level. At the end of the day, the AFL needs to make sensible decisions based on it's own needs and whilst the effect on junior leagues is a consideration, it shouldn't become the overruling factor.

If they have been told, then the message didn't get through to the two in the Curnow cases. The guy that Ed gently puts his arm out to needlessly got within 200 to 300mm of his face. There is almost no force in the action which was used, Ed is walking away as he is extending his arm out, the umpire hardly moves and his fingers hardly bend at the end of the action. The Charlie one is similar, the umpire is almost getting in on the melee action, he might as well have been pulling the players apart he was that close. Fine with protecting the safety of umpires, but there still needs to be a reasonable line and the players still have a right to carefully protect their personal space, which I recon in the heat of the moment was more of a instinctive reflex action rather than an intentional act. Completely with you regards the Clarkson/Gill meeting though. That's a shocking look for the integrity game. The media and should be getting into Clarkson and the AFL over that big time. Every other AFL club should be questioning it and writing to the AFL behind the scenes. I actually think it could backfire on Clarkson in the long run, in so far as that the AFL will probably now need to overcompensate in the way they umpire the dorks, by paying them less free kicks, so as not to create an impression of favoritisim. The somewhat interesting (also very dumb) thing about this is why they met at a public café? That in it's self does lead you to question how much of this stuff normally goes on behind closed doors. Reminds me of the Max tax last year, when overnight the umpires started paying a completely different interpretation of the ruck rules against Max Gawn last year Vs St Kilda based on opposition complaints.

Lol, yeah that too. I did see it and remember it fairly well. Failure of self to author a logical post duly noted.

Not sure I see it actually being that inconsistent. That said, I only clearly remember the May and one of the two Curnrow incidents. On a similar note, I actually think Nick Nat deserved every bit of the 1 week ban he got though on the basis of consitancy of duty of care during tackling. The way Nick Nat has monstered several players now just falling with all his weight into their back during his crude tackles is no different in principle to a sling tackle in my veiw.

Sorry I don't see what the fuss is about here. I thought the contact from the Carlton guys and May was pretty incidental from the start. I recon you would find heaps of similar footage which no one was rubbed out for last year. I'm in the Greg Williams, Gerard Wheatley camp on this one - the umpires shouldn't get closer than they need to be most of the time. Players should exercise a duty of care to avoid umpires in general play and certainly shouldn't contact the umpires in an agressive manner, but from what I recall of the respective incidents, I don't think either of the Carlton guys were in any way agressive actions at the time. Intimidating body language also contributes and I think is where Hawkins came unstuck, where he was agressive in his demeanor towards the umpire as well as the actual swift swiping away of the hand Vs the gentle push away from Crunow. Crunow also practically had his back to him Vs Hawkins who was matching the upires confrontational stance front on. In some ways I think it is actually possible that the umpire in the Hawkins case contributed by engauging in a dispute with Hawkins - pay the free kick, if he doesn't acept it and advances towards the umpire, give him a warning of what he's doing and pay 50m.

Agreed, but one thing that I have taken out of the year so far is that I think we have learnt what is required to beat the teams we should. Teams like St Kilda, Essendon, the Lyons and Suns would have smelled blood in seasons gone by and we would have coughed up at least one of those games, like we did to Freo and North early last year. I'm not counting any chickens yet as we still have Carlton on the weekend, but I have a growing confidence in the teams mental and physical ability to get the job done. Particulaly pleasing is that we have won our last 10 quarters since drawing the second quarter against the Dons and only loosing the first quarter by 6 points. Last week agaist the Suns, we hurt them in 'red time' in the second and third quarters, when previously it was somewhat the habit of the MFC to be letting our opponents back into the game with a few late goals in the quarter after playing well for most of the quarter. Like I said, not counting any chickens yet, but encouraged by a few of these signs and just good to be racking up the 4 points one game at a time at the moment, because the 4 premership points against a weak side is worth exactly the same as against the stronger ones.

Just watched that segment. Couldn't pee into the bottle for the drug test. Lol, total pisser!

Loving the work of T Mac. Leads well, takes big strong grabs, chases, tackles and does all the 1%ers and such a cool head in front of the sticks. Kicking goals all over the place. The full forward we've needed the past few years and much more.

Largely agree, and that was mostly what I was infering, but to be honest, I'm still open and think I could be convinced on the unconscious bias argument as well. I don't actually think Australian socioty has much time for social minorities that speak up and speak loudly, openly and honestly on behalf of the disadvantage of their cultural background. The Adam Goodes saga was evidence of that. I think being a much shyer, lower profile type, Nev may not speak up when perhaps others might for fear of not wanting to bring these negative race based assertons upon himself. That in it's self may mean he gets walked over more easily in circumstances such as these. Personally I'm under no illusions how much harder it must be identifing as indigenous in this county.

Upon seeing the replay of this again, 1 week is way too lenient. It wasn't just a gut punch, he's gone straight for and made good solid contact in the jatz crackers. If this was to happen to Danger, Dusty or another big name player, it would be 3 to 4 weeks, without question. I'm actually with @DaisyDeeciple on this one that Nev (and the dog act it was) isn't getting the respect that he deserves.