Rodney (Balls) Grinter

It certainly had been, but I have an inkling that last year we played no home games at Docklands. I could look it up, but I'm in a lazy mood. Since Docklands no longer represents the hoodoo to us that it once did, it would almost be worth us playing the eagles there just to deny them exposure to playing on the G, even if we no longer need to sacrifice home games to Docklands. We have played the eagles only once a season and on their home deck on every occation for the past two years if I recall correctly. About bloody time that we play them on the eastern side of the Nullabour. Alternate to denying them the experience of the G (which they probably have covered by the GF anyway to be honest), I recon it would be great to play them at the G in about Rd 4 or 5, when hopefully we are really hitting our straps and pulverize them in front of a home crowd of 75,000 - 68,000 of them being Melbourne supporters. The umpires can give us free kicks for tripping over our own feet then, just like they do the eagles in WA.

Yeah, maybe. I recon the eagles were just far fresher and more switched on at the start of the game than what we were thay day in the prelim. We had essentially played 4 to 6 weeks of finals, where as they had somewhat costed to the end of the season and played 2 games in a month. It was more our shocking turn overs, though appreciate that is related to physical pressure. If you go back to Rd 22, we hit them physically as hard and with a similar sort of intensity that they did to us in the prelim. My recollection is that had we kicked straight in Rd 22, we probably would have ended up smashing them on the scoreboard by as much as they did to us in the prelim. Key thing for us is that I felt our younger guys started hitting physical maturity as team last year and pushed us over that critical mass in that respects. Guys like Brayshaw, Harmes, etc had the grunt run, rough and tumble in the guts all day. Viney was already a beast. AVB had a big physical presence when he came back. I'm really hoping that as guys like Oliver, Weid, Oscar and the rest already mentioned get that one more preseason into them that it will allow us to absolutely bully, monster and intimidate the opposition like those great Lyons sides of the early 2000s. Then we just need the runners like Hunt and Freitch to find some form, run and dash on the outside. Yes May and perhaps Preuss wI'll somewhat complement that, but I think it will be our physicality all over the ground that will damage sides more so. I also like the idea that Preuss might give us an option much closer in height to plan on the American Cox. If Cox continues to improve, watch out, he could become even more of a wepon and having tall options to nullify him could become pretty important.

Don't mind some Friday night games, but prefer the more traditional time slot, particularly for the opening Rd.

Do we still play any home games at Docklands/Marvell? If so, I'd love to make it against WC, to deprive them of a game at the G.

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?

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.

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?

Muuuum - are we there yet?

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.

My reading of the last line of Mahoney's statements on the MFC website article is that that's effectively the stance the club has taken, but I'm only reading between the lines and wouldn’t be full confident in that assumption until trade period actually closes. On top of our previous trade history, for us to hold to that would send a pretty strong message to all clubs and players wanting to deal with us in the future. i.e. we will deal in a fair and reasonable manner, but don't stuff us around and play stupid games or you can go get stuffed.

I don't follow North that closely, so can't really rate too many of their mids asides from Higgins who I understand is more outside and Cunnington who I really do rate as a hard as nails inside mid who can play.

Seemed pretty fare to me. I didn't really want to loose a player of Tyson's realitive quality, but understanding the realities of the scenario fromantic a MFC perspective, I think it's a pretty reasonable win win really on the presumption that North have a deficiency of inside mids. He has been a bit of a whipping boy here for a few seasons now, but I actually rate Tyson as a pretty decent player, it's just that in our current position I'll agree that he's nowhere near as good as Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney and now Harmes.

Yes, the AFL will support several players trying to break there contacts early and demand to be traded to clubs of their choice - I think not. What is becoming a farce is the domino effect of deficient free agency rules causing players to demand trades before the end of their contract. The free agency rules need to be ballanced by making the club receiving the free agent repay the compensation pick from their own draft picks. Would still be a reasonable form of free agency, because the departure club does not need to agree to the deal.

I thought this was a no brainer option from the start. Freo just acting like a bunch of self righteous [censored] thinking that they have the world's strongest hand and can dictate the terms to everyone else rather than swallowing some humble pie conceding that Neale is gone, but being greatfull for locking away one of the premium mature key forwards in the game, but that they will actually have to pay market price for him or maybe a bit over given that he would actually be breaking his contact to go to them. With such a clear way forward, you'd think they'd be jumping over themselves to get this deal done, rather than [censored] EVERYONE in the AFL around - a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. I'm also honestly not seeing why Freo think Neale is worth so much either. My understanding is that he is a fair player and had a bit of a breakout year a season or so ago, but the way Freo are carrying on, it's like he is the equivalent of Dangerfield or Martin or Fife at their peak. Trelor was a significantly more established player for a number of years before he attracted the type of trade leverage for GWS that Freo are expecting. Unless Neale is at that sort of level, then one first round pick and perhaps a later 2 Rd is about all they can expect. I mean Neale played all 22 games and didn't even make the top 30 brownlow (AFL midfielders award) vote getters playing in a team of spuds when Fife was injured and wouldn't take votes off him for half the year. At 25 yo, he's around his peak performance and ain't no Oliver or Brayshaw. I know Freo also want Lobb, then to me there options are 1. concede that you can't always get all your whish list ticked off in one foul swoop, or 2. start trading some of their other players and or future draft picks. But they just don't seem to get the concept that you need to give something to get something in return. As a side note, you have got to wonder what Fife saw in Freo to keep him there? To me, Freo hit the down hill slide when they uprooted Mark Harvey and replaced him with Ross Lyon. Harvey had pulled them out of obscurity, developed and motivated them into a competitive team playing a good brand of footy. Being the expert on coaching that I am, Ross Lyon does nothing for me. He always seems to be highly rated, perhaps by association with some of his former teams and former senior coaching mentors, but look at his record - 3 loosing grand finals playing the most boring brand of football ever. No wonder Neale wants to leave, he doesn't want to be bored to death. After inheriting a good team, the subsequent decline and failed 'rebuild' at Freo under Lyon has been a disaster. @binman, can you please read this and paraphrase it for @Tram 74, I think he can only read simple one line sentences. Perhaps he should stick to Twitter, the social media platform for Twits.

Nice perspective. Yup, he's pretty small that AVB!