Rodney (Balls) Grinter

1 minute ago, Earl Hood said:

F••k all GA seats available in the Northern! Everything is reserved for the filth. Up so high I will be calling for oxygen at half time, but I am still surrounded by B&W ferals!

Similar story in the Southern. Only seats on level 4 between the goals and HFF.

Watch a bunch of good seats go empty that could have been used by people who actually wanted to watch the game.

By God I hate the amount of reserved seating that is allowed these days. It's not really the every day man's game any more.

8 hours ago, Rocknroll said:

Really hope we turn up tonight and have a crack. Love to wipe the smiles of a few pies fans faces.

Reckon Brayden will have a real go at Langdon tonight, I hope Viney, May, Melk and co are ready to support.

Pies really need this and reckon we are 80% checked out.

Hope Langdon annoys the F out of Daicos again and Maynard does try to have a crack at Linggers, which should light a tinderbox of aggression towards that scum.

Don't really have any expectations of our performance tonight, but really do hope we dig deep and smack the c##p out of this mob. Such is the hatred of those filth since 2023.

5 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

Dunno R(B)G, I reckon their dads might be a bit past it 😁

Lol. That's a but harsh Ghosty. They all look pretty fit as if they still in their prime to me.

Hardly how I'd refer to our former captain, caretaker coach and last Brownlow medallist.

Somewhat conflicted by the AFLs latest ruling on Rankine.

On the one hand, I totally support the AFL for taking a stand on unacceptable standards of behaviour with respect to discrimination and vilification.

On the other hand, it twists the knife in again that Rankine gets suspended for a finals campaign, yet Maynard got let off and allowed to play in a premiership after carelessly ending Gus's career.

Don't think I'll ever forgive Maynard, the AFL, Eddy or Collingwood supporters for what happed before our eyes at the MCG that night and then in the aftermath.

Best footy news all week.

Would love a photo of Kalani, Kynan, Taj, Jack and their respective fathers all in the same shot. I don’t know how realistic the chances are, but it would be even better to have them all on the same team sheet one day.

Jury is still out for me on a couple of fronts:

1. Is he a better natural forward than Disco?

2. Will Disco be a reliable key back option?

While Disco's intercept marking and general defensive work have been good, his disposal and target selection in the backline seem to let him down alot. Reminds me a bit of a young Tommy Mac in this respects. I do think alot of Tom's early disposal / turnover issues were due to us being woeful as a team over all and him being constantly under pressure and similar could be true for Disco. However I think Tommy's passing out of defence has also got better as he's aged. I guess we'll never really know the truth of all this, because the experiment playing Tom forward started around the time we became compeditive as a team.

Hopefully Disco can tidy up his disposal in defence as he's got alot of other good attributes down there.

Conversely, I feel Harry is a more reliable option by foot in the back half.

If anything, I think we have a few options that can play either end of the ground and will be interesting to see if a new coach is willing to use that on a more regular basis.

14 hours ago, Ghostwriter said:

Pffft this would suck. Glad I’m not one of these supporters.

Yeah, me too 😂

9 hours ago, burnthefushias said:

He's classified as a non free agent because to be a restricted free agent you need to have spent eight years at your first club and be in the top 25% earners on the playing list, but it's a similar deal in terms of how a player navigates getting to another team when they're out of contract.

The first option is negotiating a trade and if that isn't agreed upon between clubs, the non free agent can choose his contract length and dollar amount before nominating for either draft. So if McVee wants West Coast, we don't have a tremendous amount of leverage given their position in the pre-season draft.

There are also other rules for rookies. The one which I thought might have applied to Judd probably doesn't:

A 2nd year Rookie not accepting a further Rookie contract will be considered a Delisted Free Agent, and therefore will be an Unrestricted Free Agent.

There is also the delisted free agent that after being delisted will be a perennial free agent for life after expiry of a contract. It's possible we might have somehow delisted Judd in order to draft and promote him to the senior list, but I'm not sure on that one.

Everyone is asking AI everything these days, so thought I'd ask the question. Not too bad a summary, if a little vanilla in parts. Got to say, I like the part about resilience and hope, which is a somewhat overlooked part of MFCSS.

The "Melbourne Football Club supporter syndrome" is not a recognized medical or psychological condition. It likely refers to the emotional rollercoaster that many supporters of the Melbourne Football Club experience, given the club's long history and sometimes turbulent performance. Wikipedia says the club is the oldest professional sporting club in the world, but it has also faced periods of significant on-field struggles. 

Here's a more detailed explanation:

• Long and Storied History:

  The Melbourne Football Club, also known as the Demons or Dees, has a rich history, being the inaugural team in the Victorian Football League (VFL), now the Australian Football League (AFL). 

• Emotional Connection:

  Supporters often develop a strong emotional bond with their team, shaped by shared experiences, victories, and losses over many seasons. 

• Ups and Downs:

  The club has seen periods of great success, including premierships, but has also faced extended periods where they haven't made finals or achieved consistently high results. 

• Resilience and Hope:

  Despite challenges, Melbourne supporters remain passionate and hopeful for future success, demonstrating the enduring power of fandom. 

• "Narrm" Recognition:

  The club acknowledges its Indigenous heritage by using the name "Narrm" (a Woiwurrung word for Melbourne) during Indigenous Rounds, demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity and respect for the traditional owners of the land. 

1 hour ago, ChaserJ said:

Judd's not eligible for free agency yet. If his contract expires he can nominate for one of the drafts.

I'm not 100%, but I think he qualifies as a restricted free agent because we originally recruited him off the rookie list or something. It's kinda perverse in a way - give a player a break that others are not willing to, then they are basically free to walk at the end.

Honestly, I think if he nominates a move to another club, we should play handball, match the order and see if he really wants to play roulette in the draft.

2 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

I can just see how the process might pan out if AI was used to make the decision. It would analyse all the contenders, whether they were applicants or not, and determine that Simon Goodwin is the best choice.

Lol, yeah, because he has the best premiership winning ratio out of all of them and it's just data driven.

...incidently I wounder what it would conclude if it were to analyse the "Is Goodwin the right guy" thread? Can someone good with AI get it to do that, I wounder?

1 hour ago, Norm Smith's Curse said:

Will be interesting to see what Buckley does with our game plan. Does he try to transition us further toward a transition game? Try to continue to mold contest players into transition players? Or let them play to their strengths and dictate an older contested style?

It also makes me wonder if it's important to keep someone like Chapman on board to provide continuity from how we were transitioning to a transition game plan is so far as to provide a smooth transition from that transion to how we want to transition under a new coach.

Do we want to go to a totally new gamestyle for the third time in 2 years or just make tweaks to the direction we were headding with a fresh voice?

So much transitioning.

41 minutes ago, spirit of norm smith said:

In. May. Out. Adams

In. Sharp. Out. Windsor (inj)

May comes straight back in. Adams was ok but was physically pushed aside too easily and needs more protein and gym work

Sharp in for his pace. Give him a starting role and assign to Impey. Do not let their half backs run it through the farrrkn corridor !!!!!!

I'd really like us to give Adams more exposure at the top level, but agree it's hard to justify his spot with the available senior players. Play him as sub maybe?

Sharp is the next closest to winning a permanent spot in the side. He actually reminds me alot of ANB era 2020 when he was on the frindge, but had the weapons and application to become a perminant senior performer by developing just that bit more to take him to the next level.

11 hours ago, Go Ds said:

BTW is Barassi our last official coach to have actually played for us? It never bothered me that the coaches since came from 'enemy territory'.

Todd Viney officially coached as a care taker for a five games back in 2011.

3 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

This is just my interpretation of what Buckley is referring to and based on what is in the public domain. Note, it doesn't take into account rounding and smoothing effects - which, to my knowledge, are not in the public domain @Rodney (Balls) Grinter.

• In 2027 three people will consume around 20 percent of the TPP. One of those is used as a tagger, can't hit a target and hasn't finished inside the top 10 in the B&F in the last two years. One may not fully recover from the psychological effects of a horrendous injury (and cannot hit a target) And the third one is medically retired.

• It will also be a year when Turner, the Spreadsheet and Langford will required very significant pay increases.

• Of course some larger salaried players come out of the TPP by then as well - most notably, May.

Buckley already knows this is a potential impediment to him taking the job. Puts the drive to Sassafras in the shade as an issue.

From the net Re Gus - Salary Cap Relief:

The AFL granted Melbourne salary cap relief to help manage the financial burden of paying out the remaining portion of his contract.

Timeline:

The relief was structured over three years, with 90% of the contract paid outside the cap in 2025, 75% in 2026, and 50% in 2027.

My thinking is more did we bring some of the backhanded payments for Trac and others forward to 2025 and 2026, so we could reallocate that down the track, since because of the timing it wasn't really possible for us to offer that to attract other players in 2025 (could have retained Jordan or Bedford) and probably similar for 2026.

17 minutes ago, Sideshow Bob said:

Too early to start the "Is Nathan Buckley the right guy" thread??

Please, if a similar thread starts up again, shut it down. In my view, that was the epitome of MFCSS and not something that sucessful clubs supporters would focus on. Really hope we can move on from that rubbish after this saga.

2 hours ago, Roger Mellie said:

Did Collingwood ship out Grundy under Buckley or McRae out of interest?

He came to us in 2023, so would have been McRae.

Edited. Even more McRae

39 minutes ago, The Jackson FIX said:

Firstly, shame on you for making me read a Jon Ralph article. That bloke hurts my eyeballs and earballs in equal amounts.

Secondly, it is Jon Ralph.

... if we're going to get all technical, it was a Ben Cotton article (if you can even call it that) quoting Jon Ralph 😉

11 hours ago, John Demonic said:

Did you hear the barb she made? That Simpson and Longmire had pulled out because it wasn't a very good job cue laughter from other hosts.

She's clearly personally invested in seeing that Buckley coaches Tasmania instead, by muckraking and putting down our club and the coaching position. For what reason? I don't know, But she's like a dog with a bone when she wants something to happen.

I wouldn't worry too much. The general media scuttlebutt surrounding the club is not great (and part of what contributed to Goodwin's demise IMHO), but I recon Carro would be one of the last people someone like Bucks, Horse or any other aspiring coach would take seriously.

1 hour ago, The Jackson FIX said:

A bit harsh - they are on record as saying they think list needs a different voice and it is rumoured the board still think we have a finals list. Roos saying we can win flag doesn’t make it true.

How is that harsh? Did you read the Fox article / story line I was referring to?

“Simon Goodwin presented to that board on Monday night, it was all about how this club would compete for a premiership next year: ‘We’re so close, we can sniff it’. That board was diametrically opposed to that view. They were crystal clear this was a club that needed some kind of step or two backwards before it pushed forward,” Ralph told Fox Footy’s Midweek Tackle on Tuesday night.

...

Ralph said Melbourne’s decision to move into a new direction ultimately came down to the club not seeing him as its next “premiership coach,” believing the list needs a “significant revamp”.

The options I gave for the possibilities were Either the board has a different appraisal than Roos, Ralph has his story up shiit creek or something in between that maybe they're more aligned with Roos, but do think a fresh approach is needed.

If you read the rest, it has much of the same tine. Seems to me that Ralph has overreached on the part about the boards appraisal of the list from what you are suggesting.

1 hour ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Agree with your observations about On the Couch @At the break of Gawn. For me, the most interesting part of JIGJAM's stream of consciousness were his musings on the TPP. I recon this is the biggest tripwire to landing the best candidate quite frankly.

That also pricked my ears up a bit.

Does anyone on this forum know with any great authority where our cap space is or isn't?

Know we've got some stars tided up on long term contracts, but is it possible that we've actually been able to shift stuff around a bit TPP wise, particularly with that bit of relief we were given for Gus (i.e. did it allow us to bring any back ended payments forward? etc)

I did see that too. Buckley has also similarly praised our list, though, not quite as emphatically as Roos. Kind of makes a mockery of the story line that the MFC board didn't see the team being as close to competing again as Goodwin.

Fox Sports

Either the board has a different appraisal than Roos, Ralph has his story up shiit creek or something in between that maybe they're more aligned with Roos, but do think a fresh approach is needed.

Time will tell I guess and hopefully the truth does come out down the track.

2 hours ago, Go Ds said:

I don't think that was the angle he was taking

:)

I wish it was.

His for the taking if he wanted it I recon.

11 hours ago, higgsy75 said:

Agree. Nothing against Jack Henderson but a bit staggering that he got chosen before Jai. Take it though.

I think they are quite different players. Personally, I think Hendo has better skills and footy IQ, but Culley has impressive athletisim for a huge body and a bit of X factor about him.

I thought Hendo looked good for his first few games, then seemed to fizzel. Might be one of thoses player that's a gun at VFL level, but not quite good enough for AFL.

I do think Rivers is a player for the future, but I also see him butcher the ball way more than he should. Fixes that and he could be a real weapon.