Rodney (Balls) Grinter

6 hours ago, TGR said:

Get over it FCS.

 

If it was your son, or mine, he would do exactly the same thing as Scully.

 

Remember our culture back then?  Scully is getting injured because he is training too hard!!!!!!  HAHAHAHAHA.  No wonder we weren't anywhere near league standard when an 18/19 year old was showing everyone up on the track.  Instead of the lazy older players lifting to his standard, we had the old-boys pointing at him saying "serves you right"

 

 

 

Let's see.  Stay here under Neeldy at 3-400k for 3 putrid seasons; or go to GWS on $2 mil for your first year?

Lying to Stynes' face?  Pfft.  I'm sure Garry has done a lot of lyon lately, and he was older, wiser, and more respected than a young boy.

 

The Scully bashers here are absolute nuts.  Cookoo squared.  He made the only choice, albeit the right one.

Get over your self flea bag.

Gary's private business is his own and unless you are Billy Brownless, dragging his name and reputation through the mud in this forum in the context of the issue raised is a low call.  In football terms, Garry Lyon is the polar opposite of $culley.  Gary was a loyal servant of the MFC who would have had ample opportunity to chase bigger money and I'm sure he would have rode out several crisis of club culture and adversity within his time.

I'm perfectly capable of understanding the logical decision making behind $culley's decision.  I won't pretend to have the great insider info and insight that you obviously do, but I doubt it was anything like the situation you outline above in so far as I doubt the gap in pay was as much as what you are suggesting; i.e. $culley would still have been on sensational money at the MFC, particularly for the realitively unproven player he was at the time, which together with his blatant dishonesty to the club just made him a money hungry, greedy mercenary.  I am more than capable of reconciling players switching clubs for reasons of their own choosing, particularly players that loyally served the club over a number of sucsess starved years like Chip Frawely and Col Silvia.  I can even be happy for some of our ex frindge players doing well like Pedard, Martin and Fitzpatric and others, but they switch teams purely for exuberant financial gain, a la $culley, then they don't get afforded that same respect in my book.

Not sure why all these spaces are need above, other than as some kind of moronic sign of self important attention seeking.

I do wonder if you base your club loyalties on your same logical approach to player movements?  On that basis, I recon you would be a band wagon jumping ex Hawthorn supporter. 

I'll base my own decision making on respecting or holding grudges to ex players based their actions coupled with my passion and loyalty to the Melbourne Demons footy club thanks very much you tool.

1 hour ago, jnrmac said:

Well he did leave. We offered him a big whack to stay and he chose a bigger whack.

Imagine if he had have stayed? Our situation would not be anywhere near where it is now.

I agree, we are far better off without $culley, but just don't ever expect me to thank the two faced scum bag.  His clear lies to a dying Jimmy Stynes are unforgivable and he should continue to bear the wrath of MFC supporters for the rest of his career.

1 hour ago, Deestroy All said:

I said the same thing on here when we beat them. Obviously Jordan reads Demonland.

 

And we can now thank Scully for Hogan and Lewis.

I will never thank that rodent $cully for anything.

Onto important matters - I liked the part in his press conference where Lewis was asked if he would be ringing up Christian Salem to ask him if he would be give him the number 3.  

Lewis politely declined and I do like his humbleness and humility, but it does beg the question of what jumper number should he get?

My first thought, with it looking likely Dunn to Collingwood was he would be a great candidate for 14, but thinking that through, 14 is probably a more natural fit with Hibbard as a backman.

So moving on I'm now thinking probably No.6 (assuming Dawes is gone) or otherwise 45 has been a good number for some good MFC players.

9 hours ago, Abe said:

I know this will get howled down, but this is a guy who i think would have captained the Hawks in 2017, is co captains with Nathan Jones totally out of the question? obviously the players vote and all that and i am usually against new players getting in but surely this is a different set of circumstances, talking about a genuine A grade player and A grade leader.

Not howling you down by any means here Abe, but I think other than respect (which Lewis has from day 1) another ingredient to being a good captain has to be good established relationships and understanding of the majority of the team, which doesn't come quickly.  I think Jordan realises this and didn't seem to phased by the prospect of being captain or not, in fact the impression he gave was that he was relishing having that formal pressure taken off him, such that he could support, advise and provide leadership in the background rather than as the main man.

I also think his age is such that he is unlikely to become captain or VC in his time with us.  By the time he has established himself within the group, it would be almost time for him to move on and he would only be holding back others with the potential to fulfill the roles.  But I do see that he will be of high value in providing on and off field leadership without the title and in supporting and grooming our next gen of leaders such as Viney, Tommy Mac etc, such that they are ready when it becomes time.  Also as I think some of the coaches like Clarkson, Roos and perhaps Thompson recently acknowledged that one of the benifits of experienced teams was that it was like having a team of coaches out on the ground - when critical times in games arise, the players just know what to do, thus don't need the coach to send messages out which often don't get through in time - again I think this is the sort of leadership strength that Lewis can contribute rather than being given an official title.

I also think Nathan Jones is a great captain (which Lewis acknowledged) and his value to lead and teach our young list should also not be forgotten and overshadowed by our latest great acquisition.

8 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

Last week:  Hodge to Mitchell: so mate you went for pick 88!

This week: Mitchell to Hodge:  better than Lewis - he went for peanuts!   And, you will go for...?

No, Lewis went for two picks and they were both lower than the 88 that Mitchell went for.

... Forget the part about the Hawks giving us back two more to go along with the deal, Lewi's one of ours now so we can defend his honor.

20 minutes ago, DV8 said:

maybe form these ?

 

...and free Jack Viney they did!

3 hours ago, Bombay Airconditioning said:

Tricks? As in loading up from outside fitty of one step?

Replacing the stutter shuffle run-up with a 'natural arc'.

... I can hear Bruce McAvaney calling it now "Hogan lining up from outside fifty, wheels around to the left to use his natural arc - GOAL, Demons open the gap on the Bulldogs to five goals!'

8 hours ago, TRIGON said:

Confusing all hell out of significant proportion of their membership base...

 

Nice segway to the Geelong club song at around the 1:00 minute mark of the video

Junior Mac going back to where it all started for him, prior to playing for Melbourne.  Great to see a legend of the game giving back to grass roots footy, but then this sort of humility was always in Junior's DNA.

Can't remember what we got in return, but that turned out to be a fairly astute move by the MFC based on the realitive lack of performance from Woey there after.

I'm not sure it is really an equivalent though in the respect that Woey still had the 'best' years of his career ahead of him, rather than being close to the end like Lewis, which probably made it an even gutsyer move by the MFC.  I think Lewis has more runs on the board so to speak.

I really do hope we get value out of Lewis though.  Similar to Woey, I can recall a number of players who switched teams and weren't a shadow of their former self.  Easy for average player to look good in great sides.

I think it's great that the women's league is getting off the ground, but it is also seriously over hyped.

The remuneration does need to be at a level which is:

1. Self funding and;

2. Sustainable;

Yes there are these reports of sponsors falling over them selfs, but what has not been publicised is how much they are actually willing to fork out.  Also it's great to look at the cost of paying the players, but what about the costs of:

* Coaches;

* Medical staff;

* Airfares anaccommodation for interstate games;

* Umpires.

Further, whist I understand the women's game rated very well on a weekend where there was no senior AFL football, I can see it struggling to attract the sort of ratings that would actually justify broadcasting it on a more regular basis.

Coming from a generation where it is OK to descriminate against males on the basis of their sex, I've had an absolute gutfull of all the bleating from some in the women's movement.

25 minutes ago, Males said:

MELBOURNE 26, 44, 62, 80.

26 will go on the Hibberd trade.

80 for Lewis, I'd definetaly take. Runner up in this years B&F, shows he's still playing well, and I think he could teach our young midfield a bit. 3 year deal with provisions on the last 2, possible coaching job etc.

62 for Lewis, I'd still probably take this deal. 

44 for Lewis, I'm not keen on this deal. I'd rather poach him after next season, be cheaper for us. 2 year deal, possible move into coaching.

With 80 Lewis could be texting Mitchell and Hodge that he finish runner up, but was still worth more than Sam.

3 hours ago, Maldonboy38 said:

The weekend could not have come at a worse time. It allows for an extended re-thinking time for Lewis who may reflect on just how good the green grass has been at Hawthorn, and decide to stay. The longer the time lapse on Monday befofe we hear a decision, the more likley he is to be staying at the Hawks. 

I dare say, us Demonlanders are  stewing over this probably more than Lewis himself over this weekend.

Sorry if I'm repeating others, but this seems to be among the most credible reasons why Lewis would chose to play for us:

It's understood Lewis' link to the Demons stemmed from a strong relationship with former Hawks assistant and now Melbourne player personnel manager Todd Viney. Lewis mentored Viney's son, and now Demons star Jack Viney during Jack's days playing in the TAC Cup.

From an article in Fairfax online written by Daniel Cherny and Michael Gleeson:

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/afl/hawthorn-hawks/afl-trades-2016-hawthorn-say-jordan-lewis-wants-to-stay-despite-melbourne-hopes-20161014-gs2lnm.html

I actually thought that Bugg did have a few games where he was outstanding and made a real impact.  His biggest problem was that his form was a bit hot and cold at times.

He has a good knack of kicking goals and I do like his toughness, ability to hassle and get under opposition players skin - all valuable attributes.

20 hours ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

It's nice to be considered/chosen rather than laughed and snorted at.
Been a while since that happened...

Think about why this would be the case, we are probably around the 3rd or 4th ranked Victorian club.  If you were to look at the development side of things and accept that Hawthorn and probably Geelong are in for a slide in the next few years (North are a given), then we are probably only second to the Bulldogs depending on how our development continues with respect to St Kilda.  I can't see Collingwood or Essendon being anything other than mid table teams and Carlton would take a big hit if they lost Gibbs.

So for players wanting to leave their present clubs and wanting to be in Victoria, we should really represent a pretty attractive option.  For whatever reason Collingwood seems to be an attractive option for players, but you would think that is now based on reasons other than list attractiveness - I guess there will always be some attraction to the big four Vic clubs on the basis of their size/market presence.

I do wonder how much good players on the move this year such as Jaeger, Presita & Tom Mitchell may have been put off by a lack of willingness of Melbourne to pay overs for them either salary or trade wise?

54 minutes ago, Tatu said:

So what gets it done?  As an ageing star, He's probably got two solid years left... 

Would Trengove and Dawes get it done? 

What kind of compensation do they get next year, if he walks?

so many questions 

Probably not.

And don't curse Jack again.  Last time he was considered trade bate, he got injured again.

2 hours ago, Bitter but optimistic said:

When a thread touting Boomer was started I stated my opposition. Now I realise Lewis is somewhat younger and I acknowledge his credentials. HOWEVER, we are developing shite loads of young talent - lets continue down that path. .

Not an exact equivalence, but I don't think getting Daniel Cross did any harm to the development of our young talent.

However just need to pick him up for a good price, as I wouldn't support giving up too much for him at this point.

9 minutes ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

It's nice to be considered/chosen rather than laughed and snorted at.
Been a while since that happened...

Would be nicer to be considered/chosen by the 22-25 yo guns like Trelor, Dangerfield, Mitchell, rather than those at the end of their career... but yes, get your point.

8 minutes ago, Demon Spofforth said:

Freo compo for Mayne is pick 23. Think that means our second rounder is out to 30 now?

Wow Freo got way overs for him I recon.

This is the real stinker about the way free agency is presently set up.  It penalises every other team asides from the one that picked up the free agent.  Really need to be addressed.  The club recruiting the free agent should be forced to give up the compo equivalent to the value of the compo.

Somewhat contradicting my previous statement, whilst I don't want to feel sympathetic to the EFC, my feeling is that the whole process was botched and mishandled by all parties including the AFP, the AFL, ASADA and WADA.

I can't see any club ever self reporting and cooperating in the same wat the Bombers players did again.  And where are the charges against Steven Dank ...or are those yet to come?  I do wonder if there has been civil or criminal charges considered against him.

That all said, I did watch a fairly convincing story from one of the investigative journalism programs (I think it was 4 corners) that layed out a pretty compelling case that many of the big players in the elite sports and athletics world are gaming the system with performance enhancing drugs by staying half a step ahead of the list of banned and detectable drugs, which did smell exactly like what Essendon were doing.

Will James Hird appeal the appeal?

12 hours ago, BLWNBA said:

I rate him, he has all the attributes. The only knock on him for mine, apart from his kicking, is that he needs to understand his limitations. Far too often is he caught holding the ball when he tries to take on the tackler coming out of the D50. Don't get me wrong, his endeavour is there, but a man's got to know his limitations. 

Guess that is one of the attributes about youthful, developing players is that they are still trying to establish and understand what those limits are.  Sometimes it frustrates when it doesn't come off, but also has the potential to produce brilliant and unexpected results.  Many experienced players probably wouldn't have taken on Luke Hodge with that brilliant 'don't argue', but Frosty did and it paid divided ends.  I guess this is where much of the side is presently at and as they mature, we will no doubt see less erratic, more measured risk taking, less mistakes and hopefully more consistent results.

9 hours ago, Choke said:

Personally I think this has more to do with players being able to 'nominate' their preferred destination than it being an AFL equalisation issue/failure. However, it might be an unanticipated by-product of free agency, as these 'nominations' have seemingly increased every year since free agency commenced.

6 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

The clubs will regain some power, it is purely a matter of time. 

Luke Ball started all this in 2009...

Players nominating there own destination before they qualify for free agency is definatly a problem.  The current system is way to far squewed in favour of players and dominant "desternation" clubs.  When a player says they want out, the club is force to trade, usually for less than market value or risk walking away with nothing.  One way this could be rectified is by:

1.  Giving a club who's player walks at the end of a contract, the next consecutive draft pick after the draft pick used to recruit them at that draft.  That way the club is asured of getting true market value for the player and players are not at the liberty they currently are to play the bluff of the original club;

2.  Increase the penalty for players doing a Luke Ball and threatening not to play for anyone but their nominated club for that year.  They don't play for the club that picks them that year and they don't play in the AFL for two or three seasons.  Probably would have had a different outcome in the Cameron McCarthy scenario.

3.  Under this kind of a scenario players are still in control of their own lives should they not want to move interstate.  They can play in the AFL and move to where they are picked, or they can play VFL, WAFL or SAFL like the Jarman's and many others did for a number of years before either being ready to make the move or in Andrews case being able to play in one's own state.

The purity of the draft and equalisation has a lot of merit.  A return to the bad old days of the rich dominating the league is bad for competition.  In the present day, we have virtually just replaced the rich with the presently successful.