Rodney (Balls) Grinter

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.

I'd love it for GC to play massive hard ball with the Hawks over this.  In a lot of ways, they have far more to loose if they don't, as they could become a perennial go home club like Brisbane.

Similarly, most of the risk likely resides with the Hawks, if Jaeger never recovers from his injuries and the Hawks are forced to trade a player of reasonable ability out of their side to satisfy GC.

I can't see Sydney being silly and desperate in what they accept for Mitchell either, so hopefully it's not much of a net gain for Hawthorn in the end.

2 hours ago, Nasher said:

The chances of this rule being abolished are so close to zero that all you do is waste the finite seconds of your life mentioning it.  Players rights type rules are never going to regress.

The AFL need to grow a pair and be prepared to take on the players and AFLPA over this issue.  If the players want FA, then cop the other end of the stick as well.

It's beyond time that the AFL stopped pandering to the overpaid minority and started doing what's best for the competition and the sport again.

 I was rapped when the club recruited Bernie, as I had always thought he was a great player for Adelaide, perhaps also influenced by one of his games against us when he was bog.  

If he did justify his party boy reputation, he has probably adjusted his behaviour after arriving at Melbourne, instantly becoming one of the senior players and realising the good role model he had to play.  Having Roos as coach, probably curtailed any potential for bad behavior as well.  But having whitenessed his behavior at Melbourne from a far, I get the impression that Bernie is just a great knock about bloke who like to have some fun, is a character that others want to be around, but also really knows how to knuckle down to business at the appropriate time.  All in all, just a good old typical country boy.

It's clear that his on field performance wained a bit towards the end of the season, but I'm hoping that if he gets more support from a more developed younger brigade next year, then hopefully Bernie can be better managed to provide that great hardness and impact around the ball at crucial times in games.  I also think that he is better resting forward than back and really adds a greater element of unpredictablity to our forward line with his ability to kick goals from outside 50, which could help create better space inside the arc for others to work.

3 minutes ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

Agree with almost all of the above and think that don't argue with Hodge would be on the 2016 highlights real of many a demons supporter (a long with quite a few other moments from that particular game).

However, whilst I also identified that he would likely play better footy as a backman for the most part after struggling for more than few weeks as a forward, I think your video and several other instances in 2016 show that Frosty is also a more capable forward than your average backman.  In this regard, I think the games that he played forward could be a good development investment, as I think Frost could be quite an effective game breaker as a swing man to break deadlocks in match-up on days when the forward line can't break through.  He could be quite a dangerous player in this role on occasions, due to his fairly unique combination of both speed and height.  Could also allow us to play a very tall forward line without sacrificing pace.

Speaking as one who was a better forward than your average backman.

11 hours ago, Demon Jack said:

Was never meant to be played as a forward, despite this awesome effort.

Although he's a big hulking and imposing figure, he never looked much of a threat inside the forward 50. Couldn't quite get a mark to stick and didn't hit the scoreboard often enough. He's much better suited in defence. Loved watching him take the game on from the back half inthe second half of the season.

There was a terrific moment in the Hawthorn game which summed up our attitude for the day where he played on from the wing and pulled the 'don't argue' out on Luke Hodge. He then proceeded to run along the wing and bomb the ball inside 50 where Max Gawn plucked a beauty and goaled.

Like many of our other players, the fact he's still only 22/23 shows how much improvement he still has in him. I think he'll prove to be a fantastic investment.

And boy can he run!

Agree with almost all of the above and think that don't argue with Hodge would be on the 2016 highlights real of many a demons supporter (a long with quite a few other moments from that particular game).

However, whilst I also identified that he would likely play better footy as a backman for the most part after struggling for more than few weeks as a forward, I think your video and several other instances in 2016 show that Frosty is also a more capable forward than your average backman.  In this regard, I think the games that he played forward could be a good development investment, as I think Frost could be quite an effective game breaker as a swing man to break deadlocks in match-up on days when the forward line can't break through.  He could be quite a dangerous player in this role on occasions, due to his fairly unique combination of both speed and height.  Could also allow us to play a very tall forward line without sacrificing pace.

5 minutes ago, Old Bear said:

I don't hate him just dislike him

But I HATE his hair

Yes, but it's befitting of his character.

He looks like a buffoon and he acts like one too.

Talking about hate, I still hate the free agency compensation with a passion.  Not only does the recruiting club essentially get a free hit, but ever other club in the league gets penalised by being pushed down the draft order.  The club recruiting the player should be forced to give up a draft pick of nominal equivalence in order to square the ledger with the rest of the comp.

6 hours ago, Moonshadow said:

26 for the Vicker.

Remind me what we got for Silvia again?

We essentially got Bernie Vince for Silvia, so huge win for us.  Not sure if the Tigers can pull off an equivalent coup.

18 hours ago, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Just to supplement this thread, I have some individualised homework for some players as follows:

• Hogan - set shot goal kicking practice
• Petracca - as above and improve fitness
• Viney, Kent, Tyson - improve kicking on the non-preferred side so you don't fear turning on to the right
• O McDonald - eat a lot

 

Yep, it was at about this age that Tommy started to really fill out and with a bit more strength to Oscar, our backline will start to look like it has some real backbone.  Add to that a good preseason for Frosty, Wagner, Hunt, Jetta, Melksem, Hibbard and we should have a pretty solid defense.  A lot has been made of the dogs ability to attack, but for most of this year I was hearing about that it was their defensive game which had improved.  I think there is a lot of truth in that old adage that defense wins premiereships.

With the defensive stocks we have, it would be great if Salem can get properly fit and be allowed more time in the midfield and forward half to improve our delivery into the forward line and forward half defensive pressure.

I really think that Bernie's value to the side into the future is going to be as a forward who can inject himself into the midfield every now and then for a bit of impact.

13 hours ago, jnrmac said:

Did the dogs no harm!

The issue is when to handball and its effectiveness. Too many times we handball to a stationary target or at the players feet etc. Skills that the dogs have shown can be improved rapidly

I hope the dogs 'handball' technique to be put under intense scrutiny by the umpiring department over the off season.  I personally haven't seen enough to form an opinion one way or the other, but something tells me that where there is smoke, there is fire.  Either way, I think it needs to be put to bed and addressed.

 It wouldn't need any rule changes to bring it under control, just some better attention to the current rules of the game.

I had high hopes that Roos might have discovered a bit of a diamond in the rough when we first recruited Viv from Freo, but he has only really disappointed in terms of his performance at AFL level.  Time to move on.

1 hour ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Not gonna happen- these are corporate memberships and they pay $5k a year for them you think they're gonna be forced to log on to a website days in advance to notify if theyre gonna use the seat theyve already paid for?

10 hours ago, Rodney (Balls) Grinter said:

One punter suggested that you could make them have to log on several days/weeks prior to cinfirm they were going to be used and if they weren't, then they could be offered up for sale at an premium to GA.  I think a variation on this could work quite well, where if the member was not going to use them, then they could offer them up for sale, with the member and the AFL sharing the profits.

I agree absolutely, but I think there would be some that would be willing to receive back some of their investment if they were sufficiently incentivised.

I heard he was good drinking a few beers with Watts, Bernie and Hibbard.

18 minutes ago, praha said:

Not sure what they'd do with Medallion Club. Can't just tell members that it's no longer valid, and you can't just give them AFL Gold membership seeing as there's a long wait list.

I suspect medallion club members will be put onto AFL Members wait list and their Medallion membership doubles as AFL Silver. Then once they become Gold, their Medallion Club is stopped. Probably the only way to phase it out.

One punter suggested that you could make them have to log on several days/weeks prior to cinfirm they were going to be used and if they weren't, then they could be offered up for sale at an premium to GA.  I think a variation on this could work quite well, where if the member was not going to use them, then they could offer them up for sale, with the member and the AFL sharing the profits.

3 hours ago, DV8 said:

Exactly but lets not try to improve IT;  lets build boutique stadiums around the place to better serve communities.  And bring those further away geographically into contact with afl footy.

 

I don't mind where Docklands Stadium is built, good transport connections, including to geographically further away places like Bendigo, Ballarat and all stops in between via Southern Cross Station.

That said, I did also like it when clubs played at the old suburban grounds.  Added such great character and an interesting dimension to the game.  It would be great if Melbourne could substitute playing it's Docklands home games at Casey Fields.

23 hours ago, Dante said:

They'd be better next year and probably this year as well.

 

True.  Those were my thoughts, as the Hawks midfield is very much starting to look old and bare of obvious replacements of quality, but if Kennedy had been retained by the Hawks and didn't get the exposure in the mid field that he did with the Swans, then he may never have developed into the player he has now - it's a catch 22.

I just hope there doesn't become a free agency window that may allow Kennedy to return cheaply to the Hawks at some point in the future, on the off chance he'd even remotely consider it.

...and his sister was a good looking sort and a refreshing change on the clubs in-house media videos.

On 24/8/2016 at 5:55 PM, johndemonic said:

You concerns are fair enough, but you're pointing out an actual list management direction they took in drafting many experienced players. I'm just asking that we bring in ONE player again, like Crossy to give us that extra touch to ensure standards are met, who's a proven consistent performer.

Personally I think we've already had the 2016 story of a rapidly improved young team with a huge scope for improvement and potential. 2017 is the next chapter of taking an extra step and anything less is stagnation, Even improvement within the context of other teams improving around us can be stagnation as we could still be in the same ladder pos with the same teams around us.

Bringing an experienced player in to help solidify some confidence and momentum and push us into the bottom half of the 8 for the year is a minimal risk, maximum reward type of trade. 

I think the club could use another 'out of left field' story to bring even more people into the gates and pike interest. Imagine if Stevie J came to us last year.

If other teams around us improve and we do to, then we should still advance up the ladder, as there are other that I think are cherry ripe for a fall like the Hawks, North, possibly even Geelong and West Coast.

Great to hear, but hardly surprising though.  Was sad to see Jordie go, always gave 110% out on the field and hard as a cats head.  Was a pitty his skills weren't quite up to senior AFL standard, but it's clear he is a good footballer.

If they are going to improve the stadium, first place they should start is to put transparent panels on the retractable section of roof to improve the massive light/dark contrast you get on the ground when the roof is open.  Might even partly or fully pay for it's self if it reduced the amount of artificial sun lamps required to grow the grass.  In this respect, perhaps they could also cover the rest of the roof sectiond in solar PV panels to reduce or even make a positive contribution to the stadium's environmental foot print as well as being a good economic decision.