Rodney (Balls) Grinter

Don't buy that lack of leg speed was the reason for our loss to either team particularly Essendon. Just a look at a few of the teams that convincingly beat Essendon last year should be enough to tell us that: Collingwood - once; Richmond - Twice; Yet we beat both the above teams convincingly. If leg speed was the key to beating Essendon, then logically that must make the above teams as quick and thus we should have struggled against them too - but we didn't and it doesn't stack up. I think looking at the respective lead ups to the Carlton loss is more insightful for the reasons we lost these games. Carlton were comming off 9 - yes 9 consecutive losses, including Brisbane the week prior to us. We had just come off a record 3 consecutive wins. Both the Essendon and Carlton probably took confidence out of beating us in 2015, which gave them enough belief to think they were in with a shot against us and also would have built them selves up for the game big time - in Essendons case, it was the big week long fight back build up, pre game march and Sheedy speech. In the case of Carlton, the 9 conservative and in particular the Brisbane loss would have provided plenty of motivation. In short I do buy the Paul Roos claims that due to the age/inexperience of our side, we lacked physical and mental stamina and maturity to string together consistent form. We are venerable to any team if we don't turn up to play mentally.

To beat Carlton, we need to play much better to combat Crisps he is a bruit of a player who by my recollection smashed us in Rd 22.

...and any chance of us ever beating St Kilda ever again?

Don't disagree, but I think Daniel Cross was similar in playing contribution, leadership and durability over most of his career, but yet the club decided he wasn't up to continuing this year. Hard to predict if and when aging players will fall off a cliff physically and or to some degree mentally. I'm guessing the club would probably have preferred to have signed Lewis up for 2 years with the option of an extension, but obviously 3 years was the price we had to pay to get the deal done. Without knowing exactly how much salary cap space Lewis is taking up, I'm certainly in favour of decision the club has made in terms of risk Vs reward.

Couldn't agree more. The sentimentist in me half hopes that Dunn doesn't get traded and somehow manages to turn his playing style around and break back into the team for a few games, however the realist in me suggests that is probably a fair stretch. The other obvious players in the category of Dunn and Grimes in the context of deserving the enjoyment of success after years of demoralising losses that come to mind are Jones, Jetta, Garland, Trengrove and to an extent Tommy Mac. That dream is closer to reality for those guys. On another note, whilst alot has been said of Oscar's development this season, I was very impressed with the way Tommy Mac stepped up and became the new rock and general of our backline.

Lol

Don't count me as one of the Lewis haters by any means, I'm just as rapped that we were able to recruit him as I was when we picked up Bernie. However, I do harbour some fears/concerns regarding how well his body and form will hold up, particularly for the full three years. Bernie was a good number of years younger when he arrived at the MFC and I'm not sure that I'd agree that Bernie is inferior to Lewis as a player. He faded towards the end of this year, but Bernie certainly played some dominating, influential games this season and more so over the two years prior, be it in a weaker team, which I take as adding to the value of his performances. Yes the leadership that Lewis brings to the club is very important, but it's almost starting to become a bit over stated within this forum. I'm certainly hoping his on feild form holds out at an acceptable level, for the remainder of his contract, which is certainly possible, but not a given at his age. Similarly, Bernie is a player who may be having conflicting feelings about Lewis's arrival. On the one hand, hopefully Lewis should share some of the heavy lifting and may assist in prolonging Bernie's career in that way. I understand why Lewis was given the three years and I'm sure Bernie does too, but on the other hand I can't help but feel Bernie may be a little envious of the three years that Lewis is contracted when he was only given a one year extension - which could also impact negatively on the longevity of Bernie's career. I'm looking forward to seeing how it all plays out ...hopefully more wins and to the overall advancement of the team.

In case you didn't pick it up, I wasn't being totally serious when I stated it was important. Nor was it Lyndon in particular that I was thinking of Re 14. It was probably a slightly premature question, given we are yet to know which will be free. 19 could be another candidate maybe? I'm still a fan of him getting 45, but in the end I'm assuming a player of his statue will be given the choice. Anyway, I thought it was a humorous and insightful moment to Lewis's press conference Re Salem - if you haven't seen it you should take a look/listen. http://m.melbournefc.com.au/video/2016-10-18/media-conference-jordan-lewis

They also have old Jezza Howe, who if I recall correctly, after moving to the filth to obtain a clearer role with the team as a perminant forward, was played in a similar swing man, predominantly backman as he was at Melbourne. Probably played his best footy for the filth as a backman and was probably amongst the filths best in that part of the ground, though is not the key back type you are probably referring to.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

...and free Jack Viney they did!

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!'

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.

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

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.