Rodney (Balls) Grinter

3 hours ago, DV8 said:

who cares what eddie will do.

Exactly F@#k Eddie.

Seriously the guy is on the nose.  Does his self righteous narna/tantrum at anything and everything that may possibly threaten his darling (not so hot) Pies.  Is their a F@#k Eddie thread on Demonland?  If not, can we please have one?

24 minutes ago, Tough Kent said:

Obviously things could change over the preseason, but if I'm picking my best 22 to win a game for the club tomorrow I'm selecting Pedo at CHF.

Although given that he is presently recovering from surgery, he may not be the best option 'tomorrow'!!

29 minutes ago, DubDee said:

PEEEDO!!!

cant wait to see him bump and rag doll players next year. Adds some much needed big man aggression to the fwd line. 

Dawes will be gone now you'd think. 

Yep, I think you have hit the nail on the head with a lot of Peddo's value to the side.  Clear example was a play in the Hawthorn win - Peddo crashes a marking contest around CHF, Weid picks up the loose ball and delivers it deep forward - GOAL.  Peddo didn't get a stat for that effort, but had great impact on the play, literally and metaphorically.  I watched him do this sort of thing numerous times over the course of the year, including the PA win (after which I seem to recall he was shockingly dropped).  How Peddo didn't get rubbed out numerous times throughout the year also surprises me, as he made some big bone jarring hits on players walking the razor thin line of physicality in moden football.

I actually think Jesse Hogan could learn something from Peddo on the physical aspects of the game.  Jesse can make a big physical impact on contests, but I don't think I saw it anywhere near enough over the course of this year.  There may actually have been a case for dropping him to the VFL like Bulldogs did Stringer...but not sure if that would have helped his 'homesickness'.  Now that he is re-signed, I expect bigger things from Jesse.  He came to the club with Carey like comparisons, which I think are warranted, but he clearly needs to take his game to the next level to achieve that.

4 hours ago, old dee said:

Early this year he had played less than third of the games since he joined the MFC. So I would not say he has given the club good service. He has given his best and tried hard. But good service not the way I look at it.

Similar could be said of Jayden Hunt, but would we say the same about him?

As I said, his best years for us were his first couple.  During those years Dawes always worked his butt off for the side tackling, running, provided a target and helped us be a half competitive team, when we would otherwise have copped more of an absolute flogging than we regularly did at that time.

It's generally not the players fault when they get injured and so many people on this forum are harsh to judge on most recent performances, forgetting all that came before that.

6 hours ago, Luther said:

Today just keeps getting better, after Hogan and Lobb...

Sorry, I'm not sure how Lobby staying with GWS can be regarded as a good thing, or am I missing something?

1 hour ago, Petraccattack said:

One of the worst pickups and contracts in recent memory.  Hopefully he is de-listed.

I recall him playing one good game for the MFC, vs the Crows in 2014.    The rare times he got on the park he did nothing.

Disagree.

For the first two years, he had a decent presence and made a big difference to the team's performance when he played.  If anything, I think the clubs lack of mature forward options in his early years with the club may have negatively impacted his career by having him play injured, always rushing him back and not allowing him to properly get over injuries.

My view is that he's given good service to the club in the time that he's been here and it would be sad to see him go on the present terms.  I think the real assessments needs to be made by our medical/fitness staff, because if his body just isn't up to it anymore, then I think based his performance this year (which I'm has been limited by physical fitness) then, the club certainly can't afford to keep him on the list.

5 hours ago, jnrmac said:

$cully was a pretty good return for us...........

Now that $cully's return is signed on for another 3 years, yes.

4 hours ago, monoccular said:

Hallelujah 

Thank God, or Goodeee?

Right now the next important move is to get him a personal kicking coach / mentor and get rid of that stttutttterrring run up.

 

 

5 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Excellent news to wake up to

Thanks Jesse

Take a holiday then practise your kicking so you become deadly in front of goal...

If the Bulldog's had their handball club, we should start a goal kicking club.

Can be lead by Jack Watts, with Christian Salem as VC.  If all of our players could kick for goal like those two boys, then our conversion will smell like pure roses.

6 minutes ago, sisso said:

Wonderful news, I really couldn't see a way we could have "won" if he'd left...Goody has the best Melbourne list to work with in a long time that's for sure!

Yes, even if we got an early first round pick, what's the value in that if you can not retain them once they actually become dominant players, rather than just players with high potential.  Incubating players for other clubs like we did with Scott Thompson and $cully is a no returns game.

I just hope we can lock in the gun group of young mids we have coming through like Pratracca, Brayshaw, Oliver, Hunt and Co when it comes time.

In the Fairfax papers trade article today:

"Convincing Jesse Hogan to open negotiations on extending his contract beyond the end of next year is the biggest priority.

Michael Gleeson"

I couldn't agree more.  Great move by Jesse and the club unless there was a Dangerfield type player up for grabs in the trade period, retaining Jesse is so much better than anything elese on offer. 

Great article on the Jones brothers on the Fox Footy page:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/zak-jones-has-older-brother-and-melbourne-captain-nathan-to-thank-for-pointing-him-in-right-direction/news-story/ff93a77a947b317bca2ea876d6c04f55

Captain Courageous, Nathan you are a class act and hopefully your day will come soon too.

1 hour ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

A candid commentary on proceedings:  http://www.foxsports.com.au/news/afl-outsider-brett-geeves-on-brownlow-2016-red-carpet-and-dangerfields-victory/news-story/0316816b9091aa53377a0a5aef9fabef  I think we would all agree with this: 

"..And then there’s the Brownlow Medal. — the award for the best and fairest midfielder of the season...The biggest test in this theory was Round 20 when Melbourne beat Hawthorn and Max Gawn got the two votes with Jack Viney collecting the three.

I haven’t seen a more dominant ruck game than the masterclass Gawn put on that day...He was the reason Melbourne won that game and it’s disappointing that he was not rewarded with BOG honours. It only furthers the perception that this is an exclusive midfielders award'.

Seriously, I wonder if the backchat Max gave the umpire (forgotten which game) when he belted the ball away after a bad centre bounce and the umpire challenged him with 'what did you do that for' and Max said 'because its my job', cost him votes thereafter.  Wouldn't put it past them!

Oh, there is a delightful video in that article of kids interviewing some places...Lily interviewing Max is priceless! 

You would hope that it wouldn't, because I thought that incident was well with 'the spirit if the game' ... But then, as you point out, they are umpires.

3 hours ago, Rafiki said:

They need to shorten it by half an hour bare minimum, the amount of ads is ridiculous. Instead of doing a highlights of every round they should just do it for 2 rounds at a time and I think it would almost be watchable then.

I fell asleep from about rounds 8 to 19, it was that interesting.  Missed Jimmy's award which was a little disappointing.

1 minute ago, Bay Riffin said:

disgraceful along with the incredible amounts of ads and cross promotion. Gill was racing through them like he was on speed. ridiculous pace.

Did they have him drug tested?

2 hours ago, Ted Fidge said:

Is it Gil reading out the votes?
 

CarltonJBloggsonevoteFremantleFNurk2votesAdelaideBSmith1voteGeelong ......... P Dangerfield ...... 3votes

 

It's like he knows something.

I found Gill's vote reading was atrocious and hugely disrespectful.  The way he raced through some games like they were meaningless was a massive insult to those teams and players awarded votes in those games.

Sorry if I'm repeating others here, but does it make me a sadist if I really want to see a photo of Tom $cully crying?

18 hours ago, Satyriconhome said:

Agree, bur Spencer is unfairly maligned on here, never let the team down when given the opportunity

But if we are going down that path, not sure a VFL ruckman is the  'instant' answer, and there is not much out there, in my opinion

Some have mentioned Minson, he is playing VFL for a reason, we will see how he goes against Pencil and McInerny this weekend

Spencer certainly doesn't let the team down with his effort or agression, however his foot skills and footy smarts do from what I recall watching him at AFL level.  That said, bar the Geelong game (in which he actually looked OK), pretty much every other game he's played in I recall at AFL level, the whole team played like crap and that's always a hard environment to perform in.

I defiantly think he's worth holding on to and thought that the club should have played him a few times this year to help him develop, but also give big Max a bit of a chop out.  I'm a bit concerned that Max is going to get burnt out doing it all on his own, particularly against two genuine ruck types most weeks.  I also don't think it's good to use Jack Watts to relieve in the ruck on a regular basis, although it is useful that he has now developed a bit of a capability there now and perhaps it might help his physicality and combativeness in that regard to jump in there every now and then.

One about Max, not by him:

"He's all of seven foot tall and about ten kilos of beard"

Some special comments from Alastair Lynch during game comentary.

Long live the beard.  Perhaps a few more of our players should do some beard work in the gym and put some weight on there like Maxy.

As an asides (which I think could describe this whole thread anyway), has been great listening to all the commentators talking down Hawthorn's mid field depth over the past few days, with the highlight being when Jonathan Brown stated that the cracks in their invincibility started to show when they were convincingly beaten by a young Melbourne midfield in Rd 20.  

I do find it amusing how fickle commentators can be when at the start of the season they were all talking up the Hawks great depth, development and how they had this next wave of young stars coming through, but now they see worrying signs on the Hawks talent.

We are yet to see how far and how fast the Dorks fall, but for the moment, I'm enjoying the fact that they have fallen off their high, aragent perch and the likely prospect that they will fall further.

51 minutes ago, Jumping Jack Clennett said:

 I was very impressed with"SOS"s form yesterday.

I'd be very surprised if he's not upgraded next year.

He looks to me as if he could be a very useful contributor to our backline next season.

Could he play midfield?

His attack on the ball, his decision making, and his disposal  all impressed me.

I was a great admirer of his dad Shaun's guts, standing his ground in "the hole" to be crashed by the likes of Lockett.

Shaun Smith, like another brave Demon hero of mine, Steven Icke, was a fantastic transfer from North.

I'm so glad we have Joel as a Demon.

 

As an aside, the current Hawthorn coach is another that could be added to that list.  Was not an out and out superstar, but a very serviceable player for us none the less.

In his press conference, Clarckson said that everyone at Hawthorn would be happy if they finished 18th if Jarryd Roughead got his health back (well that's all I recall of his presser before I fell asleep - literally).

I think everyone in the football world would be happy for both of these events to come true.

4 hours ago, sue said:

Not a word of criticism from the TV commentators of what a poor effort the Hawk's leaders did in the second half.  Cyril (who I like, but hate the way they fawn over him) had only about 3 possessions (that I recall) and 2 of them were turnovers, but the commentators made it sound like it had nothing to do with him.

Yet had they won, it would have been this old guard of Leiwis, Hodge, Burgoyne, Mitchell, Gibson that the commentators would have lauded as ageless superstars.

I actually think that the writing wason the wall for these guys back in rd 11 when we played them.  We had the better of them in general play and if it wasn't for Gunstan kicking 3.1 and a few other toss of the coin opportunities, we would have won that game.  In our second match-up, their old guard practically disappeared and only Cyril kept them in that game (similar to last night).  All of a sudden, this great depth and wave of young talent that Hawthorn had doesn't looks so good either as it's far easier for average players to look good in great sides.

Whilst our respective seasons both died somewhat inglorious ends, the underlying reasons were different and the two teams are heading in different directions.

38 minutes ago, ickey_11 said:

Actually the commentator said that he should have said that, Max actually said "I was hitting it back to you".

Regardless of what he said verbally, his awesome fist away and body language certainly said " bounce it properly then ".  

Was a great bit of theatre in the midst of an enjoyable win against the filth.  Added some nice icing to the cake along with Max's other non verbal statements that day.

Just love Big Maxy's persona and thought that he needs his own topic to make sure we never miss a giggle from the gems of humor that seen to pop out every second sentence.  

So here is one to start things off, as reported on the Fox Footy web news page:

Via Hawks duo Isaac Smith and Josh Gibson during the night, Frawley apparently said Gawn’s head would’ve “gotten quite big quickly” if he had taken out the Leigh Matthews Trophy.

Big Max’s rebuttal, however, had Frawley covered.

“Old Chip Frawley, hey? Well Hawthorn has to play a 17-man defence because Chip doesn’t defend too much anymore,” Gawn said.

I'm not sure it's right up there with his absolute best work, bid did like that it gave Frawley a well earnt sledging.  

So what else has the new mouth from Melbourne put out there?

With all the talk of us being such a young side this season, the addition of Melksham and Hibberd would increase the average age/games overnight.  Not sure how significant that is though if they can't play at the required level, as adding Dunn, Garland and or H would have a similar statistical effect.

When adding just two players has such a significant statistical effect, I do wonder if this stat/claim was over played a bit by the club this year?