Rodney (Balls) Grinter

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?

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

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.