Rodney (Balls) Grinter

I watched us make finals out at the Western Oval in 87, us get done by the wees and poos in 88 and then by the Essendon scum on 2000 at the G. Nothing beats being there at the ground and I still want to be there that one day in September when the MFC bring home the cup for the faithful on the hollowed ground that is the MCG (I'm not a religious person by any means, but I actually think that will be the moment the hevens open up and beam their glory upon us!).

That list does also go to show what an absolute beast Matt Rowell is as well. Dion Prestia has the nickname "The Human Meatball", but I really think it is one that more rightly belongs to Rowell.

Some say Steele is too much sameness of Viney, but honestly I think having them both in the same side is going to be an asset to us. Think their leadership will inspire others around them as well. As much as we want to play a free flowing attacking game when we move it forward, the counterbalance has got to be that we don't loose that hard defensive side when the opposition have the ball as well.

I'm totally the same. Not being there in person watching it at the G still leaves something unforfilled for me.

Absolutely dismantling Geelong the week before was almost as satisfying and unbelievable. Max kicking snaps from the boundary out of the ruck and from outside 50 on the run. That whole 4 weeks was somewhere between belief and divine intervention I think.

Just a few?

Don't need an explanation - just enjoyed it, like no other 40mins of football before in my life.

Agree with most of the remainder of your post and particularly this part. Of the players you didn't mention from Brisbane, I think Dacy Willmot is one of those underrated role players and one I'd have at the MFC most days of the week. He's still only pretty young too, so pleanty of service to give.

Always thought Bont was the front runner for the big V job, a good and worthy selection. I do think it's something of a missed opportunity that Max isn't captain, but all the same, at least he can focus more on MFC matters. I guess it remains yet to be seen if he actually remains MFC captain this season as well. Thankfully they didn't give the job to Jerremy Cameron though - what does this actually say about his AA captain role?

The Demonland auto censor is tuned a little too sensitively in MHO. I can understand it being in use for the most offensive expletives, but it actually limits the ability to express even some fairly benign things at times, which actually pisses me off, but I'm over trying to work around it or edit posts to use a alternate expression. Perhaps that could be the topic for another thread, regarding the relaxation of the auto censor, if the admins are open to it?

As an opposition supporter, yeah they have a bit more objectivity in their view, but also a lot less knowledge. No real acknowledgement of Rivers, Chandler or Sparrow, or the move of Petty back to defence. While some may scoff at Chandler and Sparrow, it's these kind of players that, but opposition supporters don't notice, because they aren't big names, but make a big contribution in games and every team needs to be successful. I'm not really going to bring Culley into things, because until he produces consistently at AFL level, there is still an element of speculation there, but potential upside all the same. Further they (like most of the rest of the AFL world) fail to acknowledge what an absolute jet the Bison is. I actually think Petty showed a bit of his old confidence taking some good, clean one grab marks in patches towards the end of last season and a move back to defence could really reinvigorate him into the great player he was becoming down there. Yeah we have some veterans in defence, but they are some pretty bloody solid ones in May, T Mac and to an extent Lever, combined with the realitive youth of Petty, Disco and a developing Adams, I think we've actually got great key defensive depth, with some more than solid smalls around them in Bowey, Salem (who was solid last season and who's preseason form has been reported to be good). We also have XT down there, who could become a potent force if his development trajectory continues in the right direction as well. Howes and CJ could be frindge, but may also be reliable and weapons respectively. Per my previous post, I think this reset along with the core we still have has far more upside than downside. With an untried coach, there is always some risk if a Neeld type of collapse, but I don’t think that's the probable outcome of 'disaster written all over it' for a number of reasons. About the only thing they've acknowledged is that Trac will be a big midfield hole to fill in a sense, but if we can replace most of his output through that of others with better disposal efficiency, then we break even or better. Of course everyone will point to Trac racking up the numbers for Gold Coast during the season, in a midfield that also boasts Rowell, Anderson, Miller and Humphrey and say what a loss he is to us, but that won't tell the full story.

For what it's worth, I'm happy if opposition fans write us off, even if their coaching staff and players might not. All the sweeter for any victories we do pull off against them. Speaking of which, we're well due against Essendon. Haven't been happy that they have been realitivly as mid as us, but have beaten us the past few seasons. Essendon, along with Hawthorn are one of those teams I always enjoy winning.

Sorry, I think that's BS. Reset yes, but I struggle to see that it will not be a good one. We haven't gone half measures. Picked a respected, mature assistant with years of development in the system, who did a pretty fair job previously in a caretaker role at GC, over a big name experienced coach, but who didn't have his heart in it. Done a proper clean out of a few underperforming stars who didn't want to be there. There's still a core of a mature players, with a mix of upcoming talent comming through. Even if we don't perform above or at expectations, so long as we get development into young players and the team buys into the new coach and his game plan, then almost any finish above the bottom 3 wouldn't be a disaster (I personally think we'll finish much higher than that and above the Bombers for what it's worth). If we'd gone out and chased a has-been coach like Malthouse or Pagan at Carton after making a knee [censored] reaction to replace a developing coach who was starting to produce results and thrown a bunch of money at a few overrated players, I think the season could have disaster written all over it, but that's far from the approach we have taken.

Jack Watts was another that did that occasional ruck chop-out for us, going back a number of years and from recollection did a reasonable job at it when required also. If I'm rembering correctly, one of the rule/umpiring changes bought in following the ened of last season was not to wait as long for designated rucks to get to the position for any given stoppage ruck contest around the ground, so even being the relative athletic beast that he is, this may limit Max's ability to get to as many contests, making having other options that can take the contest around the ground even more of a requirement. Further, if one teams main ruck can't make it to a contest, there's also a good chance his direct opposite ruck won't make it there either, meaning it may be two secondary rucks going up against each other as well, potentiall making the life if the likes of Jai in such situations that little bit easier as well.

No denying his brilliance and outstanding contribution over the last few seasons, but I do wonder if we take a more nuanced approach with Melksham this season to both manage him through the season and give oppertunites to others. Maybe saving him for bigger games where we need that extra edge and experience, while giving the developing players more games against the lesser sides. I know they say the competition is closer than ever, but there's a big difference between a West Coast, North, Richmond and whatever other teams might slide next season, compared to the top end teams. I really think this season we need to be both blooding players for the future, while remaining competitive and winning every game we can.

Going to sit on the fence a little bit here and say that both things can be true and it's all relative to the players level to start with. An establishing player can have a breakout year that establishes them in the team and an established player can have one where they go to an elite level. In my view, it's all about a player taking their game to the next level in a big step, rather than one of slow incremental improvement.

To be fair to Demonland, I think alot of the cues that folks on here have been following are the press releases from the club and interviews with players, coaches etc that have been pumping up Jai's tires. I don't have any huge issues with this from two perspectives: It could be good to give Jai this confidence and/or reinforce to him and others I the playing group that dedicated training ethos and performance is noticed and will be rewarded with opportunities to play that role at senior level. It's amazing how much difference just confidence can have to a player and perhaps the coaching group have recognised that as something Jai needs to take that next step. Given the trade period we had, the club has to sell some hope that we have players with potential to step-up at senior level, fill the roles of some of the senior players we've lost, in order to generate interest, sell hope and sell memberships early in the season. Vitally important for our ongoing sustainability in the current position of the club. Even if Jai does fail to deliver on these early indications of potential to perform at a higher level, I don't think we loose much through being wrong on the above. Probably also takes the heat off others, whom might actually step it up and have breakout years even if Jai doesn't.

I am generally a proponent of MFC players having decent cuts, but there are risks involved. I think if you look back on the years that Ed Langdon and BBB had after they got rid of the long locks, they had relatively mares of seasons, so I wouldn't be recommending it for Jai.

Don't think training and playing hard has destroyed Max Gawn after his ACL injury history. Good luck to the young guy.

Yeah, my old man use to pip me height wise, being an even 6'0" and myself around the 5'11" mark. And he use to be quite happy about the fact. Not so happy an more that his shrinking has let me overtake him. Not sure I'll ever really have such bragging rights over my No.1 son as at 13yo, he's shooting up like a bean pole and I full expect his to overtake me sometime in the next couple of years.

I watched him play for the NT Thunder against Southport in the Northern VFL equivalent when it featured teams like the Brisbane Lions, Suns, Sydney and GWS reserves teams a good 10 years ago. He was lighting it up and was great to see him out there, even though he'd been in a pretty good pasture if you get my drift. Loved Aussie. Wished that he and Liam Jurrah had have played more games for us. Can't recall the age differences, but how amazing would it have been if they could have combined with a young Kozzie at the end of their careers.

Lol. Well I consider it wrong.

See @picket fence , others really rate your favourite player as well.

Finished equal 5th in our goal kicking along with that Petracca bloke, but at 18 goals, 8 behinds was far more efficient than that later who kicked 18 goals 24 behinds. Which somewhat brings us to el capitano's effort of 6 goals 15. If Max can even up that ledger a bit to say 10 goals, 11 behinds, which should be well within the realm of possibilities, given some of the absolute ciders he munted last season in particular, there's a few more goal improvement for the team that went begging and could have got us over the line in a few games. While he's always been a bit of a bunny in front of goals (I think the simple ones are actually his worst), if you look back over the years, 2025 was actually something of a stand out for the lows of Maxy's goal kicking, in which he usually at least breaks even with respect to accuracy (excluding those that might have ended up out on the full!) https://afltables.com/afl/stats/players/M/Max_Gawn.html