Rodney (Balls) Grinter

1 hour ago, In Harmes Way said:

I don’t rate the doggies at all. Maybe it’s because I’ve watched the 21 granny about 3000 times, but I can’t remember Maysie being the difference in that game and I wouldn’t be surprised if we kick 100 points to 7 again.

Couldn't agree more Harmesy, but at the same time, I think the Buldogs are one of the few teams that I see genuinely challenging us this year.

Been watching that 2021 GF on repeat again a bit myself of late, along with the 2021 prelim.  Can't wait for the contemporary 2023 versions - BRING IT ON I say!!

GO THE MIGHTY DEMONS!!

6 hours ago, Demon Disciple said:

Physical card with a barcode will get you in

How/where can you get one.  I don't recall this being sent out by the club.  Along with many others, I hate the electronic ticketing with a passion.

28 minutes ago, Brownie said:

Didn't this happen at the Ed Sheerhouse concert the other week as well?

People couldn't access their tix on their phones and had to line up at the box office to get a hard copy ticket printed to get in.

I believe some were lucky enough to not get in until half way through the concert 😃

For this reason I screen shot the barcodes, so you don't have to compete for the network at the same time as thousands of others do download them at the gate.  Phone often gives a message as you take the screen shot that you cannot use that to enter the gate, but it's always worked for me.

Was such a pain at the start of last season when you had to go through not only mobile ticketing, but the service Victoria app and get you bags searched entering the ground.  Try managing that taking two young kids to the footy and then the crappy late night finishes of all the night games we played.  Talk about un family freindly.

On 3/12/2023 at 12:43 PM, Lucifers Hero said:

If you are an mfc GA member you can upgrade to a reserved seat for a small fee.  This is really only necessary when it is a big game or the GA seating is not to your liking.

Even Anzac EVe doesn't sell out so GA entry is likely to be in the top tier which suits some people.

More greed on behalf of the AFL.  I honestly hate sitting on level 4.  At last year's Anzac Eve game there was no GA on level one and it was either Richmond members or reserve seating and a lot of it was empty.

The MCG has soo much capasity, yet so much was already reserved for AFL members, MCC members, to not give away club members and or some general public access to decient ground level seating is pretty rank.

Further, at most MFC home games there was usually some GA and or away member seating available on the ground level.  That we are not afforded the same by other clubs is an awful practice.  This sort of might is right of the power clubs and being for the average punter is what the AFL and Gil were supposedly all about.  What a bloody hoax.

On 3/7/2023 at 7:59 PM, Demonland said:

 

Never noticed before - he's got a strange set shot kicking action.  Really stools down a bit before the ball drop.  Not a criticism as he seems to slot it through the middle well enough, so whatever works for him.  Just looks a bit weird.

12 hours ago, Slartibartfast said:

Why does he think the Pies have the wood on us? What was their game plan against us?

We smashed them 2020 at the Gabba.

Honestly, I'd just put alot of it down to [censored] luck on our behalf that they've beat us in recient years:

2021, was just about our first loss of the season and we'd copped them the week Buckley was sacked;

2022 we got them at just about or lowest injury point on Queens  birthday and when our form started to dip through injuries and fatigue late season and we still nearly beat them.

Before that we were mostly just [censored], but I do remember a year we beat them convincingly Queens birthday during our horror years, when Gawn kicked a bag.

Will there be a freindly competition between him and Max for most goals kicked and/or most hit outs to advantage?

I recall reading in Leigh Mathews book that his view is that while good coaching and good player management gets you into the position to play finals and GFs, so much of winning premierships still comes down to luck and having a fit squad come the GF.  Even then, calls need to be made on key players carrying injuries of some description.  I can't recall which Lions GF or the outcome, but I remeber something about a huge fitness test for Jonathan Brown one time that if it were any other game he would have been rested, so this hardly a new issue or one that's unque to the MFC.  Similarly in retrospect, Steve May probably shouldn't have played in the GF in 2021, based on him having a huge tear in his hammy that could be seen on the scans.  But he got through ok and we won, so that doesn't get negatively scrutinized.  It would have been a difficult decision to leave out Maysy due to his pivotal leadership role and huge presence in our defense.  I also think he's a guy who really earnt his piece of premiership glory, so I'm really glad he played from that perspective as well.

I think Roos and Goody both preach the right mantra that it's all about having a list and playing/coaching mindset of having a team that can genuinely compete in finals over a period and that will hopefully translate into multiple premerships in that time.  I think it's well recognised that we have one of the best lists and well coached team defense systems in the league, but the competition is so close that you only need to be half a pace off at the wrong time to miss out on the ultimate prize.

Here's to hoping all the planets align for us in 2023 because I'm still craving being there in person at the G when Gawny and Goody raise's the cup again!

14 hours ago, bing181 said:

Please. By his own admission, JVR couldn't get through a VFL match, yet alone an AFL one. (Not a knock on him either, young player, blah blah blah).

I'm glad we didn't throw JVR in the deep end during finals last year.  In the preseason games I've seen him to date, he's not made much of an impact at senior level, while being quite dominant at the level below.  That indicates to me his time will come soon, but he should be given an opertuity to find his feet at AFL level before we rely on him to make a substantial contribution.

IMHO, we had better options in that game against Brisbane that were not triggered into action.  Petty forward earlier might have given us a few goals from our entries and kept us in the game.

For want of a better live thread, does anyone know what's caused the absence of Fritta from preseason games to date? 

Has he had a delayed preseason to let him fully recover from the knee injury mentioned at the start of this thread or is it something else which has occurred since?

On 2/26/2023 at 1:00 PM, Jumping Jack Clennett said:

Also ,didn't we have another wine company sponsor recently.? I presume this supersedes them.

I thought it was Tyrrell's Wines, but apparently in 2021 and 2022 it was Bleasdale.  We might as well just go through them all I recon.

Second the punter who suggested we need an official cheese sponsor as well.

11 hours ago, old55 said:

20% across the full Penfolds range would be nice.

FWIW Bleasdale make some very good value wine.

It was Bleasdale that made the 2021 MFC premiership special edition.  Got a bottle for Christmas a couple of years back and never tasted a better wine.

https://www.bleasdale.com.au/wine/2021-melbourne-football-club-premiership-wine

Can't wait for the 2023 Pentfolds version!

P.S. I nearly spelt edition as addition 😉😂 @Demonstone

On 2/28/2023 at 3:24 PM, kev martin said:

It is not about offence for me, more about disapproval. I am not offended. 

Sexualization is fun, exciting, titillating, my problem is that, I'd prefer it's expression to be behind closed doors.

Who wants to see me or you, fondling or being fondled, not me? I guess I'm a bit of a sexual puritan.

Perhaps the times have changed, and public sexual expression is tolerated, and even enjoyed.

I know it is on the very low side of a sexual image, but it is still a sexualised, with fun and freedom.

Kissing or appropriate touching in public is usually an expression of care, love and sharing (I approve). Cupping someone in public, is an act of imposition, even with consent (I disapprove).

I tend to agree, but as far as things go, this is probably on the pretty low end of the scale of things posted on social media these days.  If it were most other people it would be - meh, yeah ok, so what.  But it's not necessarily the most tasteful message to share with the world either.

I guess it's something of a sign of the times in a good way that the AFLW players now actually have a public profile this would be noticed by someone and actually become 'newsworthy'. 

Perhaps the AFLW players need to be a bit more self aware about what they post to social media these days?   Perhaps the media need to get a life and stop picking small personal moments and blowing them up like the Sky is falling down too.

54 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Disagree.

He was best 22 everyday of the week from about 2018-2020.

The premiership is coming up 2 years ago.

We need to stop this whole narrative of always going back to that moment in justifying a players position in our current team. History will tell you that.

There are players that are putting pressure on spots and right now I don't know if Harmes is exactly best 22. The likes of Laurie, Howes, Woewodin, AMW, Chandler will be putting huge pressure on Harmes to perform.

I saw more exciting things from the likes of Chandler, Woewodin and AMW then I did from Harmes yesterday. 

I'm not disagreeing with much of this either Daz only to say that the two players you mentioned played at the level below.  I thought Laurrie was decient.

I'm not sure that Harmes was best 22 from 2018 - 2020 on this forum.  Always seems to attract comments questioning if he's good enough.  But he still seems to play majority of games most seasons.

I think we've agreed to disagree on this topic, but personally I think write James Harmes off at your peril.

Anyone got good ideas on parking near Gooches?

Train services on the Belgrave/Lillidale line are going to be rubbish for the first part of the season due to track closure and replacement buses for the Mont Albert / Surrey Hills level crossing removal works.

For me the surprise was that JJ didn't stand out in the second game anywhere near as much as I thought he would.  Maybe cause for concern or maybe he just had a bad day?

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Not entirely sure where James Harmes is at. Thought he was poor and gave away a few free kicks. He looks like a guy that knows he's slowly sliding down the pecking order to the point where's he over thinking things when he's out there. Do wonder if taking that Essendon would have been more beneficial for his career.

Not entirely sure I agree with this.  I didn't overly notice Harmes, but did see him do a few good things.

In terms of sliding down the pecking order, from the moment he stepped into the club as a final round rookie draftee, I think he's been fighting to justify his place in the side just about every season since.  He's a tenacious beast and good honest footballer in my book, but does also have some assets being his hardness, kicking is generally better than some make out and I think he has a reasonable ability to break out of a pack situation with his strength power and speed in those situations and break lines a bit.

His best asset is his ability to be at the right place, right time and execute some fantastic well weighted passes into 50 in critical match situations.  Turned the premiership in our favor with his brilliant pass to Fritta in the 3rd quarter and back in 2018, he hit up a perfect pass to Dean Kent that put the sealer on us beating West Coast and got us a finals birth for the first time in 14 years.

Selectors would be excluding him form the side at their peril IMHO.

4 hours ago, Lord Travis said:

What sort of role is McVee playing down back? Can he be a small lockdown type to quell the Charlie Cameron, Stengle, Papley types? Could he replace Hibberd long term?  Hoping he’s not just another rebounder as we’re well stocked for hbfs, but have a clear list gap for small lockdown defenders since Jetta retired and Hibberd is on his last legs.

Hibberd on his last legs?  Yeah nah.

Was a gun in the second half of last season when we bought him into the seniors.  Thought he was by far our best defender and close to best on ground in the second hit-out.  A class above.

In my mind, if he's fit, he plays ones.  Brings so much hardness, toughness, never sat die and just a ripping player and defender.  If we're cruising I think it would be something of a luxury to have him play seconds to mentor the next crop of defenders, but back end of last season, he was definitely a required commodity in the senior side.

I did like the look of McVee though.

Thought Rivers and Bowey were also good, so there is going to be tough competition for spots.

Disco was good in the second game and that was a great screamer he pulled down.

Was watching the game today and thought that  Will Verrall has a bit of the Jack Fitzpatrick look about him.  Hope he has a better AFL career than Jack i.e. less the concussion.

...please don't teach him tunnel ball at training.

46 minutes ago, pitmaster said:

I fully empathise with you on this. I almost invariably disregard my MFC membership and sit in the MCC, on the wing, middle level, but I remember in pre-redevelopment times the atmosphere in that northern wing area comparable to where I sit now was sensational. 

I somewhat miss the 90s MFC/MCG experience. 

Red Seats MFC members for the game and Demons Club in the room under the Northern Stand afterwards. 

There was a number of MCC members that use to come across the divide and attend the Demons Club functions rather than the Red Legs, because they preferred 'the vibe' of the Demons Club.  If only we'd won a premership in that era.

4 hours ago, ManDee said:

According to Google maps, Adelaide to Murray Bridge is 56 minutes (74km)

So the reality is Melbourne is further away from the Murray 2hr 47 min (224km)

I'm pretty sure you mean Echuca.

You know what I mean.   Echuca is on the Murray (somewhat to Echcua's detriment with all the recient flooding).

Although as you point out, technically the Murray may be closer to Adelaide, but the time it get's there, it's a bit like the city of Adelaide it's self - a backwater [censored] hole.

Honestly, asides from the Collingwood arrogance about this issue, I'm not really that bothered as it hardly impacts me and I suspect it doesn't really impact our members.

The bigger issue for me is how the MFC has decided to manage it's allocation of seating during our home games.  I resent that the club took away the premium seating area on the wing/half forward ground level of the Northern Stand which use to be the MFC members ' Red Seats ' area open to all MFC members and made it into an exclusive MFC reserve seating area.  I get the finacial imperatives the club operates under, but I actually think this move was somewhat corrosive to the fabric of the club from a supporters perspective.

I reestablished my MFC membership since around 2011 back when we were rubbish, so think I hace contributed reasonablely to the club over recient history.

The way the MFC reserve seat area on the wing is managed is [censored]:

1. For a family it would cost me excessively for everyone to purchase reserve seats in the area;

2.  Even if I could afford it, it's difficult to get enough seats in a block together and almost impossible to also be allocated next to/near my old man's reserved seat in this area;

3.  The other issue with perminantly reserved seats is that when people don't rock up, they go vacant, per the Collingwood home game issue.  Having vacant seats in premium viewing positions is bad business and bad for footy culture in my view and bring a real finacial eliteisim to the game that erodes it.

Please bring back the old MFC members Red Seat area (Even if they are now grey!).  Perhaps Kate can champion that cause for the average MFC punter.

1 hour ago, 58er said:

Sorry 

That's not even a sensible suggestion.

Wines to me other than his Brownlow year does  not impact games enough and Viney is a better footballer than him. 

We would want Rosee or Butters plus a second  round pick to get any where near the value of Kossie. He has a decade or more of footy ahead and a like for like is essential in this case. 

I don't disagree with your points and it wasn't an entirely sensible thought on my behalf either, but do you really think Port would give up quality young players like Rosee or Butters when they are in a rebuilding phase?  Exchanging a mature player of quality is something that would could suit both sides more in the short term, but I'm not sure I'd really want us to become too top heavy age/list profile wise either.

Asides from that my thoughts are that Wines is the type of player that we already have something of an abundance of.  I know Wines has professed his love of Adelaide, but family freinds I have in Echuca also do tell me of a desire to return to the Murray after his career is finished and perhaps with COVID etc, there may be a desire to bring that forward?

On 2/20/2023 at 8:53 PM, Hellaintabadplacetobe said:

Would hate to lose him, but if he helps us get a flag this year he can go with my blessings, we'd have to get a seriously good player in return.

In this respect, would we want and/or could we get Ollie Wines?  At his best I think it would be a reasonable trade for Kosie in the circumstances, but I didn't follow Ollie that closely last season to know how he's tracking.

Reunite Ollie with Jack and Vic - a bit if go home comming back our way?

4 minutes ago, rjay said:

There is some rubbish in here about the match committee and Goody...

Seriously we didn't have the depth last year to make the changes required to get the season on track.

The Casey premiership gave many the delusion of depth.

Get where you are comming from in part.

I'm not so much one for chipping Goody and the selection pannel for their mantra of maintaining stability within the senior side, but it also did feel a bit at times last season that we perhaps could have used our opportunities to rotate more player's through the senior side at times.

I'd agree though, that during our mid season slump in particular our depth was tested and strained by having a number of players out at once, like Gawn, Jackson, May, T Mac and perhaps Viney/Trac?/Oliver miss over a period of a month or so, which I think really hurt in retrospect. 

I'm also glad we didn't throw in JvR into the finals pressure cooker in desperation.

Don't think our Casey Premiership counts for nothing in terms of depth though.

If you read some of the recient comments from Alan Richardson, I think there's a bit of an admission that perhaps the team and coaching pannel went a bit too conservative and defensive in the back half of last year and perhaps weren't will to take risks that could have created better energy in the second half of games etc.  I think the team selection aspect could be part of that conversation.

2 hours ago, Gator said:

He lacks a little pace.  And it's that lack of pace that finds him out in the higher grade.

Not sure that he needs Kossie Picket etc level pace if he can find a way of poping up in the right places and be well balanced and poised around goal, which I think he's shown some ability for.

5 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

And maybe most concerning is that in previous years he’s very much attempted to fend or break through tackles and struggled to do so at AFL level. He likes to take it on and kick rather than use first option hands. When it works he can create goals, but trying too much without the strength or speed to get out of trouble is a receipt for turnovers and angry team mates.

You'd think these are the kind of things that would come through in reviews during the regular season and could be a big focus for him over preseason to adjust in his game.  I think the other part is just about getting enough time at AFL level to become accustomed to the pace, adjust and get comfortable with it.

In all honesty, I'm not sure if Kade will make it with the MFC or not, but I'd love to see him get the chance and make it if he can.  Seems like a ripping bloke who deserves his chance.  It would somewhat frustrate me to see him overlooked all year, but then get picked up by our opposition and go on to become a star player.  Will be interesting to see how Bedford goes in this respect, but I wish him well.