Rodney (Balls) Grinter

I'm sure it would. I think that 1:30 of brilliance with the bang bang bang was evidence of that. Part of it is clean skills, but I actually think most AFL players have that, it's more about confidence, being able to execute under pressure, having a willingness to take the game on, but probably also about being able to create mismatches, holes in the opposition's defence, when to go and when to hold back and defend. Back end of 2021 we had that worked out well. It probably also requires brilliant athletes and Cosuins and Co were certainly that, but we also have plenty on our list. I guess it's also a pretty exhausting game style to play and perhaps we need to work out how to have more rotation of players into and out of the side on a week to week basis, while still maintaining stability of system. In 2021 and first half of 2022 we certainly worked out how to create good system within the playing group through good system and stability, but like the Hawthorn 3 peat sides, perhaps the next step in our evolution is to get truely proficient with cycling different players through the side over the season.

You might be onto something here Demonstone. Despite all the chemical imbalance Cousins certainly knew a thing or two about how to move the ball and take on the game. Perhaps if there's something we could learn from him is to be a bit more aggressive with the ball against lower teams and put them away early rather than let them hang on so long like we seem to do. I actually think that's the next evolution in our step to becoming a great team. We should have notched up big wins in those games against West Coast, North and several others last year, instead they turned into close run slogs for big parts of the game, which I don't think really helps the workload from week to week.

Merry Christmas and a happy New Year to all on DL. We got more flags in 2022 which was awsome and well deserved for Daisy, Paxy, the women's team and the Casey guys. I'm still craving watching a senior one at the MCG with all the faithful.

What can I say - Demonland is prety predictable and easy to troll, but it's still good fun and I couldn't resist. Merry Christmas all 😊.

Just swap out February from the Collingwood one for MFC March, problem solved.

West Coast Eagles great Ben Cousins lands WAFL coaching role at Perth Demons West Coast Eagles great Ben Cousins lands WAFL coaching role at Perth Demons Can't see past the pay wall. ...sorry couldn't help myself. All the best to Ben and really do hope he's turned the corner. Drug addiction is a [censored] of a thing.

The other that's gained him probably another 10 - 15 goals the past few years is that he's got his set short routine perfected and so rarely misses shots, particularly the regulation ones. Overall, he's really just in such a great head space for a forward that you want the ball in his hands around goal, because you know that good things will come of it.

I was more meaning the sprint with premership cup duties, but Riv probably has the right attitude and flare for that too, so your right, maybe he's Pig Mk II all round!

I don't dislike him that much, but I still think he's a cheat. To knowingly keep breaking the rules based on knowing what you can get away with is the very definition of cheating if you ask me.

For the most part, I think Tomahawk is an amazing player and he deserves to be reconsised as such, but he's also a dirty cheat. Happens too often and the fact the AFL makes allowances for him that they don't for other players is a disgrace. His clumsy wirly bird arms everywhere effort that broke Steve May's face wouldn't have been allowed for any other player. FFS, tiny Chandler fell forward into a guys back accidently and got rubbed out for matches. Blatently pushing guys in the back etc and winning games off the back of it is cheating. That the AFL are weak as and consistently let him get away with it isn't the point. Stop making excuses for him.

Schwartz was an absolute star. If only we'd been able to have a complete side around him and he'd stayed fit he could have been the goat for the MFC.

Ever wounder where Joel Selwood got his inspiration?

And in retrospect, I also feel similar about the trade we did with Freo with Jesse Hogan effecticely for premiership full back Steve May (and possibly another first rounder we turned into Dogga or Kossie?).

I've been a MFC supporter and MFC member for the best part of 30 years now. Haven't had a huge amount to do with the MCC over that time, although a few of my best mates are MCC member MFC supporters. Went to the Carlton game with one of them and another MCC member mate, who was a Carlton supporter (yeah, I know, not sure if he should really make the freinds list! 😜). I did feel a fairly stark contrast in class atmosphere between the outer and the MCC. Perhaps if there is something having a MFC supporting MCC president could do it's to somehow break down that barrier between the two groups socially somewhat. Someone suggested a limited invite for MFC members to watch from the MCC reserve on occation, which I think is a great idea and/or even a joint social function at one of the MCC social rooms. In the absence of a dedicated training and social facility in the central Melbourne area, surely there are some underutilized facilities at the MCG the MCC could extend in-kind to the MFC faithful.

Top priority this one. Also, who is the one that we are training up as an understudy to Hibbo for this role as part of future succession plan?

Really difficult to know how to manage the team throughout last summer. Preseason comming off the back of a premership isn't an issue that the MFC has needed to manage for a fair while. That said, we had the 2018/19 experience to learn from. But when you look at the Burgo mantra of train hard/at match day intensity and supreme fitness throughout the season, I struggle to see how we could have done things much differently. The main call I hear is perhaps JVR could have been played at the end of the season and/or Petty forward. While it just might have got us closer to snagging another flag in 2022, I'm glad that we didn't rush JVR and hopefully there is a stack of flags there for the taking that he'll be a huge part of over the next 3-5+ years. If we can blood him alongside a fit TMac, that would be so much better than throwing him in the deep end and letting him take all the heat early on. I guess the only other obvious disappointment in retrospect is that Bedford and/or Chandler didn't get more of a run. Guess we could have rested ANB and/or Spargo on occation, but both remain pretty key players as observed by Spargo's pretty much league high for hitting targets inside 50. Dunstan got a few games, but didn't exactly set the world on fire when he did. Disco did get that debut against the Pies and I think it was only crule fate that stopped him getting more games. One other potential resting of players i can think of that we might have missed in retrospect was Bowey for Salem, but maybe we though Salem was on tge cusp of comming good and wanted to give him the continuity to get his form right. But over all, my take is that 2021, we managed it almost perfectly and had almost everything fall our way in terms of lack of injuries to key players and easy run home at the end of the home and away season. 2022 was the opposite, but we weren't that far off. I think it does go to show how hard premierships are to win in the AFL era and particularly back to back ones.

Gus has never been the lean ripped looking athlete, but asides from injury getting in the way, I think he generally knows what it takes fitness wise to play at the level and doesn't shirk the track work to get there - he's basically mr work ethic when it comes to this stuff. I'm unconcerned.

You could be right and only time will tell. Freo and Dogga could be taking a bit of a risk with his development though. He was developing reasonably well as a mobile ruck, but now they are throwing him in the deep end and asking him to do something quite different. Could argue that Jack Watts was also a unique tallent in some ways, but his early exposure to being asked to carry a key forward role with a lack of support set him back. I know Dogga is not Jack, Freo 2023 are not MFC 2008 ish and Longmiur is not Neeld by a long stretch. I don't really wish ill of Dogga (And Freo to an extent) but for our drafting purposes in 2023, I hope that he and Freo struggle to make his transition to their side work in the short term. I don't hate Freo, but they have now twice in recient history (three times if you include Farmer although he's somewhat canceled by Jeff White) acted to destabilise the season of the MFC, so I really do hope they suffer somewhat next season. Us thrashing them, the Eagles beating them and a bottom 5 finish would square up the ledger as far as I'm concerned.

If his efforts in the dying stages of the Brisbane Lions final are anything to go by, (being show how to attack the marking contest by Harry Petty) he won't like that much at all. I hardly think he's a contested marking beast. Ok on a lead and if he gets a jump at it, but I think he'll find those things much tougher as one of the main targets and he's getting double/tripple teamed and his leading corridors cut off by oppo defenses. Key forward would be a whole new learning curve for Dogga. Who knows maybe he's up to it, will really turn it on, but equally it could frustrate him, crush his confidence and development.

Same for 'Gather' Round. Really wished they'd run with a round where there was 7, 8 or 9 games on a Saturday afternoon at 2pm instead as a traditional Saturday afternoon footy Rd. Be more exciting I think, but then the TV would loose out 🙄.

I'm glad that at least we've got the Hawthorn double-up. Rd 9 when the wheels should be starting to fall off and Rd 23, when they should be in full on tank mode and we're kicking into beast mode. The MFC owes Hawthorn so much for the past 30 or so years that I'd love to see us give them an absolute thrashing both times, but knowing how Goodwin works, we'll probably just cruise and bank the 4 points with comfortable 30 point wins that leave Hawthorn supporters thinking "they're not that good, we could have won that game" ...kinda what they did to us for alot of the last 10 years when they didn't put us away properly by half time.

Clayton haircut top photo is awsome. Don't get me wrong, I don't think it's a good hair cut, in fact I'd say it's actually a very rude hair cut, but that's precisely the point. That kind of hair cut would stand out like the proverbial dogs balls on the footy feild and anoy the hell out of opposition supporters the 40 or so times a game Clarry racks up a possession. He's actually quite angsty, niggly and in your face with the constant smiling demeanor on the footy feild and that just adds to the infuriation of opposition supporters. All in all that also makes me smile.

By the sounds of it, it could have been a borderline statement with regards to it's racist and/or offensive nature or at least intent to be so. I do think it matters who and how it's said though. You can say something self deprecating and it's completely different to it being said by someone else be it either with malice or in jest, which could border on humiliation. Even when said kindly in jest as a form of endearment when it is known the individual will consider it as a playful 'in-joke', I think that only works in a really intermate relationship between the parties and that understanding is well established and respected. I think the context is that in a public forum it's going to be interpreted so many different ways, so it's probably best not to go there at all. Perhaps give the individual that said it some benifit of the doubt, given the amberguity and without persecuting them for the comment apologise for it on behalf of the station and move on. i.e. "we're not sure it was John's intent, but we realise that those remarks could be regarded as offensive and we appoloigise to anyone who was offended by those remarks". I think to be totally silent on these matters is a form of endorsement of casual racism, but I can also understand that perhaps it might take Gary, Tim and their producers some time to process and reflect on that rather than having an immediate awareness on how to respond to the issue and perhaps given time they will.

Conversely, look at Hawthorn, Adelaide, Essendon, North (and North's ave has probably been inflated by the Ex Hawthorn players that would otherwise be retired). Was a time I remember Melbourne stiiting where those teams are now in terms of both average age and ladder position. Thought at the time how all those early draft picks would translate into excellence one day - alot of them didn't and it was a long, long climb back to where we are now. I only hope that it's the same story for those four teams.

AFL can take their Brownlow and stick it. What a waste of prime TV space is all it's come to. I honestly give zero Fs about that suposed award these days. When Oliver and Gawn (and others I'm sure) can have such dominant seasons and still fall way short on that award, it's time to religate it the eyes of the football public. As if kicking more goals should make him more eligible. Gees, the guy has bright red hair, so he's ticked that Brownlow criteria 🙄. Need to rename the Brownlow for what it is 'umpires favourite player', it's hardly a league best and fairest.