Rodney (Balls) Grinter

I think we could have reasonably foretold that injury hampered last few years of the contracts of BBB and T Mac were reasonablely likely, given their recent history of injuries and age prior to them signing the contracts they did with us. Still I think they have both been good value for the club for many of the reasons already discussed. Even just having both of BBB, T Mac and Melksham around to play 6 - 10 games per year over the past couple of seasons has ment we've had some big bodies support for JVR etc, so we can develop them and play them when they're ready, not throw them against men too early.

I do certainly see leadership qualities in Pertracca (similarly for Lever and Brayshaw), but I think right now we are well served letting him focus his energy on being the best player he can be for the team, while he's at the peak of his game.

Such a shame Nev Such a shame Nev couldn't quite maintain his place in the team to make it to the 2021 premiership side.

It's a bloody good effort for a bloke of his size and age to be still in this sort of shape, particularly when he spent a big chunk of last season injured and not being able to train to his capasity. That sort of professionalism, attitude and resilience is the stuff that builds culture. Regardless of his direct impact at senior AFL level I think that guys like T Mac would have a great influence on our developing players comming through - pitty the media scum can't write about that. On a related note, what does it say about the media's culture to be constantly hounding and spreading innuendo about individuals going through personal issues.

...they'll change that rule next season.

Lol - I want one of those too I, but the real one has been somewhat elusive in my lifetime!

I'm getting a nagging feeling we might just explode this season. Possibly in a bad way, but I think we could just as likely explode in a good way and not just be compeditive, but really dominate the competition on the way to that illusive flag at the G. Starting to get a little impatient with the off season too and thinking about counting down the days till Rd 1, oh - wait does that even work?!

Not sure I buy it. From what I can gather, Guss is a pretty good golfer, so surely someone off his kind of handicap can keep it on the fairway. Players have been aware of the need to protect the head in golf for years now, so I think he's got off lightly if he isn't sanctioned.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/teams/melbourne-demons/promised-him-some-tickets-afl-stars-wayward-tee-shot-leaves-fellow-golfer-bloodied/news-story/de1cec9a00c77cb83fab9bc76ddc2aa6 He was attempting to smother - nothing to see here.

It would be great if Laurie makes it after all the past and future investment the club has made in time. While I know those who have seen him perform at VFL level have some raps on him, however I don't think he can be compared to McVee. One of the things that stood out to me about Judd, is that he looked at home at AFL level from day dot and hasn't looked back since. In my view, Laurie has gone MIA in too many of his appearances to date, to be Judd like. Even Wowey Jnr had a quietish first outing, but IMHO, then looked pretty comfortable and quickly got involved and looked the part at AFL level - yet to really see that from Laurie. Maybe Laurie will make that next step this year, after another preseason and the AFL game time exposure he got to last year, but I'll believe it when I see it.

Doesn't like Terry Wallace to me.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.news.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-demons-forward-charlie-spargo-boasts-the-afls-best-mark-rate-from-kicks-inside-50/news-story/301768044e793a351428385997c595c6%3famp Melbourne Demons forward Charlie Spargo boasts the AFL’s best mark rate from kicks inside 50 Granted this was 2022, but Laurie and others will be doing well to better this. Charlie clearly showed what he's about in the final against Carlton, was one of our better players that night.

Agreed, much more mongrel than Laurie, who might as well not have been out there. In fact, at this point, I don't see that Laurie offers anything different from Spargo, but with less bite. Given the plethora of players we have around this size and skill set, I do think Laurie is going to find it difficult breaking into the team, but I'd be happy to be proven wrong.

They haven't called is zero Rd for no reason.

Merry Christmas to all. Not quite my favorite day of the year, but that's only happened 3 times in my lifetime and only delivered once. Hoping there is a bright shiny new one that Jack is holding in the stocking for next year.

Maybe this is another off field thing we can't talk about 🤷‍♂️

I think the Ch 7 comentators were willing him on to be a game changing influence again when he took that grab in the 3rd qrt of the 21 GF as well, but alas ... 😔 🤣

So for those that don't make it through the Hun paywall, is there an upshot to the article? Has Salo found an approach to managing his health issues that should set him up for career best form in 2024?

Jack has been bloody awsome for the MFC. The passion and heart and soul that he pours into his role is second to none. Chip off the old block in terms of hardness and professionalism to training. I think that's the real value in father son's, that loyalty and belonging that they have growing up around the club like Jack and the ethos being passed down from their parents. See the same things going on with Woey, Brown and White. Even though Billy and Wiz Jnr didn't ultimately make it, I feel there was alot of respect shown in hosting them at the club. Billy in particular was credited by many as leading the way in his professional approach to training and positively influencing our culture in that way.

Nope. I've seen dogs that are far hungrier for the ball than that. My old under 12s footy coach had a real see ball, get ball kind of dog. Was a whippett or something too, so had some good pace as well. It mostly just trained with us, but every now and then it got out on the park on game day and really tore it up a bit.

Congratulations to them both indeed. From the persona he exudes publicly, I'd imagine that Max would be all of an inspirational, caring and super cool dad. I'm sure Jess is a great mum as well.

It seems like baby birthing season is well underway at the MFC at the moment!

It's ok, big from what I recall, Max started his career as something forward / ruck if I recall and I think his forward craft goes all right having kicked multiple bags of 3+ goals in his career. That Geelong prelim a and last Rd game in 2021 Vs Geelong ...

The third thing I think the club needs to change is for our supporter base to get louder and more vocal at games. Our chants are week as [censored] and for too infrequent compared to the other Melbourne power clubs like Collingwood, Carlton and Essendon/Hawthorn (if they had anything to cheer about).

Like others I do feel we need to get better at taking the game on, when attacking from situations where the ball gets bottled up in our back half. So often our front half game makes it almost impossible to score due to the congestion (and I get that retaining it in forward 50 is part of our defensive strategy). But too often, we wasted oppertities to torch the opposition, when we had an open forwardline, because we lacked the dare to move the ball quickly in those situations. We have players like Kossie, Joel Smith and Chandler that have pace to burn, or JVR, Petty and Fritsch who would love to contest just 2 out, but too often, we don't pull the trigger. One of the things that Melksham bought to the team when he came in, was an attacking mindset of taking the game on when there was open space out the back - we need to get him coaching our half forwards and wingers and even when injured, he can make a substantial contribution to the team. With players like Melksham, it's not only about taking the game on, but also quickly summing up a situation and kicking the ball to the right spots. How much would our forwards love to run onto open space and a ball that's bouncing towards goals 25m - 35m out - even if our forwards arn't leading the foot race, the pressure it puts on the defender to gather cleanly and then turn out of trouble, without getting caught in a tackle or deliberately disposing of the football out of bounds is immense. There were many whom under rate T Mac's contribution in 2021, but his ability to keep the ball moving by quickly turning, taking on his opponent and then kicking deep up the field with a reasonably well directed 50m pass was a key reason we were able to score in many situations.