Lord Nev

What results, specifically?

Guess we'll wait and see how it effects our membership numbers and sponsorship then hey. I'm predicting it won't even 1%. But you guys keep pushing your barrow if you wish. Bring on the footy.

No, nowhere have I said that. I'm saying that in this specific case, MFC giving a jumper to a tennis player who 2 years ago made a few dumb tweets is not a big deal. And to say he's now "immensely disliked by a large section of society" is a completely baseless statement given the poster wasn't even aware of the issues himself until he googled him whilst trying to find something to complain about.

So what you're saying is you didn't know this about his past, went and googled this 2 year old 'news' story, posted it on the internet again and now apparently he's "immensely disliked by a large section of society"? Weirdly, none of our sponsors have immediately pulled the plug.

"Troubled"? Give it a rest. Dragging up 'news' from 2 years ago to have another crack at the media department only illustrates how desperate you are to be negative. Next you'll be saying TMac's form drop was due to him going to the Jordan Peterson talk (and somehow the MFC media departments fault also). Talk about reaching.

You can speak for your own comments, but many others were in different contexts.

Nowhere did I say anything about non-competitive players. Nowhere did I say the coach likes "purely outside players". In fact, I said the complete opposite and that was the reason the balance was being addressed now. Please try to be accurate when rephrasing what I've said. (Unless of course you were doing it on purpose to suit your argument). Langdon and Tomlinson have been penciled in for the wings. Pretty clearly that's an outside role. Pickett (finisher), Jackson (finisher) and Rivers (skill) were added. Elliot was chased. Martin was chased. Calls were made re: Papley. Weightman was very much in the mix. We didn't take Green. I find it staggering anyone can look at that big picture and not think we were chasing more skill, finishing and outside players.

Again with the personal stuff. Why? If you have a personal problem with me (someone on the internet you've never met) you're welcome to message me to work it out, but this forum is for talking footy, and that's what I'm here for.

Yep, agree with that. I've not made any argument trying to say we should have kept him and he was in great form, just that I think some take the criticism too far (typical of internet forums though I guess), and fail to take into account the context of the team, the need of balance on game day and the blokes circumstances.

No, you literally just somehow wrote down all the pieces but then failed to put them together. Nothing to do with me. CS? And there you go again, talking about Jeff's finishing and outside skill; yet somehow not 'recognizing the faults' of the team and how those things are related. I've never met you, so I'm not sure why you're grasping for personal assessments. The coach? The coach who is the most under pressure senior coach in the league this year? The coach who has been widely recognized as being too obsessed with the contest and crowding the ball? The coach who oversaw us chasing any good quality outside player/finisher available in the trade/draft period because he's clearly recognized he's got the balance wrong? Are we talking about the same coach?

Amazing you can't put the pieces together when they're all there in front of you.

That's not what was being said at all. Worth taking the time to understand the point if you're going to have a crack I reckon.

Just my opinion, but I think us fans (and our coaches) got a bit over-obsessed with hard at it, inside types for a few years. We love the bash and crash, the toughness, especially when you follow a team that has been beaten up and been 'bruise free' for so long, and so when we have a player that doesn't play that way we can be over-critical of that aspect of their game without realizing how much we need a mixture of players to be successful.

Oh, wasn't directed at you at all mate, or anyone specifically really, just a general comment, your observation was fair enough.

The problem is, Bennell isn't officially an MFC player at this stage, so to use him for media coverage and fan engagement would be seen as exploitative. You can't really benefit from someone who is not on your payroll. As for Jackson (and any other first year players) it could be that the club is trying to minimize the pressure and exposure on them. They're 18 year old kids after all, and if you read through the recent article by Jackson you get an insight into how intense the experience is right from the start. MFC of all places have learned the hard way about not diffusing the expectations on young players. In saying that, 100% agree they need to do more with the rest. It's the characters that get the kids in. They all love Maxy, he has some personality, some defining traits, but aside from him it's all a bit vanilla as far as what we see. Even doing something like giving Trac a GoPro for a week (maybe at Maroochydore?) would be a start. He's a big personality as well, so he's another one the kids could get around. It's a tough balance, and the weird bit is the actual quality of our content and visual identity has drastically improved over the last 5 years, but more innovation is needed for sure.

Yeah I'm not trying to imply he was fantastic or his effort was consistent (was anyone's last year?), but I just think criticism of Jeff is sometimes over the top, and comments like 'lost his appetite' seem strange to me when it's about a player who lead our tackles inside 50 and our average goals; both things we were in desperate need of in 2019. Plus, as others have mentioned; injury and personal circumstances had a big impact on him in his last couple of years so I guess that's why I feel the need to comment sometimes.

Lead our tackles inside 50 for 2015, 2017, 2018 & 2019. 2nd in 2016.

We have two spots anyway don't we? One already empty and another made available due to the Nietschke injury?

You may hear just as much along these lines as you do about the coach if the year doesn't go well.

I'm not saying you're wrong mate, just trying to clarify. FWIW I do have concerns about certain things in non-playing/coaching departments, hence why I was pushing for more information. Cheers.

So is this opinion or fact then?

Can you elaborate on this at all?

That would make a lot more sense!

vandenBerg will be 28 at the start of the season.

I'm a fan of Sparrow. My opinion is that he will grow into a burst half forward role, a little like Kent used to play for us, and eventually down the track may play some inside mid also (fair way down the track that is). Once he gets his tank up to be able to do it through a whole game we'll start to see the burst he can put on which is a real asset combined with his aggression.