Northern Summer

How on earth did he become a Melbourne supporter when he grew up in Perth, lived there up until about 10 years ago (so deep in his 40s), and actually play for the WCE? I don't get it. Not complaining though.

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Amen. Glad to see some logic here.

Would you say the ABC is impartial? (like it should be, being publicly funded)

Terrible story. I remember seeing him out relatively frequently in that 2012 - 2015 period. Venues where that sort of stuff was rife although it was never my thing. He was always too slow. Looked like he was 38 when he was 28. Hang on, I'm 38 and look younger now ?

Regarding your last line, spot on. Everyone loves Stynes and nobody would ever want to criticise him, but it's important to reflect on a few home truths. . Stynes, Lyon and Schwab were very very close to each other and had been for years. Stynes was the one who brutally sacked Paul McNamee on the spot as soon as he walked into the club as President and appointed his mate Schwab into the role. McNamee had only been in the job for 5 minutes, yet apparently his death knell came when he wanted to recruit Jonathan Brown on a big-money long-term deal. Suitors were hardly reaching out far and wide for Schwab and he didn't appear to leave Freo in glowing colours. It was clearly a boys club back then. Stynes might not have been well when the 186 debacle occurred, but his allegiance would certainly have been with Schwab over Bailey sadly. It continued beyond this. . Garry Lyon became involved and looked after Schwab (along with Stynes), giving Schwab a 2-year deal (which alone should raise eye-brows). Who hired Neeld - primarily Lyon and Schwab. Not one to excuse Neeld because he's clearly shown even in recent TV interviews his lack of self-awareness and man-management skills, something you would have expected he would have reflected on over the past 7-8 years. However, it's still my view that he was initially hired to coach with one mandate from Schwab - to [censored] the players in an old-school militant manner - much because of Schwab's knowledge of their distain of him. The reality in any management position is you can lose your direct reports (or players in this instance) in a single moment only never to get them back again - it's clear Neeld did this straight away and had no way back. Yes, it was his fault. Was it a condition he was hired under? Perhaps.

Know some people will knock what i'm about to say, but one of the first things the AFL WOULD DO if it wanted to save money would be to abolish GWS and GC. It'll be a massive, but courageous, decision. GWS and GC are 30 year projects. The AFL will take well over a decade to get over this, probably 20 years. Sensible decisions need to be made now. The AFL subsidises those clubs completely. Massive money involved. They can hold a mini-draft and distribute the players evenly across the other clubs. This is what happens when wages and persons employed by clubs increases out of belief with little in reserve for a rainy day. Well that rainy day that nobody ever predicted has arrived. Strong leadership is required and controversial decisions.

On the off-chance they do end up playing a 17-round season, my gut feeling would be that we would keep our Collingwood, Adelaide and Fremantle home games - because Collingwood is on Queens Birthday, Adelaide is in the NT and Fremantle is in the first 4 rounds. This would mean we would lose the St Kilda and Gold Coast home games, and theoretically get an extra home game. Probably a win for us, because we'd avoid two interstate trips. In reality, it would be a blessing in disguise if we lost the Collingwood home game if nobody could attend, if we were guaranteed it as a home game next season.

2005?

The AFL CEO is the biggest 'politically correct' lefty going around, so I wouldn't be surprised to see this come about under his reign

AGM's were actually in February every year up until perhaps 4-5 years ago, when they changed them to December. I wasn't even aware they changed it back. My understanding what that this member forum was designed to enable members to seek some sort of explanation for the 2019 disaster and raise questions in response to it, rather than act as a forum that always takes place at the AGM. I just presumed the club strategically placed it in mid/late November knowing most people were out of AFL mode by then, and have lost the heat of anger over the pathetic season, and somehow have a level of optimism back again, negating likely negative questions. .

I've seen him in the MCC members in recent years with a Demons scarf on so he is a supporter as well!

Lever or Gawn as Captain. It's hard to know the best choice without being inside the inner sanctum of the club. Lever does speak really well and looks a good fit.

Bernie should come in to replace Tyson.

Bernie needs too come back in next week

I'm an MFC/MCC member and was able to use my membership number/barcode to buy tickets for the 2 finals. I presume I will also be able to buy a ticket to the Perth final then with this membership number/barcode. Just double checking because i've paid the big bucks for the flights over.

Who has already booked? When are you going over? How many seats do the MFC get access to?

The St Kilda game was, which followed Port. We got done over there too.

How we lost is beyond me - We had two chances to completely ice the game and get to a 6 goal lead, but Petracca missed a very straightforward shot trying to be too clever, and Gawn dropped a mark he should have taken in the goal square. We probably would have won by plenty had we got that 6 goal lead. Kennedy-Harris missing a very simple shot with 120 seconds left. The Petracca torpedo with 90 seconds to go when there were plenty of players sideways and backwards to kill the clock. Vince spoiling and not marking Geelong's kick out from our last behind. However, like you said, Ablett pushing Brayshaw into the back with 40 seconds left was so bloody obvious and evident and right in front of the umpires. How this was missed is beyond me! The umpires did cost us the game with this.

Darren Bennett kicked a goal from almost the centre of the ground at Princess Park one day in the early 1990s. Can't remember who it was against.

A return flight to London with a 5 Star airline was only a couple of hundred dollars more than a Melbourne-Darwin return flight. Ridiculous!

All (ok three of them) are very losable games too! Based on their form they will be lucky to win one of them. They are gone.

Comparing Grimes at this time last year and Trengove now, I would have said it would have been more likely that Grimes (a) would get another year and (b) if no new contract, a new club would be interested. Given Grimes got nothing, cannot see Trengove playing another AFL game, unless our midfield get hits with an abundance of injuries in the latter half of this season. Sentiment has to be taken out of decisions these days given the league and clubs are multi-million dollar businesses. In saying that, there really is no logic as to why Trengove was given a 1-year deal this year. Sounds like a good bloke and he's been through a bit, but you can't hand out contracts just for that.

Best game so far: Adelaide Worst game so far: Worst performance was our 1st half against Essendon, luckily they were the worst team we played this season. Overall most disappointing result is hard to tie down because we actually haven't had a stinker yet, while we haven't had a 4 quarter performance either. If I had to pinpoint one game, I would say the Freo game, because we controlled 3 quarters of it, Fremantle were opportunistic in the one quarter they dominated and then got lucky from a dud Bernie Vince chip in the end. Most improved player: Oliver. We still need our fringe players to improve more. Our best players are still the same 6-8 players each week + the recruits Hibbard and Lewis A player who needs to lift: Weiderman, Tyson, Kent Who is currently leading the Bluey?: We have to remember this isn't the Brownlow and the coaching group have different criteria when ranking players (i.e. the 1%ers, doing their job even though touches may have been low, etc). I would say Oliver because he's played every game but I think Hibbard wouldn't be far away. Best recruit: Tough call between Hibbard and Lewis, but i'd lean towards Hibbard. Will we make the finals?: Yes. Give or take, we will beat Collingwood, West Coast, Sydney, Carlton, North Melbourne, St Kilda, Brisbane and Collingwood = 13 wins

Perfect rehearsal for the 'big one' = 'the bye'? Yep, I agree. Two byes in a row!