rpfc

Well, you lost your money didn't you? He didn't ask to dislocate his lisfranc and have soft tissue issues playing for your club - but here we are. Show some respect.

Toumpas' game was what I would expect from a 19 year old - lots of energy and run while getting into the wrong spots quite a bit. He had 10 marks which tells me he was pushing hard into space to get on the end of some kicks and providing an option for his teammates with that selfless running. As is said in that 'game style by rd 5' thread - the most pleasing thing was that there was a recognisable idea of how MFC players get the ball down the ground: hit players moving into space, honour runners moving past, use short kicks in any direction to maintain possession if you can't move it quickly and if you keep your work rate up, mistakes will be forgiven. Toumpas did his little, 19 year old part in that...

This is the thread people. This is the thread. Look, we will lose this game in the real stuff but we will be a real footy team this year if they can keep this up. 331 and 319. Those two numbers have significant meaning; 331 is the number of uncontested possessions we won in Roos' first game, and 319 is the TOTAL number of possessions we averaged last year. Uncontested possessions get tarred as being a 'soft touch' but the trust and hard work required to get them is some of the hardest work in the game. I can't stress enough how impressive it was to see every player reward ANY player willing to run into space and/or overlap. This is a risky gameplan that will ask for enormous effort and trust in your teammates skills (and your own) but I can see relevance from it. And that is what I hope to see in 2014.

God forbid a player have an outside interest... Nathan Jones has his own website and surfs a sh!teload, but because he is playing at near AA level - he can have a hobby and a distraction...

No it didn't change. People were wrong. He was re-signed for two years after the 2011 season and 8 years of 'service' - people that thought he was a Restricted FA did so because they either thought he hadn't been around for 10 years or thought his last contract was for three years (which would have meant he went past the 8 year threshold for the first time and leave him a RFA). He was always an UFA.

Wow. Snide.

You probably want to edit the above but there is some chance he is UFA. However, with that said - Viney, Mahoney, and Roos would have known the situation before trade week last year, so we, surely, would not have maneouvered ourselves into an UFA position with Frawley.

Playing 'hardball' doesn't rule out letting him go. He will be offered a very good contract by us, on our terms, if he agrees to another teams contract it is an explicit wish to leave the club. If we 'match' and he thinks he can get through to that team in the draft we would be throwing away a top 5 pick in the draft. Due to the Franklin deal - this 'matching' of contracts will be a little hazy. The AFL have come out and said that the Swans must honour the entire fiduciary amount for the life of the deal and not renegotiate the contract: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/afl-clears-buddys-10m-move/story-fnca0u4y-1226735072406

I had this thought too BUT it is tough to find 10 players paid more than the kind of contract Frawley would have got after his near-AA 2010. Jones, Garland, Dawes, Clark, Grimes, Trengove, and Vince probably would be making more than Frawley. McDonald, Howe, and Watts might be making more... All of those players would have to be on more than Frawley for him to be an UFA. We will know soon anyway when the AFL release the RFA/UFA Class of 2014.

And then he can go into the draft. If he agrees to another teams contract, we will trade him or let him go and get the compo.

Yeah, gloat in 5 years time... Except the Viney/Hogan deal. That's gold.

I love it when you get on here and tangle yourself in knots and then you give your obligatory "I'm dancin, you be trippin" post. I was just explaining why OD and myself made the posts we did - you are the one jumping down throats.

There are two threads going on here. Rivers is a loss, but with Frawley, McDonald and Garland was quickly becoming (and became) surplus to requirements. And Rivers has had his own nightmare injury riddled seasons so bringing up Garland's troubles isn't a great reason to keep another bloke with durability issues around. We got 7 good seasons out of him. Sylvia's best can't be replaced outside of the top 20 players in the league - but that was twice a season. His median performance can be easily replaced. There is no great loss with either.

You are the one lacking comprehension, stuie. I was referring to your 'pedo-bear' joke in the sense that you made that nickname for him, ironic because you then said that fans making nicknames for players is 'lame' - at which old dee pointed that you made 'pedo-bear', to which you then denied, at which point I made my post. The rest is unfortunate history.

And 'Pedo-bear'?

So correcting spelling and/or grammar is worse than referring to someone as a Nazi? Perhaps we do it because we wish to know exactly what a person means and not get into a slanging match with a poster who has written a post with the clarity of Russian tap water.

26,039 - 12 Feb 2014

MFC website has an update in which they, finally, explicitly say his issues are hamstring related. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-02-12/clark-garland-out-for-nab-challenge

There is 'spiritual belief' and then there is the more mundane personal 'belief' that something will work. The point was by whoever, that if you don't go into a session thinking it will be useful, you shouldn't bother going in.

He said that if you don't believe in it you are wasting your time.

You do realise that the way you have structured your troll post - one game disproves your blanket statement? But I hope you don't get what you are looking for - reaction. I hope you get help.

You're not playing for your country! Just a bit of fun... That's if it is fun...

Well said. I cannot stress enough the fact that our success begins and ends with the midfield. If Roos thinks he can make a damaging outside mid of Watts - then he is going to need all the practice he can get.

I really hope they don't. If he is going to play midfield in 2014, he should not be wasting his time filling in Hogan's shoes for a unglorified practice match.