old55

Parental guidance recommended, not suitable for viewers under 15. Slaughter likely.

There have been plenty of varied problems at MFC over the past 30 years but the performance of our captains is at the bottom of that list. Apart from the Neeld debacle they've been good selections who have represented the club strongly: 1981–1987 Robert Flower 1988–1990 Greg Healy 1991–1997 Garry Lyon 1998–1999 Todd Viney 2000–2008 David Neitz 2009–2010 James McDonald 2011 Brad Green 2012–2013 Jack Trengove/Jack Grimes 2014 Nathan Jones/Jack Grimes 2015–2016 Nathan Jones 2017–2019 Nathan Jones/Jack Viney 2020– Max Gawn

It's a big pity old "bruise-free" Robinson is going to miss his date with VDB.

Depending on list sizes next year, of the players mentioned at other clubs I think Allen Christensen can play and it's no big knock being behind Charlie Cameron and Cam Rayner. As someone noted elsewhere Alex Witherden is struggling for a game behind Grant Birchall - he'd be worth a look. I like Zac Fisher at Carlton - I know he's small framed and that counts against him - but he's a goer and has pace.

That's not the information I have.

Nice work R&BR. I've thought for a number of years that our zone works far better on narrower grounds and it's why we've generally been better at Etihad than the MCG. We've generally played well at Geelong recently apart from last year's debacle and we were good at Spotless the last two weeks. There's an obvious criticism available that we play a style that doesn't suit our home ground. Looking forward we're up against it on this basis against 1st and 2nd at the wider Gabba and Metricon, but better suited to Adelaide and Blundstone - where incidentally we've been much more competitive against North than most teams without winning.

A David Neitz story from an impeccable source ... When Neitz injured his neck and was forced to retire he was eligible for an AFL mandated injury payment from the club of several hundreds of thousands of dollars but, because of the club's dire financial circumstances at the time, he didn't take the payout - that's the kind of leader he was. There have been various cases made for a number of our captains and I'm not sure if Junior McDonald has been mentioned, but he should be and is under-rated. We've generally been well-served in this area. Anyway, this thread is about Maxy and I am genuinely hopeful that he can be the best of the lot and lead us to the much longed for flag.

Neitz > Lyon. If you can't see that I cannot help you.

Love him or hate him - JDG goes alright.

You're kidding right? David Neitz is #1 - club games record holder, club games as captain record holder, club goals record holder, member of the Hall of Fame, Coleman Medallist, Best and Fairest winner, 7 x leading goal-kicker, All-Australian.

We've had some very good captains over the years but this guy might just turn out to be the best I think. Since he's taken the role his game has gone to a new level - he's leading by example as a true match-winner. And I think he has a communication style that everyone can relate to.

1994 PF 18 Charles, Sean 23 Dyson, Kevin 20 Febey, Matthew 21 Febey, Steven 22 Hilton, Jeff 15 Hopgood, Paul 34 Irving, Dean 16 Lovell, Andy 17 Lovett, Brett 6 Lovett, Glenn 3 Lyon, Garry 9 Neitz, David 25 Norrish, Jason 29 Obst, Andrew 10 Pike, Martin 19 Prymke, Paul 5 Schwarz, David 11 Stynes, Jim 2 Tingay, Stephen 12 Viney, Todd 27 Wight, Sean 1998 PF 33 Farmer, Jeff 20 Febey, Matthew 21 Febey, Steven 4 Grgic, Brent 27 Ingerson, Anthony 7 Kowal, Darren 36 Leoncelli, Andrew 3 Lyon, Garry 35 McDonald, Anthony 23 McDonald, James 9 Neitz, David 43 Rigoni, Guy 24 Robertson, Russell 5 Schwarz, David 10 Seecamp, Marcus 1 Shanahan, Jamie 11 Stynes, Jim 2 Tingay, Stephen 12 Viney, Todd 34 White, Jeff 22 Woewodin, Shane 13 Yze, Adem 2000 GF: B: 26 Daniel Ward 27 Anthony Ingerson 44 Alistair Nicholson HB: 42 Peter Walsh 28 Matthew Collins 21 Steven Febey C : 13 Adem Yze 22 Shane Woewodin 35 Anthony McDonald HF: 18 Brad Green 5 David Schwarz 7 Stephen Powell F: 24 Russell Robertson 9 David Neitz (c) 33 Jeff Farmer Foll: 34 Jeff White 43 Guy Rigoni 36 Andrew Leoncelli Int: 4 Brent Grgic 16 Travis Johnstone 47 Ben Beams

You mean like 1994: Jeff Hilton. Paul Hopgood, Dean Irving and Jason Norrish 2000: Daniel Ward, Alistair Nicholson, Matthew Collins, Brent Grgic and Ben Beames

"Exactly what we need for depth." Not very compelling but OK. Pull out all stops ...

So just explain to me again why we desperately need Wright when we've got TMac, Weid, Jackson, Petty and even Bradtke already on the list? They disbanded the VFL Reserves comp.

Incredible thread. Nice work @PaulRB and @Grimes Times. BS from the usual suspects. Yours sincerely Pollyanna

Exactly as @Skuit says - you've basically said nothing - so much so that it would have been better if you didn't say anything at all.

No it's very clear what's going on. He finally started listening to the experts in the "is he the right guy thread?". Thank heavens we have them on board.

If I heard correctly Max said in one of the many videos on the MFC site that Melksham and Lever have been recently added to an extended leadership group. If so I'll be very surprised if Melksham misses out.

Goodwin is a brave innovator. He thought there was an opportunity in this weird season to select a very pacy dynamic athletic line-up to get the jump on the competition, hence the selection of Hunt and Smith but it didn't work and he's reverted to a more traditional line-up with the talls at both ends - even then he's shown his courage to select Jackson ahead of Brown. I think the key thing is that with the "Richmond-style" gameplan you need footballers-first to execute because it's frenetic and you need to be able to rely on instinctive skills. I think athletes like Hunt, Smith and ANB who lack innate football skills are not suited to the style. We've been blessed/lucky that we have footballers we can bring in like Bennell, Lockhart, Langdon, Hannan, OMac, Weid and the return to desperation in Hibberd. Of course it helps when you add incredible athletes who can also play the game like Kosi and Jacko.

I'd just like to make a big shout out to Josh Mahoney and Jason Taylor - they work together very well. On the trade front Josh targets his man, convinces him to come to the club and then executes the trade with a minimum of fuss - Melksham, Hibberd, Lever, May and Langdon all essential pieces to the puzzle. And I think that Tomlinson and Preuss can still prove to be astute transactions. Josh gets the essential players resigned with a minimum of fuss too. Christian Petracca anybody? And when Jason Taylor alerts him to special opportunities at the draft he conjures the necessary picks and Taylor duly obliges with great high selections: Oliver-Weideman and Jackson-Pickett.

Massive challenge against fired up Hawks in Premiership mode.

To bring it back on topic - Kosi Pickett will too ... oh and you'll have a new user name and will have always been on board.

Yes Steven May will be an MFC Premiership player.