Whispering_Jack

Not bad for an 18 year old either.

Just heard from Mrs. Redleg. She and Mr. Redleg have successfully traversed the globe and landed in Nice where they start a cruise tomorrow. She reports that Redleg has scoured the local markets and will proudly carry a crate of bananas onto the ship. She also reveals that his shipboard reading is the Paul Roos biography which he has read 3 times since our new coach was appointed. Thought you might want to know.

My 7 year old grandson loved him at the club's kids clinic.

Sandor Earl breaks silence on peptides When is ASADA going to get around to interview Dank? That is the question. We're a week or so away from the opening of free agency/trades etc and already one Bomber player has decided to go elsewhere but is it wise for the Bullies to take Crameri if he's been involved in the Dank programme?

I still think he's played some of his best football up forward but it will be interesting where Roos sees him playing.

I'm not sure how Paul Roos is going to take to Blease. I was once a fan but have been let down far too often to the point where I'm thinking he might even be of more value to us on the trade table than anywhere else. To think that when he was playing for Vic Metro in the under 18 championships, I rated him well ahead of the likes of Zaharakis and others who are now so far in front of him that it's not funny.

If it's a question of rating the success or otherwise of 2014 for the MFC at the end of the season, I don't think you can discount the importance of winning games. The game at this level is all about winning and we're in a position now where we've lost the ability to win. Percentage is another measure of how a team's performing but you won't console Kangaroos supporters by telling them their team's percentage of 119.53 (6th best in the competition) was fantastic when they finished tenth. Port Adelaide's improvement in 2013 was measured in the main by its wins - those early victories gave it momentum and even when it started losing games from rounds 6 to 10, the points from those wins kept it going and allowed it to remain close enough to the leading pack and to stay focussed on success into the second half of the season. That said, there's obviously a relationship between wins and percentage and our paltry 54.07 provides some guide to how deficient we were on match days - a deficiency that barely altered with the change of coaches in mid season. One thing was obvious to me, even in games when we supposedly "played well" and that was the capacity of opposition teams to carve through the team like butter over short periods of time. Our last game of the season against the Bulldogs at Etihad was a case in point. We had our moments early and could have taken control. Then suddenly, an 8 goals 2 behinds to nothing burst in 15 minutes during the second quarter blew us out of the water. Yet we lost the game by "only" 20 points in the end. There were too many such games and I'm not qualified to explain these lapses. Was it lack of fitness, poor attitude/discipline, the coaching or lack of player depth, the third world midfield collapsing under pressure? The new broom that an experienced coach like Paul Roos can wield combined with the new leadership at the top will have an effect. Recruiting will be crucial as will player development and the fitness of the list. Will we be able to get Clark, Dawes & Hogan on the park together regularly so that a Howe becomes 4th forward? Will we improve our midfield with new players and natural development from the likes of Viney and Toumpas? I think the aim will definitely still be on winning and the percentage side should take care of itself but yes, when the dust clears and the season's over I would expect a much higher percentage than 54.07. I don't consider Port's rise as a once in a decade phenomenon. Adelaide and West Coast did much the same in the years before them but we're coming off a lower base so I'll lower my expectations to the point where I'd like us to be where Port are now in two year's time.

Yep ... let's shed that nice guy image and start stepping on a few toes. We should become the Ryan Crowleys of the competition both on and off the field. I particularly like that sort of attitude on the field, especially during the coming period in which our players with talent are developing. If we play with that persistent in your face attitude week in, week out, then the 15 goal floggings become a thing of the past and we start winning games we were never expected to win. If a large percentage of our game is played in the head, we've been headless for the past seven years. Now we can start again.

Guilt by association or is it really happening in schools? Elite school in turmoil: the team no one wants to play

Don't know how serious this Dew thing is but at least he would physically provide an example of the departure from the image of a Melbourne replete with light bodied skinny footballers who play bruise free football.

Thanks for providing the link deanox. The problem is that there's been a great deal of confusion about the status in the media and about what advice (if any) Dank and others received from ASADA about AOD9604. So far I haven't seen any evidence that would assist players who took it and I don't know what Jack was supposed to have taken. We'll have to wait until ASADA reports on our club to find out but until that time comes, I'm not prepared to rule out anything. One thing I've learned about how ASADA and WADA operate is that they don't do back room deals like many others do and they don't leak out information to favourites in the media as happens elsewhere. In particular, WADA and some of the other authorities operating in this sphere don't worry too much about tall poppies and there are a few about that will soon find out (not talking MFC there).

Didn't they get into a bit of strife last time they flew in that general direction.

I haven't heard that and I hope it's the case because if what he applied to his foot contained AOD9604 then he's at the mercy of the ASADA which is bound to apply the strict liability of the WADA Code. In those circumstances it's somewhere between 11 games and two seasons.All depends on the facts and whether mitigating circumstances apply.

Congratulations to Josh. One thing I've noticed about him over the years is that he's a hard worker and to get ahead in that environment over the time he's been at the club is a sensational achievement. One of the things about him that comes to mind is the time he visited Austin Wonaemirri's home at the Tiwi Islands to understand how his community lived. Josh has a tough gig - hope he succeeds.

"Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon ’em."

Correct. Our capacity to improve our midfield straight up by using an extra high pick has been drastically curtailed. Had we been given a PP we could have used the situation to offer one high pick as a trade and kept the other to pick one of the best youngsters. We can only do one or the other now unless we trade out. One solution will be to get more heavily involved in the free trade bargaining but that takes $.

Only 70kg?

I don't think we made a single mistake or have any regrets with the players we let go at the end of 2012. We made a few blues with the players we picked up and some with those we retained but on the whole, I give the club a big tick for its recruiting. Let's hope we do even better in 2013 (and BTW, no problems with any of our delistings/retirements so far either).

One of only two Demons to get BOG votes in the 2013 Brownlow Medal. (a useless fact if there ever was one)

By way of footnote to this whole affair, I wonder what changed his mind:- Andrew Newbold is a rank hypocrite "No one wants to see games like the one on Sunday where the game itself is devoid of atmosphere." Hat tip: Supermercado

Whatever your philosophical approach to draft assistance, the AFL's refusal to accept our application has to be regarded as a major blow to our recruiting prospects over the next month or so. From a practical point of view, a priority pick anywhere in the top 10 (which would have been warranted based on our performances between 2007-13) would have given us a major chip for use in the coming trade period. We don't have that now, which leaves us with the # 2 selection which we've said would be traded "if it can bring in immediate talent however it would be unlikely to do so unless it can secure a collection of talented young midfielders." It remains to be seen whether this can be achieved and whether we would get real value from trading that prized selection. Perhaps we can turn to the free agency market or look at some aggressive player trading to bring in some seasoned midfielders and hold on to # 2 and take James Aish?

You forgot.The first, second and third language of the AFL is lying.

Our combined tally of 7 votes trails Daniel Hannebery by only 6 votes. It could still be a close finish.

"Reality" means being at Etihad Stadium in Round 23 watching the Western Bulldogs kick 8 goals 2 behinds to nothing against us in 15 minutes in the latter part of the second quarter. I wonder how many AFL Commissioners bothered to turn up to watch Melbourne play that day or even the replay of the game? Their decision today wasn't based on anything to do with "reality". "Victimhood" means wasting your time dwelling on those shonks for too long. We move on planning our revival but we should never forget.

Meanwhile, Nathan Jones gets bog v GW$ and sets up an unbeatable lead as Melbourne's leading votegetter. And I won't mention who got the 1 vote in that game.