Whispering_Jack

The 2013 NAB AFL Under 18 Championships start today and they will no doubt be of more than passing interest to Melbourne fans because of the likelihood that we'll be choosing one or two early picks again. The trick this year is to find players who won't undergo dramatic lossess in form once selected. ROUND 1(Cross Over games) SATURDAY MAY 25 Northern Territory vs Victoria Country at TIO Stadium,Darwin 4pm SUNDAY MAY 26 Queensland vs Victoria Metro at Yeronga 1pm SATURDAY JUNE 1 NSW/ACT vs South Australia at Blacktown 12pm SUNDAY JUNE 2 Tasmania vs Western Australia at Aurora Stadium 10am ROUND 2(Cross Over games) SATURDAY JUNE 8 Queensland vs South Australia at Southport 11:30am Western Australia vs Northern Territory at Brownes Reserve,Perth 12pm SUNDAY JUNE 9 Victoria Metro vs NSW/ACT at Visy Park 12pm Victoria Country vs Tasmania at Visy Park 2:30pm ROUND 3 SATURDAY JUNE 15 DIVISION 1 Western Australia vs Victoria Metro at Patersons Stadium 11:20am SUNDAY JUNE 16 South Australia vs Victoria Metro at City Mazda Stadium,Adelaide 12pm SUNDAY JUNE 22 DIVISION 2 NSW/ACT vs Northern Territory at Blacktown 12pm Tasmania vs Queensland at Blundstone Arena,Hobart 12pm ROUND 4 FRIDAY JUNE 28 DIVISION 1 Victoria Metro vs Western Australia at Simonds Stadium 12:35pm South Australia vs Victoria Country at Simonds Stadium 2:35pm SATURDAY JUNE 29 DIVISION 2 Northern Territory vs Tasmania at Visy Park 12pm NSW/ACT vs Queensland at Visy Park 2:30pm ROUND 5 WEDNESDAY JULY 3 DIVISION 1 South Australia vs Western Australia at Etihad Stadium 3:35pm Victoria Metro vs Victoria Country at Etihad Stadium 5:35pm THURSDAY JULY 4 DIVISION 2 Queensland vs Northern Territory at Simonds Stadium or Victoria Park 11am NSW/ACT vs Tasmania at Simonds Stadium or Victoria Park 1:15pm Today's games & teams NT v Vic Country, Saturday 25 May, Darwin - 6.00pm NORTHERN TERRITORY Backs A Pilbrow J Long D Myers H Backs E Wasley-Black L McGill N Cockatoo Centres B McLean K Renehan J Stokes H Fwds D Cox J Musgrove S McAuliffe Fwds J Krnjic J Scanlon L Larson Followers N Vea Vea B Fuller A Ankers Interchange A Plummer J Motlop P Chisholm-Espie L Donation C Wilson J Shulter VIC COUNTRY Backs J Nelson J Cross Z Jones H Backs L Herbert F Fort B Walker Centres J Cashman D Lang C McCartney H Fwds Z Merrett P McCartin J Pickess Fwds A Saunders H Goddard J Thomas Followers J Leslie J Impey N Holman Interchange J Harmes J Maher J Cunico J Maishman L Webb Queensland v Vic Metro Sunday 26 May at Yeronga - 1.00pm. QUEENSLAND Backs L Rogerson A Rutledge L Dawson H Backs L Radford C Hay J Taylor Centres J Watson I Conway L Weller H Fwds D Trask K Brennan C Tickner Fwds S Gribble J Freeman I Rokeby Followers A Smith B Pendlebury J Ives Interchange M Hammelmann R Blundell C Stevenson S Coutts D Cameron- Reeves S Mills L Niland- Rowe VIC METRO Backs J Lever A Spencer H Curnow H Backs L Fitzgerald J Owen J Fisher Centres J Kennedy-Harris B Cavarra M Keedle H Fwds J Cooke E Le Grice C Petracca Fwds T Miller M Apeness J Sicily Followers R O’Brien J Greiser J Tardio Interchange M Honeychurch N Evans L McDonald A Milham D Byrne-Jones

... consider it business as usual (only kidding)

I believe that the average IQ of the crowd went up dramatically after they left too!

Touché

I think that the single factor that's saved Hird until now and to an extent prolonged Robson's tenure has been the fact that the team had a fantastic start to the season on the field and the club has a measure of sympathetic support in the media. Had it been otherwise both would have been sacrificial lambs by now. As it is, Hird will stay at least until the ASADA investigation outcome but if the Bombers collapse as they did last year, it may well be sooner rather than later.

What took him so long?

Watts has played the best football of his career in defence which he did for 6 -7 weeks around the middle of the season and before he was injured. He returned late in the season when the team was in true junk time mode and, apart from the early NAB Cup stages, hasn't been quite right fitness-wise this season. As has been pointed out above, he doesn't seem to fit into our likely forward set up and given where we are at the moment, once he proves his fitness it's more appropriate to play him where he most benefits the team. Clearly, that's in defence or in the middle and not necessarily up forward.

I don't know how good this young prospect is but on an emotional level, I hope that he finds his way to our club and I've chosen him as the player to kick off our coverage of the forthcoming national championships - AFL HOPEFUL HAS MORE THAN JUST FOOTBALL HERITAGE Naturally, emotion counts for nothing when drafting footballers but I wish him well. He and I have a connection in that every day I wear a black bracelet which commemorates his great, great grandfather William Cooper.

Too many players not getting enough of the football. Five years might be conservative.

We've stopped tackling.

We're being beaten in possessions, marks, inside 50s and all other KPI's bar tackling and on the scoreboard. Probably can't keep that up for very long but it looks better than last week.

I haven't followed the whole thread but I finally caught up with the AFL360 interview last night. I accept what he said about his relationship with Neeld but I understand he had lost his interest in the club at the end of 2011 when he tried to cross to Essendon. During his season under Neeld he came across as uninterested and it was inevitable that he would go given that he had no belief in the coach and wasn't prepared to do what was necessary to comply with the coach's requirements. What I found interesting was that when the interview turned to Brisbane and the situation of Michael Voss whose coaching position was under question he said that it was up to the players to perform. A rather different attitude to the one he took with him in 2012 at Melbourne.

The man's biggest sin seems to be that he's telling the truth in an industry whose first language is the telling of lies. Shame on him for not telling the punters that we're going to flog the Tigers today.

I believe that Geddy Lee got it just about right when he said, "What Joe Gutnick did to/for the club depends on who you talk to really." It's quite extraordinary that Joe and his board get no credit for creating the harmonious circumstances that led to us having an incredible season and making the grand final. So when the team is successful on the field it was someone else who got it there but if they fail it can only be the chairman, the board and the CEO. At the end of the year they should sack at least 10 club presidents, boards and CEOs. No wait, make that 17. The only ones to survive should be those that produced the premiership.

Worst umpiring since round 2 last year when WCE led 21-1 in free kicks at half time. I reckon the Dees were involved in that game.

I did say "a leading journalist" so that rules her out.

What I said was That came from a leading journalist of the time and I believe it was fact. I followed the Gutnick/Szondy battle closely at the time and supported Joe. The Gutnick group had a great deal more passion but Szondy had the organisation and contacts and produced a substantial amount of proxies (some in pristine condition) which got it across the line. The irony was that the majority of the rank and file members were in the hall when the result was announced and they were overwhelmingly Gutnick supporters. There was a brief period of hope before the ineptitude of the Szondy group became apparent. Paul Gardner united the club for a brief period but we fell on tough times financially and Jim Stynes rescued us until his illness struck him and ultimately the club down. The only reason we should be looking back on this is to learn the lessons of history and then try not to repeat the errors of the past. Unfortunately, at Melbourne, that seems to be an impossible dream.

Actually, I'm potting you for not knowing the facts.

There was no policy of anti-Semitism on the part of the Team Vision (Szondy) ticket. A small number of the anti-Joe push did use his race and religion to disparage him but that was certainly not the position of the vast majority and in fact, I know of a number of Jewish supporters who opposed Gutnick. I met Alotta during the time of the Gutnick-Szondy conflict and there's no way that anyone could say he was anti-Semitic.

Ugh. There's so much wrong with this that it beggars belief. I'll deal with only one point and that was the decision by Gutnick to reveal the salary cap breach. At the time, we were told that the fact that we came clean on the breach saved us from far more severe sanctions than we otherwise would have received. Gutnick's action was considered at the time to be an example of proper corporate governance. The pros and cons of Gutnick's term can be debated long and hard but it was on his watch that we made our last grand final and it was after he was deposed that we fell into a fiscal black hole. Life was a lot happier for Demon fans back in Joe's days even with those salary cap penalties.

The myth persisted because it was promoted by Joe's opponents who gave it traction during the 2001 campaign to undermine him. When Poyas was drafted by Melbourne, Gutnick was no longer at the club ... and it was not in the PSD, it was the 2003 rookie draft. Ten years later, he's still playing good footy in the ammos.

Spencer and Kent both omitted from the final team. Troy Davis misses the cut again.

No reason not to believe him and it was confirmed by others. We live in times when people look only for things that are negative or sinister and won't accept the simple explanations which are often the truth. There is a Jewish footballer called Ezra Poyas who was drafted at # 22 in the 1999 draft and the urban myth that was going around for some time was that Gutnick prevented the club's recruiters because he didn't want to have a Jewish footballer playing on the sabbath for his club. Truth was the recruiters actually preferred Brad Green at # 19 because he was a better prospect and despite Gutnick's personal and religious beliefs, they had the final say on who they selected. For once the recruiters were right but the myth persisted. Green played 254 games for the MFC and Poyas played 9 for the RFC.

I would have thought Morris would take on Aaron Davey if he plays because he really got under Flash's skin when they played in the NAB Cup.

My understanding is that Cameron Schwab and the MFC parted ways for personal differences between them not related to the operation of the club. Source: Gutnick himself. Ray Ellis was CEO at the club during Gabriel Szondy's presidency. Schwab had nothing to do with the club at the time. He was at Fremantle. Ellis was the CEO who was said to have "lost" tax bills in his drawer. We're not sure what lines of communication there were between Ellis, Szondy and the other members of the MFC board at the time. Finally, if anyone wants to make derogatory or defamatory statements about Joseph Gutnick or any other person on this site then they should be prepared to identify themselves personally and provide an address for service of writs. If not, the moderators reserve the right to remove your posts.