Whispering_Jack

Spare a thought for our once very own Juice Newton. Joined Norwood and apparently was doing well until he did a knee. Misses his chance for premiership glory in the red and blue this weekend.

Why?

It has become increasingly obvious throughout the day that the story is nothing more than a beat up. I'm wondering whether tomorrow will see a retraction or apology in the Australian for this ridiculous piece of writing?

I simply cannot trust this form of journalism. It's buried in an article about something completely different and the only direct quotes on the subject aren't contemporary - they come from earlier in the season when Malthouse was commenting on Watts. It's a beat up par excellence but at least these bozos didn't follow the lead of some of former counterparts in their media stable by tapping phones. Nice try by Denham and his mate but not close and no cigar.

The perfect fit - Wellingham chooses West Coast

The reality with the situation is that it will need time to be played out because Geelong is working through a few other potential trades and probably can't finalise a FA agreement with Jared until the picture with the other transactions becomes clearer. No hurry, this thing lasts for weeks.

There seems to be a lot of posturing going on by everyone involved. Fortunately, we'll all know in a few day's time.

It is Norwood v West Adelaide on Sunday to close off the football for 2012. There doesn't seem to be a live telecast on ABC which is disappointing. You would think if they're not interested in broadcasting it live then they could hand over the rights to Fox Footy.

True but Chip's item only went up this morning while Jonesy has been on the site for six days.

He has a long term contract and can't leave without us releasing him. The answer would either be no or otherwise, the cost to St. Kilda would be exorbitant and beyond their reach. Anyway, it sounds like another rumour totally without foundation so unless something emerges that suggests otherwise this thread is closed.

I find it strange that the club champion should elicit the least number of views on this forum of the seven players included to date in this series. Perhaps it tells us something about ourselves?

I think many people are somewhat bedazzled by the achievements of the Sydney Swans and their recruiting people and are automatically assuming that we can just go out and do the same thing. Some even think this can be achieved by throwing around $'s alone. If you analyse who the Swans' most successful recruits from trading are, you'll find that they were generally unloved or low paid players not able to get regular games at their clubs. They came as bargains and not high profile players to who you simply throw money at and they will come and perform. Kennedy, Shaw, Mumford and co were in nowhere near the same category as a Goddard or a Tippett who are commanding substantial offers or Lynch, who also appears to have changed clubs in the hunt for $'s. We're only one day into a four week marathon so let's see what happens over the coming weeks.

That was my own interpretation of many issues that were discussed and I highlighted the things that particularly interested me. Others might have interpreted things differently and to be fair this comment was really in response to a question about what will be different about 2013 or something to that effect. They were being far more realistic than the pundits around here who would have us trading in 25 players and trading out 30 if you add all their speculative fantasies.

There was some detailed explanation as to the reasons why they weren't interested and I've refrained from elaborating but it all made sense. To give you some food for thought - Goddard would have cost 8% of our salary cap and he's 27/8. Neil Craig coached Knights so would know a bit about him. Does anyone think we need another KPD and what do you think of Pearce? That's all I'll say.

St. Kilda will probably finish with pick 13 if it does no recruiting of its own through free agency. If the Saints pick up a couple of FA's the situation will change.

Hope that radical treatment helps his disposal by foot as well and that we see him back on the ground sooner rather than later.

Interesting that Mark Neeld said at a function tonight that as he watched the grand final he was contemplating how many of his players would have survived that game. He didn't have to say it but Nathan Jones would have definitely done that.

Yeah, it reads a little strangely to me too given that Bater barely managed to exceed ½ of the total number of MFC games for the season.

Probably a fair call. We plumbed the depths in so many ways from the death of Jimmy, to the Jurrah fiasco, the need to ditch a player/sponsor, the uncalled for false claims of racism against the coach, injuries, poor form, constant sniping from the media, the pathetic Brock McLean interview on Sheahan's own programme, the seemingly endless AFL tanking investigation while the same AFL refuses to look into the activities of other clubs on the same subject. On the other hand, now that the season's over there's only one way to go and that's up.

I attended a forum conducted at AAMI Park this evening on the MFC's approach to free agency, trading and drafting. The Melbourne Business Community function was hosted by Chris Connolly with speakers Mark Neeld and Tim Harrington. Some of the general information about FA and trades has been published on the websites of the AFL or club or discussed at previous meetings while there were some mildly sensitive issues that can't really be expanded on publicly but no specific players who we were seeking over the next month or in the draft were named. Suffice to say we did gain an insight into the type of player the club is seeking but that was predictable. We should know by now that Neeld wants those who play hard contested football. He wants players who uncompromisingly want to be the best in the game. Those who are happy just to be AFL footballers need not apply. Neeld says things will be different in 2013. The players now know how they are expected to present themselves on 29 October when the pre season starts. The volume and intensity will be lifted from 60% to around 75% of the optimum as part of a 3 year plan to get the team up to the standard of the leading clubs. One of the innovations we will see is the introduction of combatative training designed to harden players in mind and body. Naturally there was discussion on players (there was the usual Jack Viney stuff but we need to wait seven days for the outcome) and while I won't elaborate here and now, it's clear that most of the rumours we've been hearing and reading about are simply not true. I can say that we never made a 7 year offer for Cloke and were never seriously interested (for various different reasons) in the four free agents confirmed earlier today (Goddard, Pearce, Chaplin and Knights) or in Lynch or Tippett, nor has there been an offer made for Wellingham. In some cases to bid for these players at 8% of the salary cap is not warranted in the stage at which the club is at present. In short, the rumour files and such threads both here and elsewhere on the Internet are way, way off the mark. Some of the stuff is complete bollocks! The club will get involved in the right deals and we should get what hopefully will be a good mix of 18 year olds and more seasoned players including possibly some from the state leagues but the scuttlebutt and innuendo is just that! Anyway, I just wanted to say well done to the club for keeping us informed. The lack of any sizzling news might disappoint some but I was impressed at how these guys are sticking to what they call their "premiership plans" and persevering undaunted with their programme to rebuild this football club.

If reports are true that Brendon Goddard will lodge the first FA application as soon as tomorrow, it's possible that FA will rid us of the phenomenon of having one deal hold back many ohers waiting for the big one to be done . By removing Goddard early, it might help the other clubs!

THE FAT CHRONICLES - FREE AGENCY by The Oracle Life was so much simpler ten years ago when we had a trade week that lasted, erm, well ... a week. Representatives of the sixteen AFL clubs would meet in the sponsors' boxes at Pricefixer Park on the Monday and that would be followed by seven days of argy bargy mixed with a little subterfuge and deception, stories would abound of players and draft picks changing places and in the end, perhaps a dozen or possibly twenty deals would get done, most of them singularly unspectacular. The result was often one of boredom mixed with disappointment met with a shrug of the shoulders and it was on to the next thing which was the national draft meeting in November. I must have missed something because, while this has been going on, those of us who have carefully watched the shenanigans of trade week have openly advocated that the entire process dragged on over too many days. Everybody was waiting for the action to hot up and reach a hectic, dramatic climax in the last day and a half. The pundits were all saying that the AFL should cut the player exchange period down to three days simply to restore some sanity into the picture. Well, the AFL, being the AFL, has suddenly taken a mysterious U turn following the introduction of free agency and has co-joined that concept with the trade period and extended it out to close on to the whole of the month of October. That's why I call it the "FAT" period, which stands for "Free Agency & Trade". The official AFL Free Agency Period runs from 1 October to 5pm on 19 October while the AFL Trade Period runs from 8 October to 2pm on 26 October. By the time we get to the end of the line on that last Friday of next month many of you will risk being left emotionally and physically wrecked by the twists and turns of the FAT period unless you are properly prepared for the ordeal. I'm here to help you get through this difficult time and to ensure that life remains as uncomplicated as possible during this time. The first thing to remember is the "much ado about nothing" rule which applies to a lot of the AFL's business. Despite the warnings of doom and all the hype about free agency, it's not really going to make a difference to most of our lives. One or two big names might change clubs, a number of hopefuls and lesser lights will get involved and a few of them could find new homes and some aging players will boost their pensions. That's it folks. No great dramas! If you don't believe me, here's the latest list of players available as free agents - Complete list of Free Agents: Restricted Free Agents Angus Monfries (Essendon); Brent Moloney (Melbourne); Troy Chaplin, Danyle Pearce (Port Adelaide); Luke McGuane (Richmond); Brendon Goddard (St Kilda). Unrestricted Free Agents Chris Knights (Adel Crows); Jordan Russell, Bret Thornton (Carlton); Ben Johnson (Collingwood); Ricky Dyson, Dustin Fletcher, David Hille, Nathan Lovett-Murray, Henry Slattery (Essendon); Luke McPharlin (Fremantle); Shannon Byrnes, Josh Hunt (Geelong Cats); Thomas Murphy, Michael Osborne, Clinton Young (Hawthorn); Matthew Bate, Lynden Dunn, Jared Rivers (Melbourne); Brett Ebert, Steven Salopek, Jacob Surjan (Port Adelaide); Jason Blake, Raphael Clarke (St Kilda); Jude Bolton, Jarred Moore (Sydney Swans); Quinten Lynch, Mark Nicoski (West Coast); Will Minson (Western Bulldogs). At a guess, no more than about half of this list is likely to change clubs. The rest will either stay put or retire. With a few exceptions (Brendon Goddard mooted to go to the Bombers very early in the proceedings) the changes are unlikely to represent much more than a blip on the radar although hundreds of articles will be written and thousands of discussions and arguments started on the subject with much time of that time wasted. The rumours, innuendo and scuttlebutt have already been flying around the media and the Internet for several weeks. Fear not and remember "much ado about nothing". Now, I've gone all this way without explaining Free Agency and that is because much of the information about the topic has been released by the AFL in dribs and drabs and if I didn't know better (and I actually don't) I would be saying that they're making it all up as they go. However, for a better understanding of the process, I refer you to FA explained by Luke Holmesby of the AFL's own site. He makes a good fist of it and I'll be back from time to time on an irregular basis to discuss the latest developments of this year's FAT Period. Sit back and enjoy the ride!

I quoted elsewhere on another thread about Jack Watts thread the words of an opposition supporter, Colin Wisbey from the Collingwood supporters Bulletin Board. This is what he said recently about Jack Watts:- I have a lot of time for Wisbey's opinions and agree that the MFC's development of its young players in the past has been nothing short of appalling and that we need to give Watts more time because that is the way with KPPs. The football department under Neeld/Craig/Misson has been together for less than twelve months and while they have been given the commodity of time to get the house in order, I think we need to see some results in 2013 both in respect to Jack Watts and most other aspects of the team's development. I want to see how they get through the coming pre season which the FD promises to be the one that drills them up to close to the same levels that the leading clubs reach every pre season and not the far inferior levels comparatively of the fitness, conditioning and skills work we are told have applied for the past decade. In any event, the challenge is definitely on for Jack and the many other young blokes at the club to demonstrate that they possess a lot more than just raw talent.

We should also thank the moderators on the site (disclosure - I'm one of them ). It's a difficult and often thankless task having to act at times as arbiter of what is and what is not permitted on the site. This is especially so when we go through a season such as the one we've recently experienced (and the one before that). There is no such thing as an uneventful football season but let's hope that the next one will have some more uplifting and exciting stories about them than the last two.

Not to mention a couple to Malceski coming from the bleachers. It's a good point and partly reflects the way the Swans play the game. Their relentless defensive pressure on anyone from the opposition sets this up and certainly made it difficult for the Hawks' small men to exert themselves yesterday.