The Emblem

YM does seem to have it in for the Bayside Mousey...not from there myself, have sporadically visited bayside Melbourne and can report back that visa / passports etc not required for the trip. Although in order to be granted residency a BMW M5 and blonde wife do appear to be mandatory. YM, it seems your hearts in the right place, however we all need to recognise that MFC needs a lot of marketing savvy now! So far the lack of promotion of the MFC and our 150th suggests that "things are crook in Tallarook" as far as head office cohesion is concerned. Footy is a business and the strongest clubs usually have the best administration. Geelong sorted this out a couple of years ago and look what happened!

Aye.. the stats have a lie embedded in them..."winning the ruck contest" as opposed to "winning the ruck contest to effect". A great tap ruckman can give his midfielders an armchair ride...just slapping the ball anywhere doesn't. Don't buy into the "modern trend" arguement about modern ruckmen...its just means there aren't a lot of outstandingly high quality tap ruckmen around at the moment.

Caroline Ferguson Traffic Chick on 3AW and Magic FM Also has Saturday Night 3AW show with Mike Brady during the summertime. She loves the Dee's

Very hard to judge our midfield coaches because our ruck stocks aren't what we would like them to be. Whitey got legislated out of the game with the ruck circle. PJ is just getting back from a bad injury...so insufficient time to judge. The Russian is serviceable but not dominating. Meeson looks like he plays more like a tall Ruckrover / 3rd ruck option The future blueprint of AFL ruckman now looks to be 200cm + giants...we have one, but he's 18 years old. Until we develop our ruck stocks our midfielders will invariably be playing catch-up / sharking contests

Well spotted

Whoever plays at CHF they must have the ability to kick a bag of 3 to 4 on more then the odd occaison. Whilst Frosty's kicking for goal did improve towards the end of last year it still makes me nervous. The Master is a good a good kick for goal and as MFC4life notes Bater does have a good motor so can play the link man role well. So with our current list Bater as a stop-gap measure CHF may work and therefore I agree withMFC4Life's view that "Bate is the closest player with have to a CHF at the moment", Jarka - your point is valid too, in an ideal world we'd have a power CHF and we'd play Bater as a flanker. I'm pretty freaking agreeable today...sickening isn't it!

1. Jared Rivers 2. Brock McLean 3. Scott Thompson 4. Cameron Bruce 5. Nathan Jones

I'm not sure I agree with you furious. When it comes to focus is quality that matters. Being engaged in "healthy" non-footy activities can probably help a player more then hinder. Robbo could "sing underwater with a mouthfull of marbles", its that easy for him so I can't see it being a big issue. I'd be more worried of he was on dancing with the stars because this would require a lot more time and physical exhertion. or put is this way...I'm far more concerned about his knees then his tonsils!

Oui DD...I think going for the "best available player" should be "best available to suit club's future requirements" [and yes I do remember the Luke Molan disaster but who knew he was going to break?]. Our biggest hole is CHF [Rivers is a natural HBF doing a great job as a makeshift CHB and can only manage to do so because he reads the game so magnificantly]. With a great young developing CHF we could have left Newton to develop as a specialist FF [and we still might]. Thats why I was so keen on Lachie Henderson. He is a genuine power CHF prospect and as I've said before they are as rare as rocking horse poo. Plug Hendo into the equation and our future spine starts looking like: Frawley, Martin, McLean, Henderson, Newton. Looks a bit promising that...throw in a young gun ruckman and we're starting to cook with gas. P.S. Morton will probably now go on to play 250 AFL games and win the Bluey Truscott 3 times

Well said Dappa Dan...we need players that can OWN the position. Trying to pick our best side by R22...its tough, because we have a lot of players who can "sort of" play here and there...so we shuffle them around and end up with no cohesion. You used a fine example - the Cats - clinical side based on a good ruck division and great spine: Scarlett, Harley, Bartel, Mooney...and could even afford to play some other bloke who may or may not have wanted to be FF anyway!. A great spine, thats why the development of our younger KP brigade is so important - KP backman Frawley, Martin, McNamara, KP midfielders, Grimes, and Valenti, and KP forwards Newton and Zomer. Get this right and and with McLean, Jones, Bartram, Rivers, Pettard Dunn, Bate, Bell, Buckley, and yes Bruce & Green our future starts looking a lot brighter! So come mid 2009 Bell Frawley McNamara Rivers Martin Pettard Bruce McLean Bartram Bate Newton Davey Green Zomer Maric R: White, Jones, Grimes I/C Meeson, Moloney, Dunn, Morton.C Apologies to Sylvia, Buckley, Valenti etc

Marvellous Post That Sydney Pennksi

I was thinking the AFL would schedule either Broome, Torres Straits or East Timor!

5 most loathed players and given that its Oscars night - their most appropriate movie roles... Matthew Lloyd, a.k.a. "the Guppy"...slawjawed moron...suggested movie role: dead heat between a role in "Deliverance, or just as a Stuka Pilot in "Battle of Britain" Alan Didak...sheer flith....should be a movie actress, suggested movie role "Riding in Cars With Boys" Buddy Franklin...the Ben Cousins of the Eastern seaboard...FIGJAM...suggested movie role "Blow" Stephen Mile...quintessential little [censored]...suggested movie role...any sick violent Japansese adult movie Rocca...a.k.a Rock Ape....suggested movie role: "Return to the Planet of the Apes" On a more positive note, 5 most admired players from other clubs [in no particular order]: 1. Marty Clarke...its not his fault he went to Collingwood, being Irish how was he supposed to know? 2. Scott Lucas...I know a lot of you would hate him because he's a bomber, but how many players out there can play CHF & CHB and turn a game like he can? 3. Scott Thompson...great midfielder and sad when he left us, still we should have known he would have got homesick for that traffic light in Adelaide 4. Adam Goodes...class, work ethic, think he;s a gem 5. Jimmy Bartel...great combination of work ethic, class and humility

I agree with you Robbie F...Green leading out of the forward pocket causes far more headaches for the Opposition. I'd rather see him used their with the odd short burst in midfield to help freshen up our midfield rotations.

True enough...tall power forwards dont grow on tree's...and yet Lachie Henderson "the big boy from Birregurra" was happy enough to go to the Dee's and we passed up on the opportunity...barring serious injury I think we will rue missing out on him for a long time to come...future AFL captain! P.S. I'm not having a go at Cale Morton...is just that high quality CHF types are as rare as rocking horse poo!

Mousey for PM

Better still, Judd stays fit. Cartel Football Club comes 9th 3 years in a row...missing the finals on percentage only. A frustrated Judd leave's CFC for MFC and plays in 2011 MFC premiership side...our second premiership in a row.

One thing to keep in mind when reviewing the merits of the current board was that upon getting their feet under the desks they opened the said desk drawers to find monster unpaid ATO bills. Given that they were dropped in the proverbial I think that overall they have done a good job in getting the club going again [the handling of Neil Daniher's departure aside]. Not to say the job's finished yet, but I'm happy enough with their efforts thus far, so I hope the rumours prove to be unfounded.

Why's that...dont they have their Scuba licences?

If the line up for the NAB cup and reading between the lines of the Sean Wellman interview still hasnt got the message through...this is a football department that is planning for success over the next three years and is willing to take the painful steps necessary to build a formidable team. You cannot build a formidable team when your supposedly "best" players do not consistently put in...that sends a message that's like a cancer throughout the entire club. I fully expect us to develop into a tough, tight unit under this football department. And although we may cop the odd hiding along the way, it think it wont be long before we can leave the "soft demons" tag well behind us.

Rivers McLean Jones Bate Dunn Bell Bartram [assuming he can come back fit] Davey Pettard Newton

Yes the clinical Kitty's clawed us until we were clueless...speaking of clueless - what about that away guernsey? Well done to Martin, Garland, Buckley and Valenti who all showed something. Strap yourselves in for a rollercoaster ride this season, we will cop the odd thumping but also pull of a some great wins, and come the end of the season we will have a much better developed list, and if thats not enough for you... We still have the best song and jumper [season proper that is]

or Trade, if he loses form [although I doubt it, he's a gun] had Guantanamo as a nickname for Cheney, probably too cryptic for most, well done to whoever came up with "Chainsaw" thats a ripper. Ossie Won-me-over? Who is pencil? is it Cale Morton? maybe we should call Cale Penicillin - because he's got everything!