Deeoldfart

He's had his best pre-season to date, and has featured amongst better players in each of the NAB and Challenge games. He's definitely no hack, and if he remains relatively injury free he'll have a big year .... probably spending a fair bit of the time in the midfield.

Goodonya! We mightn't entirely agree on the interpretation of the article, but we BOTH hope I'm right.

I'd prefer to put a positive spin on it. It confirms (to me at least) that we are heading in the right direction. The future looks bright under the new regime.

I only recently discovered DEMONLAND and regret that I didn't come across it years ago. You guys are doing a great job ... keep up the good work! $$ on the way.

......... and if I were a potential sponsor of an AFL club, I would be looking to market my brand through a club whose personnel get mentioned in the media for all the RIGHT reasons ..... not a string of (albeit) 'minor' indescretions.

Yep ...... and Bails has also shown that he intends to instill a bit of much needed discipline around the place. He's also said that 'names' won't matter when it comes to team selection. I reckon he'll be true to his word on this one as well.

A totally appropriate response from he Club .... and if Brock hears and responds appropriately to the 'message' that this should send to him, he will thank them for it sometime down the track. It's all very well being young and free-spirited, but players, and particularly aspiring captains, need to show discipline both on and off the field, regardless of their age. Hopefully for Brock and the MFC, the messages will start to sink in before he oversteps the mark once too often. Bails said from the outset that players could be promoted to, or dropped off the leadership group during the season. It's an honour to be part of the leadership group at such a wonderful club, and Brock needs to demonstrate that he is worthy of such an appointment by keeping his name out of the newspapers for the wrong reasons. If he can do this over a sustained period, the likelihood is that he will one day captain our great club. Go Dees!!

Hopefully this doesn't include those who signed up at the Family Day ..... maybe these are still waiting to be processed or something (he said very optimistically). However, I was there for most of the day, and I certainly don't recall more than a trickle of people lined up at the membership tent. The current figure of 18,581 is an increase of only 404 from the figure that sat on the MFC website for several weeks before the recent update. Come on Dees fans .... get on board!!

Brilliant 'WJ'! And our game is so much the better for the participation of those mentioned, and their brothers in other teams.

Great post Diablo. Many thanks for the effort and insights on behalf of other Demonlanders. Some questions about the contributions of specific players: Bell & Petterd? Where did Flash spend most of his time, forward, midfield, pine? THANKS AGAIN!

Agree. I like him a lot. I can see him playing a similar role to Burton (Adelaide), and if he can be as productive for us, we are on a winner.

Couldn't have said it better! Round 1, or even round 5 will give us a better indication of where we are at. The season hasn't even started and the knockers have us dead and buried. I'm still optomistic.

Totally agree. Just a sensational effort guys. Thanks!!

Nice to read some fact combined with a good measure of common sense. If we could select our list based on hindsight, we'd have the best 40 in the land, and be premiers every year!

That's great D77. The best news I've heard for ages. Many thanks for the post!!

Well done Mousey! I wish there were more like you amongst our 'fair weather' supporters. I have lived in Canberra for the last 38 years and I'm a Platinum Member of the mighty MFC. I was lucky enough to live through the glory years of the 1950's and early 1960's and I can tell you its a great feeling. I hope its not too long before you experience it first hand! Go Dees!1

Its a pity such a wonderful servant of the Club that has been a key member of its golden success could be subject to some of the vitriol and condemnation by supporters.

Totally agree ..... great servants, but they probably havn't lived up to the very high expectations we put on them in their early years. Unfortunately, we have lacked true champions for far too long, and we havn't had enough 'great servants' to adequately fill the breach.

Yep..... But still no Neitz, Bartram, Mclean, Rivers, Wheatley, Whelan and Dunn who havn't had a serious hitout so far this pre-season, as well as Buckley, White, Robbo who all had a run at the cattery. Hopefully a large part of this is just about player management before the start of the season proper.

Pride in performance. Every player, week in / week out!

Yep. I have that gut-feeling as well.

Totally agree. It's only mid-February for God's sake, and some of our brothers and sisters seem to be writing-off the season. I saw enough from a few of the kids today, to suggest that they might push for senior selection by season's end ..... and as they grow out of their teenage bodies in the years ahead, I'd be surprised if they don't become very good 150+ game players for the MFC.

Some of us in this part of the world have been calling him BRUSH since he arrived on the scene a couple of years ago. This nickname also matched last year's hairstyle, but not this year's, which is only a tad longer than Chunk's.

Thanks PW. I think you've captured it well. My only comments are: I reckon that Valenti was right up there with the other onballers Jones, Moloney and Buckley Dunn only walked the boundary before the practice match (as he did at training on Wednesday). I hope his groin is no more than a niggle, because he looks to be in fantastic physical shape and Bails has been strong in his praise for him since taking over.

Agree with Timmy's assessment. Obviously not as strong or as physical as Byron, but none-the-less, I thought his strong defensive pressure, chasing and tackling were a real feature of his play yesterday .