Cards13

I was definitely not going to go, for the first time in 20 years where I had a choice to go or not (in Vic). Then I went to an MFC function last night and after hearing from a few of the players and from Chris Connolly, I can see that now is not the time to stop supporting the demons. Therefore, I will be there to watch what I am sure will be an ugly game from our perspective.

Fill us in Choko. Positives from the players on Connol's?

whose talking of Smith..I was referring to Danihers Damsels !!

Thats is what I was alluding too though, how many purges do we need to sort it all out?

Ive spoken to others about this..and we agree...there will be no real chnace of a rebuild and going forward til all of the old ways are purged. ...and to do that you need to get rid of any "old way ' player.

Sometimes you dont renovate..you knock down and rebuild...but you can recycle !!

Yea but BB we've got this farken ghost of Norm Smith rubbish and we've never been the same since the schisms of when he was sacked and the MCC and the MFC spliting.. at what point do we purge???

I'm tired of hearing blame for what happened before I was born and what happened with the MCC for where we are at off field and on field.

Lets have a sacrifical purging of all the of the previous issues up until........ now.. no now.... hang on from ....... now...

Seriously there are always teething issues with change. You take the majority of people out the there comfort zone they feel threatened and not in control. The people who are doing there job are the ones who generally move with the times, the ones who [censored] and moan and kick up a fuss are generally the ones who have been not working to full capacity. (notice I said generally)

What the odds of [censored] winning under 39.5?

I will be shopping for a new pair of skiis

I'm after a new tartan rug and thermos set, the last one dear god was ruined during a stampede of cape buffalo on the last hunting expedition. Oh almost dropped the monocle in the earl grey any ho tally ho and pip pip bring it home against those old smelly cats, never been any good since Gogin stopped playing.

am i the only one upset at this?

Anyone going to call tomorrow ?

No mouse not at all. I'd like to get a few facts from the Melb board though. What are our figures, what we are doing to try and reach our target of 30k by the deadline and what our next steps are off the field. Hopefully Paul Macca has a few naswers for us.

I can't believe a bloke like Dr Turf is baggin the club on radio, Farken stand fast Turf. Let us stand as one and present a united front, instead he rips into the board but presents no solutions. If you have issues raise them with Gardner off air you w2nka.

Just reading this on 'ology. Hope it's not true, but wouldn't surprise given recent performances/selections.

An interesting conversation

Paradigm Pete Posted on Tue 01/04/08 08:47:19

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29/06/2005

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Having been overseas on business I have only just managed to watch replays of our first two games. Apart from the skill errors, lack of applied pressure etc, what really stood out was the fact that the players looked (for 6 of the 8 quarters) that they were simply going through the motions.

I then rang my brother-in-law in Melbourne (MFC & MCC member) who told me he had heard the following:

* DB really laid down the law to the players after the pre season games. He interviewed each player seperately and gave those that deserved it, the mother of all sprays.

* A number of the players have "rebelled" and one in particular was made an example of (Colin Sylvia).

* Following the Hawthorn debacle, ANOTHER round of one on ones were held and the players copped it again.

* Moloney fired up and walked out during his session. Newton and Bailey had VERY strong words. Two other players also fired back.

* At half time in the Bulldogs game, specific players were given another burst resulting in an "up yours DB" when the game resumed.

Having just watched both games, that made very logical sense.

From my own point of view, should this be true, I don't mind it at all. The coach has drawn a line in the sand and players either toe the line or cross it and leave.

If that is half true then good on DB. Good on him for keeping it all in doors and showing a public face of one team moving forward whilst giving players who need a push along a spray if needed.

i dont mind robbo as a singer, in fact he will be our only chance of winning something this year!

We've won the toss twice this season!!! <_<

If we continue to get belted by 100 points for the next few weeks, do you think the members,club officials and supporters will continue to grin and bare it? Will any excuse be accepted? What do you think would happen?

Maybe a 3 legged race to show the players how team work, works...

how about our tackling - cannot remember the number of missed tackles or tackles that dropped off but it was far too many from a professional team!!

From another thread I wrote:

I have also never seen a team escort opposing players with the ball the way MFC players do. The doggies and Hawks both smashed us in tackles executed (effective tackles) we so often escort the ball carrier for ten metres before trying to apply pressure allowing them ample space and time to find a target.

We also can't tackle for sh!t, how many times did the doggies break tackles or were able to get arms free to handball to advantage and find a target!! We'd finally corral the player, and they'd slip out a cheeky handball to a player running past, whilst we would turn it over, bang goal!!

So many basics to work on

Anyone notice the run by Ablett the other week.. yes he has skills...but he has protection!! they laid that path for him..if you dont beleive me go watch it again!! Sometimes shepherding is just runnng the path the opposition would want..not even contact !!

We NEVER do this

I saw littl Stokes from Geelong lay a great sheperd on a much bigger Dons player. he got laid out but they got a goal from it!!! We would never see that from a MFC player which is frightening

Ben Holland at Sandy !!

Holland.... as in B Holland... fark off!!!!! Well good for him to bad he is out for a month with a back injury now!

Shepherds ???I saw Benny lay more on in a coupleoof quarters yesterday than the whole of Melbourne in two weeks !!

Benny?

I recall at one point I saw Greeny (not known for his team orientated play) ran next to a MFC player 3 times during one qtr clapping his hands or calling for a hand off, it was over a long meter or two mind, whilst a pack of doggies (pun intended) chased, harrassed and either tackled the stricken MFC player or put enough inffered pressure for the MFC player to turn it over. It was another frustration of a frustrating 2 days of play so far.

Bails speaks of basics but we have not seen any basics played by us as yet... I though you learnt this stuff at junior footy but then again half he players now days have not touched a footy until a couple of years ago playing soccer and b-ball where they learn to run next to each other.

(doffs driving cap and winks..)

Ok now onto soem serious stuff can we offer to help out around the club for some of the areas that Mr M has had issues with? I'm moving to the UK in May but would like to hear from others on here if they have volunteered or offered to volunteer to help around the club somehow? And how it was recieved by the club?

I think we as a club need to recognise we are under resourced as our finances do not allow us to keep large volumes of staff on the books. Also from what I understand the majority of the off field resources have turned over in the last few years under Steve Harris (most of which he hired) so I can inly assume a few things have slipped into the cracks.

We do need to become more professional off the field but maybe we can offer some services to the club for once. Ask not what your MFC can do for you and all that...

because.... why ?? too inept to arrange some ?? Its a valid beef I think.. Often called attantion to detail.

Seems counter productive...oh please pleae come.. but hey we cant be bothered helping you ??

Well hopefully the car park facilities around Casey are a lot better for our next family day...

He's 19, he's played 4 games of AFL.. give him a chance...

The two mistakes on the wing were nto good, but where was the voice from team mates? No where until the ball had gone away when 4 or 5 team mates got stuck into him... He was standing flat footed whilst the lollipop was spooned his way.

He is like Buckley they do some very ave things but we have to stick with them as there is not much else to come in...

Hopefully Maric comes in this week

he looked massive when he came out and I thought wow he might be in for a good year.... He was less than sparkling.

Looked slow, and leg weary as pointed out higher up this thread.

I have also never seen a team escort opposing players with the ball the way MFC players do. The doggies and Hawks both smashed us in tackles executed (effective tackles) we so often escort the ball carrier for ten metres before trying to apply pressure allowing them ample space and time to find a target.

We also can't tackle for sh!t, how many times did the doggies break tackles or were able to get arms free to handball to advantage and find a target!! We'd finally corral the, and they'd slip out a cheeky handball to a player running past, whilst we would trun it over, bang goal!!

ahh oh wise one ..yo have spotted our flaw !! we're static.. unbeleivably so I feel. Behind the goals you would have noticed that both ends of our ( what passes for a team ) dont move !! they don tlead.. they dont present.. they dont second guess where the play is going and so set up a link move. No when they do decide to move..after a cuppa nd some scones it seems they all amble off holding hands !! They are that close that any handball is counterproductive or any kick a furphy !

You see they have to point fingers...as they have all been struck down mute !!

WOW how easy is it to spot!! The Doggies and Hawks players (not just forwards) all moved well through the leading zone (50-60m in front of a player with the ball).

They would lead then got out of the leading zone to allow another player/s to lead through it or players broke off for a switch.. Melb just stand there and point. It is so frustrating to see our basic level of footy smarts is so low and that our fitness levels are so low as to not allow the players to make ANY leads after half time lead alone a player leading multiple times in one play.

Talk, blocking, sheperds, leads, not running into traffic all basic's of footy the MFC really has struggled with this year. How can an AFL side not do this, we even get trained to do these things at local footy...

QUOTE(IWAP @ Mar 28 2008, 09:35 AM)

While it sounds like a good development for the club

I've got to wonder how the players feel about driving all that extra distance on a daily basis Quote

uh oh less time on the play station or in the hair salon or shopping for pastel t-shirts on Chapel st....

That is a good start for the rebuiling off field, now lets see how they start to get the players out into the community to get those young 'uns onboard with us!

School visists, shopping mall sing alongs....

I thought i'd be doing MFC a favour by bringing two people who moved down from Sydney to their first AFL match, as they wanted to take an interest in footy

Unfortunately they are now Hawthorn supporters

I thought the same, I took one from Brissie, two irish and two south africans and they are all now hawk fans ffs.

I'm moving over to the UK in May so have brought a full membership and will be going to all games I can before I head off but can you give me some details on volunteering around the club. I mean what can the ave fan do to help out besides the usual turning up, membership and the like?

I'm an avid footy supporter and I don't barrack for the Demons................I'm still here, haven't been struck by lightning or anything else since I said that. I go to my team's AFL matches every week, and I have also joined my local VFL club - the Casey Scorpions and go to the Scorps matches each week.

While I will never renounce my AFL club loyalty, I will certainly take out a membership of the Demons if they move to Casey Fields and become Casey's AFL team. So will many people in the south-east. The sense of identity is greater in the outer suburbs which are more self-contained than the inner/middle suburbs which have great public transport, are close to each other and activities which are undertaken are spread across numerous suburbs.

The sense of identity, and the support this would bring to a local AFL club, should not be underestimated. There are many posters on this forum that I have noticed are strongly supportive of the Casey Fields option. Keep up the support - it is MFC's lifeline to the future.

Thank you sir or madam. Your voice sounds a little different to some of the Sandy supporters we have seen around here. I must say I support the option to move our summers to Casey. We have to think out of left field here, the traditional way of doing things has not worked for us one reason or the other.

We need to do 3 things:

Understand our current supporter base

Find a way we can attract a new supporter base not in our traditional "heartland" (where ever the fark that is)

Find out what WE can do for the club

1) Our current supporters - who are they and how can we attract them back to our games on w eekly basis even if we are loosing

2) New supporters - Is Casey a viable opption for us, will we get a Return on Invesment from a supporter point of view and to a lesser extent $$ point of veiw

3) What can we offer to the club to help them out, obviously the club has FTE's (full time employees) but can we assist them in any way, be it through ideas generation, through offering volunteer support, through corporate opportunites, sponsorship, whatever it is, lets us get a ground swell of Melbourne people to start offering our help to the club instead of pissing and moaning about our plight. Lets see if we can be part of the solutions.

If you saw Robbo's interview he looked shattered and embarrassed. People assume that the players don't give a sh%$ becasue we lost so badly. They're hurting and embarrassed, for the simple fact that at this point in time everyone thinks they are sh*& footballers.

How would you feel if someone flat out said that you are terrible at your job? You'd feel like crap, regardless if you like your job or not. At least they can go out next week and beat the hell out the opposition (within the rules of course).

Looked shattered? he looked like he would rather be any where else than have to explain that insipid display (which is fair enough too).

Where was the fire in the eyes, the brimstone coming from the voice box, the fist banging on the compisite plastic desk he was sitting behind to show us they are going to come out firing?

Show us you mean it, don't just trott out the jargon.

Aye Krazy Jay...I refer to you to my avatar, this practice may be added to the training regime

Even Robbo's explanations were half hearted like the play on the field. There was no fire in his eyes to show he meant any of what he said, it sounded like he was reading a prepared script and didn't believe a word of it.

If you're going to have a press conference and trott out passe, irrelevant, prepared rubbish at least look like you believe it and look like you think things will change next week ffs!

We can handle losses, we can handle a lost season if we see a red hot effort by all 22 people on the field and by all in the media, not the rubbish we have served up this past week. Bails we're behind you but stick it up these blokes!

I think he was at Geelong before Melb but he left on very bad terms there. Couldn`t agree more otherwise. The Cats seem to have improved a bit since he left too !

The guy from geelong was Larrice Borterelli or something similar.

Thanks to all that have replied as it makes me understand that my pain is shared by many

Sun came up today but the feeling is still as strong as yesterday. I have read with great interest the varying degrees of reaction to yesterday and may I congratulate all those that have a tried to remain positive I salute your attitude. Sorry I cant share it with you at the moment.

Before I finish the pain with round one and look forward to redemption in round two can I make comment about the players response today

1. - Can we please have players who deserve the opportunity to speak ie the ones who have a red hot go , Jonesy, Macca etc and not Russell Robertson !!!!

2. - Robbo I will give you the benefit of the doubt because the media beautifully find away of editing what they want people to hear but I wanted to hear more - The skills weren't great and I will grant you that but first things first - ACCOUNTABILITY WHEN WE DONT HAVE THE BALL THAT IS CHASING, MANNING UP, VOICE AND LEADERSHIP, WHEN A FIFTY FIFTY CONTEST DESIRE, PASSION, ENTHUSIASM (from the first bounce), HEAD OVER THE BALL and LEADERSHIP.

Two buzz words ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEADERSHIP AND WE DONT HAVE EITHER.

Thats it. No more from me about yesterday and bring on the doggies on this week.

Mate so well put... ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEADERSHIP. Two things we always seem to lack at this once great club. I can not think of one player who showed that on Sunday. No sheperding at all, I recall on 3 occasions Green running next to one of our players who had the ball calling for a hand off instead of looking to sheperd for the player with the ball. The ball carrier turned it over each time as they were either tackled or put under pressure by the pack of chasing hawkers.

Terrible signs in the qtr time huddle as well. When the head coaches were delivering there speeches, the hawks were in close and tight as one, as a team. The dees were spread out not wanting to be near each other even that looked so poor from us. So frustrating yet we have to do it all again for the next 21 weeks. Lets hope by the half way point a few of the younger ones are stepping up, and showing the supporters they have got the heart and desire the senior group clearly do not!!!!

I'm flying out to live in eurpe in early May so will miss the majority of the season brothers and sisters but I hope you all stay strong and keep the support going as the club needs us now more than ever!