Its Time for Another

Here's food for thought. The footy gods have a way of making wheels turn in mysterious ways.

Scully had a knee injury in his final junior year and couldn't start training when he first came to the Dees. What if this latest knee injury is the next in a permanent line of knee problems. If we can't stop him from going to GWS, we will get a major bonus pick in the first round of the draft. I could see a strong argument for a first pick to replace him. We might end up with a gun player and he could end up at GWS and be a crock. Who knows. But like others I'm getting a bit over this topic. Good luck to anyone who wants to play with them after watching GC this year, who are going to be much better set up with better established players and juniors.

Dane Swan another highly touted GWS target, who has to be worth a lot more than Scully at this point, has just signed long term but Scully's management continue to leave Scully unsigned till the end of the year. Makes you wonder. Surely this is ammunition for the club to put pressure on his management if he is fair dinkum about wanting to stay.

I think someone already said in another post that he was an emergency so was at the 'G ready to go in case another player pulled up sore during the warm-up given that Moloney was already likely to pull out (and earmarked to be replaced by Jones) and hence didn't play for Casey.

His knee is still a bit of an issue so maybe they are giving him a bit of R & R

Wrong. Each team does not have to give up a "out of contract player" ... Its the Gold Coast option if they want to take an un-contracted player. Massive, massive difference.

Scotty Clayton is already on record as saying they are looking to "target" about 8-10 players as "un-contracted players".

The rules have changed mate haven't you been following? We now go to an arbitration committee and the team is compensated by the rate of pay GOLD COAST dictate to pay the player. Plus the catch is also the pick is massively devalued if you want to use it in the next two drafts? However, why would you ...they are both going to be massively devalued drafts? If we offer our players nothing wonder what the gold coast have to offer them?

"He is out of contract at the end of this year but the Cats will be compensated with a very high draft pick if he goes to GC even though he is out of contract." Every player is treated on a case by case basis. Sorry you cant compare the compensation Geelong will receive to any other player in the league.

Last time I looked the Cats are doing their best to talk their players up ... not ship them off.

They do have to give them up if GC want them. And yes I have been following that's the point of my post. It's crap its based on the rate of pay, it is a whole lot of factors. Agreed you can't compare what Geelong will get for Ablett to anyone else but as you say, compensation is on a case by case basis. Miller has a lot of experience and is a rare key position player. In other teams who don't have the young players we now have taking positions in the forward line, he would be very likely to get a game after 10 goals. He may have a very important role to play in a developing young side without any hard bodied KPP's. His value on a case by case basis might be worth more to GC than it is to us and therefore worth a decent draft pick. The fact the draft is stuffed is a different issue. Some great players have been picked up late in drafts. Eg Cameron Bruce, Bartrom, Ryan O'Keefe, Adam Goodes etc etc etc. A half decent draft pick is not worthless.

Because under the draft rules for next year. Each team has to give up an out of contract player to GC and will get compensation in return. Where have you been. Haven't you been following what's happening with Geelong and G Ablett. He is out of contract at the end of this year but the Cats will be compensated with a very high draft pick if he goes to GC even though he is out of contract.

How did he do that? I would have thought if he "wasn't" already on the Suns radar he sure as hell is now!!!

The Suns can pick him up for NOTHING ... so How does that boost his trade value?

If he goes there with comments like yours I dont blame him. Loyalty & respect is a two way street.

I think he's just shown how loyal he is to the red and blue. Just like Brock. Brock realised he wouldn't get a game going forward, so he set up a sensational win for us and got us pick 11. Now Brad has stepped up and kicked 10 goals against the team that gets to pick an out of contract player from each team and the team gets compensated. Why wouldn't GC be hungry for him after that performance and we get a nice draft pick when otherwise we would have delisted him for nothing. It's a win/win for everyone. He gets to extend his career which otherwise would almost certainly have been over, GC get a mature bodied forward to help the kids, we get a draft pick we wouldn't have otherwise got. Thanks Brad is what I say.

Does anyone know what happens in 2011. Is 2010 the only year they get all these priorities. If it is only 2010 then I wonder if the same regime is going to apply to West Sydney in 2011 which would be the year before they are due to enter the draft.

God help the teams who are bottoming out in the next two years and desperately need top draft picks in 2010 and 2011. They are going to be at least two years behind in rebuilding. Probably more. The Tigers, Nth and Freo probably have the biggest rebuilds to do during these drafts. Port. Also probably Collingwood. I guess Essendon, although they have started the rebuild but still have an old goal to goal line. Lloyd, Luca, Fletcher. Who all like they will be there next year. Maybe not Lucas. The Swans will be in major rebuilding phase by 2011 when the likes of Hall, O'Loughlin, Kirk, Barry plus others are gone. Most of the other teams have probably bottomed and have been rebuilding for a while.

I'm flying down from Sydney and can't wait.

I would love one of our 4 wins to be against the filth. Oh what a pleasure.

this year l have found myself after the games happy with how we are going. l know that we all want wins at the end of the day but we are starting to show something.

we are so young and starting to stand up to the other teams. we just look like the team needs maybe 2 more years to be right back up there.

l just look at Geelong , St kilda , Hawthorn of last year, Bulldogs and the blues as a blue print to wear we are going .

I love how he is coaching for the future and prepared to take the short term pain. There is no better example of this than playing Maric last week despite the fact that the week before was one of the worst games I have seen an MFC player play. Most other coaches would have dropped a player for such a bad game. The result was a superb game by Maric with 100% disposal efficiency. Unrecognisable as the player from the week before. Great for the player, great for the coach, great for the future.

I still think he should do the same with Newton. Give him a solid period to prove himself or bury himself. If after say 4-6 weeks he doesn't cement his place then drop him forever but give him enough games to decide his future.

Clubs that have one total only show their match day members. Match day members are the only ones the AFL recognises when it does its official membership tallies around the end of june.

So Bulldogs only have around 26,000 compared to our 30,000.

Does anyone know how the MCC/MFC memberships are counted. There are $50 and $150 memberships. Do they both count. How do they compare to a game day membership for other clubs. Obviously they aren't worth as much, so how does the 30,000 members translate to income for the club compared to other clubs memberships.

Anyone know?

What picks are kept and what are traded will depend on who is there to take in the slim draft. If we have 1 & 2 it is a no brainer that we will take Scully and Butcher they fill in two important gaps. After that it depends on whether draftees are better than who we would replace. You wouldn't delist just for the sake of it.

That wasn't my example - it was yours. Yes the current Hawks have a very successful two pronged KF attack, but its no longer a necessity. Football has moved on a hell of a long way since the Lions, let only the 80s.

The Hawks were fortunate to have the calibre of availabke KFs they had in 2004. I can't think of many other elite KFs who have gone early in recent drafts - to nab 2 at once is being struck up the arse by a rainbow.

If we draft 2 elite KFs over 2 years we'll also be falling on our feet.

I'm not sure they will help with the lack of inside class we have. None of our inside midfielders consistently hurt the opposition once they have the ball. If that's not rectified, I don't hold much hope for players like Strauss and Blease to be feed enough to do damage of their own.

KF's are much harder to get than mid sized midfielders who can run. I'd go Butcher first every time. Look what we achieved with our midfield 3rd and 5th picks in 2004. At this stage you would have to worry that either of them are going to have great careers. Sylvia looks like he doesn't want to continue and Brock has just got very very slow and isn't contributing to the level we had all hoped.

Thanks for the tip for this. Have downloaded the app and the ringtone. I'm in Sydney so slightly shielded from ridicule for my current suffering. But I'm wearing the heart on the sleeve and proud to be announced every phone call.

Hi all.

For those of you with an iPhone this AussieRules app is perfect. I just downloaded it this morning.

http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore...re?id=304037695

• latest news from the Dees
• latest news from around the league
• live scores
• live ladder
• results and upcoming matches
• head-to-head team comparison

all in a very neat and tidy app.

plus all the proceeds go to the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal until March 7.

In the report is the following comment:

The value of the Community Partnership has been independently established by a consultant experienced in sports and community programs.

The Council has got a consultant to put a value on the various things MFC will do in the community (value for players attending etc, which can be readily valued by people experienced in those things it seems).

While there is no doubt some direct cost involved in some of the program components, most of it would be "in-kind" involving no actual expenditure by MFC.

A win-win!!

I must say you are making me feel a bit more confident about the thinking behind the move. I can see how a comprehensive Community Program like the one proposed is likely to lead to a development of memberships. It is a big investment if it doesn't generate that though. It's interesting as the MFC has never really been based around a community because it is based at the MCG. So it makes you realise how hard it has been to generate a following without this sort of community involvement. It would be interesting to know how much impact this sort of program has had on the membership development for other clubs. I wonder if that has been a factor in their move to Waverly and the big increase in their membership. Same for Freo where Schwab took their membership from 12-14,000 when he started to something like 46,000 now.

Go to the 5 August Council meeting at

http://www.casey.vic.gov.au/meetings/artic...?Item=11233#aug

You can read the Council report in the “agenda” download, with the details of the community program in the “attachments” part. It is in Casey’s Communities Item 1.

Wow, Casey Scorp you are right on top of this. Thanks so much for that. I will circulate that to a few people I know who are interested. Very interesting that the Council have valued the MFC Community Partnership contribution as $653,000 per year for ten years. I wonder how they have arrived at that sum. Whether that is a $ cost the MFC have to outlay or whether they have put a cost on the value of the MFC players doing community work. The later is ok but the former would be a major issue for the club in it's current financial state which is likely not to materially change over the next few years.

You are correct if it is congested. However, my comment was in relation to uncongested, free-flowing times (which really is most of the time).

Thanks for the responses guys. Much appreciated. If travel times are limited to that then it makes a lot more sense.

Lets get those Casey members happening.

I was at the Players Circle event at the "G" last weekend and Schwab spoke briefly. He is very much about getting the right business plan in place. It will be interesting to see what his business plan is and what his view is about Casey. From memory he has said a few positive things about it but if he doesn't like the idea I wonder what will happen.

I spoke to someone last week who did their MBA with him and who said he would be a great CEO. That was during the period between him saying he wasn't going to take the job and before he said he would. He said Schwab lives and breaths footy. Was obsessed with it. He said every business scenario he came up with was a footy example. I think he's going to be great. Will be very interesting to see how they set about engaging with the Casey area and how effective they are at generating memberships.

Hi Casey Scorp,

I would love to get some info from you. I live in Sydney now and I'm not familiar with what impact the new freeways have had to the travel from the city to Casey.

I have a few question marks about the Casey move. How long does it take to get from the City to Casey. I'm just wondering how much travelling the players are going to have to do each day there and back. Are there a lot of tolls involved.

I'm also wondering in reverse how long it will take potential new supporters from Casey to get to the MCG for MFC games. Assuming that new membership is one of the key strategic reasons for moving to Casey over the summer I am wondering, in your opinion, as you live out there, how many people with young families would be likely to start commuting to Melbourne to watch MFC games. I just remember how unpopular and difficult the trip out to VFL Park from the city was and this is a much longer trip.

My other issue is probably a mute point in the short term but in the long term it seems more teams are looking at going back to having their own reserves teams because it gives them greater control in their players development. For example Newton has had a bad deal at Sandy because Sauntner has been the full forward so his development as a Full Forward has been hampered. Same would have applied to Jack Watts if we get him and had been still affiliated with Sandy. I wonder where it leaves us if in say five years we are up and firing and get our own Reserves team.

Things seem very quiet on this subject.

In any Melbourne articles in the papers there doesn't seem to be much mention of Casey Fields.

Hope it's all still on-track, and there's an announcement soon.

11 years. Its was the second year I started as a premium member (Cpt Club)

The past 11 consecutive an MFC member while living in Sydney and also MCC member. Before that. 1973 to 1982 consecutive MFC. Then 1983 to present MCC member.

The hard thing about Sylvia has been his persistent history of injuries. It's harsh to assess his attitude or achievements so far because of this. He had his first full pre season this year and although injured early in the season he seems to be showing the benefits of being injury free. If he's over his OP then watch this space. It's really time for him to step up and he seems to be starting to do that.

Spot on. Strawb's was the one genuine ruckman out of the three because he had the height. Both Stynes and White are short for ruckmen and had to rely on athleticism. I think White is the better tap ruckman of the two. His leap more than compensated his height. Jimmy was solid without having the leap. But Jimmy was harder at the contest around the ground and I would say definitely more consistent during the game and during the season. Whitey has been very inconsistent over the years and often has periods where he has a slump. Jimmy could impose himself on a game in a way Whitey has rarely done. Without a doubt Jimmy exceeded all expectations and got the maximum out of himself whereas of course White had huge expectations but I wouldn't say he will retire and be able to say he got the absolute maximum out of his talents.

Yeah he did. He was our best player in the 88 debacle. They only played the one year together (98) and Whitey finished fourth in the B&F. For what it's worth, i reckon the best genuine ruck we have had in the last 20 years was Strawbs O'Dwyer. He was sensational in 87 and 88. Won the B&F the year we made the Granny, played for the Big V and unfortunately got rubbed out in the Prelim in 88. Bad knees got him within a couple of years. Out of Stynes and White, I'd take Jimmy.

Please stop Talking about this Game..It still makes me Sick to the Bone to be reminded of it. I was there at the big scoreboard end. I saw it all and certainly do not wish to be reminded of it. Seeing R Flower in the Goal square with a busted Collar Bone. Michael Tuck had his arm around him as Buckenarra Kicked.

Bring me a mercendol and a red wine Please!

Couldn't agree more. That's where I was standing. That last kick out and passage of play to Buckenara was in sickening slow motion at the time with a horrible feeling of inevitability. I've never got over it. Please talk about anything but. Believe me, you do not want to see this game. I still reckon we would have got smashed by an even greater margin than the following year, if we'd made it. There were massive injuries from that game and the GF was played in a freakish, energy sapping 31oC.

No they are actually pretty good.

Can't believe you could possibly think you can begin to compare Miller with Hall. Hall is a footballer. Miller is not. Hall knows how to read the play, where to go to get the ball, how to look up and see better options and kick to them. Has become an outstanding kick for goal, especially under pressure, is one of the best in the league at taking contested possessions. Has an engine that very few opponents can match. Miller is just a big worry. No football smarts. He's been given more than a fair opportunity to develop them and he hasn't and won't. Bailey gave him the benefit of the doubt for this season, but he must realise that he has none of Halls ability and is taking the place of others who are footballers. Lynden Dunne, Bate, Newton.

I spoke to a major sponsor who said he had been told by a Carlton Board Member, mid last year, Judd was definitely going there this year.

I don't want to tempt the footy Gods, but here are the list of casualties for the year so far before a single premiership match is played:

Nick Malceski Swans - ACL (Season)

Paul Haselby Dockers - ACL (Season)

Brad Dick Pies - ACL (Season)

Kristen Thornton Swans - Knee (Season)

Farren Ray Bulldogs - Cracked Fibula (6-8 weeks)

Brad Fisher Blues - Broken Thumb (8 Weeks)

Fraser Gherig Saints - Calf (3 weeks) - I'd think this is extremely optimistic.

I see the Saints are saying Max Hudgton is OK, but he looked to grab his Hammy to me...

Also Nathan Grima rookie listed Kangaroo defender. Gone for the season.

I really hope Rivers is right to go! He's the keystone of our defense. We are a totally different unit when he plays.

If Whelan is our only injury for round 1, we can give the Hawks a real shake I reckon!

Could DB and BB actually be genius's and have almost our full list right for round 1? (Granted there is a lot that can go wrong between now and then)

Need a win this week with all the boys coming back; get a bit of momentum.

If they are responsible for no injuries they aren't genuises they are the messiahs.

At least we aren't sharing one of the five players who's season's are over already. None as bad as Eduardo, the soccer player. What a shocking injury.