The Great Pretender

You read this?Why Melbourne can turn it around sooner than you think, writes Paul Roos Certainly sounds excited about our future but is he coming?

He did get somewhere but his report's now locked up in the vault.

Pick 1 & Watts for Yarran, Betts, Bell & Carlton's first pick.

After this round I appreciate how puerile the umpires are these days.

Sack Jackson. We can't win a game with him at the helm.

No accident or a right royal blunder?

The other possibility is that the information was leaked by the AFL which would have received those notes from the club. As we saw during the tanking enquiry, there were allegations that the AFL and even the investigators were not averse to leaking information when it suited them.

Invariably, that and opinion are what it all boils down to in many cases. There's no such thing as absolute truth and we're all entitled to hold opinions and views but just don't do harm (Galen).

Were you awake over the last five years?

Bollocks.We were told after the outcome of the tanking investigation was announced that the senior counsel representing both the AFL and the MFC had given advice to their respective clients that a charge of tanking could not be sustained if it was taken to the Supreme Court. Those views were formed after reading the evidence of all of the witnesses in the case including the stories put forward by the disgruntled ex-employees. The fact that they gave short shrift to their stories suggests that the evidence of Bailey, Connolly etc. was given more weight. Now what's this about you being privy to what Wilson and the AFL knew and what were their sources?

Judging by what I'm reading here, I think you have a story to tell about this but you're not telling so why not fill us in on what you know?I've read what was said to be Dean Bailey's version of what happened at the vault and it differs markedly from the one attributed to the welfare officers and the recruiting person who had all been sacked by the club before they gave their evidence. I suppose you're suggesting Bailey lied?

Very cute. Yes. Schwab's a ventriloquist and he put those words into Gardner's mouth and he did likewise with those informants who fed a highly exaggerated account of the vault story to the enquiry. No, I don't think Schwab was incompetent but he inherited a few who were not only incompetent but proved to be proper snakes after they were given their marching orders. Sheesh.

I suppose the fact that the former chairman bagged the club for tanking at the start of the tanking investigation counts for nothing TimD & RR (or Bill & Ben the flowerpot men?). Or that someone told lies about the new coach to Mifsud about our indigenous players? Or that a few disgruntled ex-employees ratted on the club to the tanking enquiry and went to the media on top of that? Or that people formerly connected to the club boasted of knowing what media people knew and what the AFL knew? None of them are thankfully in positions at the club and while they remain squeaky wheels, are now basically irrelevant. A competent CEO would easily by pass such elements. I'm confident that we will end up with someone better than Ray Ellis, the faceless man from the Age or the wonder boy from the world of tennis.

I'll take the latter because if Dank was a consultant to Bates then there's no reason why there can't have been oversight of Bates' work at the club. As many others have said, there's no need for a rush to judgement at this stage until we know all of the facts.

As a supporter of this football club, I expect the team to come out fighting every time it plays and not just when it's under the pump from all and sundry.

Holey Moley it feels like I've stepped into a nest of 9/11 truthers.

I think we saw on Sunday that you don't need age or experience to be a leader. Jack Viney showed in his first game at the age of 18 more leadership than the majority of the team. Jack Grimes led with desperation and tried to restore pride into his teammates. They have set that example to follow for the rest of the season - every game without exception.

Just out of curiosity, have you actually read the book?

It was lovely listening to Finey on SEN after last night's game giving Wilson and to a lesser extent, Patrick (old fossil) Smith the payout of all payouts. He came of a long run up and went BANG. He said Kero should be called the Age Chief Gossip Writer. He joked (at least I thought it was a joke) that she's the only footy journalist he knows who goes to the ground to do a pre-game radio show but leaves before the first bounce.

Nor does being an ordinary player. Look at the case of Dean Bailey when he coached us.

They have a lot to consider because of the contradictions in the evidence of the witnesses which seem to have been drawn along the lines of which side of the feuding parties they happen to belong.

Wilson never gives in when she's on a vendetta and this should please Bomber fans to no end. Heat may be easing on Bombers but message deserves flak OR I might well have been wrong but I'll never admit to it And even though she's probably not responsible for headlines, the one above could provide a clue to her informant on a few of the issues involving the Melbourne Football Club.

Wilson's only "evidence" is a comment about "several" players having stated they had seen Dank in a facility occupied by three sports clubs. That's hardly evidence of any substance and more likely, is evidence of mischievousness on someone's part if not hers. If she is getting information and not making the whole thing up, it's likely that the source is one of the malcontents who want to destabilise the club. These are the same ingrates who started the Mifsud/Davey lie, who exaggerated the "vault" story with fictions about conspiracies far beyond the truth and who continuer to seek to undermine the coach to this very day. Such people know they can safely go to Wilson and give her a story that she can embellish to suit her now very obvious agenda wherever the MFC is concerned.

I find it interesting that those who argue against Neeld like to point to the fact that in each of Bailey's last two seasons, we won 8½ games and that Neeld is somehow a failure because we won half that number in his first season. Their logic is that if he can't get us up to the level of around 8 - 10 wins this year then he should be sacked. That's a load of bull. By the end of Bailey's term, we were clearly on the decline with a team that had a poor culture and was incapable of handling the press employed by the better teams in the competition. Neeld has started again from scratch and has cleaned house. This is his second year as coach. Bailey coached the team to four wins in his second year. I'll back Neeld to beat that figure this year. In any event, it's folly to simply go on the number of wins. I think by the end of year we'll be able to see tangible evidence that Neeld's plans are making inroads. It will be in the style of play, the confidence levels, team skills and many of other indicators rather than just the results of matches.

Club twitter says open training is on from 9.45 am at Gosch's Paddock tomorrow. If anyone's going down, could you please keep an eye on Mitch, Jack T, Chris Dawes and Max.