darkhorse72

True, but it is really a popularity contest is most match ups at the moment.

Junior definitely was he was a smarter footballer, coming through the rookie system and constantly improved to end up as captain. Jones in many aspects has not improved aspects of his game since he has been drafted. True he joined us at a crap time and has been a great clubman but being one of the best in a poor team doesn't compare to be a good player in a far stronger side and getting AA. I have been wondering if the age of those voting and their direct experiences is skewing the results to more recent players?

Just watch the replay of the 1988 prelim and watch his skills in the wet compared to other players.

Most clubs know who they want a few years in advance and just trim down he list and raft day depending on their position and other picks. Not that much of a lottery for the perceived top 20.

I guess we are bored to bring the merger back up. I wa and in WA during those events so I didn't get the emotional feelings running around between supporters. I love the Melbourne Footy Club dearly and what I remember and what has been stated here. After the merger we were still going to be called the "Melbourne Football Club" but we'd change out nickname to the hawks. modify the jumper, but we have done that anyway a few times with plus the clash jumpers. To be honest that was not much different to before our nickname was called before we changed to the demons under Checker. It was a take over of Hawthorn, at the time we had all the money. Ironic isn't it The issue was the management of the time could see what was going to happen 10 yrs in the fire to the budget of the club and they could not sustain the increasing costs of running the club. They had hindsight to see that and we can see the debt we accumulating till Jimmy took over. The problem is they has no vision of how to fix it. Post merger Hawthorn got people in who fixed their problems first off field and then infield, they had leaders who got all the supporters on board, we didn't, we went with the millionaire saviour approach. Also the club could not have foreseen he saviour of the tv right that were to come. Unfortunately we are still waiting still for our "Don Scott" person to drive the club forward in the way Hawthorn and you could say people like Eddie have done for their clubs. Be stable and innovative off field and relentless to win onfield is not part of our culture yet, hopefully it will be soon.

Not really fair for Leoncelli to compete against Stynes.

Yep that is the game.

I remember that game as we didn’t win for years afterwards and he was brilliant in the wet and it was bloody wet. If you get a copy let me know.

Those gifted wa players were given to them at the end of the 80’s when the club almost collapse after what was considered a failed start. The wa public had expected to win the flag in their first year when they saw their starting squad. They special draft set them up for a decade, plus a decent AFL coach in Malthouse, who modernised their footy thinking from the original coach in terms of preparation and structures. Interesting what might have happened if the pies didn’t lose the game when they had it under control in the first week.

I agree, he was a super talent and would have made a difference over the following decade. Degenerative back injury on memory. A few year Slater we had Newton I think with a very similar injury. Then Jako/Lyon, it was the decade of bad backs unfortunately

Easily Febey over Davey, Febey Was great his whole career till injury meant he ended his run close to breaking the then games record. Davey was amazing early. but then faded over his career. He set the standard with his defensive pressure for the comp and then stopped doing that sort of pressure. Not sure if that was coach led. By the end it was obvious Davey was done in terms of being competitive, not so with Febey.

An interesting point of instilling approaches to footy and fairly representative on the abilities of the fathers ability and how they worked to overcome their short comings.

Will Moloney get a vote?

Sentimental place for Lovett, as already bene said, injuries. I remember hearing he loved the Dee's and flower so much he insisted that he attend the same high school as Flower (Which he did). The man was red and blue to the core.... Whereas Farmer isn't.

Strangely that sounds like the recent Geelong...

It has to be Lyon as he is the only player on the list that to lift himself above others and impose himself on a game through talent and sheer will and win it. Lots of talent on the list but that is what separates Lyon from the others and the type of player we have missed, as the others often only have cameo's.

Over the journey we do seem to have found value in the rookie, preseason drafts. more often than the regular one

More importantly it kills culture...that takes far longer the build and repair than a few players.

Of coarse that it helps that the government is paying 80% of everyone's wages for 6 months! Then they have private owners with deep pockets. But what I have read in the past that many of the clubs are massively in debt in the 10's of millions, so maybe not the best model.

Gee not much variation in team rankings...

Good idea, send it to the club to do. Give them something to do in their isolation . My daughter would love a call from Viney as she plays like him, ferocious at the ball or player if they have it (Her team mates don't like training with her on contest/tackling drills). Plus I get her to watch how Viney plays on games esp. round 1 this year as how you should play the game. I will continue pay mine as I can afford it luckily, but certainly accept those that can't should be looked after, for they will return when things get netter for them, as they will always remember the support form the club. As Eddie said, we are a family in the end.

Too late now!

I thought “merging” with AFL port saved them a few years ago as they are now the same entity.

Life poor kicking skills were known before we recruited him. But for some reason we don't spend the summer focussing on that skill. We don't seem to have a minimum benchmark for kicking skills that we set for players, for field kicking. He wasn't the only one on the day, I can't believe how many kicks went over our players heads when passing, even when not under pressure. Simply poor skills.

Happy we are aligning with Casey, it has been beneficial for us. For a home base, we'll see what happens. The situation has changed for everyone, at least in the short term. As for other sports, the AFL is in the most secure position of all the national football codes. The other codes were already struggling and don't have the future financial ability to gain lines of credit to tide it over. Happy we are aligning with Casey, it has been beneficial for us. For a home base, we'll see what happens. The situation has changed for everyone, at least in the short term. As for other sports, the AFL is in the most secure position of all the sports.