darkhorse72

Well what can I say...I normally write a nice report on the dinner (didn't make it this year) and be positive. (I apologise now for all typos) I did go to the training run Wednesday night at subi, we looked much better without an opposition. Boys in very positive spirits, night ended with a goal kicking comp. BUT NOT TONIGHT First up i will single out one player that played tonight,,,Jack Watts was our best player tonight and the best I've seen him with his attack on the ball, skills, contested marking, hard running when without the ball to give an option. Which you don't see on TV. As I only see games over here at Subi, i can't comment on games in Vic, but tonight he showed what he will become for us. Can't say much for a lot of his teammates. The Game -- below is from an awful memory so some may be slightly incorrect or blinkered. First up for those that watched it on tv you would not have seen the full horror unfolding before us. The first quarter was something I never seen from an AFL club, it was atrocious, beyond words. Complete lack of skills, my the third side amateur team I coach on the weekend, has better level of skills and decision making than shown in that first quarter I have been a supporter of Bailey, but tonight showed either a total lack of preparation or a team that doesn't play for him, or there is something seriously wrong with the pre-game routine. Honestly if he doesn't fix these problems bloody quick, he will be gone, i haven't seen any post game comments from him at all at this time. I didn't see his qtr time address but I hope he ripped the team a new one, they deserved it, i know on modern performance coaching is be positive, but sometimes a mans ego needs to be checked and insulted and told to pull his finger out. What was missing: Skills - no existent, god knows how may times we kicked directly to a beagle player or out of bounds on the full (a new record I'm guessing) Marking - easily out marked all night Intent - we didn't want the footy Decision making/ball movement/game plan - - one point coming out of defence from a mark, player looks up, 4 dee's sitting loose across half back all alone, not one of them demanding it, the player kicking can't see them, the entire dee support groups can see them, kick up the line to a contest , turnover... - Is it our game plan to handball to the player under pressure, or about to get hammered, don't our players look at the player and think sh&t there is an oppos 5 feet away coming hard...next option. nope,,,and bang, turnover. - why handball to a guy two feet away in a pack..old school kick it clear and reset. (see next point), our guys panic hand ball too much, i know the new rules a 40mtr kick is better than a 5mtr handball, at least its fruther from their goal. Malcolm blight said something once...if you have no one to kick tom kick it as high as you can and byt he time it comes down, a teammate will be there to contest. - we all scream kick-it...for a good reason, quick clearing kick, up to maybe a 1-1 contest, 50-50 chance of success, back your teammate to beat their oppo etc. Today we have no one to receive a kick, so we go in circles, then turnover Even the eagles tonight kept at least 1 player int he attacking half to receive a kick and it showed, an option up the ground. - Maning up, sitting at the ground, there were so many free beagle players, i said to my mate, even before the stoppage cleared, the beagles will go there, there and there then into 50...and they did every time. How can an oppo have three free players constantly available for an easy switch and the run and carry. They are either lazy or its part of the game plan not to match up. When we try to clear, all our players are covered! - Player laziness, easy from the stands, you can see where the ball will go and when I play in my local comp, i can see where the ball will go before it moves, simply by seeing the oppo players move and the movement of the ball around a pack, its not hard and I play for fun not lots of $$$!! But the problem is our players don't push hard to cover men or just ignore them, when they do more, usually once the ball is travelling there, they run half hearted and concede the possession. Even our quick players you know would catch them pull up short and jog while the oppo player still has possession near them runs away and delivers with no pressure. - so it looking at what was happening tonight, why didn't we just go man on man to settle down the first quarter, as we couldn't get the ball so let the beagles take us to the ball and get control back...but we just let them run free. - players don't block for each other to create space around contests including marking, how many times did an beagle player come across in front and take the ball. - Our players should be taught to lead at the player kicking to them and not away..This is a bailey mistake of having no one in the forward half, guys are alway have to run with the flight of the ball to get space, bloody hard to mark that way. -Ruck - smashed all night from where I was sitting. clearance needs a lot of work. IN summing up...for the love of god, footy is a simple game, 18 blokes each on the field, beat your man and give it to a team mate to his advantage. To beat your man you need to be on him, not 30/40m away chasing an easy kick. Coaches make games look hard trying to get an edge, its not hard, beat one man at a time. I'm sure everyone can add to the list. Coaching: While I won't throw my membership away, pointless, however i'm very interested in how our club is going to respond. I think Bailey does not have the assistants he needs, and wellman was a huge loss to us this year, the club should have made him honour his contract. I think Royal is a hack and should have stayed away a return to a failed past. All good coaches put an element of themselves into the teams they coach...none of the coaches have done that and none i believe have that hard grunt we need except for Viney from their playing days. Even West while a great player was a polished player, not a fighting type of player... interesting enough most successful coaches come form the backl ine of teams in their playing days. A very different attitude is developed in that part of the field over a career as you cope it when the rest of the side plays poor.

After today's result, going back on how we only won by 90 points. The Sun's are improving each week as they should. But unlike Port today, when the suns came at us, we held and powered away...a week later they overrun Port at home at a ground we rarely win at. I thank Port for two things instead of one: 1) Being the first side to lose to Sun, imagine if it had been us? 2) to erasing our record for the GF losing margin.

you'll need the saints to play some attractive footy first Blockbusters are made, ANZAC is a perfect example, mainly due to marketing and amazing results in the early games which grabbed peoples attentions. They also need to be between clubs that draw a good crowd. Once on sing I believe we draw a good crowd, so we just need an opponent. North's problem is they won't draw a crowd and you'll have an empty stadium. As for Good Friday, I personally prefer it the way it is now.

To stop the curse from spreading I nominate myself as the future captain for life. So any future captains mentioned here must nominate me, that should solve any problems.... But seriously, many player have great leadership in different forms, the skill is taking on that weight and still play good footy. As Green on the TV at half time, is impression on how a captain should be on the field is/was affecting his game play. There is the real skill in it.

All the best for Mr Ward...its great to see he was a good support network around him.

great news and decision by the club

Great news for the club and my dreamteam

Hey all Just saw the news on 7 in Perth, Jimmy and the boys up in Northern Victoria, meet with Prince William today, and had kick with him. Hopefully they signed him up too edit: Found a video link: <iframe src ="http://video.heraldsun.com.au/embed/1851276609/Princley-drop-punt?player=narrow" width="330" height="330" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no"><p><a href="http://video.heraldsun.com.au/1851276609/Princley-drop-punt">VIDEO: Princley drop punt</a></p></iframe>

want me to set one up? It'll be bragging rights only though.

Got my members hat, but nothing else yet. Not a big deal as of yet. The members hat is really nice, much better quality that previous years. The only think I don't like about it, it doesn't say member on it that I can see.

Demons call on money men to help stave off Giant offers A Very interesting article. Basically having players mentored by successful supporters for their life during and after footy. Good initiative by the club in enriching or adding more value to being part of the Melbourne family. According to the club which may be right, Melbourne have the best business network of all the afl clubs.

very good review

I think it depends on stocks and what items are in it for the membership. If you got the email your in We have four members in our house now, so we get four emails every time! So you really notice when you get a message

As Leigh Mathews stated after taking Brisbane to 4 GF's.. Its 80% the players 20% the coach. Good recruiting is the start and we have that now. Where the coach comes in is developing the players to get the most out of their ability, whatever it is. That is what the coach does, Malthouse does it very well. From what I've seen and the little conversation with Bailey he seems to clear in his vision, and good with developing players. i.e. has a plan, play 2 games up and then go down and fine tune yourself to get ready again etc that we have seen. The next stage is the skills the assistants bring to the club and that is where Malthouse wins, McKenna recently stated he often took training for the whole week instead of Mick. So Mick has time to plan and develop the vision and not get caught in the little things that other skills support staff can do. That is also where the additional football budget come in. More support staff better development of players, the faster they contribute to the team. I lok forward to a successful reign under Bailey, whether he can deliver a premiership we'll know shortly but the club believes in him and they have done everything else right in terms of management and staffing so far.

I fully support Bailey as he has a plan, whether its wrong or right he's clear in what he is working towards. On Malthouse coaching, at WC he inherited a team of talent and made it professional, before he arrived WC were not better than a wafl club in the AFL. At the pies, he took a very average group to 2 grand finals before crashing and rebuilding. He can get the best of the players ability out of them and thats what you want from a coach. Get all he can out of them. He's also not sentimental, plays the players to win and doesn't play favourites.

That is correct, we left without our inheritance. If we had left with the value of what we contributed to the MCC its unlikely the MFC would have been in financial strife, at least not at this time in its history. BUt when we left football was a very different world. But you have to hand it to the pies they have maximised their assets i.e. fans and other assets. When you look at the turnover of the club we're not far behind most other Victorian clubs, including the current big ones.

Basically its what has been said before. WE have paid down out debt and now need to build a non-football revenue base. To reply on sponsorship and membership only will put us back in debt. The other disadvantage we have is the lack of a share in our original home ground. It were given on paper our percentage share of the MCG we'll be the richest club in assets Next time I catch up with our CEO I'm going to have a chat about his plans to build the non football base for the future.

nice 9 pointer

settled now.

We play pools 4 so one of, saints, lions or dons...

There is no club I want to fold (though North should have relocated). But I don't think they will get the response we have, mainly as because the reason for the raising. OUrs was for survival and their is thinking they can buy a flag in the short term. Good lcuk to them but I think they will simply waste it.

Bloody great, we won in Adelaide...

good first half (Qtr) for the boys.

Just happy it's on the radio on the web. With no Foxtel and no local radio broadcasts. Choose SEN to listen to. Go Dees!

The reason for staying with Tom besides his family ties, will be his mates at the club plus how much we make him feel part of the club. The money will come to him and if his manager is smart he will point that out to Tom. As for a young man he's already very well paid. Also his professionalism on the track and around the club, as shown through posts on here does show to me someone who is money hungry. Beside almost half will disappear in tax! I'm sure the club has shown the players the plan and how they fit into it. He would know he's part of a debt free club, brand new facilities, growing financial resources, a very talent young group of similar ages, and a man that inspires so many at the top. He's part of a very dynamic club now and that must be exciting, and a few of the old boys I'm sure reminding him what a great legacy he'll leave at Melbourne instead of some backwater club. I believe he will stay (and pray so ) time will tell. Its important that all supporters don't badger him about going, but tell him how great it is to have him with us at Mebourne...