Ron Burgundy

Stephen Powell was a nice pick up for the Saints.

I bloody love Robbo. I have a tear in my eye thinking about how his career at the MFC is coming to an end. My all time favourite player. Can someone put his farewell speech on youtube and paste a link to it - I, for one, would be most grateful.

Is Robbo's speech on youtube? I'm really sad about this. I think he deserved another year, particularly with some of the battlers who'll undoubtedly be kicking around next year. I'd hate to see Robbo at another club next year - but, for his sake, I hope he gets to one - perhaps the Swans. Sad, sad day.

I have a tear in my eyes. One of my all time favourite players, if not my all time favourite. I'll really miss shouting " ... Roobbbbo!", as takes yet another screamer - like he continually did in that game against Geelong at Kardinia late in 2005, which meant us making the finals.

I reckon Pick 1 in the PSD this year will be very valuable.

For years I've supported this club. For all of those years, the MFC's essentially been hopeless - not always completely hopeless, but always a bit hopeless in some fundamental aspect. However, despite currently being bottom of the ladder, this club is no longer hopeless. In fact, it's probably the least hopeless it's been since 1964. It's finally on the verge of a period of sustained success - a period of being taken seriously. Why? Because of the following: 1. The club's administration. Stynes, Connolly, Schwab - finally, some really competent MFC clubmen with genuine ability running the club ... and injecting some passion, some life, some meaning into the club. The MFC's burgeoning debt is finally being arrested, if not reduced altogether. The club is being reunited - we all know those names coming back into the fold; for a start it includes a block called the MCC. The club has a new base in Casey - better facilities, new supporters. This has been a coup. The club is also intent upon upgrading its prehistoric training facilities - it's not inconceivable that the Dees will be training on the G in the near future. The facilities will also be top class - perhaps for the first time ever. All of this is due to the current administration. To all of you, thanks. Thanks a lot. 2. The list. Grimes, Morton, Jurrah, Bate, Garland, Frawley, Petterd, Martin, Dunn, Wona, Bennell, Maric, Jetta, Cheney, Spencer, Watts et al - we really do have some bloody good young players coming through. From all reports, Blease and Strauss are similarly good prospects. Bruce and Green still have a fair bit in the tank. Then we have Sylvia, Davey, Rivers, Moloney, McLean, Jones, Warnock and Jamar to add to this list. Robbo? Who knows?! And add to this group (hopefully) picks 1, 2, 18, 19 and pick 1 in the pre-season draft. That's not a bad list. In fact, it's a bloody good list. And possibly achieved with some real rat cunning - something that's never ever been associated with the slow moving beast that's been the MFC previously. 3. Coaching staff. Bailey, Wellman, Mahoney, West, German. Good, effective unit. These guys know what they're doing - I really believe that. Bailey's approach in the last few games, for such a new head coach, has been remarkably measured. He seems to know what we need to achieve - and he seems to be calmly navigating the stormy waters to get us there. Keep it up, Dean - despite what some might now be saying. Pendergast seems also to be a very good recruiter - very impressed with Grimes, Morton, Maric, Jurrah, Bennell and Jetta, to name a few. 4. Leadership. Always been a problem for the Demons. That's changing. Moloney, Davey, Green, even Sylvia (I hope), McLean, Jones - all coming through as genuine future MFC leaders. Our next generation seems to have leadership in spades too: Grimes, Watts, Morton. This is the first time in years the club's been in this situation. This is good news. 5. Supporter base. Numbers are growing. Probably still a bit apathetic, but heaps better than before. 6. Ladder position. Currently 16th. I predict this will change ... radically. 7. White clash guernsey - much better than the silver one. The signs are good. Get on board the positives ...

Extremely good news.

I don't have the benefit of any stats, but I always feel confident when Jones takes a set shot. He appears to be a very reliable kick in front of goal, and rarely seems to miss ...

Yep, 100%.

I would be very disappointed. This whole "winning club" culture thing in relation to this issue is in my opinion b.s. Geelong, Saints etc have a winning culture - they've built that on the back of recruiting winning players. For many years, they did not have a "winning culture". Gaining picks 1 & 2 would almost certainly contribute two more winning players to our list - history virtually proves that. Winning an extra game against North would be meaningless in the context of our performances this year. Who remembers who came 15th in, say, 2005. No one, because it doesn't matter. We need to recruit better players. With picks 1 & 2, we'll not only get better players - we'll most likely get at least one superstar, something Melbourne's not had for far too long. Winning a meaningless game at the end of a very forgettable season and, in doing so, compromising this wonderful opportunity, is plainly stupid and would be a tragic result. It's perhaps unfortunate that the rules operate this way, but the fact is that they do. Not to recognise this, and then not to take advantage of it, would be negligent in the extreme. It would be similar to getting tax advice on two different ways to structure a transaction, one of which is tax efficient, the other which is not (although in substance they achieve the same result) - and then electing to take the non tax efficient approach because you form the view that there is a higher good in paying more tax - even though every one else in the market would take the opposite approach. It goes without saying which approach a smart and credible organisation would take. 2009 has been about building for the future - and getting picks 1 & 2 is a very important component in that.

Amateur hour. Had the feel of a country league game with 30 people watching and car horns sounding after each goal. Her voice annoyed the hell out of me - I actually found it very hard to watch the game.

I think Liam is the most exciting young player I have ever seen. He will kick 1000 goals for this club. I'm interested to know whether we would've had pick one in the PSD if Chris Johnson didn't decide to leave the club. If this is the case, we effectively traded Johnson for Jurrah.

I think option two is the best, followed by option one. Option three sucks - it's the scarf equivalent of Port's or Freo's club song.

I think we'll all reflect very well on this draft. Morton will be a gun, as will Grimes - both of whom the club rated as top ten picks. I think the club was also surprised to pick Maric up at pick 21. I think all three will play very important roles for the MFC in due course.

I love Moloney.

Robbo should definitely get at least another year. We can't only have kids populating the entire list, particularly in the forward line - and Robbo is still very much a required player. The fact that he loves the red and the blue is not irrelevant either. Nor is the fact that he is still a bloody good forward and is a good leader around the club ... and a good marketer of the MFC.

I remember that game like it was yesterday. Most excited and sad I think I've ever been from a game of sport. Powell was KO-ed in a tackle in the first quarter - his first touch of the game. Big loss, as he was a very valuable midfielder for us in 2002 (absolutely unbelievable that he wasn't re-contracted). Whelan then limped off just before half time with a torn hammie. We already had a depleted defence going into the game, as we had several knee recos to defenders that year - Ellis, Broadbridge and (I think) Nicholson. Bench down to 20. Travis Johnstone played the best second and third quarters of any midfielder in the history of the game. At three quarter time, we were up by about 22. I nearly punched a hole in the ceiling through sheer excitement - my flat had low ceilings. Fourth quarter. The bad luck continued. Robbo and Yze had a sickening head clash which effectively ended their contributions. Vardy kept battling. We missed a few important set shots, the Crows kicked some arsey goals and we ran out of legs having had no bench to speak of. We deserved to win that game - it was almost Shakespearean in its tragic outcome. There was however a sense of optimism about the future for the list though. I really thought we were tracking towards a flag. THEN the club imploded in the off season following that loss. Trading Woey for no real gain - effectively Daniel Bell perhaps?! He's done nothing, yet the cultural hit we took was massive. Woey finished top 3 in the Pies' B&F the next year - in a grand final team. And we lost a red & blue legend who loved the club. We've lacked leadership ever since too. A big mistake - I don't care what anyone says about that trade now. It was a mistake. We also didn't manage to re-contract Powell. Another huge mistake. I think he finished in the Saints' top 3 the next year too. Felt flat until about 2004 following that game - 2003 was bloody awful. In fact, I wish someone would post the highlights of that game on you tube - it had everything (except the club song).

Martin?! You're Australia's next Jerry Seinfeld. That's hilarious.

Just donated $100 online. DN122929

I really think Watts will be a Dees' legend and a seriously good AFL player. You can see it - the one handed mark, his kicking style, his movement. But, at the moment, he's still a skinny school kid, who's learning very, very fast. Subject to his body holding up, I think he should play in the seniors from now until his retirement from the game. The VFL has big bodies too - Watts needs to get to know and learn the pace of AFL, not the VFL. He strikes me as a quick learner and that's what he needs right now - more AFL experience. David Boon played against Andy Roberts when he was 16 years old. Tendulkar played from India. The equivalent at a private school played against similar aged school boys - and would most likely have gone nowhere as a result. I say get the AFL experience into him - BUT keep pumping up his worth to the club at this same time.

Count me in for $50.

Can someone send the full transcript of Hannabal's interview to The Age and the Herald Sun as a matter of urgency ... PS. I'm still p1ssed off about Matthew's comments about Watts - his remarks more or less mirrored one of his own trademark low shots on some young kid running off the ball whilst the kid's looking the other way. Good to seeing that he's taking the same approach to his commentary these days ...

I agree with you, rpfc. Like many, I felt really hollow after last Friday's game - but the simple reality remains that, whilst our list has a lot of young, potentially seriously good players coming through, it's currently not an even match for any other AFL club. We have too many slow, relatively unskilled midfielders and we have no elite players/stars. None. That makes it hard to compete week in, week out with AFL clubs. And this is not Bailey's fault ... not yet, at least. I believe Bailey recognises this and each draft he seems intent on getting quicker, more skilled players. Many are super light in the frame, but he doesn't seem to care - he seems to look at skills and attitude. This is the modern AFL prototype. Muscle is easy to add to a player's frame these days, whereas skills and attitude are not. And, at least in my opinion, it beggars belief to even suggest that Bailey doesn't know what he's doing. He's impressed those at Essendon and Port - and, during the periods in which he's been at those clubs, they've both made the MFC look like a poorer and more amateur version of the Country Women's Association. He was said to the most impressive of the applicants for the job, and it wasn't exactly a dead beat panel that Bailey had to impress. Mahoney, Bailey, Wellman, West, Connolly, Prendegast, Stynes - I believe these blokes know what they're doing. Show some backbone and get behind them - particularly given that the alternative is far worse ... and is also bloody gutless.

I agree, Watts=Saviour - I really liked the white guernsey. So much so, I tried to buy one last night, but they've only got our home guernsey available for purchase from the club store.

I don't care if he's not that quick, Brock McLean is bloody great for this club.