Blistering

Hoopla, there are so many things wrong with this - you really need to read through some of the earlier discussion on this thread. For starters, you have the standard of proof wrong which suggests that you miss the point that the investigation is being carried out not in the way it would be under our common law legal system but in accordance with the WADA Code which the AFL and it's players accept as the applicable law in these cases.

There are a number of elements at play when we ask players to produce contested two way football. There's the physical side which requires mature bodies of which we didn't have enough last year. Then there's the mental side including belief in your capacity to go harder and longer. We didn't have that either and, as a consequence, we couldn't produce that sort of game. Roos' recruiting has IMO been structured to overcome this and I expect the group will have more belief in his game plan than that of his predecessor.

I think this speaks a great deal about the direction the club was taking under Stynes/McLardy and that it was not all negative as many would paint it. Where they failed was to produce a strong or even competitive team on the field and I suspect this came about initially because our debt forced us to accept second best in terms of coaching and facilities for players. The mistakes were then compounded and this led us to where we were in 2013. The recruitment of Roos and other football related innovations under PJ suggest we're turning things around on that front and better performance on the field should see us move away from any concerns with debt.

So you're not exactly one of the delirious fans in the video then.

I think it's a bit of both actually. We need to build up confidence and ensure we don't crack under the weight of failure as indicated by posters above. Port Adelaide gradually built up their confidence last year but we also don't want to go down the path of the Pommy cricketers either.

My guess is that it was indeed an attempt at some humour.

Could have fooled me the way you carry on about agendas, [censored] canning and letting go but why don't you address the points he's making?

I suppose it wouldn't dawn on some posters that this is a forum where people can hold views other than theirs and that those others can think more logically than they can.

It was a good game for both WJ. Daniel Cross finished with 25 disposals and 1 goal for the Doggies while Bernie Vince had 27 for 1 goal.

You obviously don't care.I think WJ was referring to Mark Neeld being accused of racism and the fact that the accusation was a lie. Why was the reference removed from Grant Thomas' article?

Nice get and interesting that the comment was paired with the discredited allegation about Neeld and the club's indigenous players. I always thought there was something contrived behind this story and there's prizes for guessing who was behind all this. That whole sorry saga needs to be independently and properly investigated.

I like this but add that Neeld was undermined in his efforts as a coach by a number of circumstances beyond his control. The Jurrah incident, the poor attitude of some of the senior players to preseason, Jimmy's death and criticism about the team attending his funeral so close to the start of the season, critical injuries such as losing Mitch Clark (twice) for a season, the racism lie, being the butt of some unwarranted media attention, the background controversies about bad sponsors and the tanking enquiry and lots more. I doubt whether Ken Hinkley or any of the other young coaches would survive that sort of onslaught.

Ray Ellis, was CEO during the Szondy era - Ex-Melbourne Football Club chief Ray Ellis accused over sacking of First National executive

A Bex and a good lie down would be helpful.

Where is your evidence for the statement that "our membership numbers have plummetted"?

I think you're wrong.Dean Terlich played well enough under two different coaches this year to complete a successful debut season at the MFC and finished third in the Keith 'Bluey' Truscott Medal. If Roos is doing his job properly then he will build on the strengths he showed as a player during the year and seek to rectify the weaknesses in his game. Terlich should therefore be delighted to have Roos on board to provide him with the necessary challenges he needs to improve as a player. In the end, its up to the player himself and only a fool would blame the coach for his lack of progress.

I'll get on Jesse Hogan at those odds thank you.

Was it from West Side Story?

According to the Melbourne Football Club website there's an open training session tomorrow (Monday 2nd December) at Casey Fields at 9:30am. I'm hope some Demonlanders will provide the usual high quality reports and perhaps solve a little mystery for me about one of our rookies James Harmes. The publicity surrounding Harmes, a long time Demon supporter who is virtually local to the area (Devon Meadows is in close proximity to Cranbourne East where Casey Fields is situated) is that one of his major attributes is his pace. But I got a different impression reading Graeme Yeats' brief description of him in The Oracle's piece CHANGES 2013:- .I doubt whether his coach would get it wrong but I suppose no Harmes done by checking it out if someone could have a look at tomorrow's session.

Who was ruck coach last year?

I reckon it would be fair to say that Herman Melville is no relation of premiership player, the Reverend Ken Melville (1953-6) whose career with the Demons I'm told was all too short.

Never too early and I can't wait for the first phantom draft. FWIW - a list from bigfooty Matthew Ah Siu Billy Beardsell Sam Bevan Mac Bower Angus Brayshaw Daniel Capiron Victor Carboni Josh Cauchi Nakia Cockatoo Zaine Cordy (f/s) Nicholas Coughlan Jordan Cunico Duom Dawam Liam Dawson Liam Duggan Sam Durdin Braden Ferrari Hugh Goddard Billy Gowers Liam Griffiths Matthew Hammelmann Jack Hammond Isaac Heeney Tom Holman Tom Lamb Jake Lever Ryan Lim Jake Maher Pele Manivong Patrick McCartin Garret McDonoagh Jaden McGrath Sean McLaren Jermaine Miller-Lewis Darcy Moore (f/s) Jackson Nelson Mitch Norton Henry Peri Christian Petracca Jarrod Pickett Marc Pittonet Ciaran Porter Jayden Short Clem Smith Billy Stretch (f/s) Sam Switkowski Matthew Traynor Alex Urban Dillon Viojo Bohdi Walker Bradley Walsh Jesse Watchman Alec Waterman (f/s) Lachie Weller Peter Wright

Hawks recruiter was correct.

These guys aren't concerned about any injury to Matt Scharenberg. If available at 9, he's definitely the best player.

I really don't think that too many MFC supporters would take issue with the selection of Scully in the first place. He was everyone's pick for #1 and Trengove was close behind him. I really don't think that too many MFC supporters would have a problem with the fact that we managed to snare Jesse Hogan as part of the "compensation" we got for Scully. I'm not complaining at all really but let's not delude ourselves that what we got was really compensation for losing a first pick after we put two year's work into him and then had to wait another two to see the fruits of that so-called "compensation". What we really should have received was like for like at the time we lost Scully which was at least the first pick in the 2011 national draft. Getting Hogan might be considered getting justice and I think it will be sweet justice in the long run but it also is justice delayed and justice denied in a way. But it was simply a case of the AFL riding roughshod over one of the weaker clubs. Let's hope that we get strong under Roos and never have to put up with that sort of BS again.