beelzebub

Keep in mind there will be at times slections ( ne..changes ) that can only be explained as 'list management' !! Quite a few players need to get a run and some games under there belt. Its as much about blooding as a live evaluation. A lot of serious decisons are going to happen at seasons end and the thinking that goes into them all starts now !!

I was under the impression it was a merger..and I couldnt get in to vote that night..was surpised ( pleasantly ) at turnout..Not so pleased with how it all went.

interesting ..the HUn is running a poll... Dees fans..rather 10 wins or Priority pick. For mine Im amazed theres only a 15% lead ( at present ) in favour of the pick. Would have thought it a no-brainer. There will be a sweet irony as at seasons end and after the drafts Melb ought to be in a better position looking towards the next 5-10 years than Carltank . The Blues will be short on quality draft pick ups for a while. Im sure we'll give an appropriate wave ) or similar ) as we sail past

so..short of a new deal or sweethearter from the MCC are you guys going to open your chequebooks for the club ??

Im not sure why the gov proposes 40000. All of this situation arises because of current and probable attendences at games of or around the 12-15000 mark. If attendances are over 20000 then the dilemma whilst not good is at least not a 'cost' If you were going to get 40000 to a game..then we would want to be a the G anyways. A boutique ground is wholly ( in my mind ) to cater to the low attendences that occur when a Melbourne based team plays an interstater and especialy at an unsocial time. With GC comingto the mix..and the likelyhood of an 18th ( and dont you just wanna bet Tassie comes back into the mix now as West Syd has as much chance as I have with Elle ) to even out the comp then the increase in games will NEED another venue anyway. If they build a 40000 areana then much of the time it will still be half empty...accomplishing just what I ask ??..other than money spent (needlessly ) Some may propsoe that that a nother stadium could cater to those other funny games as well, but isnt that the purpose of the Multi Purpose Stadium aka Bubbledome !! Or is there an agenda ( sneakily ) of the Gov to appease the second franchise of that round ball pastime ? Isnt it curious , if not hilarious that all the right minds go around closing things , because they "know it all' only to have to re-enter the scene with a product to just exactly that that they thought un-needed !! Clever huh Heres another idea..not necessarily a preference.. they could throw a few dollars at the Junction oval , increase seating and facilities and hey presto..a third Footy Ground !!

I concur 110% These Govs are all over the place with regards to understanding what is really needed. With bubble dome they intially made it too small.. with any "3rd" stadium a capacity of 20-25(thou) tops is all thats needed Like grounds of old its only needs to be "capacity' not seating.. Seating of 10-15000 would be fine. Casey could certainly be morphed into such a venue.

can only hope youre right with Jared.. i'll retain my right to watch until convinced. Meesen ? well if we are to be contenders in 4 or so years we need a league leading ruck.. Meesen might be it.. and I might win tattsloto. A capable ruck wont cut it..we wil have I suggest have moved on to another..ut theyre just my thoughts

I think that more than half a dozen possies in any power (cup-tiliting ) Demon team will be filled by those not on our list at present. So thats more than likely 11-12 of those running around at present..plus 5-6 of up and comers already on list but vastly improved and developed and add in previous mentione unknowns.

I ...and I think others to harbour this dark fear, that jared just wont last the distance. Id prefer that he did but some think inside keeps gnawing away at me and I cant bring myslef to believe that he will e in Melbourne colours in 3-4 years time. Its not on talent or application that I fear he wont be there...I just dont think his body will let him. Happily proven wrong on this one though

Geelong 125 def Mel 75 in front of 35000

fair comment. It is going to be very interesting how some clubs go about their lists in respect of where they finish and their closeness to a "window" at this season's end. I would probably think only a couple would really attract some trade. Some of the above may be seen as flawed gems with sufficient upside to warrant a chance in a new environment. If Bate cant do it for us..would others take the punt ? and who ? Sylvia may indeed flourish at another club..if he doesnt with us he can move on with my blessing..lol Bell. . might be a deck filler for a club.. think he might fade away if cant make it with us Buckley.. I like him..but only has really a half bag of talents/abilities.. add to these and he could e quite dangerous. Other team may want that chance to try. Newton.. has a godd career in teh VFL me thinks waiting for him Wheats.. is a bit long in the tooth in a business where youth is the buzz word Dunn... needs to step up...think might have this year only to do it at Mfc If GC was starting next year...some might get a gig...simply as a result of the merry go round of players and the various gaps at clubs to fill. But GC isnt real til '11 and time and opportunities will have expeired for some. Id certainly be willing to put most anyone who isnt Definitely CORE material up for trade. After all we want the best for the club.. dont we

Im not really too sure why some think this an irrelevent exercise or more the point one of no merit. As I read it the question is..who on thelist would you think participatory in a premiership team. It probably has a time window of the next 4-8 years.. but its open to the reader. I dont see this as hard..nor teh idea of a yes and no and too simplistic, in fact its really a yes /no situation otherwise you could add in an infinitum of qualifiers. DO I see the following as part of a Premiership team? I will use only one conditional alternative.. i.e where insufficent is known/seen but relying on extrapolating what we can reasonably summise...and that will result in a "possible" Bail Possile Bartram No Bate No Bell No Bennell Yes Blease Possible Bruce No Buckley No Cheney Yes Davey yes Dunn No Frawley Yes Garland Yes Green Possile ( age might stop ) Grimes Yes Jamar No Jetta Yes Johnson No Jones Yes Jurrah Possible Maric Yes Martin Yes McDonald No McLean Yes McNamara Possible Meesen No Miller No Moloney Yes Morton Yes Newton No Petterd Yes Rivers No Robertson No Strauss Possible Sylvia No Warnock Yes Watts Yes Wheatley No Whelan No Wonaeamirri Yes There are as another alludes .."gaps" on Baileys preferred starting team..these will be filled with whom ever we can draft or trade for over the next 2-3 years. I would not expect a serious tilt for 4 years.. but see us as an entirely resaonable prospect then..REALLY !!

35000

Whilst many will feel such talk at this early juncture somewhat premature I can gurantee the clu itslef has a bunch of lists with exactly this in mind. ( If they dont they are derelict ) Come seasons end we will have probably THE single most important draft for at least 5 years. At that time we will need to stock up on whatever we can lay our hands on and in order to do so space will need to be made and to do this some hard and harsh decisions and evaluations made. Those evaluations will be ongoing and will have started already. Players needing to show something above the bar must include the likes of: (in no particular order ) Bell Jamar Johnson Meesen Newton Buckley Valenti others which must be looked at as being relevent to the "needs" of a young team going forwad must include Wheels Wheats even JNr and Robbo Then you have the other players which confound for varying reasons: Bate Sylvia Rivers Take the last lot first, if ate cant show more consistency and effectiveness yes needs both ) then he may be another of those players that burnt brightly for far too short a moment. I would like to think he'll come up..but if not..well he's clogging surely. We all have opinions on Hi HO...if he can apply himslef and put in week in week out what we all KNOW he can..he's good value going forward..if he slips..he's gone. Jared..If hehas an injury less season and can find that certain something he has , then he's an assett if he falters then you have to ask how can he take a position better used by another with a longer more consistent future ?? Wheels.. might have just seen his value slip past in injuries etc. Wheats...will have to fight hard to be amongst the best 22 soon. Robbo..he must know the end is nigh..but is it end 09 or '10 ?..same goes for Jnr. With these players you have to ajudicate on who is the better beneficiary of game time and development in respect of building a new force ?? As to the others: Bell, a bit one dimensional and I think we've already seen his best...others have more upside in time Jamar....maye not enough feathers to his arrows in light of others Johnson.. a cracker season last year..not backed up.. has he already peaked ?? Meesen... must show he has more than the other wannabe rucks !! time will tell ...hence his evaluatio Newton... just not showing enough upside ...that key position is crucial to our re-emergence as a team.. He's not the one I feel. Buckley..another that needs to show he's a cut aove the others chasing a jumper...only so many going around for so many positions Valenti..nothing wrong with him but if we pick up a couple of 'goers' at seasons end that are btter equiped to be AFL level midfileders then Valenti will lose his tentative grip on any show of going forward in red and blue Some others may warrant a serious look and might revisit this later

Like him or loathe him..he does rather polarise does our ol' Jeffrey !! I cant help but admire his stance. I think for far too long the fools that run the AFL seem to think they are a law unto themselves. When things dont go their way they want to 'smack' you with a please explain followed by a fine..or punishment. Who the %$#@ do they think they are these idiots. Jeff is rightly , along with the likes of Fast Eddie and Smorgon getting justa little fed up and rightly peeved that teh tail wants to no only wag the dog but believes it has the right to. I wont call Anderson a clown as that demeans a proud and talented proffession neither of which he call his strong suits but he is a self-congratulatory tool of the highest order. I am fervently hoping that this is just the start of a campaign by those who can to put these [censored] back in their place ( doing the beck and call of the clubs for the benefit of the clubs ) Not only do want Jeff to NOT go to that ridiculous 'school"..I dont want him to pay ANY fine..and would love to see him challenge the call in court and in so doing start the demise of Demetriou & Anderson whose agenda is solely about their power and not what is good for the clubs..I mean.... West Sydney..do I need to say anything more !!

This is it isnt it. Its all very nicey nicey and heart tugging to suggest we must play all games at the G..but if we play games at 20000 or less attendance we lose money..SO al those that cant seen there needs to be some sort of flexibility and th eoption of another venue then I want YOU to cough up the difference. Its just no tenable long term to keep haemoraging under these circumstances. Either the MCC comes to the party with a sweetheart deal..and I have always wanted that to happen ( not sure why they dont/cant ) given new relationship with us, or we have no choice but to play at a thrid venue. Still dont know why Casey cant be vdeloped.. A little money splashed there and its no worse than Manuka , surely. !!

Yes..typically wonderful foresight of the AFL to opt out of Optus wasnt it..sigh !! Much preferred it myself to Docklands.. still now some folk are toying with the idea of another stadium..push for new stadium Probably just scaremongering ..but who knows

Well tucked inside this article Stynes backs Bailey is the announcement that we had cracked the 30,000 mark. "While the Demons kicked an off-field goal by reaching their target of 30,000 members last night" Just brilliant official verification via mfc site probably a little later. Well done to all.

I dare say the irony about much of the media scutiny and lampooning over the weekend was realy a result of the creeping expectations that we are actually on the road to recovery and that Sunday's display wasnt commensurate with this. I dont think many expect us to win that many ( probably about 4 according to the astute ) but what we served up this weekend was rubbish for the most part. We're expected now to lose in a much more presentable fashion !!

is it ok if I have Merlot instead ?? and you wont mind if I bring a in along a bin with some kindling and fire it up in the southern ??

an intersting thought (amongst a few there ) I have the feeling that there are a handful of players.. Newton being just one that are being viewed in a step up or sayonara baby context. There's this almightily important draft looming come seasons end and we'll need space. Logic suggests youd only keep those that either have shown the requisite to stay or at least enough to persist with. Those that falter at this hurdle will undoubtedly be wished well in their futures as they leave. In this light he's probably in the midst of a 'live' test..wonder if he realises it ??

whoa..yourself good buddy.. anyone is entitled to post a view.. someone die and make you the thought police ??..probably not Maybe the original post was too long for your liking..too detailed..whatever.. not all carry your view.. vive le difference !! qui !!

Something that just came to mind.. money...and weekends !! What likelyhood is there ( if any ) that numbers to a game could/are affected by availale funds of would be maybe/maybe-not attendees ?? What I'm thinking is..are there possile many people who might not attend a game late on a sunday arvo because they've spent all their readies ?? There are two nights of "going out " ahead of a Sunday game.. add to that -make it a late one and possibly there are x-thousand 18-35's who are a bit barrasic. just a curiosity (deleted from other thread and reposted here and more relevent )

one also needs to be realistic about patience !!

The media as a whole invariably homes in on the bad.. News is nearly always heavily weighted towards bad. Apparently 'nagativity' sells more the 'positivity'. Thats not to say the occasional uplifting piece wont be printed..its just easier to find and write about things 'wrong'.. just the nature of the beast.