Dappa Dan

I love it when he goes to Sandy and adopts their colours. His hair must be falling out in handfulls!

Just watched the game again. Frawley did only a couple of things, and already I look at him and can see EXACTLY why the recruiters went nuts very late in the piece at last year's draft. He's a custom-built speedy tall defender... I think I'm going to call him commodore... or maybe HSV. Commodores aren't the quickest cars on the road, nor do they drive the best... but what they have is USEFUL speed. Accelleration off the mark that will get you where you need to be between lights. Maybe they get shaky after 100kph, but who cares? You rarely need to go faster than that anyway. Frawley just moves beautifully. I'm sure he's not the quickest in the team, but he reaches top pace quite quickly, finding space which relieves the pressure on his kicking, making him likely to be more effective as a consequence. Don't know if any of that made any sense... But I think his pace, coupled with height, positional flexibility, kicking distance, strength and footy nous in the scrimmages are what made the recruiters look at him...

I took a couple of bites of humble pie, but I've put the rest in the fridge for now. We looked great yesterday, and Wheaters was part of that. But one good game does not a good player make. The general consensus is that he will be useful for a few years yet, as he's of a good age and has the skills to be more than just a defender. For example, right now Wheatley > Warnock. Like Godders, he is not the kind of player that will actively win you a flag, but his role could be very important nonetheless, and they are both at the START of their best years as footballers.

Not coming? How do you know? And why ISN'T he coming? You may well be right, but not because you know anything the rest of us don't. IF Judd comes up for trade... we SHOULD move heaven and earth to snare him. Judd is a better player and is younger than Bruce. The question isn't would you trade Bruce for Judd.... that would never happen... the question is Bruce and what pick would you trade for Judd. Bruce is a good player. So is Green. They pop up every so often and have GREAT days. No-one has ever questioned the fact that they CAN play. The question is, why do they still fail as often as they do? Why does Cam's kicking fail (even yesterday a couple of times... bone spurs?), why does Green drift in and out of games? Why does he play one of the best games of his career one week, when the week before he is smashed? Look to the likes of Brock and Jones, people. They are coming to the fore. We all know about Brock, but Nate is startiing to exceed my expectations. I think we may have something special there.

HA! HAHAHAHA! I never noticed that... Good eye Fan.

Oooooh yes.... as I said in another thread, I was going to get on and denounce these clowns in Frawley and Taylor... And it's almost a GOOD thing having no-brain clowns like these two try and criticise and diagnose a club... They know little... and what they do know is usually off the mark. BT is a great caller, but is a sensationalist off air. Frawley.... well... all I can say is I hope his nephew is only like him on the field. He is a clown. Simple answer BT. The dees fans are not [censored] weak. There are just LESS OF THEM than Pies fans. Lourd it over other clubs all you like Brian. Your club's reckoning is close at hand. Within your lifetime, the sands of time will pass and Collingwood will, through one way or another, fall by the wayside. It is arrogance of "football personalities" like you that seal their fate. NO-ONE will step in and feel sorry for them, as they have shown little or no sensitivity to the plight of other clubs. If you claim to know what is going on that's wrong at MFC, go down to the club and find out the situation. Maybe help out a little? If you can bring success to a club so far behind the others in resources, then you TRULY ARE a great football identity. As it is you are a clown. You were traded, you are a traitor, and you are a leech... a hanger on to a club that through numbers pushes around the other clubs, greedily gorging itself on all that footy has to offer. The only thing he had to say that was pertinent was to do with Gary... If the club is in dire straits, why don't you go down and help... Gary's answer? "People are allowed to say no in this world. They're allowed to say they don't want to." No-one's telling you to coach gary. What we want to know is WHY NOT!!!! Get off the fence!!! Because at the moment it seems you perhaps resent the club a little for never supplying you the means to win a flag. Call me a liar! As for you BT.... You go on making an absolute tool out of yourself you arrogant, conceited, narcissistic DOG! That's right Brian DOG!!! I can't wait for the opportunity to kick you and "your club" when it's down. I will enjoy it. Congratulations. You have made it easier for the deomons to come out next week and SHOW you the meaning of good footy. And you've provided the demons crowd the inspiration to turn up in droves and yet again make a fool out of you... Keep up the good work.

All I have to say is... ... ... ... ... ... ...

Fan... you have a point. We came a mediocre 5th last season by playing the footy that got us up today. Against a fully fit opposition, and away from the G it would have come down to luck. I can't help but applaud the fact that MFC tried to bring about change in the off-season... the debate should surround HOW they change... and how long they take to decide that their change in direction was a mistake. I hate that thought, and I have serious doubts that a match-day article written by one of these buffoons would count for much when you're out on the hallowed turf.

FINKSIE!!!! THE F-MAN!!!!! THE F-BOMB!!!!! F-ROCK!!!!! THE FINKLATRON!!!!! THE FINKSTER!!!!! THE FIZZLE SNIZZLE DIZZEL!!!!!! How good must you be feeling.... Get on early this week with your next few tips.... I want to make my trip to the TAB early this week...

Good win... Not without a problem or two, but it's good for the MFC squad to be reminded they can win, and win against good opposition... I was driving back from South Melbourne and JUUUST got home as the siren sounded, so I got the whole second half.... I had the scarf dangling out of the window from about halfway through the third... I was VERY nervous there for a while. Bate's goal and Neita's long bomb highlights from the radio call... I'm going to start a thread on Brian Taylor having a crack at Lyon and the dees supporters later tonight.... glorious to see the big buffoon made even MORE of a fool!

The funniest thing about that side is the players that missed out. How would you feel if you were a Queenslander who couldn't even make the 22?! Getting beaten on the ground by Petterd and Armitage, on the bench by Merrett and Renouf who hasn't played a game, and Bizzell in emergencies. What did poor old Brett Voss do wrong?!

Walls is no better there than an up-themselves 'ology or 'land poster.... Just an opinion, yet he'll get carried away and call for swinging of the axe left right and centre... But I will say this. You've got to give something to get something... I hate it when people crack the sheeeites at players like Biz, Pickett, Ferguson, Wheatley, Godfrey, Ward, Miller and Brown and then somehow come to the conclusion they have to be traded. Only 1 or 2 of those players have ANY market value AT ALL. And in each case they wouldn't be worth the trade for some piddling upgrade in draft selections. Realistically if we want to trade for something crap, like the next Kingsley, then sure, talk about Miller. If we want to trade for something good, like a Tarrant or Pickett, then we have to lose a Bruce, Trav or Green. If we want something GREAT like Judd or Pavlich, the truth is we don't have ANY combination of players at the club that would work. With the exception of McLean (and even he would be a risk) no-one comes anywhere near being of high enough value. On that, at least, Walls has a point. We need drastic changes to have a tilt next year. And those players have enough value to be tradable for SOMETHING right now. What Walls doesn't realise is that traded players are one clubs trash... for a reason. It's a terrible risk at best, and if we got rid of those five players prior to next year, we would have the same season as 2007 injuries or no injuries.

Just thought I'd post here because... well... I should. Haven't got anything to say...

Pinky Spinky.... Neale... give Aaron special instructions.... You can go anywhere on the ground as long as you have a KP player like Neitz between you and Goldspink... Be warned Aaron that if he gets so much as a sniff of you: First - He'll pay a free against you for waving to your Mum... Second - He'll pay fifty for having a "disrespectful look" on your face... Third - He'll report you for Grievous Bodily Harm after you try to pluck out his eyeballs with the blunt end of his whistle while screaming "HERE DARREN!!! LET ME IMPROVE YOUR EYESIGHT!!!!"

Poor old man Riv.... Well... more of the MFC masterplan falls into place... we're a step closer to pick one... *rubs hands and cackles maniacally*

I don't like Wheatley. Let me make that clear. But come year's end, we can only delist so many players. Wheatley is a candidate to be sure, but he's up the safer end. If he's going to be retained, he should get games. Also, Neale must be quietly pooping his breeches at the thought of playing so many kids so much of the time. He's as desperate as anyone for that first win. Probably more desperate than anyone. The overall philosophy that experience wins games is true, and he may have picked him based on that. Also, Chip could struggle again. He MUCT be played of course, but Neale needs his backups, and there's holes everywhere in our defensive fifty. deanox, mate... don't you get sick of hearing that though? He has footskills and range, and a bit of height, and he's not slow... He can take the kick ins (though Belly seems alright in this regard), but beyond that Wheatley has never in his life been damaging as an AFL footballer. He's had a LONG time, but if we drill Godfrey, Brown, Biz, Ferguson and others for being terrible, this guy MUST be worse. Brownie doesn't have the skill, but he has more ticker. Biz was a great player in his day. Godfrey wants it as much as anyone. I'm not saying smash Wheatley for being a dud, but if you're going to have a go at our usual misfits, Wheatley is ABSOLUTELY one of them... he has no excuse... he can actually play.

He's a weird bloke, but you can't help but respect and admire Sauntner, despite being shopped around as a player. Glittering career, and a really different player... Would that more footballers had his outlook, and confidence to be a player with personality. I go to Sandy to watch the young dees play, and I'm always chuffed to watch him play, along with the likes of Poyas, Valenti, Gallagher, the Johnsons who I reckon go alright and Liddell. So much can be learned from these guys about attitude, even by AFL players (Byron). With the exception of some players robbong young demons of opportunities to play in certain positions (Sanutnet/Newton) it is a SENSATIONAL way to teach young guys about footy...

I like that philosophy.

Was on SEN last weekend, and gave one of the better interviews in recent history in my book. He said that he sits down with Neil Craig and Mark Williams often to discuss up and comers. He says that Neil always sits down and syas give me athletes, athletes and more athletes. Jarman claims that he's a good coach, but can't understand why he doesn't want to recruit footballers. He then said Williams was an out and out arrogant jerk, and that he and Mark don't get on... brave stuff really, when you think about. Well.... brave or just plain.... Jarman.

YEAH!!! I'm looking forward to it!!! Hate Buckley as much as the next man, but bring it on!!! Makes the game more interesting... I'd much rather the chance to roll a Buckley-led pies outfit than the alternative, even if we're up against it.

ODB, you're aware our club's members voted for it? I realise we had the better part of the deal in the take-over, but I don't think you understand how close we came as a club to merging. Oh my god... we're here again... Sorry to all the posters sick of seeing this topic brought up every 6 months... North will only go if they want to? Where have you been? They ARE going... do you know any North Supporters who can look you in the eye, without a television camera around, who actually WANT their club to move? yes they'll most probably return to some success, yes it'll save the blue and white, but at what cost? Jesus it scares me when supporters are told how much danger MFC was in and they shrug it off saying "it'll be alright, she'll be ok, don't worry mate!" I thought those days were gone...

Just had a look at my original post, and I see what you mean. I don't think we're for the scrapheap, not at all. I mean, we are in '07 and have been for a while now, but as a club I'm excited about our future. What this was meant to do was raise the point that we need now, more than ever in recent years, to maintain our memberships, keep going to games, because the great unwashed won't be turning up to keep the club's coffers full... Sorry to seem depressing, wasn't my intention.

Not even Craig Cameron can achieve the impossible. Not only would he have to recruit a KP defender, forward, 2 ruckmen etc etc but he'd have to recruit them from a draft, and they'd have to be READY MADE!!! That's impossible! The best ruckmen in the land usually take until they're 23+ to make any REAL impact. Yes we could trade, but could we trade for that many QUALITY players? Also, they'll be someone else's trash for a reason... You're missing the point. The draftees for next year would be HARD PRESSED to make any impact straight away. It almost never happens. If we have a RIPPING draft year, then that's exciting, but it's not exciting immediately. Those draftees need 3 years in EVERY case to become the players they need to be. Even Judd took a couple of years to start smashing the competition. AGAIN! I'm as much a lover of that list as ANYONE... Even MORE of a lover of some of those players than many.... but you'll notice that it's only 12 players. Be kind to some of the other younger guys on the list and you'll have maybe 14 to 16, but it's still a long way off.... Look, all we can hope to do is have a strong few recruiting years in a row. That way those players start to own the comp ALL AT THE SAME TIME. We've done half the job with that list above, and that's certainly something to be excited about... but those players will be making their names IN 3-5 YEARS! In the meantime we have MANY problems that need fixing, not just one or two. Good grief. How many teams do the Swans compete with in Sydney compared to the dees? How much media coverage do they get in their home state compared with the dees? It's like saying that Melbourne Victory have many more supporters than any of the AFL clubs. Add 9 more soccer clubs in Victoria and we'll see how their numbers go... I'll say it one more time, and if people don't get it by now they never will. It's supporters who think we'll be fine just because we're "Melbourne FC" that will be the ones shocked and dismayed if another merger/move is touted. Being the only team called Melbourne didn't save us from merger talk ten years ago, and it won't save us in the future if the situation regarding interstate dominance gets worse, which it very well could for all we know. Take off the rose coloured glasses. We're not a dead club walking, far from it, but we will be if this kind of naivity is allowed to perpetuate.

Aaaah. Good. Some people see the point of the original post. I don't believe, for a second that being "Melbourne" football club saves us. We could still merge. And lots of weird and terrible thing may happen. If things go from bad to worse, teams may eb EXPECTED to move interstate, and I don't believe for a second that being the capital city of a state automatically gives you the right to sit back and relax, safe in the knowledge you're not going anywhere. My point was that all these weaker clubs, Doggies, Roos etc etc are always going to have financial problems... do you think when push comes to shove, that they will be able to beat the Pies and Dons off the Titanic? They're far enough behind as it is. If any fan were to look at our history and say we are safe, then THEY should take an honest look at it. We are under some risk. Isn't that enough reason to be at least prepared for a fight? If the powers that be in the AFL see no other recourse but to relocate or merge clubs so that we're left with 7 VIC sides, OF COUrSE they're not going to come to the Pies or Dons. The simple fact is they have larger membership bases, and it would hurt the AFL more to lose them. It's simple numbers people. Lower membership base = More likely to go... I'm not saying we WILL go, and I don't think we're under the worst threat, but we'd better bloodywell recruit and play a dynasty in the next 10 years wouldn't we!!!! The club is in desperate need of a golden era, and for about 10 different reasons too...

I'm fairly certain that's incorrect. The chief was on SEN as recently as within the last month. He admitted that the recruiters at the hawks identified the fact that there was, around the time Franklin and Roughie were recruited, a famine when it came to quality talls. They knew that should they recruit the best big boys around, in all likelihood when they matured they would have little opposition in the same age bracket as them. Hence they went with them, and stuck with Boyle. Are you kidding me?!!! What does winning all those games achieve?! EVEN IF we won against all 7 or so of those opponents, we can afford, from the next 13 rounds, to only drop one more game in order to make the finals!!! I'm not saying we can't win more games this year to get us safely away from the spoon, but what exactly would the point be of trying to win every game from here on in?!!! We play the bulk of our interstate games in the second half too! Open your eyes people, the situation IS dire!!! If you think the current list is capable of winning a flag, you have to take a long hard look at yourself. The Saints and Crows have both had major injuries, and they're still in the running.... we haven't even been close. West Coast has Cox, Judd and Kerr, as well as a supporting cast that can go with/beat our best players besides maybe McLean, and they aren't even mature yet. As good as Brock is, he's not quite Judd or Kerr. To say WC have a gun midfield is a MASSIVE understatement. Adelaide have an EXCELLENT defence we have a good one MAYBE in the future, and I'd prefer to keep the St Kilda comparisons to a minimum... they are, after all, a bit "different." I understand your point, but we don't have world beating midfield or defence. Just good ones. Add Judd, and maybe you have something... But that goes for EVERY side. Hmmm... Yeah, I see your point with ruckmen, but it seems to me you still need at least a GOOD one and an ok one to backup. PJ, it seems to me is good backup, but a quality ruckman is YEARS away should we need to train one. And I think you slightly UNDERestimate ruckmen. Our mids have struggled now that Jeff is no longer a leader in the AFL. It's no coincidence our being 0-9 coincides with his decline. He has been a GREAT player... and we need a GREAT replacement if we're serious. Premiership winning teams have all had top grade ruckmen. Your point on JMac highlights what I said before. We may well have "as good" players coming up from the youger ranks... that's all well and good... what I'm saying is that our midfield is stroinger with BOTH JMac and Barts. When our better old guys retire, the responsibility falls to these younger players... then who takes up THEIR slack? Do you see my point? Just because you have an immediate replacement for a player doesn't mean the problem is solved. Unless we have 22 players under 25 that together make a starting team, there's always going to be holes. Robbo? I worry about him. His inaccountability hurts him, and I worry that his explosiveness is an integral part of his game, and that as his knees start to creak in two years, his height and weight deficiency may FINALLY get the better of him. Happy to be proven wrong.... Yes, I am being negative, but I will make you this one note. I was told off for being negative early this year when I said I thought we had some pain in store for us this year. I claimed that we COULD make finals, but that a far more likely scenario would be that we would fight to make them. I believed then, as now, that too many good players are fulfilling the roles STAR players would fill if we had any... eg Rivers + Carroll = Glass, Robbo + Neitz = Feva... My concern was that in any normal team they hope that their best 5 players, presumably their stars, would stay uninjured. They would then have some hope. We have 10 players who would need to stay uninjured before cracks started to show. Granted, we've been hit hard, and even those that were right to play had AWFUL form problems, but my point still stands. I was convinced otherwise by certain people, and as it turns out, we didn't get the injury luck we needed. So what happens now? We have a crack at '08. Like I said, that's fine, but I doubt any coach we could afford would come in and win a flag in his first year even IF he decided to give this list one more go. And if Daniher stays, does anyone think he could coach us to a flag? EVEN IF either one got close, after '08 we have some rebuilding to do that will take 2 years AT A MINIMUM!!! Fair enough, we may not be bottom 4 during this time, but we may as well be, because we won't be Grand Finallists in '09 and '10....