John Dee

i'm listening now...this is good news i hope...just quickly, i was going to ask before, who does conlan work for?

Reebok

You're a very harsh judge.

In my opinion when Gardner does resign he will leave the club in much better shape then when he became chairman. That is more than you could say for Ridley, Gutnick and Szondy. He has shifted the momentum by addressing problems that have not been addressed for 25 years. The next chairman (or chairwoman if it is Bev!) will inherit Gardner's good work and I'm sure they'll appreciate it more than you.

The next chairman can be a man or a woman. The 'man' in chairman comes from the latin manus; it means hand. The term chairman is akin to leading hand.

I'm slightly disappointed because other posts(on other threads) had me hopingthat Cale might have been ready for AFL. Now I know!

Don't be disappointed, Morton is a work in progress. Watch him live and you will be salivating. He is very green and needs to fill out a bit. But, we have a real beauty.

The other two Morton boys braved the hot sun to come and see Cale play. I would say that we have the tallest of them and Richmon the stockiest. Mitch is an axehandle across the shoulders.

This thread is turning onto something more than its title suggests.

For mine, I am a Melbourne supporter start and finish. I do go along to Sandy practice games most years; pleasant Sunday afternoon, plenty of Demons running around. I also make it a point to catch any Sandy on the ABC. I have become a Sandy supporterby default.

I actually want Sandy to play the best side that they can pick - end of story. I want any Melbourne players to experience playing in a club where success is everything and a winning culture is endemic. That is the most valuable thing that, in my opinion, Sandy offers. People on this site were bemoaning Newton's perpetual selection in the Sandy reserves and he is now a fixture in our senior side, and still only 20. I count that as a success. Would his getting undeserved game in Sandy seniors not have exaservated the attitude problem that was evident early on?

Just on the unmentioned Saunter, he was sorely missed in both Sandy games that I have seen this year, what is happening to him? Sandy need him badly.

The whole problem is the priority pick. If it were not in place then the game in question would have been for the difference between pick 2 and pick 3 with the 'loser' getting pick 2 and the 'winner' pick 3. While this might still represent a small problem it does not compare with that presented by the priority pick where the 'loser' got picks 1 and 3 and the 'winner' pick 4. Had we lost the game than we would have got pick 2 and 18 and they would have got pick 3.

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Keep the draft with the teams selecting in reverse order; just get rid of the proirity pick. I would favour that over any situation where a team that might have won 7 or 8 games getting a pick before a team that won none.

Fish Heads are in

I left at 3/4 time in the Sandy game. I was over on the far side with Bartram's parents ( I didn't find this out until I was about to leave ). Apparently Bartram was on a strict 12 minutes only per quarter. Sandy were a much more formidable side when he was there, along with Rivers. At times, you could hardly see how the Scorpions were going to even score. Another that I was impressed by/intrigued with was Stefan Martin; he played the whole game in a key defensive post and did very well. He is all arms and legs, but, the number of times he got a hand or body in and broke up attacks was impressive.

Nice report Jack. I have to disagree with you about our best players though; I thought that will o' the wisp daylight was our second best.

I'm going to make a cup of tea.

Mate!!!

Just what I needed on a Friday afternoon; many thanks!!

McClean

Jones

Morton

Maric

Grimes

McNamara

Bate

Rivers

Newton

Sylvia

I wish Valenti all sucess; having said that, he is a clone of Adam Fisher.

I have never been able to understand self flagellation, but, a small part of me is even looking forward to the filth versus the crows tomorrow night.

Isn't he the one that got us in the shite years ago? and JG went to the AFL about paying over the salary cap?

Schwab is very good. He fell afoul of Joe Gutnick for not telling him about some problems with salary cap issues that he was trying to keep quite. Joe effectively sacked him and exposed all to the AFL, which led to our draft restrictions.

http://www.afl.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=2...mp;newsId=54936

Interesting that David Nietz is not amongst the players attaining AFL life membership, having reached 300 games last year.

Does he have to nominate? I thought it was "automatic"

As they count pre-season games, international games and state games and just about any other sort of game he would have got his Life Membership a couple of years ago.

I wanted Judd at mfc, but, knew that the price would be high. Having said that, I was prepared to pay that price. The best player in the game, the boost in membership, standing within the football community etc.

When Judd declined to come to mfc, I was miffed, but not devestated, as the high price would not have to be paid. We should just move on and play the hands that we have been dealt; I am quite comfortable with ours.

With regard to the other matter - respect does not nescessarily diminish hatred.

Opening, and closing, ceremonies at these sort of events are pure drivel. It is a very good test of a person's character to discover whether or not they have an affinity with them; if they do, avoid them like the plague!

Are we jumping the gun here? All we have is a throwaway line at the end of a newpaper article; I would like to see something more reliable before we get too het up.

You might be right... time will tell.

I did wonder why the guys who listened to yesterday's SEN interview didn't mention it?

I heard the entire interview with DB; there was narry a mention of Steve Harris.

I don't normally post anything on the Miller bashing threads, but, put me in the 2% also.

Hypocrisy is rampant at football clubs, they preen themselves and trumpet their position as community leaders and proclaim their players as role models when it suits them and do not accept that with that comes the responsibility to treat all indescretions with a firm and steady hand.

This offense is bordering on grounds for a custodial sentence. It was announced last year that Johnson was on his last chance ...

Consider what might have happened if Shannon Byrnes was driving with Johnson in the passenger's seat. Would Geelong have treated Byrnes differently and come down on him like a tonne of bricks? You bet your life they would have, he is a fringe player and did not win the Norm Smith Medal.

Mo,

I think Shaft's explanation and news article identifies the sacking of the fitness adviser for breach of confidentiality not the quality of his fitness program. If Geelong's allegation is true then Bertolacci has done his professional career irreparable damage.

Any proof to back up your statement undeeniable?

Based on my recollection of events, Bertolacci was accused of all sorts of ineptitude at the time relating to his management of the fitness of the players. There were other unsavoury rumours doing the rounds but nothing relating to breach of confidence. After Bertolacci was sacked, Geelong accused him of hawking around player dossiers although this did seem to have the whiff of [censored] for tat about it as it followed the legal action instituted by Bertolacci.

The article in the link provided by Shaft would appear to support my recollections.

Anyway, here is a bit of info into what happened with Bertolacci and what the cats said, if anyone cares...

http://www.theage.com.au/cgi-bin/common/po...4198378280.html

Basically they accused him of providing a detailed dossier of Geelong players to rival clubs, detailed strengths & weaknesses.

The business of providing player dossiers and the like happened after Bertolacci was sacked, not before.

does anyone understand this whole extra circle thing...does that mean there will now be three circles in the centre?? i preferred it when there was one personally

As I understand it, it is a rectangular area attached to the circle that only the umpire can enter in the initial instance; players can, aparently, enter this area once the umpire has exited it.

This has the Anderson mark of stupidity all over it. It can only be applied for the cente bounce and the only time the ball is bounced in the NAB Cup is at the start of quarters and after goals. At all other times, the ball is thrown up and the old rules apply.

The farce has been seemingly brought about because players are getting very good at using the upmires as shields whilst technically obeying the non-contact rules. This has, apparently, led to contact between umpires and taggers. This, seemingly, well intended rule is a feeble attempt to counter the tactic.

Just wait until the ball enters the area and the first player to try and get the ball is, perforce, penalised.

Rivers and Bartram are two that have benefitted from a run in the NAB, or was that Wizard, cup that set up their seasons. I would like to see a couple of fresh faces in each match that we play.

Carlton always try to win the pre-season competition because there is no befefit in tanking.