Tim

This made me chuckle. As a matching pair I think we handed out his biggest loss as a Swans coach as well - the “Jamie Bennell puts the jets on for a goal” game at the MCG.

Does anyone know the lightly built guy with the early Bjorn Borg hair stylings and wearing #36? And no, it wasn’t Kozzie.

Norm Smith could go in as captain/coach! Looking at Gaspar/Ottens reminds me that while we have had the better brother at times, we’ve probably been on the wrong side of the ledger over the decades in terms of having the better/best brother, unless we had both (eg, the Flowers). Brayden Maynard the current standard-bearer. An interesting category!

DS, would I be right in thinking that if you dropped out S Febey for someone like Ron Baggott or a D Cockatoo-Collins it would be a team that had a brother who played at the level for a club other than Melbourne?

Cue ground announcer: “Number 23…JAAAAMES JORDON!”

He was out doing running with the others from the later game as twilight set in, so probably cramp.

Indeed, like Teenage Fanclub - they’re on the record as hating verisimilitude.

Particularly as it doesn’t seem to play all that well for spinners these days anyway; Lyon averages north of 40 at the ground.

That would eliminate Spencer (7 years, 122 games), Warne-Smith (9/138), Chadwick (9/141), Ridley (9/130 - 5 flags!!) and Mithen (9/153). Fwiw, I think Clarrie’s already there, and is one of our all-time greats, Trac not far behind. Together with Max we are blessed to be able to enjoy 3 of our best-ever stars playing together in our current team. And from what I’ve read and heard I wouldn’t be dropping Spencer, Mithen and IWS from our rolling Team of the Century.

That bad, OD…?

Twice in the first quarter in the Granny against Hickey.

The eye of the beholder, Kev. I was actually quite happy with his kicking and ball handling; he had an economical and effective action to my eye.

Thanks for the report Kev, beat me to the punch. The work this morning was of a similar structure to Monday’s session, and like that session I was impressed with the general intensity of the work. Two different types of match sim; one in a congested smaller space using handball to move the ball backwards and forwards while maintaining the “shape” of their set ups, the other using most of the oval to move the ball by foot and run in support. It was demanding enough work for the first week, and shows that these days players are expected to be in physical condition to go straight into game plan work and skills work without having to waste valuable pre-season time “getting fit”. Kade was very busy, and was attempting spoils on big guys as well as his ever-present effervescence and intensity. Looking at Jefferson in the kicking they did late in the session I actually thought he looked quite comfortable and had nice hands; the running was a bit of a challenge for him, but that’s something that will come in time and with work. In regard to the running KFW was pretty darn good for such a young tall. As I said about Monday’s session, it was great again seeing a lot of senior players being part of the match sims. As Kev mentioned, there were also other senior players who did their own work separate from the main group. At one point in the warmup on the eastern side of the oval Grundy had to retrieve a footy that had bounced its way onto Punt Road and into the gutter. Welcome to the DIY MFC, Big Fella! I also chuckled at Mark Williams during the running yelling at a group “don’t let the new bloke beat you” as Lachie Hunter led that group past where I was standing.

That’s true, but it was good to see senior players Trac, May, Salem, Viney, Pig, Schache and Hunter on track and involved in the match sim drills. It must be good for the junior players to see big dogs “up and about” and joining in sessions they don’t have to attend. Especially good to see TMac looking uninhibited, as @Slartibartfastpointed out - we sorely missed him last year. It wasn’t a frenetic match sim, but it was still pretty intense for a first up session in terms of running in support of teammates as they moved the ball up and down the ground. Just shows how the level of professionalism has lifted in recent years.Trac ‘talked the talk” at the B&F about how they’d already been doing running doing fitness work for a couple of weeks back then, and he was certainly “walking the walk” at Gosch’s today as a leader. I guess you always like to see them moving freely this time of year, and it was good to see Viney/Salem/Rivers in particular looking good; all three were either banged up last year or have been inhibited by injuries (Viney). I was interested to see the cut of the jib of Kyah Farris-White. Yeah, he’s tall, but fwiw he moved quite nicely for such a young beanpole, including mobility during the drills. Long way to go, but good luck to him.

Indeed. The wares of the competing contenders are out there to be assessed and compared, unlike the situation at MFC - gotta be a good thing! As an aside it’s good to see some classic work from Jeffrey Gibb Kennett. Full frontal attack on Andy Gowers for being personal in his campaigning, in a textbook example of a typical Kennett ad hominem attack. Nice one, Jeff!

Roped off area for the directors was a feature of the “come on down, fans” training sessions before COVID. It’s something that I didn’t like, and has stuck in my memory.

Yes, it was pretty much a slam dunk case, and that’s the way it played out in the Supreme Court. It was totally foreseeable for a well-advised board, and in that context Lawrence sought to get around any costs and necessity to access the addresses by asking the club to send out the material. The board refused, then pig-headedly wasted our money trying to defend the indefensible. Along those lines, Slarti, rank and file members might like to note Roffey’s contemptuous throwaway line about Snowy from Moe. Shame!

Nasher, there seem to be a lot of posters on here who must either sleep with the lights on, or have another agenda aimed at painting Lawrence as badly as possible.

That’s a fair point of itself, and if someone were seriously trying to get onto the board I don’t doubt that they would be able to rustle up the requisite number. I think the point of concern is that the practice in similar professional member-based sporting clubs (MCC, VRC, other AFL clubs) is either 2 or 3, so why is our board seeking to wind it out to 20 from the current 2? It smacks of trying to build a bigger moat around themselves, consistent with other recent behaviours they have shown. Also reminds me of immediately pre-COVID where the club once a year or so encouraged fans to come down to open training sessions; it was amazing to see an area roped off next to the players area for “Board Members”. Very clubby, and not in a good way!

Wow, can’t believe someone would seriously put that forward as an argument, but there you go…. We’re not talking about recruiting callow young ruckman here, where it takes several seasons to get them to maturity. I want quality board members who can hit the ground running and help make our club the best it can be from top to bottom for the whole of their terms. You make it seem like getting on the board is like being inducted into a cult.

Perhaps, but why have they gone from 2 to 20, which goes against the practice of all similar large member-based sporting organisations? Not necessary, and not a good look I reckon. ‘Another example of moat-building by the board.

Yes, thank you Peter Jackson, Paul Roos, Simon Goodwin, Jason Taylor (and even you Mark Neeld for bringing JT). Bartlett and his Steve Bradbury board…? Not so much.

This!

Q: What do you call someone who’s failed 2nd year medicine? A: Doctor

Thanks George. The club will still function whatever happens here, but what history shows us is that we need to be the best club that we possibly can be from top to bottom, including the constitution and the board.