Choko

I thought we were terrible today. Other than our tackling, which was very good, I don't think there was anything to take away from that game. We moved the ball wide and predictably. WCE knew exactly what were were going to do from centre bounce setups, from kick-outs (where we are so far the worst in the AFL it's not funny) and around the ground. Where WC got the ball, they spread quicker and wider than we did, and got easy breaks. We also conceded the centre corridor far too often when the ball was going the other way. I saw no evidence of a game plan. I have a lot of sympathy for the boys out there because we have been cruelled by the wrong injuries (Watts, Jurrah, Wonna and Sylvia would have made a big difference), but still, it was a poor effort. We will get smashed in Rd 1 if we do that again.

I actually think he makes a good point. I have been concerned for some time about the enormous pressure we put on our young players. We have made public statements about Trengove and Scully being in our best group of players already, we threw Watts to the wolves, and we have (understandably) hyped up our picks and Jurrah. I think it was a mistake granting these kids the jumpers of the revered rather than having them earn it. Bailey actually said recently that his mind wondered whether the club had put too much expectation on Jurrah, even though the injury itself was not attributable to a mental condition. Dean Bailey is an inexperienced coach, and I will bet you one of the things he would do better with the benefit of hindsight is fight the club's natural willingness and want to push "hope" and the youngsters.

I think you have to balance that against a settled backline. Garland and Martin will be seen forward in 2010, but I wouldn't like to see Warnock, Frawley or Rivers, who IMO are clearly defenders. In a sense, Garland would only be a backman if we didn't have so many similar types, but since we have a weak forward line and so many tall mobile defenders, we have had to become more versatile with Colin. It has also laid to rest the Miller debate.

Great summary WJ. I was there too, and there's a couple of observations I would add. - Congratulations to the MFC and the Advocates Committee for providing the President, CEO, coach, captain, 4 additional players (Jord McKenzie, Stef Martin, Joel McDonald and Wonna), Board member and Neitz to attend the event. Really outstanding support and made for a great event. - Bailey was very good last night. Very entertaining. - The comments made about Scully and Trengove were amazing. It was even said that they are in our best bracket of players already. Take that as a positive or a negative I suppose! - James McDonald is the hardest trainer at the club (and by the way a ripping bloke). - It's been said, but Joel MacDonald spoke about the hurt of being delisted. He was conplimented by the MC, Nick McCallum, for choosing the MFC. He actually didn't accept the compliment, rather saying that he didn't choose Melbourne, he was delisted and it was devastating for him. Then when he had the opportunity to come to the MFC, he could see a lot in common with the Lions pre-premiership list of a lot of similar aged recruits building together to success. He said his new lease on footballing life is driving him to attack every ball. Seemed incredibly focused and professional. - Bailey dismissed the poor showing against Freo by saying "forget about that one". In analysing the Adelaide game last weekend, he said that the average games played of the group out there was 27 games. Bailey made the point quite a few times that the number of games our group has played will cause inconsistency but also excitement, and that patience is still going to be something we need! He thought that the reaction by the players to the Adelaide loss demonstrated a progression to not wanting to accept second best. - On Watts, Bailey said that 4 - 5 solid weeks at Casey (and I don't remember, he might have said also the practice match on Saturday) Watts should be ready to play. He has put on weight and will put on more next pre-season as well.

Exactly. It was so short-sighted and amateur of all other clubs to take the up-front money and lose proprietary rights over the biggest marketing opportunity there is. I work for a membership organisation, and it would be a proposterous deriliction of our duty and goals to lose control of the best, most visible and dynamic tool to communicate with the members and world at large.

I don't think it is nit-picking at all. it is absurd that a bloke who tuirned his back on our club is still listed. It is absurd that we cannot get training times on in an accurate and timely fashion. Robbo is retired. The club, as with 14 other clubs, made a grave error in handing over their main shopfront (website) to BigPond. Imagine if Myer sub-contracted their Christmas window to Apple, and said "you work out how our shiop should look this year". The MFC rightly states that they do not control content and find it hard to make changes. That is because we handed over control. It is a stupid thing for a business to do, especially for a business as dynamic, social and emotion-driven as a football club. Essendon was the only club to maintain control over their website, and kudos to them for that. I do not know how long the MFC is tied to this agreement, but if I were boss, I would be getting out as quick as possible.

Goodness me, Golly. I think that call will take some beating for worst of 2010!!

Yeh, it's only NAB. But.... we are playing a terrible footy side. Maric is unfortunately not up to it, and we make so many skill errors it'a hard to see what has changed. Still can't hold tackles. Forward line utterly dysfunctional.

Yeh, but does anyone know when the family entertainment is? Is it during or after the intra-club? I would have thought that the players would generally join, so I'm surprised if it's all at the same time. Can anyone tell me the plan? The MFC website is very light on....

Gday - I am a member of the Future Fund and I recommend it. This is its second year, and it is a real grassroots group. As said, it is $150/yr, and I reckon you get really good value. We sponsor a lot of players, and there are quite a few events. I am not sure on the exact age, but it is an inclusive membership for the younger "future" generation. Email me on here if you want the details of the guys who can hook you up a membership.

Can someone please tell me what the family day at Casey is going to be like? I am thinking of heading down with my little one.

Hold on a sec. The books are independently verified and signed off by one of the huge accounting firms. So to suggest they are manufactured is a big call. In addition, you can't equate one decision to the financial performance of a multi-million dollar turnover organisation.

It's far worse than making a bad deal, on newton at least. We signed him for 2 years knowing full well who we were dealing with. We should say sayonara to Newton ASAP. Meeson showed a bit before injury. I would retain. No worse than The Russian, better than PJ and a stopgap for the next gen.

We did a bit of both in the press - flip-flopped so to speak. We said we wouldn't speak to anyone who wouldn't speak to us. Then we said we would be interested, somewhat like a pimply teenager too shy to ask for a date. Even afterwards we said we would have liked him (notwtihstanding that he didn't want us). And I think we should have tried to use our strategic position in the PSD. I am not saying we would have succeeded. We could have played it more strategically, less erratically and more logically. So now we end up with the default in the PSD. A player we need least.

Correct. Which is why we should have either said "we are not interested" instead of foxing without purpose, or tried to force him into the PSD by virtue of the fact that he would be coming to us in any event. Nasher: True Voss was foxing. But my point is, he wasn't timid ("Oh, we have no leadership and he would be great if he wants us"). He basically said "if we think he is our best choice, we will pick him and he will like it". Much more bold.

"Long" Gawn?

W_J: Did you really buy that? I thought it was vintage CC spin. By saying we were essentially trying to get media to highlight our "up and coming list", we were also saying to the media that we have no leadership. And how exactly would other clubs thinking we might take Ball spook those clubs into a rash decision earlier in the draft?! If they had taken questions from the crowd (other than the moron who heckled Bailey), I would have asked "If Luke Ball was never in our plans, can you tell me hand on heart if he said he wanted to play for the MFC you would have said thanks but no thanks?" Quite frankly, it's bull! Bailey said as much when he said Ball would have been perfect pick at 1 in the PSD. If we genuinely believed that, then we should have said at the end of trade week that we will pick up Ball at 18, but would prefer to do it via the PSD, and then given him his holiday to stew it over. If he didn't come and speak to us at that point, we could have again gone to the media and said "We are waiting on Luke Ball. We know he is a man of character, and we have no doubt he understands the draft rules. There is no way Luke would act to the detriment of his new club by not coming to speak to us". But unfortunately, unlike Voss, the MFC is not that ruthless. But the draftees we did get seem very exciting.

I'm happy to also smoke the peace pipe. And I do understand that 10 bucks for 2 months is a lot. You could also argue that membership should be cheaper for the same reason. It's only an issue of degree. A successful business model does involve having some "higher end" and lower end functions.

I think your first line is the best one Should the club not hold these sorts of events? You clearly haven't thought about the ramifications of opening up something like this at say $15/head to 30,000 people in terms of the costs, organisation, resources, etc... You would have a de-personalised event at Rod Laver. If you are wanting a cheap way to see the draft picks, go to training or the many events you can go to (like family day) for which the price is justifiable to you. This function is giving people who are prepared to pay for it access to "inner sanctum". It's not elitist at all. Anyone prepared to put away $10/week for 2 months can go. Not just MCC, not just MoM. FWIW, I think $90 is a fraction high, but with food, wine and beer, CC, speakers including Watts and possibly the draft picks, plus the fact the club needs to make money out of these things, I can understand it and look forward to it.

Due respect to you and some of the other posters, but you don't get it at all. If Luke Ball nominates for the ND, not only does he NOT want to come to Melbourne, he is sticking his middle finger up at us because if we pick him, we are doing it despite our best interests being to pick him up in the PSD. That is, he would be coming to a club weakened by him coming, relative to what it would be if he was interested in the MFC. The MFC needed to go one of 2 ways: Tell Ball and the world that we were gonna get their man, and then paint Ball out to be selfish by not nominating for the PSD (forcing him to see he had no choice), or tell the world that we don't want someone who doesn't want us. For better or worse we chose the latter. We need to stick to it.

I own a pub in Sth Yarra, so you could say I have some connections. If there is enough interest, I am happy to give further details. Whenever we do MFC events, we give 5% of the take directly to the MFC.

I love Beamer's passion. But the parochial bluster does not rate very highly in what we should look for from a captain. There are many players who are just as passionate about the team as he is, in fact most of them. Just because he expresses it in rev ups or at the B&F does not make him the best candidate for captain. Leadership group? Yes. Though Beamer had a good year, to me he still only runs one way, and needs to add more strings to his bow. Even in 2009 he averaged a goal every 3 games, and the difference between good and bad games is too large.

I reckon if we get rid of Buckley, he will be picked up in one of the drafts, and will make a fool of us by becoming a Jason Gram type. Not a gun but a better than good player. I hope we don't delist.

He's obviously not that high profile if you can't even spell his name! But the reality is you need spin and smoke and mirrors to convince players to come to Melbourne. We are the worst team in the AFL (I don't actually think that but hey, the ladder says so), one of the poorest, with an extremely small supporter base, an Interim President, a base miles away with another one maybe on the way eventually. We are making a lot of steps in the right direction, as did the Bulldogs, it's just that the dogs are about 5 yrs or more ahead of us in their off-field revolution. So in short, why would a player choose us if they have a choice?

Again, when did Ball say he didn't want to play at the MFC?