Choko

I had the pleasure of speaking to Dean Bailey at the 150, and he said that C. Johnson is the most unlucky player on our list and will get his chances this year. Therefore, I would be extremely surprised if he doesn't play this week.

Jones should be appointed captain next year.

I think the jumper matched the way we played.

Agree totally. I think that is his role. And if only he was as good as Ryan O'Keefe!

It's very easy to say the players are coming around to Bailey, but the truth is, no-one was saying that in the first half against Freo (who can't even beat Carlton) or when we were disgusting last week against the Crows. I think yesterday stands alone. We were spurred on by Neitz and Kennett's comments and we put our bodies on the line. That's not a criticism or otherwise of Bailey. The jury is out. But to start saying that Garland is a hero (as some posters suggest), the players are all of a sudden motivated, or to take too much out of 120 minutes of passionate football is a mistake.

Haha

David Neitz is a hero of the MFC. Since he reluctantly took over the leadership of the club, he has been an almost faultless leader. His heart beats true, and he played his footy the way every supporter and teammate wants - by running in straight lines, putting his body on the line, and through hard work and preparation. Congratulations on your accolades Neita. We all wish you had been given the send off you deserve, but alas, life is like that sometimes.

Collingwood is only one club that IMO would have loved Jeff White - I don't believe they have ever been sold on Fraser as their number 1 ruckman. The fact they didn't have a top 10 doesn't preclude a 3 way deal or a player and a pick, etc... In addition, Jolly would not have wanted to leave if White was leaving, he left for greater opportunity. My point is that it was entirely predictable that we were never going to get the value out of White that we likely would have gotten from trading him when the centre circle rule came in, and we should have made a hard decision then. I think we are living the consequences now.

What's disappointing is that blind freddy could see that the centre circle rule was going to affect him more than anyone else. We should have made the hard call back then and traded White when he had value. Collingwood at the time, for eg, would have paid a fortune. Instead, we didn't make the hard call and we pay the price.

I'm going - very excited

Outstanding video. Loved it all. Geez winning beats losing!

Agreed

I know he has a fantastic relationship with Ratten, but I think there is too much speculation past that point. I do think that if a few sides are keen for him, we should put him on the market for sure and see what we can get.

Congratulations to Millsy on his clear BOG (for us, anyway - Pav was probably better). I hope Miller builds his confidence asfter this game and continues to attack the footy in marking contests. His challenge is to do it regularly, and not just show enough to raise hopes and then drop off again. I thought Bate was superb, especially the way he recovered from that spate of errors. He has a massive engine and keeps giving. Anyone who didn't give Cam votes is absolutely kidding themselves. Cameron Bruce was one of the key reasons we got up yesterday. He imposed himself on contests and gave us a heap of drive. I think he made a couple of errors in leaving his man and getting drawn into the contest, and his disposal wasn't perfect, but he was easily in our best 3. Brock McLean needs to get to the bottom of more contests. I thought his first half was disgraceful - and his possessions meaningless. He answered back in the second half, but I thought his game was mediocre at best.

Maybe. But not in the footy.

Mate, I am inclined to agree that it seems Bailey will reward application over talent. And I think that's a good thing. But Miller should not be in the team because he can't kick or handball, doesn't kick goals, doesn't take contested marks and shows no leadership (that absolutely stupid act that gave him a week off is the latest example). No misconceptions here.

A fantastic achievement, particularly for Junior IMO. Junior has achieved this through hard work, not talent, and through modesty and being the consumate honest team man. No disrespect to Cam, but I think you'll find he was chosen as co-captain to ease the burden on McDonald from an off-the-field (media) perspective as much as anything.

Your logic is pathetic. Let's just say that some of the possessions that are designated as "contested" aren't in fact "winning your own ball". Fine. Does that prove that players who get contested possession stats are soft? No. It is more likely to mean they are an inside player than an outside player, which is still more likely to be a statistical demonstration of hardness. Not to mention, just watch the way Cale plays - he loves a contest and his body is not yet nearly developed. So back off him. How you can bag Morton at all shows how jaded you are. And to even think that Sandy would get close to Melbourne is plain dumb.

I would rather the club die than be reincarnated. But first and foremost, I would like it to live and prosper, like all of us. And I don't think we are in a position where we have to do something too radical. We need to build our brand (we have the name of the city for goodness sakes) to attract sponsors, and we need to re-engage with the members. And we need a new and savvy, well connected board to complement McNamee.

With the introduction of the 2 new teams, it seems there will be enormous draft concessions for 2009 and 2010. Can you believe our luck? It does seem like there will be more impact on the 2010 draft, but still... http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...1-19742,00.html

I would choose fighting to the death of the club over re-locating interstate. I would do everything I could to resist the move and I would fight the good fight. If we moved interstate, then I would view that as a new club and I would stop supporting it. I would perhaps consider supporting a new Melbourne-based team, or give up AFL altogether. But under no circumstances can I imagine that I would I support the team

We were no better against Carlton than any other game this year. IMO the only difference in our 5 games has been the varying quality of the opposition, or in Geelong's case, the hunger/focus of the opposition. I thought Wonna and Chip were terrific, always good to get some game time into Rivers and Bartram. Brock persevered. Colin showed some glimpses (as he does). That's about it.

Bailey only needs to explain to the Board who appointed him. Its a bit of a dream that supporters will understand the game plan. On the whole they rarely do.

I think your analysis is quite right in that supporters and the club are a lot better off to be losing games with guys that represent the future. That also teaches the young guys. But what you have to be mindful of is losing total confidence and for the learning to go the other way by totally uncompetitive performances week in week out. So you do need a balance of players. I would not be writing off Meeson before he has been given a go. I would also not give up on C. Johnson or Miller until season's end. And I agree with Condemned that McD has to play, as does White IMO.

I agre with the above, except that you are giving Bailey's game plan all sorts of credit for being suited to our list of the future. I don't think there is anything I have heard from him to demonstrate that contention. I hope it's true, and I have heard from others that he is reputed to have a fantastic footbal brain, but I still think it's a positive stretch to suggest that the game plan will suit Maric.