Nasher

Let's not get too carried away with our own season here. We are not yet a side bristling with midfield talent that is impossible to break in to, there were places in the side ripe for the picking most weeks. For whatever reason, the opportunities he got were obligatory at best and the club looked to other players for the most part. Without wanting to be disparaging, I think even the weaker teams will look elsewhere. Most clubs would prefer to gamble on a player they've never seen before than a player who has now been in the system a while and failed at two clubs. I know that's harsh and I feel very sorry for him as he's clearly left nothing out there and seems likeable, but I think it's just how it is.

Team Mahoney/Viney/Taylor have demonstrated ability in pulling rabbits of hats, so I hope you're right. I've got to say I've never been as excited by a bunch of bland footy administrators as I am by this team. So boring to listen to, so many runs on the board to date.

Rockliff was training with us at the time, and my recollection was that all and sundry believed we would take him with our PSD pick. The selection of Jurrah with the PSD pick was totally out of the blue and allowed the Lions to swoop. That generation of recruiting staff also had form with telling players we'd take them and then spontaneously taking someone else when the time came to deliver (ref Bennell-Sloane), so while this is all hearsay, it adds up to a plausible story. He's still a tool if he's not over it by now though.

How many people who were running the club then are still there now? It wouldn't be hard for Taylor/Viney/Mahoney/Goodwin/whoever to go "yeah yeah sorry, those guys were idiots, the club isn't like that now.". If he still holds a grudge over that, he's probably a sandwich short of a picnic anyway.

Kennedy and McGlynn for 39 (Grimley), 46 (Stratton) and 70 (promotion of Matt Suckling). Grimley was a dud and Stratton is a decent player, but hardly worth one of the premier mids in the comp. Regardless of who they took with the picks, on that trade it's obvious they just didn't rate him at all.

Just so exciting. His hands are the best I've seen at the MFC. Glaring weakness is his tank - he only played one game at AFL midfielder minutes (round 9 against Brisbane), but since he was fresh out of the footballer factory that's hardly surprising.

Prone to being a total passenger when we play poorly. Probably just a product of an inexperienced HFF player. His best his quality and he's only just passed 50 games as a player, so he was still really playing as a junior member of the side this year; he still has plenty of time to work on it. His best is fast, dangerous, hard and exciting. Can't wait to see what his 2017 brings.

Most of us are excited by his talent, and it's easy to forget he's just a baby still. Was 19 for the duration of the season. If he plays every game and a final next year he'll play his 50th game in the final, in the week of his 21st birthday. Unlikely to happen in reality, but it paints a picture of just how far away he is from full tilt yet. Great example of sensible development of young talent by the MFC. Has played low minutes and missed games to date, meaning the experience he has accumulated has been under less pressure. Looking forward to Billy's workload being ramped up over the next 2-3 years as he clearly has the ability and drive.

I'm all for insurance players, but you need to be confident they can actually still play at AFL level, otherwise they are just eating up a valuable spot on the list. Are we that sure Minson can? He did not demonstrate so this year. In Minson's case he (and/or Spencer) would also be eating up all the ruck minutes at Casey that need to be spent on Mitch King. I doubt he's leaving the Bulldogs to be a VFL ruckman elsewhere anyway.

2 games in 2016, when fit. Big fat red flag, surely.

Getting a fair deal done early is the way to go. It saves everyone a lot of time by skipping the negotiating part and landing at agreement very early, it stops emotion from playing any role, and it builds confidence between parties for future deals. IMO it would be a total disaster if the two clubs starting huffing and folding their arms and stomping their feet like the Essendon/St Kilda negotiation last year. It makes it take forever and prevents us (and Essendon) from getting *any* other deals done. By those comments from Dodoro, it sounds like getting it done early and reasonably is the preferred option. And@Redleghas been saying for ages that this deal has already been agreed to.

Pedersen is there to buy Weideman time. This is an indication that the club does not want to put undue pressure on its young players. It's just a responsible signing rather than an exciting one.

If there is to be a handover, with some jiggery pokery I could probably make LH the OP in this thread. Alternatively, we can start a new one.

One year deal. Well done Cam and good luck. No surprise really, was clearly in the cards when he went in early for the knife. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-10-06/pedersen-inks-new-oneyear-deal

http://demonland.com/forums/topic/40982-wheres-rpfc/

I reckon being very good in the ruck is just a nice to have. Not a relevant KPI for Boyd/Hogan/Hawkins IMO. Marks is probably the numbers that really matter as goals can be a function of role being played - this is where Dawes really lets us down. The reason Boyd was so effective was because he marked it every time he got near it, which I hadn't seen him do until that point. He only averages a whisker over 3 a game; his 8 in the GF was a career high. For comparison, Hawkins now averages 5.4 and Hogan 6.9. An 8 mark game wouldn't even be in Hogan's top 10 statistically. I still think there's room for circumspection regarding Boyd. He has now played a total of one game that does justice to his talent. Nobody has been proven wrong or right on anything yet IMO. It was a ripping GF, though. He sure picked the right match to play the game of his life.

His career trajectory is not too dissimilar to Tom Hawkins, who at 38 games had kicked 49 goals. Hawkins best is 68 and he regularly is in the 40-50 range. That's probably about where Boyd is going. A 30 (ceiling) goal forward would put him in the Chris Dawes region; I'd project that Boyd is going to be a lot better than that.

I went and had a shower once, and when I came back, Paul Roos was our coach.

I'm sure clubs would be happy to assist if Port took on a piece of his salary.

In before someone sooks about the length of the contract. Great news!

Thanks for giving a bunch of Demon loving misfits a place to share our love (and sometimes endless frustration)! I think my connection to the MFC would be far weaker without Demonland.

Collingwood took Scharenberg and Freeman. Yikes.

Yep. Adelaide, West Coast and Brisbane (Bears) were also clubs that were 100% manufactured by the AFL. "Expansion clubs" have been popping up for 30 years, I think it's probably time people accepted that the old VFL is gone and isn't coming back.

Was it this game? http://afltables.com/afl/stats/games/1996/011119960630.html He didn't register a stat, and it was the last game he played for the MFC.

Don't know if you remember Nudge, mo, but his general modus operandi was referring to his 'contact', and a long post of one liners full of completely made up stuff. It was always great fun to read I thought as it got the imagination churning, but the people who took it all way too seriously would get upset because none of it turned out to be right. So yes, similar credibility to GNF I guess.