Johnny Karate

True, all you have to do is scratch the surface a little and these kinds of attitudes become evident especially with guys like Taylor, Hunt etc. Anyway I'd rather a player who can do the basics well than have an arsenal of 'tricks' regardless of their racial background. Anyway from what I saw of Aussie on the weekend he looks a gem, I think he'll turn out to be a guy who can end up having an influence in the middle. He seems to relish physical contact, good skills set, strong mark and decent defensive attributes. He is very raw at this stage and I look forward to watching his progress over the next few seasons.

Like everybody I have my favourite players but I've never really bought into the whole defending or berating of players. If one of the players I like f's up I'm just as frustrated. I do tend to cut younger players slack though. A lot of the personal stuff written on these boards is very disappointing at times.

I'd rather Bruce or Green than Embley. Just think they are better players. Wouldn't be against recruiting Cousins under the right circumstances as it's concievable that veterans such as Holland, Neitz, Yze, McDonald, White and Whelan could all go in one hit leaving a further dearth of experience and leadership in an on field sense. Promote Wonaeamirri. Whispers have it that we are trying to lure Robbie Warnock am keen on this idea depending on the price. What I think is imperative for the rest of 08 going into 09 is getting as many games into; McLean, Bate, Morton, P.Johnson, Sylvia, Dunn, Petterd, Grimes, C.Johnson, Green, Maric, Garland, Moloney, Rivers, Wheatley, Davey, Warnock, Wonaeamirri, Carroll and Whelan as possible, as I believe all have the strength, smarts, speed and skills to form a very good unit in time. Finding players to fill Key Position Holes in that side is also a challenge. Hopefully players such as Meesen, Newton, Martin and Frawley are up to it.

Should be looked at (re. ommisions) - Cale Morton; not simply because of form but the pace of the game must be taking a toll on him he is so slight. Playing amongst this rabble must be eroding his confidence somewhat as well.. Lynden Dunn; a bit similar to Morton however is a 4th year player now - is struggling to have an impact on games. Daniel Bell; simply not playing good footy at the moment. Robertson; see Bell Davey; not playing AFL standard footy Jamar; surely we've seen enough of his (limited) abilities now. Carroll; not because of form per se but is not the future would like to see Garland, Frawley etc tried in KDP's for a bit. Should be looked at (re.promotion) - Buckley; Is hard at it, can find the footy and has a bit of pace what our team lacks. His skill level isn't great but I can forgive that in a 20 year old when his senior colleagues are guilty of the same offences. Bate; Is surely in our best 22 when fit. Yze; Form has been good at Sandringham and there is no point having him on the list if he is no chance for senior selection. CJ; see Yze Maric; the situation we are in, hope needs to be sold to the fans. Can't see Davey, Maric and Wona in the same 22 though, although the latter two deserve a game more than the former. Garland; has played well at Sandy and was a late withdrawal today. Meesen/Martin; anyone but Jamar policy. Valenti; give him a run.

B: Whelan - Frawley - Bell HB: Wheatley - Rivers - Sylvia - Bruce (loose man) C: Buckley - McDonald - Davey HF: Dunn - Bate F: Green - Neitz - Wonaeamirri R: P.Johnson - McLean - Bartram I: White - Morton - Petterd - Moloney E: Maric - Jones - Miller Robbo is in terrible form and looks unfit - I think he needs a spell in the VFL IMO McDonald, Jones and Moloney cannot fit in the same midfield and Jones' disposal and decision making let him down too much atm. Not saying the others are perfect by any means but Jones is particularly struggling atm. Miller will struggle to hold a spot when Bate gets back IMO unless it's as a KD. Green and Neitz would be perilously close to getting the arse IMO as well.

Fitzroy had 3000 members in 1996, were pretty much insolvent and were a skeleton of a side on the field. North Melbourne have 20,000+ members and finished 3rd in 2007. Comparing the two is apples and oranges. Brisbane doesn't even have those numbers now, they were formed in 1987 and have 3 flags in a row and now the AFL wants to have a second team in SE Qld without even articulating the plan or viability of such a venture... With all the whinging that goes on about them recieving welfare off the field they'll get twice as much up at the Gold Coast as well as draft & cap concessions. When North are gone we're next as I believe the dogs have rebranded themselves more successfully than we have at this stage. En masse our supporter base has been shown up as largely apathetic wheras Footscray fans have fought the league head on before. I don't see it as us v. them off field, rather it is us and them. We are in the same boat - we are just fortunate we didn't have complete clowns like Miller on our board who decided to rebrand us as the "Demons" - given the overall apathy of our supporter base we'd've been dead long ago. The name Melbourne gives us a little bit of an advantage branding wise but not much. If we can show there is enough support for these clubs to remain in Melbourne the end result is beneficial for all supporters concerned we are the heart of the AFL not the GC. They'll have to cough up the 17th license.

After the Roos it'll be us targetted next - anyone who doesn't believe that has their head firmly buried in the sand. This thread disappoints me as I believe that messageboards like these represent the most passionate Melbourne fans - I think I even heard the idea of a merger of our club floated. Any Melbourne supporter that's worth their grain of salt will buy a North Melbourne membership to try and keep them in Victoria. Clubs like us made the AFL - not the other way round, welfare during tough patches is deserved. The arrogant bastards can get stuffed if they think they can take more of our teams away for a bunch of theatre goers up North. If the AFL had a viable plan for a GC based side rather than attempting fulfil an arrogant prophecy of by 2010 there will be AFL games every week in SE Qld - this wouldn't be such an issue for me. It just reeks of cynical opportunism from the AFL while the Roos board is leaderless. Perhaps the Roos administrators have botched things up for the club but I think it sucks that 20,000+ members will be punished for it. I am intending to write to the MFC, North Melbourne and Bulldogs to suggested discounted membership deals if they are already a card carrying member of one or both of the other two clubs. If there is an increased level of support for these clubs the AFL wont find it so easy to shove us around.

I think the emboldened point is hyperbole to be honest. I'd do it in a heartbeat, he's a good a player and important to our structure, however history says his body struggles (FWIW I hope it remains history) - what good is he in the stands? Everyone has a price. If losing Rivers was to land us say a Rutten or Judd (it'd cost a pick as well) etc I'd be all for it because either of those players would bring us closer to a premiership IMO. The whole I wouldn't trade player x for anyone philosophy is poppycock IMHO.

Perhaps because she has been a part of successive administrations that "haven't exactly propelled us forward from 2000"?

If we assist Carlton in anyway to get Judd I'm going to bury the MFC offices in chicken [censored]. As someone else has stated we should be trying to trump both Carlton and Richmond's offer.

For mine Rivers stocks have fallen somewhat simply because he struggles to get on the park, no one is untouchable however if the deal the Crows have proposed is true as you state it - I have two words for Adelaide; the second one is "off!"

This manifesto is pretty obvious and probably is in place at the club and has been in the past - but from an outsiders view these basic rules have been meekly applied. 1. Don't trade 1st round picks 2. No 3 year deals for players 26 and over ending 30 September. Trade any player who wants a 3 year deal in this age bracket to a club that will accommodate them. 3. Selection policy should reward on-field performance not on-field experience. 4. Team oriented rules with disciplinary action for any self centered breaches i.e. benching for giving away needless 50m penalties. 5. Appoint a leadership group that displays fighting qualities when the chips are down as well as discipline on the field. No talented downhill skiiers.

The pure and simple fact is that if we as a club were as successful at plying our trade as they are theirs we wouldn't have even been part of a partnership with them we'd have had our own home base long ago. Because we have accepted and somewhat fostered a culture of mediocrity from the top down we have been bent over and laughed at by every sporting organisation around. They probably have similar numbers if not more members than us. We've been around 150 years, them 3. It's a result of a club that has had pissweak onfield perfomances, pissweak off-field administration and had pissweak support. It's not the Victory's fault it's the MFC's.

Couldn't disagree more. McDonald was better than Chunk this year, a lot better. Not saying Jones was bad definitely top 2 or 3 but Junior would be the most deserving winner. These smack of bogus results - I'd expect Doggy to poll highly.

It'd be rather undiplomatic for the CEO to publicly tell Judd to shove it. Leave that to us.

Agree with everything stated. IF my aunty had balls she'd be my uncle. BUT she doesn't. Another thing about this club is it doesn't hurt enough. Missing out on Judd is disappointing but ultimately I am more [censored] off at our insipid performance last year. I want our players to be on a mission of redemption, to bleed, to play as a team rather than a collection of individuals, to spit chips at every tiny mistake, to not accept anything less than excellence. I want our club to be all the things it hasn't been this year and for so many years before in our 150th year. Unleash hell in 08.

Replace bleeds red and blue with wins premierships and I'd agree. All of those mentioned were infinitely better players than Robbo and I'd've traded any to win a premiership. All this stuff about bleeding red and blue is complete garbage... Players who bleed for their club are team players - Trevor Barker bled for St.Kilda he didn't whinge to the media about contractual matters in fact quite the opposite. I'm not expecting Robbo to be Trevor Barker in any facet but don't paint him to be some kind of martyr he's not - he's a handy footballer - no more, no less and he certainly isn't indispensible.

It wouldn't be Carlton. Why would he want to play for a side that lost the last 11 games of the season and put in generally pissweak efforts? A side that talks about a culture of success but hasn't fired a shot in 10 years and appointed a new coach on the back of four 'competitive' losses. It wouldn't be Essendon. They handled the Sheedy exit quite appallingly and still have no replacement, they also have a shithouse midfield to work with. It'd be Melbourne, Collingwood or Hawthorn IMO. And I think we're in a better position to bargain with WCE than those two as they wont really want to throw baby out with the bathwater in getting him. Melbourne It comes down to this: Money, power, publicity, big crowds, great facilities OR Melbourne Jaded, I think the fact we lack these things gives us some sort of an advantage. (except for the facilities) He didn't want the fame and fortune side of it otherwise he'd have stayed with WCE. Other things motivate him.

OT I know but I do not understand this logic... The best player in the comp is not worth it bc there are players available that are 5 years younger? What if its 5 years more service but only half the quality? Thats just the thing the draft is dealing with ifs - you know what you get with Judd and thus I would trade anyone and anything to get him. As for Robbo my views on this issue are of similar ilk to those of Rhino, H, AoB etc. If he loves the club he'll take the two - I can't see him being a premiership player for us anway. If he wants to walk, good luck and thanks for the memories but I won't be losing any sleep over it.

Most of these possesions were pretty cheap. From my observations at the game McLean and even Buckley earned their possesions more. Had Petterd not suffered that terrible injury yesterday CJ would've been first in line to be dropped IMO. I'd like to see him impose himself on games and contests within games a bit more. Given our injury status he will definitely get the chance to in the coming weeks.

Brown was unlucky to be dropped after the Adelaide game and the job he did on McLeod IMHO. Good changes.

I believe if Ratten is a name being thrown up why not Rock? For mine he got more out of a lesser midfield in 06 than Ratten did in 04.

Agreed. Don't think we can afford Deni$. That's also why I don't think we'll get Voss or anybody with a very high profile.

I will self immolate in the middle of Junction Oval......

I can only sum up your question with this response: No no no no no no no no no no no no no x infinite