sue

The problem is that his soft knee to the neck in itself is not suspendible by the standards the AFL sets but the AFL does nothing to rub it out. Also he gets off on other infractions which lesser lights spend time in the stands for and is a serial offender but the 'crimes' do not add up to anything, whereas a single vigorous tackle (with no ill intent but with the oppo trying to kick the ball instead of protecting himself) gets you rubbed out for 4 weeks. So what does the AFL need to do to stamp out that sort of behaviour? A few 50m or 100m penalties might get the Hardwicks of this world to stop players acting like Lynch rather than praising them. Or maybe the tribunal can do some accumulating of misdeeds and if a player gets too many naughty points, he's rubbed out for a week.

But in the AFL fantasy land, it is the outcome that counts. So if Lynch had slipped as he did that and crushed the Saint's neck he might just get a penalty - then again, big name player + finals = no bloody chance.

What else can you expect when the AFL is now a corporate business. For those who follow footy in the off-season it is useless waffle as you say. But it is perhaps of some use to those members who aren't following footy media etc - it lets them know the club is doing something however ill-defined. Probably be complaints of lack of member communication if nothing was sent.

Presumably because a balance of what goodies we get for him minus the inferior backup rookies we replace him with is beneficial to us overall.

All the more reason to enjoy the karma now.

hmmm, not a group of people I'd want to use to bloster any position I hold. But rather than just make your bare statement, please explain exactly why someone like Bob Skilton was not a great because he wasn't in a premiership team. In what area was he deficient?

As OldDee mentioned, most people here are rusted on and probably don't represent the broader membership base. We have 3 memberships for family members who have collectively been to 3 matches over the last decade. Surely that's not typical and most members expect to go to the MCG at least a few times a year. However, I'd think/hope there were not too many who just buy membrships on a 'pay per view' basis and that most members see the cost as a mixture of club support and 'pay per view'. But if that is not true and people can't get to matches in 2021, a lot of clubs will have a problem.

Thanks. So the GM Football probably has no day to day duties. I presume Football Admin makes sure the bus and air travel is organised, jumpers, footys pumped etc.

Sorry to air my ignorance, but I'd be grateful if anyone can provide a list of job titles in a FD and what they actually do - like a duty statement. For example, what does the football manager actually manage?

But what would you replace all 10 with? Trading out some of our good players to get extra draft picks doesn't sound like a good way to fill a list.

Not really. The club could be saying if the cap is $x, you will get deal A, if it is $y you will get deal B. He says he is happy to sign either, but obviously can't sign anything until the cap is known. And presumably there'd be a sliding scale between x and y.

I can just imagine Demonland if we didn't play him and announced finals were not our goal in 2020.

In almost every game I find myself shouting 'shepherd FCS!!'. But I suspect the reason it happens far less than it did, and not just at MFC is that players are instead racing to a position to provide a receive option. Need to be smarter about when it would be a bad option to do that and instead shepherd.

Sadly I expect that's the case. It would be unacceptable PR-wise for the AFL to do it. My suggestion of something coming back to the club worth $50k would be more likely to fly.

there sure is a big crowd for a home & away match so I expect it was 1964 GF (or did we play C'wood twice in those finals?)

I have thought a similar thing, though the fact he is now gone doesn't help that argument. It's not as if he attempted to return to the hub thereby endangering other players and the AFL season. He just left. However, the employer does control your freedom of movement if you sign up to such an agreement. And can penalise you if you disobey. But did individual players sign up or does their standard agreement have such a clause or one that gives the club the ability to impose it at whim? I expect not. Doubtless there is a "don't bring the AFL/club into disrepute" clause. But I don't see how just walking out and not returning brings the AFL/club into disrepute. MFC did not take him back into the hub and presumably would have made sure he did not. So while I can see that the AFL should be able to suspend him for 2000 weeks if he continued as a player, I don't see the rationale for the club's fine. I'm not even sure I see a rationale for that in any of these cases, unless the club tries to cover up or get some advantage somehow. So I wasn't entirely joking when I suggested the MFC find a way to get the $50K back in kind from the AFL. (His apparently poor behaviour afterwards are reasons for the MFC to be hard on him. But that is a separate issue.)

Very subtle?. I'd suggest we pay the fine and separately ask the AFL to fund a position in the club justified by some fairy tale that the MFC and AFL concoct.

It was great to not have some asinine voice over intruding.

You have a funny way to avoid looking for an argument.

If so why would you read/post Demonland, media or anything? Just watch the matches. I expect everyone on here agrees with you - we will believe it when we see it. But that doesn't mean we ignore everything else and discuss nothing, including the nuances of what the captain and coach say publicly. Personally I thought Max's comments were relatively refreshing compared to what we often hear. Do I believe it guarantees a better 2021? Of course not.

What effect on you would it have been if Max came out with the usual platitudes and for example boasted that we moved up from 17th to 9th? I expect you'd be spitting chips. Perhaps absence of a negative effect is a positive effect?

I should preface this by saying I haven't followed this closely and don't know what lies Bennell may have spun etc. But I note that for whatever reason he did not return to the hub. Is it too cynical to think that if a star player from a big club had done this, the AFL would have loudly announced the penalty was reduced because he did not return to the hub and put the season in peril.

We’re all doomed. So many misery guts on here. Hunt trac nothing to see there. Bennell yet to know full facts. Don’t deserve finals. (Nor do dogs if they lose. Final 7 required).

Sorry to those posting we don't deserve to be in the finals - but if Dogs lose today, presumably they don't deserve to be in the finals either. I wonder how the AFL will manage a final 7.

Looking at his recent performances it doesn't surprise me much that he wouldn't get a game. Almost always runs or is pushed under the ball. Trouble is we have noone else.