RalphiusMaximus

I think that is a pretty good assessment of the team at the moment. They have improved a lot of areas that have been problems in the past and have a much better group of forwards to call on. They give us 8 wins, which seems to be pretty right to me.

Incidentally, my opinion of the Stef Martin trade, and indeed Cale Morton, is that the club did the right thing by the players in giving them a chance somewhere else. It's not an indictment of the players that the club didn't want them, but simply that sometimes you need a fresh start and a new environment. The AFL is littered with cases of players who have moved to a new club and had vastly improved careers. This in no way indicates that the club they came from was doing things wrong, it simply says that things didn't work out for them and when given a clean slate and a new way of doing things elsewhere they were able to thrive. I will be thrilled if Martin and Morton do well at their new clubs. They both gave their all for the MFC while they were here, struggled with fitness and injury and in the end just didn't fit. Better that they have a fresh start than that they continue to struggle with us and never reach their potential.

Why has this thread degenerated into a flamewar about Stef Martin? I thought we were discussing the game today?

If we're comparing to other sides, look at what Freo are doing to the Bulldogs. 25 points isn't so bad.

No Tom McDonald today either. That hurts given the success he's had int he past on Big Nick. All in all, we lost in a single quarter. Whether that is because the Saints only turned it on for one quarter or because we turned off is an interesting question. If the former, we are in for a world of hurt this year. If the latter, it's not a terrible thing.

We lost the disposal count too.

Is it just me or has nothing happened in the last ten minutes?

Still no updates on the chat this half.

I could be wrong, but wasn't TS the highest paid player in the league last year (due to front-ending his contract)?

The problem being we are a club whose home turn is the CBD of Melbourne. Not many families there. The clubs based in teh suburbs have for a very long time had much larger populations in their sphere of influence than us. This is one reason why the Casey deal is so important to the club. If they can be active in a rapidly growing community with a high percentage of young families they have a chance to increase their "catchment" and win the hearts and minds of hoards of youngsters.

Last year I would have been tempted to say Nathan Carrol, just because he was a mongrel scrapper and that is something we were sorely lacking in the last few years. From what I've seen of the pre-season though, it looks to me like we may have found some of that attitude again but without the poor discipline.

Not quite on topic, but did anyone else note the odds on Jack Watts for most points by a Melbourne player? Could be worth a shot at 6.00. A few times last year he showed he can do it. All he needs is to do that more often.

I saw that article. Didn't they say they had HD cameras at either end of the ground for the entire training session? That would be more than enough to get some decent footage of the game.

I'd say the closest we have to making that list is Aaron Davey. He is very interested in working in indigenous welfare and promoting the sport through indigenous communities. He already does quite a lot of work in that area and I believe he has said that this is the direction he will take when his career is over. That's the sort of thing the article was looking at more than on-field performance (and fair enough since the on-field side has been covered to death by every hack writer in the country).

Call me crazy, but I'd have Norm Smith. It's not just a matter of playing attributes, but the fact that he was a guy who in many ways revolutionised the game and was a phenomenal player and leader. Imagine what he could have been like with modern training and facilities to work with. A player like that will be a star no matter what era he plays in.

Sounds like great news all 'round today. I am absolutely thrilled to see Clark and Tregove taking part in the main group, even if it's not yet for a full session. Also great to see Gawn getting back into it, although I would prefer we take it slowly with him. I'd rather get him 100% right now as opposed to pushing him and having to wait another year.

Getting back to the point of the thread... I think a lot of it has to do with the deal the vendor has with the provider. The clubs don't own the machines, but license them for their use. Different clubs get different deals on the machines they license. Note that Carlton with slightly more than half again the number of machines we have has almost four times the revenue. This is because of a highly crooked deal they struck a few years ago when a company owned by one of their board members refused to re-sign the leases to several other clubs and instead sold them cheap to Carlton (sound familiar?). As a result, they receive greater revenue per machine than most other clubs. We on the other hand have a fairly standard deal which makes us a profit, but nothing like if we had made the same deal. I have no idea why the Hawks have such a great deal. Probably a similar sort of scenario to the Carlton one.

I just can't get over the condescending attitude he displays. I can't find the quote right now, but he said something about "is there something in their Wheaties today?" regarding the coaches negative reaction to the rule. That was it. Nothing about them being professional and knowledgeable people who might just know enough about the game to have a valid opinion (as opposed to a hack who had a short career and then went in to admin). Just dismiss them as being cranky children and move on. The guy is a joke and a disgrace to the game. The sooner we are rid of him the better.

Having finally seen the game, I think Port were very lucky to get as close as they did. We were all over them for three quarters.

I just love the very deliberate last line of the article. "It's not fair to the other clubs." Feel the irony.

I've said it before and I'll probably say it again, but I think NDs gameplan would have been pretty good against the modern press. The long kick to a strong marking CHF who then gives off to a running small would have been fine in today's game. That being said, it seems pretty clear that he wasn't the best manager of people, so perhaps he'd be more use as an assistant coach or somewhere in the FD not dealing directly with the players.

Thanks guys! I was all set to have a good rant at the AFL for not putting it up on the NAB cup replay page. Looking forward to watching these once they've finished DLing.

Davis has always been a competitor, but his kicking is terrible. He won't be a starter until he can get that under control.

Loved Team America.

Neeld has been crying out for a Leigh Brown clone since he got here. He drafted Sellar to fill that role and wasn't entirely happy with his, hence the move on Pedersen. Sellar has to know that he won't be kept if he can't show he is as good as Pedo.