Mydee

Not if you wanr to win football matches

I, along time member of the MFC will shut up

It will be interesting to see how he goes-I have high expectations of him.

Is that an open letter to Sheahan or a declamation to fellow supporters? Sheehan is a journalist and his main goal is to sell newspapers. I doubt if he really has more thatn a passing interest in the welfare of Melbourne or any other football club, except that the demise of a club or loss of a player is likely to sell a few more papers. Emile Zola he ain't

I must suffer the same syndrome I often have four or five Becks and a good lie down

Perhaps, as the USA has proved it is far better to fight your war on somewelses patch.

My concern with this suggestion is that at the moment we are trying to get games into a playing group. I think that a settled forward and back key group would be a priority. Nevertheless position mobility is also a factor in modern football so the suggestion hassome merit- not sure about Frwley forward though try Garland.

I believe that Mr Malthouse began his career overseeing a number of female data process operators in a Victorian public service department. This management style may work for the wobble people but I doubt that it would suit a fine club like Melbourne

All premiership sides have second tier players whose contributions are raised to a higher level by the champions.Does anyone recall the heiferlump in the 2000 Essendonn side touted (not by me) as one of the best premiership sides.The lump was supposed to be a prospective Essondon capatain but struggled at Melbourne. I suspect that Jones and Beamer fall into this category, without carrying the comparisons beyond my initial statement- both are infinetaly better than the lump. I agree that, with modern football and the influence of the interchange the concept of "a centre line" becomes a bit fuzzy. For what it is worth I hope that Tapscott can be added to your list. I expect Davey to add a bit of pace.

I disagree, but I don't follow Casey. It might be good for Casey but disasterous for Melbourne. Fevola's efforts at Carlton not only affected the "good name" of the club but sidetracked the careers of many other young players

Indeed, if all that has been written is correct, they both seem to deserve one another, although, the girl concerned may some judgement as she gets older. Player managers are the blow flies of sport perhaps necessary but inevitably disgusting.

I don't North came to Canberra and marketed themselves as a Canberra based club to AFL followers in the ACT.-Buy a affiliate membership as your second club blah blah- They milked the local government and supporters for all they were worth and [censored] off when a better deal was offered elsewhere. Not a good effort when AFL competes with every other code for members.

Wj i have a card, unpacked from a packet of crisps featurinh bo 32 tou might like.

I recall last year at Bangkok airport the horns were de rigour amongst a number of young women, they were also worn with a tee shirt whicjh had the words "I am a horny little devil" written on it. I didn't get the tee shirt in my membership pack and, alas I won't be wearing either.

My package arrived yesterday. The quality of the goodies has improved over the years. They even recognised we married blokes thyis year there was a pair of horns especially for the wives.

Gary Lyon More versatlilty than the others. To paraphrase Dermit Brereton= "not quite the best kick mark etc but all round the best." Willed himself to beat Brisbane off his own boot in the 90s

Sometimes, and it is only on the odd occaision, there is an advantage in being a Canberra resident. Firstly, because we lack prison facilities and outsource them to NSW we lack Wobble people. Secondly the bogonism that typlifies the breed is spread over three, possibly fout codes so we don't have the dense concentration you have in Melbourne. Finally i suspect that aerial crop dusting keeps the population in check.

agreed not even good analysis

Excellent post Miracle- a bit of objective analysis rather than a gut feeling- this is what makes this forum worth reading. I am not sure you are right but you are miles ahead of some of the other posters here.

Fair enough, don't question the figures- Question the interpretation. Without doing a full statistical analysis the median age(mid point) of our players is a lot less than the mean (referred to as the average), which is dragged up by McDoanald, Bruce and Green. So 3 players will make our side look a lot more experienced than it is. A better measure of our position is to ,look at how many games players who will be playing the game this year have played compared with the competition. It is all about AFL experience not the average age of the players. Having said this the jury should be out on Bailey I still don't know if he can coach

Robbo's career speaks for itself. He didn't fail. He made the best of his talents. In other circumstances he may have been able to continue for a number of years. I read the article and, from his perspective, it is a reasonable interpretation of the MFC’s treatment of older players. I don’t agree with it but his view hardly deserves your reaction. If the anti Robbo mob were talking about the Rocca’s or someone from another team the reaction could be warranted but I can’t understand why anyone wants to denigrate a great Melbourne player.

Could Robbo's demise have more to do with salaries than developing younger players?

Yeh I agree its ripping the guts out of the interstate supporter groups

AzzKikA I do. As the whole AFL system is corrupt it taints everyone involved in it. As someone else has pointed out other clubs, have taken advantage of the system in other forms. I would also add that the basic unfairness occurs in other was such as Collingwood and Essendon get the advantages of fixtures etc with its inherent marketing and player management advantages. Vlad and his impalers have recentlyunderwritten the poaching of a player who has only played a handful of junior games from Rugby League for well above market rates etc etc. I do recognise that the club must take certain measures to ensure its success, but I don't have to like it. I think that it is acceptable to bring younger players on more quickly in lean years but I am less comfortable when one of our best players is kept in the Magoos and we play players out of position. If the club had been a little bit more open when they canvassed memberships, many members may have been inclined to say, well tell me when you are fair dinkum and I will renew my membership. Having followed the club through the Flower years at least there was some solace in knowing that, however inept, the club was trying to win and that Robbie was always worth watching. I am not sure that watching Frawley and warnock play forward holds the same attraction There is no guarantee that "tanking" will guarantee a flag, I seem to recall Jim Tilbrook and Kelvin Templeton, pre Demonland blogs of course, engendering the same sort of expectations, however I will concede that drafting has become far more analytical and the first couple of picks are seldom duds, but ther have been some notable exceptions, Brisbane has a first round draft pick kicking the dew off the grass (or XXXX cans) in the Brisbane suburbs. Finally, tanking has its downsides which seemed to have been glossed over by the tankards. Suddenly other things rather than watching rigged football matches becomes more appealing. World professional wrestling provides an example of a good sport descending into farce. They always seem to try in Rugby League and even mowing the lawn seems more useful. I also worry about developing a losing culture, the difference between first and second is sometimes down to these factors. So yes I do care about tanking. I might accept some of it begrudginly but don't ask me to gloat about it.

I agree- the tankards are out in full force. Full of the beverage that tankards are supposed to contain.