praha

1994 Elimination Final win over Carlton, 2000 semi win over Carlton, come back this year against Freo.

Nah, I just expected someone to come in here to stick up for him

Actions speak louder than words indeed. I remember Gardiner making a similar speech, talking about how it made him sick to the gut that we hadn't won a flag in 40 years and that it was partly his duty and the players etc. to bring it back where it belonged. We all know how that ended up. The only difference is though that Gardiner rarely spoke directly from the heart, instead mostly from a sheet of paper. Schwabb's was from the heart. You can tell. But, it also makes me worry. I think his dedication stems from a knowing of how badly in shape the club is. He's emotional because he knows we're on the brink of non-existence.

The more distant we are from the shambles of a coaching squad Daniher put together, the better. And please, don't come in here with your, "he was great for us" crap, because the way I look at it, we sucked a majority of the time he was here, and that makes me unsympathetic towards his departure.

I left it to someone else to start this discussion after seeing this, but didn't expect the original OP to see it in a positive manner. 1pm start. Sunday. Grand Prix at 5pm. Those are 3 factors that on their own would see a decrease in the crowd. I'm starting to think the AFL (Andrew Football League) is forcing us out, along with North. Idiots. And then Andrew comes out and says we have no brand. Well, how about helping us, giving us a Saturday arvo game against a top-drawing club and give us the opportunity to start the year off on a high note (off field), instead of fixturing us against a team that will see a crowd of no more than 30k. Idiots.

Tough, but true. Letter in the Your Say in HUN today.

Wow...surprised we got a mention there.

Is that Moloney with his back to us, stretching on the floor next to Sylvia?

I don't believe it. I don't believe it!

More admins...

Fixed.

What I had to say:

Being competitive is obviously easier said than done. I don't expect us to better the win:loss ratio from next year, but I don't expect four 100+ point losses or whatever like this season. We're losing 4-5 veteran players (probably more) and adding younger players. We were inexperienced last season, and we'll be even more inexperienced next year. We need to draft well and wisely and go with a strict youth policy. If that means pain next year, then so be it. I'd rather see no improvement next year, but substantial improvement from then on in, just so we can get our high draft picks used to playing AFL football. The last two seasons have been an aging process. We haven't been rebuilding, but rather getting rid of/fixing the mess that Neale "I stayed 5 years too long" Daniher left. Next season is officialy the beginning of the rebuilding phase. Don't expect much improvement onfield. That will come from 2010 onwards imho.

I better get at least one nomination here. Best Poster - High Towe Most Entertaining poster - Yze Magic Funniest poster etc? - not sure

Cale Morton is a better 18 year old than Cam Bruce. Just thought I'd slip that in there.

All club songs are song with more aggression when the team is winning than losing. From 2000-2004, you could hear the "WHADDA WE SING!?" clearly. Now, no one cares. Hawks were the same. Tigers are the exception because they just have a kick ass song and need the "Yellow and Black" as they haven't had anything else to cheer for in 20 years.

Land Rover.

We have a low junior supporting base because we haven't had a marquee player in 40 years. That's the main factor when it comes to attracting young supporters imo. While I didn't approve of McNamee offering Brown a 5 year contract, he had the right idea, you have to give him that at least. He acknowledged that we didn't have a marketable player on the list and he tried to get us one.

Geelong missed set shots on Saturday because of intense pressure by the Hawthorn backline. The Hawks took advantage of an average Geelong forward line and put them in a situation they've never really been in. They panicked and missed set shots. Luck has nothing to do with it.

Geelong didn't "get lucky". They developed a great culture and a great team that bonded well. Luck has nothing to do with it. We're getting so many injuries because we don't have the facilities to maintain those injuries. It happens far too often for it to be "bad luck". It's how you recruit, the eye for talent, the culture of the club, the facilities. I don't think it's "luck" that Hawthorn won the flag now instead of ten years ago when they had nothing. It's gotten to a stage now were financial stability and off-field facilities are integral to success. You can't continue as a professional sporting club with facilities that are on-par with a junior football clubs' facilities. You could probably get away with it 15-20 years ago, but now you can't. Hawthorn reinvented its image and club, so did Geelong. When you couple off-field improvements with great recruiting, you have the answer to a flag. ATM, we have nothing. No facilities and an unproven football department. The next 3 years will define the MFC like no other 3 years have. Like it was said in that article, Hawthorn turned the tide at the end of 2004. I guess you could say that our change in tide happened with the 2.5 mil and Styned jumping on board. I hate to do this, but I blame a lot of Melbourne's current position on Daniher and his team, and on CAC. They were ignorant, stupid men that only had an eye for short-term instead of long-term. They tried quick fixes that didn't work, and when you couple that with a poor culture off field, you create a disaster, hence the past 2 years. Having Daniher stay on beyond 2003 was a volcano waiting to erupt. On-field and off-field compliment each other more than people realise. You won't see a club like NM in 99 win the flag again. They were poor with nothing, yet still managed to win it. That won't happen again. Unless you can develop a good list with a stable financial outlook, you have no chance.

God damn Gale and the Players Association annoy me. It's given far too much power to the players and not enough to the AFL and clubs. If a player fails to represent that organisation that has contracted him on a performance and behavioral-based contract in a mature manner, that organisation should have the right to terminate the contract. Surely in every player contract it has something along the lines of the player acting as a representative of the club? If anything remotely like that is in the contract, Melbourne have every right to terminate it. My feeling is that clubs haven't done so in the past because of fear of the players association. Get rid of him. He sucks anyway. *looks at favorite players under his av*

After his year this year and leadership qualities, I wouldn't want anything less than a top 15 pick. What top team would he get a game at? I don't think he'd fit at the Hawks or Doggies, and I think he'd struggle to get a game at Geelong. Maggies? Sydney? Either way, I'm confident he'll eventually resign.

Yep, pretty much. Davey should be 28-30 by the time we're pushing for a flag (hopefully). Expect Carroll to be let go at seasons end. Anyway, Collingwood have the leagues youngest list, which will get even younger with quite a few older, experienced players leaving.

Trading Green or Bruce for draft picks won't achieve anything. You need to trade players that aren't going to have a major influence with on-field leadership and success when they're gone. Players like Colin Sylvia, Daniel Bell, Nathan Jones. They are our most tradeable assets imho and I'd be willing to trade one or more of them for a pick in the 10-30 range this year and next.

Hawthorn's list is a developed, experienced version of our current side. They were no different to us as we are now, 4 years ago.