Little Goffy

For the record, I always believed in Nathan Jones as a first-rate AFL player in the making when plenty were writing him off (inexplicably, possible MFCSS) early i his career. i think he is an exemplary professional who has put dedication into overcoming his weaknesses rather than just playing 'around' them. However, even if he was 'one of five elite equals', never mind surpassed by other players, the best forseeable future for the club is not one where this one excellent but not 'champion' player continues to be our B&F year after year!

Good stuff, one more thug removes himself from the scene, and the AFL community is reminded again of what happens if you fail to draw a line on it. Every time the game gets rid of a gutless sniper it makes a better, safer game for those who have genuine courage. What's this rubbish about 'he was shaping up to me so it's ok to belt him twice in the face'. "That man puffed his chest out! PANIC! LAUNCH THE MISSILES!" That kind of reaction is reserved for the really weak-hearted, the ones who lose their cool as soon as things look dicey. Or, who haven't figured out how to drink yet.

Heh heh, I'm visiting Melbourne, staying with a friend within sight of the 'G and have the morning free. There's a turnaround for convenience! Probably first training session I've made it to in years.

I remember the anecdote about Scott West, I think after he won his second consecutive B&F (1997-8) the coach was quoted as saying that if it was still West winning the best and fairest awards in the coming years, then the Bulldogs would be in serious trouble. The idea being that he was a good, honest toiler with a high output but not capable of really changing a game. Well, West went on to win four more B&Fs and a string of All-Australian awards. The Bulldogs had two periods of 'serious contention' during his career, during the mid to late 90s and the mid to late 2000s. It will ever be a debate though - was it a bad sign that West kept winning Best & Fairests? If some of the Bulldogs' other undoubted first-rate players had taken an extra step up, beyond West, would the Bulldogs have snared a premiership instead of a tragic string of preliminary finals? I'm mentioning all this because there is an obvious parallel with Nathan Jones. Jones isn't quite as stellar an 'extractor' as West, but has also had more attention on him directly / less support throughout his career so far. Maybe a better, deeper midfield will ease the direct checking of him, allow him to move his numbers up to that 'consistently 25+' zone that seems the mark for top onballers. But is he a game winning weapon? Referring to a ubiquitous military expression which has appeared in a number of cultures; "Engage with the orthodox, defeat with the unorthodox". Jones is the 'orthodox', his relentless effort and effectiveness requires constant attention. Unable to create the breakthough on his own, but allowing the unorthodox elements to make decisive moves. I think what was said about West can apply to Jones - if he is still consistently winning our Best and Fairest award two or three years from now, we have a problem. But at the same time, I imagine he'll be up there in the top 5, top 3, more years than not, for the rest of his career, and I certainly wouldn't be unhappy if he snagged one or two more B&Fs in his time.

"I have a funny feeling this guy isn't telling me something important I should know"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQNSSiQ5hws On the outside, they're very calm.

I believe it is similar to 'I have sinned' (mea culpa) but in the third person. Basically, 'one is culpable'. If so, daisycutter, I salute you, but also call for you to be banned/fined/eviscerated.

I wonder what Tammy is charging - if we're getting it at a 'family discount' rate then having her directing it is extremely helpful because the real stuff, with proper instruction, can get seriously expensive. Practiced as a formal discipline meditation is a superb form of self-control training. Has been proven effective for anger management, stress relief, alleviating depression, improving concentration, post-trauma recovery, pretty much anything about managing mood and mental state. But it is a serious skill that requires focus and training to learn to use effectively. In fact, one of the reasons it has not taken off so much as a treatment is the cost of the sessions. Perhaps ironic that such a self-reliant approach incurs so much cost. On the other hand, homeopathy and quite a few other 'alternative' medicines are absolute frauds that puts people in danger by misdirecting them away from actual treatment. In the case of chiropractic 'treatment', it can even do direct harm.

Broken china shop.

The nightmare for HBF and anyone with rebounding responsibilities is a team which lacks either the fitness, alertness or work ethic to get to useful positions and offer options breaking out of defence. It has been a crippling problem for us over the greater portion of a decade, and I think it is one of those factors that can least be assigned to any given player. AFL is a harsh world, a HBF could lose 10% off their kicking efficiency for no better reason than being in a dumb/fat/disinterested team! Anyway, back to Terlich himself - I think he has some positive characteristics and could be a quality player with a long career, but it is still too early to make the call now.

Is there anyone sober in this thread yet?

The idiot's hanging #@$% on the poster for having A TYPO in their helpful and enthusiastic training report makes me want to go back through their Demonland posting history and pick out all their typos and errors. Except, that would be pedantic dumb-@#$@erry unworthy of the pixels it occupied, and nothing to do with discussing football.

Koldasnij... Kolaedoscopeshij, Collidosnaj... Scrabble. But only if we can get both of them. I invoke the Feebey Rule. If there's no K-schnizzle available, then I'd be keen on Freeman, or Salem, or Aish, or Bontempelli, or Sheed, or Lennon, or Taylor. Not sure about Crouch - I get too confused, there are too many of them around at the moment. Blurting that list out is a great illustration of the wisdom of going 2 to 9. We will get a quality midfielder, one or another.

Yeah, nah. The co-captains was a cop-out because of anxiety about appointing a young captain. Just one would have been better. Maybe with two vice captains. But it is pretty daft to appoint two young guys with little or almost no experience of their role as a leader, and then split it so that neither they nor anyone else is quite sure who is responsible for what, and a constant negotiation and collaboraation effort has to be made. I rationalised it at the time, did my best to be positive, noting how both 'had great leadership qualities' but yeah, it was a dud decision.

Having said that, we have quite a selection of underperformers/injury victims to choose from. Players I'm confident can improve their performance overall, Watts, Howe, McKenzie. Players who have been held back by injury, but clearly have quality. Clark, Dawes, Gawn, Grimes, Trengove. Young players who you'd have to have a bit of confidence in seeing progress from McDonald, Viney, Toumpas, Kent, Clisby, Terlich, Fitzpatrick. The 'hopeful' or 'last chance' basket. Strauss, Blease, Tapscott, Bail, Spencer. But deep down, what we all want is for Nathan Jones to lift yet another notch and, in a more competitive midfield, become recognised as leading midfielder AFL-wide.

I'm particularly keen to see Toumpas do well simply because some people were so absurdly unreasonable in their criticism and expectations of him last year. That was an embarrassment. None of those people have any right to ever complain about anyone else's culture problem. Seriously, writing off an 18 year old without a preseason. Bet you felt big.

The sheer track record of these two must inspire volumes of confidence. Perhaps the critical detail is that in this case the individuals have credibility in the specific roles that they are now filling for us. On the bright side, one prediction we all made back when Neeld left the Pies has come true - the Pies have been slipping ever since.

Yeah, I'm with you on this. The thing about domestic violence is that it is a direct abuse of, an exploitation of, loyalty. People only get away with it because of the 'loyalty' of their partner and the 'loyalty' of friends and family who stay quiet on it. If someone takes advantage of loyalty and uses it as a pivot for abuse, then loyalty must evaporate. If nothing else, as a signal to others - social deterrence works a lot better than penal system deterrance.

The difference between good journalist and hack is the difference between what Emma Quayle does around draft time and what Rohan Connolly does around draft time. You can do interviews, ask questions, talk your way around the circuits, get some quotes and present a fascinating report. OR You can dredge up some 'everyone knows' generalisations and stating-the-bleeding-obvious comments, cherry-pick incomplete data from a much more complex set, and declare yourself insightful.

Cale Morton's facial expression, Jordan Gysberts' posture, Matthew Bate's freckles. This kid has already delivered as much as three first-round draft picks. Well done Melbourne Football Club!

Well, I for one agree with the OP about there being no new additions to our list to come, because there haven't been any significant list additions made to grand final sides after the club began their rise except for of course Selwood, or Rioli, or Karkoeur, or Jetta, or Fyfe, or Barlow, or Burgoyne, or Sidebottom, or Gibson, or Gunston, or West, or Christensen, or Leigh Brown, Hannebery, Josh (P.) Kennedy, Kieran Jack... Actually, never mind.

Ok, from the highlights, definitely a very good kick, looks like he has decent vision too. Obviously that's harder to conclude from just a short video. I must say it - Aaron Davey's kicking, when on song it was without question the most beautiful kick in football. Even looked different as the ball 'flowed' through the air and dropped right where it was meant to. Could be so perfect it would make a mathematician smile softly. Hmm... Is anyone else feeling a little less bitter about all the 'not-quite-great' players we've had in the last ten years? I think I just detected my first inner glimmer of real positivity for the future. Melbourne FC Support Syndrome - Together We Can Find A Cure

'Drastic improvement' or simply 'good improvement', it definitely plays a part. Let's put it this way - every win knocks about $10,000/year off what he'd want from us to stay compared to going to another club. The creation of a consistent, coherent and effective training and coaching environment could make as much difference as that, too. Oops, what's that? Free agency actually puts salary cap pressure onto the weaker clubs trying to retain players, rather than the stronger ones looking to top up? Gee, never would'e seen than coming. Anyway, not just Frawley but all our players will be looking to see real improvement and real prospects for the future. 2014 has to be 'some kind of a success' or we're right back onto skid row.

33 can be accurately referred to as 30+, but not precisely. Health Scotland can be accurately referred to as 'no, no, that would be a bad idea', and can be precisely referred to as 'too old for out list planning, not a leader, not likely to assist development of young players, not worth the trouble of causing irritation and conflict with other cllubs, and overall not likely to offer value beyond the random kid we would collect instead'.

I think that was more of an issue for Dawes - his game suffered a lot from being played as fill-in ruckman and never getting a stable run as the forward he so obviously is. I've always had the impression that Clark was recruited with a 'whole of lifecyle' plan, playing forward until we developed options there (heh, once upon a time that would be while Watts developed there), then moving more to the ruck to support the emergence of Gawn (and whoever else) once Jamar retired. Jamar's poor year in 2013 kind of messed with the plan, as did the all-round tall-man turkey-shoot that was our injury list. But I think the notion is still valid.