Little Goffy

I think you can draw something from it in as much as we had some troubles with players being awarded substantial contracts while in what turned out to be the best form of their career. Yze, Johnstone, Woewodin, White, all good players but each were on very very good contracts, as I understand it. We probably shouldn't have lost Woewodin - it's not sensible that a club which was not top four and did not have any absolute premium players was at the same time experiencing salary cap pressure. Meanwhile, anyone know how Woey is going as a coach? Last I heard it was all very positive, over at East Fremantle (East right?) and now Brisbane. And we all know we need a good midfield coach who will support a disciplined culture. And we all know, whatever is going on in midfield at the moment, well, it's not good.

A non-playing teenager is our most important player, according to Robert Walls. Surely he has forgotten the potent contribution of [pick 11, 2015 draft]. This is a standard Walls formula article - make a sweeping generalisation based mostly on either the bleeding obvious or the current media smoke, then make a list of players you can come up with two sentences each about. After about fifteen minutes' work, send to editorial staff to have pictures added of players mentioned, for colour. Watch as pub debate is stimulated by arguments over the obvious deficiencies in the article. Collect a paycheck and a byline on a sports page spread. Be rich, trim beard, take a nap. I dunno what he was like as a coach, but as a journalist he is just plain lazy.

Hmm MIXED CALLS - There would be a large group of clubs with between 6-9 wins and a large group with a lot of wins. Kind of let down by St Kilda and the Dogs falling even further than anticipated, and by Melbourne, but overall the 'two layers' theory about the season stands true. Especially when you note that West Coast and Adeliade are yet to beat any opponents worth mentioning. Port Adelaide will continue to fail... hmm... BAD CALL - Melbourne would be lurking at the bottom of the 'competitive' group, but respectable. GOOD CALL Richmond will finish 9th. Made all the more hilarious because they haven't beeen more than one or two spots away from ninth for the whole season! NEW CALL - Melbourne will show something more worhty in the second half of the season, starting with snagging a win against one of the Dogs or Saints that will take some pressure off and start the juices flowing.

Well, that was painful, getting all excited about the great standard set in the first quarter, then watching as bit by bit the wheels came off. Dawes subbed out basically ended the game as a contest, since we had no forward line at all. Our inside 50s were already spluttering out before then, though, and Collingwood just killed us over and over with rebounds which clearly broke out confidence. Before long they were cutting far too easily through the wings and getting quality attacks through that even the stalwart efforts of Colin Garland couldn't do much about. Having multiple absolutely core players in terms of role, quality and leadership missing continues to leave a question mark on just where we are at - how much difference would they make, would things look respectable with them there? Before anyone gets too antsy about 'Collingwood's kids killed out kids', remember the layers and how they work. Our kids out there are equivalent to the ones that the Pies would have out there if they suddenly lost all of Swan, Pendlebury, Cloke and Shaw. Our kids are fine, the trouble is that we simply do not have the numbers of quality players to provide a core for kids to work around. Sigh. Feeling let down, again. Feeling annoyed about what will be another week or two of unhelpful people sniping from the sidelines and stirring up all the media noise they can. David Schwartz isn't the only moron out there hoping for sustained disaster, just so they can claim a mandate to become the new Kings. Bit like people over the years who hoped for a recession so that it will help cause a change of government, Not helpful, even bordering on 'unwell' hatred and personification of problems.

Ha ha! I figured it out - if we win we will END Collingwood's season. Fun times trashing the FIGJAM factory.

I'm having an inexplicably mixed feeling about this game. Nervous in a way I haven't often been for years, like it could actually be positive. Nervous in anticipation of a significant game. Strange. Figured I should post this before the game just in case it turns out to be some kind of prescience.

I'd accept a downgrade of pick 2, but not outside the top ten. For example, downgrading pick 2 to pick Lucky 7, along with our third round, for a dependable midfielder. I don't get so excited about top-2 picks anymore, for some reason. What WOULD excite me of course, would be if we were actually working with pick five or six.

Missed out on Carey, tragically grew up too far north to be properly introduced to football. So I think it has to be Ablett Jr in a no-brainer for me. Y'know, for the best 'surge' of form of any MFC player, I might have to say Robbo, late in 2005. Averaged six goals a game, was simply stellar and basically dragged us over the line into finals. But the question kind of sums up where Melbourne fell short. You think of guys like Yze, Green, Woewodin, Leoncelli, Bruce, Robbo, White, Moloney, Davey, Farmer, Johnstone, even Junior, none of them ever managed to sustain the top level for an truly extended period. Step up for the occasional All-Australian consideration for example, but not in contention on any regular basis. So that would make Neitz the best I've seen of us in my short time.

I'm willing to be a candidate for the board. This club totally needs a 'transitions to modernity' anthropologist. So I guess that makes me in favour of fresh faces, I suppose I should cleanse tone and moisturise to get ready.

Gold Coast look great. Their wins aren't so much to run home about given the weak opponents but their losing margins, averaging around 35 to our 70, say a lot. If only we had two or three gun recruits, especially a couple of midfielders, who were at the moment too young to make a great impact but who will plausible develop nicely in the next couple of years. Plus, so glad we'll have Dion Prestia with us next year. I don't feel doomed, that's refreshing. Also on the bright side, if you consider some people's posts and the media hype, I guess we are 4 wins against the bottom four sides away from being considered the likely 2015-16 premiers. If David Schwartz is allowed to fantasise about big losses to Collingwood (really, Ox, really?) then I'm allowed to fantasise about us coming out refreshed after the break and sticking it to the struggling Saints and Dogs. Let's face it, just those two wins would change the whole story of how we're going and set us up for a very refreshing run home.

Exactly. If nothing else, we can use our salary cap space to put artificial pressure on other club's salary cap space. Eventually, we'll shake a few from the tree. And yes, if we can grab some quality midfielders, please... please! Do it, any chance we get.

Yep, nobody supports this club because it was the easy option. Supporter for supporter, Demons pack more punch, get to more games and take out more memberships than any other club. Remember to stick that fact up anyone who questions our right to exist.

Wilson works for the AFL.

'Kennett for president' is only slightly more sensible than the recent 'Tebow time' proposals. Leigh 'retired from all coaching ten years ago and not at all interested' Matthews for coach was another chortler that got spun out by someone recently. Who ARE these comedians coming up with this stuff?

When I hear that the 'disgruntled' include people dumb enough to think that Jeff Kennett and The Ox could have any impact at all in turning the club around, or that we should bring in Sheedy as a new head coach, I pause. So many chest-beating egos, the 'I'm really red and blue so what I say, you do' attitudes, generation after generation of white-anting or public wailing by anyone at this club who feels like they aren't being given the control they 'deserve'. And in it all, in the absence of any meaningful statement of 'this practice should change', in the absence of real football or administrative insight, it just becomes a personal attack on whoever happens to be the incumbent.

Let's have the show run by Kennett and the Ox. Or hell, save four years and close up shop now. Same result. Seriously, a loudmouth who was a routine embarrassment to Hawthorn and made NO significant strategic decisions while opening the door for a cultural arrogance that has probably cost the Hawks one extra premiership and is only now being washed out again. And a loudmouth, who in his defence, is merely a naive loudmouth who accidentally keeps finding himself in front of microphones.

Terrible idea, just Eddie stirring trouble, patronising Melbourne, and taking an opportunity to remind everyone of the high and mighty position of Collingwood. Oh look, North Melbourne have come out saying it is stupid and a bit insulting. Well played, Mr, McGuire. Slightly more merit in an equalisation of footy department funding, but the best strategy is as a few people have noted, an equalisation of the commercial benefits of stadium deals and fixturing. Yes, the AFL will always maximise returns by tweaking the fixture, but that comes at the cost of individual club's commercial position, and as such those clubs should be generously compensated. Also, free agency must be adapted to ensure that powerful clubs can't over-use the super incentive of being able to claim additional players without giving up draft position. It's a recipe for a steady teasing apart of the competition into a permanent two-class structure. Melbourne's problems can only be resolved by persistent, careful an wise action by and within the club. AFL might help us to recruit the best people to assist with that in the football department and commercially, but there is no good case for giving us artificial advantages on the field.

While I don't want to snipe personally back at this Leach person, if he is speaking as a St Kilda supporter he should probably take a deep breath. Even during a period of continuous high performance on field, and some of the games most recognisable marquee players, they failed to establish a solid financial base. Before that recent positive surge they barely struggled along as a semi-viable club for extended periods, both financially and on field. And that was even while having, once again, some of the games greatest and most respected players. Now, they still have some of the top veteran players in the game (Riewoldt, Milne, Dal Santo, Hayes, and Jones) providing the core of their team, but have exactly one more win than Melbourne, and one of their two wins was also over GWS. They can argue that they have at least been more competitive, with smaller margins, but what will happen to that when those five 30 year olds retire? I'd rather be a Demon than a Saint right now, honestly. Both for future on-field prospects and when considering St Kilda's apparent failure to cash in on recent success financially. Also, while it is hard to compare fixtures and crowds, Melbourne's games against both Carlton and Essendon drew larger crowds than St Kilda's. Melbourne's off-field fundamentals are surprisingly solid - there's material to work with as soon as the on-field element is respectable again.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/melbourne/news/2013-06-03/update-from-todays-board-meeting.workstation arrivedski? Peter Jackson confirmed as longer-term CEO. Big win today. Plus, with any luck the media will be so exhausted from 12 hours sitting in the cold sniffing eachother's scent that they'll ly off for a week or two.

This. Such a shame this idea gets sidetracked by a racial slur and an ignominious debate about whether a racial slur only counts as a racial slur if it is also applies to white people. The "I'm not offended by ape" argument.

Ape. You're most of the way through a fierce competitive game of football, setting credentials and building form for a defense of a premiership. You've been probably the best player on the ground and decisive in a number of attacks that have pushed the margin out to a lead you are confident the team can hold. Setting yourself to push hard through the remainder of the game... A thirteen year old girl says something which makes pretty clear that in her mind everything you are can be reduced to a derogatory comment about your race. Just like all through your childhood. and just like all through the childhood of every kid in your extended family, and the families of a whole community that means a great deal to you. Goodes described it as sad and particularly noted that the girl had grown up 'in an environment where that is ok'. Which means it was an environment where, simply put, it was ok to be racist. To other children. Now Eddie has come out with his bizarre gaffe which pretty much gives every fringe-racist permission to write the whole thing off as a 'whinging bleeding-heart politcally correct overreaction'. ah well, maybe progress will be made next Indigenous round.

Um.... There was not a lot of room for Neeld to make us fall. It's the difference between falling off a log onto your arse, in the mud, versus slipping a few branches while leaping around in a jungle canopy. With our percentage shrinking back towards under 50, I'm sad to say I'm washing my hands of making any effort about 'solidarity' and backing the plan.

Um.... There was not a lot of room for Neeld to make us fall. It's the difference between falling off a log onto your arse, in the mud, versus slipping a few branches while leaping around in a jungle canopy. With our percentage shrinking back towards under 50, I'm sad to say I'm washing my hands of making any effort about 'solidarity' and backing the plan.

Um.... There was not a lot of room for Neeld to make us fall. It's the difference between falling off a log onto your arse, in the mud, versus slipping a few branches while leaping around in a jungle canopy. With our percentage shrinking back towards under 50, I'm sad to say I'm washing my hands of making any effort about 'solidarity' and backing the plan.

Um.... There was not a lot of room for Neeld to make us fall. It's the difference between falling off a log onto your arse, in the mud, versus slipping a few branches while leaping around in a jungle canopy. With our percentage shrinking back towards under 50, I'm sad to say I'm washing my hands of making any effort about 'solidarity' and backing the plan.