Little Goffy

I think with Scully it is important to remember the kid is barely bigger than Blease. By the same token... Blease has more 'upside' in speed, creativity and agility. Scully will be alright, I guess. Not $1million worth of alright, or No.1 draft pick alright, but he'll be alright.

Useful dream team player, will get stats above his current value. Then drop him when Brisbane do, hopefully for a trade just as Trengove begins his upward curve after his likely slow start to the season... But I really don't feel like our midfield would be meaningfully better with him in it. Works too solo attacking, leaves a hole defending.

I think it is interesting that we simply don't have an experienced 'champion' midfielder in our group, and haven't for quite some years. Our group right now seems to have a good supply of honest workers who will grind out a moderate share of fairly good clearances. But there are very few producing the decisive clearances that really launch an attack, and can change the momentum of a game with just a few in a row. We also have the problem that at the moment Nathan Jones is our only seriously consistent performer in the midfield a the moment, for various reasons. I don't know where we will find someone from 'category A', unless Syliva can thing thing blah blah... (you know the drill). As for 'category B', we could have a great core in a few years, with Jones, Grimes and Trengove all the kind of characters that work hard for consistency and steady improvement. I like McKenzie but won't make assumptions about his future development beyond saying I think he'll be a contributor for years to come. We have a host of the mature-age rugged types who will at least provide honest effort, but if more than a couple of them are filling our midfield in a few year's time, we've either lucked out dramatically with recruitment or will be hitting our ceiling of growth. A lot rides on the development of Viney and Toumpas. If they bring us +2 quality, consistent midfielders, we're seriously cooking. Other than that, we can always pin our hopes on Billy Stretch.

'Dermie' Is a [censored] for sure. But biggest in AFL media? Question might as well be "Who is the floggiest [censored] from Flogtown, Flogistan?" We, as supporters and 'consumers of AFL media product', are getting a seriously rough service. All that cash floating around, can't buy talent for anything, it seems.

I'm pretty confident about Gawn, as far as he looks like one of the more promising very young, completely unpredictable ruck talents in the competition. That said, it's a bit much to bank everything on him. I don't see Spencer (not really AFL standard it seems) or Fitzpatrick (not really a ruckman) being a suitable full-time ruck. Pederson is not a full-time ruck, and I think Clark is marked in as a forward primarily, for at least the next few years. There is the future option of Clark returning to ruck upon the retirement of Jamar, by which time we will have more developed other forward targets. All that said, with Daniher added and Bellchambers appearing to be set for number 1 ruck long term at Essendon, would Ryder be interested in a number 1 ruck spot? With plenty of support roles but definitely set in a primary position? At 25, he'd fill a need nicely.

I've gone with Tom McDonald, but it really highlights how much belief I have in the radical improvement of our defence this year - my shortlist would have been Watts, McDonald, Jetta and a 'return to form' from Frawley which is not quite the point of the poll here, but would count as a huge improvement on 2012. Cheers to the defence this year. Hang on... looking at our forward line... it has become something like Clark, Dawes, Howe, Byrnes and Rodan. Bit different story to getting Rivers to step in to provide any kind of viable target! And our midfield... perhaps not as immediate a turnaround, but there's some good kids that seem a bit more 'bankable' than our past early selections, and we've added a pile of 'solid workers' to our depth. Hmm... The only place we haven't made a notable improvement to our best 22 line up would be ruck, where an awful lot hangs off Mark Jamar staying fit, as it did last year. I wonder where the answer to the structural problem will come from?

I'd enjoy it is the coach came out and said 'Melbourne 2013 would consistently beat Melbourne 2012'. Because that's all you can really say, a few days out from the start of the season.

The article is all about putting a line through the past at Melbourne. Acknowledging it's failure as a club, the relentless backstabbing and mad politics, the acceptance of mediocrity as a standard, and the sanctimonious sniping at anyone who pointed out these things. It says Rivers, but it actually means everyone. It's says Geelong, but it is actually aboutt he whole concept of a professional and competent culture. Believe it or not, the article has a subtext that Garry Lyon feels like things are gonna be ok now at Melbourne.

Blazers are a very specific clothing item generally associated with an upper-class, exclusive and smug section of British-inherited culture. And not much else. I'm not particularly comfortable with them, it even points to the shameful little Melbourne city characteristic of people caring what school you went to. Basically, I and eight of ten other people know that we will never be welcomed in any organisation which includes a blazer in the way it presents itself. Maybe we should try something genuinely unique- go for match-day garters! Practical, too, you can put your mouthguard in them when you are taking a set shot.

I reckon we'll pull ahead of the Doggies and hopefully Port, and keep a step ahead of West Sydney and Gold Coast, although Gold Coast's midfield might just work this year. After that, you have to look for clubs that will slide a bit, because there's a great big pile on 9-11 wins that to me seem to be ready to keep hovering. The hope would be that we can join that cluster, even if we are still 13th-ish on the ladder. At this point, all I care about it wins, not ladder position, and I feel like this season will be one fo the least evenly distributed ever and one or two wins could mean six ladder positions. But I'm not concerned, I think we'll get those wins and restore some credibility.

Yep, Prestia is exactly the kind of guy we need, for sure. And given the widely discussed links with Melbourne (city and club) it seems a credible ploy. I'm sure he'd be on the footy department's radar, and I am gonna go out on a limb and say that we still have a fair whack of salary cap room to play with.

First, your rumours are backward. Interest was shown by other clubs, and they were told 'thanks but no thanks'. Second, in a manner which is so ordinary and long-standing that it barely rates a mention unless the media decide to make a run of it, Jack Watts will be playing football this season and over the course of the season he, his manager and the clubs will seek to come to a suitable contract agreement based on his apparent performance. Third... well.. this place is some kind of psych case study. I can picture the full cycle of 'club is no good because they + outlandish expectation of alternative' ravings. 2012 - 'Club is failing by keeping Watts, he's no good, they should get rid of him in a trade for Naitanui' 2013 - 'Club is failing by not signing up Watts, they should give him a five year deal' 2014 - 'Club should never have signed Watts, they should trade him for Jack Darling'

Winning games is only half the answer. What we really need to target is also making sure we don't lose them. Plus, we should try to have a higher score than our opponent at the end of a game, as often as possible.

Yep, business to business advertising in public papers, always been a totally amateur, incompetent thing... wait.. what? Wouldn't the very definition of 'amateurish' describe an organisation that for the sake of misplaced sense of 'what a club ought to do' didn't use every available means to seek out market share and opportunity? Note that this does not declare any note of desperation, or even specifically mention a major sponsor request. In fact, it has our two existing major sponsors on the ad. What it does do is say 'here is the contact point' for all businesses that may be looking for a sponsorship arrangement. Particularly accessible for small and medium enterprises that don't have a dedicated sponsorships and promotion unit. If the response on that add is to gain one extra second or even third tier sponsor, it is a positive return, and I'd imagine it would also start a few conversations with people who may end up just being funnelled into the MFC business networking events, which is also a nice benefit and may lead to further sponsorships in future. But what am I saying, as a professional organisation, we really ought to be relying on hearsay, word of mouth and cold-calling to secure our sponsorship suite . Of course.

Um... looking at the table, Hawthorn are the anomaly, not us. Our return is about the same as all the other 'power' clubs. So, you could almost use this topic as a quick test to see who on here is just looking for excuses to bag the club/administration. All that aside, I really hope that once our club has reached a solid financial position one of our first orders of business is to get out of that particularly sordid, corrupt, miserable and destructive 'industry of nothing'. Kind of revolting that a club like Collingwood or Hawthorn, with assets and income flowing out their ears, still chooses to rely on proceeds of addiction. 'Family club' my arse.

"Deal with three regional independents" logic. The government committed to delivering the upgraded service to regional and remote locations which were at the time worst serviced by existing infrastructure. Also part of why the NBN is so heavily behind it's roll-out targets - hardest places first. Like the 'trunk cable' between Queensland Coast and Mt Isa, basically the length of Bob Katter's electorate. Sigh, I should clarify before someone calls me a 'biased crony of the witch Ju-Liar', I have stated a fact. That's all. But go on, get your blowtorch out before you even stop to think about whether I actually approve of massive pork-barrel deals to buy off a majority in the House of Reps. Political discussion in Australia is about as pointed and issue-based as a typical Demonland thread is by about page 17. Anyway, Liam quit the club rather ignominiously and it seems his life continued to spiral down since then. Meanwhile, the people most responsible for managing his welfare (and other player's welfare) while with the club were unceremoniously shown the door a year ago. Apparently in bad blood. Our then coach and football manager no longer have any direct role with the players. Our entire leadership group has changed. Our recruiting philosophy has changed from 'leaping for the speccie' to 'following the percentage play'. Perhaps the most important thing to note is that however things were back then, there's very little in common with it now. The only constant is that this year, like last year and the five before that, will be Colin Sylvia's breakout year.

The rumours about the Shanghai binge sessions have circulated a long time and always been a little disquieting. It is too easy to imagine, two of the most reckless, competitive drinking cultures in the world (Aussie bloke with Chinese businessmen playing host) coming into collision. But to imply that a bender in Shanghai became a lifestyle in Melbourne is a bit of a stretch. It would be more reasonable to say that the accumulated stress of being away from family, trying to perform at AFL level, having constant attention and expectation on him, being struck out by injury and having his value undermined by the changing, fitness-first style of the game, may have all added up to a very bad state of mind all around. Side thought - an 80 per game interchange rule would basically eliminate Liam Jurrah and anyone like him from AFL football. We are talking a big share of highly talented people, too. Hell, even Gary Ablett Snr would struggle to stand out now, with his opponents flooding back, double-teaming him, pressing the ball carriers so delivery was terrible, then running off him and launching counter attacks.

Well, Daniher took us to a grand final early in his term, but by the time he finished, we were a footballing basketcase. Neeld's job is rebuilding from the vacuum left after Daniher's 'generation' retired/were pushed, and our drafting left us with little in the tank to work with. Anyway, for what it is worth, I think Daniher did the best job possible in pretty shabby circumstances and was probably a better coach than a lot of people credit him for. He also doesn't seem to have made to bad a run of things as West Coast's footy manager, either. Maybe he'll be the 'ring in' at Essendon to try to clean up their governance structures from 2014 on? Hmm...

AFL Predictions: Brownlow Medal: Marc Murphy Coleman Medal: Tom Hawkins Rising Star: Jack Viney Grand Finalists: Nobody who hasn't already played in one in the last five years. Premiers: Nobody who hasn't already won one in the last five years. Wooden Spoon: GWS Biggest AFL Story of the Year: The Biggest Improvers: Melbourne The Biggest Sliders: Adelaide MFC Predictions: B&F: Jack Grimes Leading Goalkicker: Mitch Clark Best First Year Player: Jack Viney Most Improved: Jack Watts Final Ladder Position: 11th Biggest MFC Story of the Year: New sponsors announced and shortly after that an exhausted Cameron Schwab announces a succession plan to take effect at end of year. Takes a few years off to sue Caroline Wilson.

If it isn't returned, new guernsey for her. If it is, then a new/bonus one for whoever returns it.

Some things work kind of backwards - You do the things you're scared of, and then after, you find you had the courage. We win the premiership, then we find out who are our champions, and how many we needed.

As I read it, the results from the games were that our opponents kicked one more goal than us in total, in february, when no team was playing at strength. Anyone cracking the sh1ts now has some personal issues that aren't really anything to do with football.

If a club can be fined for the conduct of specific individuals within their employment, even if action took place without the board or executive's knowledge, and that fine can be imparted even on the basis of comments leading to a perception of pressure, rather than actual actions contravening the laws and spirit of the game... Essendon are totally, totally splattered, for a start.

The man has never coached an AFL loss against a team less experienced than the one he was coaching. Clearly, genius. Just a matter of time! I respect him, I appreciate the values he talks about and the goals he sets. But, we'll see on the field, won't we.

Exactly. Wait until the 'opponent' has crossed one too many lines, then hit hard and carefully at the outstretched neck.