The Chazz

Didn't see the footage, but can understand his uncertainty about staying or going. Can also understand the frustration of the majority on here, but also appreciate the thoughts of the minority. Sure, Watts is 22. He will be looking at a 2 or 3 year deal, let's say 3. What sort of player will he be in 3 years if he stays with the MFC? He's been there 5 already and hasn't done anything. Sure, he has to take a hell of a lot of responsibility, but how many of our other players have developed to an elite level in that time? Realistically - none! We barely have a player in the Top 50 of the league. Jones was a 1st round pick, not blessed with the natural skill as JW, but has a work ethic like none other. He is by far our best player, yet he's lucky to make the Top 50 list. So, in 3 years time, will Watts have played a final at the MFC? Will a club who will be playing finals want him? Will he get a game? He's also probably looking at a potetnial forward line next year with Hogan, Clark and Dawes. Quite simply, he doesn't fit and he would know that. The only place I can really see Watts fitting is on a HBF or wing. If he's not happy playing those positions, or if he doesn't think he can play his best footy there, he's well within his rights to look at a club that he may be able to play in the positions he wants to. On the other hand, I'm quite pee'd off with him too. Lived a massive chunk of his junior life getting things given to him on a platter (could get in to teh public school vs private school debate, but that's for another time). I don't know if he knows what real hard work is, and quite possibly the first time he was challenged (Neeld), he didn't like it. That's the impression I have got from the media (could be what they want us to believe). Also totally agree with the criticism about him saying that we were meant to be a good team 3 years ago (or whatever he said). Step up yourself. The comment he made earlier this year about us not having a Selwood or a Hodge to take the game on, that made my blood boil. Again, sitting back waiting for it to happen. How about you chuck yourself in the centre bounce and do something about it? I don't care if it's against coach's orders, I'm sure Neeld or Craig would've loved to see JW draw a line in the sand and get in there himself. He didn't. Does he have the condifence to do that? Not at the moment, but would Eade/Roos/Williams give that to him? That's part of the reason for his current mindset. From what I understand, Jack is a very honest guy. Not much phases him, and it does appear at times that he just goes out to play, and not get too caught up with what is written on the scoreboard. If he said "I want to weight up all my options and hopefully come to the right decision", then I can't blame him. He is 5 years in to his career, which a wrong decision now could see it (his career) come to a grinding halt in the next 3 years. I have loved Watts from day one. Sure, he hasn't turned in to the player we were hoping, he is still a rare talent. I hoped that a decent coach would allow Jack to show us what he is capable of. Sadly, we haven't had a decent coach for this to happen. He's not the most courageous player on the list - far from it in fact, but he still has the ability to be a high quality player for the MFC. If he were to leave, I'll have mixed feelings. Part of me will say "good riddance", the other part of me will be bitterly disappointed at the fact that we wasted another number 1 draft pick, at a time that we needed to get them so right. Probably the biggest load of fence sitting some of you have read for a while. No doubt the masses won't agree with a lot of it! Oh, the other thing - do some of you really think trading him will get us a decent midfielder? We can't be certain that Watts will be a star, why would another club make the same gamble? A lot bigger risk for them, not us.

Is this the Adam Ant you speak of?

An ideal offseason for me would be for all players to be having the worst preseason of their career. For the players to be training [censored] poor on the track. For there to be nothing but negative vibes around the club, and that all players do not believe in where we are headed. I don't want any of the players to feel a different culture with the arrival of the new coach, and that the new coach doesn't have them up and about. Not one personal best is to be smashed this preseason, and when we go to Darwin, I want all players to suffer from heat exhaustion as soon as they land, so that they think it will mentally scar them for when they play a game up there during the season. I also want the AFL to release a draw where we have to play Hawthorn, Geelong, Sydney all 3 times, and we don't play St Kilda or GWS at all. We have had the opposite to the above for the past 7 years and it's delivered us fcuk all, so something has to change for 2014.

Jnr, it just proves how much Victorian-based AFL news is irrelevant in Queensland. Voss made front page of the Courier Mail today. His "news" made pages 78-79, the Essendrug affair had something on page 78. People (generally Victorians) think that all things AFL is big news across all states of Australia. Some on here have even suggested we announce sponsors at certain times to get maximum exposure. In Queensland, no one gives a toss what happens to Victorian clubs.

Given I have no care for GWS and refuse to waste 2 hours of my time to watch them play, I have never seen nor heard of this kid. Can someone that will give a realistic appraisal of him please inform me why we should be doing our nuts over this bloke? I have them there to do, but I'm quite selective who I do them over these days.

What has that got to do with my reaction should we hire an inexperienced coach? I think my expectations of the club and players are quite realistic, but your post paints a different picture, in a thread that it doesn't belong. We have one last chance of getting this right. We can't expect a rookie coach (or Dean Laidley) to sell this "hope" that I need, that Old Dee and WYL need, and that PJ talks about. We need the best coach available THAT HAS EXPERIENCE. If we hire an inexperienced coach and I no longer support the club, all I am doing is saying my goodbyes before the life support is switched off. Some may want to hang around to watch the power go out, I don't think it will be the best thing for me to do that. It already feels like the club is palliative. FWIW - I totally agree with Hogan wanting to get a senior game first before looking at extensions. I'd raise my eyebrows if the Club demanded it. Can't really see how offering a 0 game player a 5 year deal, especially given that I'm not sure if the MFC itself has a 5 year contract.

Didn't I say that about Dean Laidley? Of the millions of posts that get posted on here, you picked mine for your example? GFYRPFC.

As of next year I think you will find the role of the small forward in Melbourne's forward line will become redundant anyway. Given that Hogan never drops it, what crumbing will be required?

Bloody hell, you're being a bit over the top. He hasn't even hit the 3 month mark of his tenure, it's the first time he's appeared on arguably the best football show there is, of which they ask the questions that we want answers to (and he answered them). He also explained his belief of the weekend's flogging, which was a reality check for a number of Melbourne supporters. He's not here to make friends, and given that he has succeeded in the same role at another club, something not too many employed at the MFC can hang their hat on, I think you just shut up and listen and do what he says.

Might've made it up, but was it Roos that commented on the weekend that a couple of teams (may have included the Swans), were shying away from a true small forward? Regardless, Betts is a very interesting one. Obviously not worth the dollars he's asking, has also had a shocker this year, but given the firepower of our forward line next year, and compare it to what Carlton have got, he'd be a better player for us, but is that good enough?

As would/'ve the same question be asked to Roos. At this stage, none of the 3 key candidates would've declared their desire to coach the MFC for individual reasons. Just saying.

I love how you direct WYL to read posts and articles from Essendon supporters, journalists and bloggers, then promote that you only jump on or off based on all the facts. Don't tell me you're using those avenues of which you directed WYL to as your way of "fact finding".

Can you say with certainty that Eade and Williams have this view? Is it just a senior coaching gig for them or is it the challenge of the Melbourne Football Club?

I think one of the main differences Clint, is that he is a true "outsider". He has come from other clubs where he has had great success, and he isn't a Melbourne man. I'm not sure of the last bloke to walk in to our club in an official capacity that hasn't had baggage.

Not sure if anyone knew this is on our website (apologies if you all knew!), but here is a list of our Foundtaion Heroes; http://www.melbournefc.com.au/the-club/foundation-heroes Glen Bartlett is number 413. If you are one of those that looks for a sign in things, his FH number couldn't be more appropriate - Glen Bartlett 4 (flag) 13!

Thought it was a great interview, and as someone mentioned earlier, it's disappointing that it didn't go for longer. If nothing else, it brought a number of things out in to the public that we all unofficially knew, or had speculated. It will hopefully see us all on the same track for a number of the decisions that PJ will be making, and make us understand why he is making them. I did get some satisfaction about the CC comments. He won't step foot back in the MFC. Regardless of your stance regarding him taking the fall for the "tanking" issue, the fact is, he significantly contributed to our club copping a $500k fine. If I did that to my employer, I'd be lucky to work in the same town again, let alone keep my job. Further on the tanking, the fact is that it has been investigated, we've been fined, we didn't take the AFL to court, we've got new people running the club, we move on. While Roos is still my favourite to accept the coaching gig, I'm not as confident now as I was 2 weeks ago. However, there were reports on here a couple of weeks ago that Roos was looking at a 3 year deal, but we (could be just Demonlanders) wanted him for 5. PJ was very big on getting a coach in that could sell hope to members and sponsors, and in my view (reading between the lines), he'd have no problems having Roos sell hope for 3 years and getting things set up from a culture perspective, if that's what it took to get him there. Who knows, if there is enough onfield improvement at the end of the 3 years, it'll be a lot easier to convince him to take an extension. I really liked the bit about getting the best people, rather than getting the best red & blue people. PJ's toughest job now, after making that comment, is to get the balance right. If former MFC greats, ie Neitz, wants to join the board, or if Schwarz wants to get involved in some way, he can't just pi$$ on these blokes, however, we as supporters should demand successful people, just as we demand success from our current players. For me, success is a number of things, but most importantly in the form of a premiership. What does Schwartz know about winning a premiership at AFL level? What does G Lyon? etc, etc. You can't have that attitude totally, but as I siad, it's finding tha tbalance. I've got no doubt it's that reason why Todd Viney is not going anywhere. Club great, didn't play in a premiership but helped Hawthorn win one, so has an idea of both what the MFC is/was like, and can compare it to what successful/power/premiership clubs are like. The comments about the locker-room leadership really interested me. I am in the minority by saying that I supported Junior's forced retirement, but that's not saying I supported the way it eventuated. His body was struggling with the rigours of AFL footy, as was Cameron Bruce. I'm still not sure where I stand regarding the majority of those decisions, as I'm not sure how many of the players that we "finished up" early I would want leading the wave of kids that come in to the club over a 3 or 4 year period. Junior would've been fantastic, Paul Wheatley and Matty Whelan the same, but I'm not sure if I would've wanted the likes of Robbo, Yze and Bruce inlfuencing the way Morton, Watts, Trengove, etc went about things. These "senior" players were part of the playing group that PJ was talking about when he spoke about like in the past decade at the MFC. It could be through no fault of their own that they had that up-and-down culture, but the reality is that it was ingrained in these blokes in the '00 decade, and they didn't know any different. I guess my question to PJ, and a number of people on here, would be "would our last few years first round picks be better developed if the had those "leaders" guiding them?" It's crystal ball stuff, and I don't even think a hindsight call can be made. Selling of hope is one of the things that we needed to hear, and perhaps it's an angle that will reignite Roos' fire. The next 3 years isn't about the win/loss column, but one of the immediate challenges in 2014 will be the percentage column. The new coach isn't required to implement a quick fix. The new coach's job will be judged on the way the playing group play. The culture needs to be fixed before I want to see results. Results will come when the players see the change. For someone like Roos, he might see that as something that can quite easily be changed during a 3 year contract, and if he were to leave at the end of it, he would know that while a flag may not be unveiled in that time, that he has left a signficant legacy that can be passed on to that "best" rookie coach. Apologies for the long winded post.

You are kidding? He's far from the worst out there, and has been like that all year. He's used to playing along side champions, he's not a champion himself. It's as though Norf took the bell out of the ball before the game.

I feel sorry for Byrnes - never in his life would he have thought he'd be playing in a team for the intellectually disabled.

I don't care what anyone thinks, Trengove and Grimes are total liabilities, and both should step down from their captaincy duties at the end of the season.

Bluey, I'm interested to know what is so "loser" about a powerpoint presentation. I've heard it spoken about many times on here, especially about Bailey's (I think) powerpoint presentation. If you were going for a senior AFL coaching role, how would you sell yourself? Would you not take anything in and just answer questions? Would you give the interview panel a written report on where you think the team is and what your plans are? I still use powerpoint presentations in my field of work, and find them to be quite an effective way of delivering a message/presentation to a number of people. No-one has ever complained about my methods, and have had many successful outcomes post-powerpoint presentation, so I'm wanting to make sure I'm still up to date with current technology, or if there is some new whizz bang method that I have not discovered. Thanks in advance.

Glad you cleared your throat there B59. I am totally aware of the 2nd verse, however, when the team runs out, or more importantly, after a MFC victory, I don't think I've heard anyone sing the 2nd verse.

Far from the best in the league. Said it in another thread a while back - "It's A Grand Old Flag" is the only club song in the league that doesn't say the team's name or their nickname. Useless information, but would love to know why this is so!

It's probably going to be the differnece between losing $150,000 as opposed to $300,000 if we played it at the MCG. Given it's (another) nothing season, it might save us a few dollars (can you save money if you're going to lose it?!).

I like it, but i'm easily pleased with stuff like that. Either that or the critics on here need to STFU.

The Yarra This is our last chance to get this right. We will not be financed by the AFL forever, so we need to use the next 3 years to ensure we put the right people in place to get things moving forward, and to make us be able to stand on our own two feet. Hiring Laidley as head coach will not be a step in the right direction, especially down the path we need to take. While we are funded by the AFL, we need to make sure we get the best there available for all positions. Given that Laidley is not in the Top 5 Best available coaches, and the fact that at least 1 of the Top 5 has publicly declared he wants to coach again (and given we will be the only team at the end of the season looking for a senior coach), it would be a terrible mistake to put Laidley in charge. It's my opinion, and based on zero facts, but Laidley would be a bigger mistake than Neeld. (Nb. I said from bloody near day 1 that Neeld would be the next MFC premiership coach or the last coach of the MFC - I wasn't far wrong with the latter).