The Chazz

I was informed otherwise by a member of the senior management team. This person had no reason to lie to me, just as Clarkson had no reason to lie on On The Couch.

Absolutely. Was an inbetween player - not big enough to take a big forward, to slow to play a small forward, was always that 3rd defender. I rate onfield body language quite highly in a developing team, and the fact that Rivers was part of the leadership group and clearly waved the white flag 1/2 way through a game against Collingwood told me alot about who he plays for (himself). Not only that, we have 2 or 3 other players that can play the role he plays/played. Now that I've stated my reasons, how about you state your reasons why we should've kept him? JR got that goal on the 3/4 time siren, which basically slammed our door shut, because Frawley gave up chasing and expected his teammate to do it. JR had a shot with seconds to go in the match from 45m out, and Frawley stood the mark and didn't raise a finger. When we are relying on teh senior players to lead the way for our developing/inexperienced players, this poor attitude should not go unnoticed. To make it easier, go to the AFL website, press "replay match" under our game, click on "behinds" so that you can select the last point of the match. I'd imagine you would be as pi$$ed off as me when you see what I'm talking about.

Are you talking about the smothered kick in the last quarter? If so, is that the same one that is smothered by the Richmond guy running past, which in fact should've been a 50m penalty to us as that guy wasn't standing the mark and was in Jordie's "space" prior to him playing on.

We will have to disagree sorry!

Yeah, I know what you were talking about re Davey/Vlastuin, but the excuse of one being 19 and the other being 30 does not excuse work ethic. If Flash was running his guts out and couldn't catch him, I'd accept it. Again, we can't have this attitude of excusing poor attitude, depending on who the player is. Frawley is in out Top 3, would go close to being our best player, that doesn't mean he is immune to doing the things that are deemed "standard" by most clubs. We are crying out for our senior players to lead the way, so that the kids can learn the right way. There has to be consequences when this doesn't happen, regardless of the number they wear on their back.

Something is better than nothing P_Man. "Nothing" is inexcusable. It is something that should never be instructed from the coach, it should be a natural part of your game. I'd drop Frawley for 2 weeks based on yesterday's performance. He needs to decide how much he really wants it, and how much he wants to stay at the MFC. If you don't want to work your ass off for it, then fcuk off. A senior player with a poor onfield attitude isn't going to help this team, hence why I was delighted to see Rivers leave.

Jumbo, that is a pathetic excuse. A number of outlets have been commenting on how Frawley played well. Can someopne please do me a favour and post the last 30 seconds of the game on here please, just when Riewoldt was taking the last kick of the game. The siren hadn't sounded, JR takes a shot for goal (missed luckily) and Frawley just stood there, no hands up on the mark, just standing. I don't care what stage we are at in a game, I don't care how frustrated you are with yourself, your players or your opponent, you DO NOT stand the mark, especially when a player is having a shot, and not raise your hands. It's this onfield sh!t leadership that Rivers showed time and time again, and now Frawley is getting in on the act. Totally inexcusable. I'll even go one bit further and say that his effort late in the third when JR got that goal right on the siren, that basically ended our chance. JR is a first class [censored], he thrives with confidence and is generally ineffectual when things aren't going his way. For Frawley to gift him a goal because he "didn't think he had a left foot", absolute bullsh!t. Watch the replay again, Frawley had a slight slip, JR got a yard or two on him, that doesn't excuse the fact that Frawley gave up chasing because of this apparent lack of left foot. You can tell Frawley hoped that his teammate would chase, but when he realised that wasn't going to happen, he had to put in the hard ones himself, too late by that stage. This incident changed the game, which frustrates me as it is an attitude problem and not a skill error. The Chip lovers will get up me for this post, bring it on! I do not make any apologies for having high expectations of our top players. And one last one, why the fcuk do we continue to play Rohan Bail? He is a liability, is not AFL standard, and should be delisted at the end of the season. On the positive side, Dawes was very good, and I can't wait to see what level he may go to when Clark/Hogan are in the same side. Also, I hope Matt Jones lives in an apartment - will make it a lot harder for me to look through his windows. I'm growing a concerning amount of man love for this bloke.

Highlights that we shouldn't count out Rocket Eade as a potential senior coach. I for one don't believe the Bulldogs had a top 4 list, but he got them there. The biggest thing that let Eade/Bulldogs down was relying on Johnson being their goal kicker. You can get away with it in the H&A season, but in finals, you just can't.

Given that the OP indicated that we would be picking up a key mid as well, I'd rather spend the $700k that might interest Harry, and go out and get a 2nd key mid.

C'mon Sats ol' chap, you've had 30 minutes since I posted #129 to respond to the fact that an "other" had already posted about attending the function, yet you haven't replied. I assume by the lack of your reply that you realised how silly you made yourself look?

I would like someone to do a ladder if it was 1 big season from 186 to now, and excluding the franchise teams. Without knowing the stats, and going by the OPs figures, it would suggest we have won 1 game in the last 22 months.

And given the fact that you originally asked the question 40 minutes ago, you haven't really given anyone a chance to respond. Not everyone sits on Demonland all day like you do chap, a lot of us have a life. It does make sense though, for someone to receive the DSP they can do volunteer work to meet their minimum requirements.

Is that sufficient for you?

Could it mean that Roos approached the MFC about the coaching role next year and we told him that Neeld is contracted and will be our coach in 2014? Could it mean that Neil Craig will be our coach and that Roos will step in to Craig's current role? It could mean hundreds of things. BUt as it stands, I would prefer to give Neeld the opportunity to see his current contract out. And that's coming from a bloke that has been on the fence since his arrival, and perhaps somewhat critical about some of his decisions.

It's quite clear that the players he brought in contributed to the type of culture Neeld wants to creat at the MFC. The players he has let go contributed to the poor culture that we have/had, and most likely put themselves ahead of the team by resisting change. I like the talk of "ingrained" by Neeld. He is basically saying that there are non-negotiables in successful teams, and when they get to the 80+ games mark, the players should be able to do these things instinctively, allowing them to concentrate on doing whatever it takes to win. The President/CEO/board I believe need to decide immediately what they are going to do with Neeld. If they have no intention of keeping him at the end of his contract, it would be the best thing for the club to remove him at the end of this season. If they are satisfied with where we are heading (hard to be excited on match day, but there's more to it than that), then we could shut the media up and give him a 12 month extension right now. By the time the end of 2015 comes along, most of his team should be averaging 80+ games, which I think after a rebuild of a rebuild, we probably should allow a coach the opportunity to see it through for that period to see if they are capable of success.

If they are the areasons that it's "not going to happen", then I have less confidence now than before. Firstly, Fitzroy did have financial problems that are a lot worse than ours. That said, it wasn't many years ago that we were over $5m in debt, and the man that changed that is no longer with us. Secondly, if you really think a "good core support" amount of 19-20k at matches is financially viable, then you are horribly mistaken. I believe we lose money on games we host at the MCG with less than 25k crowd, hence why we rely so much on bigger crowds at games like the QB game. Playing games in front of 15k-20k at the MCG is a negative for the club. The only way they will increase those numbers is if we are a Top 4 side. And finally, it's quite clear that we need to get out act together onfield. We are poor, and while I'm a believer that it can change overnight (like it appears to have with a team like Port), I've been saying that for the last 6 years. It is expected that we will make a signifcant loss this year. If it's in the $1m ball park that was reported earlier, then the pressure will be right on our onfield performance to turn that around, and I'm just not sure if it will be an instant thing. We are insignificant in the eyes of the football community. We dug this hole we are in, and no-one is too fussed if we get out or if we are buried, as we were the ones that put ourselves there. If onfield doesn't improve in the next 5 years (as I said in my original post), and let's face it, we can pump up our new draft picks to make ourselves sleep easier, but I'm concerned that our list is way off a handy team let alone one that could win a premiership. (nb. I said the same thing about Geelong in about 2005)...

Not sure why my picture isn't working sorry, but it's quite simply the Melbourne jumper with a white kangaroo in the middle of it. Perhaps someone a bit more tech-savvy could do one up and post. Cheers.

My honest opinion is that if we don't get our sh!t sorted in the next 5 years, there will be a massive push from the AFL for us to merge with North. Jumper would look similar to this... Vlad gets his wish for there to always be a "Melbourne" team, it's just we are known as the Melbourne Kangaroos. It's a fairly romantic idea for him, still have a team named after the sporting capital of the world, whose nickname is that of the animal that everyone world-wide thinks about when talking about Australia. The international marketing the AFL could do with this is massive, especially given that we already have a face for the marketing in Jeremy Howe, as his leap is like, well, you know... Don't get me wrong, I'll give up on footy if it were to happen, but as I said, in my opinion it COULD make sense if we don't get better.

The thing about Vlad's comments about there always being a team called Melbourne in the AFL is that he has never said that they would always be the Demons. Just saying...

Rivers was far from captaincy material. His onfield body language was probably the worst I've seen from a player wearing a Melbourne jumper for more than a decade, and I personally am glad he is no longer wearing the red and blue. While he frustrates the hell out of me with his disposal, Grimes is the perfect candidate for the "Harley-type" captain. Not the best player in our team, but always puts in 100% onfield, and from the little exposure I have had of him offield, he is quality.

Read somewhere (may have been the MFC website) that our score on the weekend was the 4th largest we have kicked under Neeld, and our largest against a non-franchise team (under Neeld). Not sure where this can be brought up, but seeing a bit of Sylvia love above, thought I'd put it in here... Did anyone notice the golden opportunity that Col had to bury Moloney on the weekend, only to see him lay a late, "nice" tackle, giving Moloney enough time to get an effective handball away? Brisbane were going to the left of screen (may have been 3rd quarter?). I only saw it once, haven't seen a replay since, but firs tlook seemed a perfect opportunity for Col to make a statement to not only Moloney, but the MFC. He didn't.

Stuie, no need to be a smart arse. BBB made the comment about Clark BEFORE it was announced he would miss a considerable amount of footy.

Just like he sat there and let Sheedy stick the boots in to the MFC on AFL Game Day a couple if years ago? Didn't challenge him, just sat there and copped it. Weak as pi$$.

Guess again Ash. Suzanna clearly said that it was one of Carlton's "stars".

Stuie, you first comment about picking people who deserve it, then you include Kent as one of your "ins". It may be hard for some to believe, I'm honestly not a Kent basher. But WTF has he done at Casey to warrant a game in the seniors?