The Chazz

What are you 2 talking about? You have picked 6 words from a two sentence statement that clearly indicates that I was talking about not winning a practice match. Old Dee, you really think winning a nothing game on a hot Saturday morning/early afternoon is going to shape our season? FFS, bring on Round 1 already. Posts like the 2 above sh!t me to tears.

So, the Mighty Mare goes for #24 tonight at the Valley. No Sepoy's, Frankle's or So You Think's in the race, so it will be a matter of picking the margain. Have to admit, I can't believe some of what Biffen has written in this thread. At the end of her career, there will be a strong case that she wasn't the GOAT, but I think there will be a stronger argument to suggest that she was. Sit back tonight and watch Nelly burn up the Valley!

More than agree with the above. Is there room to do that at Gosch's? We seriously need to do this if it is possible. It should be known that along Swan Street, between Batman Ave and Punt Rd, that you are driving through the heartland of the MFC. You look left, you have the MCG - home of the MFC, you look right, you see our training facilities and social club. We put banners up on the street posts/lights. Other teams have suburbs that they can do this to, we have a street, so let's make it a bloody beauty.

Appreciate your posts Robbie (and others who have contributed that were there). This last bit was the exact vibe that I got from sitting on the HFF at Southport last Saturday. You could tell the players were going through their paces. By all means you compete in any match, any where, any time, any place, but sometimes, winning isn't the main priority. It is good to be able to say that with the knowledge that when the real games start that winning IS our priority.

Could be on to something here RP. You mean playing a handful of games out there, just like Hawthorn does at Tassie? Given that it's just as far for our supporters to go to Casey as it is for Hawks supporters to go to Tassie, I wonder if the club would offer overnight packages for anyone that wants to take one up. Edit - spelling

I always shake my head when I used to walk past Punt Rd Oval CBDees. It's sad to think we have such facilities in the same car park as our home ground, yet they aren't ours. Ample place to set up a "proper" social club, gives us a great venue to go back to after we win that flag, but alas, it is painted black and yellow.

I can remember when I used to play footy, there was a team that were bordering on unbeatable (they were playing well below their division), however, we always went in thinking we could win. The biggest problem was that in the week leading up to that game, the coach trained us harder than any normal week, and as a result, we got to Saturday and were completely knackered. Nb. Our coach was a tool. Point I'm making is that if that was happening to the players every week last year, ie ,training above what would be considered a "normal" training regime, then there is absolutely no doubt that we would struggle. For Garland to come out and say our fitness levels were embarrassing, this was probably an observation that was made by the coaches at the start of the year, and something they acted upon straight away. You would hope that given we stepped it up by about 20% over this preseason, that we will be able to back it off by 20% during the season proper (that's not saying we can cruise through the training, it's probably backing it off to 120%!).

I am in no doubt that the above was one of two reasons (the other being the responsibilities of captaincy) for the decline in form from our younger captain, and quite possibly some others in our team.

I'm quite sure North Ballarat (whatever it's called these days) is plenty big enough to build grandtands to accommodate those sort of figures. QE oval at Bendigo may struggle. Geelong may cover the western region, but I'm talking about the Western suburbs of Melbourne. You talk of boutique stadiums, you have to think about so many factors. What area is going to be able to cater (parking, public transport, etc) for a crowd of 20,000 or so? And most importantly, what area will attract 20,000+ fans? Just because the Casey region is a growth corridor, doesn't automtically suggest that they will get the crowds there. You also have to look at what the AFL has done in the past, in terms of closing outer suburb ovals, and how they currently operate. With that said, the 2 choices I think are more likely than Casey would be the new area at docklands (where our proposed training hub could be), or a total revamp of the Junction Oval. Both are in close proximity to the CBD, so there should/would be no excuse for supporters from all over Melbourne to attend games there. Building a stadium at Casey will only appeal to a certain "postcode", and I'd be confident to say that this will impact on the crowd size.

WYL, I have showed you that the reigning premiers have had worse to deal with, yet they still won the bloody thing. How is playing 1 extra game in the NT going to harm our chances of winning a flag?

Why is Casey more deserved of a boutique stadium than any other area of Melbourne, and for that matter, places like Ballarat and Bendigo? While we will no doubt be required to use a "boutique" stadium at some stage, it's not being built specifically for us.

DD, this is probably the first time I've comented on this topic. The reason? Becasue I am not sitting in that court room, I'm not a lawyer, and I have had no access to any evidence whatsoever. How you can make the above comment is amazing, mainly because you have NFI about it, other than from what you have read in the paper. Don't get me wrong, you may have guessed correctly, but that's all it is, a guess. And to the mods, I am astonished that you have let this thread go on. Yes, there is general interest in it, but it's a very sensitve case, it's a legal matter, and the amount of inappropriate comments being made is appalling.

WYL, just want to add something to your comment above. It's all well and good to talk about Collingwood's 18 games at the MCG, and that Carlton and Richmond are likely to get it too, and that we need to play as much footy at the MCG as possible to help win 13, but all you are doing is making excuses, something I would've expected better from you. Sydney, in 2012, played 9 home games at the SCG, they played 3 games (both home and away) at ANZ Stadium (which they lost one of to an interstate team). They only played 1 game at the MCG, prior to the GF. Us playing 2 home games in Darwin isn't going to harm our chances of winning number 13. We will still play considerable footy at our home, and most of those games will see us run out wearing the blue shorts. What we will never forget is that we are the MCG, it's just that given the fact that the AFL is not the VFL anymore, and that the suburban grounds of Moorabbin, Windy Hill, etc aren't to the standard that they need to be, other teams need somewhere to play, which will always lead to us needing to have other teams "renting a room" from us. The best way to ensure they don't take over our house is for us to start winning and attract more crowds/members. Selling 2 games up north has nothing to do with what it takes for that to happen.

Amazing how different players have a different impact on us. Personally, he was in the Top 2 that I was relieved was no longer with us. After reading that article about Neeld in the Herald Sun last week, if those expectations and the direction in which he wants to take this club are correct, I think it would've been one of his easiest list management decisions.

HT, I strongly believe, and have said on this forum in the past, that this should've been our angle when trying to crack the Chinese/Asian market. In today's climate, if we are going to places like the NT and China with the intention of making $$$, it makes the job a lot easier if we can show we are doing things within the local community, rather than just searching for a quick buck. The work we have done in the NT community has seen the signing of NT Tourism. The hard work is now starting to pay dividends, and if we manage this right, it will be a sustainable income stream for us over the coming decades. We MUST make sure we don't rest on our laurels up there, especially now that we are seeing a financial reward. It is a very similar story with the onfield section of the club. Put in the hard yards now, and sucess will come. As a club, we want to make sure that when we get there, that we work even harder to ensure that it is sustained success.

It used to depend on how many veterans we have on our list, but I'm not sure if they changed the rules on that. Last year we only had Brad Green as an "outside list veteran" (or whatever it was called), and as we were allowed 2, it meant that we could promote a rookie based on that. That's probably as clear as mud, but I'm sure it will refresh someone's memory on here so that they can expand for you!

Simple solution for the 2nd NT game at this stage would be to play it in the last game of the year, would give us about 6 months to recover before our next game. I'm all for this sort of thing, providing the AFL fixturing can be flexible enough to ensure or preparation and recovery periods are 100%. We need to be innovative with what we propose, such as playing the Saturday night before the QB game (gives us 9 days turnaround) then follow that with the bye. And even look at the split round at the start of the season - we could play this Saturday night, then that gives us 2 weeks turnaround until Round 2.

The only stat I know off the top of my head is that the last 5 NAB Cup winners all made the Top 4 of the regular season. You would expect this year's winner would buck that trend, but we won't know that for another 26 weeks or so.

I agreed with every delisting that Bailey made, or contributed to (Robbo, Yze, McDonald, Bruce, etc). Watts was playing very well in the reserves, he deserved a call up to seniors, body-wise he wasn't ready, but he was rewarded for good performances in the VFL. I would also like to know from Watts if he felt that being played "early" has hindered his development. Based on what I saw Saturday, M Jones deserves a game in Round 1.

I would be disappointed if Toumpas doesn't get a run in Round 1, given his preseason form, in particular how he played Saturday. It's so hard to be concerned over a practice match. I probably expected Sylvia, Rodan and Byrnes to play well, but felt that they were just using the run to get match fitness more than anything. You would like to think that those 3 especially would have a different impact in the official season.

Has Magner been elevated?

I was at the game, but had absolutely no chance to keep everyone updated sorry. Also not sure what has been written in this thread already - had a quick browse but skipped a few pages. FWIW, my observations are/were; * I can't believe we were late, which pushed back the start of the match by 20 mins. In hindsight, it was obvious our bus driver had the same drive as our players seemed to. * Matt Jones is a lock for Round 1. Thought he played really well for a first year player. * First time I've seen Jesse Hogan in person - now I can understand the hype. He's huge, and absolutely owned Warnock (I appreciate that's not something to hang your hat on, even for an 18 year old who can't play this year). Many times he did everything right in a marking contest, except hold the bloody thing! He will be very good. * It was good to watch Watts the man, not Watts the boy. He was a standout in a very understrengthed and undersized backline. * I watched Sylvia fairly closely, but it seemed to be the only time he got going was in the last quarter. I read an earlier post from Bailin Out (I think) that siad Sylvia was hungry, I only saw that for the last 25 minutes of the game (when the result was known). * Jack Grimes, FMD, I'm just not sure if his skills will allow him to become that A-grader that he should be. * Jordie Mckenzie's biggest problem is that he stands flat-footed too much. When he gets a handball, he is stationary, and needs to rely on a burst of speed to get in the clear. Unfortunately, he doesn't have that burst, and is often caught, hence his disposal is iffy. * I can't for the life of me work out why Toumpas wasn't in our best. He ran and ran and ran, it felt like he was everywhere. At one stage he ran with Ablett, and will now have more of an insight on how wide that gap is between playing seniors and being a star. * Ablett is a freak (sorry for not offering anything new there). * Strauss is a concern, I personally don't think he is AFL standard at this stage. I don't want to hear the "coming back from injury" or "it was only a practice match", I was there, I watched him, and I just don't know if he has got what it takes to be in our senior team. Put it this way, if there was 1 spot left and it was between M Jones and Strauss, I'd be picking Jones. * At some stage, I'm sure Sellar and Pedo will be fighting for the same spot. Based on Saturday, Sellar is a given. He presented up forward, he ran hard, he created contests, and was more than competitive in the ruck, even against Zac Smith. I felt that when Sellar rucked, he offered more than just a contest. Which leads me to... * Mark Jamar. Tried hard all day, I noticed he was in the best (wouldn't have been difficult), but where Russian is let down is in his tap work. He is sufficient around the ground, not ideal, but will do, but it's his tap work that probably costs us the most. He generally wins more contests than he loses, but he taps it to no-one. The chemistry between he and our other mids is non-existant. weither they (the mids) need to change their set up, or Jamar needs to change the areas he taps to. I think it has to be the former, but at this stage I think they are so focused on defending the bloke they are on, rather than being creative and playing off their man. All in all, it was a very boring game of footy. Conditions were hot, but were close to perfect. To see 20 goals kicked for the game was poor for both teams. Our forward line and backline were far from what I hope to see in Round 1, which probably means that the Suns should've beaten us by more, given they were closer to full strength than we were. I have no doubt we went in to the game with a practice match mentality (like our bus driver), and I can't say I blame them. Our next game is in just under 2 weeks, and I've got no doubt that it's the game we have been set for, not some "nothing" game on a warm Saturday morning/afternoon.

You're not doing youself any favours champ. I actually think you are a troll. There is nothing anyone can say to you, or post in general, that you won't leave alone. Your replies, like the one above to my post, have no substance and are quite painful to read. I'm quite sure the standards some of the players named are aiming for would be a lot higher than what RR has written.

I know it's slightly off topic, but it's a direct reply to this post. Can someone please inform me of which kids we gifted games to? How I see "gifting" games is playing someone in the seniors that a> their VFL form didn't warrant it, and b> they were played at the expense of someone who should've been. We've heard this comment many times about gifting games to kids, I'd just love to know who they are. Cheers.

And I think that's why there were a few, me included, that originally voted "no". For me, there was always an inkling that this may not be the longest of careers, and that we should enjoy every moment of it. I hinted similar in one of my earlier posts about this (back in 2009). The biggest argument was the definition of a star. I don't think we saw enough of Jurrah to confirm he was, but I can understand those that thought we did. Because I think he won't go down in the history of the MFC as a star, doesn't mean I didn't think he was special.