The Chazz

SWYL, this is the exact thing that has been lost over time. I agree (from an outsider looking in) that the moving on of Junior was appalling. The reality is though, his contribution in his final year had gone backwards, and added to that was his body letting him down. Even though there are different people in charge now, I personally believe the club has a great opportunity to prove they have learnt from that mistake by the way they could handle the Jones situation. Tap him on the shoulder, do it respectfully, and he'll end a brilliant MFC career at the end of this season. He aint going to get any faster next year, yet the position he will be playing will require him to.

Don't think I've actually called Jones selfish. I did say that it could be a selfish record, mainly because I don't think he should break it (based on where we and he is at). And I totally agree about a culture revamp among our supporters. We have many on here preferring to put an individual ahead of team success. That's the type of culture that was around when Yze, Robertson, Bruce, et al were running around, and look how that helped for the decade after that. Not sure about you, but I'm still waiting on my first premiership, and I've seen over half my life pass me by without one to date. I will be very disappointed if Goodwin hasn't spoken to Jones in a way that would indicate that if he plays on next year, that he will be treated equally to all, and with our game plan retiring more pace, that he may start and end the year off at Casey. Hodge has won 4 premierships and is playing an onfield coaching role in a backline full of kids. I would much rather him in that role than Jones. Also, let's not forget that the Lions played us on the weekend - hardly any Usain Bolts that he's likely to match up on. And they have plenty of speed in that side that having one slower player isn't going to hurt them too much. For Jones to lock in a spot as a half back flank, we need to look at how we structure our backline. We will generally play, when all fit, 3 talls (May, Lever and Frost), a small (Jetta), and rebounding half backs in Hibberd, Salem and Hore. We also have Fritsch that can play through there. If we can secure Ed Langdon from Freo, then we can add him, KK (if he can get his head right) and Baker (who I think has shown a bit) to the list that are capable of playing wing/half back. Finally we are looking at a list of decent ball users with pace playing in those two positions. While I acknowledge that injuries are a great concern for many of the names I have listed about, I am thinking about 2020 and hoping that injuries aren't a factor. With that in mind, my question is, what extra does Jones add to these positions that the other guys don't? I will potential vomit if someone answers with "loyalty". Now that I've posted the above, I am starting to ponder what our team would look like right now if we didn't have any injuries. How many would have Jones in their 22? I wouldn't.

I'm amazed that people are suggesting that Jones should be played off the half back flank. The game has changed - the days of hiding a slow veteran on a back flank are long gone. I wouldn't be surprised that the same ones calling for this are the same ones that dont want Lewis picked for the rest of the year because he is a liability now in most parts of the field, and the same people that are complaining that we are a slow team.

I totally agree. But what's your answer?

He has stuck with us when most didn't, has multiple B&Fs to his name and will go down as one of the great clubman of the Melbourne Football Club. But is he prepared to put the club first for one last time by retiring at the end of the season? I don't think he will, but I also think that 2019 should be his last. Why? He has become a liability. When he's on the wing, clubs know if they get on his outside that he's got no chance of running anyone down. If he plays half back flank, the smart half forwards push right up the ground then burn him off when they run the other way. He's not quick enough to do the half forward role I just talked about. It's a delicate position that Goody will find himself in. Jones could break the MFC games record if he goes around again next year, which is quite remarkable when you think about the history of this club. But is it a selfish achievement given we should be about setting the club up to win premierships rather than personal milestones? I know I'll most likely be in the minority, but personally, I'm hoping Goody makes the tough call and tells him his time is up.

So you should agree that Hibberd came back too early. And OP for Smith? I'm not even going to ask for your source because 9 out of 10 times your 'source' feeds you [censored].

You're concerned about it? I'm concerned that you're pinning some of our hopes on four players that I really aren't anywhere near our best 22 when fit. And if they are, our list is a lot more shallow than I thought. I think the drafting/reliance of these types of players is part of the reason that we are going terrible this year. They just aren't good enough, even when fit. I feel that we have gone all-in on trading out top picks for the likes of Lever and May, then tried to get some ready-made state level/mature-age recruits in to have an immediate impact as depth. Mark my word, this will bite us on the [censored] in 5-10 years if we're not very astute with our recruiting in the next 2-3 years. We need quality kids coming through in the next couple of years, not mature age RTGs from the state leagues or project players coming through the Cat B rookie pathways that have a very low ceiling.

Some insightful posts here.

Like Joel Smith? Like Hibberd clearly coming back a week early? From memory I think Melksham might have played out the game against the Gold Coast too? And that's just this year. I wouldn't put anything past our incompetent medical staff.

No problems. A new CEO comes in and declares his big ticket item is to build a training and admin base in the one location. The fact it's on Pert's agenda is a step in the right direction (PJ had bigger fish to fry in his tenure at the club), as these types of CEOs are judged on their results. If he fails to deliver this promise, quite simply, he will have committed career suicide.

Jackson didn't dabble too much in football department issues. He put the staff in place that he felt would do that required job. Pert hopefully won't dabble too much in football department issues. He put the staff in place that he felt would do that required job. At the moment, the staff member that oversees the football department isn't performing. I'm sure the directive from Pert would be "fix it, Josh". He (JM) has now tried, so if this doesn't work, then I'd imagine Pert would have to step in. Let's also not forget that JM isn't one of Pert's appointments. Let's hope it doesn't get to that point.

You've been carrying on for months about how the board went against Jackson's recommendation on who should replace him, and further to that, have been carrying on about Pert's appointment. My point is that Pert hasn't appeared to put a foot wrong to date (albeit in less than 12 months), yet Mahoney's responsibility, which he would've been involved in the development of the football department model, has already seen a review and a number of changes made. In many ways, I see Mahoney's involvement in this mid-season review absolute amateur hour. So maybe, just maybe the board got the CEO appointment right. But I don't expect you to agree as it doesn't support your agenda.

Just trying to work all this out. Mahoney being groomed for the CEO role, didn't get it. Pert got it. Mahoney then becomes the new GM of Football, a role where he is the boss of the entire football department. Within months of him overseeing this role, there is a mid-season review of the FD operations, leading to a number of changes. The non-football department side has seen record memberships and movement toward setting up a new home/training base. 2 big ticket items to make us a financially sustainable club off the field. With all the above in mind, are we now appreciative that Mahoney isn't running the entire club?

@Bitter but optimistic thinks he knows where the sun shines in Romsey...

If this is true, which I am not doubting you, then WTF could I see it from my couch and be screaming for a change, yet the blokes in the coaches box be totally oblivious to it? And even more so, WTF is Jones so unaware of what is happening in real time and call for a change? Seriously, a 200+ game, co-captain, standing about 50m on his own on a wing at a centre bounce, can't see what's happening? It's laughable.

Speaking of that, congratulations to Emily McKay and her partner, Majak Daw, on the announcement that they are expecting their first child. Given what they have been through in recent months with Majak's situation, especially the event around December 18, this must be amazing news. That said, something about this has got me quite intrigued. General rule of thumb is that you announce a pregnancy after the 13 week mark. Looking at my calendar, 13 weeks ago from today is around January 9, which is approx 3 weeks after Majak "fell" off the bridge. For a bloke that suffered broken hips and a broken pelvis, I would imagine those types of injuries would take many weeks to recover from. With all that worked out, it would appear his pelvic region has made an amazing recovery in such a short amount of time. I would love to know the name of his doctor or physio that gave him the list of suggested therapies/activities to help with is recovery - my wife stubbed her toe this morning, so I want to take her to Majak's doctor to prescribe similar recovery activities that he clearly did for Majak...

I reckon there were many times last week that Jones' opposition winger started way off him, but closer toward our goals. At a centre bounce, Jones was just standing on his own, no-one around him. He didn't come charging in to provide an extra number around the contest, didn't drift forward to man up, or didn't float back. He looked like he was lost. Problem with it was that because his opponent was playing off him, it meant the Bombers effectively had an extra defender (I acknowledge the 6-6-6 rule). When we won the clearance and bombed it in, it gave them an extra number to run the ball out of defence. I'd go so far to say that they targeted this play through Jones, mainly because they know his defending ability is quite poor, and that even if he was used as an outlet from the stoppage, his preferred F50 entry is a long bomb, where they would back themselves winning it given Jones' opponent was already well on his way to our 50. There were a number of times where I would ask "WTF"? It was embarrassing to watch this as I realised we had absolutely no plan to sort this out and was made even more embarrassing because it was our co-captain that had no idea/initiative to stop it. Nb. As I wasn't at the game, I couldn't see if they did that on the other wing too.

Thanks for the link. Only other name that would be considered a promising young key forward is McStay, but he's at Brisbane, not a Melbourne-Based club. Like you, it doesn't worry me. I can't see Weid going anywhere, and I can't see it costing us anywhere near that number to keep him.

Mods, how can this thread remain open? There is no indication that this "whisper" is about Weideman, and is only going to cause unnecessary arguments what the player is worth. It's also showed that people will take personal potshots at the kid. This thread will get out of control even more than what it is presently.

Doubt they'd be playing both Ablett and Danger in the forward line at the same time. Danger might be down there, but he's probably following the ball from the midfield rather than starting forward next to GAJ.

You would imagine that he would be either Wagner, Sparrow or Hore that could make way, unless there's an unknown injury to someone else.

Congrats, Jay, on living the dream of many, especially posters on here. The next question then falls to who he will be replacing.

Would love to know what the brief conversation was that he had with Harmes. Clearly a strong bond between the two.

"I can assure you..."? Source? You regularly make these calls that imply you know "stuff", when I'm certain you are making your own assumptions from what you read/hear in the media.

Like what Hawthorn made sure of with Mitchell and Lewis? If it's in the club's best interest to win a premiership, they will make the appropriate decision. That said, I don't expect Jones to be going anywhere.