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...

I can't see how we will win this at all. One of the St Kilda blokes said after the game that they could clearly seeing Melbourne with fitness, and they knew as a team that the Saints still had a lot in reserve. We're also wanting to look at a different setup, structure, etc. We played 4 days ago. The above two things wouldn't have improved in that time, and we got beaten by a team that won't make the finals. We're playing a team that even with a few of their best players out, still have some handy ones on the park. This will be 10 goals + in my view. It's not going to be pretty.

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.

We probably recruited him to play him when he is 100% fit, and ready to make a significant contribution to the team. Clearly the FD don't think that will happen at the moment.

One of our biggest problems is that we are rewarding blokes that have a crack, but often are of limited ability. The Wagner's are a classic example of that - how can either be dropped after Friday night's game? They went when it was their turn, and that's what we are trying to build our team around. But when you are playing players of limited ability, you struggle to be competitive as a tam, and the results we are now seeing are showing that. I said something a week or two ago that Goodwin's biggest issue is that he favours his "project" players over guys that can actually play the game. If you want to reward blokes for effort, regardless of ability, then there is no way Petracca should've got a game after the Geelong game, and Stretch would be in the team. Instead, he leaves Trac in, and brings in both Wagners, while Stretch is running around at Casey. All the experts talk about how you need a strong bottom 6 every time a team plays. Ours are terrible at the moment, which is why we find ourselves where we do. The sooner the likes of AVB and Hannan get back from injury the better, as they do make our team stronger. That's why I still scratch my head at the likes of Tyson being moved on so easily. Would much prefer him running around at the moment than a Corey Wagner.

No. That's my point - they couldn't GAF because they have the silverware. And my point is further supported by the amount of times in this thread alone that there is mention of these clubs doing it themselves, which helped lead to premierships. The amount of top end picks that we had should've seen us have a team of champions. Instead, we picked Watts, Scully and Trengove. FMD.

Great way to ruin my day. Thanks.

There clearly isn't any, not that was documented in some capacity. Without having evidence myself, I feel our biggest issue was that we were so open about it in some so-called inner sanctum happenings. If they (Schwab and CC) were openly talking about it in team meetings or at supporter functions, then it always had the potential of being leaked. Schwab and CC aren't total idiots (close, but not fully). There is no way known that they would leave any paper trail that would be used as evidence. The problem was that the more people they told of their plans, the greater chance there was of something getting out. If it were to be one man's word against another, then we would've been fine. The problem was that there was more than one man. I just wish we had've drafted better in those days and pinched a flag. Our club is quite hated by people, and realistically, we have nothing to use in our defence. A couple of tainted flags would've been bloody lovely to use as a comeback.

Changes I'd make; Out; May, Petracca, ANB In; Keilty, Stretch, Spargo Changes I'm expecting; Out; May, Sparrow In; Keilty, Stretch

And a further issue to this is that we got rid of Tyson and Kent. I was a big fan of Tyson early days, not so much Kent, but what these two would add is AFL quality depth. They could be brought in to an AFL side and we'd know they'd perform to a certain level that was definitely competitive at AFL level. We are no relying on the likes of Hore, C Wagner, Sparrow, et al to do that, and unfortunately they just aren't up to the standard (happy to cut Sparrow some slack given he's a kid).