Curry & Beer

firstly, i don't know how anyone can take even the slightest interest in what is being said about training/preseason, every single club every single year says the same rubbish. What else are they going to say? I agree by and large with all the trading and drafting we've done but it's all just on paper at the moment. It remains to be seen whether or not we will be a better side without Rivers, Moloney and Jurrah who have swapped out for Dawes, Pederson, Rodan and Byrnes. Let's not kid ourselves that the 4 players just mentioned are superstars. We would be foolish to think Viney and Toumpas are going to have a tangeable impact straight up. All I am saying is nothing at all has been achieved yet... and apparently even a good showing of 8.5 wins in 2012 does not mean any further improvement in 2013. Long way to go. A subject title like "The end of 'bruise free' football at the MFC" should appear when have consistent tough performances and wins on the board, when we have earnt it.

statements based on nothing exhibit A

sounds like the 'it' you are referring to is everybody's DESPERATE need to believe that this time we are actually building something real. There is pretty much zero evidence that this is occurring. I'm not saying I don't have faith in it, but to talk about it as if we have already done something is just plain silly. Let's say things go well this year and we finish on 8.5 wins. The exact same people who are acting like they knew 2010 was a false dawn will be pumping us up exactly the same way. Then in 2 years if we are back down the bottom they will be singing the i-knew-2012-was-a-false-dawn tune. It's all fairly embarrassing really.

think about how stupid that comment is when we have been discussing the massive difference in scorelines from 2010 and 2012. You're saying the side that lost to Sydney by 101 would beat the side that beat the same side by 73. I'm not interested in back-and-forthing with you and your inverted logic, you are just nonsensical and just plain contrary for the sake of it by your own assessment you have accidentally agreed with me by panning that group of recruits

how is that 'resurrecting demonology' thing going.. any chance you will go back permanently? all I said is that right now we are behind the position we were in 2 years ago. I don't know what you are arguing about it is pretty darn obvious that we are. You seem to be talking about the 2010 side as if it had 'peaked' obivously it hadn't, it was a bunch of babies out there - of course we were expected to continue to get better from there, what in the name of God are you talking about. So many revisionists on here changing the past and false-claiming what they knew at the time. Here's the BnF 2010 Green, Frawley, Jamar, Davey, Sylvia, Bruce, Moloney, Scully, Garland/McDonald, McKenzie.. now look at our draftees from 2007-2009 Tom Scully Jack Trengove Jordan Gysberts Luke Tapscott Jack Watts Sam Blease James Strauss Jamie Bennell Neville Jetta Rohan Bail Liam Jurrah Cale Morton Jack Grimes Addam Maric Kyle Cheney Tom McNamara Stefan Martin we were assuming that group to develop, what an atrocious strike rate we have got out of that group at this stage. To suggest anyone could feel better abut the club now than they did 2 years ago is nothing but lying to yourself

please don't bother, you or anyone else for that matter. I no longer believe in Santa Claus, and I don't believe there is a single supporter who left the G that day with anything but big expectations. FCS I remember the drive home, the post match radio talk was all about how many flags we would win and when. all your other points have responses so obvious I can't be bothered, you know what they are anyway

you must be kidding me we won 8.5 games that year we finsihed 2.5 wins outside the eight we drew and lost by a point to the eventual premiers we smashed Sydney by 73 and Brisbane and Richmond by 50 and 55 our worst losses were 9 goals, to the Hawks and Cats at the Cattery there is a reason most football people expected us to play finals in 2011

Round 17, 2010, Bailey's demons slaughtered the swans at the MCG, every man and his dog had us penned for a dominant era. Two years later we essentially finished last. What has transpired since then? Bailey is gone. Superstar recruits Morton, Scully and Jurrah no longer exist. Senior lynchpinchs Davey, Moloney, Bartram, McDonald, Rivers, Bruce and Green no longer exist. Hopefuls like Cook, Gysberts, Wonaeamirri, P Johnson, S Martin and Bennell no longer exist. The likes of Watts, Grimes and Trengove have not yet delivered fully as expected. Though I support everything they've done in this trade/draft period I fail to see how we are any closer to relevance since that day, in fact we are well behind the position we were in 2 seasons and 5 games ago.

yeah no response to anything I actually said nice work

can't question a single point also, in a season bereft of celebration, we got to enjoy smacking them by 78 points at the G

talk about deja vu

and he hardly fired a shot after that happened

Totally with you. The last guy that had the number caused so much anguish, so much damage to our brand. In the club's own words he was a 'dark cloud'. What ever 'sacredness(?)' was ever in that number is as dead as Dillinger. Leave it alone at least for a few years. Sixteen was already a decent number with Chopper Lovell and Johnstone, let Grimesy forge ahead with it. WTF melbourne

ok so he was rated 4 spots higher, so what? If we had finished a couple of spots lower we would have been in the same position as them and been forced to take him with our first rounder. We happened to benefit from a nice little loophole. The ladder position of Melb and Ess in 2012 should have nothing to do with the significance of these FS selections. IF JD was worth 1, and they got him at 10, that's a saving of 9 picks. If JV was worth 5 and we got him at 26 that's a saving of 21. Obviously it is a greater coup for us. Yes, both had famous fathers, ole Daniher has receded into the background long ago, ole Viney is so prominent he is ACTUALLY THE GUY READING OUT HIS SON'S NAME FOR THE CLUB HE ACTUALLY CAPTAINED. Could you script a more romantic football event? Am I taking crazy pills or is this a massive double standard? I'm sure most of you are thinking 'yeah so what' but this is yet another example of our club taking the backseat in a situation where we should be getting the exposure that other clubs take for granted (think Friday night footy amongst a million other examples). Todd Viney at the helm of his son;s recruitment, at a bragain basement price, is a big story. It was glossed over in the same vein as Billy Hamstring being drafted to GWS at pick 300. (*purple veins throbbing anger*)

thanks Nash for the response, you're a good egg and I appreciate your efforts on this site. I only raise the point, because as you say, it is clear that on occasions like these it is obvious the site traffic is going to skyrocket.. maybe this time next year there should be a left-field strategy like just limiting all discussion to one thread, lock everything but one, so everyone knows there is one focal point, or something... thanks for the clarifications, for some reason I thought plowman was a bit of a smokey, i thought Wines already had his locker - guess I got sucked in by the self-procliamed experts. In any case, loving the look of Toumpas, we are looking at a seriously good midfield in the making ... hopefully

This must have been mentioned but I just watched the replay. Joe Daniher's selection included a nice little speech from he and his old man. Isn't that lovely? So what happens at no 26 when the kid's actual father reads his name out - NOTHING. I was expecting at least SOME recognition of the significance of that pick. Why? Because we stacked the deck so we technically got him late in the draft, that should be cause for MORE fanfare and chest pumping, but oh no, we are not the Bombers, they got their man at 10, we got ours at 26, both are top shelf prospects, both have famous dads, ours is still active in the competition, his isn't, where is our song and dance? No need to throw Melbourne a little marketing bone, lets just appeal to the populous and talk about the Bombers, the club that is regarded as a a superpower club, despite the FACT they have played 2 finals in the last 8 years and were completely smashed and eliminated in both. The club that were front running this year to fall in a pathetic heap and miss September altogether. I hate the AFL.

Correct ... Cale Morton, Brock McLean.

Viney Toumpas Barry Hogan Dawes Pederson Byrnes Rodan four young guns and four badly-needed experienced role-players, I'm giving us an A+

was it really necessary for OCD mods to merge the threads - I was at dinner stealthily trying to get the result and the first post on this thread goes back to june 30.. now I have to navigate through to find the comments after 7.20 tonight, seriously what is the point of that? I know I sound like a dick but surely it is obvious that this type of organisation, though well intended, actually reduces the efficiency of the site. anyway, 1200 people are on the site so it is running slow, very hard to re-construct the story - is the general feeling that GWS' pick 3 was out of left field and therefore we unexpectedly snapped up Toumpas instead of Wines? There was a huge roar (Grimes like) when his name was called out.. how come? The kid looked ecstatic at selection, was this because he assumed he was going to the soulless hole of GWS, or is there another reason his demon selection was significant? PS did anybody else chuckle when they talked about the elite company that Whitfield keeps as a Larke medal recipient? Cale Morton says hi

what a joke this is, OK you caught us, now we pick a lenient punishment for ourselves, thanks IDGAF though, I guess the less they get punished, the less likely we are going to be punished hard for our own alleged issues. Different circumstances of course, but surely if they get off easy it makes our case easier to argue

mate I really hate this kind of talk, i just hear some hack commentator talking when I read it. Whether there is any truth to it or not, can you really tell me there is a significant correlation between this 'thirst' and being a valuable player? I tell you what, I have seen a buttload of Demons come and go that were plenty 'thirsty' and did stuff-all with their time on the field.

i saw the thread title and thought, 'how many posts until the over-the-top, super-uptight, politically correct post'? answer : 7

yeah yeah you're the only person here who 'watches footy intelligently' and you can find an excuse for Patten but not for Watts

clutching at straws to bag one of your own players - classic demonland

all four of them?