dees189227

I don't think it's seriously going to hit me that Jim is no longer with us until round 1 then round 4. I always used to look over and check to see if Jim was sitting in the area he sat at, at the G then if he was there I thought he was ok and relieved to see him. After games when I left I would normally walk past him. Now when I look he will be absent. I always hated listening to the news on the radio just in case he had passed but weirdly enough when I heard on SEN i wasnt surprised. I went to work thought about Jim and came home and watched sunrise that I taped that morning. The stupid thing is I knew Jim had passed, I had watched all the news networks and it wasnt until I was watching sunrise later that night and Kochie turned to Mel and said I have some sad news JIm Stynes has passed away and Mel just gasped put her hands over her mouth and said oh no. It hit me more then because I actually saw someone react to it. Stupid story I know but thats how it affected me. Im still trying to get through yesterdays and todays papers. Its just amazing how much he had an impact on everyones lives. I met him heaps of times and he was just awesome. Words will never be enough for what he did to our club. Then watching The Footy Show tonight and seeing Garry do what he did. He was just amazing and I have no idea how he managed to get through that. When he mentioned the photo I was expecting a photo of the two of them and i thought gosh Jim wouldnt look to good but when I saw the hands together I just teared up. What a beautiful photo that was. Well done Garry you spoke brilliantly.

Just a technical question. When Sylvia is due to return will he be forced to sit out a week for his suspension game he was meant to miss round 1. Would Mark Neeld be that harsh. I know missing 6 weeks is harsh enough but if he comes straight back in then he wouldnt have copped the punishment. By the way I dont want that to happen. We will miss Sylvia on our foward line and seriously seeing the footage on the news I cant believe he sustained such a serious injury from that.

How did Bate go?

Poor Neeldy now he will have no idea on his round 1 team. He may just have to draw names out of a hat. We know we cant win in adelaide. Its not a great result but im not to worried. In 2 weeks we will be a different team and pumped for round 1. Well I hope so anyway.Geez I hope so. Just 1 question. Were we to Mitch conscious and just kept bombing it in the foward line to him. I suspect oppposition teams will just double team him and again we will struggle to find a target. But I guess that a job for Leigh Brown and Mitch to work that out.

Sure the guy looks like a bogan but at least he has seen his team play finals and win premierships. I know once we start winning people will lay off us, but Im tired of Jack Watts copping it all the time and no one respects us because we havent done anything great on the field in the past few seasons. I just hope that we have a great season and shut people up.

Look I dont care about the blazers but as Jon Ralph said its typical melbourne. Us fans cop enough stereotyping and this just adds to it. Id rather they focus on getting another sponser. Also round 1 in a few few weeks and I d not want to see bugle boy there. Im sick of getting crap about that as well.

Interesting to listen to Tim WAtson this morning talk about when he went over there with Jim and they did that story for sunday night. He said when he got out of the car everyone ran to him and there were people behind a fence because there were restraining orders out on them. He said its basically like a 3rd worls country out there. They also said that Liam was booked on 2 flights to come back but stayed because of threats to his family. 100 of his family have had to move to adealide. Also why didnt anyone go with Liam. I know it was a personal family matter but surely the club should realise the issues over there. Apparently due to the nab game played in alice springs last weekend thats they all flocked into Alice and trouble began there. But would Liam be allowed to come back to melbourne. If I was charged in melbourne im pretty sure i wouldnt be able to leave the state. I know he has been charged but has it actually been confirmed that Liam was the one that hurt the guy. Mark Neeld and the young leadership group need to pull this team together and get them to focus back on the job ahead. I bet Needly thought the sylvia and Blease incident was the end of it.

Ok I know im 2 days early but im away for the weekend without much technology so there are a few things I want to know from the family day. 1) Did Mark Neeld speak & how did he sound and is he a friendly person to chat to? 2) Was Jim there 3) How was the day and was there a good turnout 4) Who else spoke?

Finally the footys back and the main things im looking for tonight is: 1) A decent looking game plan and what see what Neeld has come up with 2) To win both games 3) Grimes to get through and no major injuries to anyone else 4) Clark to do well up foward 5) For us to man up our opposition. It frustrated the hell out of me last year when I looked down the field and see the opposition players loose downfield and they got easy goals.

What about Bate?Where did he play and how did he go?

JB and Bill were just having a joke with the number 3 because they said that garry Lyon said after he retired he wanted the new captains to wear the number 3 in honour of his great captaincy. It was just Jb and Billy mucking around and trying to put Garry in it. Laughed when asked how would the tossing of the coin be decided Jack said they might have to do rock paper scissors before the game. But dood to hear the 2 captains got together over the weekend and mapped some stuff out.

Well im stoked. I knew Jack T would make a great captain. He is great on the field, an outstanding speaker and he went to the club last year and said I want to re-sign for 3 more years. I feel a bit sorry for Green being out of the group all together but last year he couldnt deal with it and had a shocker and the year before he was outstanding. There is no pressure on him now as captain. Moloney surprised me but Im sure Mark spoke to him and Beamer will do what he does best. Just go in hard for the footy. I guess there are some surprises but we arent around the club so we dont know how these players are. Im glad we have someone like Neeld at our helm. He has the guts to make the tough call. On alighter note anyone read Max Gawns tweet. For those @gawndog37 fans that are shattered with the news of captaincy! No need to worry i just got appointed skipper of my mums dream team. Ha HA love his humour. Shattered he wont be playing in 2012,

I do enjoy listening to Mark speak. He also has a sense of humour. Interesting to hear him say he has a few different things that he has told Jack Watts he wants him to do and said when he presented to the board put up his game plan and had the players in the positions where he wants them. I wonder if anyone will have a new spot. Laughed when he said why does everyone ask me about Jack Watts, and said poor Jack he cops it from everywhere but pointed out he wants him to have a consistent season and if he plays 60 games at the end of the saeson then that shows he was picked for 20 matches during the season and thats good for him. But basically said he will hear the others coaches opinions and read this excel spreadsheet but he will have the final say on the captaincy.

Im glad Mark Neeld has come in and basically said this is my team and a fresh start. As they said on radio if it is green still then why wait until feb. Green couldnt dealwith the captaincy and still perform well. Lets face it we havent had a lot players standing out for the captaincy. We did have one but past people ditched him a season or 2 to early. Yes im talking about McDonald. Grimes would be the obvious choice if he had managed to actually play for the last few seasons. Trengove would be my choice. He is a great speaker, comes across as educated and friendly and is a good player. Dont worry about his age. He can cope with it. Our club has enough staff and mentors to help him. I also think Mark would help him a lot to. Frawley wouldnt be a bad option either and Moloney would be another obvious standout. I hope its out of these 3 although Jones could handle it as well. Anyway I guess whoever it is has impressed the coach and cant wait for the announcement.

Was it Strauss that had that nasty leg break last year in the laste part of the season Anyway if it is how is he going and what stage is he up to in his rehab?

I liked last years better. But its good this one has a theme to it. It would be great to get 40,000 members. Not fussed mark Neeld isnt in it. It isnt his job to be in the christmas video. I remember reading in that herald sun article last week he said who will play santa because im not doing it. Bails was at the club for a couple of years. Mark has only been ther a few months. Im sure he will be in next years. But very creative.

Anyone speak to MArk Neeld. Is he a pretty approachable person?

Good news Jim is out of hospital and I hope he is at home taking it easy.

He just keeps on amazing me. Whenever I dont hear anything about Jim I think he is going ok, so when I picked up the paper the other day and read how they were basically having a farewell bbq I was devastated. But we know he will never give up and the doctors wont either. Its nice that Sam has orgainsed his closest mates there to be with him when he wakes up. I see Garry and A McDonald are some of his mates that are at the hospital. Nayway good news about the op. Keep going Jimmy.

I think Mitch Clark has quickly learnt what a great person Jim is and how highly regarded he is around not only melbourne but the city of melbourne. Im sure he will wear the number with pride. It also seems Calrk has been told by neeld he will be a permanent foward. At least that will give Jurrah and WAtts some help. Just hope we arent ot Clark conscious, Glad to see Jim down there. Good news that one of the tumours has shrunk by 1/2 but now the poor guy has to have another op on the brain. How much more can the brain take. It sounds like the doctors said nothing more we can d, Luckily they found somehting though. I remember at the start of last year Jim said he just wanted to get to christmas. Well it looks like he will see another one. Keep going Jim!

I read on twitter that Jim was going to present Mitch Clark with his jumper. Do we always present the jumpers this early? Anyway obviously wearing number 11.

No Newton? Maybe he has got the message finally. I wouldnt be surprised if we take Aussie as a rookie. But I guess its up to Mark.

Dum question and ignore my ignorance but why havent geelong taken him under father son. They do it for every other player.

The thing is though GWS have every right to go after Pendlebury. He is out of contract. Im not sure why Ed had a crack at us. We were never going to stop Tom Scully from leaving. The only thing we did wrong was believe anything he said. But if GWS are paying Scully 2 mill in his 1st year then that absurb amount after that then Pendlebury should get at least double. Imagine how much cash they will throw at him. Hard to resist. But in 3 years time when these 1st round draft picks are out of contract they will expect more pay and GWS may not have the room because of the players now on big money. Thats when the rest of the teams can poach them.

The thing is we all knew Tom was going. But the way the AFL have set this up has made players lie. We all laugh at the NRL system because they have players sign mid season to play with a new team the following year and they still play the season out with there current team mates but at least they can be honest with everyone so we dont have this circus and speculation. Look how stupid Phil Davis looked when he had a press conference saying he is leaving adelaide and going to GWS. Then the GWS came out and said who is Phil we have never spoken to him. The AFL presumed GWS would do the same as the GC and target more experiemced players not go after the young ones. I wish someone could get Tom contract to find out when he really signed. Id expect the only one they would have is the one he signed when he finally revealed he was going. Dont get me wrong, im not defending Tom because I do not believe him when he said I made my mind up on the sunday. He knew ages ago and with his father being signed up a year ago well his dad would want to recruit some good players with his salary. But the scully name has dropped in reputation now and I just want to see Moloney or Tapscott sit him on his backside next year.