DirtyDees DDC

Anyone know when the next training session is held at Gosch's? And did Barry Jones give the correct answer on Bob Dyer's 'Pick a Box' when he said that Earl Mountbattin was the Viceroy of India as at 1947?

We lost 12 of 24 last quarters this season, including the final quarter in all 8 defeats. Be easy to say it's due to a lack of fitness, but our game plan, based on moving the ball around the boundary line through repeat contested possessions, must take it's toll physically and mentally. We got beaten so often by teams that took the quick route...moving the ball quickly through the corridor. We didn't lose 8 games; we lost one game 8 times.

Nice to see JVR train with the senior group. I don't think he'll be picked for the finals, but he's got a good build for a 1st year lad.

Hibberd?

He was part of our terrific start to the season in 1971...when we won 8 of the first nine games. What a great pair of hands. We also lost Jon Lord and Bluey Adams recently too. A apart from Barass, Hassa and Dixon...are there any other survivors from the 1964 team?

Wonderful team. Wonderful club. They didn't choke (unlike this sad pathetic demons supporter who walked out of the TV room at half time. Too much MFCSS). Yesterday I was one of a very small group on this planet who remembered where they stood on that day we last won the flag. I was 8 years old, stuck in a kitchen in Surrey Hills, gutted when Gabelich put the dreaded Pies in front, then stunned when we hit the front and held on (thank you Neil Crompton). Today, I'm just one of millions around the world who have lived the dream. To misquote Kevin Costner from Field of Dreams...'This isn't Iowa. This is heaven.'

I went. Got to Gosch's paddock for a few minutes on Friday. It's been a while too. I was sitting in Hisense arena at the Tennis- and realised the boys had switched their training ground. Great news...but there was a catch. They give you leave passes at Hisense but they only last for a max of 30 minutes. I said to my girl friend ...would you like a coffee? I'll go and get one for you." Very noble of me. So I took off...ran across Olympic Boulevard past the 'pies and past the soccer stuff...arriving at Gosch's approx 11am. I only had a few minutes to watch. The rain had stopped and they were running match practice (Melbourne jumpers vs yellow jackets) where just about everyone was parked in the Melbourne jumpers' forward line, apart from 3-4 melbourne jumper defenders and a couple of yellow jacket forwards in an arc across midfield. It seemed like a good idea for a drill - trying to keep the ball in the forward zone and find targets despite a packed defence. The first drill i see started from midfield. The ball gets kicked back into the Melbourne jumpers' defensive zone and Tommy Mac is running backwards with the flight of the ball. It looks routine..but no...Tom drops the mark. They are keen to keep it moving...so he handballs to Frost (also in a Melbourne jumper) who does a deadeye 10 metre pass...straight to someone in yellow. Back to the centre for another try. This time Trengove is running into the Melbourne forward zone, but struggles to maintain control. The ball comes out, and the Melbourne jumpers had 3-4 attempts at finding targets or finding goals. None were particularly successful. Handballs were clumsy; passes missed targets (although Petracca did a great half-volley pickup, and then lost possession) and no one scored anything. My last memory was Viney (aggressive little bugger) kicking from the right forward flank to the goals. The ball went sailing over their heads of everyone and bounced across the boundary line to the left of the posts. My 10 minutes was up and i had to run back to the tennis. My initial reaction was 'Oh god. What a comedy of errors'. But I can be a glass half-empty person and it was a wet morning. Then I thought about the last time I watched a MFC match practice. Cast your mind back to Feb 2012 at Casey - Neeld in charge. I watched in horror as they struggled to win the ball from one contest, then kicked the ball along the boundary line - straight back to another contest!! And on it went. No-one made space. No-one looked for a target, and don't dare to centre the ball. Gruesome. At least they moved the ball quickly yesterday. At least they are showing more zip and flair. They attacked down both wings and used Salem and Lewis as backmen to start the attacks. I wish I'd seen more. We had a lot of guys on the park, and still can't believe that Jordan Lewis was there yesterday in Melbourne colours, and we got him for pick 48. I like what we are trying to do with the game plan. Hey I'm not expecting miracles this year, but if they want to take chances - take the game on - then i will dust off my Kaspersky Demons cap and give them a go.

Agree. Not one of our better PR days. I works shifts and travelled from Eltham. I have a 3pm start time for my shift so the advertised time on the MFC website (still listed as 12 noon start) was ideal. Or so i thought. I had to leave for work at 1.50 so i saw approx 15-20 minutes of players walking laps, doing stretches, and having pings at the goals. There was a good crowd today...it could have been so much better. At least I got to watch poor Bernie Vince run repeat sessions around flat cones. He looked buggered at the end, but still had enough air to acknowledge the fans on the fence for watching him. It was one of the few highlights of the day.

I rang. it's a closed session.

Just wondering if the training tomorrow is an open session. The MFC website hasn't been updated - it still has Wed 28th Jan at Gosch's Paddock as the upcoming session. I have tomorrow off - the first time in two years that I can watch a training session. I hope it's open - Gosch's or Casey.

Wikipedia has the Skull passing away due to an apparent overdose of sleeping pills. But then again...you can't believe everything in Wikipedia. They listed the famous finishing moves of Skull Murphy as the elbow smash, foreign objects, and the powerslam. What!! No Headbutt!! Skull carried a scone that was reportedly twice the thickness of the normal human skull. Gotta love pre-season.

Loved the man. And what great songs on that classic 'New Boots and Panties' album - Sweet Gene Vincent, Billerickie Dickie, Sex and drugs and rock and roll (and some nice support from Chas Jaenkel on keyboards).

She's still gunning for the MFC too.. Before she took her break from AW in October, she couldn't resist asking why Melbourne hadn't been investigated for their role in the Danks saga. From 19 Apr 2013 - The 7.30 program on ABC1 - "7.30 has learned the Demons had a detailed supplements regime which it ran in close association with Dank". She will not let this go away.

There was a question mark about Freeman's ball handling ability.

welcome to the club ..Christian Salem

Be nice to have at least one player in the side with pace. And atm - with all the changes - no one knows our best 22.

I've heard the club is keen on Lennon. Freeman would be handy but they don't expect him to be available at 9. There could be a slider - maybe Aish - as he's regarded as more of an outside midfielder. I like Quigley's description of Freeman - stamina, pace and a little bit of a pudge. And he still won the repeat sprints. His downside is his hands but he is born with stuff other players don't have. It's disappointing to read that Quayle (and everyone else) reckons we need pace, when we have one of the quickest linebreakers around in Sam Blease. Please give him one good pre-season.

Don't blame the recruiters for all our draft flops. They are given a brief of the type of player we want. They do their research and come back with a list of options, only to get overruled at the selection table - usually by the coach. In 2008 one of our experienced recruiters spotted a young kid named Zaharakis. The recruiter desperately tried to get the MFC to pick him. Instead, Bailey went for Strauss because 'he's a good kick'. They didn't consider whether Strauss could actually get the ball! Last year...Neeld says he wants 'good sized, good bodied, ready to play types'. So we recruit a tribe of under-180cm pygmies in Viney, Toumpas, Byrnes and Rodan! And where did Barry come from?!!! Did we really bypass Jed Anderson to pick up this skinny kid with no heart for the ball. We need size in midfield - a Kennedy or Mundy or Pendlebury. So we pass on Oliver Wines. Gawd.

Port Adelaide had 51 uncontested possessions on the forward line. They even had guys walking on their own in the middle, and no-one manned up. We were undersized and undetermined. Two years ago we were competitive with Port in Adelaide. Now they had their biggest winning margin since the finals in 2007. And tactics what tactics?!! Get the ball and bomb it to a contest? Is there a law against offering a lead, and honouring it? Shameful.

Has he bulked up? i don't think so. Maybe he just looks thin next to Majac Daw.

I think the Tapster is actually right footed, but he can use his left ok.

To anyone at the game on friday night, did you hear the crowd go 'Toump' (as in toomp) when he kicked the ball? Shades of 'Ooze' with Yze.

That's the closest we've got to North in years. The forward line worked well with Dawes as a target, and Howe coming thru as the 3rd tall. I thought Pederson offered something to the club. He wasn't outstanding (apart from one great pack mark against North) but he was a better 2nd ruck option than Sellar. The side that plays the first two halfs (of this odd 3 team round robin) will struggle in the second against a fresh team, and Richmond were very fresh. I thought they were very impressive in that first quarter; they were quick, they moved the ball well and hit targets. I didn't think there was much we could do, and we were lucky they deliberately slowed their game in the second quarter (saving themselves for North). The big downsides were our general kicking, and getting smashed in the clearances. Watt to like: - Howe kicking 2 straight from set shots (just Howe kicking straight for goal was a bonus). - Watts may have to get used to being tagged this year. I can't see other teams allowing him to run free on the backline. He's too dangerous. How was that run and carry from him in the second quarter? His accelleration and disposal was fabulous, and he can come over the pack and play the spoiler - like Rivers. - Hogan. He new what to do as a forward how to find space and present a target . That goal in the first quarter where he was on the boundary from a set shot where he bent the ball through - very classy. Someone called Reiwoldt tried the same thing for Richmond - from the same spot - and not even close.

Yes - it's a carefully worded decision that finds the club not guilty of charges that - if proved - would have threatened our gaming licence. That's as big a win as the retention of our draft picks. I think the omission of Cameron Schwab's name from the charges was a key here. I doubt the club would have achieved the not guilty verdict if CS had been implicated. The media claimed CS was hardly mentioned in the 800-1000 page report. At least that proves CW didn't write it.