DirtyDees DDC

Great story. Also interesting to read that Grimes will be a designated tagger or 'run with' player, according to Sean Wellman.

He's good enough to play a defensive position in midfield and still pick up 20+ possessions.

Losing Barassi. Worst marketing decision in history. He was the famous No 31. He ran the footy clinics on the telly, and he had a weekly news article with the Sun under the banner 'No 31'. He was the most popular player for Melbourne and he was everywhere. There was no one at the club who could step up and take his place as a footballer and as a marketing product.

It's rumoured that Norm Smith told him to accept the offer; that it would be the best thing for Barassi's career. Maybe Norm could forsee our decline in the '60s.

Thanks Demonland. If I could go back in time and watch one match, then the 1948 GF would have to be the one. Imagine sitting at the 'G' in the middle of a herd of essendon supporters and watching them kick 7 goals 27 behinds!!!! Heaven.

Game 1 2010 March 27. I'm going to the megastore to buy this book. I was gutted when they sacked him in 1965. What a farce.

Geelong never bottomed out though, so theoretically their influx of players won't be of as high quality as yours.

They did draft bloody well though . . .

They also drafted a lot of players. 8 in the national draft of 2001, and 7 in 1999. Not all of them worked out, such as Spriggs at 15, Bray at 17, plus Foster and Gardner at 23.

They were very lucky with injuries too. 16 players featured in each of the last 3 grand finals.

We need some luck and we got some last year with a goal after the siren that gave us Trengove but we need some luck with injuries and some luck with fast tracking the development of our players.

Did that goal after the siren give us Trengove or Scully? Assuming Scully would have been no. 1 pick regardless, If we had won that match, we would have finished on 15th with 5 wins. Richmond would have won the wooden spoon with 4 1/2 wins and picked up scully.

Gysberts could be the wild card of the draft. I think they picked him to play a number of different roles at the club. He could be an 'inside' footballer who sneaks forward and scores goals. He could also be a run-with player who hurts clubs on the rebound with his disposal. He may be a more flexible long term prospect than McLean.

He looks too thin to play AFL at the moment, but if scully and trengove can hold down senior positions then the club may push Gysberts up for selection at some stage this year. The club wants to develop a core of young players who team together for 50-60 games over 3-4 years.

Tim Harrington said they looked at the amount of games teams played to be successful such as the Cats. Geelong had a stack of great recruits between 1999 and 2001 (Ablett, Scarlett, Chapman, Johnson, Corey etc. )

They finished 9th in 2002, coming from 12th with 9 wins in 2001 and 6th with 12 wins in 2000.

The following years they finished 9th with 12 wins in 2002;

12th with 7 wins in 2003,

4th with 15 wins in 2004 and

6th with 12 wins in 2005.

They took 3 years from the 2001 draft to put together a side good enough to finish in the top 4. It took them 6 years to win a premiership. They even made the finals in 2000, indicating they had a fairly good core of players when the Abletts and Scarletts arrived. We are coming off 3 years at the bottom of the ladder so it may take us a little longer to achieve the same results.

True re: the reduced expenses, but remember our player payments are likely to increase in the future as our players improve and demand higher wages as a result.

And not just the players. The coaches and other support staff will demand higher payments if the club improves their on-field performance.

Looking at those Herald Sun figures as a rough guide. Our football department cost $13.5 mill last year. Collingwood and Geelong spent about $17 mill on their footy departments. So if we increase our spending to a similar level, our football department costs will rise by 25%. Do we need to increase our spending by that amount to be successful? Essendon only spend $13.9 mill, and the dogs spent less than us, yet nearly made the GF.

We dropped about $1.3 million in marketing and corporate sponsorship in 2009, partly due to the GFC. Our expenses will probably increase significantly when we take up residence at the rectangular stadium in May. How much will this cost us per year? Probably a lot more that the rental at the junction oval, and that's fine if we finally get state-of-the art training facilities to match it with the other clubs.

That's quite a layoff. He returned after he'd retired.

haha. And he did it on one leg too. Let's make that 1999. And i'll shoot my proof reader.

From Gray's Anatomy. 'The fibula is placed on the lateral side of the tibia, with which it is connected above and below. It is the smaller of the two bones, and, in proportion to its length, the most slender of all the long bones.' So it's not the major load bearing bone. I hope that makes a difference.

I remember Michael Voss's broken leg in June 1998. That was a shocker. Yet he returned to football in round 2 2009, despite being in great pain.

Sylvia looked terrific at training and showed the benefit of a good pre season. Also good to see Rivers, Grimes and Maric taking part in full training.

Gysberts may not be called up to play a senior game next year. He's very thin and may just play in the VFL, along with Gawn and Fitzpatrick. And that's a good thing. We have another 16 players on the senior list who kave played less than 20 games, and all need to be developed. We can afford to be patient with Gysberts, Gawn and Beaker. At least we got a better deal wth Mclean than St Kilda got for Luke Ball.

I'm sorry to see Brock go and i wish him well at Carlton (except for round 11). I think he left because he spent most of 2009 in the forward pocket. Not an ideal position for an slow inside midfielder who can't jump.

So on Tuesday last week - 15th December - this 19 yo Levi Casboult gets selected at pick 44 in the rookie draft. He's probably dreamed about playing AFL since he was a kid and he finally gets selected. 4 days later and they've got him in a drinking contest on a cruise boat. Welcome to Carlton where they publicly stated they want to remove the drinking culture at the club! I don't know if he passed out or just had a few too many, but that isn't the issue. Someone at Carlton leaded to show leadership and look after him. He needed a hand, not a pair of handcuffs. They've had their second 'mad monday' for the year.

Then along came Steve, the club president who said 'we got rid of Fev 'cos he was a bad influence' and 'i'm gonna read them the riot act when i see them on January 4'.

Why not do it this weekend Steve? Why not call a special meeting of the players and show them you mean business?

seems only timely to remind all

just gets smellier by the day !!

Can you smell what the Blues are drinking? The staff on board the cruise boat 'Lady Lindeman' certainly could.

Quite frankly, some of the crap you read here is a bit hard to take.

We're two and a half to three months into the pre season and most of the players who are coming out of rehab are reportedly doing well, there have been two injuries worth reporting, Strauss and Wonaeamirri, both of them short term. Wona is susceptible to hamstring injuries, never had them at home in the warmer climate and needs to learn how to manage his body to avoid them in future.

If you believe some of the so-called experts around here, it's time for a royal commission into eveything at the club that ticks. FFS everything seems to be on an even keel at the club. Let's be thankful for the fact that 95% are fully fit and that it stays that way. Injuries are often cyclical, the tough times come and go. Let's hope they've gone and not act like drama queens because a player suffers a 4 week injury in December.

Yes agreed. Let's accentuate the positive. Players like Sylvia, Rivers and Maric and fully involved in pre season training. Blease and Garland are only 18 and 21 yo and are on graduated rtw's. What the MFC are doing over the next 2-3 years is building up a list of approx 30 players who are good enough to play senior football.

I have heard from a source that Jack Watts has an infection. I won't go into details however this infection is not serious, but is taking a while to heal. Therefor not training with main group. Should be ready to resume by their first training session early next year.

you have remember - this is the season to be silly. i also heard that Tom Scully had kissed a girl who had glandular fever. I'd be far more concerned if i heard that someone had ruptured his knee - eg: Andy ottens and David rodan in SA.

We can also improve by 15% on each end and we will be close to playing finals footy.

2009 Goals For

252 + 15% = 290

2009 Goals against

332 - 15% = 282

Even though we finished bottom in 2009 we actually improved year on year:

2008 vs 2009 Goals For

234 vs 252 = 10% improvement

2008 vs 2009 Goals Against

376 vs 332 = 12% improvement

With a 290 goals for and a 282 goals against ratio we would have finished 8th or 9th over the past 10 years.

If we improved by 10% and 12% from 2008 to 2009 it is very reasonable to assume that we have the ability to improve by 15% 2009 to 2010.

So we kicked 252 goals last year. That's about 11 1/2 goals a game. We allowed 332 goals in 2009. That's about 15 goals a game.

Our average losing margin was 26 points.

I don't mind us losing a few games by 40-50 pts next year, as long as we are developing the 19 kids on our list who have played less than 21 games (Grimes, Jurrah, Watts, Bennell Garland Scully, Trengove etc). Geelong had 9 guys from their 1999 and 2001 drafts that played in both premierships. Let's build a team that will be as good as the current Geelong side, in 2013 to 2018.

This year's draftees will struggle to win rising star as Hurley, Watts and Ziebel are all still eligible.

If skully plays more than 12 games he will win the rising star for 2010. he reminds me of a former Fitzroy great - Gary Wilson. Similar build. Terrific 'blink and miss' hand skills. This kid can catch arrows in mid air.

Put me down for 8 wins next year.

Yep and he's closer to being ready to play than big Maxi as well.

Also, Fizzy is quick on a lead for a big guy! Perfect for KPF

don't be surprised if fitzpatrick plays down the back in a key position. he may not have the elite skills required of a key forward.

Bailey indicated in a recent interview on Foxtel that they may go for Jamar up forward (esp in short term).

Gawn - possible similar player to Salmon. that would be terrific.

So what happens for the next 4 weeks? They finished training at Casey last friday. There's a camp in Mansfield this week and i believe they have 2 weeks off over christmas. If training resumes early in January then they have 6 weeks to get fit before a possible intra club match at Casey Fields on Saturday Feb 13.

Maybe it wasn't a bad time for Aussie Wonna to do his hamstring. He can rest an recuperate for 4-5 weeks and still get a few weeks of training and match play prior to the first NAB cup match at Freo on 21 Feb.

I also hope Maric has a breakthrough season and we a find truly dangerous small forward but he may have to punch it out with Wona, jetta and pettard.

Is Grimes doing a full Preseason? If so, is this his first injury free? If that is the case I would expect him to move more into the guts and have a bigger year (unless the 2nd year blues hit)

I had a look at the training on Wednesday. Grimes, Maric and Dunn were all in the main group. Maric was wearing the orange jacket. I'm not sure what it means, but possibly it picks him out as the designated target on the kickouts. He looks fit and might play a forward/midfield role next year.

Wonna was also in the main group. He was bent over on one occasion and not feeling very well. That showed me he was pushing himself to the limits to get fit and have a big year in 2010.

4 of the six new recruits trained together and took part in the kicking drills:

Tapscott is a tank and a beautiful kick of the football.

Fitzpatrick is a dead ringer for Bruce Spence in the movie "Stork'.

Gysberts is slightly built but apparently is deceptively strong.

Trengove. His kicking skills on his non preferred boot reminded me of the goal Wayne Carey kicked against Essendon in 1999.

Watts wasn't in the main group. He did a lot of basketball in his junior years so maybe they have to train that out of him. Garland, Blease, Gawn and Scully were all in training with the 'get-well' group.

Sylvia looks in great nick and loves beating tackles.

Jurrah. Took part in everything including a short matchplay. I saw a couple of great marks on leads and under pressure. Then he just slots the goals. Shows promise.

Bate is an interesting one during goalkicking practice. . The ball seems to leave his foot at all sorts of angles. Then it straightens up and takes off!!

There were lots of kicking drills and an emphasis in hitting the targets. It's worth going to Casey and having a look.

The MFC yearbook for 2009 has just arrived. There a good article on Tim Harrington where he explains his role as list manager. He also discusses the introduction of a premiership model and how he works with the recuiting department. It gives some insight into their selections in this years draft.

There's also an interesting article from DB. He talks about pre-season training and states that 'at least 90 percent of players came back in very good condition. There were two or three blokes who let themselves down.' Any ideas? Did Morton put on too much weight?

I still don't understand why we couldn't just start the season early and then have a break - the country will be soccer mad, we get to enjoy the world cup and then we get to have footy again.

As I've previously said, of course with no response, is that as recently as '06 we went without the G for at least 4 weeks and gee, AFL never quite recovered did it.

Other leagues have a month off EVERY season for winter, 1 disrupted footy season in 10 years is hardly something to sulk about. Anyone remember our last Grand Final? Good old first Saturday in September, you say

There's also the confederations cup. I think it is played a year before the world cup, and it's played at the same venues. You have the same problems with preparing the grounds and signage, perhaps on a smaller scale.

The world cup will remove a major revenue earner for the AFl and the MCG for up to 16 weeks, although this afternoon Buckley was hosing down the idea of reconfiguring the MCG. FIFA want no other sporting fixtures in the major cities for 4 -8 weeks and right in the middle of the AFLs busy period.

This is different to delaying the start of the season because of the commonwealth games or finishing early for the olympic games. The AFL is not in competition with the olympic and commonwealth games because are rarely occuring events in this country. It is in direct competition with soccer for participants and sponsor dollars, and the FFA will use the world cup to draw spectators, participants and dollars away from the other codes.

I think there'll be a compromise. They'll get the G for 6-8 weeks and AFL will continue to be played at Etihad. But FIFa has to agree.

'We will be putting to FIFA that we should be able to continue those competitions during the (World Cup),” Buckley told 3AW radio.'

When you read FFA boss Ben Buckleys comments about the AFL and NRL, it's clear they haven't worked it out.

First it's 4 weeks, then it's 8, now we are told that our major oval stadiums will have to be reshaped into a rectangular pattern to suit FIFA. The estimated time time to get the 'G' ready for soccer is now 12 weeks, plus the 4 weeks of competition. So that's 16 weeks. If the semi finals and finals are played in early July then i'd be very surprised if the 'G' could be restored and ready before August. It's going to take more than 16 weeks to radically reshape the 'G' and return it to normal.

This push for the world cup by the FFA is not about playing 64 games of soccer in Australia in 2018 or 2012. It's not about bringing thousands of tourists or upgrading our sports stadiums. It's about the business of making soccer the major money-making sport in Australia by the 2020s, and their big weapon is the world cup.

FIFA doesn't care about AFL or NRL. They want these 2 major Australian industries to stand aside and get out the way so they so can gain a marketing advantage for soccer that may last for years. Surely the AFL and NRL would be crazy to cease operating during their peak business period and allow a competitor to step in and dramatically cut their revenue. The Fed govt has announced there will be no compensation for lost revenue for AFL and NRL.

And for what? Let's say we lose the 'G' for 16 weeks. In return we may get up to 8 matches of soccer. That's it. And in that time we lose 2-3 games a week at the 'G'. No wonder Ian Collins is said to have written to FIFA rejecting world cup games at the docklands venue.

Yeah. Me too. I got caught. I had rung the MFC last Thursday to check the times and dates. So I rang the MFC this arvo and they were deeply apologetic. It's one of the hassles of training at multiple venues. They advised they had received a number of emails and were very keen to ensure the website is updated correctly.

As the Dalek said the the dustbin .. 'everyone makes mistakes'.