DirtyDees DDC

If we were 'tanking' in that game, then why were we leading at full time? Why did Petterd and Grimes kick a couple of late goals to snatch back the lead in the dying minutes? Why did Miller kick a 50 mtr goal on the run from the boundary line in the last quarter? There was certainly a wish from a lot of MFC fans (myself included) that we were better off not winning that match. But using this match to prove we definitely 'tanked'? That will be very difficult.

Which story by Wilson are we talking about here? The initial bilious article where she slagged off the club, CS and CC, or the later article where she backtracked about CC's comments (that they could have been said in jest). She also initially construed that Melbourne FC secretly met to discuss the 'tanking' at a special place called The Vault. This is another part of her story she later retracted in the subsequent article. An excellent point about her blind spot for Richmond too, and and again i raise the argument - if Melbourne were 'tanking' that day in 2009 (and still leading at full time), what on earth were Richmond doing?!!!!! If they'd lost that match, and all other results for 2009 stayed in place, Richmond would have got the number one pick (and picked Scully haha) and the Dees would have lost their priority pick - finishing with 5 1/2 wins. Does anyone think that the Tigers were unaware of this possibility when they went into that match?

This may be another of those famous 'misquoted' quotes (like Play It Again Sam). According to the Green Bay Packers quarterback of the '60s - Bart Starr - the words as really stated by Lombardi were 'Winning isn't everything, but making the effort to win is".

Suspend them for round 1? Fine them? Naaaah. Make 'em really suffer. Send them back to Darwin for another full week of training. That's enough punishment for anyone.

We got a lucky break with Toumpas falling to No 4. Imagine if we had the first 3 picks in this draft, instead of GWS. They are crowing about the 20+ first round pickss now on their current list, but...maybe they didn't get the best players in this years draft. It is possible the four best 18 yos in 2012 were unavailable. Jaeger O'meara and Brad Crouch went in the 2011 mini draft, while Joe Daniher and Jack Viney were father son selections. I believe that in its creation, GWS deliberately picked a lineup that was noncompetitive for 2012 so they could secure the 1st round pick. They selected 4-6 young senior list guys (Scully, Ward, Davis, and Palmer) plus a bunch of mouldy oldies, instead of going for 16 out-of-contract players to make their list more competitive. Whitfield sounds like a very good player. He may not be the best for this year.

Thanks for the great report. Excuse my ignorance....who is Pickles? is it Clark?

And ditto this year according to the training reports. He started late, and is on a modified program..again. Shades of 2011. He's always had a question mark over his stamina. I'd just love to see him train with the main group, and get miles in those legs like Jones and Nicho. Hell even Spencer is running with the pack atm.

I just have a feeling that Pederson was picked up as a backup in case Dawes and/or Clark struggles with injuries. Good call. I hope that they look at Fitzy too. He showed a bit of form late last season with Casey.

Good point. i didn't see anyone who looked like him. Anyone else at training notice him, or is he tucked away for exams?

He was just a lap walker this morning, but the club has promoted him to the senior list so they must think he's getting over his serious injuries of the last 12 months. Some comments on haircuts. i think it's unfair to single out Sylvia for attention. Viney also needs a clip, and poor Leigh Brown. He looked like one of those goofy big kids out of Archie and jughead. He needed a cap with a propeller. (Sorry Leigh - luvved your running).

I had my last day off before Christmas, and i spend the day watch the Dees train. How tragic is that?!!! It was worth it. I know each year we roll up to watch them train and we say they are training the house down, and so-and-so is looking fantastic, and so on. I'm not going to say that every kick hit the target and no marks were dropped. That clearly wasn't the case today. But at least they were there - in large numbers - and the coaches and players seem happier with their efforts. You can't ask much more than that at the moment.

Just back from the track. There were basically 3 groups today. The main group of about 27 (excellent numbers for the first official week of training) included Strauss, Grimes, Pederson, Taggart, Jetta and Davey. Also fantastic to see Jordie Mac in the main group from week one. That must be a first. Two small groups plus Mitch Clark made up the numbers. Jones, Byrnes and Tapscott were set aside for sprint work. Terrific to also see Tappy having a good start to the pre-season. He's been doing some running work with Jonesy over the past 4-5 weeks and should be ready to join the main group on Monday. Again this is another great sign from a guy who has never done a full pre-season with the main group. He said a number of players are well ahead of last year and they are doing a lot of explosive work plus a fair amount of endurance stuff. Their training sounds like a killer - pre season starting after the GF, and now they do endurance and football work in the morning; weights in the arvo, then lectures, pilates and finishing at 6 on their training days. Thank god they also get a fair bit of recovery time. Another group consisted of Tynan, Evans, Sylvia and Hogan. They basically walked a few laps and finished early; a couple did the handball work on the mini- trampoline. Colin was back last week but has been ill and spent a bit of time saying hello to the coaches and Byrnes.. I gave Tynan the points for the most improved body. He has definitely built up around the shoulders - his delts are bigger and have more definition. Earlier this year he was a skinny kid who ate pizzas after club functions. Now he's ready for a calender shoot. Mitch Clark was there too. He did some left foot passing with one of the trainers, and walked around the sidelines for a while. I think he desperately wants to get back in the main group and i like guys who injured but still show hang around the training and encourage the team. Those absent included Dawes (still o/seas), the Russian (on a honeymoon) Gawn (possible twinge in the hammy on Monday according to reports) and Fitzpatrick (modified program). The main training group finished about 11, then 5 unfortunate guys had to do 8 two minute runs to build up their endurance. Spencer, Rodan, Davey, Viney and Garland were the victims and it was hard work. I believe most of the main group did this session on Wednesday. Two highlights: Spencer attempting to kick left foot. Seasoned training watchers said they had never seen anything quite like it. Leigh Brown joining in the 8 two minute runs and encouraging the others. A kind person might say that Leigh has only added about 15kgs since his playing days, but he was running with the pack, and...luvving it. They did a lot of ball work today, by hand and foot. Lots of burst stuff - run hard - get the ball - and hit the target. It was fabulous to see so many faces on the park, and they are clearly well ahead in fitness compared to this time last year.

Casey will be a city the size of Perth in about 10 years. The growth and building that is taking place there is massive; almost Chinaesque. If we move out of Casey Fields, someone else will move in. I read that Collingwood are planning to set up a Summer camp there.

That's my recollection too. He started a number of games in the forward pocket in 2009 (and not just the post port adelaide matches). He clearly wasn't suited to the role and i'm not sure why a slow, specialist midfield was played there for most of the year. It didn't work; he didn't look like he enjoyed the job, and it was probably one of the reasons why he left.

It seems that someone is talking, and it's a lot easier to spill the beans when the club doesn't pay your wages. That goes for admin and coaching staff too.

She now has more sources formerly close to the club who no longer have an alliegance to the team. Whether they have talked..I don't know, but i'd be stunned if reporters have not tried to contact our former players to get some dirt.

Yes,is it just a coincidence that this story gathered speed this week, after the MFC de-listed or moved 14 players from the list? Make no mistake, we are in deep trouble here. If the investigators hand down their decision before the ND, then I believe we will lose pick 4, get fined heavily, and and probably cop further sanctions. Can the league also force changes at the board and management level - such as the removal of Schwab and McLardy? i don't know. But if we lose draft picks, then we can draw hope from our training mates the Mellbourne Storm. They became a better, tougher club after they were punished. Yet another biased, blinkered article from Wilson that doesn't mention Richmond or the role they played in THAT game. She's like a pirate with an eyepatch over both eyes on this issue. I just hope that the league's investigation also drags Caroline's precious tigers into the mess.

The irony is - if Richmond had lost that round 18 match (and assume all other results stayed the same) then the Tigers would have finished bottom. They would have had the first pick in the draft and picked Scully - a fanatical richmond supporter - and Melbourne would have lost their priority pick. In the last 5 minutes Richmond gave up a 2 goal lead by letting Petterd and Grimes run through the middle for easy goals. If Melbourne were tanking that day, what on earth were Richmond doing?

So if we want to use our 3rd pick in the pre-season draft, and still use all our draft picks up to and including ND74, we have to de-list at least 3 more players. Or Rookie list them. Is that correct? Of the players OOC, possibly Macdonald, Davis, and Bartram (if knee is chronic).

It's a catch 22. We had a shocking season - so the value of our players was practically zip. No-one was interested in Petterd or Bate or Bennell, and yes it hurts when we get practically nothing for former high draft picks. Yet that poor season gave us the early picks in this draft, and let us get Viney at 26 -the biggest coup of the year. If we'd finished 11th we would have been forced to use our first pick (pick 9) for Viney. Let's hope the new guys bond well, and give us a lot more team spirit than was shown in 2012.

Gee even after todays trades have been completed, we still have a lot of ordinary footballers on our list. It wouldn't surprise me to see another 6 names de-listed.

So at a minimum we de-list 2, plus an option of another 3. You would think we would leave one spot open for pick 3 in the pre-season draft.

The trade period is over. We have ended up with Dawes, Viney, Pederson, Byrnes, Barry, and Rodan. With Hogan a late starter. We have said farewell to Jurrah, Green, Moloney, Gysberts, Morton, Rivers, Martin, Sheahan and Lawrence. We have picks 4, 49, 53, 63 and 73 with a strong chance we will use the later picks to upgrade Nicholson from our rookie list. Now we wait to see who else is de-listed. Maybe Cook, Petterd, Bate, and Bennell. We have said goodbye to 7 senior list and brought in 6 new faces (plus Nicholson - assume upgrading). If we use all 5 of these picks, then we have to de-list a further 5 players. Is this correct?

Please don't waste pick 33 on Farren Ray. 2 years ago we got Howe with pick 33. Surely we can find someone better than Ray at pick 33. Someone harder.

I can understand getting Byrnes to some extent. Former premiership player - small forward who can score goals - he can pass on his experience to the younger players and he fills a niche. But Rodan and possibly Ray?!!! That's Byrnes times 3, without the premiership nous. We are trading like John West tinned fish. We think it's the players that other clubs reject that will make MFC the best.