rodney_g

The club needs to set a new target!!

33-34K would be an amazing acheivement.

NikNat may debut this week - http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/sport/afl/...5014947,00.html

There is a chance Natanui will get more than 8 possies, 1 mark and 1 behind.

To avoid much angst and gnashing of threads please start mental preparations for this outcome now. I know I am!!

Om mani [we made the right choice]

Om mani [time will tell]

Om mani [think taller James Hird]

Om mani [dreadlocks are soooooo 1990's]

Om mani [wait till jack puts on another 10 kilos]

Om mani [we made the right choice]

Om mani [we made the right choice]

Om mani [we made the right choice]

....

One point in the game he (cheney) kicked the ball off the ground to the boundry, dane swan ran straight passed him to get the ball and it ended up in a goal.

Cheney didnt even try to run with him.

I was disappointed in that play by Cheney too. That type of lack of urgency was endemic today.

"Watts all the fuss about?"

.........

In my team selection email from the club, names on the bench appear in two colours - black and grey.

In black - Johnson, Bennell, Cheney, Newton

In grey - Maric, Jones, Dunn

Maybe a hint? Maybe just a html problem?

1. If Hankook and Kaspersky will not be our sponsors for the NAB cup in 2012 then we don't have a 3-year deal, that's fine, if it's a shorter time but the smae money then that is even better. If Hankook and Kaspersky are definitely going to be our sponsors for the NAB cup and the season then we have a longer than 3-year sponsorship and that is not so good.

2. Riddle me this, which is worth more:

A sponsorship from Jan-Jun worth $500, and a sponsorship from Jul-Dec worth $500 (hint: 500+500=1000)

or

No sponsorship from Jan-August, and a sponsorship from Augst-Feb worth $800 (hint: 0+800=800)

3. Sure is great, definitely inspires confidence in the common Melbourne supporter. The fact that the full-time chairman and professionally paid admin can't acheive in many months what the common Melbourne supporter can acheive in (how long, days?), does not inspire confidence.

Mate, its not just that you are are "a pretty argumentative person" - I'm sensing some comprehension problems.

and your response depends on three weak assumptions/excuses.

Excuse 1 Even though it took Jim and Schwab so long to find a sponsorship this time, they will be able to find the next sponsor much more quickly and the current sponsors won't mind them shopping around during the 2012 equivalent of the NAB cup. I have no doubt that there is some provision in this regard in the contracts but there was also a provision in the primus contract and we still went without a sponsor for almost six months after that deal elapsed.

Excuse 2 Well this is just rubbish. The timing of the payments has nothing to do with it and I never tried to say otherwise. We are simply a little worse off than the bulddogs - I have acknowledged that the amount is not much and I have not tried to make a big deal about it. As I said in my first post in this thread, our sponsorship package is very good and and I'm glad that it mostly mitigates our sponsorship losses over the last few months. Other people have been trying to make a big dreal of how much better off we are.

Excuse 3 Well, this is part cop out and part [censored]. The cop out part is that it happens to other people so it's alright. The [censored] part is that it happens to other people. I'm not talking about any old situation where a supporter helps engineer a sponsoship deal. I'm talking about a situation where a supposedly well connected full-time chairman and his professional team are given many months to put something together and they are out done by a supporter who, at the last minute and completely independently of the club, saves their arses for them by achieving something that they couldn't manage in all of the long time that they had - a $1m/year sponsorship.

Geez Hazy - the more you post the less sensible you sound.

1. If you think Hankook and Kaspersky will be our sponsors for the 2012 NAB Cup but potentially not the 2012 season proper you are truly delusional.

2. Riddle me this. Which is worth more: A contract starting 1 July 2008 and ending 31 December 2011 totaling $5M or contract starting 20 March 2009 and ending 31 December 2011 totaling $5M? Different length. SAME money.

3. It's great isn't it! Supporter talks to boss. Boss contacts club. Club seals deal.

But, if you still insist that my criticism of the sponsorship situation over the last few months has somehow become unfounded or irrelevant because of this most recent good news, then try these on for size:

- If the same sponsorship delay happens in three years' time, we won't have a major sponsor until the after the start of the finals series.

- If we had signed up for the equivalent of the Bulldogs $1.5m/year as promptly as the Bulldogs did, we would be better off overall than we are under our current deal(s).

- After months and months of silence and financial losses on the sponsorship front, despite a chairman who works full-time and who boasts of his corporate connections, it took a lone supporter in Russia, working off his own bat, to put the major deal together.

These criticisms seem to be based on some very simplistic assumptions:

1. “If the same sponsorship delay happens in three years' time, we won't have a major sponsor until the after the start of the finals series.”

Assumption: That the current deals will end exactly three years from the day they are signed.

More likely: That Schwab and Co have factored in time after the end of the 2011 season to find/resign sponsors for 2012 and beyond. 'Seasons' and 'years' are pretty interchanegable - the sponsorships are in all reality three season deals.

2. “If we had signed up for the equivalent of the Bulldogs $1.5m/year as promptly as the Bulldogs did, we would be better off overall than we are under our current deal(s).”

Assumption: That sponsorships are doled out like pocket money on a monthly (or now I see daily!) basis.

More likely: That there are specified payment dates throughout the year and given that as we haven’t missed the real ‘value’ in AFL sponsorship – the season itself - we won’t ‘lose’ $31,620 (OMG not $31,620!!)

3. “After months and months of silence and financial losses on the sponsorship front, despite a chairman who works full-time and who boasts of his corporate connections, it took a lone supporter in Russia, working off his own bat, to put the major deal together.”

Assumption: That this doesn’t happen a lot in AFL and other codes.

Reality: Of course it does. Some clubs provide an obvious ROI that would make any corporate interested – others use contacts and supporters to network for sponsors.

Given Cameron Schwab’s undeniable administrative experience, I am happy to assume that these minor contractual ‘criticisms’ have been dealt with.

I would ask Cameron to break some confidentiality clause and confirm these details so that I can satisfy some guy on Demonland who is tilting at windmills.

But I’m sure he has better things to do with his time. And so do I. Go Demons!!

i thought it was interesting reading on the AFL website that Essendon intend to play one of the tallest forward lines in history, no matter what the case is, with Lloyd, Lucas, Neagle and Gumbleton, as well as throwing in Hille and McPhee. they'll be stuffed when the ball hits the ground.

... and the tanking begins! We need to out do Essendon by playing the shortest forward line, slowest midfield and worst ruck combination in history - just like last year.

Long-range forecasting is interesting (age in 2012 in brackets):

2012

FB: Jetta (22) Warnock (27) Martin (25)

HB: Cheney (22) Garland (23) Blease (21)

C: Davey (28) Grimes (22) Morton (22)

HF: Bate (24) Watts (20) Sylvia (26)

FF: Maric (21) Butcher (19) Wonna (23)

R: Johnson (27) McLean (25) Strauss (21)

Int: Bennell (21) Dunn (24) Jones (24) Spencer?

Would be a fun team to watch, but perhaps not a real challenger. (oh, and I would have traded Green, Miller and Petterd to GC17)

Not sure if you can claim the 'unmistakable vote of confidence' in our forward line talls.

BP clearly thinks we have a few areas that need fixing - "We weren't going to be able to be able to address all our issues in one day..." http://www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/D...px?newsid=70460

I'm just glad that the 10 talls taken in the first round pushed some quality mids to our next picks.

Anybody know why Steve Gaertner has been rated yet overlooked in two national drafts?

Would he be worth PSD or rookie pick?

I like the sound of this 'my-brother's-girlfriend's-sister-overheard-a-conversation" quote from bigfooty.

"I heard some Claremont coaches talking about him i think it was Jamie that he turned a game against them and that they couldnt stop him once he went into the midfield. He got every hard ball and clearnace at of the midfield and was easily the quickest over the ground."

Bennell seems to have a solid body, big leap and speed. Excellent!!!

I hope we draft Watts and I hope the silence on who we will take #1 is to spare Jack from the being the sole focus of the media spotlight ahead of the draft.

Of course he will get a lot of attention after the draft, but there will also be other draft picks for the media to talk about.

what team does this respected player play for ?

Not telling. You might want to take away his premiership!

Nasher, are you saying that Yze, Robbo, Sylvia, Bruce, and McLean are not selfish?

I consider Leoncelli to be selfish because, despite outwardly showing unselfish traits like working hard and putting his body on the line, as a leader at the MFC (appointed or otherwise) he always seemed to be one of the first to drop his head and give up when things weren’t going well. Arguing with umpires and being the victim – something I think is responsible for many of the blowout losses suffered in recent years.

DeeReaming, it was a player from another club.

An extremely well-respected current player recently told me to expect some pain this year. Why I asked.

"Selfishness" was the one word answer.

I can see it in the Demons too. It's not just kicking for goal when you should pass, or not chasing hard enough.

It's putting teammates under pressure so you don't take a hit or have the responsibility of moving the ball forward.

It's off field too, look no further than Sylvia and McLean.

BTW, here is my 2008 'selfish' list:

- Yze

- Robbo

- Sylvia

- Bruce

- Miller

- McLean

Disappointing frequency of current/former/suspended members of MFC leadership groups.

And some selfish blasts from the past:

- Jakovich

- Leoncelli

- Johnstone

- Farmer

Any more? Anybody disagree?

While not being a massive fan of our China connection program, ALL overseas promotion should be encouraged by the AFL.

AFRICA     

numbers playing the game -- 100,000?? (after X years of work)

future AFL players -- likely

likelihood of a local AFL team -- no

migration to Austalia -- low but growing (= low potential for membership uptake)

relevance to Australia's future -- low

CHINA

numbers playing the game -- 0? + expats (in the FIRST year of work)

future AFL players -- ? why not!!

likelihood of a local AFL team -- no

migration to Austalia -- high and growing (= high potential for membership uptake)

relevance to Australia's future -- central to the point of dependence

Each has postives and negatives and both should be supported equally by the AFL.

I noted this in The Age's coverage of Steve Harris leaving.

"... with Melbourne also the subject of some significant derision from AFL headquarters over the Demons' bid to forge cultural links with China."

WTF? Like forging links with Africa is a better use of time.

If The Age is correct it smacks of the 'R' word for mine? And Demetriou sounds like such a multicultural name.

Cheers,

Rodney

It will never happen but I would love to see both of the following trades this year:

Dees trade Pick 4 and 2nd round pick (#21) to Port for Salopek and Port's first round pick (#16). (Might have to sweeten this with Bruce/Green)

Dees send Robbo and Ferguson to Bulldogs and pick #16 to Freo

+ Bulldogs send Farren Ray to Freo

+ Freo send Ryan Murphy and their second round pick (#24) to the Dees.

Melbourne gets a quick skilled midfielder and a taller, younger version of Robbo. Lose Bruce/Green. (Dee's first draft selecton would be pick #24)

Port get Ebert and a better second round pick. (Plus Bruce/Green)

Bulldogs get a forward and tall mobile defender.

Freo get a quick midfielder and another first round pick.

Everyone's happy!!!

With picks 4 and 21 available, for mine it should be Ebert or Morton at 4 and Myers at 21 (assuming Morton is no longer available).

Big runners with pace and skills. Perfect balance for Brock, Colin and Nathan!!

Brad Ebert – 187cm, 86kg- Port Adelaide SANFL. Captain of SA and a bottom age player but he has already played senior SANFL footy for Port. Is a very good sized kid who was tagged well during the Champs but still did well. He is an excellent inside or outside player with good skills and pace and is a good contested mark of the footy. Extremely courageous in his attack on the ball and lead the SA side well.

Top 20 pick.

Cale Morton – 192cm , 75kg – Claremont . Tallish wingman/halfback with superb skills and a lovely long kick of the footy . Is very much an outside player who tends to be the playmaker or handball receiver but he doesn’t miss too many targets. He links in well in this role and can kick a goal from outside 50. Needs to build up a bit body wise. Has good endurance and his pace is ok. He knows how to find space and is a one touch player. If he isn’t receiving a handball he is running to space and getting a mark. Great talent.

Top 15 pick

David Myers – 190cm, 85kg-Perth. Played in defence during the national champs but I’m sure people will see him as a future midfielder. He was very highly rated before the carnival and did his reputation no harm at all getting plenty of the footy as a running back man. Looks like a natural runner who has good skills. Was a standout in the 2006 International Rules series against Ireland. He has the size and body that clubs love in running wingers.

Pick 10 to 30.

Half this site has been calling for players like Ferguson to be played ... and now you're going to abuse Danners because he picked Ferguson and he happened to get injured???

"Our umpires are under instruction, and always have been, to protect the pure ball players as much as possible,"

Does this comment from Gieschen irk everyone else as much as it irks me? I've heard it repeatedly.

Surely it has to be "protection for those playing the ball" with each case judged on its merits.

If not, who do you apply to for certification as a 'pure ball player' and the subsequent favouritism?

Not really based on form or injury status just on game influencing ability (or potential).

FB: Whelan Carroll Frawley

HB: Bell Rivers Bartram

C: Dunn Jones TJ

HF: Bruce Robbo Davey

FF: Sylvia Neitz Yze

R: White, McLean, JMac

I/C: PJ, Green, Bate, Pickett

Next up for selection: Moloney, Pettard, Buckley, Holland, Jamar, CJ

On the way out: Miller, Ward, Godfrey, Brown, Ferg, Bizz

After watching Dunn perform against the Doggies, I think wing could be his ideal position - great engine and mark.

Frawley is unproven but will do as serviceable a job as the other options (and will only get better).

From the games I've seen this year, Carroll has gone backwards.

Needs to decide whether he is Chopper or Hansel.