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For anyone who saw both Saturday's game AND the Crows game last week...... Clearly we are in a situation here where we were very competitive last week against possibly a top four side and this week uncompetitive against a mid list side, and one that was playing interstate and usually is uncompetitive interstate. What were the main difference between our two perfomances? I must say I was heartened by what I read about the display against the Crows after being very down beat after the game against the Bombers. In fact I wrote on here after that that on the performance we would not win a game. From the reports about yesterday, it sounds as though the perfomance was very similar to the Bombers. The thing that made me so depressed about the Bomber performance was what seemed to me to be a total lack of Gameplan, or an inability to implement one. For those who saw the Crows game had this turned around last week, or were we simply well served by a couple of brilliant young guns in Scully and Trengove? Or is it simply the inconsistency of a young side? I must say i'm still not convinced about Baily's gameplan, or lack of one.

Who is playing well? Who surprises?

So where are we in the second term?

I think a lot of people are in my position. Although I have been an MCC member for some 40 odd years I usuually take out full Red Legs memberships for each of my wife and three grown up children. I see it as sort of a donation as well as participation in the club. i haven't had any interaction with the club so far this year, but will certainly be there against the Hawks where I plan to purchase my memberships. I think a lot of people are in the same boat. We will get to the 31000 target by about 3rd round, or even possibly at the Collingwood game particularly if we do well or beat the Hawks in round 1. The AFL have in a sense done us a favour by scheduling our first Collingwood match this early. It inevitably creates a lot of publicity and those members who remember the traditional clashes are highly motivated by the potential for victory over the traditional enemy. Having said the above, and although I have posted here recently that I think the MFC seems to becoming a very well run organisation, I do think it show considerable lack of imagination and ambition in building a membership base. Having had a long corporate career in senior marketing and executive management roles, I believe with the right brand positioning and a clear understanding of our strategic strengths I see no reason why we should no be shooting initially for 50,000 members, and then within 5 years 100,000. It requires is some innovative thinking and a much stronger and creative focus on our strengths. We have a long way to go in this rea, but we have many unique strengths which we are not currently taking advantage of. I dont know if anyone has seen the latest membership numbers, but Hawthorn are a good example of what can be done. 20 years ago the Hawks had one of the lowest membership bases in the AFL. Now they expect regularly to be above 50000, and vie for the largest victorian based club membership with Collingwood. That didn't happen by accident, and we have many more natural advantages than them. It can be done, and we can do it. There are also other areas of income we fail to exploit. The only club that does not accept the AFL standard formula website is Essendon. They have their own highly sophisticated web presence, and happen to make between $700k and $800k per annum out of it. We would be lucky to make half that.

One thing in his favour is that I seem to remember his kicking a lot of goals on the run and a reasonably way out. He is an excellent kick for his size and has good speed. I think when we have Watts, Jurrah etc in our forward half i think he would make an excellent mobile, but big HFF or wing. Even forward pocket as a third tall forward or even crumber. I think his basic skills are excellent - clean hands, speed, and accurate kicking. He has too many potentially attacking weapons to use as a stopper as he has over the last two or three seasons. This is his opportunity to show us what he is made of, but it would cruel him to be put in a key position like FF or CHF. His potential is elsewhere, and that is where he should be used.

No Pettard, no Grimes in the Age. No Pettard, no Watts in AFL. I wonder what the definition of "Best team" is in both cases

Very encouraging post. Everything you hear about the culture at the Demons seems extremely positive. It is clearly a very professionally run organisation and is looking and behaving in the long term, while at the same time recognising the need for short to medium term success. The fact that the young guns also are exhibiting a bit of mongrel about winning and non acceptance of defeat is very encouraging. They WILL taste success this year and hopefully enough of it to begin building a winning culture as well as a professional one.All in all we should all be encouraged by these posts.

Let's hope you are wrong. Out of this injury situation, hopefully one or two might step up and surprise us all. Dunn is an obvious possibility in that. I, for one, hope he does.

The other one I think might be CAPABLE of it would be Tapscott (from what we hear) but of course he is out for the first half. Then of course there is McDonald, but I guess he comes in as a mature age recruit.

Garland's inclusion IMO depends on what happens this weekend and next.

I like it. Let's trot this out after Queen's Birthday 2012. It'll happen, though I suspect before that date.

Beautiful. Bella. I'm sure you are right. The upside is huge and the club is right to be patient. I'm convinced he is an amazing talent, and will be one of the principal leaders of our club for many years to come. It is all about the long term. Some also forget that Natinui is a year older than him which at that age makes a huge difference

Totally agree. If he is fit this is not a time to protect him as tough he is some delicate flower. Games are what he needs. From what my info says from inside the club he is the last to expect to be protected. For all his private school charm , and leadershipo ability, my understanding is he is incredibly competitive and raring to go after them. Dare I say it, David Neitz mark 11. And I can't think of a better tribute. Let'a hope so anyway.

We won't. we will be 2:1 by that time,and everyone will be talking about how unfair it is that we tanked on priority picks

I'd much rather see Jamar at FF and Spencer in the ruck. Jamar a couple of years ago was an amazing pack mark, and he took a couple against the dons albeit at the wrong end. Him resting forward, and maybe rotating with say Green, I think would be very effective. Spencer on the bench when not in the ruck tho. Dunn in my view is not a true full forward. A very skilled player tho, but better out of the pocket or HF. Hopefully with the injury to JL, we can experiment with a few combinations and find some surprises. LJ is a star tho, and a crucial part of our future premiership sides. Meantime we have some intersting reserves who might surprise us all. I'm prepared to take bets though that Colin Garland will not only play forward in our premiership team of 2014, but play a key position. We have a lot to look forward to, albeit with a short term diminished list Go dees

yes swapping davey and pettard could also be a possibility. Certainly take advantage of ricky's recent good goal scoring form.

yes I left out jones quite deliberately. I think this side has better quality on ball and better speed on and off the ball. Jones to me gets caught far too often, as well as being one of the worst offenders in missing targets. Maybe a spell at Casey to work on these issues mght allow improvement in these areas and show everyone else the club is serious about improvement in these areas

Based on our latest injury information and what we learnt from the game in Adelaide, my team for round one would now be: B: MacKenzie Warnock Rivers HB: Garland Frawley Bruce C: Pettard Sylvia Trengove HF: Davey Miller Dunn F: Grimes Jamar Bate Foll: Spencer Green Scully Inter: Wonna, Martin, Maloney, James MacD Still a pretty good side in my opinion. What do others think?

Great post WJ. How often do the Devils Advocates meet?

if we were concerned with the present and were considering recruiting a mature age forward to win games this year we would have kept Robbo.whilst many of us would have liked this in some ways it would not have built our future. The club has done the right thing here, and injuries to lj and the slow injury injuiced progressof jack watts as well as slow recovery progress of Garland has beenjust unlucky. We do thoughhave some interesting replacements in Dunn and very soon Garland, and even give some game time to fitzpatrick if he shows any potential at Casey. My only area where I think we might have done better is the retention of Newton. ithinkhe is a wasted space and we possibly may have gotbetter value out of robbo mentoring the younger forwards as well as some goals out of him. In hindsight they may well have done this, but as we all know hindsight is a wonderful thing. Also, do we really know the seriousness of robbos injury recovery.

The other point about this is that all teams compete for the time and attention of the media. The Demons gets relatively little media attention compared to Collingwoods and Carltons of this world, so having a prominant journalist whoat least has sufficient knowledge of our list and club to be able to produce a reasonably coherant article is surely a plus. Probably now only Martin Flanagan and Mike Sheahan (both prominant Demon supporters as well as journalists) has more knowledge of the club than Stevens. this can surely be only a good thing for the club's future and coverage will become more extensive as our success builds.

Totally agree about Jamar. the Hawks will be very stretched by good talls especially if it is dry. Could be a match winning move

Since the Mfc still hasn't posted liam's status as of 9.15 this morning can assume they are looking at all medical options. It may not be as bad as we are imagining. I suggest the longer it takes the more room for optimism there is. All is not lost!

As of now, this is the official injury list on the MFC website: Injury list as at 4 March 2010 -Aaron Davey – Adductor Soreness – 1 week - Cameron Bruce – Hamstring – 1 week - Matthew Bate – Quad – 1 week - Colin Garland – Foot – 1 week - Neville Jetta – Groin – 1-2 weeks - Jack Watts – Back – 2-3 weeks - Sam Blease – Ankle – 2-3 weeks - Paul Johnson – Foot – 5 weeks - Cale Morton – Knee – 8-10 weeks - John Meesen – Ankle – Indefinite - Max Gawn – Knee – Indefinite - Luke Tapscott – Hip – Indefinite The only info on LJ says Bell out for 6 weeks, Jurrah is still being considered. In my experience in these things often several medical opinions are sought and options considered. I wouldn't be surprised if that were the case here. I'm sure given the supporters' concerns they would post the verdict just as soon as it is arrived at. It may not be quite as bad as we fear now. By the way, Watts was 2-3 weeks last week. What is going on here. How long term an injury is this. Clearly also Garland and Bate didn't pull up quite as well from their run at Casey as first indicated as they are still on the injued list

Just watched last week's Four Corners on the turmoil in Tennis Australia, and the insiders view on the push by Paul MacNamee to take the reins. Clearly MacNamee is a pretty divisive figure, but the TA operation seems to be so disfunctional that maybe it is time for a new broom. The question is, is PN the right man for the job. Hre lasted a matter of months as CEO of MFC. Does anyone have insight about this short tenure, apart from his wanting to recruit Jonathan Brown. I understand there was a push back about his being a "non-football" person, but wasw there any more than this, and does it say anything about his suitability or otherwise for the TA job?