2014-Flag

The real potential of the R&B foundation is to provide a vehicle for wealthy demon supporters, if they so wish, to have somewhere to leave a portion of their estate to the MFC when they die, tax effectively. As we continuously hear that melbourne has many wealthy supporters, in the long term this is probably one of the most effective ways of building a strong base for the club. It should be promoted as such to all supporters. I must say the promotions I have seen for this has not really reflected this, although I know as a marketing man from way back this is a difficult message to deliver in-offensively.

what a great 50th Anniversary Present (from our last flag!)

Predicted Ladder: Geelong Western Bullies Saints Crows Dons Lions Blues Demons Magpies Hawks Swans WC Port North Frem Tigers

I agree about Jamar - yet to be convinced about the other two....

Bruce has been and remains in our top 3 or 4 players, and will be for a few more years. To talk of getting rid of him is ridiculous. DB was quoted as saying last week that this is the first full pre-season Rivers has put in for FOUR years. He will be almost like a new recruit this year, except one of our few players with finals experience. I predict he will get back to his Rising Star form this year. I agree Jones and Maloney have question marks against them. Neither have good decision making, and often get caught with the ball, but both are excellent kicks and experienced "in and under" types so for the time being remain on our list while the young guns develop. Both though could be good trade bait if we wanted to access the early picks from GC or WS in the next couple of years. Who agrees?

Being from Brisbane, Miller will be our offering to GC, that's why he is on a one year contract. Jamar will not go anywhere until Gawn is ready to take 1st ruck responsibility, and that will be at least three years IMO.

Sure, Malthouse is talking sense. I doubt though he would have said it if he was not at the end of his career.I'm sure Eddie would not agree. One thing though, the best defence against this sort of change is to become a major force ourselves. The club is taking big strides to do this, and in my view there are a number of other things we can do to become dominant in the AFL, on and off the field. Strength is ultimately the only defence against this. We have many advantages, far more than North, Richmond, the Dogs or even Hawthorn. Board continuity would certainly help this, but there are many other areas we can attack as well.

If morton is the third tall forward, what is Bate - all 192cm of him. quick, a great kick, strong mark and very agile. This forward line is looking incredibly difficult to match up on. Bring it on...

The three wins this year would have been IMO 6-7 if: we were not getting half our list "ready" for next year for the second half of the season ie getting all our players medically fit where in a "normal" competitive season they would have played through injuries in most cases; we had have played at fully competitive mode for the second half eg players out of position, giving "the kids a go", experimenting with gameplans, all designed to give us two priority picks - a policy I wholeheartedly agreed with by the way; and retiring several of our better more experienced players as a means of positioning for the future. Coupled with the quality of the list we now have with our high picks for the last three years (remember Watts, Strauss, and Breeze will next year be virtually new recruits, but ones with a pre-season behind them). In my view Trengove and Scully will be picked from the first game. All these issues indicate we will be SUBSTANTIALLY more competitive than last year. If given normal behaviour last year we should have won 7 games, it would not surprise me in the least if we won between 10 - 12 games next year, maybe even sneaking into the 8 (think 1998 - 2000 when travis johnstone was drafted no 1 pick, and the year after we were mid list, and thereafter a consistently finals side). Who agrees?

If he put on 10-15 kg i think he would make a great CHF or forward pocket.

I think it is indisputable that elite players win premierships - not just a collection of very good players. When you can get them, you should always recruit them, and NOT tade then for more of lessor lights. Think Carey-Kangaroos, Judd/Cousins-Eagles, Franklin/Hodge-Hawks, Ablett/Scarlett-Cats How many of these types of players have we got. Last year none. Now hopefully Scully/Trengove/Watts and i believe in three years time Gawn. Next level Morton/Jurrah/Davey/Green/Bruce. Time will tell whether this represents the Elite of sufficent talent to win a flag, but we are now in a better position with respect to this issue than we have been since the late 1980s early 1990s with the arrival of Lyon/Stynes/Neitz and especially Schwartz who in his first couple of years looked better than Carey until his three knee reconstructions - in my view costing us a premiership.

I think the concerns about the forward line are a little exaggerated. Watts as Maloney said wuill be the new David Neitz/Buddy Franklin and at last we will have a target up forward again. Jarrah will play in my opinion more a roaming forward role. He is an incredible mark for his size, is quite quick, but also he does the team things really well at both hand and foot and is a fantastic accurate kick on the run. In that position rotating onto the flank and CHF and FP. He is a very very difficult player to match up on him simply because he has unique skills and in my view those skills would not neccessarily be made the most of in a permanent key position. I think Martin will play the second tall and Bate the third. Bate by the way is taller than he looks (about 192cm from memory), is a strong mark and excellent kick - in other words a great prospect as a leading Forward pocket player or even CHF. I can't think of any other team (with the possible exception of the cats) who have this sort of combination up-forward

I agree that these quality mid fielders are like gold, and will complement the likes of Sylvia, Davey, Grimes, Breeze, Morton very nicely - one and all quality kicks and hard at it. However, I believe the real gem of the draft for us is Gawn. From what we can see of him, he looks like a 208cm version of Jeff White. He could be anything, and the thought of him feeding this fleet of foot, hard at it mid-field in the middle, kicking accurately to the likes of Watts, Jarrah and Green could develop into the most potent combination in the league. Nobody gets close to that combination. Some have elements of it: Carlton with Judd, Femantle with Sandilands, even the cats with their mid field and forward line, or the Saints with their powerful forwards, but no-one has all three like we could potentially have. Roll on 2010.

We should remember that Ball is being advised by an astute Manager who has a history of getting his charges to the club of their choice BY MANIPULATING THE DRAFT. He is tutored in what to say to put all the others off, aided and abbetted by the Pies. Why should we play Ball! Where is LB going to go if we take him. 23 months on the sidelines at the height of his career that's where. He'd be better off to confess the manipulation and commit fully to the demons who are going to win a premiership long before the next one by the Pies in any case. A relatively young, 100 game plus skilled player could be very valuable for us in the next couple off years as we drive to the flag with the most inexperienced, but brilliant list in the comp. Guys like Luke Ball are not going to be available to established clubs like the MFC in the next couple of years.

We should remember that Ball is being advised by an astute Manager who has a history of getting his charges to the club of their choice BY MANIPULATING THE DRAFT. He also happens to be Jack Watts manager - let's hope that is not a worry if Ball's attitude to the Demons is reflected by his Manager's!! . Ball is tutored in what to say to put all the others off, aided and abbetted by the Pies. Why should we play Ball! Where is LB going to go if we take him. 23 months on the sidelines at the height of his career that's where. He'd be better off to confess the manipulation and commit fully to the Demons who are going to win a premiership long before the next one by the Pies in any case. A relatively young, 100 game plus skilled player could be very valuable for us in the next couple off years as we drive to the flag with the most inexperienced, but brilliant list in the comp. Guys like Luke Ball are not going to be available to established clubs like the MFC in the next couple of years as they will all be directed to GC and Western Sydney, manipulated by those clubs preponderance of early round draft picks.

We should remember that Ball is being advised by an astute Manager who has a history of getting his charges to the club of their choice BY MANIPULATING THE DRAFT. He is tutored in what to say to put all the others off, aided and abbetted by the Pies. Why should we play Ball! Where is LB going to go if we take him. 23 months on the sidelines at the height of his career that's where. He'd be better off to confess the manipulation and commit fully to the demons who are going to win a premiership long before the next one by the Pies in any case. A relatively young, 100 game plus skilled player could be very valuable for us in the next couple off years as we drive to the flag with the most inexperienced, but brilliant list in the comp. Guys like Luke Ball are not going to be available to established clubs like the MFC in the next couple of years.