bing181

It starts and ends with the mids. We can rotate the deck chairs in the back line all we want, but when Boak, Ebert, Cornes, Wines and Hartlett are managing 31 I50's, we're on a hiding to nothing. They had 6 players with more than 5 I50's. We had one (Jones). Terlich, McDonald and probably Dawes would be walk up starters for mine. Personally, I'd add Jetta to that, based on reports of his pre-season form (continued yesterday at Casey apparently). Then add Blease for a full game. But only one of those are a mid, so hard to see that (m)any of these changes are going to address the underlying problem - in terms of player personnel in any case.

I realise that it's hard at the moment, but a) we don't know what happened in the rooms, and b) we don't know the context for what happened. Even on the info available, it's clear that Jack wasn't the only player to speak, and if they were in there for 30 minutes it obviously went a bit further than "OK boys, bad day today, but here's the planning for next week".

Out of all the posts, and all the threads, this sums it up best for me.

Brave man.

Played at Casey yesterday, was OK apparently.

Don't understand the Neeld comments ... as above, this is just about poor work rate, too many spectators. Haven't minded Matt Jones for a first game, doesn't look out of his depth.

... by one poster. Give it a rest RR.

Or overestimated.

Not sure re Trengove, was pretty flat at Casey today judging by reports. Could need a few weeks.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/afl/teams/alipate-carlile-out-but-its-team-first-for-power-coach-ken-hinkley/story-e6frf9mo-1226609144466?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+HeraldSunAfl+%28Herald+Sun+%7C+AFL%29 "All up the new Port back six has just 112 games of AFL experience - half with Trengove."

Yeah, just not the same since we abolished the death penalty. Pity we're not following the lead of some of the Muslim countries, nothing like a public decapitation or two to shake things up.

Who incidentally, isn't named for North, even as an emergency. If all Pedersen does is keep Sellar and co. honest, he'll be a good pickup. Real games haven't started, but Sellar seems to have stepped up over the off-season, so perhaps that scenario is already playing out. I wouldn't be too quick to write off Pedersen, he's in a different structure at Melbourne, so let's see how things play out.

Neeld confirmed Pedersen and Jones will play, so that leaves two places. Given that Terlich would get one of those I'd imagine (he's the only defender there), one spot left for Blease, Tapscott or Davey - probably Blease as you say, perhaps as sub.

Who, where, when? Come on ...

I'm not sure what's more saddening: Liam's situation or your post.

Year after year? You're tipping the Bulldogs and GC for the 8 this year? The clubs who were down the bottom last year are certainly going to be down the list this year as well. Adelaide last year is the exception that proves the rule. Our two captains have played around 50 games each - simply because there is no-one else at the club with more experience/games who's really capable of being a leader. Adelaide have and had the strong, experienced on-field leaders and performers that we just don't. They also had a much better fitness base than us, but that's another story. No club, whoever they are, where a large part of the list is around or under 50 games, is ever going to dominate anything much over a sustained period. No-one on this board is trembling in their boots because of all the stars at GC or GWS ... we (rightfully in some respects) dismiss them as being "just kids". Yet much of our list is of similar age and experience as ours. Look at what Neeld said the other day about Dawes and Clark regarding whether they'll play or not - he remarked that they had 6 or 7 solid pre-seasons behind them. Trengove doesn't, this was his third - or second full one. That has an impact, and a big impact, on what happens on the field during matches. Turning around organisations and cultures Just Takes Time.

Good on you. Gutsy call.

... "currently at other clubs".

I just feel that that's something of a misreading of Don's remarks. His comments were directed at members who don't renew, and he was encouraging people to stay the course, pointing out that not renewing memberships only harms the club. I'm not sure how we get to "I would have thought most clubs would want all the members it can get". when the article on the MFC site re his speech leads with: "PRESIDENT Don McLardy has made a passionate plea for those who bleed red and blue to show their true colours and sign up as a member for 2013."

Winning is what happens when everything else is in place. It's not something you do per se, it's a result of something you do. You can't just go out and, you know, just ... win. For me, nothing could be better than to hear Neeld say "we're putting everything in place to get the boys to where they need to be", and I'd much rather that than "yeah, we're going to win xx games this year". There's a big difference between winning, and building a winning culture. There are a few shortcuts to the former, but not the latter, and it's obvious which path the club is taking. The wins will come. In time.

Spare a thought for us O.S. Can't be there in person, but I'll be hauling myself out of bed at 3 a.m.

Agree completely. The forward line looks completely different when he's there throwing his weight around. I suspect the same goes for Dawes, but as we've yet to really see him play, hard to be quite so sure. But I would play both if they're fit (enough). We'll get more out of it in the long term than having either or both of them running round at Casey, even if they are a bit rusty.

I would argue that the time for shallow gestures and stunts like that is over. Sure, we have to put it out on the field, but hard to see that making or not making a speech impacts that in any way.

Why not look at what crowds other clubs are drawing before putting statements like that out there. For example: Richmond vs Port, MCG last year, last match of the year ... under 28K, and that's with Richmond's membership of 53K. Collingwood/Port (Etihad) ... 30K, the Pies membership 73K. FWIW, against the clubs referred to, only once last season to did anyone get past 40K, and that was Collingwood vs Freemantle. Most of those matches were under 30K, and plenty of them were under 20K, even against clubs with decent memberships. But that's probably because they haven't properly tapped into the Indian or Chinese market.

Re Round 1, I'm not sure what exactly "season over" means in our case. We're almost certainly not going to be playing off in the finals, so I would have thought that this is very much a development and consolidation year. We've had a massive number of changes, and IMHO, it's going to take most of the season to just work out what our best 22 is yet alone where they should be playing. As part of that process, there will be the inevitable losses. Round 1 could be a step too far. I just feel that we have too many of our first 22 with injury/fitness/match-fitness issues: Clark, Dawes, McDonald, Trengove, Blease, Viney ... that's nearly a third of the team, and not any old third either. Or to put it another way, whatever team we put on the park next weekend, it will be the first time they've played any kind of competitive match together, and at least a few of them are going to be dusting off the cobwebs. Just feel it's going to take a while to settle down and come together. Perhaps even a whole season.