Hot as Hell

Congrats Andy and Grapeviney. A good interview is one where the hosts make the guest comfortable with the set up so that they can respond freely and honestly. We got that last night. Nev has been an excellent role model for all our younger players, irrespective of their background. He is proof that dedication and hard work, as well as being given the right role, guidance and opportunity, can bring the best out of players. No one gets to AFL level that has not demonstrated talent. It is what happens once they are there that sorts them out. Neville, admitted to having his hands full with his footy, his indigenous activities and his own growing family (who had cameos on air). Nevertheless, he made time for the interview and I am aware that he makes time to be available for seriously challenged young people throughout the year. The interview and the responses demonstrated this man is a leader, a particularly dedicated footballer as well as being an all round good bloke. Nothing fancy just salt of the earth, and a spirit often found at the heart of any good sporting club.

Hey Cassiew, l freely admit l am no photographer but here are a couple of snaps of some young guns. Unfortunately technical problems had by very best shots uploaded upside down! Guess that proves l have no business holding a camera. Apologies to Jake L who l seem to have caught at an awkward moment.

Well done Mitch. Be assured the club values your commitment and your skills. To those of us outside of the inner sanctum, it appears we have a group of talented players who want to be playing footy with each other in pursuit of the AFL's highest prize. Melbourne Football Club, under the stewardship of PJ, PR their management and coaching crews (and their successors) is finally start to look like a team on a mission. The many young guys who have now signed on to be part of our tilt at a flag is an inspiration and motivation to all who are involved in the club. Bring on 2018 so we can let our playing group loose, to do what they have in their minds and bodies to do. Play some brilliant footy.

Excellent points poita. Whilst not being at Luna Park had some upside the gaps also needed to be covered to keep the kids amused. I also thought there was insufficient planning about how the fans could get autographs with out having to line up in 3 or 4 lines to get the popular players only for many of the other players to be ignored or seemingly feel like "extras". A few tables around the space with 5 to 8 players per table would have given everyone a better shot at a happy snap, and a full autograph book. The layout of most activities on the outside of the field and nothing in the middle might have looked better on the map than it actually worked in real life. I thought Robbo did a great job knowing that a lot of the activity shortfall rested on his shoulders to fill. All good lessons for next year's event.

Beautiful day for the event and a very good crowd attended. Plenty of young kids which was also pleasing. In response to Demon77, Harmes was indeed absent today. Mmmmm. The players seemed to enjoy the more casual atmosphere in Yarra Park and were very relaxed with the endless stream of fans and autographs. The membership tent had a steady stream of people coming to it so hopefully our numbers will get a boost this week. I had an opportunity to talk briefly with PJ who, with his team, has helped to rebuild the club both off field and on. He was extremely pleased with the turnout today, and revitalised club spirit. All in all, amongst the crowd, except for the long wait to meet some players, the mood was fantastic uninterupted by the rides and distractions of Luna Park. Access to the ground by both car and public transport made the event easy for all to attend. I can only imagine it was regarded by the club as a success. Being flanked by the magnificence of our home ground, it was a genuine Melbourne Football Club event for the benefit of its members. Congrats need to be extended to Robb who worked hard today to keep the interviews with players and coaches flowing smoothly while fans went about their preferred activities. We'll done MFC.

One of many highlights for me from today's game was the ease in which Bailey Fritsch slotted into the side. I watched a lot of Casey last year and was stoked when we picked him up in the draft. After a couple of injury ridden years Bailey was easily one of the best at Casey pulling down plenty of screamers and scoring plenty of goals. Today he showed he can do it at AFL level as well with a handy knack of being where the ball goes. It is early days yet, but would love to see this kid develop into a best 22 player. Like Jayden Hunt and Mitch Hannan (and Nev Jetta) we may have stumbled on a diamond in the rough. CP5 is certainly a fan, and we can all see why. Any win is a good win. Today was no exception with a pretty even contribution across the ground led by Max in the ruck and some slick combination skills to work the ball forward into scoring opportunities. A good hit out to clear the cob webbs.

I like Dom, but his often lack of awareness and relatively inconsistent disposal skills downgrade him from potentially elite, to just being in the best 22. Either way, to get to where we are aiming this year, we need all our talent to be as healthy as they can for as long as they can.

Old Bear, on the basis of the respective current lists and experience, it would be quite difficult to objectively argue against Port having a crack at a flag before our much younger boys do. Ken Hinkley is no fool nor a novice coach. Many won't like that view, but that may be because with their one eye, they believe themselves to be all seeing and all knowing and objectivity has no part in it. That is not to say we can't gazump Port, but rather to suggest that deep into the year, our still immature bodies demonstrably have dropped off very quickly in the last month of the home and away season. Port Adelaide have added a lot of talent with far more mature bodies. After 55 over years of enjoying VFL/AFL footy, nothing is certain, but some things are more likely than others. Watts may well follow the tradition of Steven Armstrong, Jolly and Chip Frawley to hold the AFL Cup in the year after they leave the Dees. That gives me no joy to say but they are undeniable facts. I wish Watts no ill will, after all we moved him on and we are still paying a chunk of his salary, but a Port v anyone but us GF would be painful to watch. More so, if they were to win.

A couple of typos in there but l think we get the gist of your point. First hand, l can confirm ltalians once trusted, are one of the most giving and loyal cultures around. Once betrayed, stay well away! Love what CP5 has done, to return the club's faith in him. MFC is slowly building and binding a very high class list for the years ahead.

Having re-read my original post l find it somewhat incredible that my one line reference to the Mac boys could be construed as "presenting speculation as fact". I merely drew on my recollection of the released reports at the time. The vociferous response from a couple of posters who then added the term "blackmail" which l did not previously use, suggests there are a few on this site who are quite adept at discretely misreading and misquoting others. This thread started off being about Tom Mac and hopefully should end up that way. I naively failed to read the extraordinary amount of love for young Oscar and in hindsight regret mentioning him. Considering he was drafted in the same year as Jake Lever, l clearly mistakingly saw him as of far less developed a player and of far less value than Tom (and Jake). I accept that view is not shared here. Let me repeat a lost thought, l believe Tom is an important player to the side's success.

A common trait amongst most of the power teams if the past from the baby bummers, through to the Swans, Cats and Hawks is that they retained most of their best young players all the way through their successful era. Although individuals will only naturally seek what is best for themselves, successful teams share the spoils from the best players down, each sacrificing something for their team, and their team mates. Max is on board, Viney was never in doubt and Clarry appears to want to stay a Dee. If CP5 can hold fat with the club talking about his career, it sends a thumping message to all the other younger players. Ultimate success although not certain, would be at the very least a realistic goal within 3 years. I am certain our player management are acutely all of this. Gee, at one function l attended even Chris Connolly was mapping out the contracted players 5 years ahead of time. Maybe, at that time we needed to worry more about the here and now instead of the future. Most of his list are now long gone. Good luck thisTruck, you are one of msny important parts of our side and our future.

Ain't that the truth. Nothing could be better in AFL than celebrating a win, on the Wednesday AFTER the Grand Final. Sorry AJ, the team will always be bigger than the man.

DOF, I don't think many here can claim too much inside knowledge of the goings on of contract negotiations. I don't claim the blackmail story to be indisputable fact. However, at the time when TMac and his brother signed up last, Oscar had very little street cred to negotiate with, so it would seem more likely than not, that a little help may have come from his big brother. The suggestion of 2 or none is speculative but reasonably believable. After last night, nothing really changed as far as Tom is concerned. We need him signed up ASAP. Oscar could be put on ice but if he too I'd signed up, l could only suspect some brotherly support.

I don't disagree that Tom is a valuable swingman and has been a rare jewel for us at pick 53. The way the brothers negotiated in the last round was it was 2 of us or none of us - that gun at the head leads to a very different outcome in terms of what "the package" costs. I certainly would engage with Tom ASAP on a stand alone basis, to secure him. It is other pick 53 that remains that I currently have trouble assessing. In my view he will be either very good or useless and we will get some clarity on that over the course of this year. I would be more than happy if he has a break out year, but prefer to wait until that happens before paying for it. Frost is a clearly more developed, faster, stronger and more willing backman at the moment. They both have their weaknesses, naturally, but Frost is 2 ears in front of O Mac for my money.

Oskar with a K for mine. He seems to have both urgency and grunt then adds polish, traits we have lacked in the last decade. It is indeed exciting to see the list grow with young players who have genuine skillsets, rather than young players who fill our list obligations. All those on the poll fit that former criterion.

The Ollie ship sailed by us years ago. We chose Jimmy's dingy instead. I suspect OW was gutted by his rejection by our lowly club and it would take 2 lifetimes for him to ever look at us again, except in contempt. Demons fans looking for a goldilocks contract outcome may be very disappointed. In my view we need to move on, just as we had to do with Liam J. What an exciting team we could have had, IF ONLY (those two fateful words)

If only that were possible D4Life. In a more likely outcome, we will pay overs to each of them just to keep them together.

I am not so sure that is such a great deal D4Life. I would very much prefer to deal with each player on their merit rather than their parentage.

To ease my increasing sense of growing depression, reading this thread, l have decided to pack my bags and head out for a long drive to Casey fields to watch our young and often very courageous women strut their stuff in red and blue. This is not AFL nor is it ever likely to be but there are 2 teams each wanting to win, any way they can. Just as it is in life, outcomes are uncertain but effort can be applauded. The suburban footy atmosphere is great for both players and fans. As for our boys? Their opportunity to prove to the sporting world what they are made of, is close at hand. The question to be answered is are we reaching onwards and upwards in our quest, or merely clutching at straws? In my view, we are much more likely to win an AFLW flag, than we are the other one. Sad but likely true.

I would love either of the 2 options you identify LDvC if we could pull them off. The feeling I got from the AGM a couple of years ago is that inner city options have too many hurdles. Quite frankly, I would take any suburban ground within 10kms of CBD so long as it meets the needs of the players, the admin and the supporters to be really called a "home". That means parking and convenient public transport access are not negotiables. Having said that, even adopting a 10km radius in any direction leave us with very few options. As for Casey, it is a good 1 hr - 1hr 20min drive from CBD in normalised traffic (neither peak nor midnight). There is absolutely no chance on earth it represents a viable long term option for Club or its members. We really are in a pickle with this one. Meanwhile the Admin focussed Gosch's tri-angle looks like a band aid more than a solution to anything. And thus we remain the nomads of the AFL.

With all due respect AF as a former local government auditor, I do not believe your 1 line comment on the position of Council is correct. Having inspected the 2017 accounts the City finds itself well cashed up with burgeoning coffers helped by development fees and new ratepayers. With capital assets in excess of $2.1b and an operating 2017 surplus of nearly $30m, City of Glen Eira is well positioned, should they be pre-disposed to, contribute a handsome amount to a 50 year capital asset, assuming the largesse of our benevolent current premier remains.

Firstly let me say I would really support any proposal around the MCG sporting precinct that could deliver MFC with the space and facilities and branding capabilities we really need to mark out a spot as our own. It seems that this is more wishful thinking than a reality since Eddie took the obvious area from under our noses, some time ago. We are now clasping at straws to patch together some land and adjacent admin facilities around Gosch's paddock. I get to stare at Elsternwick Park every day from an office building, and the quite massive land bank it entails. Other than development costs and local council permits (which I totally concede are big hurdles to jump), there would appear to be few closer sites to the city, suitable for rezoning. The parklands are easily accessible using either one 15 minute tram ride down St Kilda Road or a 12 minute train ride from Flinders Street to Elsternwick Station. Parking, like anywhere in Melbourne these days, is possibly an issue but could be accommodated by some road widening as part of a full scale precinct development. I accept that a true long term MFC "home" needs genuine accessibility from all sides of town and I would welcome any site on the North or East that has similar accessibility to public transport. The City of Glen Eira local council has in recent times adopted a very aggressive town planning footprint of medium density development. Adding or contributing to a local AFL development would appear, at least in principle, to be within their funding and identity criteria. I understand we have considered Elsternwick before amongst our options. For whatever reason, it could not get over the line for serious consideration. Maybe the Punt Road triangle gets us there, maybe it doesn't. If it works, that's great, problem solved. If it doesn't, we really need to move quickly before the State Government's overflowing coffers become empty tins when the economic tide turns south. There will be no easy money when that happens, as it inevitably will. Probably within the next 3 years. I encourage the Board to engage strongly, but not hastily, in resolving this planning issue. Commencement does not need to be soon, but the decision and where with all to proceed, does within the 3 year or so window.

An international sponsor and now a simple red and blue away jumper. Every step taken by the off field management has been a step in the right direction. Big one remains elusive.....a home of our own. Time needs to remain our friend and all may fall into place,both in and off the field. Good move Dees.

The true value of this new sponsorship should not be under-estimated. PJ and his superb crew have managed to secure a partnership with a global financial organisation seeking to raise their presence in Australia and in the social responsibility profile. Congratulations to all concerned who sourced and nurtured this deal to its successful fruition. Anyone uncertain as to the calibre of people MFC now have working behind the scenes, should now be free of that uncertainty. Bring on the footy for 2018!

The club has come a long way in recent years, yet the lack of internal protocols that should have kept this fiasco in house, demonstrates how far we still have to go. It is unfortunate we remain distracted from our 2018 objectives and it is not even Christmas.