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In, and hoping this year is more successful for me both on the ladder and in reducing fights within the group. I'm happy to lock up some of the rules before the start of Feb thus to allow time to debate etc...

Who gives a toss now. Lets hope they're [censored] bricks in 2016 when we're there and thereabouts the top of the ladder. Geelong 10 years ago were the joke who couldn't close and now they're a 'dynasty'. Lets bump in a few years time!

Hmmm alot of excuses. I never saw people justifying Ben Cousins drug addiction, and further the line that I can't understand what he is going through is one of the biggest cop outs in life itself. Liam is a Australian person with regular problems, he also had a perfectly regular life until he turned his back on Melbourne and the AFL and was allegedly potentially involved in a stabbing. Too many 'excuses' are given for this human and it's bloody bloody lucky he didn't kill or injure someone. Yes there are facets of Aboriginal life that are different, but this sweeping under the rug due to 'non-native' "not understanding" what they have to go through is BS. People lose loved ones and have [censored] days, weeks, years and don't commit crimes.. There is no excuse for driving .27 and that is all it comes down too.

Don't risk it, bet him Mitch's goal average per game will be higher. Guarantee you that'll win as at least you won't be [censored] yourself when he gets rested for a finals

There's no way they run 185m in 18 seconds after 3k. It takes Usian Bolt 18 seconds to run 200m fresh, after a run like that, that distance would take 30-40 seconds. The club sets goals for the players, and the 3km time trial is far more comparable to other teams, than running 3.183kms.

I'm not 100% sure on this I think the actual Princes Park course is about 3.2- 3.3kms but Melbourne run a 3km time trial. So the record time being 9.49 is over the extra 200-300m so technically Dan's is no record.

Haha I didn't say no Sylvia because I'm sick of it I just sometimes like hearing about talk of the lesser likes. Great to hear Jetta having a ripper preseason, with no Davey and Jurrah we really lost that aboriginal spark in the team. The way that type of footballer plays really does bring a spark to both team and supporters and hopefully Jetta can do it for us. In terms of young players also I really like Kent. Obviously he's not been stuck in VFL but at his pick he wouldn't be expected to do much season 1. Him and Tapscott are very very similar so for mine I think one of the two will make it... God knows which one.

I always keenly observe the 'Most Improved' threads to see who DL fans will see coming on for Melbourne this year. What I'm generally finding happens is the conversation remains on Colin Sylvia or another older player not playing to his talent. For this I'd like to try and find a player who's plied his trade in and out of the team who will now move on to a regular spot. For example, my selection is James Strauss. Think his foot skills will be paramount to our success, from the training reports seems to be holding himself to a high standard and now what 2 years on from his broken leg has no excuses. My downfall for the year is I think Dan Nicholson will have a down year. Anyone have any predictions for our outside players...

Not that I agree but I think the point he's trying to make is 'white' players make up 90% of the AFL and whilst they also have indiscretions the concern is the 10% of aboriginal players who are matching these muck-ups with a far smaller pool. Beat around the bush all we want but 3 aboriginal players were drafted this year and it is a sad reality because I don't believe they are to blame.

Don't overreact, security took out the AFL players because they're far easier targets for patrons to attack verbally or physically than a random individual. They finished their training a few days ago and are on holiday break, what they do is up to them but they need to realise they need to come back from break in just as good if not better shape so if they get [censored] one day well its up to them to work it off the day after. I have no issue with that, they are humans after all. You can angry all you want if it's all the players' fault but on some BS writing from the HS, don't get your knickers in a knot, the security were simply doing the smart thing.

Whatchu talkin' bout Willis!

Jones had no idea Melbourne would pick him up so for all he knows, another 17 clubs could have been looking at him. If the football department deem him good enough to add something to our list, I don't care whether he is pick 52, 1 or 706. Props to the club who clearly had a specific list of players they thought would benefit the list, and have picked them up accordingly. Let them do their job and grade when a pick could have been used in a few years once he's showed us his ability.

My understanding is the second.

Ridiculous people saying unhappy. Jack got offered and it's almost the ultimate honour when at the MFC. I'm happy Jack took it on, and look forward to seeing a good 31 run around again.

Wines' ceiling is being Nathan Jones. Hard at the footy, loves training and working hard but his skills will always prevent him from being in the top echelon of players. Props to Nathan for working on his, and this year blazing away less to be granted the top 50 honour. Toumpas on the other hand has the potential to be anything. His run carry and glide is reminiscent of Pendlebury and he has excellent penetration and finishing with his feet. I love Jonesy but you expect/ hope for more with a pick 4 and Toumpas will be a better chance of being the 'elite' player we so desperately desire.

Haha Thankyou god couldn't believe what I read. Strong Greek Ties WTF does that mean to his chance of being a success. Blimey silly seasons gone mad

For mine it's quite obvious which is the easy choice to make. Ollie Wines may be a brilliant talent but Jimmy T fills a whole heap of needs for the MFC. We lack any midfield class, other than Jones and potentially Sylvia if he plays there we have absolutely no goal kicking mids. When Collingwoods forwards struggled this year, their midfielders picked up the slack and provided the class. Toumpas reminds me of Beams in a way, he's very much an outside player but when he needs to get contested ball he can and he is just a bonafide finisher. Melbournes smallest issue last year was contested footy. Im quite confused as to whu everyones opinion is that we so desperately need tough ball winners. We have a top 50 in the league hard ball winner and now the best inside mid in the draft. We actually won the contested ball on countless occasions but it was the spread and uncontested that we struggled at. We've added J.Viney who will increase that mdfield hard ball but we NEED someone to run and spread. As mentioned Wines will be fantastic but Toumpas if available would just hit so many more of our needs.

That's not unusual though, Jackson Macrae will go top 10 after the Champs and at the start of the season would have been a chance of a rookie spot. Older again, Steele Sidebottom was really a 5th round pick or a rookie until he kicked 10 or 12 in a TAC Cup Grand Final. If our Wines did what Steele does week in week out I wouldn't be too disappointed!

Whitfield Toumpas Plowman Wines Macrae Stringer Grundy O'Rourke Jaksch Daniher

Someone who actually went able to tell me how following messrs trained? Tapscott Strauss Hogan yet? and Jetta. Cheers

It's funny that all the comments are now from ex-sponsors and ex-players, coaches or board members. If the AFL cant work out a statement from a disgruntled person isn't always credible, maybe they're stupider than I thought they were. Regardless, this particular sponsor should be banned from the AFL, they are claiming they knew we were cheating and chose to say nothing about it. In the justice system knowingly withholding a person of crime can be a felony so if these gentlemen are so helpful in throwing us under the bus, I'd like to hope Melbourne also put the pressure on all these people should we be found guilty.

It certainly is in comparison to Melb, Ade stories but still as we've found out where there is smoke, there's fire and I can only pray for an annoying saga hanging over Richmonds head ala Cousins in the late 00's

Granted trolling may have been incorrect wording I'm sure you're just another frustrated supporter. I get frustrated because we write off players as not even close to best 22, and according to the elite list evaluator Olisik who would trade asap, these players are simply no good. The guy is 21, had a break that ended the career of an elite player like Nathan Brown and managed to forge some 7 games together in 2012. At the same time he operated at over 80% efficiency which no other player on our list did. I think Strauss' has lots of flaws to work on, I think his lack of possessions based on my own vision are that he works too hard defensively that he isn't confident enough to run off his player to make play offensively. Whether this is lack of fitness or lack of confidence I am unable to tell you but I see a 22 year old Strauss far more likely to attribute to future success than Bartram or MacDonald. Even Nicholson, sadly us as Demons supporters due to years of disappointment and terrible players are drawn to a flashy fast player but Nicho is average defensively for the opposite reason to James in that he overcommits going forward. His kicking could also leave abit to be desired. Picket I guess what I'm trying to say is take a few minutes to watch his video in the Vic Metro where he hits up Watts three times in a row and his game against Carlton where he also finds Watts with a 55m pass through the middle and you may find the reason why I think he will be apart of our future but I guess 2013 will be either his best 22 year of AFL scrap heap.

Christ you're annoying. Last 3 posts all berating a player who came back from a double broken leg to at least play 7 games. Who do you like picketfence or are you nothing more than a troll? I am yet to see a post from you that has any substance so enlighten me and fill me in with a reply that suggests your comment on our club is something more than a bad joke.

My understanding is it would fall into the 'bringing the game into disrepute' category'. Really it's enough of a joke in itself that one bad thing falls in the category and another doesn't completely at the discretion of Vlad and is a true portrayal of how flawed our games hierarchy is.