old dee

He was drafted just outside the first round when we picked him up. He'll be given a long time to prove himself.

How long is "long" BB?

Wow. 29,659 views for a thread about a young kid being offered a big contract by another club. And the only reason given for Tom accepting the contract is the money. I just think he needs more reasons than that.

Scully told the recruiters at the draft camp in 2009 that he wants be the best footballer he can possibly be. Money alone will not achieve that goal. The job of the MFC is to convince Tom that his best chance of achieving his goal lies with the Dees.

By the way, is anyone interested in the rumour that Melbourne is after Malthouse for next year? I heard that one tonight on AW.

I don't believe it.

DB seems to be rock solid with everyone at the Dees.

You should never say never but even if we wanted to we could never

offer as much as Carlton.

They want him badly I would say.

How about we take him at his word, accept that there have been no deals signed and let him do what he does best?

Do we have a choice RM?

I agree lets get on with enjoying his play.

Why not? The reactions of most of the posters to Fat Eddies musings have been a joke and not even a funny one. Why can't I have my place in the sun?

I liked it!

Time to lighten up a little>

Geez that's harsh. Tilbrook cost us a fortune and was supposed to be a superstar.

Tapscott's a kid.

And he needs to get on the park soon!

Because another year like last year would not be be good for his future.

The competition is littered with players who would have been great if they were not constantly injured.

Probably a bit early to be writing off his 2nd year in the 2nd week of February...

ID I don't think I was writing him off.

It is just disappointing that he is not being involved in practise matches etc

after a bad year with injuries.

Lots of good comments about him when he was drafted and so far he has been injured most of the time

since arriving.

I just hope he is not all "looks" and we get to see him play somewhere in the next few weeks.

Looks like we have named every player that is fit enough to play. My amended team

Bartram Garland Strauss

MacDonald Rivers Grimes

Trengove Sylvia Morton

Bate Watts Dunn

Green Jurrah Davey

Jamar Scully Moloney

Maric Bail Bennell Cook Spencer Jetta

Sub Martin Howe

Emer McNamarra Blease Nicholson

cannot remember the rules drdrake can we change the side between game 1 and game 2?

McKenzie left out?

He performed well in the practice match too, I thought.

The must be managing his loads.

I agree again e25 this is getting too much.

I keep forgetting it is 9th Feb for god sake.

A lot of these guys will be eased into things, the first match is 7 weeks away.

Still like to win on friday though

Good to see Blease, Howe, Strauss and Cook...but no Tapscott?

He needs to get on the park soon

two years with little return will not be good.

I get a faint Tilbrook smell here!

Looks Good but all muscle and not much action.

Hope to god he plays somewhere in the next few weeks.

Forcing Scully to make a decision before he is ready, can only end badly for us.

The way I see it, the best we can do as supporters is do just that - support him and the club.

Stick fat and stay confident he will stay.

In the end if we adopt that mindset, if he goes, there's nothing we could have done to change that.

It's largely out of our hands.

By giving these rumours more legs than they deserve, we only help GWS' cause.

If he goes and we have played him in the seniors all year - what have we really lost, that we would not lose if he played out the year at Casey?

Nothing, except we've had a chance to be pre-emptively retributive.

Recalcitrant brats while we do the work for GWS, essentially.

That's what Gubby is doing his best to create - a self-fulfilling prophecy, fed by the frenzied panic of our own supporters.

It's amazing the effect confidence has.

Constantly reminding him of the GWS option makes it more feasible in Scully's mind.

If you dismiss it and treat it like it is an impossibility, that also can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

It is not often I agree with you e25 but on this one you have my vote.

Lets not jump at shadows.

Nothing I can do about it!

Lets worry about Friday night.

I have some facts, Tom Scully is extremely upset that Jack Watts holds the Demonland record for the longest ever post. He has informed the club that unless he holds this record he will leave the club. Come on do your bit keep posting and we will keep Tom.

The Watts one is not finished yet drdrake!

However this one is sprinting along might be a tight finish.

Hate to buy into the speculation, but given it's going to go on all year... What would the MFC receive in compensation for losing Scully?

I don't think there are hard and fast rules the AFL seem to make it up as they go along.

I cannot see us getting another No.1 draft pick!

I agree with you C&B. I would be happy to win a game of tiddlywinks at AAMI stadium. I am sick to death of losing there. When we had real hopes of being contenders earlier in the decade and the bad losses there really hurt. Not just AAMI either obviously. A huge disparity between performances at the G and away from the G has been in my view a sign of mental weakness. Hopefully this group of players proves tougher - two wins interstate last year and a stirring comeback against Freo were strong signs of this.

Given all of the positive talk at the moment and the bold target of 40K members, a strong showing in the NAB cup would be good I think. It would give us even more momentum after we smash the Swans in Round 1.

There is little more to say I could not agree more.

Victory on Friday night in Adelaide is the mininium requirement.

Dean Bailey should look the kid straight in the eye and ask him what the truth is.

If he has already signed he should be told to pack his bags for GWS immediately.

RR that is why coaches do get involved in Salary negotations.

You want it handled by agents and Gm's of the football department.

That way the relationship between player and coach is not destroyed.

For god's sake There is a better than average chance he has not signed

and your path may push him into the arms of GWS.

That's a bit harsh, and my understanding completely wrong.

I'm let to believe that Barassi left Melbourne because felt he had achieved everything and wanted a new challenge and this is supported by the decisions he made throughout his entire career.

Perhaps I;m biased because I've had the odd beer with the great man but I'm pretty sure it wasn't money related

Jarka I remember it clearly and there were a few reasons for his leaving.

Money was part of the reason, by todays standards the pay for a player was way under what coaches were paid ( believe it or not .

So don't believe he did not get a sizeable increase in salary by going to Carlton.

I think this all started as a rumour and as TS has not signed has grown legs.

I do not think ( hope )he has signed.

That does not mean that he will stay at the Dees it just mean he wants to maximise his potential

by putting in a good 2011 and then do the best deal.

Unfortunately for Tom and The MFC the rumour has now made the position very difficult.

If his team makes no comment we all start to believe he has signed!

If he says no I have not signed it just means to the rumour mongers that he is going to at the end of the year

and so it goes on.

I cannot see a way out of it.

If Tom and his team continue on the current path we can expect this to go on for months.

The worst case for me would be to discover in August that he signed before 2011 got under way.

Fun days ahead!

It may be worth you taking the time to understand what JM's role will actually be.

It's fair to say that right now you don't.

Oh please KS carn't you take a little humour?

Lighten up mate!

Watts kicked one from 55m at Etihad from a set shot

Probably accounts for why I did not see it!

James McDonald

http://www.gwsgiants.com.au/james-mcdonald-joins-the-giants.html

Working in a mentoring role with the Melbourne based recruits this year.

Good get by them, and good on McDonald for getting a job. However I really doubt it will change the situation.

Knows Scully fairly well!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, this is better.

Bartram Garland MacDonald

Strauss Rivers Grimes

Morton Moloney Scully

Trengove Watts Davey

Green Jurrah Jetta

Jamar Sylvia McKenzie

Bate Bail Martin Howe Bennell Maric Dunn Gawn

How many candidates do we have for the 9 point Super goal ?

Sylvia, Moloney, Watts, maybe Davey if he nails it ?

I would have thought Dunn and Green on the run were a better chance than Watts HT.

I cannot say I have seen every kick he has had but yet to see a goal from him approaching 50+ meters.

In fact he seldom has the confidence to go for a goal inside 50.

Scully is going to be a top player if everything goes right for him. But at the moment he is a young kid (albeit of huge promise) with one year of AFL under his belt. He is about to start his second year at Melbourne.

If he were to leave at the end of the year, I think it would be realistic to put the opening date of our GF window back from 2103 to 2014. It would also lower our chances of flags in the years 2014-2018. But it wouldn't put us into throat-slitting territory.

In 2011, lets look at three scenarios for him:

1) He has the season we all hope for him, top 3 in the Bluey, double digit Charley votes, improvement in skills and hardness.

2) 2nd year blues, doesn't quite get there, but still full of promise.

3) Interupted season due to one or more injuries.

Its only after scenorio 1 that Sheedy, even if he is rapidly descending into senility, would offer the 6x6 package. But I can't see the six years. Try 4 max. The last really long term contract was when the Lions signed up Alistair Lynch as FF for the term of his AFL life, and he earned one third to one half his true market value per year.

After that scenario we would be offering 3-4 years at a good whack. 1.5M over 3 years? 2.?M over 4? What do posters think would be a realistic offer? Remember that after 3-4 more years, at age 23-24, he would be at his peak, and may well have a Brownlow and a flag (or two) at Melbourne. You might compare his case to Ablett's then. And so might he.

If scenario 2 comes about, then the gloss may well come off the silly money offers being rumoured. Me, I'd still make him the same offer to stay (maybe only the 3 year option, but) and it would look a lot more competetive against a reduced GWS approach.

Scenario 3 would require careful consideration and analysis of the injury. I'd think GWS would drop out of the picture, so it would be an internal MFC deal. Length of contract and dollars balanced against chance of recovery and impairment of function.

So it is only the scenario 1 situation the really causes pressure IF the rumours are true. If we would have offered 1.5M over 3 years, and 2.?M over 4, how much higher would we go to retain him in the face of GWS offers? Please bear in mind that the last time we paid up bigtime to retain a player for fear of them being poached was with Woey, and that did not turn out well.

So to put some perspective into this thread, what is a 2-year, 45 game Scully in top form worth at the end of 2011, and how much over those odds could we go to keep him if GWS are bidding?

The only other suggestion I have is to spend a much smaller amount (say $100,000? or the equivalent in Swiss Francs?) on a bonus to Scully's management if he stays here. Wouldn't want them to be giving him wrong advice just because they might make more money. And any such payment would be outside the salary cap as far as I can tell.

Golf you had me until the last sentence.

The going rate for managers is 3%

Now even if it was 5% then $100 000 is grossly too much.

They will put the offers to Tom and he will decide.

Other wise you make a lot of sense.

Tom Scully will never earn the same amount if he stays in Melbourne, no future contracts will be as big as the alleged GWS offer is. They are in the unique position to have an extended salary cap - Melbourne will never have this. As a professional footballer, it may be his goal to set himself up for life with a big contract, or it may be to win a flag with is friends. Nobody on here knows what his motivation is.

I'd like the club to wait and see what his disposal is like this year before offering a huge contract. To me it seemed to be a real weakness last season, and if it does not improve dramatically he will not be the star that many assume he will be.

I agree Thomo, all last year I thought Trengove was a much better kick.

I too think it would be foolish for the MFC to agree to a big salary based on rumour.

I am confident the MFC know what they are doing!

I do not want to lose Scully however if he goes for the big dollar then what can we do about it.

Nothing.

If we cannot keep him with a reasonable amount of money and other benefits then so be it.

When and if it happens we move on worse things have happened to the MFC.

What, we will look stupid if we play him all year to discover he he already signed with GWS?

This thread is ridiculous. Did Rischitelli play doggo this year because he had signed this year for GC17?? No, he won their B&F.

Did Gary Ablett play doggo? No, had a great year (didn't win their B&F because their cowardly and hypocritical coach had a personal spat with him)

Scully will wait until the $1Billion TV rights deal is complete before negotiating as it is fait accompi that salaries will be skyrocketing. His worth at the end of this year will be a significant multiple of what he could sign for now.

His management is doing the right thing by Tom. Now, relax. I don't think I can bear 27 more weeks of this thread!!!!!!!!

There is a very easy solution to your problem "jnrmac" don't look at the thread!

Betfair has us third with Adelaide favourites and then Port then us. Good grief

Unfortunately these guys seem to get it right most of the time.

However I have decided to be positive.

They are going to do their shirts on Friday night.

Look out here come the Dees.

( I hope )

OK folks here's the awful, awful stats. 15 consecutive losses at AAMI, 11 of them by over 40 points and 6 of them by over 70!!!

2010 21 AAMI Melbourne 2.6 5.10 8.11 11.17 (83) Port Adel 3.2 8.2 15.6 17.10 (112) Lost -29

2010 13 AAMI Melbourne 1.3 3.5 8.6 11.7 (73) Adelaide 4.6 9.10 10.19 16.21 (117) Lost -44

2009 3 AAMI Melbourne 2.1 4.4 7.5 14.6 (90) Port Adel 3.3 10.5 16.12 22.15 (147) Lost -57

2008 21 AAMI Melbourne 1.0 2.4 4.8 7.9 (51) Port Adel 6.6 9.10 10.17 18.21 (129) Lost -78

2008 8 AAMI Melbourne 4.4 6.5 7.7 11.8 (74) Adelaide 8.1 12.6 15.15 22.18 (150) Lost -76

2007 17 AAMI Melbourne 2.3 6.6 7.7 11.8 (74) Port Adel 8.3 11.6 19.10 25.13 (163) Lost -89

2006 22 AAMI Melbourne 4.3 9.3 13.6 14.10 (94) Adelaide 7.3 12.8 17.10 23.14 (152) Lost -58

2005 19 AAMI Melbourne 2.1 5.1 7.2 7.4 (46) Adelaide 2.4 6.10 8.15 13.22 (100) Lost -54

2005 15 AAMI Melbourne 1.1 3.5 5.7 11.9 (75) Port Adel 4.4 11.9 17.13 20.17 (137) Lost -62

2004 19 AAMI Melbourne 1.6 3.9 4.14 6.16 (52) Port Adel 5.2 7.7 11.12 18.17 (125) Lost -73

2004 14 AAMI Melbourne 2.5 5.8 8.10 10.13 (73) Adelaide 7.1 13.7 16.10 22.13 (145) Lost -72

2003 20 AAMI Melbourne 2.0 6.5 10.6 15.8 (98) Port Adel 6.2 10.3 14.6 17.10 (112) Lost -14

2003 12 AAMI Melbourne 1.1 3.2 7.5 10.5 (65) Adelaide 6.2 9.7 15.10 21.12 (138) Lost -73

2002 17 AAMI Melbourne 3.2 9.4 11.6 17.10 (112) Port Adel 6.4 12.7 14.10 17.14 (116) Lost -4

2001 9 AAMI Melbourne 1.4 2.8 6.8 9.14 (68) Port Adel 4.1 6.7 11.8 13.10 (88) Lost -20

Oh Please B&C I knew we went poorly in SA but the above is a nightmare of tragic proportions.

Now I really am frightened to turn on the TV on Friday night!