Red Sox

Speaks well. Definite captain material.

I'm liking your points on Rivers as captain. Not anytime before NAB cup time at earliest, in my opinion anyway. Unless the club see a need to use the new captain in any membership promotions or similar.

From that I agree with this at least: 'sometimes its nicer to be in a period of rapid improvement than having the weight of expectation that comes with being a legitimate contender' It's what made this season so enjoyable. Now, bring on the expectation.

Come on guys. Cheer up! Expect us to be beaten? Look at the Port side B) Garland & Chip can take some of the Port smalls. Warnock & Rivers some of the talls. I agree Bail is very very unlucky but this team has a bit of strength that should be able to beat up on this insipid Port side. Go Dees!

Correct!

Gold Coast can only take one player from any club, in any fashion. They cannot take an un contracted and also a trade. Matt Bate is obviously going nowhere. Cam Bruce is obviously going nowhere. Brad Miller is obviously the Gold Coast player from Melbourne. IMO. I thought, here we go, yet another JW thread, but in this case a good thread. Good to see two young guys signed up. Congrats Bater and Killer!!

I would suggest that a pretty minor hamstring injury taking 6 weeks is a bit of a sign. A further set back like this next year and who knows? Players like Gysberts etc could deserve the spot Junior made vacant and no one wants to see him go out playing for Casey. The right call has been made.

What is this HT? A vote for Rivers?

Hawthorn lost to Adelaide in Crows first game. Did West Coast beat North Melbourne? Um, yeah that's about all I can remember.

Agree with the Moloney call or more so will battle it out for spots in what will quickly become a competitive midfield group in which to get a game. Agree with the captain & leadership group but not sure why Green hasn't been skipper when Junior was missing. Makes me doubt the club & playing groups intentions of making him captain.

That's a huge surprise to me that Fitzpatrick would be dropped to the Casey two's. Can't believe it actually from what I've seen of him. Strauss is a concern, hard to make an argument against his demotion but gee, it's not great for a # 19 pick. The talent's there so hopefully he works through it.

The hoodoo. So many great gains made by the club this year, both on and off field and although a flicker of hope remains that we could possibly play finals, this is remote. There is still plenty to play for starting this week with Junior's 250th which takes on a bit more meaning due to his 'enforced' retirement today. Further and more pressing for the club as a whole is the need to break the AAMI stadium hoodoo by getting a long overdue win. 2011 will bring so many expectations from the gains made this year. It would be nice to go into 2011 without the AAMI noose around our necks.

I think both Hannabal & Rhino have summed things up nicely from both a club perspective and Juniors.

I am a massive, huge fan of Jack Grimes and would love to see him given the job. Like a Carey or Voss, he leads the team from the beginnings at base camp (to use Jimmy's phrase) to the summit. I like the sound of that. I am fairly positive that won't happen. I believe it will be one of Davey or Moloney. I've been at a loss to understand why Green was not stand in skipper instead of Bruce, for this reason I exclude Green from my thoughts. Moloney - I like his grunt and hard at it approach, I have my own personal doubts on whether he will be there right to the summit, but that's just IMHO. Davey - love the flash, just feel that he struggles at times and can go missing in games when given a lot of attention - not an ideal trait of a skipper. Green, I don't have any doubts about and this is why I believe him to be the best person, but don't feel he will be given the job. I'll go with Davey as my guess

I agree with you totally.

Fair enough. Junior stated in press conference that he thought he had another year in him and was a bit of a surprise, seems that he has had a bit of a push from the club. I would have preferred that it be totally Juniors call, but in any case I believe it's the right call for the Melbourne Football Club.

SEN now going over possible next captain. Let's wait for Junior to leave first. Well done Junior, there is no doubt in my mind he could have gone around again. I think he has made this call in part to allow the next phase to come through. Talk about selfless. Sums you up Junior. A true red & blue!!!

Acacia etc. I do not have the entire game but I do have bits of the game. As I do from seasons 91 & 92. I can't quite remember how games were televised back then but I used to tape anything and everything I could find, not to mention all those hours spent scrap booking. I love the 91 tape, goes through games such as the 20 goal win over Fitzroy (a week after we kicked 2 for the entire game over in Perth)& of course the Jako game against Nth amongst others. I am far from a tech savvy person and of course am not willing to part with any of these items, but if there is a way I can share, I am more than happy to do so.

Just tuned in, cheers for the bump

Not much more that I can add to what has already been said above about Junior except to repeat many of those thoughts. The true character of Junior will be confirmed further, as I believe he will make the call to retire, knowing that it is the best thing for the club. He has carried himself and the club through some terrible years and in that time increased the esteem he will be held in long after he has gone. All credit to you Junior and congrats on the 250th milestone. No one more deserving.

Wowee! Great work HT. Grimes is a definite top 5 IMO

How low brow to have to add in a comment such as lack of understanding of the game to try to give any argument more strength. You are speaking without any fact now Hannabal and just making generalised, unfounded comment. You are well aware the people have used the term 'basher' out of context, so what are you trying to prove champ? You are correct when you say that your efforts are wasted because all you do is highlight the same point, over and over and over again. Like an insane person that expects a different result.

The Watts 'bashers' may not be found but nothing new in you trotting out a one liner towards Melbourne supporters preferring to focus on positives. It does not necessarily equate to an excuse to do so. Why should anyone have to bother with 'excuses' for a 19 yr old kid anyway? Mostly to respond to the negativity based pigeon holing of these kids that have played less than 20 games. It may not be 'bashing' as you are so quick to jump on when used out of context, but it certainly is negative and these threads continually go down the same path. You incorrectly identify those that are exhausted by this crap as excuse makers. Again, they may simply be Melbourne supporters that see & like to focus on the positives.

A 1994 vintage Ox to add to the forward line.

I was just about to add that ID. Fitzy was probably break even with Jacobs. He is only 19 though and I can see the reasons why a call to bring in a Jacobs has merit. I really like the sound of a Fitzy/Russian, ruck/forward combo.