Slartibartfast

That's a miracle, perhaps there is hope. Well done to all concerned.

I think one of the biggest mistakes this club could make is to think it is safe. We have been hopeless for 7 years, On Sunday's performance it looks like 8. We must improve or at some stage the AFL will see us as terminally ill and look for the best way to quietly remove us. Tassie is an easy option ticking off the last frontier. Just because a position is taken at one point in time does not mean it cannot be revisited and revised. Paying out the Hawks might be cheaper than propping up a poorly supported and performing MFC. Edit: Apology accepted. Thanks

On Jonesy there is an excellent article on him in the Age today. He is a warrior/champion person.

I think you and I are on the same page Binman but I'd go as far as saying information about the injury is unnecessary, just a consistent and realistic projection of when the player will return. I don't in any way blame the medico's for what's happened. I just thought it strange that Gawn, Dawes, Garland, Hogan, Clark (although his case is clearly different), Jamar and Viney were all expected back much sooner than eventuated.

Look rpfc, I like you. You display personal characteristics I admire. But to my post you arrogantly and rudely dismissed my proposition as "The Tassie chestnut - groan". So I reminded you of your arrogant dismissive attitude to my proposition some years ago that Schwab, McLardy and Neeld were not "best practice" and should be replaced. You were wrong then as I believe you're in danger of being wrong now. Tassie may not have been on the agenda some months ago but another year of Sunday like performances and I think things can change. This is a forum for views so just debate the issues. It really isn't that hard. And if you don't like me as a poster you can do two things. Firstly you can not read and respond to my posts and secondly you can hide them. I won't be the slightest bit offended with either. But if you respond to me in an arrogant dismissive manner as you did here I'll return it in kind. If you want a sensible debate then I'll return it in kind. It's your choice really so don't get all uppity when your attitude is returned.

Nice response. Deleting the post or more particularly the poster would have been much more appropriate IMO. Btw I've only just seen this totally appalling remark.

Sadly he's not.

You say that with the same confidence you expressed in Neeld, McLardy, Stynes and Schwab. Your view, held by many, failed to anticipate a reasonably foreseeable outcome. http://www.themercury.com.au/sport/afl/cmon-tassie-we-need-a-team-effort/story-fnj4f7h7-1226862240976 Try and think ahead this time or you'll be protesting in front of AFL house as the players board the boat to Tassi.

I don't blame the medical staff at all. Injuries are what injuries are. I blame the information coming from the club. IIRC last week Misson said Garland would have played for Casey on Saturday if they had had a game. Roos in the recent article said "Garland may play" (one week later). Hogan's back injury is not soft tissue I know but Misson didn't rule him out for R1 when if first happened. Roos is now saying 4 to 6 weeks. How could Misson have been so wrong? Dawes is either 2 or 4 weeks away depending on who you believe. I think the club should just give conservative consistency. Anyway it looks like our major strength, a tall and aggressive forward line will perhaps have someone in it by the second half of the season barring further injury.

I take a broader view of AFL footy than many here and as I was walking home from the game on Sunday I wondered what I'd do to help the club if I was running the AFL. I couldn't come up with anything that is in any way possible. Some will argue for a priority pick but one PP next year will not solve our problems. The AFL have helped secure a competent CEO who has lured a competent coach but the problems seems so deep I just wonder how long is needed to rectify the damage done over the recent past and whether the MFC will survive that period. I know Scoop and know what a passionate supporter he is and what a passionate supporting family he comes from. I'm much older than him and in the not too distant past used to have restless nights in anticipation of a MFC game. But like Scoop I sat through Sundays game with not any excitement, no anticipation, no emotion and no anger. I just expected it. When we kicked our second goal in the third quarter I couldn't understand our supporters excitement. I reckon I'm as welded on as they come but on my walk home I also wondered how I could add some excitement to the year (because excitement is what footy used to be) and I'm seriously considering following another team for the year. Not forever, not paid up, but just to try and put some fun into footy. I've watched many of my passionate friends lose interest. They didn't want to but they just aren't interested in witnessing regular 100 point thrashings any more. They just don't enjoy being totally non competitive and I think, like me, many saw hope this year only to see it gutted on Sunday. I was absolutely bullish in the preseason. I saw a Darren Lehmann like led recovery. But as Choko said in a post, the players are mentally shot just as the supporters are mentally shot. Franky31 is another I know. His posts in the last few weeks are atypical and reek of the frustration of investing emotionally in this mob and I don't blame him. At least he has the energy to be angry but I'm not even angry any more. Tasmania will most probably have a team when the next TV rights come about. 19 teams don't seem practical. If we don't emerge very quickly and reactivate the supporter base there will hardly be a whimper when the oldest club in the competition is relocated. And that might suit the AFL very nicely. The next 10 weeks might well tell the most important part of our history.

My issue is not with ONE bit of spin, not with ONE injury healing more slowly than expected but with what appears to be planned misinformation in relation to many many players. Jamar, Gawn, Hogan, Dawes, Clark, Viney and Garland have all had injuries that have taken so much longer to heal than expected. Akram's razor suggests this is not bad luck but a policy by the MFC to misinform. Now I believe it's better to be conservative and surprise on the positive side rather than be optimistic and under deliver. For stakeholders looking for hope having important players failing to play when anticipated only further damages the trust supporters have Trust is precisely what Peter Jackson said he wants to build. Just at the moment it's difficult to believe.

Are you suggesting that the club should lie to people in the hope they buy memberships? Surely not.

Here's what I'm talking about. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2014-01-24/surgery-sidelines-garland In an article advising us that Colin Garland was to have an operation. Here is a quote from Mahoney Well guess what. I can't recall Misson saying anything during his rehab that said he was doing anything but "flying" but rather than being ready for the beginning of the season it looks like being 3 or 4 games in. Re you're quote above, I should have said "see if they are spinning rubbish to supporters". My mistake.

Are you responding to me? I never said that the club is lying to players. As you say that would be absurd. You don't get it, that's fine.

In the end I don't care if I don't know what injury a player has. Is it my business? Where does medical privacy fit in all this? But I want to be told straight when to expect a player back and playing. BTW, when did Geelong say Motlop would be back? Let's see if they are spinning rubbish to players. As for your point about "protect supporter morale in the short term" I'd suggest our spin does exactly the opposite.

When the injuries resolve themselves we will start winning a few games. I can assure you.

I reckon what he's saying is after 7 years of crud he's disappointed, disillusioned and angry. And he doesn't want to be told Hogan is a chance for round 1 for it to turn out to be round 5. He doesn't want to be told Garland and Dawes are chances for R1 only to see them in round 4 or 5. He can cop one or perhaps two errors of estimation but he's sick of the continual spin coming from the club that continually disappoints on a range of players. Footy is an emotional game and like most of us from time to time I reckon he's feeling it. I am. Bad news is bad news, it happens, it's probably nobody's fault, just don't feed us spin. Tell it how it is.

I don't mind Petterd's delisting, it was a reasonable call. What I find silly is that having been delisted many Demonlanders say that even fit he was no good and we are better without him. Petterd, Moloney, Rivers and Bennell are now playing regular footy elsewhere, some with more certainty than others and some in better teams than others. They'd sure as hell get a game with us.

Glad we got rid of him. Not up to it.

I agree. Just tell us straight.

Saty I hope you're right that the reports happen during the VFL season proper. But we played AFL last week and again this week and it's information in relation to AFL I'm interested in. The Casey players are in contention this week aren't they? Read my Mitch Clark rant and you'll recognize that your comments re "qualified doctor.." are misplaced. I'm taking about communication here, not medical diagnosis. And if you really think WC don't know about Jack's situation you are dreamin, if it's all over the internet and media I reckon Dave talking about it on Tuesday may not have let WC in on a huge secret.

In the Mitch Clark thread I've had a rant about the seemingly incorrect information provided to the members from Dave Misson. It's very disappointing. Don't the club realise that it's disappointing enough to have an injury list that's crippling the start of the season but it's doubly disappointing to be given false hope each week only to have it dashed. It will be interesting to see if Watts plays Sunday - if he doesn't we can mark it down to another bit of missing information to join the Jordie piece from last week. Doesn't the club understand the concept of Japanese management. Tell people the bad news well in advance so when it happens they've had a chance to adjust to it. One of the items I used to enjoy last year and in previous years was the report on how those that played for Casey went on the weekend. The descriptions were a bit apocryphal but the flavour was usually there. Not only that it gave a good indication of at least who played. I've been eagerly awaiting this item this week but unless I've missed it it has yet to appear. I'm wondering how Viney went, Kent, Salem and Hunt. But not a word. There are a couple of other small things from a personal perspective that I'm not going to detail which have been disappointing but to borrow a famous expression "what we have here is a failure to communicate". Common MFC, you're better than this.

It always makes me laugh when people here pick at players we've dismissed who are getting regular games at other clubs. Reading this thread it seems Bennell would be lucky to play for the school thirds but guess what? He's playing for West Coast in a team that I'd confidently predict will make the finals. He might just sneak into our team. Petterd another playing in a team that played finals last year. Of course Moloney is not good and Rivers is holding down a position with those pitiful [censored]. Then there's Brock and Col, but they're not good enough for us, in fact we're lucky they are playing elsewhere. That's only 6 players or about 30% of the team. But we are so rich as to be glad we don't have them. Like most I don't think many would make a significant difference but they are good enough. Here's a message. If they can get a game at another club they could probably get a game with us. Well done Jamie, I always liked your skill and the excitement you brought to us. Those picking at your MFC carcass are making themselves look silly. Edit: Heaven help me, "pussssies" is censored. Well FMD.

Whilst I certainly wouldn't suggest the medical staff are not competent I do share your frustration. From the time Hogan was injured there was some prospect of him being ready for round 1. Now it's 2 or 3 weeks away and we approach round 2. Yet we've not heard of any setback. If my memory serves me correctly Dawes was also on track for R1 and the interview after the interclub was all positive despite several observers saying he was icing his calf. Guess what. He hasn't trained with the main group since, is occasionally sighted at training and has been sent to the AIS for special treatment. Clark's story is well known. Garland was hopefully going to be ready for R1 and despite "he's going fantastic" won't be there for R2 and who knows when. We've come off 7 years of crud. We've all looked forward to being competitive. That hope has be fed by positive injury reports. On not one but 4 players we've received reports of a positive nature but haven't seen them on the park. Of course it's hurt us badly. The start of the season for a fragile group was vital and it's been torpedo'd by injury. It's not the clubs fault that the players are injured but it's certainly the club's fault we've been fed bull in the weeks leading up to the start of the season. You can sit and talk about "contact sport" all you like but it's not surprising that many of the passionate amongst us are angry and disappointed. Dawes situation also raises the question as to whether he should have been recruited or was just a desperate get by Neeld. Injured when he came, not right since and Collingwood were seemingly glad to see the back of him. i wonder if the same due diligence was done on him as when we appointed Neeld. I wanted to at least not fear going to the footy this year. I fear Sunday.

Does anybody know why he's on leave from the Club?