binman

Is Charter, like Charlie, a euphemism for coke? Woewodin wins Charlie whilst on Charlie?

What is new is that there is a devoted weekly segment on Deetv as part of the clubs efforts to provide content. Sure the culture of footy has 'long been of rubbery injury reporting but this institutionalizes it and i say is more akin to misinformation. Also the difference from the past is such content makes an implied promise of providing reliable information to members. Increasingly there is an expectation - not just in football, but other sports eg racing - in this time of increased information flow and access to multiple media platforms that stakeholders are kept well informed. This was not the case even 10 years ago. This information flow is important if clubs don't want to lose the faith of their key stakeholder - the fans and particular the members. Twenty years ago footy fans might have accepted that their club fed them bull dust but that is changing and the risk is fans who become disenchanted or even annoyed by this culture of rubbish may decide not buy a membership. Instead hey might but one with Melbourne Heart. Look at membership numbers now. Twenty years ago a club could survive with 20, 000 members. Not now. Look at American sport. The have long recognized the importance of providing accurate information - and for that matter meaningful media access to players and coaches - to fans and the risks associated with not doing so .

BB i could not agree more. Misson is starting to really annoy me. What is the point of the weekly Dee TV injury update with him and Burgo? It is usually just rubbish and in fact i would argue more often that not it is misinformation. Your examples perfectly illustrate this. Of course injuries sometimes don't respond but once you see a pattern its hard not assume the truth is not being told. Watch the last one. It is a terrific study in someone not comfortable with what he is saying. Watch Missons body language, note how he flushes and listen to his tone when discussing Dawes, Hogan and Garland. He looks like he is, if not lying, then concealing the truth. As fans we deserve better and to be honest i don't understand the logic for not being transparent. It's not as if other clubs are going to be fooled. If Misson can't or wont be frank then don't have the segment. Saty i appreciate your posts and much of your feedback from your preparedness to ask insiders what is going on. However, whilst it has been said before your sensitivity to the club being criticised is curious and not a little irritating, chap.

I would have to say that i'm not always simpatico with Osiliks views but Dunn deserves a spot on our banner. In my humble opinion he is in our top 8 players and is arguably our most consistent player and perhaps our most underrated player. He misses few games through injury, hits targets by hand and foot, is good in the air and rarely gets beaten one on one. Seriously how many other players on our list could tick all those boxes.

as caro would say - I blame my source!

Just heard a strong rumour third to be sacked but can reapply

I'm with you on that. He's as flat as the nullabor

For the love of god Mandee please do not go there. Delete thread now I see from your number of posts that you are relatively new - assuming you are not an old poster with a new name. As such i can only warn that such a thread is an invitation for the most mind numbing, soul sapping pap you will see for many a year. You have been warned.

Which goes to show old school style never goes out fashion. I reckon it looks great.

An excellent summation of the plan. As you say soccer is the tactical template. And really good points about the need to have our best kickers hitting our forward targets. Those targets (short or tall) need to know how, where and when to lead and as you say they seemed a little confused about this against the Saints, which meant that often the ball carriers just bombed it ineffectively and it got turned over (often by the loose saints back man). Contrary to some who have said we should have gone forward more often i think that in fact in those circumstances the ball carrier should have resorted to chipping it around until a genuine option become available in the forward half. Roos talked about lowering their eyes as did Howe, meaning not bombing away and instead spotting up leading targets. But as Akum points out often no one was leading properly so they should have just held on to the ball - even if it frustrated the fans - until someone did.

Ta, Then why don't we have 2 (or even 3) clash strips? As i said everyone seems to love the new training jumper so why not that one? It is blue with the red MFC insignia. To avoid a clash with say Carlton you could have a second clash strip with red and a blue MFC insignia. Eveyone happy and the club getting some more money from merch. Simples.

I don't really mind the white jumper but how stupid was it to have a clash jumper that clashed? Why wouldn't common sense prevail and we wear our standard jumper which doesn't clash with the saints. Or have two clash jumpers? Id on't mind the red idea but what about our current training jumper which looks great and would have been perfect against the saints. Correct me if i'm wrong but don't EPL teams have more than 1 clash strip?

I reckon you are being a bit harsh TBH. In the example you gave he set Terlich up for a goal. He created the goal that Byrnes got. I reckon he was involved in other goal scoring chains. If we had of kicked straight he would have created 4-5 more goals such was his capacity to find a player in space and in attacking positions. As an outside mid his role is to create goals not kick them (though of course if he can get forward and snag a couple then all the better). I'm guessing score assist will be one his main KPI's. Also he did in fact take them on at one point and break a tackle. It was terrific to see.

He's got another year after this one on his current contract!

Some thoughts now that i've calmed down a bit: It was truly woeful match and a very poor performance by the dees - what a waste of $25 After the first couple of goals we looked hesitant and nervous, in contrast to the tigers game where we looked much freerer Often we seemed to forget our possession game and went forward when there wasn't a good options, rather than holding it and chipping it around - Jones was the worst culprit at this. This played into their hand with the loose back man they employed Jones played with heart but made some terrible errors in the first half and should have kicked the goal he missed - we desperately need a captains goal Howe was awful and his miss in the third was crucial Roos made a big blue leaving McDonald on - i couldn't believe it. At one point he was remonstrating with a trainer and was clearly distressed I also thought Roos made a blue withe his forward structure. I wondered why he didn't try to isolate Howe deep in the square and just authorize him to fly for speccys. Also even though it would have robbed Peter to pay Paul i would have loved to seen him try Dunn up forward in the last quarter. We needed goals and Dunn is an excellent contested mark and kick and has played most of his football up forward. Yes that would have exposed us up back but as i say we weren't going to win without taking some risks. it also would have brought JKH into the game If Gawn was fit enough to play at Casey he was fit enough to play for the dees. Should have selected him Dunn is a gun - have never understood the bagging he has often received on DL over the years Frawley made two critical errors in particular his missed handball receive at CHF. Yes it was hot but it was straight to him and they practice taking hot handballs all the time. The goal they got gave them the momentum and we never got it back. His helicopter kick to Byres tat got cut off by Reiwoldt was nearly as bad The Toump played well (not great) and did the job asked of him by Roos. Showed courage on a number of occasions and is a smart, natural footballer What did we have to do to get a holding the ball decision? I could not believe they didn't ping Gwilt - cost us a goal (it was 20 metres out) and any chance of winning The other critical umpiring error was the in the back against the Toump on the HFF. He used his body beautifully to get his player under the ball and would have run free into a vacant 50 yet was pinged. Terrible decision. I thought they softened the rule this year to allow more body contact in the marking contest. Perhaps it only applies to Cloke? Watts was as classy as i've seen a Melbourne player for a long time. But yes needs to attack the player with the ball more often. Perhaps he avoids physical contact but i reckon a big factor is his basket ball background. My son took up BB after years of playing footy and really struggled not to go at the player with the ball. His coaches have constantly tried to get him to hold back and corral more. Watts first instinct seems to be to do the same thing. It's hard to retrain that sort of instinctual reaction. Compare that to Viney who's instinct is to always go at the player. It must be said that sometimes corralling works and creates a turnover but there was a couple of occasions where Watts should have gone hard an low and instead allowed another player to do so I'm no Byrnes fan but i reckon some of the criticism of his game is a bit rough. He played his role acceptably. If he is selected again next week we can assume Roos agrees. If not well the opposite is true. Our inaccuracy was appalling - perfect conditions and it 100% correct that poor kicking is poor football Did i say it was a woeful match and poor performance by us? Will i be there again next week? Yes

Really? I guess then you view Paul Roos, Jack Grimes and the selection committee has having a a very simplistic view of theory to practice? Again i remind you that earlier this week Grimes said the Toump was an absolute certainty to be selected. This is the first opportunity for Roos to send a message to his players about what it takes to be selected in his side. He has made it abundantly clear that only those players ready for AFL will get a game. And he then selects The Toump (and not Blease). What exactly do you think he is saying with that choice? By the by Blease has always been a poor trainer. Unfortunately for him (well us really) he is also a perfect example of a player who can't get the footy. And to top it off he has only 'teared it up"once.

"Pity you're not a selector" - i'm assuming that was a typo and you meant I'm glad i'm not a selector or you were trying to be ironic. I mean you can't be serious about Toumpas being lucky to be selected. He has, according to his captain been close to the best trainer in the pre season, has not missed a session, has worked his guts out, has the the respect of his coach and teammates (but not a few DL posters strangely) is a mid fielder in a team crying out for good mids and as i posted yesterday according to Grimes was a total lock for round one selection. Yet rather than selecting him you would pick a player who can't/won't gut run, has hardly set the world on fire in training according to most reports, is a one way player who can only play in one or two positions (and can't play as a mid). No, i'm sure you must have been joking. If not i'm glad Roos and his selection committee have got the gig.

The Toump will 100% be selected (and not as a sub). If you are in any doubt about that listen to this interview with Jack Grimes on SEN, during which (from 10.42) he is asked about Watts, The Toump and Viney. He gives them all a wrap but in a nutshell he says about The Toump (paraphrasing): 'he would have been in the top couple over the preseason in terms of form and consistency - he'd be a walk up start for round 1 i reckon and he's earnt a lot of respect over the pre season'

Bluey Jack Watts Most Improved Jack Watts/The Toump Goal Kicker Hogan (assuming he plays most of the season - The Toump if he doesn't) Best First Year Player Hogan (assuming he plays most of the season - Salem if he doesn't), JKH will give us some thrills i reckon Most consistent First Year Player Alexis Georgiou. Given Michie has only played one game of footy he could almost be considered a first year player. He looked much more skilled than i expected against the Cats and on that performance I expect him to be in our best 22 all year. Chip Stay or Leave Stay Wins for 2014 After years of stupid predictions i refuse to think about how many wins. What i hope to see is a percentage closer to 100 than 50

Good post Sambo ...and to make us all fell a little better. There was some DL posters who (not unreasonably) thought we it might be worth taking a punt on Gartlett. Roos's solid citizen rule ruled that possibility out though. The Hawks decided to take the punt. At this stage the punt hasn't worked out: http://www.news.com.au/sport/afl/hawthorn-recruit-dayle-garlett-no-closer-to-returning-to-playing-field-as-club-and-management-discuss-progress/story-fndv8os9-1226858444578

Yep, good points well made. Hard to disagree. He's had a great preseason by all accounts. So it will be fascinating to see if roos picks him. Given his comments about not picking players before they're ready one assumes if he is picked roos thinks he's up to it

Being put of the contest too easily does not mean he is out of his depth. I really dislike such statements (out of his depth etc) as they are made by some (not you) as statements of fact. Did he star last year? No. Did he have injuries and an interrupted preseason. Yes. Did he play under a coach who has universally panned? Yes (as opposed to wines who has a coach who has been lauded for his capacity to develop young players and get them to play for him). The game he played down at the cattery last year showed he is not out of his depth at afl level.

To that i'd add the Geelong NAB game. He was clipped hard and late going for a mark. A soft player might have avoided risks for the rest of the game, particularly given it was basically a practice match. However the Toump kept going after the ball and later in the game he showed real courage going back with the ball attempting to mark. Let's not make the mistake of labeling a player soft as Hannibal has so blithely done (which is quite remarkable given his 'haven't you guys got Foxtel' call - i mean Hannibal claim he wasn't soft as juniour but suddenly has become one as a senior player?). He's not soft and he's not out of his depth at AFL level. He will prove that this year (indeed has begun proving it already) It shows no football nous to say we made a mistake picking the Toump not Wines. Way too easy a call, based it would seem on an amazing start to his career (good on him for this) and a slow start for the Toump.

Surely not king. I would have thought they'd let him ease into things at Casey. If they don't give jetta a crack now they never will.

I saw that. Didn't sound great. As you say said maybe 2-3 but when pressed again said 3-4