binman

It would be funny if that came about because of the ad!

Nice to see things getting back to normal. CS sucks! Lets conveniently forget his professional handling of the various dramas that beset the club last year (including the loss of a major sponsor) and getting two new sponsors on board. Lets also forget the extremely well handled tanking palava and the fact he he came out of it with not a scratch and his reputation far from being tarnished as CW would have liked but rather, enhanced!

Good call wj. Misson and his team have been terrific

I thought Gawn had done his hammy and was out for 4-6?

Interesting. Isn't that almost exactly what Kennet said on FC - except for the freo bit! He was banging on about Buddy staying at Hawthorn to shore up his post footy career, said the media wouldn't be his go but that he be would a leader in his community. Perhaps Freo have the same idea (it would be ironic if they got it from Jeff).

I have all the footy records of finals Melbourne played in between 2007 and 2012

I watched the game last night. Some random observations: Like others i loved the coverage and the high shot - commentary was surprisingly good Our tackling was the best i have seen ever seen it Whilst they had more possessions (which is a worry) lots of their possessions were rushed because of real and perceived pressure. Also we diid a good job of trapping Port in our forward line with them often forced to kick laterally across the ground several times. Players very focused on zoning and taking up space eg by furiously waving arms Some suggestions Davey on here was quiet - i though he was fantastic. !# goals form a small forward is a perfect return. Two of the goals were from close to the boundary and in really swirling conditions were super classy. His tackling and pressure was first class and directly resulted in at least 2 goals. Terrific. Kent has something. Being a left footer he has the ability to create a bit of space as he did with the goal he set up for Sellar Hogan did not have quite the same impact as the first 2 games but geez he is going to be a gun. He is big and has good hands but the best thing is that he is a pure footballer - knows where to go, reads the play well and uses his body super well (and not just his strength - sometimes he just knows when give a little bump to create some space in front of him). Will bring fan to Casey games Lots of bring strong bodies meant we did wel in the clearances but more pleasingly we broke heaps of tackles and at least 4 goals were possible because we are able to break free of tackles and congestion - this was aways a huge problem in previous years (ie just getting monstered)

I hope you're right. Do you know if he played forward yesterday?

I'll move on - by the by what position did Tappy play yesterday?

Fair enough. And of course moderators have the right to an opinion. I just felt other posters were being unnecessarily harsh towards the big o and you provided support for this. The post i was referring to was: ''Slightly twisted, but just about on the money." which i read as you supporting another posters view that Osilisk was bagging Tappy. Pretty mild i guess so perhaps my criticism of you was unfair. Apologies. My point about Osilik being treated harshly remains though.

No you're right. A better team would have beaten us with that disposal differential and it was a huge issue for us last year. As was inside 50 differential which we also lost against Port The high tackle count, contested possessions and center clearance stats (19-7 despite getting smashed in the ruck) give a good indication of where Neeld (and Misson for that matter ) is currently focusing his attention and perhaps is an indication we are heading in the right direction in terms of Neeld desire for us to be the hardest team to play against. When you consider our mid field was Couch, Magner and Sylvia you're looking at some pretty strong boys. Great to hear an opposition coach say were more fierce at the ball. I was interested in Jimmy72's comment about us getting 5-6 goals via long kicks that cleared their defensive line (one of Sellar's goal being a great example - see links on MFC). I wonder if that is a pointer to a game style that is less possession orientated?

Fair point. But i think Swans won the granny last year with fewer possessions but more tackles.

Tackle count well in our favour. Many believe this is the key stat

He didn't label Tappy a failure. He asked is there a risk he will become one. And to be honest there is. If he doesn't make it it will be yet another player BP selected who has not been able to cement a spot on a pretty average list.

You've got to be joking. Jeez there are some pedants about. BP has come in for a huge amount of criticism on this board for picking players who have not made it. If Tappy doesn't make it he can be added to that list. Therefore a reasonable thread titlke in my book. In any case he clarifies his position and it would appear was not overly cristical of Tappy and for me the tile is more a dig at BP, and as i said Osilik is not alone in bagging him. So what if the thread title suggested Osilik might think Tappy is heading that way (- though it did include a question mark)? Most thread topics imply a position.

What's the go with the criticism of Osilik over his OP and subsequent posts? Poor form - and i notice H_T whilst you haven't sunk the boots in per se you certainly seems to be supporting those posters having a shot at him - strange behaviour from a moderator. Wondering where Tappy is at is totally reasonable and is a good question. Like many others i believe this is a make or break year for him. To be fair he has really struggled with injury and IIRC all his injuries have impacted his mobility and ability to get his endurance up and he is yet to have a proper pre season (has this years also been interrupted?). I agree with the posters who favour him playing up forward in a role similar Chapman. He gets found out a bit down back and is too one paced but as a high half forward could be a damaging player as he could snag goals from outside 50 and also be able to hit the other forwards lace out. Really he should also be able to spend some time in the middle, again like Chapman does. I thought i read in a training report that he has been training with the forwards? Can a regular training watcher confirm that? If so Neeld may be thinking the same things in terms of his best spot. In a team with so few quality kicks he has a real advantage with his lazer boot. Like others i love his physicality. I really hope he makes it.

Doesn't 4-6 weeks indicate a strike under the illicit drug policy? Joking btw

Very intersting Wreck, thanks. Given your knowledge can you advise if Blease, with that injury, will still be able to maintain his base fitness (by doing non weight bearing training such as bikes and swimming)?

I assume that he will still be able to do non weight bearing exercise with a high sprained ankle (whatever that is). Lots of bikes and swimming should help him maintain his fitness base i would have thought. Can a fitness expert confirm or shoot down that theory.

Which one did you go to?

I went to the family day on Sunday and there was a fella with t shirt that screamed: DANGER: I'M AWESOME. YOU ARE NOT. As he passed by I said to my son in a hushed reverential tone - 'there goes the great Ben-Hur of Demonland fame'

To be honest i hope they don't investigate other clubs for tanking. We should just accept we were unlucky and move on. Who wants/needs any more tanking palaver saturating the footy news. It's not going to help us if another clubs gets slugged I think most people know we were just one of several clubs who were not always trying to maximise the chances of winning in order to gain a benefit at a subsequent draft. Perhaps that's a positive, we're done and dusted on the issue - other clubs might be worried their turn might come. As another poster noted perhaps it even might help foster an us against the world vibe amongst the playing group. On other clubs - there was quite a few comments by CW and on DL suggesting our management practices meant we had some very disgruntled ex employees and that this was a factor. This may well be the case. However there often seemed to be an implication that this was a peculiarly Melbourne thing. Well i would suggest there may be more than one disgruntled ex Essendon employee and players for that matter (also some pretty angry current players). Also IIRC a whole raft of Carlton employees were given the bullet when MM rode into town and were none too happy about it. There was talk of legal action, in large part due to issues such as unfair dismissal and how it was carried out (ruthlessly and without much, if any, warning) Perhaps Carlton are better at ensuring angry ex employees don't go looking for revenge. For their sake i hope that's the case or else they might find someone leaking inside info to some muckraking journalist. St kilda seem to have their fair share of angry ex employees over the years - Grant Thomas, Stan Alves and Malcolm Blight immediately spring to mind. In fact when its all said and done all clubs probably have their share of disgruntled ex employees so perhaps poor man management is the industry standard.

For all those worried about this business forever tarnishing us as tankers have a a squiz at today's papers. Nary a mention of anything to do with tanking save a couple of articles that are critical of the AFL in regard to having the incentive in place. The back of the Hun screams about tiered ticket prices. The Bombers will be back in the news soon and the NAB cup will fill space. The journos are combing social media for the next juicy beat up. In a weeks time most people won't even remember the dees were investigated little lone brand us tankers. Yesterday news, today's virtual chip wrapppers. Not one person will care about Melbourne.

I doubt it - but they're obviously having some fun and i assume the deliberately antagonistic style is all a part of the new age (and i don't mean Aquarius) - a once proud paper reduced to trolling.

It is now, it's been changed.