Pates

She's absolutely brilliant, a great ambassador for the sport and for the womens league. Wishful thinking maybe but it would be great if she managed to get a few women to follow Melbourne (both male and female) given her popularity and notoriety .

I would be absolutely stoked if we got him, as long as we didn't hurt ourselves in the process. At his age and his history of injuries he is a gamble but when out on a park and got he is a damaging player. He would also have to be realising that whatever his allegiance to the club and whatever Brayshaw is saying about his lack of playing in the last 3 years, he will not see a premiership at the Roos. Scott rolled the dice of aging players and he's lost so now they are back to rebuilding. I have been waiting more this to happen, admittedly I thought it was going to happen sooner, but the Roos are now cooked and they've got to start again.

Wow this could be one of the biggest results of the year, gotta say though I'm wanting the Swans to win. The idea of GWS getting into the finals and a prelim so early in their life does make me a bit sick.

Feels better than the idea of "last touch" for the boundary line. Hate the idea of that rule. Wouldn't be against trialling 16 a side for NAB Challenge.

The hype behind Jesse has been enormous. Taken in the mini-draft, playing extremely well against bigger opponents in the VFL, then having that year off where there was speculation about his back but coming into his first season out on the park and winning the Rising Star award. With all those variables you can understand why there is so much hype behind him. Despite a lesser output this year he still did amazingly well for his age, something we all need to consider whenever criticising him. Coming into his second playing year teams were always going to target him more and find ways of preventing him getting it all his way. Rather than us looking at this year as not being as good we should look at it as a development year, where he's now realised some of his old methods aren't going to cut it anymore. He has more strength than he's using, he appears to go to ground easier than he did in him first year where he appeared to try to stand up to that more. No doubt Goodwin and co will be looking at ways to develop him further next year, he looks his best when he's running hard for leads and out-muscling blokes to get the jump on them. As to whether he's staying or going, if Sculldog has taught us anything it's that we can't control it if does happen. The club needs to make Jesse want to be at the club, not try to force him to stay by paying ridiculous over the top amounts for him. And Jesse's also got to remember than any crazy amount he asks for is going to make it harder for the club (whichever it is) to recruit/retain good players to win the premiership.

I'm looking forward to watching Roos' speech myself but it sounds like he's tried to impart a last bit of wisdom not just to the players but the club. Pointing to Richmond and saying "don't become that again". Over to you now Goody!

Congratulations to all the recipients, but massive kudos to Viney. Everyone talks about the expectation placed on the no. 1 draft pick but I would argue there was almost the same amount of expectation placed on Jack and it hasn't phased him one bit. He keeps getting better and better. Jonesy is such a champ, runner up and a lot of people on here felt his season was a little diminished compared to others. Let's not forget this time last year he was preparing himself to go into neck surgery! Hasn't taken a backward step. Love the guy, so want him to be still amongst the boys when we do finally have success. No one deserves it more. I predicted Gawn to finish on top, but 3rd is still a fantastic achievement for the big man. Hopefully it leaves him hungry for more next year. Tyson had a stellar second half to the year, if he continues that next year the competition should watch out. Finally Watts, so happy for the guy. I hope his confidence continues to grow, he has now become a player that can hurt the opposition, and I love it!

I think there was an article recently saying that only 8 clubs would be in the black this year. Hopefully we're one of them.

Honestly had no idea about this kid going into this year. I only new he'd been given some bad luck in the first couple of years at the club injury wise. Looking forward to seeing his dash out of defence for years to come, loves a goal too!

Yeah that is a surprise, anyone able to shed some light on what he did to win that award twice? So far no surprises. Hunt best young player, Grimes best VFL player, Jetta Club Ambassador. Is there a womens B&F award again this year?

Doesn't really register a blip on my radar, I was happy for Jesse last year but ultimately it means very little in the grand scheme of things. As Wiseblood said, we had 4 nominations and Hunt was super unlucky not to get one himself. This award is all about the future and it looks pretty bright for us!

Whoever gets O'Meara will need to understand that he will be hard work to keep on the park for a long time. In fact if he has failed medicals at various clubs whoever is left should be already thinking about how best to manage his pre-season. GC have had some pretty rotten luck with some out and out gun young players, and now it looks like they will be leaving the club. Will make me sick if Essendon get him in the PSD.

Definitely need ruck depth, the only way he would go is if he requested it. I believe we re-signed him earlier this year. If we could secure a younger developing ruckman as depth for Gawndog and offload Spencer than I'd be ok with that but otherwise we need coverage for Max.

I did my knee playing for my local cricket club and it was covered by an insurance company the club provided me. How is it the AFL and the clubs can't cover medical insurance for the womens league. Touch of (sick) irony that our major sponsor is iSelect. On the player payments side of things, I accept that the women aren't going to be getting nearly as much on average as the men however if those are the terms that the AFL put forward that is disturbingly inept. For one, the risk of injury and so putting them out of their other careers should be a factor. Secondly they should be at least be examining an average for a decent wage in Australia and making sure that is the bare minimum for what they get in the week. This was always going to be the concern with taking up with the womens competition, that it could potentially be a strain on club finances. But the AFL has chosen to go ahead with it, and we have chosen to be a part of it; to half ass it would be a disgrace to the game and sport in the country.

She sacrificed because being an AFL coach is a massive commitment. One that she though he was done with, I would hazard a guess that they had plans for post Sydney coaching and those plans got put on hold. Being from another country away from her family can be difficult at times and Paul coaching us also probably meant they didn't have as much time to go see them. It's also not hard to imagine that at times she's had to give him a lot of emotional support at times. I wonder whether the club (and Roos himself) getting her involved with the players with meditation etc was an effort to give them a chance to spend time together while in his official capacity. With the added bonus that a lot of players have spoken highly of her influence. Or it could just be that! Whatever animal she sacrificed before the Hawks game order roughly 25 for next year!

Rodan was probably one of the better of his picks (I remember Viney speaking highly of his influence), Pederson has turned into a handy(ish) pick up, though why we gave him a 4 year deal I'll never know. Praha has some points though, Neeld was the first to try to instil professional training standards and player self responsibility at Melbourne. No doubt the players had been coddled for a long time under previous coaches. That said, Roos's biggest point of difference that sets him aside from many many others is he understands you can't have the exact same styles for the individuals. Each person has their own personalities and idiosyncrasies, he has been able to use those to better the individual. From the sounds of it, Neeld was an attempt at being the classic coach of "I don't care if you hate me, but you will respect me" sort of stuff. I think Neeld came to the club at it's worst time and made things worse with misfired attempts to force-feed experience into young players and moneyballing tactics of with player who were well past it. As for his speech, no doubt an attempt from the likes of Schwab to promote us, I don't think anyone could have predicted how badly it would turn out.

He played well after a mare of a first quarter but hardly BOG, might have a point on him being the sacrificial lamb after the saints game though. Wouldn't surprise me if you're correct on him being a tiger next year. Could also see him going to the Lions. Like Trenners (probably more so than Trenners) he was unlucky that we had such a good run of injuries this year. Makes it very difficult to break into a team, particularly when youth is the direction. If (hopefully when) Casey get to the GF I can see Grimes being given the BOG medal, he's been a great performer and would surely be a likely source for highest polling MFC player at the B&F. Alongside Nibbler.

Just saw Harris's long range goal, will be sad to see her in other colours next year. Dogs got that one but the record still stands at 5-1! I like the look of a Friday night match at a VFL size venue for the womens games, I'd be curious to know what the AFL will be expecting in terms of crowds. Might be a better look to have them at smaller venues with it packed.

Can someone provide a little bit of an update on what's happening in the game? Given the womens league is going to be starting next year AND this was billed as a part of the bye weeks festivities the AFL website has very little info on the game (similar to the Legends match as well).

What was the crowd like? Plenty of Melbourne fans around? I remember a couple of years ago the Dogs fans really got behind their VFL and it made it really special, would love to hear the Melbourne faithful doing the same. I feel like it's Casey's to lose this year, we've been dominant all year and have got the finals monkey off the back. We've also got a large amount of MFC listed players available. Signs are good!

Why the hell with the club going in such a positive direction would anyone want to dredge this cr@p up? Seriously it's in the past, it was a terrible time, why do we need to relive that horror show? Part of me has sympathy for Neeld. Another time, another place he might've been a good coach. For us he wasn't what we needed at the time.

How do people rate Vickery compared to Pedders and Dawes? Ultimately that's those are the two players he would be competing for a spot for. Depending on his asking price I see him as an option to look at, I'd have him at least on par with both of them with probably more scope for improvement. Still feels like a no for me, but wouldn't surprise me if we're considering him.

Not meaning to contradict you but they aren't an insurer. They compare all the companies to get you the best deal (or at least that's their claim). Anyway, all insurers are as bad as each other! Welcome aboard for the ladies team iSelect!

Can't see him having anything to do with Footy in a club capacity for a long time. His continual line was the his wife has sacrificed a lot during his time as coach and that it was time for him to repay that patience. Sounds like he'll probably get into some commentary next year, no doubt Fox Footy will chase him for a role on 360 or one of the other shows but I doubt he will do anything massively time consuming that takes him away from his family. He's certainly earned a break!

I have a feeling I know what the general response to this will be but with Choco being one of the coaches caught up in the Richmond cull would he be potentially someone we could have at the club as an assistant. My thoughts on him (based purely on speculation and opinion) is that I believe he can be a bit out there at times, and potentially quite a dominant figure. I do wonder how he would go as an assistant to Goodwin and whether their styles would mesh. The positive side to him is that Dustin Martin has spoken quite highly of him as a mentor of his so perhaps he could be positive influence on our young midfield. Just putting it out there for discussion!