Pates

Sad but not unexpected. I really hope we pick him up in the rookie draft, I reckon he still wants to be at the club and I think he's got plenty of talent, he just needs the application.

I'm happy that we get a couple of games in Melbourne vs Pies and Hawks. Will be a good experience for the players and will hopefully be a good test of our new hard style under Neeled. Interesting format, can't say it lends the same sudden death tension though. But probably confirms what everyone sees of the competition.

As predicted, yet another NAB first round not in Melbourne for us. But we have been given a draw that we should (on 2011 form) get over the line with and that'll set up a likely early meeting with our old enemy. I can't even remember the last time we played them in the pre-season comp!

Fair call, it was a bit of a backhanded compliment. I guess my point wasn't so much about Green rather than the state of the series. I'm a supporter of him in that I back him as a Melbourne player, and his service to the club has been excellent but 2011 was not a good year for him both as a player and a captain. My initial comment was harsh at the time, I realise that, but representing you're country in your chosen field should mean something and with the squad their putting out it really doesn't seem to. And IR hasn't involved the best players for about 10 years? Take a look at 2006, that'd be a bloody good team in anyone's book.

Actually it's funny, my beef isn't actually with the AFL and the series. I am proud that an MFC player with be leading the team out against the Irish, but I'm very disappointment with how the players of the AFL view this sport. I love Australia playing anyone in just about any sport and I love to get behind them because it's theoretically our best vs their best, but this is clearly not the case here. As I said above, if the majority of the best players don't give a sh!t, why should we?

Certainly true, and I don't count 2011 as a total write off. Games into players is still development, and as you've pointed out, finals would have won Baily another contract and we wouldn't have had the sensational off season changes we've seen. Mitch Clarke would likely not be a Demon for one.

The fact we had a soft draw this year makes 2011 even worse than what it appears. With the draw we had, we had a huge chance to play finals this year and didn't, I like that we may have been "gifted" 8 points and I like it that we'll be able to see the Dees crush the Giants into the turf on the G, but I want us to earn and deserve a top 8 spot.

As if this hybrid game wasn't already a joke. I'm a supporter of Green and congrats to him getting the captaincy nod, but seriously he was not a good captain this year. Time was this was meant to be near to the best Aussie players vs the best the Irish had to offer, now they've got kids coming in, a small handful of AA nominations, and Green, who's probably only in there because he tried out for Man U as a kid, as captain. The players have shown how they see this game, how are we meant to get behind it?

39301 We'll continue to claw our way towards the 40K mark. Off season has been a positive one, hopefully we'll get a few wins early and will generate interest. What are the odds that we'll be playing ANOTHER away match for the NAB cup?

I think the right and fair decision for Aussie may be to put him on the rookie list. Fact is he has gone through a really rough year emotionally in 2011, form showed that throughout the year until he was given compassionate leave (which was the right thing to do for both parties). But it seems there may be some questions on his commitment to the club after this year, and the distance between himself and his family could be a really telling factor. The rookie list players have received a boost with their payments, and it may be a good opportunity to see where he's at without putting the pressure on being on the senior list. Definitely want him around next year be it senior or rookie list. We have barely seen him and Jurrah in the same team and I really think that could be something special.

Worth keeping around IMO. He does some good things and his tough as nails, has taken plenty of defensive pressure marks in 2011, just some of his disposal and decision making has let him down. I'd be cutting Spencer ahead of him, we have a large contingent of ruck stocks now with Jamar, Stef, and Clark able to step into the main role (albeit Clark is meant to be a forward) and Maxy Gawn developing nicely.

Exactly. New coach, new year. 2012 is a chance at a reboot for a lot of players and Flash is definitely one of them, he still a very important leader to the indigenous players, and I really hope he gets his body right and proves he's still got a role to play 2012-onwards.

Really bizarre idea whoever decided to approach him. I get the feeling that being a club president is something you have to be passionate about, much like coaching, and it consumes you 24/7 (which is why many would be concerned about Jimmy still being a the helm), so of course Kennett wouldn't be a be right for us. I hope, and it doesn't sound like, any current Melbourne board members were the ones asking him, not who we need. EDIT: And on Denham, he does seem to have some kind of beef with Melbourne and TBH i think until we win 4 premierships in a row and come away with a $20 million profit, he will still talk down our club. Even then he'll probably say we got it through tanking! Have stopped listening to Hungry For Sport between 9-10am because of him and Patrick-don't-let-the-truth-get-in-the-way-Smith.

It sucks that we have to do this, and I really look forward to the day we don't have to sell home games. But looking at this "glass half full": - Great $$$$, which we still definitely need - We keep building a presence in a different location - We continue building good will towards the club with the fact that our indigenous players really embrace the match, and the players are in turn embraced by the locals. (Just think about how the crowd reacted every time LJ got the ball!) The cons are obvious, but hopefully the AFL will give us a bye the following week, but the doggies are getting a game up there as well so we may be in competition to have that.

Definitely not a grudge match, if anything the Lions should be thanking us for getting in on the party! Clark was always going, Fremantle, West Coast, or Melbourne it didn't matter. I'm just glad it's a home match, and a bloody good chance to get the year off to a good start.

I think it's a shame that we're reduced to being so bitter towards him. I was disappointed that he chose to leave the club for the Hawks, especially when I could see he was never going to be a regular player for them, but I still feel it's worth noting his contributions while he played for us and for me it's better to remember him as a handy Demon than a turncoat Hawk. He wasn't the best kick but i really think he became a player that no matter what he did, Dees fans (including me) just saw laconic running and poor disposal. I feel the reality was that he brought experience and a cool head to the backline in his later years with us. The rest of you can continue acting negative towards him, I find it sad that he won't finish a Melbourne player and may end his career on a bad note.

What I find interesting is that people classify 2011 as a backwards step, I actually feel that although we didn't progress as well as I'd like we still got games into a lot of our young guns and with the addition of Clark I feel we have good reason to be excited about 2012.

^^^^^^^^^ This. It's more or less exactly what I pictured. I think what Clark offers is flexibility to move our talls around the park, but ultimately I see him as mainly our key forward. And what Finey failed to mentioned when they were going through his goal stats is that at Brisbane he was a ruckman who moved forward every now and again, so his argument based around those thoughts were completely useless.

Bloody happy with this result, our recruiting staff should be commended. Perhaps the only concern I have is that he may still have a desire to return home in the next couple of years. But ultimately I hope that by that stage we will be right in amongst the contenders and his desire for a chance at a premiership will trump the go home factor. This will hopefully give Jurrah the assistance he needs to play with more freedom.

Wow! Did not see this coming! If this is all confirmed and agreed apon, we have done extremely well. I mean all indications were that he had too strong a desire to go home, maybe his family stepped in and said this was too good a opportunity? 10/10 marks to our recruiting staff if they've pulled this off!

So does Newton, but I do think he would be a good prospect to get as an alternative to Clark. Surely wouldn't be pricey either.

So it appears Fremantle is still his choice, semi-expected as it was his desire to return home, but does this mean we should look elsewhere like Tommy Walsh or keep circling in case freo and the lions can't come to an agreement? Perhaps just hope he might slip into the PSD?

If a deal wasn't to get done with north I'd give him another crack with us. There were a few games where he showed some ability and it's not like being a crummer is a particularly easy position at Melbourne when you've got Jurrah as our key forward. I'd also hold onto him just to spite the kangas who appeared to enter this with no intention of doing a deal but getting him in the draft.

I've got to give him credit, at the start of this year he was a "wouldn't touch him with a 10ft pole" sort of deal. He has been upgraded in my mind to an "absolute last resort", but that is only if the club is dead set on getting big forward to our club for 2012, and it would come with so many clauses and a minimum wage package.

I've resisted using the "like" button, just because i'm kinda sick of it from facebook. But I couldn't resist, I could not agree with you more, so many on this board have been guilty (probably me included at times) of demanding loyalty from players and hating them for taking better options, but then are quite happy to just toss them aside when the "right deal" comes along. Footy clubs are built on more than just good players and high draft picks (something GWS will learn very quickly), you keep the good players around for as long as possible so they leave a legacy. If Jamar stays with us until the end of his career he will be a one club player, something that is rare. He will have a story of someone that for ages was on the fringe and at times possibly in line to be cut, but he stuck at it and we stuck with him and he became an AA ruckman. We need to keep him around, so that when the times comes that he hangs up the boots he'll want to stay a part of the club. We've got this great period of past players from the mid/late 90s that have come to the party to show they care, tell me how many from 2000 onwards have stuck around?