Mallee Bull

A friend of mine who was at the recent foundation heroes dinner has said that he asked Tapscott, who was on his table, if Scully would stay, to which he replied "he's gone". No proof, but I'm starting to believe that he will be gone next year, and I don't blame him, its a lot of money and his knee problems suggest that he wont have a very long AFL career. Does anyone know, for a fact, whether or not we will get 1 or 2 picks for him if he does sign with GWS?

I've seen a similar story from my brother. He showed me an email from a Melbourne friend of his who attends these club events (usually reveals interesting tid bits before they come out in the media) and according to his report, Viney has offered to coach for 12 more months if the club decides to wait for Malthouse. I'd love to have Malthouse at the club as coach but can we truly afford to tread water for an entire season? I find it hard to believe that the club would seriously consider going down this path. Will be interesting to watch it all unfold.

I was at the game today, Jones was in our best. Easily. Went in hard at the ball every time and won some very hard ball gets. Putting him in the same category as Bartram is very very wrong. Bartram is an absolute hack. Jones wins the ball, he needs some polished outside players to be presenting for the feed off.

Until we can get a decent effort from all 22 players that is sustained for four quarters we won't beat anyone that is up near the top 4. That being said, I'll be there torturing myself to the end!

Neitz as CEO of the MFC? Surely you jest....

Not a bad call. I read that they are targeting 30 something year old women from the eastern suburbs, perfect fit. Would there be a conflict seeing as the parent company in Westpac sponsor the filth?

I'm so furious at the playing group right now. How dare they collect their pay slips of $100,000 plus after putting in this years effort. Its bordering on robbery. Biggest bunch of prima donnas to ever play VFL/AFL. You are all a part of the second worst team in VFL/AFL history, forerever. Enjoy your tarnished names.

Frawley is our best key defender. He's too busy keeping a leash on the oppositions power forward. There would no benefit in throwing him in the middle to mix it with the competitions elite midfielders who would towel him up, and then would be able to hit Franklin/Cloke/J or N Reiwoldt etc on the [censored] because Frawley isn't breathing down their necks. As for the kids getting bashed around by bigger opponents, we still have Moloney, Sylvia and Jones in the middle. Moloney and Sylvia are as big as anyone, Jones is hardly small and Trengove has increased in size considerably. Not to mention that Jamar and Martin (both over 100 Kg) are in there too. The rest will grow in strength rapidly over the coming seasons, in the mean time I think after having unearthed a guy who could become the comps Elite Key Back in coming years, it would be unwise to to start moving him about.

He's quick and explosive. I've really been excited about him since last year, although I'll admit that this year he really struggles to get involved. Whether that's due to a poor reading of the flow of the game, or whether he's not hard at who knows. It's a pity. Definitely has shown some...just not consistently. He was great in the wet against the Dogs last year, although Scully's final quarter stole the show. Big year looms for him next year. Just like many other players, all the kids will start to mature and the squeeze will be on for spots in the 22.

The heading for this thread is a bit much. Sylvia is just making sure he gets what he deserves. He's arguably our best player right now, and so deserves to be paid accordingly. If we have offered Scully 3 million over 5 years, I'd hope we can offer at least the same amount to Col. His value is based on what he is producing, not on his potential.

Continuing on with the inconsistent theme that basically sums up our team and this season, I've found it really strange that when we win, we do tend to win well and with a large margin. The only win we have had that we were under the pump until the end was against Brisbane. Also, when we lose, we lose convincingly and usually by just as large a number. Rd 1- V Swans Draw Rd 2- V Hawks 77 - 122 Loss 55 points Rd 3- V Lions 82 - 71 Win 11 points Rd 4- V Suns 159 - 69 Win 90 points Rd 5- BYE Rd 6- V Eagles 52 - 106 Loss 54 points Rd 7- V Crows 149 - 53 Win 98 points Rd 8- V North 83 - 124 Loss 41 points Rd 9- V Saints 86 - 106 Loss 20 points Rd 10 V Blues 46 - 93 Loss 47 points Rd 11 V Bombers 101 - 68 Win 33 points Rd 12 V Pies 41 - 129 Loss 88 points Rd 13 V Freo 149 - 60 Win 89 points Rd 14 V Tigers 118 - 91 Win 27 points Rd 15 V Dogs 63 - 127 Loss 64 points So with a record of 6 wins, 1 draw and 7 losses, we now have an average winning margin of 58 points and an average losing margin of 52 points. Its so wildly conflicting to have such high wins and such huge losses. Its really quite bizarre. I'm not concerned with the Win/loss ratio, the only game we didn't win that I expected us to was the draw with Sydney, I'm just staggered at how we can be brilliant one week an awful the next. Anyone that plays a type of sport would understand that you aren't going to play at your best every week. That being said, it seems that when our boys are off, they are REALLY off as a team. I have absolute faith in Dean Bailey as our head coach. I think we have all seen how good his style of footy is when we are executing it well. Our players are still too young and raw to execute it perfectly and consistently, but I believe that will come. What I'm confused about, and would love to hear some rational thoughts on, is why an entire group can seemingly be on or off so often? Is it a motivational thing? Preparation thing? ( Please don't turn this into a 'Dean Bailey Sucks/We have no game plan thread)

We finished third with Essendon and Carlton above us and North in fourth. Sadly, I think your dreaming!

Gotta say Trengove. Scully Gsyberts McKenzie etc are all guns, but Jack is just so polished and seems to have such a good footy brain. Love watching the ball end up in his hands. If we had only had one pick in 2009, i'd rather they'd taken Trenners.

Loved both of Watts' marks tonight, throwing him down back has given him the confidence and tonight he took that with him up forward! Also have to throw in Martin, outplayed Hille, Bellchambers AND Ryder. Silver lining to Jamar going down. When the Russian returns, those 2 are going to Kill it rotating through the ruck, fwd line and back line (Jamar/Martin respectively). God I hope this is the start of some consistency! 15 of our 22 were aged 22 or under tonight. So excited!!!

Hard to judge him too harshly, the delivery was woeful, he was usually outnumbered and only one of 2 focal points with the way we were flooding. Our forwards just can't flourish when our Mids are getting smashed. Put Jamar back in the ruck, a fit Scully and Trengove and an inform Davey and then our midfield can compete. We just don't have enough skilled Mids at the moment. They really need to address this in November with our drafting. We have enough Tall backs, we have some big forwards in Cook, Watts and Fitzpatrick developing, time to really go for some QUALITY mids with genuine pace and skill.

Newton will get another chance this weekend. Dunn will be out for a while and according to VFL reports Gawn has put his hand up to play after a good display in the Seniors.

Gee, I think you may be right. Jurrah, Flash, Bennell and Jetta played at the start...but when Wona came in, Jetta went out. Fairly certain that they haven't played together in previous years. God I hope we turn it on. I'm sick of losing to North.

It's fairly obvious that Bate has not been dropped due to his form, it's simply to make way for Juice. Martin has come in for Jamar, Juice has come in to support him. As others have said, if Jamar hadn't gone down with injury, Bate would most likely be playing against North.

Hopefully they put in a good showing for you Mousey.

Firstly, Connolly was appointed as Melbourne's General Manager of Football Operations at the end of 2007 by the Gardner Board, http://www.melbournefc.com.au/coaches/tabid/17074/default.aspx Schwab became the MFC's CEO in 2008, appointed by the Jim Stynes Board. So your claim of jobs for mates is wrong. Secondly, Schwab was not fired from Fremantle, he left of his on volition so he could return to Melbourne and be with his family http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/schwab-to-return-to-melbourne/story-e6frg7mo-1111115997452 So, you are wrong again. During his time at Fremantle, Schwab transformed the clubs financial position as a new fledgling club, into one of the most stable and steady clubs in the AFL, this in a state that was dominated by the already established West Coast Eagles. Since joining Melbourne, the club has managed to eradicate its debt, rejoin with the MCC, reconnect the various factions of the club, and has begun to look at growing it's asset base. Clearly, he is extremely competent at what he does. Since his arrival, and Connolly's, the club has bottomed out and begun to steadily improve with a youth theme. Granted, the opening 5 rounds have been disheartening, and questions are now being asked of our coaching team, namely Bailey. The rest of the season will decide his fate. If the players respond and show improvement he will survive. If not, then he will be replaced. How you can excuse Bailey for our current on field troubles and condemn Schwab and Connolly, who have both done great work at strengthening the financial position of our club/ bringing together the fractured MFC community, is absurd.

1. Jack Trengove. Talented player and you can tell that when he makes a mistake he gives his all to rectify it. He's not the quickest but he doesn't give up a chase, even when it is obvious he cannot catch the bloke with the pill. If some other players had his heart (as a 19 year old) we'd be a much better side. 2. David Neitz. Just seemed to manage to spark the side at crucial times with a big bump or a captains goal. I've missed having his type in the side greatly.

Always wondered what this meant? MFC, what do the two S's stand for?

Weren't they 'shattered' about the effort against Hawthorn? They shouldn't need to get belted to be motivated to put in a decent effort. No intent, no hunger, no fire, no respect for the jumper.

Anyone see Cameron Bruce take control of Brad Green's body in the 2nd quarter?? That hospital handpass to Jonesy had to be Bruce's work!!!

I've defended Bailey in these arguments, but I have to admit, I'm starting to think change is needed. We are young, we have talent, we were never going to be a great side this year. But this continual poor starts, with lack of structure and very ordinary skills during games...even the suns have more structure than we do.