PaulRB

I can't get the image of Chris Connelly doing a Dr Evil impersonation and saying "Everyone put it in "the vault" and zip it!" out of my head. It can be so embarrassing being a supporter of this club.

I wonder what Tom Scully thought during the Melb Vs Tigers game. Perhaps some of his disrespect for the MFC came from the manner of him arriving there? Karma is a [censored].

I'm all for bringing down every other team that has similarly "tanked". But I'm also keen to use this episode to continue to clean and improve our club, for the sole reason of preventing such follies occurring again down the track.

We've already lost (in my eyes). I'm keen now to ensure those driving the "systematic losing for draft picks brigade" are held responsible for bringing the club into disrepute and possible AFL sanctions...

At least the coach and most of the current FD were not at Melbourne when this occured and should be able to plow on with pre-season, as this issue now consumes the rest of the club. When will it end. Sigh

Desperate graspings of a drowning argument. We're already losing the PR arguement, MFC brand being tarnished weekly, and a legal fight with the AFL over the degrees with which we "tanked" or didn't "tank" should be a bonus for our membership, and progress as a club.

Like most things it's about motivation and degree. the group strategy discussions revealed in The Age imply we'd switched our motivation heavily to gaining high pick by losing and were up to it to a high degree. Greed does that. Shame for us hapless supporters because it's crap to watch at the time and now looks likely to haunt us for years to come.

I agree. However I think from my perspective of a Melb supporter, I'd like to know how the club is going to deal with the actions of "whomever" bringing the club into disrespute? This squalid episode has eroded the brand of the MFC. A front page article in The Age stating we have acted with dubious morals need a response by the club. No to refute it but to work out who and why we've allowed ourselves to be in this dubious situation. It requires some self examination, honesty and action to ensure it doesn't happen again.

Playing semantics with the definition of the word "tanking" does not remove the moral flaw of trying to milk the system (get high draft picks) while claiming to be doing other wise (win every game of footy). The tragedy of our fascination with high draft picks that lead us to become "comfortable" losing games is that it is based on the belief that the MFC cannot rise honestly through hard work but must try and "bend the rules to rise... A moral weakness founded on a profound lack of self-belief.

In the context of higher draft picks for finishing lower the following strategies Season ending surgeries/rehab? Removal of older players for younger players? Experiementation with player positions? Can be pursued for one of two reasons Legitimately using the above strategies to set the players and team up for the following year, trying out new roles etc in anticipation of drafting, building a better team etc... OR Using the above strategies to ensure we obtain higher draft picks through losing. The actual motivation behind these strategies is unable to be proven as most would claim reason 1 was the rational. My view is that we were doing it for both reasons and given the prize (high draft pick) that we probably drifted toward the second reason (The moral slip). We should not be punished for it because the motivation is impossible to prove and every other club is playing the same game, and has done for over a decade without sanction. Finally we should hold those leading the club responsible for bringing the club into disrepute by playing it so close to the line (and porentially crossing the line), i.e they let the lure of the high draft pick effect their judgement and have brought the club into disrepute. Same kind of flaw Adelaide is dealing with.

186 was not an isolated event/effort, it had been brewing for months and most of us were expecting a belting. the sheer size and humiliation of the loss finally broke the spell of BS we were being sold that this crappy phase was a "anticipated and necessary part of the great re-build"... It took this almighty walloping for the club to start to shake off the tupour of the past ten years of mediocracy. And we're not out of the woods yet.

I'd like to see the AFL ensure every team plays every other team by Rd 17 and the ladder order then is used to set the draft order. Then Rounds 18-23 can be played out by each club as their situation dictates, without the accusation of tanking being superimposed.

Intricate does not equal confused. I agree with his propositions as you have listed them.

suspect they meant "crutch".

In a competitive business such as the AFL, it is the singling out of us as the only club under investigation that stinks, given the numerous example of other clubs having done the same things we've been accused of. Don't know if that can be used as part of a legal challenge but I'd certainly want the MFC screaming it loud and clear if the AFL hammer us.

Same strategies the GWS used in the last two drafts trading their Mini-draft picks for ND picks.

Hey Stuie just because another person doesn't agree wholeheartedly with your view of a topic does not mean they "lack understanding" or are "confused", they just see it from a different perspective to you.

I suspect that Caroline's story was prompted by the opposite of what she claimed, i.e. that the AFL is actually going to do nothing. So she's trying to stir the pot and set the AFL up as weak when they announce their "verdict", hence creating a "story" that the media can masticate on for a couple more weeks.

The Melbourne are not a "credible destination" is total crud. Last year we poached Clark from under Freo's noses, are they therefore more or less attractive than us? This year we beat the Doggies and potentially others for the services of Dawes, are they therefore more or less attractive then us? Who did we seriously target to have them choose to go to another club? Cloke and Ray chose to stay at their current club, all the other players we targeted we got. Only one club landed a "big fish" in the Bummers landing Goddard, and we were not interested in Goddard for the same reason the Saints were not interested in keeping him, he's too old for our window. Who did North add? Who did Tigers add? Who did Adelaide add? Etc... Sick to death of media regurgitating the belief that we are the perennial runt of the litter. It's total rubbish.

The key to what we've done is to provide experienced support and leadership to the cluster of talented kids coming through the club so they develop to their full potential. If we can get an across the board improvement of 10 - 15% this year from Clark (a full year uninjured), Dawes (back to his 2010 form), Jones (continued improvement), Grimes (2nd year captain and his first full season), Trengove (2nd year captain and should get is body right in 2013), Frawley (back to 2010 form, settled backline), Tom McDonald (another preseason of work to build his strength more) Blease ( realised in 2012 that hard work = success, is a convert), Watts (maturing well and able now to build on his frame and compete with men all over the ground), Howe (knows he could be a star if he works), Tapscott (had to trim down in 2012 and develope more strings to his bow, should be capable and confident all over the ground) Garland (played out of position in LATE 2012 has capacity now to play front or back) McKenzie (with Dawes and Clark to target should add more offensive disposals to his defensive style game), Viney (bang, knows whats required, hungry as, like to see him play forward pocket when not in middle), Strauss ( confidence player for whom injuries have stymied his momentum, if uninjured has line breaking capacity), Taggert, Tynan, Gawn, and pick 4, (Should all be pushing hard to play AFL games and if they are they'll have improved by more than 15%) If these 19 young men improve we'll be well on the way to climbing the ladder. Good trading period and it would seem we have the players and processes in place now to improve.

Read earlier in the year Craig talking about what they were looking to get out of training up North and he described the benefit as being another way to test and extend the players mental and physical capacities i.e. by training hard in the humidity.

Hey dees64 but if you're going to comment on or analyse our "draft picks in the past decade", you might want to include all the other top 20 picks we've had that are travelling ok, including our two young captains, etc...

We actually picked up Hogan, Barry, Dawes and Viney for picks 3,13 and 26, as the initial deal for Hogan/Barry for Pick 3 and 13, also gave us the pick 20 we used on Dawes. Big win, but the media have their beliefs that the MFC are a basket case and are happily twisting the facts to support this....

MAybe we're trying to Help the Saints deal with West Coast to get Ray?

Barrett uses the term "scatter gun approach" to describe anything more complex than Goddard to Dons. A simpleton who believes his own dribble.