La Dee-vina Comedia

It maybe just coincidence (and if so, what a beauty) but I'd suggest H_T was pointing out that Pete Best was drummer for the early part of The Beatles Australian tour, subsequently replaced by Ringo after the latter got over his 4-6 week injury (broken hand, maybe?)

Do you mean Sheedy for CEO? Wouldn't it be better to employ someone who the employees of the club will actually understand?

Was this already booked in or a hasty decision post-Schwab's departure? Getting the team (players and coaches) together out of Melbourne is a very good idea right now as if they stay in Melbourne TV cameras and media microphones are likely to follow them everywhere. That would not only be a distraction, but any comment would be interpreted and re-interpreted to mean something it probably didn't and could start a new round of speculation. (Sort of like the hashtag #nowthatchersdead which was meant to be about Margaret Thatcher but worried some people that Cher had died). Also, I have no doubt this type of activity improves trust among the team (although I don't believe alcohol is necessarily a key ingredient).

I think there's a bit of confusion in these posts. Culture and coaching are both being discussed almost if they are interchangeable. I have no idea what culture the players of the 2000's might bring to the club, but sadly, they didn't get the chance to experience a winning culture when they played for us. Certainly, they saw some success and a damn lot more than we're seeing at the moment, but I don't think we should expect them to fully understand what a winning culture is. Make them welcome at the club, by all means. Those that have shown success as assistant coaches should be looked at when coaching positions need filling. I expect the ex-players named in various posts above are decent people and some were more than handy players. But let's not allow ourselves to overstate their skills and experiences.

I hope the process will be thorough and include at least one non-MFC person on the selection panel to ensure a level of dispassionate involvement. The new CEO doesn't necessarily have to be someone with AFL experience, although I would have thought some experience would be preferable. I'd be looking at someone with good commercial, people management and negotiation skills before I worried about their AFL knowledge. I'd also be engaging a professional executive search firm to assist. And I don't want this decision rushed. reason for edit: clarifying ambiguity

The fact that you jumped ship should be enough for us to not take you seriously. But when you said in the same post that "the club should have awarded the coaching position to a Demon" and then alluded to the need for someone from a "winning culture", who exactly did you have in mind? A player from the 1964 Grand Final? I've never seen the need to place a poster on "Ignore". You may well become the first.

Really? I thought the general consensus was that list management is now OK having been poor previously.

Query: Since 1964, have we had more coaches or CEOs? Anyone know?

But we all know it's not the recruitment but the development. He'll probably give them to a trainer who will make them less fit and run the wrong way around the track.

I see what they mean by a divided supporter base.

I suspect Cameron Schwab is a decent person and I wish him well whatever he does next. His departure was probably necessary to defuse tension. I mean no disrespect to Richmond's CEO, Benny Gale, but gee it would be nice to see Caroline Wilson's apoplexy if Richmond appointed Schwab as their CEO.

Do you read Demonland?

How should the club talk directly to supporters if it doesn't use the media? Members and sponsors I can understand - the club has their contact info. But supporters?

Happy to have pace, as long as they're prepared to run both ways.

Please let this be true...please let this be true... Mind you, is it possible that the flu could have also affected players in the PA game also? (Or for most games in the last 6 years?)

Well, I'm glad your position is clear. (To be fair, you do claim that miracles don't exist in footy).

And perhaps a cash injection of, say $500,000, to go with it.

Simplify this and you've got the right poll. Who is going to be the first to leave? (1) Schwab (2) McLardy (3) Neeld (4) Watts. If that's seen to be too pessimistic, ask it this way. Who's going to stay at the club the longest from hereon? (1) Schwab (2) McLardy (3) Neeld (4) Watts.

One of these days we'll turn it around and I want to be able to say "I was there" when the change happened. So. I'll be at the MCG in the game against he WCE and the following week against GWS and thereafter. And I hope that's the message Neeld is giving to the players this week. He should be saying to them, "When your career is over, you'll want to be able to say 'I was there when the improvement began and I was a part of it'" Not every player on the list will be playing when Melbourne is considered to be one of the better teams. But it would be great for them to be able to say that they were part of the team that went from the bottom to that newly powerful position.

Growing up in the 60s and 70s, I thought our prospects were worse then than now. That's because football socialism (salary cap and drafts) gives the weak teams a chance. There was no such help back then. So the off field results back then may not have been as bad (although my mental scars suggest they were) but there was zero chance of improvement in a scheme where the rich got richer and the stronger just got stronger.

Congratulations Rufus. That's a major positive which outweighs every piece of negative associated with the MFC.

Tonatopia, I agree with you on most of your post but query why you say we have a "strong relationship" with the AFL. I don't see it.

Some questions: 1. One of today's newspapers has Watts in the injuries with "ill". Has that been covered anywhere? And what impact might have it had (on Watts, not the team)? 2. A number of people have proposed Dunn as an "In". Is he any chance? I would have thought a hamstring would see him out for another week as a minimum. 3. Bail has not played any contact football until yesterday. But is there any reason he wouldn't be at full fitness? 4. A lot of love for Gawn and not a lot for Jamar on this thread. But what about Spencer? So, having seen none of the Port Adelaide game and about one half of the Essendon game, I'm not qualified to comment on ins and outs. But ask simply, 1. If Watts was ill, doesn't he deserve another chance? 2. Why would you rush Dunn back if (a) he's possibly still injured and (b) he's not particularly good - that is, he's not Luke Hodge, for example. 3. Should Bail be given a run? 4. Should Spencer be given another chance? Reason for edit: typo fix

I'm struggling to work out whether Hazy and RR are participating in deliberate irony by whinging about the whinging thread in the whinging thread.

I feel sorry for those not old enough to have seen Robert Flower play. He was so far above the quality and style of everyone playing for the club now. For those who didn't see him, think of Gary Ablett Jr but with the grace of a ballet dancer.