La Dee-vina Comedia

Did things improve in the second half? If so, maybe it's better than watching the Dees.

I doubt you'd see the footy in HD either (but I agree that the football should be broadcast in HD) because of the ball blending into the background. And it's made worse when the camera and the ball are both moving. Sometimes I only know its a goal because the ad starts. I certainly don't actually see the goal itself being scored.

As well as culture, the swans player have the 'trust' in each other that Mick Malthouse referred to earlier in the year when he said Melbourne players didn't have it. That trust is a bit about culture but a lot about skill. Culture will have you wanting to believe; knowing that your teammate has the necessary skills will give you the confidence to do so. In short, fix both and don't just rely on one to fix the other.

Look at it this way. A player could be forgiven for not trying so hard when his team is 78 points down. So what he did was even more remarkable. [Footnote: I don't actually subscribe to this theory.]

i know this thread is about rumours and therefore not to be taken too seriously. But is this even possible? Can a player be traded after only one year? I thought there was some rule about initial two year contracts for players being drafted for the first time.

Boy, you sure know how to hold a grudge!

So if we reframe the question to be what ONE thing would you like each player to improve upon during this preseason it seems that for Jack Watts the consensus view is lift intensity. And here's a few others (if they stay). For Jeremy Howe - practise set shots for goal; for Aaron Davey and Matthew Bate - learn to kick on the right foot; for Sam Blease and Jordan Gysberts - improve aerobic capacity; for James Frawley - improve awareness

Ian Johnson was on the board of the MFC for many years at the same time as he was General Manager at GTV-9. I can't see any reason why Russel can't do both if he wants to. And hopefully he'll get the Ten Network re-interested in bidding for AFL rights next time they fall due. Competition between free-to-air providers makes for a better product.

Given our luck/recruiting skills, we'd probably end up with Nathan Ablett, Jason Cloke and whichever Selwood twin it is who has retired.

Slightly off topic, it's an indictment on the last 40 years of the club that there have been so few Melbourne players even worthy of consideration. A quick look at other clubs 2012 playing lists identifies many likely HoF inductees once they retire - Brisbane (Brown, Black), Geelong (Scarlett, Bartel, maybe Steve J, Enright and Selwood), Sydney (Goodes), Essendon (Fletcher), Carlton (Judd), Hawthorn (Hodge), Fremantle (Pavlich), Gold Coast (Ablett) and many others. Neitz? Borderline for mine on pure performance but maybe gets in because of the number of games plus number of games as captain plus being awarded AA in two completely different positions.

I'm not fussed about whether it's played or not. But if it's to be played is it possible to have a better version? The current one is, I think, Julie Anthony's but I believe it's been digitally sped up so it now sounds like it's being played in a hurry just to get it over and done with. Play it with respect, or not at all.

Mind you, last year the panel didn't go with the popular vote. Andrew Walker's mark was chosen by everyone, except the panel, who chose Krakouer's.

I think Pies fans are more into moonshine than sun shine.

I think you might have your food chains back to front. I think Damien Barrett is an employee of Crocmedia, Craig Hutchison's media company. Which makes Hucthy Barrett's boss.

I think the ultimate irony would be for Eddie to convince the AFL that 3rd party deals to pay Cloke are acceptable...so Cloke goes to Carlton because of the better 3rd party deal Carlton offers based on the principle which Eddie talked the AFL into allowing.

I seem to recall that at last year's B&F we had something called a 'Heart and Soul Award' which I think went to Brad Green. Do we still have such an award? If so, was it presented last night?

I'd just like to compliment the opening poster for using an older cliche ("staring us in the face") instead of the more modern and way overused "elephant in the room".

We're now up to 15 pages on an unconfirmed rumour which Neeld has apparently tried to quash. How many pages will there be about a player who is actually delisted? Oh, I've just started page 16. reason for edit: added last line

The agreement between the players and the AFL requires all players to have a minimum rest period between when they finish their football year and when pre-season training starts. Does anyone know whether playing in the VFL Finals is considered to be still part of the football year? If so, any player involved in the VFL Finals will have to have extra time off before non-VFL playing MFC players return to pre-season training. I don't think this is desirable for a team whose priority is winning AFL senior matches.

I always thought the problem with Morton was that he needed to fill out, not in!

I'm not sure nominating Tom Mc, Blease, Howe and Jones as examples of excellent development is a strong argument. None of them has yet reached star status (I was going to write 'superstar' but I'd be happy if they could just make 'star' status - I accept Jones is moving in that direction). Perhaps they never will and may never have done so at another club. But is it more likely that Melbourne has been unable to draft just one bona fide superstar in the last 20 years or that we've been unable to develop one? And did I read somewhere on here that 9 clubs have supposedly expressed interest in Cook? If that statement is correct (and feel free to shoot me down if it's not), what do they see that we don't?

But, the real but unanswerable question is this. If Talia had been picked instead of Gysberts would he have had his talent, strength and fitness developed as well at Melbourne as has happened at Adelaide?

I can't. It's their job. If they have 'no idea' they shouldn't be writing anything.

A suggestion for the next banner. How about past quality players such as Flower, Lyon, Neitz, Stynes (as a player), Barassi, a couple of Cordners (not David), etc. Reminds us of what we were and perhaps what we should aim for. And no annoying embarrassments should a current player leave or perform so badly they don't belong there.

It's not a question of right or wrong. Nor is it a question of who's in the right and who's in the wrong. It's just sad. None of us can imagine the emotional ties and consequent difficulties for Liam playing in Melbourne and for Melbourne. I wish him luck for the future wherever it is and whatever it brings and thank him for the all too brief joy he provided when he played with us.