Jaded No More

It's all a question of whether his body holds up. Another long-term injury and he may call it quits, and wouldn't that be a shame!

Absolutely true. I wouldn't put it past Carlton, if they haven't won anymore games by Round 15, to start tanking hard for another quality tall. Just hope and pray that they win 3 more games (who would have thought we'd ever wish for a Carlton victory!).

Ugh! Short term solution to a long term issue.

I would continue to support the club, financially too, but obviously after years and years of having no success my interest would drop significantly. Can't imagine ever supporting another club though. I hate them all too much :D

I'm hoping for the bench to be: Bate, Buckley, Dunn and Garland. Moloney is struggling, Warnock is not up to standard, and as for Jamar, he is just embarrassing.

Good to know. Lotto numbers for this week?

Could be useful to take some heat off McLean

No wonder the WB are struggling. They are not the benchmark, nor should they be. And I don't give a stuff about other sporting clubs and other supporter groups, I care only about what the MFC has. We obviously disagree that we have a problem with our supporter base, and that's fine. You choose to look at what we have, I choose to look at what we don't have and what we should have. SOME (read: SOME) of our supporter base is weak and unreliable. This might be the case for other clubs too, in fact I'm sure it is, but other clubs are not in the same horrible position that we are in with memberships, attendances and profits.

I NEVER EVER said we were without soul and support. And your comparison between Melbourne other sporting clubs in Australia is simply irrelevant. We are competing within the AFL market, and the facts are, that within the AFL market our brand is weak, our support is small and our position in this competition is far from guaranteed. Yes, we will always have a smaller supporter base and membership numbers, but it stands to reason that if we can get close to 30,000 members in 2007 on the back of 3 successive finals campaigns (albeit unsuccessful ones), that our membership should continue to rise or at the very least steady. That if fluctuates so dramatically, is just another sign that a lot of our supporters just cannot be relied upon. As for Sydney and Brisbane, they, unlike us, have the full support of the AFL. They can have 10,000 members a year and they will not go out of business. We have to battle with 10 other Victorian clubs and not many people at AFL house will care if we go under. They will not support us forever.

Perfect. Even Neita would agree that losing is the way to go. As long as Neita himself has a good game and we don't absolutely disgrace ourselves, it's the only way to go. If we're 4-17 in Round 21, we deserve a priority pick and we should make sure we get it.

Really? How many teams have 10,000 members who haven't signed on from last season? How many teams play half-empty stadiums? Which other club is currently struggling to string together 25,000 members? We don't have the supporter base of Collingwood or Carlton, which makes every single supporter we do have invaluable. That so many of them don't do their fair share for the team is really sad. Thankfully this doesn't apply to Demonland members, who are all passionate supporters and in most cases, club members. What annoys me more than anything is supporters who complain about our form, or what is happening at board level, and yet they wouldn't bother turning up to games when we're 0-5, or buying a membership if they don't think they can use it to get a finals ticket. I don't see why any of us should accept it as the norm, because it isn't. Accepting it and doing nothing about it is going to contribute to the ongoing stereotype of the typical MFC supporter, trying to change it won't. Go read Redlegs' excellent thread about what we can all do to help this club survive. Sadly, if we rely on our current supporter base, we won't make it much further in this competition. I think we can all agree that that would be a tragedy.

Don't take it so personally (unless you feel you should <_< ). I'm not refering to most Demonland supporters, but to the thousands of people who didn't renew their membership from last year. The thousands more who stay at home every single week instead of coming to cheer on the side. The thousands more still who claim to be Melbourne supporters but have never given the club a cent of their money or a minute of their time. I know at least 10 Melbourne 'supporters' who fit this description, and I have told them many times that they should reconsider their title as 'supporters' if they are not willing to give anything to the club. If you don't agree with me that these people exist, and that these people are contributing significantly to our off-field problems, than I suggest you open your eyes. Oh, and it is those people who drive the media stereotype of Melbourne supporter, not those of us who try to make them accountable!

Neita said he'll retire at the end of the year, which is hardly earth-shattering news. Bloody journalists. Get off the [censored] you monkeys!

That was very hard to watch. I feel for Neita, for where he is at with his form, his body, his career. He doesn't want to leave a sinking ship, but how he finds the strength to keep going I just don't know. It's his love for this club that gets him through, surely. He is an absolute champion, and we are lucky to have him involved at any capacity. It will be a very very sad day when he finally says goodbye, and hopefully he gets the send off that he truly deserves (and all of our weak supporters turn up to actually bid him farewell!!).

Fine by me. I can't see an official captaincy handover before the end of the year anyways. McLean will no doubt stand out as the hardest worker, best contested ball winner and most influential player... he already has. By the way, which sponsor, support or coach is going to stand up and protest if we appoint Brock McLean captain? He is hardly a criminal. He was involved in a silly brawl overseas, did a couple of burnouts at a training ground and lost his license for going 20km over the speed limit. All stupid incidents, which may show a level of immaturity (I know 50 year olds who lost their license for speeding), but that immaturity certainly does not translate on the field. At 21 he is bound to make some mistakes, but it's not the mistakes you make but how you bounce back. So far, he has not set a foot wrong.

Well, as long as they don't misbehave off the field, who cares how old/ordinary/skill-less they are Do we want a captain who actually does the hard things consistently? Do we want a captain who will put his balls on the line every time? Do we want a captain who influences matches in the midfield? Do we want a captain who will be at the club in 2, 5, 7 years time? If the answer is yes, then appoint McLean. Hypocritical would be to appoint Junior when we are focusing on youth. Hypocritical would be to appoint Bruce when we are focusing on actually being able to hit a target. Enough of this soft and safe mentality. Give McLean the job, and if he stuffs up, he stuffs up. Big deal. We can't do much worse anyway.

Maybe swap Meesen for Martin. Otherwise, perfect.

You have to be kidding me. Who cares what he did during the off-season, it has had ZERO effect on his form to date and he is leading our club in contested possessions. He got punished, he learnt his lesson. Time to move on. I assure you that being a 'bonehead' has never stood in the way of great leaders like Jonathan Brown, Ben Cousins or Barry Hall. He is a much better leader and a far more influential player than Bruce, Miller and McDonald combined. What the hell is the point of appointing a 28 year old Cameron Bruce, who can barely hit a target, to the captaincy? And don't even mention McDonald. Do we really want a 17-rounds captain? Either rotate the captaincy, or just give it to McLean. If he can't hack it, or if he stuffs up, we make a change. If we're going to move forward as a list and as a club, we have to entrust our younger players with more responsibility. We all know they are our only hope. By the way, given that McLean was part of the leadership meeting today, I assume he's already been reinstated.

Yep, intentional is a bit rough. It was silly, but he certainly didn't go into the fight thinking "I'm going to smack Fevola in the head". We should challenge it, but we won't.

Looks like Jared when he walks and runs. Imagine having TWO Jared in the backline! He is someone who really has transformed his physique over summer to his advantage.

I have to agree to with you. Neita deserves a send off game, especially since we are not playing for finals here. F*%^@. Rotten stinking luck :angry:

There's more to being a captain than just being a good player. Rivers is a gun player, there is no doubt about it, but is he the sort to go and tell players when they need to pull their head in? Does he command respect from the rest of the group? If the answers are yes, then great, make him captain, but given he has never played a leadership role at the club it seems a big and unlikely jump for him to make.

Whatever happens, we must drop Jamar. I rather we go in with one ruckman (god knows we've been doing it for long enough) and get an extra runner in there.

Don't think his personality suits the role of captain. He is a fairly introverted guy from all reports, and he wasn't chosen by his peers to play a role in the leadership group this year (not that that says much), so it would be a huge jump going from no leadership experience to captain. Still, he embodies a lot of the right values, so it's definitely worth considering.

The bigger issue is, who replaces him as captain? I want McLean, but I fear we might go with a short-term option like Junior or Bruce. Interestingly, on Ch.10 they showed our leadership group leaving a meeting (what a joke it is that Yze gets to sit in a leadership meeting, but can't get a senior game ) and Brock was there. Perhaps he has been reinstated into the leadership group? Based on his form in the last 3 or so games and given he is top 10 in the competition for contested possessions, you would hope so!