Jaded No More

Rhino, all you're doing is trying to pick a fight with me, when in fact you probably agree with what I'm saying. Bailey got rid of all the players who were out of contract that he felt were not needed (sadly our under performing 'stars' were contracted for 2008). Robbo was out of contract and he kept him. It was his decision, and I support him. If Robbo was traded, I wouldn't have disagreed with Bailey's decision either. I might be a fan of Robbo's but at least I don't ignore his achievements out of spite like you. Robbo helped us make finals as much as Bruce and Green ever did. I also never talked about direct swap, as these hardly ever occur these days. TJ is trouble, and in your own words rarely delivers on his talent. At 28 he is very much past his peak, as is Robbo, as is Bruce, as is Yze. Which only validates my point that we should have traded them while they still had some currency. But go ahead, climb on that horse of yours and dismiss my argument through picking a pointless argument.

At least Robbo has achieved something concrete recently (B&F's, All Australian representation, leading goal kicker, helping us make the finals). What have the other 3 done? Besides, I wasn't against trading Robbo last season. For a good price almost anyone is disposable. 3-4 years ago Green could have got us a top 15 pick (maybe not a straight swap, but one involving Green and a draft pick, or Green and another fringe player). West Coast, given their lack of forward power, could have used someone like Green in their forward rotation, so could the Bulldogs, just to name a few. We managed to get pick 14 for a troubled, over-the-hill TJ.

List management is more of an issue than drafting IMO. Every club has hits and misses. It is impossible to get every selection right, and it was even more so 10 years ago. Technology and bigger recruiting teams are making the science of drafting more exact, but still, how can you predict with 100% accuracy what a 17 year old player is going to be like at 27? However, once on the list, it generally doesn't take too many seasons to identify the weaknesses of your recruits (nobody is perfect, no matter if your name is Godfrey or Judd). What we haven't done well under Daniher and CAC is identify the disposable players, and dispose of them quickly and efficiently. We waited too long in the hope every player will come good, and most of them didn't. I am more hopeful that Bailey won't wait around forever to get rid of under-performing players.

Absolutely. We've had numerous golden opportunities to get rid of Yze, Bruce and Green. Had we acted on time, we could have probably got a top 10-15 pick for each of them. Who knows what those picks could have got us. We held onto senior players in the hope they'll come good, and they never did. Trading Woewodin was the bravest thing we did in 10 years, and it worked out so well for us. We should have ignored the noise and just gone and done it. Now we're stuck with senior players who have done little in well over 2 seasons, are worth nothing to other clubs and who are draining us of millions of dollars each year. It sure does make you want to cry!

Well there you have it. I knew he must have injured himself if he's missing the game on Saturday. No way in hell would he have been dropped, slow midfield or not. Thank god it's only a corkie and not a flare-up of the groin!!!

Millions of people spend a fair bit of time in transit to and from work everyday. Most of them don't receive a 6 figure salary in return. Not only will this ensure a less hectic pre-season schedule, it's a brilliant opportunity to gain more members. Fantastic job to get this going fairly quickly.

I know for a fact that he is based in Melbourne, but he does travel a lot for work. It seems very likely that PG will step down at the end of the year, due to family and work commitments. PG has done a great job for the MFC, and has put in so much of his own time and money into this club. Anyone who replaces him will have some big shoes to fill in terms of dedication to the cause.

As Gary Lyon just said on the Footy Show, forget all the nonsense about mergers and relocations, Melbourne is not going anywhere. It doesn't matter how much money they throw at us, you do not sell your soul to the devil, and the AFL is most definitely the devil.

Disagree. But then maybe they dropped him because he is still struggling with his fitness a bit, which would make sense. Either way, players who deserve to be punished for the horrible display on Sunday (you know, the ones responsible for leading our team) are still getting a game. At least Yze is gone. Yeah, because the rest of the team was out there demonstrating their elite fitness Besides, give me a half-done Moloney who at least tries his guts out, over a fully fit player who stands around waiting for the action to come to them. Unless he has pulled up sore, he should be playing. The best way to gain match fitness is to play some games. IMO he must not be 100%, because there really is no justification for dropping him... but hey, if everyone else agrees, than surely they must all be wrong.

We'll see if he plays for Sandy this week or not. I can't believe they would have dropped him. He was probably one of our best out there. Absolute stupidity to drop two young players in Moloney and Petterd, who both had reasonable games, and leave in a whole host of senior players who are not pulling their weight (for a change ).

I don't think Moloney would have been dropped... which can only mean one thing.... injury. ARGH!!! Where the hell is Rivers?

Well said. Hopefully the first two statements don't put a premature end to what is likely to be a stellar career. (I agree with Yze_Magic that he'll never reach the heights of Jonathan Brown though)

And gets punched in the face by Jaded's father

Bold prediction of the week #2: Dunn to dominate with 30 possessions, 3 goals and 7 tackles.

Sandy's leadership group > Melbourne's leadership group ??? The Dunn is about to explode at AFL level... Watch this space.

I don't know if these figures are true or not, but as part of the Red and Blue Army initiative, the club is trying to reach 250,000 Melbourne fans... 250,000?? If every MCC member who barracks for Melbourne bought the $40 membership (or however much it is), we'd easily reach our target of 30,000.

Try the club website (if it will load ), otherwise ticketmaster. I would have made the effort to drive down, but unfortunately I have to attend a wedding in the morning... I'm leaving as soon as the ceremony is over though so I can watch us get slaughtered. Damn inconsiderate brides and their stupid wedding planning skills... take a look at the fixture honey <_< :D

We could have lost by a million points, but this wouldn't be an issue if the majority of our supporters weren't a pathetically limp bunch. If Collingwood lost to Hawthorn instead, would anyone be worried about crowd numbers for the following week? No, because as feral as their supporters are, at least they stick by their club. No doubt half of the pretenders who claim to be Melbourne fans have already jumped off the bandwagon and will not be seen again until we win 5 in a row (or play Collingwood on Queens Birthday ). I've said it before and I'll say it again, pathetic, conditional supporters are our biggest problem. (This is not an attack on anyone who posts on Demonland by the way. I think we all know at least one Melbourne supporter who should be ashamed of their so called level of support for this great club).

Bailey inherited a list hand-picked by Daniher and CAC over a 10 year period. Sheedy would have inherited the same crap.

A- Robbo was robbed because the stupid selectors decided to put a ruckman in the forward pocket B- He has more than fulfilled his requirements as a key player and leader. Not much more you can ask from a small forward than kicking 40+ goals a season C- How many B&F's has Bruce won?

Indeed. What about Robbo who just missed out on All Australian and has topped our goal-kicking table for a number of season now? Gees, if Cameron Bruce is the best we've got we really are struggling.

I wasn't comparing the talents of Brown to Garland's and you know that. But what makes you such an expert on talent? If Dean Bailey believes he has what it takes to be a good player, and he does, than I will take his opinion anyday of the week over some fan in the outer who feels the need to get stuck into a kid who is still raw and finding his feet. To say that game time won't make a difference is crazy. With experience comes confidence, a better understanding of the game, etc etc.. So far I haven't seen anything from Garland that suggests he is hopeless beyond help. His disposal is not great at the moment, but that can be worked on.

You have got to be kidding me! How the hell can you make a judgement on a player who has played 3 games? What did he do on Sunday that was worse than 21 of his teammates? He certainly showed more than Newton who ducked and weaved his way through physical contests in the most pathetic fashion. IMO Garland has good pace and agility and we need to give him more than 3 games before we crucify him. I've seen about 50 crap games in a row from some of our senior players and for some reason they are still getting a game. Garland is the least of our worries and should be persisted with for a couple more seasons at least. And please show me a KPP who dominated in this 3rd AFL match... Even Jonathan Brown struggled for impact in his first few matches, and he is probably the best player in the competition.

Garland has played 3 friggin games. Sure he hasn't won a Brownlow yet, which is a complete disgrace, but he still has 2-3 more games left in the tank For the love of god, players with 150 extra games under their belt were worse than him on Sunday, but no, lets pick on the new kid!