Jaded No More

You're right, our senior players are complete underachievers, which is why Bailey is trying to build a team around our kids. TJ is a supremely talented guy. It would seem reasonable that a number 1 pick, who earns $400,000 a year would finish in the top 10 in the B&F more than twice in 10 seasons. Compare him to Junior, a far far less talented player. Junior has won back to back B&Fs and made the AA team at 30 years of age after a knee reconstruction. He is the sort of player who gets the most out of himself, and deserves our admiration. Neita has won plenty of accolades in his career, while Robbo has been in our top 3 goal kickers consistently for around 6 years. He also won a B&F, and finished in the top 10 more than twice. White has been an AA, a B&F winner and has carried us in the ruck for nearly 10 seasons. He does his bit every week. I agree with you completely on Bruce. He is also an underachiever, who I would have been happy to trade for a top pick. Unfortunately, he signed a new deal at the start of the season, so we couldn't trade him. Green is a different cattle of fish (yes, I said fish ). I think if he stayed up forward he would have been a far better player. He is an average midfielder, but a good leader. He brings a lot to this club off the field. Speaking of off-field issues, while all of our senior players are prone to underachieving, they have all represented the club with pride. They do the right thing off the field, and they are good ambassadors for the MFC. TJ was not, he loves to party, he loves a drink, he has issues with gambling and he lacks motivation. While I completely understand that supporters are saddened by his departure, I cannot understand the anger and abuse they are sending towards the club.

We might get Cotchin and this is a problem... If we get him, we should declare November 24 a day of celebration. He is a freak, as someone already said. I highly doubt West Coast won't choose him if he's available at pick 3, and there is no guarantee that Richmond will take Morton either. Cotchin will be a great replacement for TJ. You can never have too many class midfielders.

He speaks so well. Really really thrilled to hear that we're getting more support and development staff around the place. He said we'll have 2 development coaches next year, and I think this year we had none. Also said that we're looking, over the next 3 years, to bring a group of young players together. So quite clearly, we are not in a premiership mode.

The point of trading him is that we got an early pick which we can use to draft a kid who will be around for 10 years and will be part of a premiership side. The other point relates to discipline and off-field behaviour. He was setting a very poor example and Dean Bailey doesn't want to have to deal with crap like that from his senior players.

How do you know who we'll get with pick 14? You a fan of Bate? Jones? Dunn? Bell? They were all picked at around the same number in the draft. Besides, TJ is not going to be the difference between winning a flag or not, either. He has never won a final off his own boot, and he's unlikely to be around when we're challenging for a flag. Heffernan had nothing to do with the Woey trade, nothing. We traded Woey partly because he wasn't performing, and partly because we couldn't afford to pay him. I'm not even going to touch the Bell and Grgic comparison. It's so stupid, it's laughable.

What the hell? We got Pick 14 for Woey, which was used to draft Bell. Bell has 10 years of good footballer ahead of him. Woey just retired from the WAFL. We won BIG time from that trade. I wish supporters wait and see if we win again with this TJ trade. And even if we don't, I hope they don't jump off the bandwagon like the spineless supporters that they are. Club > Player. If you don't agree, you should go support tennis/golf/one of many individual sports. Sorry to sound so harsh, but honestly, this is bordering on insane. TJ won ONE B&F, no Brownlows, he never even made the AA side. A bit of perspective!

Watts is a tool... Was never going to make it given his attitude. He was a Collingwood jumper away from being FIGJAM.

The difference between Sylvia and TJ, is that Sylvia loves a contest. I also think that, despite appearances, TJ did love the club and was attached to the jumper. Sylvia doesn't strike me as the sentimental type. I do however agree that Sylvia needs to quickly change his ways or he'll be another player with 'potential' and nothing to show for it. You only need to look at his mate Brock, who was drafted the same year, has also struggled with injuries, and is not as naturally gifted as Sylvia. The difference in attitude and application is huge, however when they first got drafted, I think we all believed that Sylvia will be a better player. Now I'll be happy if he ever measures up to Brock.

His knee issue aside, I'd look at him if I didn't think that he is only capable of playing a lead and mark type role. We don't need anymore marking forwards, we need crumbing forwards and forwards who can apply pressure on the opposition when the ball hits the ground. He might be small, but much like Robbo, he plays as a tall leading forward. He'll make our forward line too one-dimensional.

We wanted Byron to have a mate. I actually think Whitnall would make a good coach one day, because he is a very smart footballer, he just lacks the physical attributes.

I don't even know why I take anything you say seriously, but if we can get Brennan for nothing (i.e.- PSD), and Bailey manages to put a rocket up him, he could be worth a try. However, if Matthews couldn't discipline him, I doubt anyone else could. Remember Cupido?

Anyone see the issue with retaining Ferguson? Hasn't even reached 50 games yet!

Let me dream you bastards! :angry: :D

Channel 10 reported that Cale Morton is almost certain to be drafted by Richmond with pick 2. That means that the Eagles are the only club standing in our way of getting Cotchin. Now given what Cotchin's dad had to say about his son moving West, there is a chance that West Coast will go for a local WA kid. Cross your fingers and toes that things pan out this way and we land Cotchin. That would be an absolute miracle!

I think this week I've read that Ferguson is... - The same as Rivers - Has a bit of Dustin Fletcher in him - Will magically stack on the weight for his 27th birthday I would like all those people who actually believe that, to send me a PM with the number of their dealer. I would love to be on whatever trip you are on!

I think it's good to play most games on the same day, as it actually does make it easier for people to plan around and turn up to games. Especially students like myself who have to work weekends, or parents who want to take their kids to sport or something similar on weekends. Saturday is obviously a bit better for the club in terms of exposure and crowd numbers and all that, but given that we finished 14th and given that we are... well... Melbourne, we'll probably get suck with mostly Sunday games again. As long as we don't have to play in Geelong, or have back to back interstate trips, or an interstate match in Round 22, I'll be happy. Can't wait to play Carlton. Hopefully we remind Judd that money doesn't buy success.

Y_M, I have removed your post because this is not a place to slag off TJ. This goes for everyone. There are 3 or 4 other threads where you can do that. The purpose of this thread is to wish TJ good luck and bid him farewell.

What I meant by that is that truly loving something, is loving it despite its fault. You don't have to agree with everything this club does, I know I don't. But your support and love for this club shouldn't waver because things don't go according to your plan. So many people who barrack for this club are conditional supporters, in that they only support this club on the condition that the club does what they think is right. It would be nice to have a supporter base who supported the club and its players regardless. I find it ironic that people are crying over TJ, but at the same time slag off Miller who has just signed a 2 year deal. One plays in red and blue, the other doesn't. That's not to say that we shouldn't be critical of our players or the decisions the club makes, or even the coach, but being critical shouldn't translate to being unsupportive. You are either with this club, or you're not. If you are, support it regardless of performance, turn up to games, buy a membership and definitely don't whinge that we're unsuccessful if you don't!

Enough said!

How come Ben Cousins hasn't been delisted yet?

Ferguson is almost certain to get the chop. Holland fills an occasional hole that no-one else on the list can fill. Warnock is young, and is largely unknown. Bailey could turn him into something, who knows, maybe even send him forward. Ferguson is Ferguson. He'll never be big or strong, he'll never read the play like Rivers does. He'll always be a depth player. Time to bid him farewell.

Well done to the club. We didn't do 20,000 deals, but we did make the bravest trade by off-loading Travis. I'm looking forward to see who we draft with our picks. Also very happy that CJ is staying

I agree to an extent. There is following blindly and accepting every decision, and then there is disagreeing with everything and predicting doom and gloom no matter what happens. It's a fine balance, but in this instant Dean Bailey is trying to make a positive change in attitude both on and off the field. If you can't see that, you are not supporting the vision for change. What annoys me is that the club needs to always worry about stepping on our supporters' toes because our supporters jump off the bandwagon as quickly as they jump on. Other club supporters may be [censored] off with their club for various reasons, but they still sign up and they still turn up to games. Our supporters think that they should punish the club if the club doesn't do what they want. What they don't realise is that by not supporting the club financially, or otherwise, they are also hurting themselves, because this club cannot exist without their support.

He might be an idiot, but his speech writers and the people who operate his strings sure do know what they're talking about :D

Hopefully we play the majority of our games on either Saturday or Sunday, like we did this year. It makes it much easier with work rosters (hopefully we play mostly Saturdays because I earn double-time on Sunday... keep that in mind Mr.D )