Jaded No More

Would love to have him as an assistant. Not sure how he'll cope moving straight from playing to senior coaching though. He can come down as a midfield coach... wasn't he a Melbourne supporter growing up?

Reminds me of someone who used to coach us for 10 years... As someone else said, this is not about Chris Connolly the man, it is about Chris Connolly the head coach. I'd take him on in many roles, assistant coach, player manager, footy manager etc etc... However, if the process the club has put into place finds that Connolly is the best man for the job, than I'm sorry but IMO the process has failed. Surely the club will, with the help of so many consultants, realise that a new direction is needed. You talk abut taking a risk, well Connolly will be no risk at all. We know what he brings to the table, when we look at how unsuccessful Fremantle has been under his guidance, and whether he is a great person (seems to be) or not, has nothing to do with this issue. I don't buy that. He has had money, home ground advantage, and a number of good draft picks at his disposal, and yet Freo have won 2 finals under him. They made the finals twice in 6 years. Daniher had no money, no real home ground advantage, and draft penalties to cope with, came to us when we won the spoon, and got us into 6 final series, and a GF, and he still wasn't good enough.

That sounds like the most likely scenario. Assuming Neita plays every game from now until Round 20, he'll play his 300th against Collingwood. What a game that'll be!

Ask yourself the following questions: 1- Does Fremantle have a better list than we do? 2- Does Fremantle have a better home ground advantage than we do? 3- Does Fremantle have more money to spend on their footy department, equipment and player development? Let me give you a hint, the answer to all three questions, is yes. Now ask yourself this; is Chris Connolly really suited to the position? He could return to the club and play some role successfully. Not the role of head-coach though.

Why would our board appoint a coach who had to quit mid-season due to his team (who have a better list) under performing? Serious questions will need to be raised if we so much as look in his direction.

I'm not sure that it's a bad draft, it's just not as deep as previous years. I'd be thrilled to get Cotchin. He's all class and would complement our current crop of midfielders nicely. Don't think Kreuzer will make it to pick 3, which doesn't bother me too much as I think he is a bigger risk than someone like Cotchin who is almost certain to make it at AFL level.

Long term contracts have killed us. IMO, most players shouldn't be given a 3 year contract, not unless they are young and showing a lot of potential. Even superstars can get cut down by injuries (imaging if a club gave Judd a 10 year deal and he spent 3 years at the physio trying to recover from OP!). Players like Yze, Bizzell and White got 3 year deals when in reality, they should have only got 2. The other thing we haven't done, is planned ahead. Too many similar players all come out of contract in the same year, however as we can only delist so many, we end up signing some players out of pure necessity. We should have got rid of 2 or 3 more players last year, in a draft that was considered quite good. We didn't because guys like Bizzell and Ward were contracted. This year, we have a big group of 'depth' players coming out of contract, but again, how many can we afford to delist and just how deep is this year's draft? Planning, like in any business, is vitally important. And in this industry, where things evolve and change so quickly, keeping one hand on the pulse at all times is crucial. Clubs that don't plan ahead, stay on the bottom for a long time. We need to be ruthless in order to ensure that we bounce back quickly.

I quite often want to... does that count? Mind you, if I ever so much as threatened to do that in my job, I'd get sacked (despite having real grounds to sue for provocation!). Davey is lucky that in his job, he only gets a two week suspension.

Brilliant work! I was tempted to look at it during class, but thank god I waited till I got home, because I literally laughed out loud when the credits came on Well done. Hopefully we win plenty of games next year and you can create more of these videos.

I was going to start this thread later on in the week, but I guess I've been beaten to it. A big congratulations to Robbo, my all time favourite Demon. With Robbo, you know that no matter how badly the team plays, he'll always try to do something special and pull off the impossible. From a pure entertainment perspective, there is no-one better. But it is the side of Robbo that not everyone knows that makes him the great player that he is. I've met quite a large number of Melbourne players over the years, and Robbo has, without a doubt, been the most passionate and dedicated representative of the MFC I've met. He loves the club, he bleeds for the jumper and he is proud to be a part of Melbourne. He might not always play well, and he might come across as selfish on the field, however he is anything but. He says and acts how he feels, a characteristic that is slowly dying in our game. And as he approaches the end of his career, I hope that he continues to be regarded as the heart and soul of this club and performs accordingly. He deserves to be part of a successful team, and he will always be a major contributor to this club, both on and off the field. Congratulations on 200 wonderful, entertaining games. May there be plenty more!

Belly should come straight back into the side (IF FIT!), and start racking up those B&F votes again Don't think Neita or Green will play, although given it is Robbo's 200th, they might just play Neita.

It's an article for the masses, not for Melbourne supporters who take interest in the club outside of match-day. We could all write better articles, but then Melbourne supporters are far too up-market to be reading the HS to begin with!

Well that's a bit harsh! My soft spot for Adelaide started out as a bit of a joke to [censored] off my then Port-supporting boyfriend. However, I just admire their professionalism and some of my favourite players play for them, especially Thompson. Their supporters are a feral bunch, no doubt, but that is not a true reflection on the club itself, just like our fickle supporters don't reflect on our club all of the time. Anyways, that's my story and I'm sticking to it. I hope the Crows win the flag, and Thommo wins the Brownlow... I want us to be the first Victorian club to break the premiership drought

Simon Buckley & Brent Moloney P.S.- We should lure Franklin back

Throwing the ball away won't get you suspended. Punching an opponent in the guts, will. That is the main difference. Brock stuffed up when he mouthed off and got paid the 50 against him, but his initial effort was hardly even a free kick. 9 out of 10 umpires wouldn't think twice about calling for the boundary throw-in. What Davey did will ALWAYS be a free kick, and has now cost him 2 weeks, which is great considering we have an abundance of replacements!

Why is that? because they get 30 cheap possessions a game, or 40 hit-outs that don't go to advantage? Statistics should have absolutely nothing to do with the way we value a player. Not when half of the possessions are soft receives, or fluffed kicks, or hit-outs that don't actually help the side win clearances. Junior should, and will, finish top 3. His consistency, work-rate, hardness at the footy, and selflessness is the sort of stuff I hope our coaches look at when they award the votes. Not meaningless stats. Jones may only be averaging 16 possessions a game, but what about tackles? first possessions? clearances? And how about time spent on the ground? His possessions are influential, and his 'ordinary kick' puts Bruce's kicking skills to shame. There will always be some bias in the way people vote, but Jones' position is nothing shocking and he will finish very highly in the real B&F.

A midfield coach, IMO is the most important of the assistant coaches. I think that when you look for a new coach, getting someone who played as a midfielder, should be of some importance too. So someone like Ratten or Voss. Everything starts from the midfield, and we're currently sitting 15th for clearances. We're basically getting spanked each and every game, which is just not good enough. McLean is being held off the ball, McDonland can only do so much and Jones is still a baby. Our number one priority in terms of drafting should be another ball-winning midfielder. Forget ruckmen, forget defenders.... if our midfield is not winning the ball, we won't win games. Another player to compliment McLean and Jones (remembering that Junior is close to retirement), who can also use the ball and has good leg speed (something the other 2 guys lack), would help us a lot more than a ruckman or a defender. Ruckman are completely overrated. If your midfield is good enough to read the opposition's tap, than you can have Whelan rucking and it won't make much of a difference. I rather spend a first round pick on a quality midfielder and keep developing ruckmen on the rookie list, or with later picks.

West Coast can suffer in their jocks! Bloody coke-sniffing cheats that they are. They are a disgrace to this competition. /end rant

I'm desperate for a good pick, so as far as I'm concerned, Neita can have the rest of the year off to recover and the same goes for Bruce, Green and TJ. It won't happen, but maybe we should consider it. Maybe Bruce can have whatever it is that has ruined his kicking, operated on? Having said all that, Bruce and Neita are a chance to return this week. As is Moloney! Green and Belly at least another week away.

How so? He's played almost every game, and has been consistent throughout the season. He'll finish top 3 in the real B&F.

Was he really better than McLean's 33 touches, 13 contested possessions and 8 clearances?

Speaking of which... Treasure Ireland "If you don't make it quickly your confidence falls. But in saying that, now Australian football is more a running game and very similar to gaelic footy."

No, hence he won't be captain next week.

I don't see how playing Newton in the midfield is going to achieve anything. I understand the need to learn to play in different positions etc..., but will he ever be a midfielder? No. Playing him as a half forward, or even down back, would have made sense to get him into the game, further his development and so on. Playing him in the middle doesn't make much sense to me, but then again, I agree that it was good to see him have a dip and not drop his head. Funny how when Newton was thrown up forward in the last quarter, he immediately made a contest which brought the ball to the ground and resulted in a crumbing goal. That is something Robbo can't do because he doesn't have the height. He either takes a mark, or goes to ground.

I agree, I think that tactically Riley does look very capable, and he reacts quickly. As for Newton, can't expect him not to have a dirty night when he's thrown into the midfield in his third AFL match. He got molested by the bigger, more experienced Brisbane midfield, and was lost in the heavy traffic. I still maintain that for the sake of our future, he should play FF or as close to goal as possible for the rest of the season.