Lutz

I'd say the option was raised when Neeld was still a highly sought after assistant coach that knew he'd probably end up with a head coaching gig somewhere.

Great acquisition. If some of him can rub off on our talented players, they'll become champions. Showed exactly the grunt and nous that many of our supporters long for.

SEN just announces Leigh Brown as our new forward coach.

I'd say we intended to take him at 14, and might have told him so. I seem to remember CAC saying that if Morton, Kreuzer & Cotchin were gone at 4, we'd have taken Grimes. Obviously we thought a gem had slipped through the net & it changed our plans. What we'd give to have acquired Taylor at 21 instead of Maric...

Can't hear the interview - what was said about Viney?

I think his time is up, because the top sides these days don't employ traditional taggers. Even Ling wins a lot of his own ball, while being exceptional defensively Neeld, having come from Collingwood, will likely have the same attitude.

Cut Meatloaf some slack - he just about dragged himself out of his deathbed for that performance. The poor guys is not doing well these days.

Thompson's departure was more acrimonious than that of Neeld, and an entire footy season has gone in between. Not < 3 weeks where not a game has been played by MFC. Chalk & cheese. & did it occur to anyone that maybe Neeld was there to also secure the services of our new backline development coach..?

Interesting comment by Neeld. Yesterday I came to the conclusion that the development role for the backline wouldn't go to Leigh Brown as many (including Hagdorn) have predicted. But then I saw on TAC cup futurestars today that Brown has been coahing TAC cup at the cannons (I think) for some time. Pencil him in.

No. Only a fool would think in those terms. They are an opposition club, with whom we have an historic rivalry. I love to beat them above beating most other teams. To take it beyond that is foolish. We just headhunted their senior assistant coach to be our head coach FFS. To think of them in such black & white terms (excuse the pun) as an enemy in the traditional sense, would completely discount that from being a possibility. Wake up to yourself.

I can't believe anyone would have a problem with this. Talk about sweating the small stuff. What about Brad Scott congratulating his brother on a GF win? Maintaining contacts throughout the industry is invaluable for bringing good people into the club, when building a support team. It's not like he was there to give them our (highly valuable) IP, or to negotiate a deal to leave us for them. He's only been our head coach for < 3 weeks & his former team were in the GF. There were extenuating circumstances. As for players being "matey", you realise a lot of them have come up through juniors playing together and have established friendships before being drafted to different clubs? Competitive nature is key, but the idea of tribalistic hatred of the opposition is antiquated. Get with the times.

I could imagine him being targeted for a Neil Craig / Mark Thompson role. Not sure if he'd go for it though.

Just a matter of time with this one.

His saving grace is that he has a real crack and shows great endeavour and hardness. Really, with his limitations, it's an indictment on the club that he survives purely by doing what all players should be expected to do I think he is limited and will be gone soon.

Was actually thinking a bit about the coaches to be named today while waiting for beer in the bullring at quarter time... Although I nominated Leigh Brown and Brady Rawlings as defensive development coach, looking at the other 2, it is more likely to be someone that has some experience in developing juniors. Probably someone the majority have not even heard of.

Stargazing here. Have just seen Lucas Cook, Chris Johnson and Gubby Allen all wandering past. Thought about kicking Gubby in the shin before running away, but I'm big enough for him to belt me without a second thought.

Assistant backline coach - Leigh Brown or Brady Rawlings. Forward coach - Blake Caracella or Leigh Tudor.

Yeah, it's like the choreographers take over and take it too seriously, completely losing sight of what the audience want - to see AFL footballers joke around and make fools of themselves, or at least see a bit of their personality outside of the sterile football environment. Instead it's flooded with professional dancers and way too serious routines. Even the sequences with Newman and Crawford went for too long. I couldn't care less about them - I want to see current players. The MFC players spent the 2nd half of their dance hidden at the back of the stage with 2 professionals dancing it up infront of them. No one wants to see that.

Geelong 34 points Ottens 88,347

Any player that can extract a 200 game career out of himself, along with a premiership medallion (or maybe even 2), all while having so many limitations and "next to no ability"... simply must have some sort of know-how and understanding of the game. I recall the Collingwood game earlier this year when he threw himself at aerial contests in their forward line with abandon, and I swear his main intention was to injure Frawley. Was reminiscent of blokes like the Scott brothers - uncompromising types willing to do what it takes to get the win. They've made passable coaches. I can't really think of a better candidate to be coach, based on that. Better than a bloke like Judd, who excels because of his freakish athleticism and natural ability - you can't teach that to players.

For those that can't get the AFL website videos to work, if you look on YouTube for the channel "aflvideos2011" there's highlights of most draft prospects.

Fair call rfpc. I was *this* close to editing the post, prefacing it all with a disclaimer, but didn't bother. Bust surely if he is correct, then it would have the same effect as actually having our own VFL club, without the added cost and liability.

Now THAT is leadership... from Jack Grimes.

I want O'Meara AND Crouch. Whatever it takes, within reason (no chip, watts, Trengove, Grimes...)

Gone. The subtle changes to the game, bringing back the focus on contested marking, has given him a lifeline. We should be able to get something meaningful for him, even if it's just a pick upgrade.