djr

Another way of looking at this is that the AFL have been quite shrewd in charging 2 Melb officials with actions 'prejudicial to the interests of the AFL' and then fining Melb 500,000 for being an employer of these 2 officials. These charges would be harder to defend in court than a tanking charge. I think certainly this was a legal settlement where Melb really had no option but to accept these penalties.

WJ, the idea has some merit. But because a premiership is so difficult to achieve and a lot of luck is involved, I believe a club is successful enough (for a draft order) if they make the final 4. What would be the order then be under your methodology? Because the preliminary final losers have equal standing, you can go back to the next time each of those clubs made the top 4.

You can add Greg Baum to the Age list.

I agree. I believe Fitzy will have a pretty solid year barring injury. After watching him at Casey last year he is a cut above that league. I wouldn't be surprise if he becomes a regular in the senior side in the second half of the year.

Neeld was not at training last week and apparently this week as well. Does anybody know why?

JB I think you need to chill out a bit. While I think that JW has the potential to take that next step, he is certainly not in the "star" category. If you believe he was "tearing it up" last year, I would like you to just revisit the 2012 B&F results. He finished 16th. Even Joel MacDonald finished higher with only one extra game played. The coaches vote according to how well players perform their roles which explains a top 10 finish for Trengove and Dunn. If JW doesn't finish in the top 10 this year, barring injury, then I feel he hasn't progressed sufficiently and believe his name will come up in trade discussions. As i said this is a big year for him.

I agree with you RB. MN has no emotional attachment to JW. He didn't recruit him and in some respects he's not MN's type of player. That said, it appears that MN is comfortable to keep developing Jack. This is a big year for him.

Mods, please remove this Barn Dee guy. He is highly offensive, uneducated, ignorant and lacking any understanding of what it is like to be an ethnic minority who have been marginalized as a result of their land be taken over by us whites. As you can see I don't contribute much to this forum but I am one of the silent readers. As much as I enjoy reading spirited debates and tolerate the personal attacks some posters have with each other, I find that this guy's comments cross the line of what is acceptable to read in a forum like this.

From why I saw at training this morning Fitzy will be well and truly in the mix this season. He moves so well and I predict he will be a dominent force in the VFL with some opportunities being given during the AFL season. Watch him for 2014. Agree with BH re Barry. He moves like a young Michael Long.

Thinking yesterday whether Jason Taylor has started with the club yet. I haven't heard any media release.

Wow! didn't see that coming. Chill out Ben. All I am asking here is that I would like to hear from our skipper. Nothing more, nothing less.

I am a little surprised that we don't see Jack Grimes a little more front and centre. As our captain I would like to hear his thoughts of the Darwin experience…….in actual fact the whole pre-season. Unless i missed an interview, we have heard nothing from him. I would have thought that the presentation to the young lance-corporal would have been done by him seeing that he was there.

Hells, you mentioned that Davey was a standout. That's great to hear. In what way was he? I watched him train a couple of weeks ago and he was last in every run. Did he run and make space?

This article has certainly given me an insight into what it takes to be an AFL footballer. You can have all the talent in the world but if you are not up to it mentally you are just not going to make it. That's why I don't think Liam Jurrah would have lasted that long in the AFL system. He was not the greatest trainer nor would have liked the scrutiny and accountability that is now obvious under MN. Likewise with a number of others that have since left the club. It will be interesting to see how Colin Sylvia responds to this. Already I note that he spends a lot of time in rehab.

I wonder if the article was written to show a point of difference with our training compared with other clubs. I wonder whether EQ was alerted to this and thought it would be a good read. If there is no difference, she could have gone to any club to write the same story. Just a thought.

I think people have got to realize that Neeld no longer wanted Gysberts and Martin. They targeted Pedersen mid season and got him. They targeted other specific types / players and got them all except Farren Ray. Does it matter that we only got pick 53 for Martin (whom I particularly liked) when the most important thing was to free up space.

The % disposal efficiency stat can be misleading. A player can build up his %DE stat by chipping the ball around in the back line. I think any figure over 70%DE for kicks over 40m would be considered elite. Unfortunately I don't think they have a stat for that.

Just as a matter of interest, does his two-year contract begin in 2014? If so, does he just get VFL match payments next year?

With all due respect you cannot look at it like that. You cannot look at each individual trade and judge whether we paid "overs" on that trade. You need to look at the whole trading period and decide whether the club has achieved its objectives. If I was Tim Harrington/MN and I said to you 5 weeks ago that what we need for 2013 is some more big bodies in the forward line more experienced players that have tasted success and know what it takes to get to the top and to teach our kids what is required to realize their potential more talent in the midfield, both inside and outside. Better running mids that can run and spread and improve our uncontested possession count some crumbing forwards that can also play in the midfield some versatile big men that can play multiple roles to pick up young talent that will fill designated roles over the next 5-8 years to make hard decisions on our existing list and trade/delist players that we believe won't take us to the next level then I feel you would not disagree with these objectives. I think overall the club has achieved what they wanted to achieve from the trade period. They obviously had a clear plan of the type of player they wanted and vigorously went out to get them from what was available. I think the only one they missed out on was Ray, hence the David Rodan pickup. I think they did a brilliant job in achieving what they set out to do. Only time will tell as to whether the strategy was sound. Just my thoughts

Totally agree with your observation 46. I listened to David King one morning on SEN calling for the club to sack Neeld and cut our losses. A few weeks later they had MN on the program and DK asked just some lame questions about how tough it must be to be an AFL coach. Not one probing question. It was quite pathetic.

I was wondering this week why Mark Neeld was going so hard after Dawes, Gumbleton and Pederson, coming out and saying that he will try and get them all. It got me thinking that Clark's recovery might take longer than what we think. Just a thought.

[sigh] its becoming sooo tiresome reading posts like yours everyday. I am so sorry that you seem to live in such an anger space. We all know how shite we have been but if you can't see any light at the end of the tunnel, then I am sorry for you. You might want to look at other aspects of your life that causes you to think this way.

Its all about integrity. If I was Jason Taylor and a MFC official asked directly / indirectly for some 'tips' then I would be very disappointed in that official and even question the values of the club. But that's just me.

I sincerely hope he hasn't given any 'tips' and I sincerely hope no one from the MFC has asked him.

There hasn't been much said about Jason Taylor's impending move to MFC since Collingwood got upset about poaching their people back in February this year. It is my understanding that he will leave the Pies after the national draft to join us as the National Recruiting Manager. I assume that a contract has been signed and he is definitely coming. Does anyone have anymore news on this front?