Fitz Fitzpatrick

nailed it Macca

as for the problem of inequality in fixturing and gate receipts there is one very easy solution i think. The AFL takes all the gate receipts for every match of the season. then at the end of the season, the total is divided evenly among all teams, thus removing the presumed favouritism of the bigger clubs with the larger crowd drawing matches. leave the membership revenue as a club independent income source .

the idea as i see it is that if the players are off for a minimum then due to the time limit of the quarter only so many rotations could take place. it would also remove this new phenomenon of pllayers taking themselves off as they see fit. by basing it on a time min rather than a number of rotations it removes the possibility of a team using up its rotations then having to deal with an injury. i think it could really work quite well. there wouldnt be an issue of players getting cold. remember it was only less than a decade ago that players were off for a lot longer anyway. this argument that therell be more injuries with a restriction is something i dont agree with. how did the players cope before when there were less rotations. yes the game will slow a bit but footy 10 years ago was still bloody quick and fantastic to watch. ive mentioned it before on here that i have lived overseas for 10 years so the difference in the way the game has evlved is probaly more evident to me as i hardly get to see any footy. the image of footy in my mind because of this is still the early 2000's. it was very fast, very exciting , with lots of one on one contests. loved it!!

lets not kid ourselves. even 2 premierships will not repair the damage that 50 years of shocking performances has done. multi-decade sustained and continual success is the what is required to save this club from joining fitzroy i believe.

I agree with you wyl. lets not try to varnish this turd. that is a very poor effort for that period of time. I feel its more to do with our on field performances than the clubs efforts however. It would be easier selling knives and forks in china than melbourne memberships to footy fans these days. what neutral footy fan would choose to support the dees? we have stunk. intil that changes we will continue to be an irrelevant entity. PS - i believe change is in the air but its a long road back. the club has lost 2 generations of potential supporters.

Im excited about the trial rules and look forward to seeing how they effect the NAB games. the flood and the press have ruined the game in my opinion. its like rugby. lots of congestion with empty space over the back for a big kick in to space. then watch 36 players all rush down on to the footy. its not the type of footy i grew up to love at all

Im allfor limiting the interchange. Footy looks like a flock of seagulls fighting over a bag of chips these days. very congested. I think capping the number of interchanges is a complicated solution though. what about injuries etc. I feel the best way to reduce the number of rotations is to put a minimum time the player must stay off the ground once he comes off. so no magic figure on the number of rotations but once the guy comes off he must stay off for a set time minimum - say 10 min. that would slow the rotations down and bring footy back to the exciting one on one contests we havent really seen since the late 90s. this system would also make it musch easier for the afl to ajudicate.

I agree. I feel Viney could offer a %^$& load of defensive pressure in the fwd line as well as a way to ease him in to afl footy. he would chase and tackle like a demon up there. create turnovers and opportunities for the likes of davey/blease/ byrnes

great stuff! really appreciate that

What is she thinking, Jvineyfan?! she should know better

Sylvias a UFA this year. we will lose him, im sure of that. This season will determine if that is a loss to us or not

Welcome back Range Rover. Reinstated hey mate?

Nice one FNQ. That last report you gave us was a ripper. thoroughly enjoyed it and its great you go and have a chat to the boys. Enjoy it and wish i could be there myself

What a side! Stacked with guns

"There's plenty of old women Dees who won't be getting toots or whistles let alone be able to hear them but have so much heart and passion." Gold

Essendon has their fair share of hot supporters too i reckon

I disagree. Pedersens role will be CHF with dawes and clark at FF and the pocket. Pedo is a good lead up fwd and will play a role linking up the fwd line

where has the idea come from that gawn is going to be a topline ruck? i dont get it. i dont see it either. Yes , hes 208cm. but what else? he looks extremely unco to me. perhaps he will come good, but please tell me all this hope isnt soley based on his height???

Potentially, thats a very strong spine. May be as good as any out there in the near future

gee that team looks a lot better doesnt it. i think we could be suprised at the rate of climb up the ladder once it starts

we all knew the leadership culture was pretty poor but its only now, looking back in the rear view mirror that its bloody evident just how poor it was at the club and that there was no chance in hell our list was going to achieve the heights we all hoped for. Just wish Big Kev was around to tell everyone how excited we are!!

yes, if dawes captures his old form we have quite a formidable fwd line. of course its only as good as the delivery but that will come together over time. The good thing about Dawes is that he has been good in the past. hes done it , so he could be that good again. And more to the point, it will only serve to improve Clarks game , where he wont be getting gang raped every time he goes for the footy

Couldnt of said it better myself. Neeld has been nothing short of impressive this season. The side was poor but Im more positve about the future of this club , the long term future, than I have ever been. Ill go further and stick my neck out and say that i think 2012, 2013, 2014 could well be the most pivotal years in the history of the club. the era when the club stood up and said enough is enough. Our supporter base will remain small for many years due to all the things we are well aware of but i can see the corporate side of the business getting behind this australian sporting icon that is MFC. go Dees!!

thats why im all for restricting the rotations. thats whats made the difference. if they were capped or as I suggested, have a minimum time limit that rotated players must stay off the ground, the game would open up much more and much sooner.

Gee we have drafted some skinny kids. Instead of just delisting Morton, Gysberts and Cook why dont we get rid of the bugler and those 3 can form a boy band to sing at our home games for the kids.