poita

Totally agree with this. Throwing the club 70 bucks or whatever it costs to become a 3 game member these days is not supporting the club. It's on par with having a magazine subscription. Supporting the club is going to games and cheering on the team. Clearly there are people overseas and interstate who follow the club, but I don't see why the regular attendees should miss out when it matters most.

Good call, although it is as much about the players you bring in as the ones who go out. Not only did Woewodin leave, but we brought in Heffernan and Moorcroft who never wanted to leave Essendon, and Fatboy Pickett who was there just for the money.

http://vfl.com.au/vfl-votes/ http://vfl.com.au/vfl-team-of-the-year/ Lucas Cook in team of the year - what a star!

I think we'd look better with an extra defender in the team, probably Joel Smith, but this is still a decent side that has no excuses for not performing well. Great to see Tyson get up this week - his form has been good and we need midfield depth to beat Geelong. In fact I think a tired midfield is the main reason we fell away in the last quarter in round 18. Geelong were running about ten guys through the middle against our 5 or 6.

Just go and find the best state league ruckman available and recruit them with a late national draft pick or a rookie pick. The era of clubs giving an 18 year draft pick five years to show something is over. The reality is that talented talls will walk for more game time as soon as they feel their path to senior football is blocked, as is the case with any ruck behind Gawn at Melbourne. With the VFL reserves gone, I can't see anything other than the elite young ruckmen (Kreuzer, Grundy, etc) being drafted in future. Why spend years developing a project ruck when the chances of finding a good one are so low, and when you can pinch one from another club for a third round pick? Better to let the state leagues do the work for you.

Far better to give a bloke like Freeman a chance on a one year deal than waste another year on Johnstone / McKenna / King / etc who clearly will never make it.

Congratulations Bernie on a wonderful career. You have been all class since walking through the door five years ago, and I hope you get a chance to finish on a high note either in the AFL or VFL. Hopefully you stay connected to the MFC, but best wishes for the future either way.

Each venue has its own ticketing agent. That said, it is not good enough for the AFL not to demand improvements. These companies make an absolute fortune from selling AFL tickets. If the AFL were serious they could sell their own tickets and cut out the middle man.

The best thing about the incompetence of Ticketek is the exorbitant fees you pay them for their abysmal service.

Gawn & Oliver have both had brilliant seasons and deserve to be in the starting 18. I can live with not having any other nominations. Jetta probably came closest, but was better last year. McDonald has been consistently good, but hasn't had any really big games. Brayshaw didn't do much before the Adelaide game, but has been good since - as Oliver has shown, you need a couple of strong years to get noticed by the selectors.

I really hope Smith gets up for the Casey game this week and does enough to come into contention for the senior team. He would release Fritsch from the backline, and put him back to wing / HFF where he has played his best football. JKH was okay yesterday, but it is an easy choice to make the switch. If Tyson is fit, he definitely plays - probably for Spargo, who was also okay yesterday, but is next in line. If not Spargo, then perhaps Vandenberg. In: Viney, Hannan, J.Smith Out: Tyson (inj), Kent (inj), Kennedy-Harris As an aside, I'm not sure that Kent has a future as an AFL footballer. He hasn't made it through three AFL matches in a row for two years now. Perhaps his body just isn't made to play the sport at the highest level.

Then google how to spell defibrillator.

A Die Hard Demon would probably have some idea when the club last played finals.

How many people watch his pathetic excuse for a TV show? I just don't understand why he has the profile that he does.

I thought his teams started off the year okay, but it increasingly looks as though he is only watching 2-3 games a week.

That moment when your team is facing a must win game in hostile surroundings and you see the half forward line that they have come up with.

A fit Scully would be great now, but I don't blame him for leaving. Martin & Thompson are the two that I really regretted seeing leave.

If we don't think we can play finals, by all means play Weideman for the next two weeks. He is not even close to AFL standard at present, so a decent reality check might be the best thing to spur him to put in a massive pre season. He needs to get fitter, stronger, tougher, smarter - the whole lot. If we think finals are achievable, and I think this week is very winnable, then Goodwin needs to finds the 22 most in form, seasoned footballers he has this week. If that means playing a small forward line so be it. If he wants to replace Hogan with another tall, Weideman's inability to provide a genuine physical contest makes him a liability against good sides.

I'm not sure that Hannebery was ever the right fit for our midfield, but I am glad to hear that the club is actively seeking ready made midfielders in this trade / draft period. We have badly neglected the midfield over the past couple of years, and our depth is severely lacking in this area. Gaff would be a great get and I hope there are other free agents on our hit list as well.

Yep, and there is a fair chance that the same thing will happen with Gawn too given that Goodwin seems determined to run him into the ground.

Go Pedo! I reckon he is in to give Max a chop out, as much as to replace Smith. Bernie may just have played his last game with Hibberd to return soon - even more so if Hunt plays well. JKH very lucky.

KC, always appreciate your reports. What are your thoughts as to the effect of the removal of the VFL reserves on the development of players like Filipovic? It seems as though he may have benefited from playing a full game in the ruck in the reserves each week, rather than a few minutes here and there in the seniors. I'm of the view that Melbourne needs an experienced backup from Gawn, which makes it even harder to develop young rucks.

I don't recall Franklin ever kicking big bags of goals against Melbourne. He is generally good for 3 - 4, but our losing streaks against Hawthorn & Sydney have been more about being flogged in the midfield. Win the midfield, fill the space in front of Franklin to stop his leads and we win the game.

Is Demon Dash really the best idea we can come up with? Some tubby bloke plods along behind a flashing light and when he comes up short they give away the prize any way. At least there was some skill involved in Hogan's Heroes.

My thoughts: Vince, Balic (retired) King, Filipovic, McKenna, Johnstone, (delisted) Bugg / Kent / JKH - can't see the need for all three to stay, and one may be enough in honesty. Wouldn't be surprised to see Kent look elsewhere. JKH presumably most likely to get another year given current state of affairs. Pedersen - another one year deal. He provides valuable depth in a number of positions. Frost / Tyson - both contracted and both stay. I hope we've made it clear to both that they are required players long term. T.Smith / Weideman - I don't rate either of them, but I expect Smith to get another one year deal. The heat will be on Weideman if he is still at Casey this time next year. Keilty - happy to see him get another year. Vandenberg - presumably will get another year, but he's just depth for me. Maynard - very, very fortunate to have a contract for next year. Otherwise a clear delist. We should be looking at 1-2 free agents, 4 draft picks and 2-3 rookie selections. I would be happy to play 38 + 6 rookies next year, as opposed to 40 + 4 this year.