The heart beats true

Here is what I don't understand. Why doesn't he pull a Nik Nat? Come out publicly saying that he has lived around the country but that he want's to stay in Melbourne as he feels it's his home and he'll play his best here. The kid is going to play AFL and get drafted by someone so it's not like he's doing a disservice to his chances on draft day. That way GCS and GWS know that he'll ask to be traded home after 2 years if they chance their hand. It's not draft tampering by us as there is plenty of precedents of this by other players and I think it set's him up well as a future player for the club that he is 97% likely to play for anyway. He starts the relationship on the right foot.

Easy on Lingy. I reckon he's got a head that could only be on TV in 2 countries in the world - Australia and Ireland (They don't have TV in NZ yet do they?). Everywhere else he'd be kept from the spotlight. He's a rare species and I like a bit of ginger diversity on the box.

I hope you are right. My concern is that the players are so low on confidence that they couldn't buy a win against a half decent side. Neeld has a lot of work to get both the fitness and belief where it needs to be.

He didn't want to leave WA. He didn't want to leave WA. He didn't want to leave WA. He didn't want to leave WA. Repeat it to yourself 1000 times until you understand.

Watching the Eagles dominate against North right now. Every time Nik Nat or Darling do something good I think 'that'll send D'Land into a tail spin about our recruiting'. They look red hot.

I'd take Cloke. He has a huge body and I think that would make life a lot easier for Mitch and blokes like Blease and Jetta to crumb from. We need to spend the money and for once we actually have it. Wellingham I'm not convinced of. It's really hard to understand a midfielders value when you've got so much focus on Swan, Pendlebury and now Beams. If it's just him and Nathan Jones you'd have to think he's going to find the going much tougher.

This is total BS. I think the club has done everything they could to support Jurrah this year and to be honest I think he's made some really poor decisions that would create obvious animosity between parties. Regardless of the legal incident lets look at Liam's handling of it: - Comes to Melbourne after the arrest and runs to a rival club president to a do an interview without notifying the club. They only find out hours before it airs. - After the club puts a lot of resource into his recovery and his personal legal issues he leaves the club for SA only notifying the club once he's already there that he's not playing out the season. - Quits the club for good but has obviously been discussing other opportunities behind his current employers back and makes them look foolish with the way it's announced. I for one can never and will never understand the complexities of Liam's personal situation and I genuinely feel for him. The reality is that he is employed with a group of 40 other players and the club has to be seen to be operating in a way that is fair and balanced. I think anyone would understand that different individuals require more room to move than others but you can't continually disrespect your employer. He could have handled things better and he chose not to and those decisions are his and his alone. I support the attitude that he hasn't been good for our club culture this year. He became too much of a distraction.

Gees Tex if this is how your feeling in early September I think it's best you lock yourself in a panic room until the end of October. Gysberts has no physicality and will be pushed aside in our team for the next 2-3 years as our younger bodies develop. At that point he will have had 5 years in the system and probably only added another 15 games. He is a victim of bad choices made before and around him but we can't keep all these under developed, under performing guys and expect to get better. If someone else wants him and we can get a bigger body that helps us get some respect and self belief back then it must be done. Hold on to your hat mate. You'll see a lot more going down in the next 6 weeks. We haven't even scratched the surface.

Not really a Monfries fan in the context of the MFC. Have concerns over his work ethic and mental attitude. I agree that we need some more forward options but what we need more than anything is players that command respect. I wouldn't put him in the top 50% in the league in that regard. I'd be concerned that he'd be another not quite big enough, not quite strong enough type.

Jared Rivers is one of the most reliably consistent competitors at the club. He is nothing if he is not competitive. I suspect that the ball is in Jared's court to an extent, but the clubs not pressing depending on who becomes available through trades. I'd expect a deal to be done late October once things start sorting themselves out.

This. A thousand times over. It's been obvious all year that our club lacks a spiritual leader. We are bereft of true leadership and integrity at all levels. I think the club is reeling without the big bloke, which is not to say folks aren't trying just that we need someone with a certain gravitas to step up and lead us into the future.

Good on all those that contributed. I hope you got to interface with some at the club and remind them of your passion and your pockets. It's nice that those at the club have a great (but sometimes difficult) job, but they are there to succeed and I hope that those that donate remind them of the supporter bases desire to see competitiveness.

Everyone forgets all this stuff the minute the club starts to be a force on the field. Nobody talks about the effect of the WCE drug culture now because they are winning. If they were 16th you can bet there would be murmurs of it everywhere. If EVERYONE at the club wants to keep their jobs we must start winning and competing at every level. And, although the circumstances are different, don't North look a different side since Eugene Arocca left? Makes me wonder about the effect management has on club culture.

Excellent news. Sammy will be a star.

Yeah, it's obvious to me that he has changed tack. It still concerns me that 90% of the staff that were unhappy with him are still there though (the players). That can't be good for culture and I know from experience that if people lose faith in management it's very hard to gain it back This would be true if half of our list could kick ;-)

In regards to the article above I just want to point out the quotes to those of you who have been screaming about 'speculation' and 'innuendo' regarding the playing groups relationship with Cam Schwab. I do believe these direct quotes from Jim shed light onto the reality of the situation. "Some of his behaviour was proving destructive and it was clear he had lost the faith of the coach and the playing group. "I felt that some aspects of his work were first-class, and perhaps that two-thirds of what he did overall was good. "But I was frustrated by the fact he was choosing to ignore the board and seemed determined to run his own agenda." He is the luckiest person in the AFL to have a job. Garry Lyon kept him in his gig at the expense of the players. It's no longer innuendo. It's come from Jim himself and I think it's pretty damning.

I'm not convinced about James. I think he really gets the most out of himself but I would have thought as the club moves forward he's going to struggle. He just doesn't look dynamic enough to hold his spot in an improving team. His contested marking isn't where it needs to be and his foot skills and decision making are below what they should be. Hopefully we can move away from players that are good spoilers or simply compete in the air. We need to find another big bodied player that can take a mark and adds more structure as opposed to filling a gap. I do agree that he deserves another contract extension because up against big forward lines (North, WCE) he will be needed next year. 1 year and see what comes after that.

Gee thanks for explaining how the club is going to get better next year. Maybe Beamer and Cale Morton will really turn it around. And if your opinion of footballers is based on footy forums then we shouldn't have gone anywhere near Mitch Clark, Nathan Jones would have been delisted 3 years ago, and Juice Newton would be our starting CHF.

I don't really understand the logic of this thinking. We have the worst midfield in the league and a non existent forward line (except for a bloke that wasn't with us last year) and folks are debating if we should take proven experienced players from other clubs? We should try and get both Cloke and Goddard. That's too blokes the opposition have to worry about. Right now the 2 players that are filling their spots in the team are James Sellar (Big bodied forward) and Joel Mac (Link up defender) or Beamer (Inside/Outside mid). Not sure that many sides are too concerned about lining up against those players. Before you get stuck into what we might get, look at what we have.

Agreed. James Sellar and Joel MacDonald are the proof in our half baked pudding.

Moneyball as applied in the movie is a concept that doesn't hold up quite as well in a sport reliant on team players working together as opposed to the more unique individual aspects of Baseball (which is not to say Baseball isn't a team sport, just that it is a very different one than football field team sports). I agree with the idea of thinking in a wider sphere as outlined by some above, but really it seems like this is a term that gets trotted out with little to no relevance to the way our game is played. What next? Are we going to draft a 'Rudy' type to inspire the boys? I'm more in favor of 'Dawn of the Dead' list kill off.

Yeah Joel Mac breaks my heart. He is everything the club needs in terms of endeavour and effort but is sadly lacking in skills. We can't have him, Barty, Dunne, Bail, Bate and Sellar on the one list. I think he'll stay as he gets his hands on the ball and I think he deserves another year but if we start moving forward he's going to struggle as he's a finger in the dam wall type. Once we start improving he's just holding up the development of someone else.

This is a joke right? How is Cook developing? I think you might wanna watch some VFL and reassess. Struggling big time.

Actually BH for me it does make him a better leader. Runs on the board mean you can turn around and ask hard questions of your team mates when they need to be asked. I doubt Barry Hall can do that given his history (and I like Hall but if he questioned me on discipline there would be a little nagging voice in the back of my head). Too often we mistake big words and big gestures behind closed doors for leadership when the fact of the matter is that football is a game played for 2 hours a week and it's during that time that players get to show their best.

Based on the Swan off field issues and the Cloke distraction all year Cloke has to go now. If he signs on at the end of the season it will only be forgiven if they win the flag this year. Otherwise if I was playing with him I'd be very dirty on the distraction it's created all year and the undue pressure he's placed on himself and the team. I'd say he's a certainty to leave now, and I think the Pies know it.