The heart beats true

I'd much rather we build a boutique stadium and sacrifice some MCG games than hold onto the 'MCG is our only home' mentality and slowly become the North Hobart Kangadees. Id go to Casey to watch us as these games are more likely to be victories. I reckon the club would be pleasantly surprised by the turn out. I notice a lot of 3 game a year supporters at the GWS and GC games. I hear quiet a bit of 'which one is Jack Watts?' at these games.

That's not even in Tappys bump highlight reel. He went to ground like an Italian striker and then popped back up the minute he got the free. Bruise free indeed.

Carlton are really ordinary. We have very little players with poise and skill and ultimately that's the difference. That 2nd quarter effort was much proved though. Am liking Jones, Gawn and Tappy. Chip needs to give more. Will be interesting to see how Dunney goes if he keeps tagging Judd. So far he's been pretty effective.

My vote for club Prez is Barack Hussein Obama as he often likes to quote MLK's rathe famous line 'The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice'. After 6 of the most miserable seasons imaginable we sure know about the long, slow wait. Maybe Neeldy should pull that one at the Presser this week? Could make for something different for the press to write about, and with Watts out they'll be struggling for a story.

Not sure I agree with this (but maybe it's because I don't understand). It's a free market and clubs don't have to pick 17 year olds. I suspect the AFL would need to encourage development leagues (TAC Cup) to extend their age limits to say 20 if it did go up. More time in the system surely helps. Perhaps it not about recruitment age but tempering expectations for young players until they are 4-5 seasons in? Am I missing something Clint? What's the theory behind raising the age limit mate?

Got any stats to back that up? I'm one of the 30,000 and I signed up to support the club that I love in part because I don't want to see it fade away. What I don't love is the lack of hope the club has been peddling, particularly since round 1 2012. I think if you asked all of our supporter base less than half would support the current coach. Why's that? Because he's not giving them much to believe in. I'll always be a member, just like I'll always be an atheist, but it doesn't mean that I don't want to have something to believe in.

"He is taking time to adapt and GWS probably needs a better performance out of him based on his salary." Thanks Yeater. Always liked you The guy is easily the highest paid player in the league relative to impact. 4 years in and he's showing no signs of being able to do any of the remarkable things you'd expect. He's just a plodder. In the end he may well have done the right thing by taking the money and running. He certainly wouldn't get offered half that money now. His greed might be the only thing he has going for him.

Max Viney

Whether you agree with the inference I think we should at least acknowledge that we are only in this situation because of our own doing. I think we'd be wise to play nice with the AFL. The more amiable we appear the more they can make life easier for us. If they decide to make life hard I think you'll be flying to our 'home' games.

Props for bringing Anarchist theory into this HT It's interesting to see clubs handling leadership differently. We currently have a 9 person leadership group. Seems to have lost it's value when half the side is in it, no? Doggies went for one Captain and a revolving door for the VC position. I think they have a similar leadership void to us, although there's seems exacerbated by concerns over senior players being able to get on the field, where ours is a genuine void. If nothing else I think Jones should be rewarded with the captaincy if we are still crap after 2014. We'll really need to switch things up anyways, and you have to reward a personality that is widely regarded as our best player, not just our 'going to be' best player.

I've been to training a few times this year. My one big take away from all of it is how much it feels and seems like work for everyone involved. This is not only true for the MFC I'm sure, but I think modern day footy for all it's professionalism seem to lack a certain spirit that you find of other footy clubs where they have limited time together and so make the time they do have together 'feel' more important. I will say that I noticed the kicking level in general is as you would expect given our on field performances. As expected the more consistent trainers are also the more consistent players. Jones is an elite athlete in terms of his presentation and training performance and it's at least nice to see that translate into good personal performances from him. I haven't noticed anything in particular in regards to the relationships between players and coaching staff. Neil Craig does seem to like to get out there amongst it. If I go again soon I'll be sure to post or start a thread for those of you interested. Sadly, as the Stark family motto ominously warns, 'Winter is Coming' and it puts a pretty severe dent in my desire to stand outside on a Friday morning and watch guys in there 20's run around and kick a ball in the general vicinity of each other.

We'd be even money against most VFL sides with that team. Ouch.

Yeah that seemed a bit over the top in my opinion. The club knows what Mitch is worth versus what he offers playing this year. He will have all the time he needs and all the support possible. Robbo was just being dramatic. I wish he'd stick to talking pessimistically about Essendon's investigation. Now that's a story that needs some added doom and gloom.

Great line Stuie. Gotta try and remember that one mate.

I hope he just keeps his eye on things for a while before saying too much publicly. We need someone to make lasting, informed decisions. But I do hope he brings some official MFC trousers that match with our Blazers. It's about time!

I honestly think that if that happens the MCG might literally explode with fury. I've never seen collective anger like that Rnd 1 game against Port.

Can I just say that it says a lot more about our footy club that these 2 quality young blokes were made captains than it does about them as players. We'll never know what impact it's had on them as players but I will say that I think given the enormous pressure our club has been under, and the obvious grumblings in the footy community about senior players being passed over, they've always done their best. Even I, of the sack the coach, sack the board, sack the president, sack the boot studder brigade, believe you can't sacrifice 2 young guys doing their absolute best. You have to give them as much support as possible and push on. It might not have been the best choice, but I think we should all die trying to support them because the alternative is the ultimate culture killer.

Here is my opinion of how a lot of the system works, and how it's detrimental to the players involved. I played junior footy with and against a lot of good players in the TAC cup. I had a very ordinary left foot and my kicking in general was not as good as it should have been. I never once has a junior coach work with me on my kicking action or skills, even though it was acknowledged as my weakness by everyone. The goal of the system is to create good players but to be honest a lot of the coaching staff are driven to make the step to the next level and so winning becomes much more important than development. So what often happened was the best players where the players that worked the hardest and had something special (speed, size). It's shocking when I look back on it because it makes me realize that a lot of young guys are coming into the AFL system that have relied on their size or desire much more than their skills. I think skills can be improved dramatically, but I find it such a shame that some of these kids are learning things as 19-22 year olds that they should be learning when they are 14. With the emphasis on fitness so important in the modern game some players are starting a long way back if their skills aren't what they should be and they have to take the time to focus on skills too. I bet that most development coaches at AFL level would tell you the same thing.

It was a little lighthearted attempt at humour hardtack based on one persons reporting of a personality, versus another. To make it more obvious should I have gone with the Spanish spelling and inserted the smiley faces at both ends of the statement like ;)so;)? *Edited because I unintentionally but Ironically screwed up the smiley faces

And taking swings at teammates in nightclubs at 3AM. Left that bit out.

Yeah, I don't think Sugar should say anything publicly. It'd just look like we are more of a mess. I think it's time we just accept that we have no hope of seeing much in 2013. It's breaks my heart to watch the footy club look so pathetic consistently.

I thought that was last year? This is like Groundhog Day, but without the brilliant sarcasm of Bill Murray.

Hardtack and jazza, sincere thanks for the effort put in to answer that. I'm going to come at this from a different perspective (for the sake of my own sanity). Before each game I'm going to think about what I think the final result will be, what I'd like to see in terms of team and individual player progression, and then judge accordingly from there. The thing is I would have thought we'd go down by 5 goals last week but I forget all that way too quickly when we make terrible skill errors and I scream at my TV. I personally have an issue with the 18 month into a rebuild argument because we are 6 years in with nothing to show, but I'll take that issue up with the adminstration who have overseen that all. Satyriconhome, you made some great points too, but in still mad at you for potting the Ox so I'm just going to take the D'Land easy option and ignore most of what you wrote

He met with the President a few weeks back and did exactly what you asked him to do. I take it the club didn't feel it needed his help. I'd say he's very entitled to the opinion he voiced because he's both a passed player and a paid commentator who has actually offered to do something. I'd also say its fairly hypocritical of you to pot him about his addiction problems as a rebuttal to him voicing an opinion regarding our senior coach whose win loss record speaks very loudly for itself. No former players can pot an unsuccessful coach, but supporters can pot former players for overcoming a gambling addiction? Touché (that means 'right on dude' in French). Your logic is beyond reproach (that means 'makes no f*#king sense' if read with the sarcasm and disdain intended).

I agree with what he said about knowing the players would stand behind him. He was/is a fiercely proud person. We need to get him back involved in our footy club. His competitive nature commands respect. I'd vote for him to be on our board. Hell, I'd go door to door for him drumming up support.