Ricky P

Hoges'll stay and we'll win the flag.  Chill out everyone.

A lot on here don't seem to deal with uncertainty very well. The attitude seems to be "the suspense/boredom is killing me so just get rid of him". Nothing's really changed except Melbourne has stopped playing games so no-one has anything else to talk about.  

5 hours ago, stuie said:

NAB Trade Radio ‏@traderadio 10m10 minutes ago

Hibberd reveals he had a beer with Jake Melksham, Bernie Vince & Jack Watts to get to know new potential teammates

 

Doubt it was just one haha

8 hours ago, special robert said:

No we were the most dominant club by a mile just like Hawthorn now/past. Every kid had a Melbourne jumper and we were cocky as hell! That day we outnumbered the Collingwood supporters...... but not by a huge margin as Collingwood were still a top club back then.

Hard to believe!

4 hours ago, special robert said:

I was sitting behind the goals at the punt rd end, up in the great southern..............never forget it.

What was the crowd like that day? Were we outnumbered by Collingwood back then? 

9 hours ago, Nasher said:

Yes, indirectly.  Gave up pick 3 (Scully compo) and 14, and received MD pick #2 (Hogan), ND pick #20 (on-traded as part of Dawes deal) and Dom Barry.  

Thanks Nash. I'm going to run with that and say we did. Is there anything Maxy can't do? 

5 hours ago, Clint Bizkit said:

"I need to vomit. Oh look there's Tom Scully, I'll vomit over there."

I've been trying to work this out, did we get Hogan with the scully compensation? If so, Max can do no wrong, even when he spews on teammates.

2 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

Happy for PJ to put some skin in that game.

Maybe ur right. If it all goes [censored] up,  PJ's little quip will be the least of my concerns. 

2 minutes ago, PaulRB said:

Hardly "extraordinary" and hardly an "error of judgement". Well documented that Micky wasn't on board, won the flag then showed the Pies the forks before matching off to the Blues and enjoyed Buckley dropping further down the ladder every year... I.e. Micky didn't leave Bucks a list or club with which he'd succeed...

PJ was spot on and good on him for saying it.

Bucks playing for his career in 2017.

Really quite a long way to go before our succession plan can be ticked off as 'smooth'. 

41 minutes ago, Lord Travis said:

Said the succession plan has been smooth process unlike a team across the road (dig at Malthouse to Buckley transition).

If that's actually what he said then that's an extraordinary error if judgement. 

Realistically they don't know if he's staying or not. I imagine it would be standard operating procedure for membership depts to not use players whose future is in doubt. I don't think it means he's definitely going. But it probably does mean he's not definitely staying. Which I guess we already knew. 

1 hour ago, Fifty-5 said:

I've been a big proponent of our need to recruit a forward-ruck.  Someone who can play mostly forward, go into the ruck and give Max a rest and possibly ruck well enough allow Max to go forward as a marking threat.  That means they'd be playing at least 60% game time forward so they'd need to be good there.

When I've thought about it further with our current personnel and team balance I don't think we could fit a forward-ruck together with Hogan, Weidemann and Watts forward.  We'd be too top heavy across the 22.  These players play 85%+ game time, so they'll all be on the field together a significant amount.  Bench rotation spots are best used for mids, half-backs and half-forwards.

I think we need to persist with Watts in the ruck and we should expect Weidemann to start to ruck also as his body matures.

I agree with this. I haven't agreed with the push for recruiting a forward ruck. With Max as dominant as he is, anyone we recruit is barely going to get a look in, in the ruck. I don't mind Watts in the ruck, I reckon he goes pretty well and is pretty damaging as a midfielder once the ball hits the deck. Roos said he was concerned about the toll it may have on Watts' body but Watts doesn't get injured much and he's a fairly big bloke these days.  

People have probably answered this before, but does Hulett do any ruck work?

She's a star. We're lucky to have her at the club.

Are we favourites to take out the first women's flag?

1 hour ago, btdemon said:

Being a product of the state school system I find this sort of comment on here to be very elitist. There is a good reason that the private schools are providing more of our AFL footballing stocks.

Firstly, under the Howard Government, the funding formula was adjusted to further favour the private school and did more to create a two-tiered system whereby there has been a huge drift from the state to the private sector. This further weakens the state system as it leaves it with the job of catering for the most marginal students and driving the aspirational ones away. This trend will continue until the balance is redressed or there is a major economic downturn which drives some students back to the state system. No matter what your political allegiance is, these are the facts.

Secondly, many of the private schools offer sporting scholarships to those who show talent. This has the effect of further stripping the talent from the state run schools.

Thirdly, the private schools have the money, the resources and incentive (for their public image) to run 1st, 2nd and 3rd XVIII teams in healthy weekend comps. This very much aids in the development of young players. They often employ high level coaches to run these teams (e.g., Robert Shaw). State schools have to run occasional weekday comps which are usually irregular in their nature. Hence the difference in the standards and why so many players now come out of the private system.

Please don't talk about Collingwood supporters and your private school background in the same paragraph. Now wonder people label Demon supporters as silver-tailed wankers. You don't do us any favours.

 

Really not much of an issue with pointing out that a higher proportion of Melbourne supporters went to private schools than Collingwood supporters. 

2 hours ago, willmoy said:

Any body know what Freoland is saying about the prime situation on their site or is it all quiet?

Ur fingers painted on mate? 

Some of u lot are pathetic.

I'm just glad we don't have to deal with this rubbish anymore and appear to be a well-run club.

2 hours ago, wisedog said:

Yes, and I think if you went back to the threads from that time, quite a few posters would find it awkward to see what they were posting back then.

You might for instance, find an interesting response from supporters after an unexpected win against Port Adelaide in round 15 2009. And a similarly interesting response after losing from a kick after the siren against Richmond in round 18.

What happened, wasn't some evil plan devised by few crooked high-ups. There was a significant push from the supporter base in favour of the policy in order to set ourselves for the best chance at long term success.

This is true. Tanking was in vogue back in then. A lot of clubs did it and Melbourne fans were in favour of it.

The trade forum on this site was named after Jordan McMahon from memory.

He wasn't even accurate - Connolly was at Melbourne during the late 80s when we were successful and higher up the pecking order than West Coast. He also took Freo to their first finals series and the their first Prelim. To call both sides 'crap clubs' is untrue. 

Connolly didn't cover himself in glory with the tanking stuff, but whilst tanking is out of vogue now, it was very much in fashion back then. Clubs that went on to win premierships clearly tanked. 

Perhaps the weirdest thing of his whole rant was that he said he "flew the flag" for the WA clubs with regards to All-Australian selection. Um...shouldn't you just picking blokes on merit?

Cannot thank this bloke enough for what he's done for our footy club. This club is a huge part of my life and my family's life and I just couldn't see a way out in 2013 such was the hopelessness of the situation. The state the club was in was breaking my heart. To feel genuine excitement about the dees again was something I thought I had passed me by. In short, Roosy has given us back something really important that I feared we may have lost forever.

On top of that, from afar, he appears to be a terrific bloke who is a template for a modern leader. He seems to combine high expectations with genuine warmth and empathy for those in his charge.

Thanks for giving us our club back Roosy.

Loved the intro song fellas...made me lol

and then cry...

On ‎15‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 8:18 AM, pineapple dee said:

Okay people, get your thinking caps on. When was the last time we managed to beat at least one team from each state in a season proper ???  I can't recall it like ever. 

Did this is in 2000 and 98.

Max is a certainty.

Viney was on all-Australian pace early but has slowed down after his injury. I reckon he might make the squad. Watts may also sneak into the squad. I don't reckon he deserves to but he seems to be a bit of a good news story so he might get in on that basis.

2 hours ago, Pates said:

Despite the improvements we have made this year we still struggle with the favourites tag. Now I know surely the players don't focus on it but it's hard to argue with the fact that when we've been favourites this year we have either struggled to get the job done or just outright been pathetic. 

Seems like an obvious thing to say but the players better start getting used to it if they're wanting to figure in finals as chances are week to week we will become favourites more often than not (if up is truly where we're heading). 

The team is young, so yes prone to lapses in concentration and form but it really seems to coincide with lesser teams rather than the best. 

Will be very interesting to see how they finish off, cats will be out for blood to bolster their percentage so it's up to our players on how they respond and finish the year. 

People overstate the favourites thing. We were favourites against Gold Coast twice, Brisbane, Collingwood and Freo. I know we've lost to Essendon and Carlton and there was a stage there where we were literally no hope if we were favourites but it's really not the case anymore. 

U wot?