Cranky Franky

In recent years the only team that's had salary cap problems was Collingwood. 

47 minutes ago, rjay said:

 

 

 

 

 

Poor old 'Cranky' after a premiership win surely you could be 'Less Cranky Franky' or even 'Friendly Franky'...

I did say "If"...

Sorry for yelling...

Let's just hope this is the start of an era of competent Presidents, Boards & CEO's for the Club as they have been few & far between in my time. Kate has certainly been impressive so far.

I'll change to Less Cranky after we get a 3peat.

1 hour ago, rjay said:

I would love it if the best person for the job when Pert steps down is a woman.

That would be a huge step.

I think that's quiet a sexist comment. I'd have thought supporters would be wrapped if we got an outstanding person regardless of gender or any other particular classification. 

9 minutes ago, Premiers said:

Bartlett did a lot of good for our club.

This thread is about how Roffey supported Goodwin, gave him belief and helped drive the values the club has espoused this year.

Last year I recall Bartlett scorching Goodwin and the players publicly and by all accounts completely blindsided them.  Deserved?  Possibly.  But that behaviour was the antithesis of building teamwork, support and to engender belief in people.

Last year Bartlett put a real dent in our culture.  Roffey, as outlined in the Offsiders, has repaired it.  

Rubbish. Last year Bartlett said exactly what needed to be said at the time.

9 hours ago, Webber said:

This is an extraordinary historical finding if true, and one that shouldn’t be hidden or run from, but instead given the perspective it deserves. It wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if Tom Wills was involved in the murderous reprisals for the Cullin-La-Ringo massacre, which, needless to say, was the worst episode of massed indigenous killings in Australia and woefully unknown to the Australian public. Given the lack of attention given to colonising violence however, no surprise there. Tom did come back to find his family murdered (a reprisal itself for unprovoked murders), and a party was then formed to commit more killings. That much is known. It’s a legitimate question as to his involvement, which makes this information discovery incredibly important, valid or otherwise - that’s for historians. 

 

Well done, balanced & well written something you don't always get on Demonland when anything racial is involved.

The second verse is a shocker.

Maybe we could ask Paul Kelly to write a new one.

One of the gutsiest ever.

Lets leave this matter for historians.

I'm a bit concerned at the timing.  It's got the potential to shift the focus from the GF.

This week let's concentrate on the best of Melbourne.

2 hours ago, mauriesy said:

I don't know why that stupid right-wing term "cancel culture" gets brought in here. We all need to seek the truth. We should not be beholden to a Tudge view of history.

Where I live, there are several streets in a number of towns named after pioneers who were likely involved in indigenous atrocities in the squatting era. There will be justificable moves to change the names as the truth comes to light.

Cancel culture is hardly a right wing term, its a real thing and happens far too often. You disagree with someone and instead of arguing your position you ban them from appearing and boycott them.

15 hours ago, Queanbeyan Demon said:

Wow, just wow. Pretty much invented the modern game in 1970, completely out coached Haffey in 1977 grand final replay, birthed the modern day Sydney Swans. I could list another dozen examples . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 

Fully agree QB -  to call  Barassi and by implication Norm Smith "non thinking" coaches is patently absurd.

Sure it was a different era where discipline was king & coaches were much tougher on players in particular Kennedy, Jeans & Hafey  but both Smith & Barassi were acknowledged as great motivators, creative and innovative and brilliant tactical coaches.

27 minutes ago, bush demon said:

In support of your argument would probably be all the Dees who retired early or went to other clubs. Bromell, Barassi, Roet, Mithen, Bob Johnson, Hassa Mann off the top of my head.

Agree - the number of decent players that left from late 60's to the late 70's didn't help - Kenneally, Jacobs, Groom, Dillon, Parke, Kerley, Thorne, Keenan, Callery, Fitzsimmons, Hardeman, Alves, Wells, Elshaug.

On 8/13/2016 at 2:48 PM, junk said:

Norm Smith could have been much more successful than what he was because the club knocked back the gret Poly Farmer(Geelong) and Darryl Baldock (St.Kilda). Hopefully Simon and co. get it right and continue with success.

Not sure where you got this from ?? Farmer was sought after by almost every Club in the VFL. Did you confuse him with Doug Wade ? whom we did knock back.

Ditto for Baldock another champion sought after by most VFL clubs at the time.

There is a story Melbourne signed him when he was young but there is no actual evidence about this.

On 8/3/2016 at 10:49 PM, youami said:

I have been sitting on a theory for years about the tenuous link between Norm Smith and Simon Goodwin.

Having read the Red Fox, but certainly not being an expert, part of Norm Smith's strategy during his coaching career was to attack and demand the highest of standards from his best player.

During Norm Smith's coaching era, this player was Ron Barassi.  Result 6 premierships.

When Ron became a coach, he employed the same strategy, and his target was Malcolm Blight at North Melbourne. Result 2 premierships.

Malcolm had some of the craziest strategies, but I'm not sure he ever attacked Goodwin  the way Barassi did to Blight, and Smith to Barassi before that, you could reasonably argue Goodwin was the best player at the Crows during Blight's time as coach.  Result 2 premierships.

This legacy has netted 10 premierships.

And now, it has come full circle with Goodwin coming to Melbourne, which has never been the same since Smith was sacked.

Wouldn't it be great if Goodwin is the man to end the curse.

I think your theory is a bit simplistic.  Smith was certainly tougher on his top players including Barassi but also on the others like Spencer, Ridley, Williams, Mithen etc. He won 6 flags because he had great teams & coached well.

Ditto with North - they won because they had a great team.  In fact Blight wasn't in the best players in either of their flag sides.

5 hours ago, whatwhat say what said:

no

it will be a massive opportunity missed

+1

On 8/27/2021 at 9:36 PM, Deeoldfart said:

Thanks WJ.  Love to reminisce about our Golden Era.

Just pondering about which of our current players plays most like the great Ronald Dale back in the day.  It's clearly between Tracc and Clarry IMO, but I lean towards Clarry.  What do others think?

Agree Oliver is clearly the RDB of today.  A clearance beast who goes all day. Not the most polished player going round but a relentless pressure machine.

One of my all time favourites Ross Dillon left in his prime & went to Norwood.

Part of the reason for our decline was that in the late 60's & 70's lots of promising players left for greener pastures.

Stephen Kerley also left Melbourne for Norwood & Greg Parke also had a stint there.

13 hours ago, Rusty Nails said:

What's wrong with playing our first final at the G??  We've earned that right.  Why has everyone caved and pandering so easily to the AFL's interstate nonsense?

If we win that one we should also be getting our Prelim here. 

And from there IF we get through we then talk about where the GF is played where you would of course prefer a BIG crowd.

We've thoroughly earned this choice.

Eddie/Jeffrey/Kochy would all be blowing a gasket at the mere mention if they finished on top.

Happy to stand corrected but appears to me we might have conceded already?

Its a waste of time having an argument u can't win. The decision if up to the AFL.

2 hours ago, spirit of norm smith said:

Clarry is truly one of our greatest. His contested ball winning is the best I have ever seen.  Best midfielder since Robbie Flower. 

He’s now a genuine A grader.  No doubt. 

If he can fix up his disposal and keep kicking goals like last night, he will become elite.  
 

Sensational 2021 and deserves all the awards going around.  Love to see him win the Brownlow.  

Certainly an outstanding contested ball winner but comparisons with Flower are awkward as they played in very different positions in different eras.

The best current comparison to Flower would be Ed Langdon.

6 Oliver

5 Lever

4 Gawn

3 Langdon

2 Salem

1 Pickett

On 8/19/2021 at 5:58 PM, La Dee-vina Comedia said:

Agreed. It's a terrific book about a very interesting, albeit flawed, individual. It there was ever a list put together of the 10 most influential Australians of all time, his name should be there. Not just for being the inventor of Australian Football but also for taking the first Australian representative cricket team to the UK and for his ahead-of-his-time understanding and positive relationships with indigenous communities and individuals. 

Technical point - he didn't actually go to the UK with the team.

The other interesting point of course is that Tom's family was killed by Aboriginals in Queensland & he would also probably have been killed except he was away getting supplies.

Definitely an interesting, complex & flawed individual.

20 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Anyone from this century? About as relevant as saying John Nicholls would still be a good ruckman at 189cm these days.

Gus is actually pretty quick once he builds pace too. I don’t know if the concussions played a role or if it’s a physical thing but he gets completely burnt off the mark.

 

Just can't admit you're wrong can you ?

You made a statement that a player who finished 3rd in the Brownlow, playing as a mid is too slow to play as a mid. Its just a demonstrably incorrect statement and you are probably the only poster to believe that.

1 hour ago, Webber said:

Extraordinary man, troubled yet transformative. 
Herewith a brilliant article by Martin Flanagan, who also wrote his own ‘fictionalised’ novel about Tommy - “The Call”, and my own portrait of Tommy (a death scene), the exhibition of which Martin opened…

 https://australianfootball.com/articles/view/Why+Tom+Wills+is+an+Australian+legend+like+Ned+Kelly/133

That's an outstanding painting mate. Should be hanging in a gallery. Congratulations.

2 hours ago, DeeSpencer said:

Brayshaw is just really slow off the mark. That makes him a complete no go for the centre square, because if he doesn’t win it he’s a liability. He worked in that role in 2018 because we had guys off the back of the square covering.

He’s had a solid year on the wing, with some big ups and downs.

When the team structure breaks down he gets absolutely caught out. When there’s pressure on and teams bomb long he gobbles up intercepts.

In an ideal world he’d be able to sprint up and back, still get the intercepts but actually provide some attack too. And close off his winger rather than allow them to mark the pressure relieving kick from the backline.

We just have to be alert to his match up and if there’s games he needs to be moved. He was torched by GWS. The next week against the Power he played more half forward and would swap on ball with Tracc after centre bounces. That’s a role we have to consider using him in.

It’s also hardly a surprise that Langdon, Brayshaw and JJ might all be a bit down on output after a huge year. JJ’s had a freshen up. I wish they’d give Langdon a quieter week too. Maybe Gus needs a freshen or it might just be a mental thing with the travel, short break, not a lot to play for against the Crows.

Ian Stewart, Adrian Fletcher & Greg Williams all say hello. All were just as slow or slower than Gus & all ruled the centre square.

1 hour ago, Ouch! said:

He's playing a selfless role and playing as the defensive winger, if he had failed, in the season that we have had, and with the lack of injuries our side has had then why would Goodwin and match committee done something about it? Because he is playing his role for the team, and does it well. 

Do you know who plays on the other wing to Andrew Gaff?  I don't... In fact the only team where I know both wingers is Brisbane where they have McCluggage and Robinson, and thats really only cos Robbo is a bit of a nutter.  Most clubs dont play 2 dominant wingmen. 

For people to point out obscure statistics as proof that a winger who got 6 touches actually played a good game is something new for me.

Poor old Oskar Baker picked up 15 touches on a wing v North & was dropped.

3 hours ago, DeeZone said:

CF I doubt that he would still be there if he was a failure, we have a strong coaching team and he must be meeting their expectations on a regular basis.

Think the failure is masked by the team's success. He should be elite, up there with the best mids going round.  Goodie is extremely stubborn. He stuck fat with Oscar McD for ages & persisted with Fritter & Harmes played out of position long after most supporters had worked it out.