Cranky Franky

What on earth is wrong with Bailey & his crew rushing back players - its not as if we are lacking in depth. Hawthorn made Luke Hodge have a run in their seconds before bringing him back. We rushed back Frawley & his first match back he was poor then we rushed back Petterd who did ok as the sub but then had a poor match. Not content with this we rushed back Morton who had a shocker as the sub then was reasonable last match. All 3 should have had a run at Casey.

Dumb, dumb, dumb decision to use him as a sub. He's come off an ordinary year & not played for 2 months. Obvious answer is give hima run at Casey just like they should have done with Frawley last week.

Hardly a surprise. A good ordinary player at best. Doesn't have the skills & footy nous to get himself out of trouble. A gutsier version of Daniel Ward I complained bitterly when we recruited him instead of Dylan Grimes. Rivers was poor early on but fought back in the second half & is more versatile.

Cam has been great for Cam I reckon. Anybody who understands probity, good corporate governance & conflict of interest will realise that this episode sucks big time. We have only just got out of debt, a few years ago we could'nt raise money to pay rookies & our trining venue was a dump. Along with lots of supporters I donated $$ to the club to help. I expected this to be used to improve the facilities & the Footy Dpt not to go out as a private loan to someone who earns 6 times what I do.

Wake up to yourselves fellers. There is lots wrong here. These are the sort of shenanigans that build up & fester & eventually become a problem & people get compromised. FFS we are only just out of debt & we are asking supporters to put their hands in their pockets to build a strong Club. I didn't make donations to the MFC so that they could lend money to someone on probably $300,000 a year. We are a footy club NOT a bank. Very poor judgement by CS to ask in the first place because as CEO it puts the Club in a difficult position. When he was at Freo CS asked for 3 months off during the season to go & do a course in the US. Again he haed Freo over a barrell. Freo didn't like it but had to agree. Hope we are training up someone to take over as CEO.

At the moment Bate is lost. He lost his mojo last year & it is still missing. His first 3 or so years were good & he looked like he would be a top line player. ATM he is not quite a lead up marking player & not quite a flanker. The Brains Trust needs to try something new with him maybe on the ball maybe full back maybe half back flank. Look how Tarrant managed to reinvent himself. Bate is strong, quick tall & reads the play well. Come on Bailey try something !!!!!

Most people are missing the point. I want to know why our well paid list managers turn up to trading week & draft day without having the current players sorted - that means either signed on the dotted line, traded or delisted. If CB didn't want to sign it should have been sorted out prior to the draft.

I am generally very happy with the Club but it needs a kick up the rear over the Bruce saga. We were told the deal was done just a matter of finalising a few minor details. Well the deal was not done & CB walked. Surely you need to have your list finalised BEFORE the trading period & the draft. There should have been a deadline of signing on well before the draft & trading. If this had been sorted MAYBE we would have got a small token for releasing CB or MAYBE we would have kept Cheney or MAYBE we would have kept on Junior as insurance for another year. Sloppy work by the Club. If I did the same thing in my job I would get the sack.

Geez take a cold shower fellers. He is a journeyman aka a good ordinary player. Plays well when we win & ordinary when we lose. Fearless & tough but skills let him down under pressure - really just another run of the mill flanker. Probably would have got the same value by putting games into Cheney. I for one would have used the pick to try & get a smokey or picked Dylan Grimes.

Great article WJ but I take issue with one matter. You refer to "diminutive Sturt small man" Michael Graham. He was certainly not diminutive. He was a good size half forward flanker about Russell Robertson's size who could occasionally fill in at CHF or FF. Incidentally in the off season he went up to Darwin & played for St Marys, winning several flags & the Nicholls Medal for B&F in the Darwin competition. He was a great player & could take spectacular marks - the only downside was that he was a bit "hungry" anywhere close to goal & would never pass it off.

I don't think you have got this issue in context. After the Brownlow win Woewy's management had the club over a barrell so negotiated a much fatter contract. It also helped that Jeff Farmer was leaving & the Club could not afford to lose 2 popular big name players. I don't blame Woewy's management for what they did but in the end it hurt Shane's marketability because he was only ever a good ordinary player who had a couple of good seasons. If he had not won the Brownlow he would probably have played 250 games at Melbourne.

Just a good ordinary player for mine. Plays well when we win & poorly when we get hammered. Disposal is suspect under pressure. We wouldn't have lost much by putting games into Cheney. Should have used the pick to secure Jack Grimes' brother who went to Richmond.

Dumb, dumb, dumb idea. I love 2.10 pm - you can go from lunch to the game. Its also more convenient if you have kids. They will have to put the lights on in the second half. Every time they compromise long held football trditions for TV the game goes down a notch.

The comparisons are quite misleading Mathews was an onballer in the first half of his career & only became a permanent forward later. Ditto Brad Johnson except he was a wingman. The others were pretty much permanent forwareds. A bit like comparing goals per game between Schwartz & Gary Lyon without allowing for the fact that Lyon played about a third of his career in defence. Just goes to show how shallow football reporting is these days.

Most clubs that take this path have it blow up in their faces. North Melb with Rawlings & Hay, Sheedy tried it in his last years, Freo became a retirement home for Essendon hacks. Voss stuffed up but the Board should not have allowed it particularly as it was the last decent draft for a few years. In fact he should probably have traded Brennan & got a draft pick for him

Hasn't had a fair go this year. Has had good form for a while at Casey ahead of Wonna & Jetta. Should be played for 4/5 games so we can see what he's got.

Same rubbish in Canberra & Southern NSW. We get the Sydney game on free to air AND Foxtel at the same time.

Mate if you think Sylvia wasn't doing too badly on the ball you were either asleep or mad because every time Sylvia went into the ruck the opposition scored goals at will. Spencer is a long term project but should rest on the bench not in the forward pocket.

Look they are so bad that for the first time in 40 years of following footy I turn the TV off if St Kilda or the Swans are on. Its like rugby combined with a training drill just rubbish & me & the kids would rather watch Iron Chef or anything else.

Absolute mongre# who should be rubbed out for good. His team plays shocking football that will eventually kill off the game. 16 defenders & 2 forwards. A pox on them.

Hang on Crompton was not wandering about aimslessly chasing kicks - he had followed his opponent, the resting forward pocket rover, downfield like a good back pocket should.

Interesting article. A lot of marginal players look back on their career with a biased view but the fact is that Scott got dumped by 2 clubs because he was not good enough. He could get the ball ok but when he did instead of taking the first option he held on to the ball too long & was either caught or turned it over.

The problem has happened because they DIDN"T leave the rules alone ie 18 v 18. Soccer has no interchange and rugby league improved greatly when they limited the number of interchanges. The way we are going it will be 26 on 26 with 200 interchanges per match

Interchange - Horrible stuff - Get rid of it. Aussie rules is supposed to be 18 on 18. They have now made it 22 on 22. Its becoming more like basketnball or gridiron.

Just a journeyman half back flanker. Good ordinary player. A wasted pick for mine - they should have speculated with a younger player.