Lucifers Hero

Comparing to the 2019 debacle is clutching at straws. And a depressing assessment of our season to use wins over bottom of the ladder teams to find positives and suggesting games we lost were positives because we nearly won them. A more balanced view would acknowledge we nearly lost to Carlton, Giants and Saints. Its great that 2 or 3 players have improved and that we have a handful of excellent players but hardly a ringing endorsement of our list or performance. A few positives yes, but the season was a Fail. Simples.

Tom Browne isn't renowned for facts, rumours is his game. Gee, if it was as innocent as Jay Clark's tweet it is incredibly sad state of affairs and not sure it warrants the penalties imposed on him or the club.

AFL inconsistency at play again. They suspended half of Collingwood's $50,000 fine for the Buckley/Sanderson covid protocol breach even tho it was their second offence; they had a prior when Sidebottom was suspend. Ours is also a second offence so don't see why we should be penalised more than Collingwoood for similar situation.

Yes, well done for telling them off for being silly. But he failed to mention fooling around during the coaches address in a critical game. I know which of the two peeves me off more...

The coaches votes leader boarder after rnd 16: 85 Neal 69 Boak 62 Petracca 61 Steele 58 T Adams The votes for rnd 17 weren't published and rnd 18 votes will be held up until the Award announcement. Neale will win. Boake will probably get votes in the last few rounds as will Petracca and Steele. So if the umpire's votes correlate to the coaches every chance Petracca is top 3 in the Brownlow.

Goodwin said in a recent interview he will be offered a contract for next year.

Agreed. Also players with persistent leg/ankle/foot/hip injuries shouldn't get more than 2-3 years, again because of the risk of performance falling off a cliff. And Viney is in that category. He is one trip or foot stomp away from a long-tern injury. I would add May to the list of worthy of his 5 year deal as he had exposed form over a long period of time. Sometimes a 4/5 year deal just has to be offered to get the player but we have signed more than a dozen players on those terms in the last few years. I don't begrudge that to the players. I just feel the club needs to be more prudent on how the risk is shared between club and player.

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I've regularly mentioned 4-5 year contracts should be for top players. Giving TMac, Tomlinson, Harmes 4 or 5 years is poor management, imv. This isn't hindsight on my part: TMac had surgery on both ankles at end of 2017 and injured his foot in May 2018. His 5 year contract was announced in early June, which was early days of his successful 2018 as a fwd. So not sure why the club gave a 5 year extension. I can't find the article but I recall TMac saying that he wanted a long term deal to cover him if he gets injured. Tomlinson was an average player. Maybe the club 'had to' sign him for 4 years to get him across but... Harmes. Love him and the way he plays but 5 years... Now, none of them are regular 22 yet contracted for years to come. Such players will be harder to trade out with L-T contracts attached to them. We will have to 'give them away' just so their $ are off our books. For mine these are examples of poor contract management by Mahoney as the club carries all the risk if the player doesn't perform/gets injured. Some will say the club cannot predict the future on player form/injury but my point is about risk management and how the risk is shared between club and player: Shorter contracts or short contract plus triggers. Edit: Found the TMac article: mcdonald-wants-to-stay-a-demon In an expansive interview, a candid McDonald spoke about the priority for players signing longer term contracts, which provides them with increased stability and insurance. “If you have a contract signed and you have an injury the week after, that’s a fair bit less to worry about than if you have a serious injury with no contract in place." Given the ankle and foot injuries when I read that back in 2018, it set off alarm bells for me.

I would be surprised if the club didn't try for 5 years. Given the scuttlebutt last year that he wasn't happy a two year extension to 2022 didn't surprise. 2022 is his UFA year. Oliver will be a UFA in 2023 so how long he re-signs for next year (if he does) will be interesting. If to 2023 is he flagging he will consider UFA options? Like Petracca, 2022 is when Brayshaw is OOC and his UFA year. Salem will be OOC and a UFA next year. Who exercises their UFA option is anyone's guess and depends on willingness to move, MFC success, personal ambitions, family situation etc. The club needs to be in serious top 4 contention next year and beyond otherwise we may lose these guys who are in the age/experience sweet spot.

Firstly, that is quite different to my experience. Two weeks ago, I sent the club an email to remove my automatic renewal payments (2 Redleg memberships). I received the standard 'thank you, we will be in touch with you in the next few days' email back. Sure enough, Tracey in the membership department, phoned to advise it was removed and we discussed my membership intentions. As I have not received the auto renewal advice others in this thread have mentioned, I know Tracey did as she said. I cannot recall an email I've sent over the last 3 or 4 years that hasn't been responded to by email or phone. Secondly, during the discussion she said every email or a summary is sent to Pert (and I think she said Bartlett also) and she works closely and meets regularly with Pert's P.A and at times Pert himself. I am very confident that is not a 'company line' as Tracey and I have chatted over the years about memberships, finals tickets, reserved seats etc and I have full confidence and trust in her. Its unfortunate your experience has been quite different but give them another chance. These are challenging times.

There is a good chance Mahoney is out of contract this year, at least I hope so.

Thinking on @old dee's point of the opportunity to watch non-FTA MFC games. Various ways this could be achieved: AFL negotiate with Telstra (for AFL Pass) and its broadcast partner Foxtel (owner of Kayo) for free inclusion of a special AFL games/sports module in membership packages for all clubs. The full Foxtel sports module is about $25 p.a. Not sure what Kayo costs p.a. Not long ago the club had a 'Digital' membership where it could be bought as an 'add-on' to the chosen membership package. Not sure if it is still an option. It could be re-introduced as a 'free' add-on. Give members the option of a digital AFL Pass/Kayo/Foxtel sports membership instead of the $25 merchandise discount voucher or instead of a scarf. I'm sure there are many ways the club can reward loyal members at little or no cost and importantly attract back those that have left, with a bit of creative thinking. Od's point is really important as next year our low membership numbers and mid range ladder finishes means very few FTA games so how can fans stay tuned in... We have a marketing group. Time to market to members.

Knowing our 'one-type' midfield that aren't versatile enough to play other positions I simply do not understand why the club gave him a 5 year contract (1+4). It was just before the draft and he still had a year to go on his contract. Unless he was in demand during the trade period I don't see what the urgency was. Now we have another play on our hands for another 4 years who has been dropped and may not be best 22 in the not too distant future. I've said a few times 4 and 5 year contracts should be for top players. If average to good players can get better contracts let them go especially if their skill set is well covered. Get some trade value while we can. Edit: didn't train with the main group so won't be selected for this game.

Agree with this. For that reason I hope we don't offer him a development/coaching role. It would be a magnanimous gesture for a loyal servant of the club but if we are to be the 'ruthless' club Goodwin wants it needs to start with choosing the best people for the respective roles, without sentiment or favour. Give him a great send off as the club champion he is, welcome him back at every opportunity but it is time for us to move on. As an aside, I actually look forward to the day when all those at the club (on and off field) for 186 move on. Edit: at his pre-selection meeting Goodwin skirted the question on Jones's future and ended with: "That time will come when we sit down and have that chat. It'll be two parties sitting down and discussing what's best for not only Nathan but the Melbourne footy club."

fans-to-the-rescue Some clubs offered members other benefits if they kept their 2020 memberships. eg "The Western Bulldogs membership is also up, 12% {5,400) ahead of 2019 with that club one of several rewarding members' loyalty not only with club merchandise but also an automatic upgrade in 2021. MFC didn't offer anything and membership dropped by 24% ie 12,600. There were other issues like finishing 17th in 2019. Covid seems to not have had a big impact on most clubs. eg Saints and Carlton also increased membership. If MFC wants to keep members and get the 12,600 back it won't happen if it charges full price for 2021 and gives nothing back. It would be a fine gesture of goodwill if it found ways to reward loyal members. There are a lot of stalwarts on DL but the general fan may not be too happy paying top $ again. We are now the second smallest AFL Club in Victoria, just ahead of North. That must worry the club and I'm surprised it isn't doing more to attract members. Edit: The article was written early August so doesn't have latest figures. MFC's final figure was 40,571.

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Andrews may be walking a knife edge early next year anyway. Firstly, the Boxing Day Test will test his resolve on crowds. Adelaide Oval has put its hand up to host it. It is reported Andrews wants the Aus Open to go ahead. How he is going to 'bubble' players and their entourages and not risk the virus taking off is hard to see in any practical sense. The AFL has had to use extreme controls over players and families who have generally behaved. Will international folk and their families... So the AO is another test of his resolve on restrictions and crowds. Furthermore, It will be a bad look if thousands of sport folk and their entourages are allowed into Australia when tens of thousands of aussies can't come home because State Premiers have restricted the number of people they will take into quarantine. Other states have a vested interest in border closures with Victoria - poach our premiere events and the tourism $ that go with them. Lots to play out before we even get to the AFL season. By then one way or another crowd rules will be worked out. In a worse case scenario, if State Premiers don't open borders I can see the summer tests and Aus Open moving to NZ, cancelled or Victoria by-passed. The first Test is about 10 weeks away so decisions need to be made soon.

In the 'Captain's Run' Gus said his foot is a lisfranc injury. Says he heard it pop in the Sydney game and it would have been better to not have come back on. Expects to be ready to run at the start of the preseason.

We don't get many games vs high revenue (big Vic) clubs. Last year we got return games vs Richmond and Collingwood and because we were losing fans didn't show up so the revenue didn't eventuate. From a revenue point of view I'd rather Home games at the G vs Carlton, Hawks, Ess etc but we get those as Away games, if we are lucky. On that basis the answer to your question is 'easier' games to help us climb the ladder. But we are so inconsistent who knows what 'easier' is as we often drop games against bottom sides. We have beaten only 2 top 4 sides (eagles/hawks in 2018) in years and rarely beaten a top 6 side. We won't go up the ladder until we regularly beat top teams so imv winning 'easy' games might make us feel good but it doesn't really help us get significantly better to regularly contend for a flag.

Good idea! I wonder if the AFL will stick to original 2020 fixture given that a season, albeit shortened was played and we have a new ladder. Our 2020 double up games were: Adelaide, Gold Coast, Fremantle, Collingwood, Saints. That would give us 2 games vs bottom 6 teams, 1 or 2 vs middle 6 team and 1 or 2 vs top 6 teams.

2021-season-start-date Key points Late March start date. 22 round season. Unlikely to be 16 min quarters (will be more). I'm hoping they are back to the full 20m + TO I wonder how they will allocate the 'double up' games. My MFCSS says we won't get any fixture favours.

Last round starts tonight. Obviously going for Big GWS win over Saints and Bulldog loss to Freo. Hoping for a big win over Ess.

The most compromised draft ever (Academy and F/S) is about to be compromised further. Quite a few FA's are being courted: Daniher, Couch, Williams, Cameron, Viney etc. Nearly all would land a first round comp pick and those recipient teams will be in the top 10 of the draft. The draft system is completely broken. We did well to check out our best 2020 chips last year. Wouldn't think we take too many picks before 35 to the draft. Best to trade out our better chips for players we need.

Agreed. The Langdon trade: "... Fremantle pick 22 in this year’s draft as well as a future 2nd rnd selection. The Dockers have handed over pick 26 as part of the deal and a future 4th rnd selection, receiving the Demons’ pick 79...". The early picks went out because of Academy/FS picks but the later picks came in for the same reason (lots of lesser picks used to get the total points). Overall, the trade was approx a high 2nd round pick. So agree Saad should be about the same. However, there may be a bit of a bidding war as apparently North and Carlton are now keen. I read that Saad wants a five year deal (Ess offered 4) and is keen to play finals. The latter aspect would put us ahead of the pack. As an aside, it looks like most clubs trade picks at initial 'natural value' otherwise there is too much second guessing how the academy/FS bids pan out on draft night and trades would stall.