Lucifers Hero

That change certainly supports the club's goal of reviewing all aspects of the business. These days football technology is critical. By making this change it shows the club highly values this function. I applaud that. Now to find the right person to build the football analysis side of our operations.

Agreed on both bolded points above. Carlton did it with Judd. He didn't give them on-field success but he taught a young side the behaviours needed for success and he had the IQ to deliver the game plan on field (didn't need runners). He also had personal and team success to immediately earn their respect. He gave them an excellent role model and I'm sure Cripps learnt a lot in the few years they had together. Unfortunately Cross, Vince and Lewis weren't with us long enough to become the role models. Some hope that Lever or May will be our leaders. But they need to bed-down their game and roles in the team. Unfortunately injuries have stopped them both doing that. Given it is the current coaches and administration that appointed a very young Viney as co-captain and who are showing no signs of filling the leadership void, I'm not optimistic of importing the person we need. Max is our best bet but given he has been on field all year and performed magnificently he hasn't been able to help overcome the problem of not having runners.

I see the lack of a role model as a cascading issue. Loved Green, a very good player but he wasn't a leader. Grimes/Trengove worked hard had good footy IQ but lacked a leadership role model to learn from or senior players to support them. Jones and Viney lack their smarts and haven't had a leader as a role model either. TMac and a few others have some smarts but again haven't had a role model. Its a catch-22. Not sure how we break it.

The manager would be right on the basis that Frosty is a required but on MFC terms: contract length/$/position in pecking order re senior selection. Terms Frosty is reportedly not happy with. imv, if he stayed he would become 'depth' as May, Lever and Petty will get games before him. Can't imagine he would be happy with being 'depth' and rightly so.

I'm a bit confused Diamond_Jim. Do you mean, in theory, we could get Langdon in the pre-season draft...

Frosty and Langdon are OOC so both clubs need to trade...are you thinking of Tomlinson who is an RFA.

Just another opportunity to pot Roos, right? What about all the good the calls made on his watch. Or are you one of those that attributes the bad calls to Roos and the good calls to Taylor and T.Viney.

I thought Roos said we need wingmen with speed. Not sure if he meant burst speed or endurance speed. They are different to someone taking a run down the fat side of the ground. The Age article says: " Tomlinson is an extremely gifted athlete and has been a constant winner of the Giants' pre-season time trials". Again that doesn't equate to speed as we know with our own time trial winners: TMac and ANB. Not against getting Tomlinson but would prefer someone who is an elite kick or a forward. Being 'free' doesn't necessarily make him a good get especially if we get Langdon who seems to have the same strengths and the same weakness: weaknesses our team has in abundance.

My 5yo great-nephew plays AFL for the Lantau Lizards in Hong Kong. Two weeks ago Spud was there for an inter-club carnival, giving the kids tips: The side of him few people would see how much and how far he went to give back to the game. He touched so many. RIP.

My one line extract from Titus O'Reily's the-monday-knee-jerk-reaction-afl-finals-week-one WCE vs Ess: "The loss keeps the dream of Essendon making 6000 days without a finals win, well and truly alive". Cats vs Pies: "On reflection, Chris Scott was right, it would have been nice for the Cats to have lost on their own ground". GWS vs WBD: "Heading to the Gabba will be a challenge, up there they can’t play “Let’s go, Giants, let’s go” over the speakers. There’s no better way to draw attention to the lack of a crowd than playing fake chants". Lions vs Tigers: "As for Richmond fans, get excited, but not, ‘I’ll get my 2019 Premiers tattoo this week’ excited". Titus is always good for a laugh gets to the nitty gritty of what is actually going on!

He certainly showed them: won The Bluey in his second year with us. Clearly has no regrets and is rapt with how his life has evolved living in Melbourne. And he played 100 mfc games - enough for any little Bernie's to choose the Demons to play for.

Agree with why Richardson chose Dees. Re list management - I hope not!. The Saints list management during his tenure was woeful. And the list is still not in good shape. Richardson was either not in the process (most unlikely as head coach) or wears a significant part of the responsibility. For mine it is time the club found staff who have AFL expertise in their job eg an experienced forward coach, and experienced defence coach and an experienced List Manager. We have had too many coaches with training wheels who learn on the job at the mfc.

Just received a pm from a johnmalcolm: RE: RECOVERED FUND Lots of info asking for contact details etc to refund monies. Clearly a scam. Anyone else receive it?

I didn't say that. I said we had options and Jones could have been sole cap in 2017 when Jack became co-cap. That would give others time to develop and to find a successor to Jones. Max was a candidate in 2017 and definitely in 2018 or 2019. So no, I'm not saying Jones should be sole cap this year.

Todd going (if true) confirms to me that Pert is calling the shots; Mahoney is the conduit and public mouthpiece. No sacred cows, anymore.

1)Don't think so. 2) Various other options for captaincy. The most obvious being to leave Jones as sole captain. And Max says 'hello'. Back to conflict of interest: As List Manager Todd would be in control of any trade options. He sits on the weekly match selection committee. And involved in captaincy decisions. Therefore, he has significant and direct management over his son's career. imv that is a significant conflict of interest and his influence would restrict the club's options on Jack's career, if such circumstances arose.

You deleted from my post the last line which explained the point you disagree with - that Todd has a conflict of interest with Jack at the club...weird to delete it...

If true, it is a very good move by the club. Have often said on here that he is part of the problem for a variety of reasons: Has been here since the Bailey days, for 186, for the supposed 'tanking', for the Neeld era. Not holding him responsible for all that but he is an entrenched part of that culture covering one of the worst decades in our history. imv he has a conflict of interest with his son playing at the Club. The club is now free to make list management, captaincy and match selection decisions about son Jack, if it ever felt it appropriate.

Nic Nat's run down of speedster Saad was awesome! It would be a shame if NN is suspended for shoving Merrett. Got what he deserved. No room for hair pulling in football - a low act.

Would much rather lose Plapp or Chaplin who had no AFL coaching experience before coming to the Dees, joining Goodwin who himself is a rookie in the role. Sure we need some fresh eyes but we have now lost all the experienced coaches. Can't lose that much without it hurting. Sure w will get new coaches but it takes time to develop synergy with colleagues and importantly the players. Hopefully, the coaching exodus (planned or unplanned) doesn't prompt our more talented players to follow suit. Will keep powder dry until all changes are known. Rawlings was a keeper for mine.

That is true but once TMac and Weidemen went out, with Melksham and Hannan still out, the forward line need Fritsch a lot more than the backline did. His move forward came at least a month too late.

Spot on 'Rusty Nails'. 2020 is a huge year for player retention: Petracca out of contract Hunt and Harmes OOC and in their 'pre-free-agent' year Salem not OOC and also in his 'pre-free-agent' year Hannan, Fritsch, Petty and a few others OOC. Wondering if anyone is confident one of the Adelaide clubs won't make a play for Petty next year? For mine we need to fix the off-field stuff, improve player development and make inroads into finals (not just scrape in and go straight out) and no reason for players to go. Fail on those and who knows who will fly the coop. Lord knows there will be plenty of enticement from other clubs for their services. Undoubtedly clubs would be circling as right now. As as you have alluded to our friends down the road are circling. Who knows if any of the above are enticed out next year but we need to give them every reason to stay. Hopefully, most of the above will have re-signed by mid 2020 for more than their 'pre-free-agent' timeframe. For mine the number of young talent re-signing by around mid-year will be a litmus test of how the club is traveling.

You seemed quite demanding for posters to name their source earlier today: To even consider taking a rumour or any mail seriously i for one need a source. Or if that is not possible at least some indication of who the rumor has come from (eg player manager, club employee, board member etc etc). and To Lord Nev: Ok, lets play the game. Who is your 'reliable source'. its not guaranteed he'll be with us in 2021 by any stretch? Seriously? Sheesh. So if you couldn't care less if posters post 'rumours' why push so hard for sources... As Demon Forever said if someone identified the source eg player manager, club employee, board member etc there could be serious consequences as there are ways of tracing info back to the source. It easy to tell which posters have reliable sources: they are considered posters on most matters are neither 'happy-clappers' nor 'club knockers' and they post what they hear on selected players/events.

Fair comment. But I haven't interpreted Demons 11, Lord Nev or Demon Forever as presenting their info as 'fact'. Other posters maybe but not those guys so I feel the criticisms this morning are unfair. Just my view.

I am fine with what @Demons11 @Lord Nevand @Demon Forever have posted. The latter virtually confirming the others who reported having 'heard' that Petracca has been unhappy and had meetings with the club. Any player manager worth his/her salt would sass out other options for him. And lets not be naive enough to think other clubs aren't knocking on player manager doors especially if they get a sniff of a player being unhappy The player manager is obliged to pass that on. Lets say that Geelong have been talking to Petracca's manager, it doesn't mean Petracca initiated it. He would be a fool to not listen to what they have to say. And Geelong desperately need a player like him as Selwood, Danger and Ablett are aging and they will lose Kelly. They don't have a potentially elite midfielder in the wings. Petracca would be a perfect fit. Collingwood is in the same boat with Pendlebury, Sidebottom and Wells getting on and Beams in all sorts of grief. They do have better midfield coverage than Geelong so less in need of a Petracca type. The club and Petracca seem to have sorted out their differences and as Demon Forever said 'nothing to see here'. Petracca is under contract so isn't likely to go anywhere this year. But next year is a different story. That Petracca stays doesn't mean any of the 3 posters above were wrong. Differences were sorted. Why folks are complaining about posters saying what they have 'heard'. There are posters who have contacts at mfc, other clubs and player managers but they can hardly name their source. That things don't eventuate isn't proof that what they heard was wrong. There are numerous, genuine reasons why things don't eventuate. I would rather read what posters 'hear' than not - it would be a very boring trade period if none of that came to DL. If some posters don't want to read it fine, but please stop the whinging about it.