Lucifers Hero

Not the same situation at all. Fergie is addressing a group, not a specific person . And there is nothing in this to say Caro has lied. Few AFL people would like how Caro goes about things. Most President's and CEO's just let her rant! For example: Eddie was on FC last night. He and Caro have the ultimate media love/hate relationship - just watch them go at each other. He above all has good reason to ban Caro from everything at CFC but he has a thick skin and is very smart - Eddie strongly believes in the 'keep your enemies close' philosophy. Bartlett could do well to take a leaf or two from Eddie's book. Especially as it is a gig she has done for MFC as a volunteer for about 20 years. She didn't need to give up her time to support our struggling club. And he could have given her the courtesy of a call to withdraw the invitation rather than thru a media manager. Bartlett has not done the club any favours here. There will come a day when he needs her influential voice. She would be in her rights to say 'sorry mate'!

In the op's audio, Caro says she and Bartlett chatted about the function last week and all was good. The article I quoted was published over the weekend in The AGe. Yesterday she gets a call from our marketing department to say not to attend. That sounds like a knee-jerk reaction and churlish, especially after a near 20 year history. We can't go banning journo's when they write something we don't like. Not good for business.

It seems Bartlett didn't want her there even tho she had been doing this gig for nearly 20 years. Apparently, it was her passing reference to Pert's appointment and questioning the mfc due diligence in this article https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/the-storm-before-the-calm-at-melbourne-20180921-p50587.html was the reason for withdrawing her invitation. It is Bartlett's prerogative to invite who he wants but I reckon it is churlish of him. I didn't like the article but it went unnoticed and it is a shame it and the Pert appointment have now been brought into the spotlight.

Hope so and doable if we win the premiership. But it seems COTY is the one whose team goes up most spots on the ladder from the previous year. Interesting to note Clarkson has never been honoured with this award. Odd, as it is a peer voting.

One of your best joeboy! Very fair!

Because he won't sign a contract extension which expires next year. If he isn't going to extend why keep him hanging around. And, our club doesn't need the media distraction of a 'will he, won't he' commentary throughout 2019.

1. Buckley 2. Simpson 3. Goodwin http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-09-25/buckley-crowned-aflcas-coach-of-the-year Voted by all AFL Coaches: "AFLCA members voted on a 3-2-1 basis after the weekend's two preliminary finals, factoring in season performance, available resources, player talent and team management". Reckon Goodwin would be quite happy with that and how 2018 has panned out for him and the club.

Kudos to MFC for telling them now they won't get contracts. It gives their managers time to find another club to which they can go for free as they will be Delisted Free Agents. It is a respectful way of letting players go, unlike some clubs hold on to their players till very late in the trade cycle in the hope they get a pick of some small value late in the draft. I would be very happy to see any of them find their way to a new club.

I find it a bit surprising that May is coming to us as he was slated as a shoe in for the Pies. Hawks also chasing him hard. But if he does come to us it will be nice to get one over Coll and Hawks. MFC = Dee-stination Club!

Please read or quote the paragraph that followed that line you selectively extracted from a very well reasoned post and realistic option for a trade!!

Those who think we will play 'hard ball' need to think again. We started off doing that with Lever (1st rnd + 2nd rnd picks) and then gave in. And last week Jason Taylor said: "If we target a player we think can help our list improve and it's an area of need; we believe in dealing fairly with the other clubs involved,". So don't expect us to go all tough guy now. Having said that I can't imagine we will give Jesse up for just May. GCS have pick #17 so I could foresee Freo's pick #5 to GCS for May and pick #18, a pick we can make very good use of - gets us back into the first round and could get us the outside run we need or package it up for an even better first round pick. Edit: that is better than the Lever trade which was pick 2017 #10 and 2018 #15.

Has he retired? PR says he won't be offered another contract. I draw the distinction only to say that another club may pick up as a Delisted FA and if so good on him. Whatever the future holds I wish him and his family well. He has been a terrific, flexible and willing asset for us and a very loyal team member. Will always be a red and blue fave!

The rejection of the pp is a good sign. It is the second time this year the AFL Commission have turned down an AFL Admin proposal. The first was when Gill had set up a fanfare press conf to announce the GF would be a twilight game only to have the Commission knock it on the head. The reason for knocking back the pp's is: "...Carlton have got 18 first-round picks and they'll get the No.1 pick again this year. "Gold Coast have got 15 first-round picks on their list and they're going to get picks two and 15 this year if Tom Lynch goes to another club...they'll get pick three..." Well hello, as if blind freddy couldn't see that in advance When combined with the Commission's stance on pokies this is good progress with some accountability for Gill and Co. When Fitzpatrick was head of the Commission it just rubber stamped what Gil and Co wanted (especially if it helped Carlton).

Based on the polling we may not get one. Yes we have the players who deserve one but getting enough votes for one is a different matter. Viney will start taking votes from Brayshaw and Oliver. Along with Max claiming his fair share they may all finish in the top 5 or top 10 but all too good to separate in the votes. That is one star-studded midfield, the likes of which hasn't bee seen since the Lions of the early 2000's. Sadly, the Brownlow means less and less each year so Max, Ollie, Gus and Jack can rotate for the Norm Smith medal ?

Umpires clearly don't like 'stagers'. They started paying frees against him. Teach the sod a lesson.

I thought the same thing. There seems to be as much unconscious bias by umpires in Brownlow voting as there is with supporter 'affirmation' based free kicks. I wondered whether Oliver is in the same boat. The umpires could not have missed all the undeserved talk of 'diving' and 'throwing' and he is a cheeky sort of a guy. Rapt for all our players and the team. For us to come second in team polling is another strong indicator of how far we have come over the last 4-5 years. @Ethan Tremblayloved the instagram by Gus sending up the AFL. Reckon he will get an invite next year! He might start Hi-5's with all the umpires next year, not just Razor. Huge achievement for him and a great way for his family to end the year.

I don't really know. For the last 18 years my Redleg seats have been in Level 2 N8. Now that I have upgraded my niece to Redleg they are in Level 2 N6 (same row, wait listed to be together). So, I assume Redlegs are level 2. When the MFC memberships open there is often an MCG map showing the Reserved, Redlegs and Trident areas. Or I am sure the membership dep't would be happy to answer,

BUMP. Just to acknowledge Bernie has played his last game in red and blue. Its all been said on previous pages - thanks for coming to us when we crap. And thanks for giving us your all and helping build the team we have today. Roos' praise of the experience and strength you brought to our team is much deserved. My most memorable Bernie moment - running best mate Danger into the Adelaide turf!

That is quite an advantage. We have recruited Vandenberg, Hannan, Fritsch and ? from State leagues paid for with draft picks. All now multiple finals players - GCS and Carlton get the like for free. TBH I don't mind GCS getting a helping hand but not Carlton - They tanked, have had a plethora of top draft picks, deliberately trade out their experienced talent, had mega favourable fixures (Home games at the G vs big crowds), FTA favourtism, are poorly managed and are now asking for more handouts!! Oh, I forgot - the AFL and Eddie want to make them 'great' again!

I was really hoping criticism of the policies didn't happen here and we could keep the conversation to the membership options available for people to work out what suits them best. The club tries to cater for all types of members: near and far; well off and not so well off. If you aren't happy with the membership/ticket rules write to the club and or the AFL.

I think the ballot is to allocate the seating (but not sure) and the cost varies according to the seat. It may be worth checking the cost diff between the Armchair and 3-game. The former doesn't have member priority finals ticket access which could be important for smaller grounds or i/state grounds.

And Dan is chipping in to upgrade Punt Road: "A $60 million redevelopment of the Punt Road Oval... looks set to be unveiled before the forthcoming state and federal elections". https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/jack-dyer-stand-may-go-in-60m-punt-road-oval-redevelopment-20180907-p502dv.html Our comparatively miniscule plan seems to have taken a back seat. Sigh... Re any news - I noted a poster last week was told by the club that we no longer owned nor had anything to do with the Bentleigh club which was quite a surprise. The last comment by the club was The Bentleigh gaming will cease in August 2022, although Melbourne will continue to operate the club, without the pokies. Wouldn't mind a Club update for both our standing re the Yarra Park development and our ownership status of Bentleigh Club ownership - it was/is an exceptionally valuable piece of prime real estate

Collingwood is underrated here. They had their first choice backline out (Moore, Godsack, Dunne, Howe, Scharneberg) and Treloar out simultaneously for a large part of the second half of the season. Sure they had a run of luck but made the most of their chances and reached the top 4. Having Treloar and Goldsack back has really strengthened their team. And they still have 6 players who played in the 2010 Premiership/2011 GF. As an aside the Eagles have 12 of their 2015 Grand Final team playing. I'll be honest and tipped neither team to make the top 8. But both teams have done enough to get there and have solid recent finals experience. Should be a riveting game - doubt I'll be watching. Don't get me wrong, I loathe them with a passion but they haven't gone past us. They were always further down the track. We will catch up and overtake them soon enough.

Kudos for being brave enough to come on here. That is a fair commentary.

In a way, it is a little early to start this thread but 2019 memberships will open soon. I thought while our finals success and ticketing experience is fresh in our minds it is a good time for folks to think about their membership. Certainly, for me it was quite enlightening to learn what different membership categories mean for access to Finals tickets. (And amusing to watch us all staggering around in the dark not knowing what to do to negotiate the process or Ticketek. It was fun sharing it with everyone on here). The main things I learnt: Three game or better membership had the same priority eligibility to Finals weeks 1 - 3. For the Grand Final it all changes. Broadly the categories were: Ballot: Priority 1 - Memberships with the Grand Final Guarantee (GFG) included or added on (plus some other categories) Ballot: Priority 2 - 11 Home Game or better memberships without GFG (plus some other categories) Ballot: Priority 3 - All other memberships The odds of Priority 3 being allocated GF tickets seemed quite low. I think, the AFL sets the broad eligibility rules so the above may change for 2019. For 2019, I assume the memberships with the GFG will sell out fast as the number sold is capped and people that already have it get first choice to keep it. At the risk of the membership team being inundated with early calls, I was able to upgrade my niece's 3 game membership to a Redlegs membership late last week (same row but not to sit together; wait listed for that). I will post the link to Memberships when I see it on the club website. A couple of other thoughts: This isn't the thread for posters to criticise supporters asking for barcodes etc - 2018 caught us all by surprise so cut them some slack, especially the country and interstate folk This isn't the thread to complain about Ticketek or the AFL ticketing policies. Maybe the mods could pin this for a while so that new info can easily be found. One final thing: What an outstanding job the Membership Team did. It all went without a hitch which is no easy task the first time a new project is undertaken by a team in any organisation. Kudos to Tracey and her team for the work, time and energy they put in to making our lives as straight forward as possible.