Lucifers Hero

Great news! Has really embedded himself as a regular 22. In the top 3 in the league for forward pressure acts! He is also very unselfish, doesn't try to be the hero and actively looks for teammates rather than bomb away at goals. Epitomises 'team first' football. Reckon he would be a favourite with both coaches and teammates and increasingly with fans.

Well, I hope the coaches are happy! Salem and Watts get sent back to Casey to be more competitive. They compete and get reported on quite innocuous events.

He left a sour taste at Collingwood and the same at the Dees. I was a fan but really didn't like how he messed us around for 6 months and left us a player short on our list this year. I wonder what criticisms are in store for us and our doctors in his doco? I won't be watching.

Cam has been re- ontracted for another year. http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-08-18/big-men-sign-on-for-2018-season He is a great example of a player who took on board coaches feedback and worked hard to get the best of himself. That he has been so willing to do any role the team needed him to play has been a real asset to our club. I doubt we would be on the verge of finals if he had not risen to the occasion. Delighted he is staying with us. Congratulations, Cam. #Lovepedobear

@Drunkn167's bro, Declan Keilty has been re contracted for another year on the rookie list. Big men sign on for 2018 season By the reports that his bro has given us he has worked very hard. Congratulations to Declan and thanks Drunkn for keeping us up to date with his progress.

So now MFC gets a rap over the knuckles because Max talked about infringing! "THE AFL has written to clubs warning them that public commentary about umpiring will be closely monitored after Tigers coach Damien Hardwick and Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn were outspoken on the standard of officiating last week". http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-18/watch-the-umpire-commentary-afl-warns-clubs For mine that adds insult to injury! He didn't complain nor criticise the umpires like Hardwick did. He simply stated he didn't understand why he was infringing. Time and time again it seems it is when someone at the Dees is seen to 'step over the line' that the AFL act. What about the running commentary recently from coaches (Scott, Buckley, Scott, Beveridy) on MRP cases? No, not a word from the AFL there! Use MFC as the 'sacrificial' example seems to be their motto!

I prefer the scenario where they go out in straight sets, again!! It will be the 4th finals series in 5 years where they have not one a final! It is highly likely they lose to Adel in their first final then meet Sydney the following week. Lose that and out in straight sets

He sounded happy in the interview last week - he had just come back from a China holiday and doing promotional work there (I assumed that was for the club but not sure). Maybe contract talks have started and he isn't happy with the offer. Its tough for him, having spent 50% of his 3 years injured so hasn't been able to show what he can really do. But also tough for the club to evaluate what he can offer. But if Vand is doing a dummy spit because he isn't getting the role he wants it would be really disappointing given the support the club has provided. He could ask for a one year deal, back himself in and earn a spot in the midfield and renegotiate for 2019 and beyond. But if he wants it handed to him on a platter then fine he can go elsewhere. Hope he stays!

This will be Jesse's 50th game! It has taken 4 difficult years, with many obstacles. Have huge admiration for how you have tackled and overcome them. Congratulations on the milestone. Hope the team bring it home for you and for us!

Jack is a thoroughbred not a brumby! There are plenty of 'brawn' type players. I do not understand why everyone is obsessed with making him a brawny brumby! Jack is at his best as a 'link player'. The most perfect example of that was his game winning run, play and goal vs the pies on QB. The best link player is Adelaide's Tom Lynch. I don't usually go for stats but in this case it is worth comparing their career averages: G: Lynch = 1.5, Watts= 1.0 B: Lynch = 0.9, Watts = 0.5 K: Lynch = 11, Watts = 9 H: Handballs = 5.6, Watts = 7.0 M: Marks = 6.2, Watts = 5.3 T: Tackles = 1.7, Watts = 2.0 Pretty good performance in that role, especially as he played a lot of games in defence and pinch hits in the ruck. Obviously, he is not following coaches instructions. It can't be those stats. I think it is more likely to be the '1%ers' and 'pressure acts'. I am a firm believer in letting people (in any walk of life) play to their strengths rather than make them something they are not. So play Jack as a link man. That is what he does best.

I like us playing the Elim final on the Thursday night (if we make finals). It gives us a 12 day break from the round 23 Saturday game and it gives us at least 8/9 day break to the next final (if we win Elim). I think that is a major reasons the Bulldogs won last year: they had 8 - 9 day breaks between each final giving their players maximum time for recovery. That is a fair advantage in September.

Jesse is back!! http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2017-08-17/hogan-back-viney-to-miss-through-injury Best wishes, Jesse! Hogan has been named in the starting 18, while Stretch, Kennedy, Wagner, Maynard, utility Angus Brayshaw, forward Mitch Hannan and tall Sam Weideman have been named on the extended bench.

Taylor Adams finds new ways to embarrass himself! First his comment about Dunne enjoying being at a 'successful' club. Well that ended up with much egg on his face. Now this we 'deserve' to play finals. The arrogance and sense of entitlement is gobbsmacking! So he thinks they have put in the hard work? Obviously not hard enough. As long as they feel 'entitled' they won't ever work hard enough. And, Treloar must be feeling a bit of a dill, having chosen Pies over Tigers because he thought Pies had the better list (and implied closer to a flag). Aren't one or both in their in their leadership group. If that is there attitude they will burn another coach.

Heartwarming to see him on the track. No contact but he seemed to use his left arm and shoulder ok so hopefully all is good with his collar bone.

See below: This is the table I update when there are player contract changes. So come back to this thread any time you want to check player status. Comments on2017 OOC players: Frost has put off contract talks. Vand is talking about getting ready for 2018 so it looks like he will be recontracted. Vince has said he will go round again and is happy to play at Casey if need be and that seems ok with Goodwin. With Pedersen recontracted and Watts, Tom Mc etc as ruck backup/forwards its hard to see Spencer getting another contract. ANB has played nearly every game so should be recontracted. Keilty and Maynard are playing well so should be recontracted. Would love to see Trengove stay on the list but its hard to see a spot for hiim. With the $2m windfall in the new CBA there is likely to be a number of OOC 2018 players re-contracted so they can deservedly share in the extra money before other clubs come and try to poach them.

I posted a summary of the interview in another thread last night for those who don't have 45 minutes to listen: It really is worth a read.

Do you have a source on the $1.5m, FT? Lewis was initially offered a two year deal which became a three year deal with the 3rd year (2019) based on certain triggers. So 2019 is not guaranteed. And there are ways of extending a players longevity eg not taking the long haul flights to WA, NT etc. Let the young guys do that. And, not many players play at their peak in every game. They all wax and wane during a season. We don't need him to play every game in a season. TBH, I would rather Lewis be fit and fresh for crunch games and finals.

Yes, 2007 was also very good. Here is a comparison of 2007 vs 2017 Retiring Champs. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-15/retirement-class-of-07-v-retirement-class-of-17 2017 just ahead by the look of it.

Club Membership Numbers are out http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-16/afl-club-membership-tally-hits-new-high Observations: The increase for the Bulldogs is understandable given their premiership. Geelong has a new stadium so can sell more. Not sure about StK increase; I recall they sold a lot of $1 memberships. GWS is a surprise and have genuinely grown quickly. As for Essendon - what can one say! Big loser is North - guess they didn't like how they dumped their champs last year! There is a good case to merge North and GCS! As for the Dees, we have had approx 25% increase since the PJ/Roos era started. And going on the Bulldogs experience, a premiership would take us well over the 50,000 mark! That may be a few years away but I would expect another leap in our membership next year. Edit: For some reason the second table won't delete, so ignore...

Yes, Davis was the guy that got Hawkins suspended. He has been known to dive and there was a discussion on one of the footy programs that he is making a habit of it. The annoying thing for me is the Oliver was torn to shreds by the media for (not) diving (a case that also went to the Tribunal) but Davis is barely mentioned. I feel for Redpath but the MRP should look at Davis' antics a bit more closely - so should the media.

Thanks. You would think the least they would do is alert the club to problem's with Max's technique before they went on the rampage over it.

It seemed premeditated to me - if they rarely pay it but suddenly penalise the same player 5 times in one game because 'there was more evidence in this game' strongly suggests they were looking for it. That other clubs have complained is very troubling. Did the footy commentators say what the nature of the complaint was? Or did the umpires pull this new interpretation out of thin air so they could penalise Max in some way?

ROAD TO THE DRAFT PODCAST http://www.afl.com.au/draft/road-to-the-draft Interview with Jason Taylor. It recaps some of our recent recruiting decisions and talks of the future a bit. Nothing really new but still interesting. If you don't have 45 minutes to listen to it here is a summary (paraphrasing) the interview (and my comments in itallics): Our Recruiting Process Oliver: Attributes: decision making, competitiveness. Now one of our top 2 professional players. Weideman: Still finding his feet. KPP’s take time - need to get to 22 to 23 y.o. He needs to work as hard as Oliver and will be very good. Hannan: Noticed him in the amateurs final. Then tracked him thru the VFL. He is an impact player and can perform in big moments. Petracca, Brayshaw, Salem have had interrupted starts to their careers and will be better with another preseason Hunt: Selected him because they thought he had something special, athletically. Very competitive. AFL was a bit of a whirlwind for him at first. Smith and Maynard: There are Rookie B opportunities if clubs keep their ear to the ground. Hibberd: We really needed help at half back and use of footy out of defence. Lewis: We needed support in the leadership area. It was a ‘no brainer’ for us. He has educated younger players and sometimes acts as a sounding board for coaches. Kel O’Donnell seems to be a great scout Our Needs going forward: No specific need. Will look for good players who can play in various parts of the ground. Hinted at keeping the midfield resourced. Maybe look at ruckman. Jake Lever: If he wants to come back to Vic we would look at him. Tricky to assess him in his draft year. (I detected a sense of regret). Hardest player to find in a draft: Ruckman, Super aggressive KPF. Noted that competitive talls are really important at finals time. Development: Our coaches and program are excellent but players still need to buy in. View of 2017 Draft: A bit more positive about it since holiday in Bali. Some tall, strong midfielders. Didn’t want to be too negative about it. (I started thinking we might trade out our first pick…) Forward Looking @ 2019. Given our age and game demographics looking for players that can take us to finals in the coming years. If our players evolve there is less to do in a trade sense. Recruiting for Goodwin’s game style: First and foremost need competitive players. Looks for resilience. I got the impression that neither dominates the process. Live Trading: He likes it. Reflecting on that summary emphasises what a great job the recruiting team have done over the last 3 years.

http://www.afl.com.au/news/2017-08-15/confused-dees-get-straight-answer-on-gawn-frees- Quotes: '...that Gawn's use of a "straight arm" block to keep Longer from contesting the ruck was the major reason the Demon was penalised so heavily. "We haven't been paying many of them at all. If you go through the stats, there might have been one a game. "There hasn't been any particular focus on it. It just so happened that in this particular game there was a little bit more evidence for the umpire." Sounds like a new interpretation of 'blocking'. Dare I say it seems premeditated by the umpires - like one or more of them were on the lookout for it! Rule of the Week has gone to Interpretation of the Week, or The Max Tax to be applied only when the Demons look like running away with a game...

Thanks, he deserves to be added especially as he is an honourary Demon.