Lucifers Hero

That is fabulous news. I heard Chocco Williams recently say how little Rance understood of the 'defenders' craft before Leppitsch @ Richmond. Leppitsch taught Rance stuff like - when to run off the man, where to position himself, when to mark/when to hit the ball away, running his man under the ball etc etc. I think we need someone to teach Oscar, Tom and Sam the same things. No offence to Rawlings but I think Matty Egan is the guy we need.

...and here is the updated table: over the moon about Dom signing up.

Thanks dc, glad it is useful. Will keep it updated as events unfold. Did some googling DeeSpencer and it seems the the same retention rules apply to all classes of Rookies. Rookies can remain on a list for up to 3 years. A 'B' Rookie cannot go onto another Rookie list after that 2 or 3 years. It is either the main list or off the list altogether. Having said that there seems to be a push to eliminate the Rookie category altogether next year and put those players on the main list. But not sure if that will apply to 'B' rookie or if that category remains as is.

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/max-gawn-becomes-latest-afl-ruckman-to-be-snubbed-on-brownlow-medal-night/news-story/8f33dacb0e1648efeed2b3a6e56c044d This article puts a strong case as to why Maxy should have more votes. Could easily have had 4 to 6 more! Love the banter between Max and Jack V - Max says he makes the midfielders look good; Jack says they have to mop his misguided taps!

The mfc release said the 3 players will not be offered a contract. Trades can still happen eg Fitzy last year, for a nominal pick. Clubs can also take Jack as an FA for free. Not sure if we get an AFL allocated comp pick...I doubt it. Their delisting will only happen if neither of those things occur. Even then they can get to anorher club as DFA, as we did with Newton. It is now up to their managers to find them a new hope. By telling the players today they have the maximum amount of time to gond a new club.

After today's news I thought I would update rfpc's table so people can keep track of the overall list: The announcements today were: Jack Grimes, Matt Jones, Dean Terlich would not be offered a contract. I guess it was predictable but still sad to see loyal Demons go.

Club website: "THE MELBOURNE Football Club has today advised Jack Grimes, Matt Jones and Dean Terlich that they will not be offered playing contracts for the 2017 season". Melbourne makes first list changes Really surprised at the loss of Matt Jones. All the best to all three players: they wore the red and blue with pride.

gwsampso is the man. Is this the right way to page someone? @gwsampso

Hey markc, thanks for the info. Were her posts made recently? Is it possible to see the fb page event tho it is closed? Cheers.

I don't think she was that wrong at the time. Remember he had lots of chances last year and was dropped for the last game and we were looking for a decent offer to trade him. We didn't get any decent offers (thank God) but I don't think the girl was wrong. Lets hope she is right with Jesse!

A candid commentary on proceedings: http://www.foxsports.com.au/news/afl-outsider-brett-geeves-on-brownlow-2016-red-carpet-and-dangerfields-victory/news-story/0316816b9091aa53377a0a5aef9fabef I think we would all agree with this: "..And then there’s the Brownlow Medal. — the award for the best and fairest midfielder of the season...The biggest test in this theory was Round 20 when Melbourne beat Hawthorn and Max Gawn got the two votes with Jack Viney collecting the three. I haven’t seen a more dominant ruck game than the masterclass Gawn put on that day...He was the reason Melbourne won that game and it’s disappointing that he was not rewarded with BOG honours. It only furthers the perception that this is an exclusive midfielders award'. Seriously, I wonder if the backchat Max gave the umpire (forgotten which game) when he belted the ball away after a bad centre bounce and the umpire challenged him with 'what did you do that for' and Max said 'because its my job', cost him votes thereafter. Wouldn't put it past them! Oh, there is a delightful video in that article of kids interviewing some places...Lily interviewing Max is priceless!

Its one thing wanting to prove people wrong its another advertising it to the world - doubt that would impress other suitors. As for getting a good deal for him - that interview just sent his value down, down, down: bit of a backhander to mfc; he doesn't like preseason running (explains why he has been overweight all year); shanked 8 'barrells' yesterday (even if he hit them sweetly, were they in the game plan or was he just being selfish and lazy)... With that attitude he hardly provides on or off field leadership to our young players. We will do well to get a 3rd round pick - worth it to get a list spot and salary cap space from his departure.

Strong words from Dunn: 'Lynden Dunn has vowed to "prove the haters wrong" and play on at AFL level for another three or four years...' Tbh I haven't ween much in the media that would make him think there are a lot of 'haters' out there. I doubt he reads demonland so does he mean people at the club? Not good form really.

I did a bit of checking on HL's contract and I think it is a 3 year deal (ie OOC 2017) with an 'optional' year for 2018. I'm guessing this is like the Cloke, Bartell contracts where the 'optional' year is based on certain triggers. Unless, H retires (and there is no indication of that) I can't see him being delisted.

A 'GNF' alter ego, perhaps!

That's true. But we don't how many other irons in the fire we have out there. Hopefully, we are after a couple of players for gaps we have in our line up. If they are to come straight into our line up they will attract a decent pay packet I would think. I'm happy to give 'Flamingdees' the benefit of the doubt.

I think Flamingdees meant the club is holding off on contract offers to players to be trade in.

Have to feel for Bob Murphy. Heart and soul, loyal as they come. Would be like us getting to the GF and Jonesy missing out. Unimaginably heartbreaking.

Heard an interview with Peter Gordon on SEN this morning talking about all the things he has to do as President to get all the off-field things and people set up for the GF. I think he said that Hawthorn are helping him. Did anyone else hear that? I don't like giving Hawthorn credit for anything but if they are helping Gordon it is very magnanimous of them and great sportsmanship.

As dc said its hard to know if the bye hurt winners of the first round of finals. However, what is absolutely certain is that it helped WBD immensely. Without the bye they would have had 2 trips to Perth in 6/7 days. Without the bye they would not have had the likes of Libba, Roughhead and a few others fit to play the elim final in Perth. Without the bye they would have had some 6 day breaks in the finals (if they had beaten WCE). With the bye they had 11 days between the Perth trips, 8 days to 2nd semi, 8 days to prelim and they got all their preferred players back into the team. The bye (and scheduling) has given them maximum recovery time between games. I would go so far to say that they would not still be in the finals without the bye.

From today: The good: Most of last years draftees get finals experience - great for their development. The bad: 32 scoring shots to 16. Never really in it. The ugly: Shows how shallow MFC depth really is.

Too many players from the 'mentally scarred' days: Dunn, Terlich, Grimes, Garland, Trengove, Spencer, Jones falling into old bad habits. No fight. No coming back now. I never bag our players but I can no longer stick up for those guys.

Really sorry to say it but a number of players today signed their own delist papers at the dees and probably killed their chances of being picked up by another club.

The reason 'never tear us apart' works so well is that it is full of emotion and galvanises players and fans. 'A call to arms' so to speak, similar to Liverpool's 'you'll never walk alone'. I like 'its a grand old flag' after we win games - nothing brings up the emotion more like hearing it after we beat the Hawks. The song's emotional pull doesn't work so well before the game, imo. I really like 'hells bells' and it sounds eerie. But if everyone is going to use then it isn't a good choice for us. I think a pregame song would work better for us if it spoke to people's hearts as do the two examples above. Can't think of one right now... ...any ideas?

Go Giants! Sorry but I'm not buying into the doggies hype!