Diamond_Jim

It would be 18 v 17 on the field

out of interest would you then restrict the team to 17 players on the field (this is what happens in soccer) or would you allow substitution ie use of the bench.

So you and the media as well are going to stick the responsibility on an 18 year old kid. Can you imagine the pressure that will be brought to bear on him to achieve just the outcome you have posited. Judge the perpetrator ... not the victim

The club need to consider the following: Impact upon Angus Brayshaw Impact upon supporters Impact upon sponsors Impact upon wider image of the club Can he deliver at the same level playing wise Need for his skills Dollar cost Impact upon other players on MFC List If they do all that in a professional manner with reasonable transparency I will support the decision made. I trust it is not an easy decision.

The toxicity with the Brayshaw family would be enormous. I think his cards have been marked re coming to Melbourne. One also has to consider his reputation going forward. (Read sponsors) It's a distraction we don't need for the kind of money we would have to offer

the charging of Leigh Matthews in a court of law should never have occurred. Disclosure long after the event of what happened to cause that charge to be laid showed that it was wrongly motivated. On the other hand the tribunal should if he is found guilty throw the literal book at him.

what is the West Coast equivalent of Demonland many thanks

One of the best TV shows ever made. They could do a sports version .... it would be so easy ... can you imagine sending up Bruce and BT ?

Will be interesting to see how this plays out. Bugg was publicly hung drawn and quartered before he got to the tribunal. The club offered virtually no defence and many on this forum understandably were extremely critical of the act. Now we have a star player ( a possible Demon next year). How will West Coast, the media and this forum react? Double standards is my bet.

Shows the problems of appointing an untried coach. We were his lab experiment. Hopefully the current coach doesn't repeat the exercise

MFC really never benefitted from an historic home support base a la Collingwood and for that matter every one of the VFL teams. If we had one I suppose it was along the train line to Caulfield, ie South Yarra, Prahran etc. Simplistic but they were never your traditional hotbed of passionate supporters. The league of supporters posted I think by yourself LDC a few weeks back shows how badly we fare in the sheer number of supporters. Not sure the Irish catholic anecdote quite holds up as I think that table showed Essendon at or near the top. Not sure of the traditional demographics of the Essendon area but it never struck me as being Catholic, Irish or otherwise

find a post by me that says it caused the injuries ... no you won't find one. Playing in 28 degree heat and 80% humidity is not conducive to maximum fitness for a Melbourne based team. That's what I said. We go for the money... there is no other reason whatsoever and it is time it stopped.

TV exposure.... Darwin was not on FTA and on Foxtel it would have rated 3 men and a dog. NT supporters... come on ... show me the numbers !! The ground only holds 10k and Alice holds 6k most of whom follow the Crows and Port.

If you can find me one sports scientist or professional coach that says that playing in Darwin is a good idea (and by that I don't mean a neutral opinion) then I will agree. Football is a game of inches and we need every advantage we can get. Playing in Darwin is not an advantage.

I would doubt it. An MFC home game so the gate proceeds are ours for what they are worth. May be a contribution towards travel costs but as I understand it the interstate clubs have always had a bigger travel allowance. It's different to say the Port v Suns game in China where the Suns get a decent slice because in the last two years it's been a Suns home game. It just makes no sense whatsoever to take a team from a mid winter environment to play in sub-tropical conditions unless one absolutely has to do it a la the Socceroos last year with games in Thailand and Malaysia.

we whinge about Darwin each year and rightly so. Time the club came out with the financials on the escapade and seriously looked at the revenue it would need to replace the NT funding. $50 each member to avoid the Northern territory or whatever but let's put it on the table and work it out. By the way nothing commercial in confidence about the figures because no other club in its right mind would commit to the Darwin game.

I remember in junior football with the good players that they would play a season on their non preferred foot in order to develop. Made a lot of sense.

Yep and that's where the spreadsheet kicks in. What did the salary gurus have planned for Tom Mc and AB at season's start and what has their form as well as interest from other clubs done to those estimates. In a way planning for the solid players is easy by comparison to those like Gus who while we all knew had potential has come from the clouds in the last ten games. FWIW I think Gus will sign but it will make a mess of that salary spreadsheet. Riddle me this... what do you think Fritsch will need to be offered next year and do you think the salary gurus had that one in their spreadsheet.

Well picked DZ even if it took a howler by the keeper to make it so. While not quite hitting the highs of champagne football it was an entertaining match. I thought Croatia's tactics of soft fouling early and often went a long way to stopping France from getting any breakaways. Croatia should be proud. They played a good game but France were the best team of the tournament. Thoroughly enjoyable world cup and my time in Moscow and Kazan will always be a highlight for me. The Russian people in the end made it their world cup and it was a great one. Thanks to you all on this forum .... it's been great to swap thoughts with you all. Mbappe the fist teenager to score in a WC final since Pele... wow that's a big burden to carry. I will always feel lucky to have seen that France v Argentina game where he announced himself to the world. Now for a new coach and the Asian Cup.

matching a six year deal with some form of loading (front or back who knows) would be a challenge for any club. BTW I heard the Hawks football manager on 3AW saying that Cyril Rioli's would not be in their salary cap next year as he had retired. Understandable but it does open the cap up to some manipulation. A retirement job at Visy or similar perhaps. Not suggesting that was the case for Cyril.

tickets to the finals are in the main easily got except for the GF and buying a normal membership is really no help in getting a GF ticket. For example in the first few weeks of the finals AFL members can normally buy 5 guest tickets. Melbourne v Richmond in a prelim final is probably the only scenario that would get close to a sell out.

England should have iced the game in the first half. Their second half was woeful but they seemed to wake up a little in extra time. Well done to Croatia. They were the better team probably. If France play to potential it could be a big win but somehow I don't think that will be the case. France 2-1 in normal time. PS: The success of Belgium and Croatia in this World Cup augurs well for the smaller teams. Did we beat or draw with Croatia in 2006? Interesting comments on the academy systems in the guardian. People suggesting that by putting your money into so few(often identified at age 8-10) England is effectively limiting its talent pool.

Good first half between France and Belgium but the game seemed to fizzle out a little after the France goal. England v Croatia ... who knows? Must say I was taken aback by Croatia in the black shirts against Russia. Very reminiscent of the days of Tito etc. England in extra time is my wild guess.

Evaluating the worth of Brayshaw both from a dollar and trade viewpoint would be a challenge. Interesting to see how it works out and where he fits in the relativity spreadsheet. Just hope North don't come in with a silly offer as they are prone to do. Gus deserves the success he is presently having as I am sure we all agree. Glad to see some sensible words about Tom Scully. In hindsight many of us over reacted.

A new fortress... a la the Northern Bulwark !