Deecisive

J not so sure they hurt us with $cully but saved us from the high cost of trying to keep $cully... no way was he worth anything like what melbourne would have offered to keep him, I think will spend to compensation picks and $$'s we save on him to get pretty good players.

In modern day football players kick a goal, then runs 100 meters to the bench for 30 seconds of rest before running 100 meters back to their position. One wonders if the run up and back is worth the rest. As for Jurrah, he had a lousy tank and would not have by himself changed the result in any significant way. This is just bullxxxx reporting to beat up a story where none exists in this instance. The age seems to be the only paper consistently running articles on 'MFC tanking'. I would think they should clarify the point that no players have as yet admitted to having tanked or been asked to tank, so its really MFC officials not performing to their best rather than MFC tanking. but i guess MFC officials not performing to their best makes a lousy headline. AFL would probably be pushing it to finish this investigation before draft day, so if the draft goes ahead we would still get our picks. Taking these picks away afterwards is difficult, what happens to Viney and others we picked. they sit around waiting for next year, or go into the next draft so GWS or GC can pick them up? The other clubs would be [censored] if GWS and GC were handed first shot at these. As such I would expect that all draft picks made before the results are known will be honored, future picks though maybe in jeopardy. Officials will be ex-communicated. The problem the AFL has is that it is trying to defend an inequitable system that they built, priority picks were to go to struggling clubs, but more top clubs got them than low clubs, top clubs get prime time viewing, Anzac day, friday night, etc.. while the poorer clubs travel all over Australia playing interstate.. etc.. The AFL does not want to have to defend the inequality of their system by trying to punish Melbourne, i wonder if they will try to do a deal before hand to give Melbourne a lighter caning if they accept it meekly and say nothing so that the problem goes away quicker.

Please Dees no more smokies for early picks, save that for late picks if we have any left...

GWS is unlikely to take Wines as he is not what they need and they run the risk of losing him after a year or so back to Melbourne.

The AFL has supposedly said that this investigation will end all speculation on tanking, yet this investigation only involves Melbourne. Hawthorn, Collingwood, Westcoast and Carlton are 4 powerhouse clubs that rarely end up near the bottom of the ladder but each club did so for only the necessary 2 years winning 4 games or less so they gained priority draft picks that have paid off for all of them handsomely. Strange how the priority pick system seems to have benefited/ been milked by the rich and powerful more so than the weaker clubs. The idea that other clubs excuses such as we are having a poor season so lets send guys for surgery early is acceptable is rubbish. How many times have clubs done this in the past when there were no priority draft picks up for grabs. The Kruizer cup was clearly a tank job that the AFL sanctioned, as was allowing Juddy to go to Carlton, and allowed his salary at Visy not to be included in their salary cap. Again the AFL looking after the rich. The only way I can reconcile the AFL closing off the tanking debate once and for all is to not charge Melbourne with tanking but some other offense. Therefore if melbourne did not tank other clubs did not tank, so the tanking saga can be closed. I would see the justification for this would be that the players did not tank, but there was evidence that the coaches were not trying as hard as they could have. Having said that there is no proof that Melbourne would have won even if they did try.

It wont be long before Caro and the AFL will be questioning Melbourne as to why they played Cale Morton so often, as they may perceive that as another sign of tanking?

we are only hearing the juicy pieces that drive mob rule and newspapers. The stuff that makes headlines, any investigation needs to take all the facts and interview everyone fairly, players will also be able to put the other side of the story on the table, i.e. were not told to loose, encouraged to play well, win, etc... If all goes well will not see the results of this investigation until after the draft. I doubt that we can be banned from the drafts until some findings have been made. Obviously our legal team will be having discussions with the AFL, to ensure that they are aware that we could go to court on this. Given tanking is not clearly defined and that this could drag in other clubs it is probably not where the AFL wants to go. But they have to be seen doing something. I would hope CC and CS would be penning their resignations now and anyone else involved in this sorry tale of incompetence. The fact that all players were still going out there trying to win demonstrates that players/MFC was not tanking. As for playing players out of position, not sure you can cite this as proof of trying to manipulation a loss, could also be seen as an attempt to get a win. I wonder if the AFL will lend us the money to pay the heavy fine they will probably chuck at us. I just hope out of this that Carlton and other teams are also investigated a lot harder as I dont subscribe to CW's theory its ok to loose the last game at the end of the year to get draft picks.

I wonder if the Dees will cut a little further later on, maybe wait a little longer to see who else gets delisted to see what sort of talent maybe in the PSD pool.

While the goal from Bartram was good, I loved the defensive pressure in that passage, the fact that for much of that game we were with the Saints. Maybe these new inclusions could get us on the door of the 8 next year!

Gotta disagree with you SD - Dawes was playing CHF for one of the Powerhouse clubs, he was wanted by several other clubs, even playing poorly he was a better option than anyone else we had playing CHF, i.e. Bate, Pettard or Dunn. If he plays only CHF he will be a better player. Picking up a mature key position player with pick 20 (especially given previous year picks) was a great deal. Lots of footy in front of Dawes. I doubt we could have got as good a CHF from the draft for pick 20 and without a strong CHF we look week in attack. Pederson could not get into the game for lots of reasons, his form in the VFL was better than most of our guys running around in the VFL trying to get into our team, so I have no doubts he would have walked into our team if he played for Casey. He was unlucky that North had a few others in the same mold as him ahead of him in his coaches eyes, does not make him a poor player. a lot of clubs have had good and great players waiting in the wings, I remembers a guy for Melbourne called Jolly who could not get much of a crack at rucking until he got traded, hear his played quite a bit of finals football since leaving. Shannon Byrnes - the guys is competing with some of the best crumbing forwards in the league for a spot and when he gets a chance he shows what he can do as good a job as they do. Melbourne had lots of chances to get the ball into their 50 even in this past dismal year, but did not have the marking or crumbing players to do anything with it. Playing ever week he would be a great asset to our scoring power. Rodan, looked like a couple of clubs were interested in him, he is not over the hill he has a powerful long kick, he is fast evasive and a good pickup. Playing him in the forward line as a crumbing forward would probably improve his longevity and give us greater muscle and scoring power again. New recruits not delivering much this year, Really do you expect Viney and Wines will not add any additional grunt to our midfield.... We should have Clarke back next year so again increase in scoring power, we have a goal to goal line of strong players who have a offensive and defensive game, plus we still have a couple more picks and may get another mature or decent players via the PSD, 3rd pick should get us something tasty. The other plus is that several of the players we got rid of would have been in our starting 22 next year, they were not AFL level they were not setting the world on fire and were of no interest to clubs in the trading period, either because they were not good enough or because they figured no one else is interested in them so they will try to pick up our rejects from the PSD. I wounder what Barrett and Co will say about clubs that pick up Melbourne Rejects? Getting rid of players who dont show the right stuff will have a positive effect on these players attitudes at long last. We have breed a culture of paying average players higher wages and front loading player contracts to use our salary cap. These guys measure themselves by players in other teams getting paid the same or less and think they are better than they are, this has led in my mind to lazyness and people like Brett Baloney who think they are worth a lot more than they are. I like all here are looking forward to a Melbourne side next year playing decent football, putting pressure on players forcing mistakes and turnovers and having the team to capitalize on mistakes, we wont be a top 8 side but we would have begun the journey and we will be playing football that most supporters will be proud of.

Ben Warren, anyone have any idea what the Roos problem with warren is, the only clips l could find on youtube of him were interesting.

Neeld has done a great job, it would not be an easy task cutting players from your list. He has had a year working with all of the telling them what he wants of them, telling them what they need to do. Some obviously were not able to deliver for what ever reasons. I wish them luck in their new endeavors and welcome all of our new replacements. As stated above we now have a goal to goal line of players capable of winning those positions. CHF has been a hole that we have not been able to cover for a lot of years we now have a good CHF. We now have crumbers, and hard bodies willing to tackle and attack the ball.

I suspect the forward loading of contract probably meant that Neeld just wanted them gone, and what ever we got for them was ok. Everyone talks about Gys's great potential, didnt look like teams were beating down our door to offer to trade for him. He was more like the set of steak knives with the Pederson deal. Morton has just lost the desire to play to engage, Martin I rate as a loss but had to make room for Pedeson, who I think looks ok, time will tell if he will develop further. I had hoped this clean out would have come last year, we had a few players like dunn, bennell, bates, etc that have been holding on to spots for years because no one has had the balls to make the hard calls and cut the lists. Thankfully we were in a reasonable position with our trade picks and FA trading to get the players where Need. I think Neeld would get rid of a few more if he could but is holding off to see if some of those who are not really performing can get themselves together, if not they will be making room for someone else this time next year.

Neeld has gotten rid of players that he believes will not measure up. Brad Green was a good player in his time, but he could not keep up, too slow to provide a real defensive side to his game. Gys and Morton stand on their record of what they achieved in the time that they have at lowly club like Melbourne. Face it if it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, its a duck not a potential swan. Martin was a reasonable player, but Pederson and Dawes made his position untenable. Instead of mourning lost potential look forward to the potential these guys can bring to the club. Dawes would most likely still be a regular in Collingwoods side next year, Brynes would still be in line/competing for senior selection in the Geelong senior side, and Pederson would potentially be inline for selection with North now that they have lost some talls. These guys will significantly improve Melbourne next year, probably not top 8 but a damn good base to build on for 2014 and 2015.

I am amazed that so many people believe there was so much potential in the players that we traded, yet very little if no potential in those we got. At some point in time you have to say you have put enough time and effort into these players waiting for them to show their value. Truth is most of those that performing after a couple of years never will. I for one are pretty happy with who we got, I dont recall anyone talking about any of those that we picked up as being lazy, not putting in, etc... I wish Gys and Cale, etc all the best in their new teams, and hope for themselves they can do better.

We have had 3 years waiting to see Gys potential, he only managed one game this year in a weak side that is a testimony of his value to the MFC. If he wants out, then trade him. He could be something special but he is not anything special at the moment. Neeld is getting mainly players who can play his style of football now, not guys who need 4 or more years to warm up, put on weight, learn to kick better, etc.. Actual players win flags, not potential players.

Rodan is a good choice, we want someone to fill a gap for a year to two while our younger midfielders improve and mature, he is a short term solution to a problem. I would rather have Rodan and try winning games than play one of our rookies (to give them experience) and loose games. We need to show serious improvement next year and win games, set ourselves up for Hogan and the following years draft when we can possibly pillage GWS and GC's lists for more mature and quality players. We need to have our sights set on top eight within 2 years and grand finals in 3-4 years. Rodan will make a great crumbing forward, he has a good kick, great pace and very elusive. He could also be thrown onto the ball every now and again. I like it a lot.

Cale may rise to the occasion if he is playing in a better side, confidence in himself and his team mates can make a huge difference to his and the rest of the teams performance.

We have had so many early picks and lots of players with potential that is never realised. So how many years do we have to give some of these players for them to get their s##t together and how many excuses must we make as to why we need to give them more time, yes many are good kids, many could be good footballers, just unfortunately they played for Melbourne and Melbourne has shown it is incapable of being able to develop good footballers from its numerous first round draft picks. I like Neelds approach of getting players who can play now even in the young players we are drafting Viney will fit that mould and so will hogan (when he is legal), I expect our no 4 pick will also be a walk up starter for next year. Maybe its time for Gys, Morton, Martin and others to try and develop in another environment, and for the Dees to use any compensating draft picks to continue to build their playing list with more proven players.

Who wouldnt have an attitude problem if you believe you are better than some of the others getting games ahead of you. His VFL form and the few clips I have seen backup his belief that he should be in an AFL side, he is certainly good enough to be in Melbourne's afl side, so let hope it happens, then his attitude problem will disappear.

I Still think we are in with a chance with Ray, just depends how serious they are in taking any of our player as compensation for the loss, stef would seem to me to be the only one they would consider. So we may see a deal in the next couple of days.

AFL is giving port a handout cause they are in such a poor state, simple as that, I doubt anyone can say these were great port players hence worth such compensation. The systems is a little floored if you are only going to pay compo based on contracts, etc.. how are the small clubs like melbourne, goldcoast etc supposed to get FA's from top sides the only thing we have to offer is $$'s for even the second string players, so in offering them $$'s they get TOP draft picks as compo. When our good players try to go to top clubs to play in a Grandfinal they do so without the $$ inducements, so the poorer clubs dont get the top draft picks. Judging Rivers to be worth only half of a round 3 draft pick seems a bit stupid seeing as he is going to play in defense for a top 4 side.

Davey has been great for Melbourne in past years, doing a lot of work with very little support, shepherding or help from team mates to help him break heavy tags. A fit Davey in a team that shows a bit more physicality and having players helping him out will hopefully aide Davey to find the ball again. He is probably still one of the best in providing quality delivery of the ball, just hope his team mates can help get it to him better, he would be a major asset delivering to Clarke and Dawes.

Seems awfully low return for two of our better players in exchange for brynes...

Sad to see him go, he was a good player for Melbourne over the years, I wish him all the best. I suspect that Melbourne did not try too hard to keep him as they were willingly take the compo pick. Does anyone know the rules on the compo pick(s) is compo based on the net lose, i.e. if we lost 3 good players (Rivers, Baloney, Bate) and got Byrnes would the net loss for one first or second round pick or two picks at other rounds? If we did rate a picks for loosing multiple FA's would that pick come after what was our original pick 3 for a first round pick or after 26 for second round picks?