Dees2014

This kid has leadership written all over him. He is a gem, and a great role model for our young side. I have no doubt he will be captain in the not too distant future. We are developing some outstanding leaders at the club. In the younger brigade as well as Viney, JKH has outstanding credentials being the only indigenous player to Captain a Teal Cup side. He is also at Melbourne University doing Science so has some brains as well. In the older ones, as well as Jones and Grimes, all of Garland, Vince, Tyson and Cross have strong leadership claims, but I think the one who is very under-rated as a leader is Chris Dawes. Also academically bright (Law at Melbourne), the leadership he displayed against the Crows where he bled Red & Blue and showed outstanding commitment to the jumper and winning was something to behold. It is really quite exciting.

The additional point I think everyone is missing is that if Essendon players are rubbed out, what remains of their coaching staff at that time (ie Hird) will be rubbed out too , thereby ending his career. All I can say is "hooray to that!"

I heard a whisper they were going to rest Geogiou anyway this week (before the Viney incident), but I guess as a result of the collision there may still be lingering concussion implications. In any case, they considered him ready for a rest in view of the fact he has played every game, and his hard checking, hard running committed style was potentially taking its toll considering he was a part time footballer only several months ago. He has been a beauty though for us-.very good left field recruiting I reckon. I love the way the Viney incident illustrated just why he is so effective - he plays close and hard, just as all Backs should. . I have no doubt he will be a regular in the future.

I hope if Frawley doesn't come up that we play Gawn as a high marking forward in the square and second ruck. Use jamar and big max to run Minson into the ground. Also, we all got excited at the beginning of the year at the prospect of the Three Towers" in the forward line: Clark, Dawes and Hogan. Why not Dawes, Peterson and Gawn. Anyone who watched the swans v hawks last night would have seen how potent that sort of set up could be. Even better: Dawes, Gawn and hogan but that won't happen until towards the end of the season if at all this year. Why not start the process though now? When max was fully fit, the first hit out they had as an inter club match in late January Max was played in the square on Garland I think. He gave him a bath because of his sheer size and considerable marking skill ( although the kicking for goal was a bit of a worry). They should plant him in the square and tell him to assert his strength and powerr like Tippert does. I think we all might be pleasantly surprised. If it works it could be transformative to our season.

I think it will be an outsider. Although I have previously not been a big fan, Michael Voss's behavior after his sacking from the Lions in admitting he has a lot to learn and expressing a desire to do this as an assistant under an experienced coach I think struck a humility I would not previously associated with him. Voss certainly has a fierce desire to win and captained three premiership teams. I think 5 years under Roos he might develop into an excellent Coach. My only doubt is whether he has Roos smarts, then again not many football people do. The other hot tip I have heard recently was Brett Kirk. He is very very close to Roos and is currently an Assistant Coach. Is a Brett Kirk senior coach, Paul Roos Director of Football regime on the cards? The other suggestion I have heard is that Roos is being groomed to take over from Peter Jackson in three years time. Watch for Roosy to go off to Harvard Winter School in the off season over the next couple of years. If he does, I suggest he is a shoe-in for Jackson's successor. Could we end up with Kirk - Senior Coach, Rawlings - Director of Football, Roos - CEO MFC. We could do worst I reckon!

Sorry to get into banking details, but this works fine if the accounts on paypal are current. Mine are not, which means I have to go to their site to change them before I can transact.it is frankly a pain in the arse to have to do this when you don't use paypal for any other purpose. Most other sites simply allow you to transact using a credit card alone. I know some say this is risky, but personally I'd rather make that decision that have to go thru this laborious process.

I am very sympathetic to the plight of Demonland and have been trying to donate $100, but it is sometime since I have used PayPal (being an ex bank executive I think it is a dog of a system anyway) and so my accounts are out of date on it. Why can't we simply donate via credit card?

Why Salem? Don't understand that at all. I would have thought he has done everything asked of him and more. There is no justification for dropping him at all IMHO..

I don't think we are yet at the stage where we should be targeting established A-grade stars. We are where Port was - a talented list needing development and leadership. We have that now in Roos and his team - let them get on with it and let them do the same sort of inciteful trading as they did last year ie get new players of potential and develop them. Roos has proved his potential here. I would rather concentrate on retaining the Hogans, Watts, Grimes, Jones of this world, and add some more Bernie Vince types than buy a Dangerfield for a million plus. Maybe in three years time when we are knocking on the door of a premiership, but even then I would be skeptical.

No definitely not Swan. Would have the same effect on culture that Buddy has had (disastrously) on the Swans. Goes totally against Roos well known no d****ds policy. And Swan is definitely one, as well as his well known dodgy connections.

I don't know why we waste our breath on this guy. He is not only biased, he is also extremely thick. I think we should all just ignore him. Eventually Lyon will sack him....

I have been listening to talk back on SEN all day while I work at my desk and I don't remember ever when an issue involving the MFC has been so universally supported on our side by the wider football community. There were no dissenters, even rusted on Magpie supporters were scathing. I cannot believe that the highly focused PR machine that is the AFL will not take heed of this because the comments were not of the "poor Melbourne" variety. They were more about the game itself and the way this decision has changed the very nature of it. With the competition coming from soccer and NRL, and the need to shore up the traditional fan base, I don't think the AFL can ignore this. I do not remember an issue in the AFL which has been so uniformly condemned by the press , ex players, power brokers and most importantly the rusted on fans. The question is what is the way out of this mess. Can I offer a scenario. I think Demitriou has deliberately opened the door. He said he thought Evans (the AFL Operations guy) would look at it. He knows he has the power to appeal against the decision on behalf of the AFL, irrespective of what the MFC does. You would think if this happened then Viney would get get off on the ground of the wider good of the game. My bet is that this is what will happen.

Big Max Gawn is the one. Strong second ruck and an awesome high mark in the square. I am a big fan of fitzy, but I simply don't think he has the power of Max nor the intimidation factor. I would play him even if Chip was available.

Mmmmm don't quite know why we get excited by this. Winning is all that matters, and we did that on Saturday in the most difficult of circumstances. It is nice to get recognition, but I don't think any of us could really complain about the almost blanket (almost universally favourable) coverage of our win, as much because of the surprise element as anything. I really look forward to this coverage in future being about our excellent football rather than the news worthiness of the surprise. I also look forward to posts on here in future being about our superior play rather than the rather extreme persecution complexes some of us have about the team. If you don't know what I am talking about read the earlier entries on this post, and the entries during the match on Saturday. I'm sorry folks, I simply don't believe umpires go out on the field with the express purpose of persecuting us as suggested on saturday. As I think Churchill said "if you have to choose between a conspiracy and a stuff up, choose a stuff up everytime". Sure some of the umpiring was terrible - but it did go both ways more incompetence than anything else I would say

I understand the sentiment about a settled side, but there are some Casey who need nurturing and encouraging, and will be important to our future. Dawes showed today how important a dominant tall forward is to a team, and in the unfortunate absence of Hogan I still think we are too short down there. I would be playing Gawn as second ruck and high marking tall forward. Toumpas is another we need to nurture. Two or three BOGS at Casey and he should be in the side. Garland of course will return next week. We still need to mix and match til we get our best combination. In Roos I trust...

Unfortunately at Sydney airport and missing the fun. Sounds fantastic. What has changed in a week apart from them all having a red hot go? I must say having seen them over the last two weeks would not have picked this. May be the sign of a young side on the way up. Or are they listening to Roos at last?

I would much rather Jetta than a Terlich, Strauss, Nicholson or Clisby - even Matt Jones. I just think there is a hardness about him which the others lack and we desperately need, particularly with defenders. I also think he is a cut above that lot in speed, endurance and ball skills. I have always thought he was of higher potential than many middle ranking players on our list. Now I guess he has the opportunity to prove it to us. I hope he plays plenty of minutes today and shows everyone how it's done. We could do with a bonus hard running back.

We are in a very different position. Roos is doing our PR, giving us a voice and an importance we could never get since Daniher. Get used to it. Roosy will make us credible with the wider football public again, even feared - how good would that be????

Can i say i think the MFC has been extraordinarily unlucky in this. If we had have had half the injuries in the tall forwards, and half in the mid field we would not have felt it nearly as much. but we have had it ALL in the forwards (except Viney and Garland). Gawn i count as a dominant forward ruck a la Paul Salmon (yes he will be as good as him when and if he gets fit). I know it is difficult to accept now, but the club has assembled the nucleus of a champion team. we must be patient. If you doubt it, look at howe's game on saturday: he was tagged as the number one forward: he had no chance. but as number 3 or 4, he would dominate/ That is where we are at. I'm sure PR is as frustrated as anyone. It will come good in the end, then.....watch out!

On face value that is true, but once you add back Hogan, Dawes, Viney, McKenzie, Garland, Gawn, Salem, even Jetta ( on his recent practice form - although would need to be upgraded), and hopefully eventually Clark, our depth looks quite impressive. Once all those are available there is no way Matt Jones, Byrnes, Bail and nicholson would be in our top 25. I would say our top side fully fit is definitely top 8 potential: FD: Dunn. Frawley. Garland HB: Grimes. McDonald. Vince C: Toumpas. Watts. Viney HF: Hogan. Dawes. Trengove FF: Howe. Clark. JKH Foll: Gawn. Tyson N Jones Inter: Michie. Cross Fitz Sub. Salem Emerg: Bleese. Bail. Jetta. Mckenzie Certainly 40% better side than the one we are putting on the park on Saturday, simply because the bottom six are so much better. Would give most teams a run for their money IMHO.

The key point here is that all parties have signed up to the WADA code, and that says that they must not takes drugs on the WADA banned list unless given specific exemption to do so. It is WADA who determines what should be banned under its code, not tribunals or courts of law.

It should be more like Sheedy to Cameron IMHO, but don't be surprised if PR stays on longer in another capacity eg Director of Football with the coach reporting to him, or even CEO. I know some on here laugh at this, but I think Roos is more personally ambitious than many give him credit for. Watch to see if they send him to the Harvard Executive 6 week winter(northern hemisphere) school for potential CEOs in the next two years - that would give us a clue, perhaps leaving the heir apparent in charge of pre-season training.

I think Caro is widely misunderstood, particularly on here. She is an investigative journalist, and an extremely good one. It so happens her field of work is AFL football. When she ventures out and works in other areas (such as the Olympics), she struggles. She does not have a broad sporting knowledge, as for instance, Bruce Macinvaney does. But she is the best in the business in the AFL, closely followed only by Patrick Smith, and is so far ahead of tossers like Mark Robinson and Brian Taylor it is not even funny. But in the AFL, she forensically applies investigative journalist techniques: relentless networking, building trust with those who matter, uncovering snippets of information which she then checks out thoroughly with her network of contacts, double checks and triple checks stories, then uncovers them without fear or favour. She is unpopular because she mostly does not curry favours ( with the possible exception of Richmond although even there she has been responsible for breaking some big stories about them over the years, often ones they would have preferred to keep private), and really does not mind who she offends as long as what she says supports her story of the day. This means that on occasions she has gone after the MFC, but let's face it, the incompetence surrounding our club in the last five years has called for investigation and criticism more than any Organisation in the AFL. She would have been derelict in her duties if she had not investigated it, and exposed it for what it was. I would suggest without the media spotlight on Melbourne's plight, the AFL would not have moved so quickly to fix it. My one contention with her relationship with Melbourne is her slant on the so called "tanking scandal" was not as nuanced as it should have been. Carlton and Collingwood were at least as guilty as Melbourne at tanking, but this seems to be lost in the discussion.

......and some seriously tall marketing in the forward line in the absence of Clark, hogan and maybe Dawes. Max at his best is a terrific mark. I would not be surprised if they played Spencer,Gawn and Fitz in the first round

This is not weird at all. It is logical that they would gather all the evidence they can, then call the central figure (Danks) in. This allows them to refute his accusations, and to level some at him with some credibility. It also allows them to demonstrate they have covered all the ground to undermine the likes of Robinson and whateley who continuously accuse them of not doing their job by not talking to Dank. It also shows how little they (Rrobinson & Whateley) understand how investigations work.