diesel

You'd have a point except Australian law was essentially that of our British forebears and if I were Aboriginal I would feel entitled to tell you where to go or at least check the constitution of this country first and see A} if I was recognised as an original inhabitant & B} if I am allowed to practice my own customs including tribal law. You might not like this concept but I reckon if you look harder you'd gain a new respect.

I wonder in this case if there's any possibility Liam is in custody for his own safety? Not trying to be Mr positivity but I can imagine in a dispute such as this (50 people involved) who would be the target on one side?

Sheeesh! Do you work as an Indiustrial Officer or Shop Steward? As FD said, Williams has a brittle body. Isn't this like having an accident in an unroadworthy car and then blaming the road? If blame lay anywhere in his falling apart it would be with himself and his club for going out there.

You say that like his motivation would purely be the money whereas the opposite would probably be true. There are plenty of workplaces which look after their valued employees, perhaps you just never had this experience. Might say more about you than Liam or the MFC?

Good pick-up Diablo. I'm in no position to comment on how these issues effect or are are dealt with in the Aboriginal communities but I can only imagine in a small community like Yuendumu that they are magnified ten times over. Can only otherwise hope that we see LJ back soon and he is able to get back to doing what he does best which is lead his people by example on the footy ground.

Its always a good point to make. This whole argument of should have/could have really has no end and is favoured by people with 20/20 hindsight. Cannot remember one person saying we should have got Martin. Only debate was Scull or Trengove at No.1

He willl be hammered, targetted and tagged out of every game he plays. He probabaly forgot about this fact becasue he thinks like an individual but the players who GWS got to do not apear to be the sort who will be able to offer much in the way of protection or a foil. Other than that watching parts of GWS's game yesetraday I thought they looked way out of their depth and I agree with WJ, they should not be playing at the AFL level this year. If someone adopts an all out attacking style against them this year and they have an off day, records will tumble.

I would have thought that managers and players who are preparing an exit strategy would find a different play book than the one Lynch and Scully used last year after seeing their creditably collectively destroyed! Apart from "putting it on hold", they're even using the identical "see how we go" and "sore knee" distractions.

I've got us for 5. I'm expecting at least one surprise win (hopefully QB) but with a new coach and set up I expect that will work the other way at some point. It is sinking in that we are facing a lot of sides which need to show similar progress to us or are already there and abouts. I don't think the way footy is now allows teams to jump up the ladder, it's either a slow rise or a quick fall these days.

Big challenge to beat Gold Coast United's crowd of 1050 last week!

I agree JB. Richmond supporters have been going to the G for 2 generations. I think if Richmond ever drag themselves out of the bottom half of the ladder for a sustained period this fixture could easily surpass Collingwood in terms of attendance year-in/year-out.

The QB match is our fixturing request. As far as I know Collingwood DO NOT have input in terms of this game as a fixturing request, preffering to request Premium slots, ANZAC Day, etc. It suits them because 1) They get an additonal game at the MCG where their premium members have seats 2) They are part of a stand alone fixture so still get publicity, profile, exposure from it 3) They get to claim they are being charitable We can always request to play QB against someone else, say Richmond and Collingwood can play Freo at Docklands in a Sunday twilght.

You make a good point! Been a few changes since last year and we have this year to unfold. The pretext for Robbo's article seems to be that he may go because Essendon were into him last trade period and he is a FA next year, just seems to be drawing a bow on this one.

How was Leigh Brown pinched from Collingwood? As far as I know he was a retired player when offered a role at MFC or can't you take a new job after you've resigned from Collingworld? Insecure bunch over there!

Does Qantas still fly internationally to/from Melbourne, or only when the Wallabies visit?

I don't recollect the AFL brand ever being harmed by their association with Ansett whilst it overshot runways, collapsed nose wheels and went broke in the early noughties. Yet, you're apparently happy with Energy Watch who were being pursued by the ACCC! Pfft!

Dunno if you heard Ox interview him on SEN straight after he announced his defection. Ox pretty much confronted him on the fact that he had called Tom as "gone" earlier in the year. $cully was upset and tried to turn it on Ox by asking him if he was "questioning my integrity". So he was essentially taking that tack of trying to look like the victim. It had me squirming...I am very uncomfortable in the fact that this bloke ever wore an MFC Guernsey. He gave nothing but lip service in 2 years at MFC. He is delusional about how it has played out. Not a person in the footy community with half a melon would look at this bloke and not think "scumbag".

Coaches know what players bring to the table in this regard IMO. At this stage they'll be more looking to players sticking to structures and roles and that will be the basis for selecting a side round 1. That is what I will be going to look at in any case. I'm not interested in seeing blokes clean one another up or faux punch-ons. Save it for when it matters.

NAB cup doesn't interest me much either in so far as wining it goes but I reckon this is like trying to call a race result before you know who's running! Perhaps let's see some NAB cup form, a new game plan, new recruits and revisit then?

Couldn't be simpler could it? A committed trainer, no doubt, but has demonstrated through actions he would Captiain more like Schettino than Barrassi.

Well at least he should get plenty of help finding his way home after a night out.

Funny you should say that because I've seen Moloney do exactly the same. In any case and as others have said, who are we to pass judgement on these selections? All I know is last years leadership was at times non-existent and I remember on a couple of occasions self-congratulatory such as after the win against GC early on.

My take on this is that the older guys apart from being part of a misfiring leadership group could not have been retained in a group which had Grimes & Trengove as Captains. Congrats to both boys, they are both well suited to the role. The leadership group is a clear statement to move on and I think that is fair enough after last years debacle.

Thanks to those contributing news and their thoughts. So we're agreed the AGM was flat? How people want to interpret that is up to them but why it would be a problem is a mystery to me! If I consider how I feel about what has happened at the MFC over the past 12 months there is disappointment over on and off-field matters as well as Jim's dilemma but also pride in the way the club has been set-up for the future. It leaves me in the 'middle' with a feeling and an overriding need to see change on-field. I don't expect anyone will be able to rationalise their emotions until we see some indications of competence in terms of a game plan and consistent effort week-in and week-out. Neeld has been clear about what he brings, his coaching structure, what his philosophies are and what the players need to do. The proof will be in the pudding, so I suggest those wanting to pot him pull their heads in until after we've had a good look at how it unfolds.