Earl Hood

Yes I picked that up to. Didn't realise it had got to that.

He said he was 26, I thought he was older. If he was worried about the pay check could not MFC broker a deal where we pay him a minimum retainer for even the next two years until he gets his mind and body in the right place. I know it would be a non playing member of the list but it would be worth the investment I think. Such a loss it really gets me but that said you could tell in the interview he has been in a bad place and still has some work to do!

I hope so DC, the MFC website gameday info indicates if you have a membership you just walk in. If I find I have to queue up to get some extra ticket I will give someone a spray

So Cudi what is the answer, do we just go under? I can follow your argument but if you are against any extra help for struggling clubs, what happens then? Yes the club's management has been appalling but what is the answer to get us back as competitive. And the other point I might make is the constant changes in rules by the AFL, for instance the draft rules of the time allowed top clubs like the Hawks to clean up in the 2004 and 2005 drafts that set them up for successive shots at a premiership, based on a team failing to win 5 games in one year. The rules around priority picks have changed every year since to the point where you can't get one now. A la MFC who were dysfunctional in 2013 but did not rate a priority pick. Then you can look at the father son picks Geelong got for the equivelent of round three picks. they just happened to be gifted; the best mid fielder of all time, a fullback of the century, a modern power forward, an earlier Abblett forward and a ruckman as well. The dominance of Geelong and The Hawks is not just due to superior management skills, it goes back to being down the bottom at the right time or having a good gene pool of former players. Sorry I quoted the wrong post!

Colin I thought you were joking so went and googled his recent speeches and comments on them. It looks like you are correct, he has drawn it out a bit but yes the Normandy landings somehow have something to do with his heroic battle against carbon and mining taxes. It all beggars belief that this moronic throw back to the 50's, somehow was a Rhodes Scholar but worse is now our leader!

Does he need the money? He should have plenty in the bank after all and he is building a new career in photography I believe.

RTG have you been over here recently? There are plenty of hipsters, Ned Kelly look alikes, women riding retro bikes decorated with flowers and as for artists, not too many sculptures, just taggers with spray cans and the occasional poet and oh too many pretentious South of the Yarra types visiting Gertrude Street for lunch when I am there anyway.

This is all going over my head, being from Fitzroy I am obviously from the wrong side of the Yarra! No cravats or man bags accepted over here.

I think Dunn made the transition last year to a dependable defender and has got better in a better team. Jetta is finally getting an injury free run at it and good luck to him. He has apparently always had a great attitude but has been set back every season by injuries. But Pedo, yes he is a revelation. All power to Roos, he is extracting the most from these former battlers.

Tony is off to DDay celebrations where we apparently stood shoulder to shoulder with the USA, Canada and France! I don't think we were there apart from some RAAF pilots.

JB had talent, no doubt. A goal he kicked in the wet against the Doggies in 2010 when the doggies were contenders by the way, showed me that. It was as good a goal that you would see from anyone playing AFL. However his problem was averaging about 6 to 8 possessions a match when he was in form! He just didn't know how to get the ball. He needed to be a ball magnet to compensate for his other weaknesses.

Agree up to a point Doctor but we had plenty of experienced assistants under Neeld but whatever went wrong it all came back to Neeld, who paid the price. It was obvious our guys didn't know what to do, where to go, how to respond under Neeld. Although I will never understand why that happened! With Roos within several months, a rabble is suddenly working as a cohesive unit, still learning, still making errors but improving as a group, step by step. A group working together is like the tide, it raises all boats or in our case all our borderline players. Everyone is now playing their role and they understand that role. It seems simple but few can make it happen. Roos is the genius behind the change but yes he needs his own trusted people like George Stone to implement his strategy.

We can only hope so. I am sick to death of them. But I suspect they will be around for a few years yet. Free Agency is their friend.

Billy Stretch 24 possessions for SA under 18 team's win against Vic Country played today. The kid is looking like a good prospect.

I have never held the belief that one person can turn an organisation round, I always believed in the great team approach rather than the Messiah complex of the great leader. But in Roos case " I dips me lid". The guy must be a genius to turn many of these marginal players into real footballers. Now if we could just get Ports fitness coach we would be laughing. How is it that Port is so fit for a young side?

I believe he resigned for three years at big dollars with Brisbane but it does hurt that he was a Dees boy all along, he trained with us pre draft but we went for Jurrah first hoping to pick Tommy up as a rookie but Brisbane jumped in earlier. In retrospect a bad move but at the time?? Jurrah was a freak and I suppose a risk worth taking but we lost yet again.

Small world I am best of friends with Skeeter's daughters and my only interaction with Northcote High School was to thrash them at tennis, playing for Box Hill HS. As I remember the central division was Melbourne High, University, Northcote and Box Hill so it was hard to get a win in anything for us at Box Hill in those days.

I had a family get together this week. The in laws come from up Shepp way and found myself talking footy with Tom Rotcliff's uncle. It seems MFC threw every thing they had at Tom at the end of last season. He talked about Tom meeting Roos and PJ at the Gee and Tom being blown away by Roos knowledge of football in general but was astounded by Roosey's knowledge of the Lions game plan and that he kept asking why they failed to follow their own plan. It seems Vossey under pressure would ditch his own game plan and the assistant coaches didn't like it one bit. And it seems Roosey had a fair idea that was the problem. Tommy agreed. The uncle said if Voss had been retained as coach Tommy would have come to Melbourne. But in the end they doubled his contract offer after five young kids left o he took up the offer. With out that he might be a Demon. The other MFC issue he brought up was Chris Connolly who played for Shepparton United. He said they brought him up especially one night to look at A young Micheal Barlow at training when he was still playing for SHepp United at 19 and had won the B&F for the comp. apparently Connelly had a look,and said there was nothing there to work with. And moved on to pick the young kids in the National Draft, who we know went not so well. Of course Barlow was over looked by many and went pick 80 to Freemantle but then played phenomenol footy in his first year before he was injured. But if only we took some of our inside knowledge and used that for picks.

Yes I agree I thought Salem needed a run in the magoos with only 8 possessions last match. Jimmy is a bit stiff I think.

Uncle can you do the light bulb trick for us?

Gee Nutbean, never picked you as a mummy boy! But you seem to have your political values in the right place. To me it is about values not the latest policies, although yes sometimes tough love is required. But for heavens sake can we spread the pain evenly, it is not just about kicking the poorest and the weakest.

RTG he made it clear he did not have a sexual relationship with that women! That's on the record.

Still at the end of the day a team with 13 professionals got done by a team of part timers. Was he just calling it as it was? An unacceptable and a [censored] poor effort perhaps!

Is Ling still running all those bars and bistro businesses in Geelong that Frank Costa set him up in, outside the salary cap of course? We would need a full time apprentice for Roos, one who is fully committed to coaching. Not sure that will be Ling.

Good outcome tonight Port had a tough tussle against the Hawks but got up to win, hopefully they have a let down against us next week. Gee given the Hawks were playing away in the cauldron I reckon they got well looked after by the umpires, not just for the 50 50's they often got but for some obvious ones they were not pinged for, I.e Hodges infringement in the goal square in the first quarter against Wingard, play on! Really.