Earl Hood

Thanks Hood, any news on Garland?

No I didn't sight him

Some more observations

I didn't see Dawes or Mitch as we know.

The hyphen, Kent and Strauss were running laps. So was Tapscotts early, gee he looks fit and powerful. He took part in most of the routines before jogging off a bit early, knee is still strapped up but he was moving well and was clean by hand and foot.

But keep in mind today's routines were run under minimal pressure, it seemed to be about honing the skills of kicking on the run to a leading target, running into space, presenting, looking for the best option. Generally our kicking was good, fast and low to a lead. The was some sloppy stuff from the three B's, Byrne, Blease and Barry occasionally. Blease moves so well but struggles at times with his decision making and some poor disposal. He stuffed up one routine and copped a spray from N Jones but took it well and got it right the next time.

When they broke up into their groups the forward group was Fitzy, Pedo, Howe, Toumpas, Bail, Blease and Byrne. Did some innocuous leading and kicking to each other, not sure what it was achieving really. I watched Howe closely for much of the session, never saw him fumble a ball on the ground or in the air, he is looking really sharp.

By the way there was some new bloke leading out from the goal square, if I didn't know better I would swear it was Lucas Cook!!! Oh no come to think of it It was Max King doing lead ups with Fitzy.

Watts trained with the midfield group everytime. In the last exercise the ball was rolled at a mid who then had to try and crash his way through 4 or 5 guys holding big pads, you get the feel of body contact without the bruising. Jack got through this pretty well I thought so did Bernie V who at one stage got completely bowled over. Jones, Evans, Tyson, Cross, Riley all got involved. N Jones seemed to in everything, much higher profile than Grimes on the field I thought. First time I have seen Mitchie he moved well and looks fit and a good size

I think M Jones was working with the backline group. At the end Frawley and MacDonald were going one on one as a coach kicked the ball up high to them. They did a lot of body on body and spoiling work. Grimes, Terlich, Jetta, Frawley, MacDonald, Dunn, Alex G with a big smile all doing a lot of punching away to high balls and running onto the loose ball to set up a clearance.

I get the impression that Riley is a bit of a joker, always seemed to be smiling and having some running gag with a couple of the assistant coaches. He seems un impeded to me, moved well in the routines, ran some serious laps at the end. Doesn't have the most athletic build on the field, he is pretty solid.

I managed to get down to training this morning, not many spectators there. The boys all came together in the middle about 15 minutes in. Roosey announced something and there was a big cheer. I am guessing he announced Alex G's elevation off the rookie list. There were many high fives and a few Mr Bean references.

Hogan, Viney doing a few run throughs over to the side early, then disappeared.

Jamar doing laps but did get involved in at least one routine where both he and big Max played as lead up forwards. Gee Max should be a handful playing deep forward if we had control of the midfield. He took a couple cleanly at full extension, what nine feet up and took one cleanly off his boot straps, swung round and put it through.

Fitzy was doing the same up the other end, leading up well and taking clean marks. My only concern was that he often took the mark at full extension above his head on the run. He should be timing his run to take those out in front away from a backman's fists.

I took a day off with a bad cold but work keeps calling. I will provide some more observations a little later.

Screw it, I'm gonna buck the trend and say Clark will be back in a demons jumper this year.

Furthermore will win the B&F in 2015!

At least in the far off chance that I am actually right I'll be one of the few on here that wasn't a [censored]

Oh Lord let it be so!

4 number 1 picks and 27 first rounders... Was going to happen eventually...

Is there anything more we can give them in terms of draft concessions? Surely Andrew can give them more. I think GCS still had some first round concession picks banked for next year. This Shyte plus free agency is really,making it hard for the battler clubs like ourselves.

The afl will be happy to c a return on their multi million dollar investment.

When either GC or GWS win a premiership it will be the best (afl) MONEY can buy.

Gee I am happy for them both!

Wrist, meet razor-blade.

I am in therapy as we speak!

You didn't read what I wrote. I disliked his politics but he was the consummate politician. For all those "ills" you highlighted - how many of them stuck ? How many cost him politically. He could sense what the majority of Australians wanted ( understanding that a good majority in political terms is 55%) and respond to it . So you are only half right in saying that he backing of his party - he also had the backing of the majority of Australians. He managed to make some rather unsavoury policies saleable.

I never voted for him but you cannot compare the buffoon that is Abbott to John Howard.

Of course you are right Nutbean but Honest John(who wasn't) always had a big advantage, it didn't matter how much Shyte he uttered he had the News Corp cheer squads to back him up and the Sydney brain dead shock jocks applauding his every action. That lot will nearly always get you 55% approval from the the voters.

Slipping the news in quietly. Stealth like. Significant pillars all with question marks on returns.

Is there any club now or in the last twenty years that has/had 3 power forwards on its list and none of them can get on the field? The last time it happened is probably us again in the 90s when we struggled at times to get The Ox, Gary Lyon and maybe Neitz or Jacko on the park on a given day circa 94, 95?

Gee it is not hard to get an MFC complex at times.

I remember him getting knocked out cold very early on in a final (or were we playing for a place in the 4?) against the Pies (I think it was)... we ended up losing.

Hardtrack if it was a final in the 70's it must have been dark and at the South Melbourne Oval under lights. We didn't play any daytime VFL finals in the 70's that I remember.

What is this crap!? HOGAN is injured and SALEM hasn't even played a game but yet they're WASTING THERE tik tik tik on the TELE!?!?

WTF111?

Yes glad we are trying to keep a low profile with these young kids. Hogan and Salem haven't played a game yet. I would rather we kept them under wraps.

Anyone hear what he had to say? Great player, remember him holding Royce Hart to zip goals for 95% of a game in the 70's as usual we were run over and Royce kicked three late ones to get the 3 votes but yet Gary had given him a bath and football lesson for 90 odd minutes. Those were the days!

Just got back home from the city tonight. I am sure I saw Mitch run past me on the tan! Gee he was travelling though.

Greg Hunt Minister for the Environment! Track record so far. These issues are all going south under Greg.

Carbon tax gone

Climate change authority gone

Mining tax gone

Green energy funding gone

Trial cattle grazing in Victorian Alpine regions

Open season on culling sharks in WA

CSG fracking anywhere you might want it

Great Barrier Reef dredging spoil from ports

Didn't send a boat to the Antarctic to oversee the Japonese Whaling Fleet - no science involved.

Oh and let's excise 74000 hectares of native forest from The World Heritage Area in Tasmania for what reason? To aid the ultimate conservationists, the loggers in their bulldozers?

Yes lets Clear fell an area, wood chip the proceeds, fire bomb the degraded area, reseed the area and plant poisons to ensure every furry marsupial dies before it can eat your seeds. Great system. Greg must be proud of his achievements so far.

Wonder how Greg keeps a straight face really.

Will do... expecting to have the clip completed some time in April, but only if the guitarist can get time away from his day job (he makes long bows and trains actors to look convincing in their use - working on shows like Game of Thrones, Eragon, Braveheart, Robin Hood etc).

Gee some people have interesting jobs. Not sure what it pays but it would be fun. How do they do it?

Isn't recollections amazing - JT blew me away at festival hall in 1972 - Just loved that concert.

I saw JT recently ( last year I think) and Ian Anderson's voice is completely shot.

I have rather eclectic taste in music and still go out and see lots of new music.On Friday night - I went and saw Illy at the HiFi Bar and was chuffed that they checked my ID The support asked for a show of hands of who was born in the 90's, then asked for those of the 80's. After a little lull I threw my hands in the air and screamed "child of the 50's" which got a round of applause from the "children" around me.

Any Yes fans out there? I sometimes feel I am on my own these days. I still sometimes play the Yessongs live triple album at full throttle in the car much to my wife's protesting.

He has been on the list for 10 years, olisik.

If he is 'in his prime' it is the near the end of it - that is how long he has taken to become a productive role player.

And it is a HBF - I am sorry to all the HBFs out there but it is the easiest position to play in the world ever.

Hey I played my last two or three seasons at half back, oh yeah you are probably right come to think of it. However sometimes you can put a highly skilled, attacking player at HB and set up play from there.

Just think how the Pies may go this year, they have not only Harry O'Brien attacking off half back but they also have Hertier Lumumba as well. Both those guys are attacking types who set up play. Gee they play a similar game, I often have trouble picking which one is which.

I'd be happy for him to resign

Ditto

Way to prevent blowouts AFL. Let a bottom team have 2 of there best 6 backmen leave to better clubs.

Lets face it if Chip walks to the Hawks or Cats or other top club the trend would be hard to ignore; MFC as feeder club to the rich and successful! We do the development, the top club just pays the money and tops up where ever they may have a gap. Rivers, Maloney, Silvia, I think we are running at 100% hit rate for UFA so far and so early into free agency. The only good news is the AFL decided to keep the current compo rules, so we may get something if Chip walks.

Interesting that the AFL players association is working so hard to develop a two tiered competition of the winners and the feeders just to pander to the wishes of their elite players. Of the 800 players on lists free agency really helps a very small number of top shelf players. Your average journeyman has to battle for a contract, they don't get to play clubs off against each other to bid up their contract income.

Well after all the time and money invested in Dunn I believe he is just starting to repay some of that. I would rate him as a required player for next year. He has a mature, hard body, has some footy smarts (and some dumbs) and knows his limitations.

However, touch wood, I would say the best attribute he brings to MFC is durability. He manages to stay on the track and is available to play every week. He is available for selection, that ability in itself puts him ahead of about 60% of our injury prone list.

No one can suggest that it was a good idea in hindsight. I am struggling however to find the pile of posts from people prior saying it was a bad idea though. Most were keen to see us try our hand against the best and see where we are at. Well now we know. I still think we learn more about ourselves in this that we would have if we played GWS as an example. I still think with two weeks to go until we play there is next to no chance we will get ahead of ourselves against StKilda (which as seen the last 2 years can be of concern).

Post 60 Of this thread I made my thoughts plain, it was a very bad idea. I think Bagdad Bob agreed, many others wanted to bring it on. I think the issue revolves around how post NAB challenge matches are determined. If MFC had no say, there is no further need for discussion. However if MFC had some say in who we played, I then have to question the managements thinking. We would have wanted a home match at Casey against someone we had not played in the challenge, so the options are limited, given The Blues, the Tiges and some others would want home games. Does anyone know the rules?

playing 2 finalists was meant to show how far we need to go, we did ok against geelong and not so well against the hawks. They probably had their best list while we were still missing a few. They have a settled lineup with a team game plan they have been playing for years while we are just starting. Early days, lots to learn from today, we never expected to play finals this year we just want to see big improvements, there will be days like today, hopefully far fewer than last year. and a few more where we get to sing our song after the match.

looking forward to the year and better things.

We have now played three finalists actually. The Tiges, cats and hawks.

I am not sure it is a good idea to be playing the Hawks at this stage. We are trying to build confidence into the playing group, we have two good performances against the 7 and 3 finishers last season. Why play number one now? The Hawks are flying, no injuries, everyone is up and about and they are keen to overawe everyone early to get the psychological advantage on everyone. In short we could get smashed, like they have done to the North and Brisbane and a lot of good MFC vibes shattered. Not sure why we agreed to this match really.

Just a reminder. I did predict this carnage and I was pilloried at the time by some. But my point was not the effect of a poor scoreline but the dent to our momentum, player's confidence in themselves and each other, and of course the effect on supporters and memberships. I believe the final non NAB practice matches were negotiable between the clubs. We made a bad choice in my mind. After tackling two finalists we should have been taking on a mid ranking side to build on our preseason momentum. From the posts I have read so far there are zero positives coming out of today just more self doubt!

And Shyte in such a professional game how can one team be so far ahead of almostveveryone else? I know they are good but really!

Plenty of Hanrahans here too.....

Well it is difficult to be a Doctor Pangloss if you follow MFC. Let's face it we'll all be rooned before the season is out!

Please tell me you are making that up?

Even the Monk would not be so stupid!

Wait I think I will take my last comment back.

Yes I am. DF sorry I used some poetic licence from Genesis to try to capture the essence of his thinking. I still think it is a good fit though. And I am sure Tony and I are both using the same reference book

We are but hewers of wood according to Tony.