Club History Luck (#foreverfisted)

[JP2]

Just wanted to start a thread about the luck we've had as a club over the past decade or so. I know that everything Jesse Hogan is going through right now puts our travails as supporters into perspective, but I also think it's worth taking the time just to show how shafted we've been by luck. I know some are into moralising, and suggesting that you need to "make your own luck", but I would like such people to read through this thread and ask themselves how it is that a team can prosper with all of the following things that have gone against it over a very long period of time.

There are many things I could focus on (I invite the rest of you to post your own suggestions) but I think just listing the rotten luck we've had with our top 20 draft picks will say most of what needs to be said.

2001:

#9 - Luke Molan: Breaks his leg, then does his knee. Never plays a game.

2002:

#14 - Daniel Bell: Forced into premature retirement with concussion issues.
#15 - Nick Smith: Perpetually injured. Inspiration for our "426" medal (as he was always listed as being due back in "4 to 6 weeks").

2003:

#3 - Colin Sylvia: Pea-heart, but we may have to wear the blame for this one.
#5 - Brock McLean: One of the gun young midfielders in the league in 2006. Breaks his foot in the first game of 2007, never the same again.

2004-2005:

Our best streak of drafting luck, adding Nathan Jones, Lynden Dunn and Matthew Bate without any major tragedies.

2006:

#12 - James Frawley: All-Australian full-back, then leaves as a free agent to Hawthorn.

2007:

#4 - Cale Morton: Touted as a potential number one by some recruiters, turns out to be an absolute squib.
#14 - Jack Grimes: Emerges as a gun half back named as captain of the club at the age of 22. Breaks his foot in 2011, is never the same again.

2008:

#1 - Jack Watts:
#17 - Sam Blease: Breaks his leg playing school footy before even setting foot in the club. Delisted after 33 games.
#19 - James Strauss: Shoulder reconstruction in his first year, horrific broken leg in his third. Delisted after 24 games.

2009:

#1 - Tom Scully: Leaves as a free agent to GWS after 2 seasons.
#2 - Jack Trengove: Gun midfielder who is named the youngest captain in the history of the club. Breaks his foot, has since played 3 games in 4 years.
#11 - Jordan Gysberts: We overreached and blew it.
#18 - Luke Tapscott: Serious hip injury in his first preseason which kept him out for a year. Delisted after 48 games.

2010:

#12 - Lucas Cook: See Jordan Gysberts.

2011:

#12 - Mitch Clark: Makes a flying start to his Dees careers, kicking 36 goals in his 15 games. Breaks his foot, develops severe depression, never plays for us again. (I know we didn't draft him, but we at least traded for him with that pick.)

2012:

#2 mini draft - Jesse Hogan: Misses his entire first season with back injuries. I think it's all been pretty much smooth sailing since then, though?
#4 - Jimmy Toumpas: Hobbled by hip injuries after being drafted to the club, perhaps just not a very good player.

2013:

#9 - Christian Salem: Misses his entire second season with "thyroid problems".

2014:

#2 - Christian Petracca: Does his knee in his first preseason, missing the whole year.
#3 - Angus Brayshaw: On the verge of retirement at age 21 owing to concussion issues.

So that's a summary of our recent top-20 drafting history, so it doesn't even include all the other bad luck we've had with draftees taken later.

So, what's your favourite piece of MFC bad luck? #foreverfisted

 

[LeverPuller]

Strauss. I really thought he'd established himself.

 

[Cannon82]

Not sure how much of that is bad luck or just bad drafting, bad development and/or bad recruiting.

e.g. Mitch "I want to go home to WA" Clark coming here because we waved a stack of cash in his face. Colour me shocked that didn't have a happy ending.

 

[Tempy Tiger]

Also being shit in an era where new clubs were coming in and getting gifted all of the best kids. That really made it hard for us.

 

[Tempy Tiger]

And COLA. And the introduction of free agency that saw us lose Frawley.

 

[Proper Gander]

I don't know that it qualifies as a bad luck thing, but I still feel personally trolled by Colin Sylvia. On about eight separate occasions I suddenly decided he was THE ANSWER - had broken out and was going to Brownlow contention, then to guide the whole team to glory. Every single time I thought this the git would next emerge stumbling out of Spearmint Rhino at 5AM or fleeing the scene of a suspect accident.

I pick my special players very very poorly. Hope to God Melbourne are surrounding Oliver with minders, chaperones, counsellors and at least one nun.

 

[Cannon82]

I pick my special players very very poorly. Hope to God Melbourne are surrounding Oliver with minders, chaperones, counsellors and at least one nun.

Won't stop him, he's very good in congestion.

 

[givemethecure]

http://mfcdemonblog.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/lolmfc-fistedforever-files.html

you got the hashtag wrong

 

[Tulip]

Yep, a play on our horrific Schwab-era #firstandforever marketing campaign. We weren't going to make an effort to be better, just rely on the AFL to keep us afloat because we were first. Typical Schwab.

 

[Dancing Potato]

Thanks for the depressing read OP.

I think the triple blow of what happened to Grimes, Scully and Trenners hits hardest for me. I thought the first truly successful rebuild would be founded on those guys.

What happened to Strauss also sucks. Thought he really looked the goods.

 

[Sando22]

Whilst not a top 20 pick - imagine if we had Liam Jurrah running around for us today!
The bloke was near impossible to man up on. Too tall for a small backman and too quick/agile for a tall backman.
Dobbed 81 goals in 36 games!

Throw Austin Wonna in there too, showed a bit early before his troubles.

 

[fushy]

You missed 1999 - Troy "**** thats a big wave"" Broadbridge

Even though he was a rookie, still think alot of our bad luck started around then

 

[CTHORANGE]

There's a very interesting book called Scorecasting which includes a chapter devoted to whether or not the Chicago Cubs are cursed. You can pretty much substitute the Cubs for Melbourne FC and read the chapter, it's quite entertaining. Turns out while good and bad luck probably plays some minor role in so called cursed teams, its probably more to do with our own ineptitude as a whole.

That being said, I do like talking up the curse, it's fun.

 

[Xhoquelin]

The shit that happened to our 2011-12 team. In 2010-first half of 2011 , Scully, Gysberts, Trenners, Grimes, Blease, Strauss, Tapscott all looked promising. I don't think we drafted poorly. Scully had 18 touches in a quarter in his first season, Trenners was looking like a future leader, Gysberts had 53 touches in his first two games, Blease did show signs as a half back AND as a lightning fast forward, and Tapscott had the best debut out of all of them against the Swans. Then as soon as we lost Bailey(RIP to the great man hope he's looking down at the Dee's from heaven), all of them turned to shit. Guys like Troy Davis, Taggert, Tynan, Cook didn't even get a game under Neeld yet guys like Sellar(not terrible as a backman if it released Garland to play a more attacking role but we never pursued that), Rohan Bail, Bartram etc. continued to get games.

That Jurrah+Woneamirri combination was freakishly exciting and losing that, along with the above first round picks really hurt. I don't hate Neeld as a person but his man management was shocking. We marvel at Stretch, ANB, Trac, Gus, Oliver, Weed our future now but back then, Trenners, Scully, Grimes, Tapscott, Gysberts, Watts and Cook was supposed to be the future. Was there really such a large difference between the two groups of players, especially in the early stages? IMO no. The 2010-11 group was unlucky to have to experience one of the darkest periods of our footy club.

 

[ponsdale]

Just when we're all starting to look to a brighter future with the MFC, do we need to remind ourselves of the dark days? Again?

 

[Sando22]

The shit that happened to our 2011-12 team. In 2010-first half of 2011 , Scully, Gysberts, Trenners, Grimes, Blease, Strauss, Tapscott all looked promising. I don't think we drafted poorly. Scully had 18 touches in a quarter in his first season, Trenners was looking like a future leader, Gysberts had 53 touches in his first two games, Blease did show signs as a half back AND as a lightning fast forward, and Tapscott had the best debut out of all of them against the Swans. Then as soon as we lost Bailey(RIP to the great man hope he's looking down at the Dee's from heaven), all of them turned to shit. Guys like Troy Davis, Taggert, Tynan, Cook didn't even get a game under Neeld yet guys like Sellar(not terrible as a backman if it released Garland to play a more attacking role but we never pursued that), Rohan Bail, Bartram etc. continued to get games.

That Jurrah+Woneamirri combination was freakishly exciting and losing that, along with the above first round picks really hurt. I don't hate Neeld as a person but his man management was shocking. We marvel at Stretch, ANB, Trac, Gus, Oliver, Weed our future now but back then, Trenners, Scully, Grimes, Tapscott, Gysberts, Watts and Cook was supposed to be the future. Was there really such a large difference between the two groups of players, especially in the early stages? IMO no. The 2010-11 group was unlucky to have to experience one of the darkest periods of our footy club.

Well said!!

 

[mrmonkey]

I think a fair few of those players listed were average players regardless of injuries. I think we were unlucky with the scully situation, nobody anticipated gws enticing young guns of the competition like scully ward and davis ect though I think they should have targeted martin instead. The mark neeld situation is an interesting point. It makes you think that maybe dean Bailey was a better coach in retrospect, he got some great results with the list he had then Neeld came along and we could barely score more than 5 goals a game. I think the problem with the bailey era was the lack of experienced players in the team. We went too hard at just playing the kids. Having said all that that Bailey team may of been ok but wouldn't have had any impact in finals, just filled the numbers if they made it.

 

[LeverPuller]

Just when we're all starting to look to a brighter future with the MFC, do we need to remind ourselves of the dark days? Again?

Self-flagellation gets some people off?

 

[deeman87]

We have been fairly cursed for a long time now. That being said, while some of it was bad luck, a lot was terrible drafting and development. It's no coincidence that our fortunes have changed with the recruiting of Roos and J Taylor. Taylor and his recruitment squad have done an amazing job the last 4 years and along with Roos, Mccarthy & Goody have completely transformed the club. Also saying Brayshaw is on the verge of retirement is crazy, he's had scans done, said he's all clear as well as saying he didn't have any lingering symptoms so i'm not sure how he's on the verge of retirement. I'd put a fair bit of our struggles over the last decade on bad coaching and recruitment. Barry P will go down as one of the all time worst head recruiters IMO. Mistake after mistake.

 

[CTHORANGE]

We have been fairly cursed for a long time now. That being said, while some of it was bad luck, a lot was terrible drafting and development. It's no coincidence that our fortunes have changed with the recruiting of Roos and J Taylor. Taylor and his recruitment squad have done an amazing job the last 4 years and along with Roos, Mccarthy & Goody have completely transformed the club. Also saying Brayshaw is on the verge of retirement is crazy, he's had scans done, said he's all clear as well as saying he didn't have any lingering symptoms so i'm not sure how he's on the verge of retirement. I'd put a fair bit of our struggles over the last decade on bad coaching and recruitment. Barry P will go down as one of the all time worst head recruiters IMO. Mistake after mistake.

All this plus don't forget, Peter Jackson. Has had a hand in turning every part of our club around. Despite a few setbacks along the way, he just keeps moving this club forward. It's not a coincidence or good luck, he is just obviously very good at what he does.

 

[Cannon82]

All this plus don't forget, Peter Jackson. Has had a hand in turning every part of our club around. Despite a few setbacks along the way, he just keeps moving this club forward. It's not a coincidence or good luck, he is just obviously very good at what he does.

I like to think we've all been a part of turning the club around.
#veilofnegativity

 

[wowlace]

Meh, sounds like excuses that losers make.

 

[R_Grunter]

I don't know that it qualifies as a bad luck thing, but I still feel personally trolled by Colin Sylvia. On about eight separate occasions I suddenly decided he was THE ANSWER - had broken out and was going to Brownlow contention, then to guide the whole team to glory. Every single time I thought this the git would next emerge stumbling out of Spearmint Rhino at 5AM or fleeing the scene of a suspect accident.

I pick my special players very very poorly. Hope to God Melbourne are surrounding Oliver with minders, chaperones, counsellors and at least one nun.

Col banged the last nun and they haven't had one since.

 

[R_Grunter]

The shit that happened to our 2011-12 team. In 2010-first half of 2011 , Scully, Gysberts, Trenners, Grimes, Blease, Strauss, Tapscott all looked promising. I don't think we drafted poorly. Scully had 18 touches in a quarter in his first season, Trenners was looking like a future leader, Gysberts had 53 touches in his first two games, Blease did show signs as a half back AND as a lightning fast forward, and Tapscott had the best debut out of all of them against the Swans. Then as soon as we lost Bailey(RIP to the great man hope he's looking down at the Dee's from heaven), all of them turned to shit. Guys like Troy Davis, Taggert, Tynan, Cook didn't even get a game under Neeld yet guys like Sellar(not terrible as a backman if it released Garland to play a more attacking role but we never pursued that), Rohan Bail, Bartram etc. continued to get games.

That Jurrah+Woneamirri combination was freakishly exciting and losing that, along with the above first round picks really hurt. I don't hate Neeld as a person but his man management was shocking. We marvel at Stretch, ANB, Trac, Gus, Oliver, Weed our future now but back then, Trenners, Scully, Grimes, Tapscott, Gysberts, Watts and Cook was supposed to be the future. Was there really such a large difference between the two groups of players, especially in the early stages? IMO no. The 2010-11 group was unlucky to have to experience one of the darkest periods of our footy club.

Neeld had a tough job and he was 100% the wrong guy to take it. The stories of him seperating the aboriginal lads to speak to them specially is just a mindblowingly amateur move in any management capacity in any organisation. David Brent stuff.

 

[R_Grunter]

All this plus don't forget, Peter Jackson. Has had a hand in turning every part of our club around. Despite a few setbacks along the way, he just keeps moving this club forward. It's not a coincidence or good luck, he is just obviously very good at what he does.

It's amazing the way the club operates as a whole really. Even down to things like the design of strips or a new logo etc. any announcement like that was previously met with a "oh boy what have they cooked up now".
Now it is a desirable club in many aspects. Someone mentioned how nice the mfc twitter page is today, previously we had David Rodan doing cringeworthy gags around the rooms on the website.
PJ is obviously an amazing operator and just has the whole club humming.