Just returned from AAMI park tonight after watching The Storm smash the West Tigers.

Sitting 4 rows back and having a great time was Jack Watts, Ricky Pettard (Had a Tigers cap on), Lyndon Dunne. Tom MacDonald, Joel Mcdonald, Chip Frawley & Tom Gilles.

I can report the boys where enjoying the game, no alcohol in sight and seemed to be in good spirits.

Jack Watts was very animated all game, almost hypo & doing some fairly entertaining dance moves after every Storm Try.

Hard to get a read on Jacks real personality, definately no sign of any illness & was the centre of attention bordering on class clown within the group.

As shattered as I have been the last two weeks, seeing the boy's up close and personal like that, puts what is happening at the club

into a different perspective for me. They could be moping around feeling sorry for themselves but instead decided to view some elite succesful,

non AFL sport instead. Perfect distraction to release the pressure valve that is currently being tightened.

Not sure what will happen next weekend but I get the feeling these guy's are really hurting and will fire back hard in the coming weeks.

I am glad you read it that way. Some will not read it that way and think they don't care as they are living it up at the Rugby (if one could ever do such a thing).

They are fighting for their careers and in no way does it help for them to be stressing over every little thing they have done wrong over the past two weeks.

They need confidence in themselves and each other.

maybe they should all get the footy and try to break a Storm players tackle. We are too easily caught and certainly our tackling is sub-afl standard

This thread could be fun.

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Just returned from AAMI park tonight after watching The Storm smash the West Tigers.

Sitting 4 rows back and having a great time was Jack Watts, Ricky Pettard (Had a Tigers cap on), Lyndon Dunne. Tom MacDonald, Joel Mcdonald, Chip Frawley & Tom Gilles.

I can report the boys where enjoying the game, no alcohol in sight and seemed to be in good spirits.

Jack Watts was very animated all game, almost hypo & doing some fairly entertaining dance moves after every Storm Try.

Hard to get a read on Jacks real personality, definately no sign of any illness & was the centre of attention bordering on class clown within the group.

As shattered as I have been the last two weeks, seeing the boy's up close and personal like that, puts what is happening at the club

into a different perspective for me. They could be moping around feeling sorry for themselves but instead decided to view some elite succesful,

non AFL sport instead. Perfect distraction to release the pressure valve that is currently being tightened.

Not sure what will happen next weekend but I get the feeling these guy's are really hurting and will fire back hard in the coming weeks.

Be more than happy for those boys to be hanging around some of the Storm blokes and getting some culture vicariously.

More importantly, are the beards still intact and was Patrick Smith watching with them?

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

A closer association with the Melbourne Storm wouldn't do the MFC any harm. The Storm might not need friends in Melbourne now, but they won't be on top forever. I don't know a lot about rugby, but their club seems to have the culture the MFC needs. Maybe they could share some facilities or services.

I'm not suggesting a merger, but something like a joint membership might fly, and has the potential to gain a few extra members for MFC.

IMHO the storm are the best sporting team I have seen in the last 50 years.

Sustained success, they take cast off's and make them very good players

They just win no matter what.

Unbelievable story of triumph over adversity.

PS I am glad the dee boys are doing something else

I have no comprehension what it feels like to be the butt of everything bad in the AFL

More importantly, are the beards still intact and was Patrick Smith watching with them?

God I hope not

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

What if you were 'hitting the books' during the day?

What if it's draining and self-defeating to constantly rehash and regurgitate all that has gone wrong?

They can watch the Rugby.

Well I sure wasn't thinking about how much I hate my job on the train ride home on Saturday night.

No matter how crap work is, the footy sure put things in perspective. And it took my mind off my troubles, even if it was only to mull over what was wrong with our club.

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

What "hard work" do you suggest they do at 8pm on a Monday night? Run some drills in the lounge room?

Show some intensity and focus whilst cooking dinner? Spare me!

I'm sure they were at training today and copped it all day, alongside watching the reviews of the game, on top of dealing with the media onslaught and supporter backlash.

They will not be taking this lightly but we need to remember at the end of the day they are human too.

Edited April 8, 201312 yr by The Song Formerly Known As

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

You make a point. But one needs to RELAX, or one will go INSANE.

Improvement won't come when you don't relax.

However, in saying that, I got banned from the MFC Facebook page two years ago for questioning the same thing from Matthew Bate and his guitar playing - but in hindsight, I was wrong.

If you are going through a DIVORCE, you don't spend your whole time thinking about how to get your wife back, you need to prepare, yes, but you also need to sit back and have a drink,

Can confirm every beard is still intact.

Patrick Smith would be thrown of the balcony if he turned up at AAMI Park.

Rugby crowds simply dont tolerate moron's.

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

Disagree. If you have been in a stressful situation you work hard at it (which I am sure these boys have been and will be at training this week) then you need some relief. I think this is a very good choice. It's like after I have had a hard day at work I don't want to come home and keep working, I need to lower the stress levels so I will do something fun and/or relaxing.

Edited April 8, 201312 yr by DemonDan83

Well I sure wasn't thinking about how much I hate my job on the train ride home on Saturday night.No matter how crap work is, the footy sure put things in perspective. And it took my mind off my troubles, even if it was only to mull over what was wrong with our club.

As long as the southern cross wheel stands, theres always going to be a bigger failure in melbourne then anyone else.

As long as the southern cross wheel stands, theres always going to be a bigger failure in melbourne then anyone else.

I've been on the Southern Cross Wheel. Closed a week later.

PS. I'm not that fat.

At least the backline are all together (bar Petterd and Garland).
Hopefully building some relationships with each other so they can start to care/play for one another like Geelong.

Anyone who works in a high pressure, high stress industry, knows the value of taking time off to recharge.

Burning out is a very real issue for a lot of people and its important to have a work life balance, which most of us don't seem to have. But when work is bad, it's especially important.

So I for one am glad they are taking time off.

Ill bite since no one else has yet

Why are they out enjoying themselves when they arnt performing. They should be working hard at getting things right.

If i was a uni student and getting crap marks and not performing with a % ave of 28.4 i would not be at a rugby match. I would be hitting the books to fix things up.

Yeah, I'll bite. I once was team manager for one of my son's Under 19 side in the amateurs. We were graded to play in the highest section in the competition against the traditionally stronger clubs. We lost our first game by 16 goals and our second by 22.

Our coach, who was a former Hawk who played under John Kennedy believed that in order for the players to bond as a team, it was important not only to work hard at training (and that he did) but also for them to get to know each other socially, so they would get together at a different pub after each game (drinking in strict moderation) and talk to each other about their footy and other things. He came up with numerous other ideas that were all designed to ensure that every member of the team was a mate and it worked (cost us a bit in expenses though).

By the middle of the year, we came close to beating the team that thrashed us in the first game (they kicked 0.13 with the wind in the first quarter the second time) and drew in the wet with the mob that beat us by 22 goals in round 2 (at their home ground). We finished the year with 7½ wins and in 6th place which would have been unimaginable when looking back at the end of round 2.

It's not exactly the same in the professional cauldron of AFL but I'm glad the guys are out watching sport and enjoying themselves. There's plenty of time for them to train and that sort of bonding will help them on the field. Read any book on team coaching and you'll realise that you can't turn a group of robots into a successful combination.

Can confirm every beard is still intact.

Patrick Smith would be thrown of the balcony if he turned up at AAMI Park.

Rugby crowds simply dont tolerate moron's.

Not sure this is entirely true.

NRL attracts the most basic crowds in the known universe.

Just returned from AAMI park tonight after watching The Storm smash the West Tigers.

Sitting 4 rows back and having a great time was Jack Watts, Ricky Pettard (Had a Tigers cap on), Lyndon Dunne. Tom MacDonald, Joel Mcdonald, Chip Frawley & Tom Gilles.

Jack Watts was very animated all game, almost hypo & doing some fairly entertaining dance moves after every Storm Try.

Hard to get a read on Jacks real personality, definately no sign of any illness & was the centre of attention bordering on class clown

Wow

Im firmly in the opposite camp on this one.. and personally facking disgusted if true.

The LAST thing id do is be on show f..king clowning around, after the way we have been playing..

This is whats wrong with the club. IM f..king devestated - and the actual players are out on the town having a great ol' time?

F..k that.

Sitting 4 rows back and having a great time was Jack Watts, Ricky Pettard (Had a Tigers cap on), Lyndon Dunne. Tom MacDonald, Joel Mcdonald, Chip Frawley & Tom Gilles.

Pettard

Dunne

Tom MacDonald

Joel Mcdonald

Gilles

Was Maloney there too? How about Clarke? Maybe Trengrove too?

Pettard

Dunne

Tom MacDonald

Joel Mcdonald

Gilles

Was Maloney there too? How about Clarke? Maybe Trengrove too?

I think Mission was supervising...