It's their club too WYL. They also support the dees, they also have donated alot of their spare time, money and sanity to help this club - like everyone else here.

Again, to suggest that DM has has sat on his arse, "enjoyed the free food" and hasn't tried to improve the club is plain offensive.

As WJ said re the tanking, we made the right decision - it'd done, move on.

The $500,000 fine is tough, but at the end of the day the most important thing is that the club is ultimately not guilty and our draft picks are secure. I don't know about you, but I would never risk the chance of losing Viney, Toumpas, being guilty of tanking and being more in debt.

As for 'I'm not a quitter/dont support quitters' - I hope you don't smoke.

That's spot, on the Board were the biggest contributors at the last Foundation Heroes dinner; they may have stuffed a few things up but they certainly aren't freeloaders.

Fitzroy was a basket case when I was growing up and never got out of the [censored] they we're perpetually in.

That was before the TV rights contract deals ran the game. The AFL needs to provide 9 hopefully competitive games for 22 rounds plus finals.

MFC in its current state compromises that objective. It's in the AFLs interest to resuscitate us to be more competitive.

Relocation or merger is last case and expensive option. The AFL would prefer to get GWS and GCS settled before it consider an Armageddon option.

All you say is true RR but I have little hope that the MFC on its own can improve itself.

If we blunder on this way for another 2 -3 years the MFC will become part of the WS Demons.

I should elaborate on my earlier post. Everybody knew that Fitzroy was dead, and this is what the AFL wanted. Unlike Melbourne. Fitzroy in it's last two years barely had a player any other club wanted. Unlike Melbourne. Fitzroy had no fan base to speak of, and the base it had, had little money. Unlike Melbourne. Fitzroy had no future income stream at all. Unlike Melbourne (with TV rights). Fitzroy had virtually no corporate sponsors. Unlike Melbourne.

I could go on and on. There is a future for Melbourne. There wasn't with Fitzroy.

One of the saddest football experiences I had was sitting next to a young kid at VFL Park during a pre season game v Fitzroy in their final season. He was an absolute fanatic, screaming and cheering on his team in much the same way that my grandkids cheer on the Dees these days ... even when we're not a chance to win. It was more or less common knowledge that Fitzroy was finished.

I often wonder what happened to the kid but I do know that the thought of losing your team is not a happy one.

I do know that the thought of losing your team is not a happy one.

You're not kidding!

And I do not feel this way at all about Melbourne.

I don't know who the lawyers you spoke to are but I do know that in the aftermath of the AFL's inquisition, both the MFC and the AFL's senior counsel were reported to have said that if the case went to court, Melbourne could not lose.

Nevertheless, the risk was enormous, the financial outlay could well have topped the $1m mark, the thing would have been a substantial distraction (and it's already been seen that despite the club's attempts to quarantine the players from the controversy, it does seem to have had an effect on the playing group) and the AFL could have hurt us going the other way if we won the case.

End result, as a wise man once said, "you've got to know when to hold them, know when to fold them, know when to walk away and when to run".

Many people don't understand this philosophy unless their own money is on the line, perhaps four or five days into an expensive court case, when they realise that despite having been told by their barrister that they have a strong case, things have gone wrong and the evidence hasn't come out the way they wanted it. At that stage, they're staring at a black hole and can't get out. Meanwhile, their lawyer is sending his children or grandchildren to a more expensive private school.

Bottom line: the club made a deal and it was the right thing to do.

I Imagined exactly that Jack, from the way things panned out, & I think the AFL owes us.

.. the Commission got their message around the whole AFL that the "List Management" thing is a no longer available tool to the clubs, in restocking... so to me the Commission won their Rounds in the Press, & imo this is why an editor did not go after the other clubs, because 'er leash wasn't lengthened enough to reach that Far.

.