And another thing - more games at Alice Springs, please. Beautiful ground, great weather (mind the sunscreen), perfect surface, and didn't you love that red and blue mob behind the goals?

Just watching the replay, good Christ we do seem to get a stuff run with the umps. First 4 mins we got smashed by them. JKH should have had a free on fwd fifty, Viney holding the ball, the not 15 call... F me.

I'll answer some of my own question, the first two goals for Port were directly from our turn overs, Watts poor handball that went to Port players and a Terlich wobbler kick that was rebounded straight down the ground.

Salem has a pure football brain. Perhaps I'm overexcited, but I think he'll be one of the champions of the game.

Salem's piece of play in the forward pocket to thread the pass to Bail was a combination of strength, skill, decision making and execution that very few players could achieve.

I was happy to hear the response from Roosy after the match.

We were disappointed that we lost. I remember last year that the loss to Richmond was almost viewed by some as a victory. These days, while we can take certain lessons out of losing, a loss is just that. Disappointing and not something we accept.

Sure, we have improved but winning should be the key thing you are aiming to achieve when you run out.

Definitely feels better than the mauling we got last year but still disappointing. In some ways, it does feel a bit pathetic that we take solace in 'honorable defeats' but part of that is a mindset from years gone by when we were told to lower our expectations.

While we don't need to tear the club to pieces, the loss should hurt. I expect the boys to come out breathing fire come Queen's Birthday. I hope that Roosy plays Dane Swan's quote from the Footy Show in response to a question about his reaction to Melbourne beating Carlton: Í had to check the scoreboard to see if it was real.

Yes - it is great now to be absolutely pi55ed off that we didn't beat the top side when we could -- such a far cry from the past few years.

Salem's piece of play in the forward pocket to thread the pass to Bail was a combination of strength, skill, decision making and execution that very few players could achieve.

I have watched that clip half a dozen times and am still absolutely amazed at his composure, his skills and his decision making.

Salem's piece of play in the forward pocket to thread the pass to Bail was a combination of strength, skill, decision making and execution that very few players could achieve.

Was just sensational play!!

Write the names down and bookmark the quotes, and then link them everytime you get a chance. Twitter is good for stuff like that. But always remember that revenge tastes better cold.

We can wait. We're good at that.

Yeah, i have a few axes in my cupboard too that I've been sharpening.

Salem's piece of play in the forward pocket to thread the pass to Bail was a combination of strength, skill, decision making and execution that very few players could achieve.

Also liked the fact that "The Toump" and Salem worked together to get a goal in the last qrt I think.

Toump got the ball and Salem laid a shepard then Toump instructed Salem to move down into the 50 and passed it to him. To top it off he kicked a great goal.

Was great team work by very young players and awesome to watch.

What's needed is a little more composure, the addition of some class and another season into the young guys to toughen them up. Roos said against the Dogs we didm't play the full 100 minutes and the same today. We have to play out the whole game. The next step is to find some runners who are elite kicks running of half back who can deliver the ball longer into the forward line. Sydney with Shaw and Malceski or Hawks with Suckling, Gibson and Burchall. A Shannon Hurn or Brodie Smith to clear the ball out just shows what we lack down back. Terlich, Tommy mac and Grimes all worry me when they dispose of the ball as they are a turn over waiting to happen. Cannot question their courage, ball winning and endeavour but an elite kick is needed if we are to make the next step.

Matt Rosa's a free agent. We need to go after him hard!

Was angry after the match, played some video games, settled down, realised how much I love Roos, and what he's done to blokes like Pedersen, Jetta and Howe.

Francis Underwood?

Worth noting that Dunn also did a fantastic job on Schulz. He is going from strength to strength.

Yeah after Schulz got one early I thought "what are they doing, get McDonald or preferably Garland on to him" but Dunn mopped the floor with him for the rest of the day. It's going to be hard to split "most improved" this year but at the moment Pedersen and Dunn are battling it out, Pedersen on top.

The poor starts to games have been a problem for several years now. Something the coaching group need to work on. I swear they were asleep for the first 15 minutes. Hard to fathom.

Dawes was talking to Whateley on 774 before the game and said it was something they were focussing on especially coming off the bye. Obviously it didn't work.

Pederson suddenly looks really dangerous one out up forward, I reckon before the end of the year he will get a bag or two of 5 goals

Yeah after Schulz got one early I thought "what are they doing, get McDonald or preferably Garland on to him" but Dunn mopped the floor with him for the rest of the day. It's going to be hard to split "most improved" this year but at the moment Pedersen and Dunn are battling it out, Pedersen on top.

Also Schulz got that mark paid where he held it for about 1.5 secs was a disgrace and to top it off he kicked the goal.

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?

It's not just Roos though it's the team he's brought with him - George Stone in particular is one who has been talked up a lot by people who would know even though most people would have never heard of him before.

Realisation sinking in that next year we'll likely be playing the bottom 5 teams twice. Almost a lock for 10 wins, plus a few scalps of the 12 teams above us. We keep improving this form and add Hogan and a few KPP's in the off-season, we're locks for finals next year. Looking forward to the new fixturing plan, will absolutely help us if we finish bottom 6.

Hopefully we get a better draw next year in regards to hopefully a couple more home games against Vic sides and some Friday nights.

Hopefully we get a better draw next year in regards to hopefully a couple more home games against Vic sides and some Friday nights.

I'd say at least half of our games this year have been highly entertaining, very tight matches from an objective point of view. Can't see the AFL rewarding us with better fixturing just yet sadly, but maybe the year after.

disregard maxwell out, bit of nothing really.

swan and ball are two big ins.

jamar and peders can smash grundy.

gawny might get another crack also.

keen as for next monday!

The people that get stuck into Maxwell fall into the same category as those that got stuck into Dawes. Just sheep who enjoy jumping on a bandwagon for their own amusement, Not saying you're one.

He's been playing some good footy this year and given their young backline, his leadership will be missed. Good out for us.

Yep, Maxwell is an on-field coach, even if he does have his questionable games from time to time. It's a great out for us because their defensive structures, against a forward line of Dawes/Pedo/Frawley/JKH/Watts, will really struggle without Maxwell leading players to position.

havent looked so forward to a QB Filth game for ...oooh i dont know how long

You obviously have not been paying much attention to selection this year.

Forgotten the spoil on Dangerfield? Midnight Oil had a song about that. Grimes will be ok, his heart is in the right place, listening to Roos, team player, everything Roos wants.

Edit: I meant to quote ET, obviously not Nasher, whose memory appears to be in working order, unlike my mind.

I really liked Bernie Vince's comment after the game when Burgo asked him about his own game and form.

Vince pretty much shrugged it off and said it's all about the team and how the team performs. He then highlighted the low-ish tackle count of 41 as something that the team needed to do better.

I think this focus on the team has really been evident on the ground, particularly the last 4-5 weeks. We are really playing as a team, which in turn makes individuals play better.

Roos is obviously well known for his ability to produce a team synergy in Sydney which resulted in team performances that were greater than the sum of the individual players. I always marvelled at how ordinary players at Sydney just looked so much better in the red and white jumper because of the way they played as a team.

Already we are starting to see signs of that type of teamwork at Melbourne.

I really liked Bernie Vince's comment after the game when Burgo asked him about his own game and form.

Vince pretty much shrugged it off and said it's all about the team and how the team performs. He then highlighted the low-ish tackle count of 41 as something that the team needed to do better.

I think this focus on the team has really been evident on the ground, particularly the last 4-5 weeks. We are really playing as a team, which in turn makes individuals play better.

Roos is obviously well known for his ability to produce a team synergy in Sydney which resulted in team performances that were greater than the sum of the individual players. I always marvelled at how ordinary players at Sydney just looked so much better in the red and white jumper because of the way they played as a team.

Already we are starting to see signs of that type of teamwork at Melbourne.

Wow, hadn't seen that stat. Well, that's damning. I thought we'd only brought about 90% intensity to the game and this was against the top team. I guess that shows there's still a heap of improvement to come in the next few weeks even.

Re-watching the game and some of the umpiring was terrible, not just for us, but for both sides, well below standard.

Does Pedo get a 2nd 'd' in his nickname now he's earning so much respect?