As much as I find great joy as an avid demon supporter about the sort of accolades we are receiving from our recent wins over the Bombers and Adelaide, and the sterling effort against Port, we are not quite there yet in gaining the AFL community respect..

We are still at the point where of the total tipsters' views in the Age and HS for Sunday's game against EFC, I think there were 3 out of about 40 who tipped the Dees. Whilst this matters not at all in terms of the outcome, it does indicate the respect we have gain from those experts in the game.

I think we can say we have gained back respect when we are criticized for winning ugly, and for losing narrowly. I know this will only come when we are genuine contenders for the 8, but it would be nice to transition from gallant triers to genuine threats.

Having said that, the transition this year has been quite remarkable and I have no doubt whatsoever that respect will come in the next 12 months. Can't wait to observe it.

Edited June 16, 201411 yr by Dees2014

I hope not, Im making a fortune on them being the underdogs!!

When the opposition says they are not looking forward to playing us, because they always pull up sore.

The next step is backing up, winning two weeks in a row then three weeks. Getting on rolls instead of one win here and there. That gives everyone confidence that you can win on a regular basis.

When the Headlines read

"Demons finish all over Bombers to win by a point"

Instead of

" Dons blow spot in eight"

When you've been bad for so long.. you deserve to not be taken seriously.

It's out challenge to turn that around.

Hate how every team we beat is suddenly in crisis

10+ wins in a season will get the public noticing

I don't care how others see us.

But until we are consistent winners the media will paint us however they like.

I am going to throw it out there, we can still mathematically play finals...

I'm just enjoying the journey.

You have to crawl well before you walk; and walk well before you can run.

When you hear more crying in relation to Roos' gameplan "destroying" footy, that should correlate to us being more than competitive.

North would be a great start.

Imagine the purple [censored] Witt when we beat norf

We lost winnable games against the Saints, Giants and Suns. Admittedly we are more cohesive as a team now. We need a big scalp.

Well, the reality is that going into the match we were equal-last.

Yeah, we've improved, but we're still a bottom-8 side. Going up against a top-8 side, unless it's a MASSIVE upset, it won't get the respect.

IMO, consistency is key. We have the consistency in many areas, except winning.

We lost winnable games against the Saints, Giants and Suns. Admittedly we are more cohesive as a team now. We need a big scalp.

We should have beaten fricken port Adelaide... That would've been a scalp!!

We should have beaten fricken port Adelaide... That would've been a scalp!!

Yes and no, Port showed on Saturday they are a force, we had out chances but in they end were shown how it's done. Fair to say we may have learnt a bit from that .

We should have beaten fricken port Adelaide... That would've been a scalp!!

Yes, and what has come out recently was that Roos was apparently unbelievably rope able after that game. Gave the players the biggest bake of their lives apparently. Clearly Roosy for all his public charm is an incredibly tough nut. It will do the players no harm for that to happen. Clearly also, he saw how a win over Port would have elevated us up to that "being taken seriously" level, much much earlier than anyone, including him could have expected.

I think it is great when our great coach shows such passion, and love for the red and the blue. We are truly blessed to have such a leader....

Yes and no, Port showed on Saturday they are a force, we had out chances but in they end were shown how it's done. Fair to say we may have learnt a bit from that .

I honestly think if we'd have taken 2 of our 4 chances early in the 4th qtr we would have won it. Either way we didn't but it was an important lesson.

When we:

• Get a friday game
• Other clubs' supporters look at our emblem in their fixture and think like I do most of the time: "[censored]'
• Other teams 'just want to stay competitive against us'
• Commentators rub out the constant negative messages and cheap shots

etc

Playing four quarters like Sunday's last 90 seconds would attract a bit of attention I reckon.

When we win more games than we lose and play and win some finals matches.

Seriously, if you were an opposition supporter, what would your opinion of the Melbourne Football Club be?

FLAG !

When the opposition says they are not looking forward to playing us, because they always pull up sore.

How did Collingwood look this week.

I reckon the Bulldogs should be thanking us for the win

Hard to come up 6 days after playing the Demons now

The less media on us the better. For too long we have been propped up during the off season only to fall flat on round 1 and underperform for the remainder of the season. I'd rather us make the finals in a couple of years and have he media say wow where did Melbourne come from.