After driving home from listening to the game I thought back to this time 2 years ago when we got absolutely thumped by Port Adelaide only to back it up week later with the 146 point drubber from the drug cheats.Our new recruits Rodan, Pedersen, Gillies, Byrnes, Jones, Terlich showed that they were never going to be part of the future but instead set out list back. This club was in turmoil, Demonland was in meltdown and our club was drawing comparisons to the Fitzroy extinction. We had a board level that was in tatters which resulted in Cam Schwab getting sacked. Our coach was under extreme pressure and we had two young captains in Grimes and Trengove trying to lead us out of this mess. Player development was just all over the place. There was no direction or structure and it felt this club was close to being the next Fitzroy. And then to top it all off the Tacking fine we copped aswell...

Fast forward two years later and i felt that yesterday was a dawn of a new era. We now have a stable and strong board level led by the very successful Peter Jackson who has brought in the right people to lead this club forward. We have a strong coaching structure led by the master himself Paul Roos who has surrounded himself with the best young development coach in the league in Brendan McCartney and Simon Goodwin ready to step in when Roosy step aside. We have now some of the best up and coming talent in the competition starting to come through in Hogan, Brayshaw, Viney, Tyson, Salem with Kent JKH and Frost closing by. We now have an exciting and fast game plan with that great Roos defensive trait still there. Our new recruit Lumumba, Newton, Frost, Garlet all made a big contribution and showed that they will be great pick ups for the year and beyond. Oh and we beat a side that everyone tipped to certainty make top 8 and potentially challange a top 4 spot.

We have come a long way since that terrible time. Yesterday was like a huge burdan had been lifted off from the MFC shoulders. I can only see the club go up and forward from here now. I know i tipped the club to finish bottom 3 again but im eating my humble pie for breakfast atm. Keep playing the way did yesterday every week and we could seriously shake the competition up.

So is this what its like to support a real AFL club.

Edited April 5, 201510 yr by dazzledavey36

Nice post Dazz. I reckon we can potentially do some big things this year.

And never forget the b*****s who kicked us while we were down.

I was thinking something similar this morning.

We have had so much list change since Roos came in.

I think he is dealing with the 'battered psyche' he found at the club by removing those too battered...

I know that sounds harsh but Vanders doesn't question himself, Brayshaw doesn't hesitate to tackle, Salem backs himself and his leg to do anything, JKH always looks forward, and Frost never looks intimidated.

I feel as though these are the reasons that they played yesterday above players that I have seen do the opposite in the pre-season and last year.

I was thinking something similar this morning.

We have had so much list change since Roos came in.

I think he is dealing with the 'battered psyche' he found at the club by removing those too battered...

I know that sounds harsh but Vanders doesn't question himself, Brayshaw doesn't hesitate to tackle, Salem backs himself and his leg to do anything, JKH always looks forward, and Frost never looks intimidated.

I feel as though these are the reasons that they played yesterday above players that I have seen do the opposite in the pre-season and last year.

Spot on. You can tell with the new recruits they will play a huge role in our resurgance up the ladder.

Unlike the likes of Rodan Byrnes Gillies Terlich and Jones who were there on the short term.

Most of what Dazzle posted at the start of this thread about the chaos that existed at the club was mostly what was running through my mind when I read that 'When does the coach start taking the blame?' thread.
Every time a club is down the bottom, there will no doubt be a percentage of blokes keen to stick the boots in. The trick is to be realistic in how much of that criticism you should take on board. Sometimes, the criticism can be excessively harsh or too weak.
That being said, I don't believe anyone could have been accused of being too weak in their criticism post round 2, 2013. A lot like the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, I just knew to stay away that night. Something horrible was going to happen. You just knew it.
We do tend to look at things with rose colored glasses as supporters but everything at the club just seemed to be in complete shambles. The coach we got to take us further than the one he replaced was not up to the job. I will also say that it didn't help that he had just walked into the most shambolic excuse of a football club of the last 20 years. I genuinely felt for Neeld when he faced that presser in round 2. He looked like a man broken. The CEO was clearly a divisive figure and not just amongst the supporters. Sponsorship was unstable as Opel and Webjet were stop gap sponsors to make up for the Energywatch debacle. As Dazzle pointed out, whatever we thought of Beamer, Greeny and Riv, losing them and replacing them with the recruits mentioned earlier didn't help. Of the ones mentioned, all 3 didn't play seniors and I would suggest on the way things look, Pedo might be the only one who can crack it for a game.
Let's not even get started on some of the other ineptness that permeated the club at that time. I remember turning up to round one 2013 and both of the membership cards I had posted to me not working. 10 year membership certificates signed by Don, Neeld and Schwab were still getting posted out to people after those three had been sacked.
I have just scratched the surface there so when I read Joeboy's thread, I just remembered a time when I watched the worst incarnation of the MFC in my 26 years as a supporter and I don't say that lightly. We were on a par with the late 80's/early 90's Bears, the early 90's Swans and Fitzroy before they died. We would have won the spoon comfortably in any other season if not for a developing GWS.
I'm sure that later in the year if things wobble, a group of Demonlanders who 'demand success' will complain about Roos/PJ not delivering it fast enough. I would come back at them with the old Yabby Jeans axiom 'To know where you are going, you must remember where you came from'.

Edited April 5, 201510 yr by Colin B. Flaubert

Largely agree Dazzle. Exciting times, great signs for the future, particularly with the new guys. However, part of me still says it's round one and we have a bloody long way to go. Not putting a lid on it, just wanting to see where we are at by rd 5 or 6.

I'm studying finally this year after many years of doing nothing because I lacked the commitment. Every time I do well on a test or make some little achievement, I try to remind myself that I haven't accomplished anything yet. I could quit tomorrow and be right back where I started.

I feel like our club is in the same position. We need to keep reminding ourselves that we really haven't accomplished anything. If I treat the next day as the only thing that matters, eventually I may get somewhere. The Melbourne Football Club needs to do the same thing.

I'm reluctant to get too excited. We are still very young and could easily get thumped next week. We are also surrounded by a competition which seems to be getting stronger.

But you can't help be excited by the sensibility and stability we have finally found on and off the field. Hopefully it leads to consistent results and a steady climb up the ladder.

/end keeping a lead on it

You forgot our beloved President passed away, Neeld accused of racism and poster boy LJ tearing them up in the Never Never.

So is this what its like to support a real AFL club.

Good summary Dazzle. Not that I really needed to reminded about all the turmoil, along with a heap of bad luck.

At the time we all were pinning our hopes on talented but skinny teenagers.

Look at the list now, to name a couple, vandenBerg, Kent. No longer skinny little runts,but bigger bodied and hard at it.

(speaking of skinny runts. the scumbag just got subbed early in the last against the Saints).

PJ has earnt his money, money well spent. I hope he sticks around for a lot longer.