From the irrepressible Titus O'Reilly who should know because I believe he supports the Demons -

Melbourne (115) v Gold Coast (89)

A new Melbourne season is like going out in public with your family. You hope they don’t embarrass you but you’re generally resigned to it.

This time however it felt like you’d been given a much-improved version of your family.

Like when Marty McFly returns to the present day after taking care of Biff in the first Back to the Future.

What do you call it when you’ve watched your team play and you’re not sad beyond words? It was the question going through my mind as I left the ground.

The game had some spite early on, when Matt Shaw was reported after a late spoil on Melbourne’s Dean Kent that left Kent bleeding.

It was a key moment and Melbourne responded by drawing a line in the snow and led at the quarter time break.

I thought singing ‘It’s a Grand Old Flag’ at that point was a bit over the top but the Demons fans were up and about.

The Demons were impressive by Demon standards. There were still plenty of skill errors but the innovative strategy of recruiting competent AFL footballers seems to be paying off.

For the Suns, this was a worrying performance. They had lots of outs but there seemed a lack of intensity for large parts of the game.

You feel that losing Karmichael Hunt was a real problem as he would have been definitely able to give the Suns a lift.

Gary Ablett showed that he’s a better player than almost everyone in the AFL by playing with just one arm.

After the game, Rodney Eade said he thinks the Suns are still a couple of years away from finals, which is not what his Chairman has said. Trouble in paradise.

Read his knee jerk for the whole round here

It was a key moment and Melbourne responded by drawing a line in the snow and led at the quarter time break.

Essendon set out to achieve the rare ‘have 34 players cleared by a tribunal then win on the weekend’ double.

Not since Richmond showed up to watch the 2014 Preliminary Final, had Adelaide Oval seen an effort like North’s.

They (North Melbourne) just have some work to do on their skills, offence, defence, stoppages, tackling and effort. Minor things really.

Some really good stuff in there

My favourite line (pardon the pun):

"You feel that losing Karmichael Hunt was a real problem as he would have been definitely able to give the Suns a lift."

"drawing a line in the snow"....classic !!!!

"drawing a line in the snow"....classic !!!!

An oldie, but goodie.

It’s going to be a tough year dealing with Hawks fans.

They are a bit like European wasps, with no cold winters to kill them off, they just keep growing in number, ruining many a good BBQ and irritating everyone.

lol...

"There were still plenty of skill errors but the innovative strategy of recruiting competent AFL footballers seems to be paying off."

Gold.

"There were still plenty of skill errors but the innovative strategy of recruiting competent AFL footballers seems to be paying off."

Gold.

haha yep, that was my favourite too.

Whispering...I can confirm that all of the O'Reilly clan are indeed Melbourne supporters.

"The Kangaroos gave us the full range of Brad Scott’s facial expressions; shocked, bewildered, what’s that guy doing over there? And why is this happening to me?"

Love it.

"The Kangaroos gave us the full range of Brad Scotts facial expressions; shocked, bewildered, whats that guy doing over there? And why is this happening to me?"

Love it.

Hahaha

Nailed it!!