Colin Garland to have 30 touches, 12 marks, 15 effective spoils, 100%DE and kick a long bomb goal late in the last quarter to put us up by 10 goals.

I predict a hoarse voice Saturday afternoon.

I am excited about the season staring, but have this strange certainty, almost as if I have belief again.

50 minutes ago, Wiseblood said:

Colin Garland to have 30 touches, 12 marks, 15 effective spoils, 100%DE and kick a long bomb goal late in the last quarter to put us up by 10 goals.

 

C'mon now..

This time last year I was equally nervous as to our R1 chances - the game last year was my fondest memory of 2015. Sitting behind the punt rd goals with my boy in the sunshine, Viney slams GABJnr, Wattsy kicks a beauty from the pocket, Hogan takes a nice grab in the third and kicks his first goal in league footy...if we have a day like this on Saturday, and I can't see why not, then I pity anybody who can't make it.

20 hours ago, Peter Griffen said:

a big area we've fallen down against them in the past is Mumford has killed us, he imo isn't near 100% and Gawn is more than capable of matching his best footy so it should be a ripper game

The pivotal match up for mine. 

If Gawn can decisively win this battle it will go a long way to securing a good victory.

20 hours ago, kryton101 said:

I'm flying in from Sydney especially for the game with my daughter.  I predict I'm going to enjoy the living hell out of it, oh and a Dees win!!

Kryton,

If your daughter is in the age bracket between 5-12, then I'd suggest you email the club ([email protected]) and see if they can squeeze her in to the guard of honour (they still had spots when I emailed them last week). My boy is taking part, did it last year and loved it. More broadly, for anyone interested, link to the guard of honour for remaining 2016 games here: http://melbournefc.formstack.com/forms/2016guardofhonour 

Just taken by one of my work mates, the Temple is ready!

Gawn v Mumford is the key to this game.

Gawn knows this. He has stated he wants to be AA this year. He is now in the leadership group. He has had a very good pre-season. In short, he is ready.

I'll back him in. Dees by not much.

 

that photo just gave me a half bar.

fired up!!  cant wait for saturday.

This game shows how the competition ever so slightly changes/evolves each year.

Not long ago, a club would be derided for not hammering GWS, let alone beating them.

Yet now, I'm super nervous about facing them.

 

Over the last decade, I have picked the the Dees to win most games.  It's in my blood, and somehow I've managed to convince myself that we were at least 'in with a chance' in almost every game.  2016 is different.  At long last my head and my heart are on the same page.  The current model demons have more talent than at any time in the recent past, and they play a brand of football which is tough, resilient and often exciting.  Moreover, they are a team of 'believers' who play for each other, and definitely will not give up!.  GWS won't beat a team with those qualities.  Dees by around 6 goals.

I'm tipping Melbourne to win and to go on to be 9 an 0.

1 hour ago, AzzKikA said:

Just taken by one of my work mates, the Temple is ready!

Hopefully not the Temple of Doom

5 minutes ago, chook fowler said:

Hopefully not the Temple of Doom

Yeah it will be our Temple of Doom for those who enter it, we will pull their hearts out!  Too much?

I love the optimism and sense the momentum building.  Momentum is a wonderful thing and if the boys can carry it through it will mean more optimism, more wins, more members.

I am hopeful, a little bit confident and very optimistic. GO DEES

Moved up to North Queensland over Summer - enjoying the lovely tropic heat at present......

Starting to get really [censored] excited about round 1! First time in a long time to be excited about the upcoming season. Can't wait to finally see some consistency and more importantly regular wins - starting this week with a tough uncompromising beat up of the soulless franchise

last year our best footy was good and our worst awful, i personally thought we were a long way off our best for all but patches in the NAB cup, and still won three out of three, being able to win when you're not at your best is what seperates the mid range teams from teams stuck in the middle who can't take the next step, like Richmond.

Doing a bit of 'youtubing' last night and for some unknown reason it decided to throw up the Round 1 2013 presser with Neeld and Grimes. 

Good Lord I could only manage to watch the first two minutes before retching so badly it hurt.

I remember going into that match full of confidence after the training reports we'd been reading but like everyone else, including Mr Neeld, I didn't see it (the result) coming.

We have come such a long way since then and I reckon many Melbourne supporters, particularly us diehards, realise that massive change on the footy field is about to be witnessed.

 

Dees by 17 points.

Now some alternate predictions for the day,

1)   One of Oliver, Petracca or Brayshaw will play and play a blinder.

2) A GWS player will try to snot Bugg and be put on their arze.

3) Watts will startle a lot of onlookers with his performance.

4) Max will have a day out.

5) A noted forward or a noted back will go to the opposite end of the ground and dominate.

6) Hogan  4 Goals 3 behinds

7) I will not be told by an MCC official to pull my head in.

32 minutes ago, pineapple dee said:

Dees by 17 points.

Now some alternate predictions for the day,

1)   One of Oliver, Petracca or Brayshaw will play and play a blinder.

2) A GWS player will try to snot Bugg and be put on their arze.

3) Watts will startle a lot of onlookers with his performance.

4) Max will have a day out.

5) A noted forward or a noted back will go to the opposite end of the ground and dominate.

6) Hogan  4 Goals 3 behinds

7) I will not be told by an MCC official to pull my head in.

6 out of 7 wouldn't be bad (not sure No 7 will get over the line....)

11 minutes ago, small but forward said:

6 out of 7 wouldn't be bad (not sure No 7 will get over the line....)

Trust me no 7 is the least likely to happen.

I know it's my rusted on MFCSS......but I just can't see us winning this game

I have seen all this optimism before and been left devastated....I know that the club has improved but I can't trust the MFC to actually complete the deal.

All I ask is that posters don't delist/bag/write off players if they don't perform as expected.

I hope against hope that I am wrong. 

2 minutes ago, Bossdog said:

All I ask is that posters don't delist/bag/write off players if they don't perform as expected.

Actually for once that would be really nice, especially DURING the game, those posters know who they are.

We have just endured a decade of misery.

Round 1 we come up against the Giants. Trengove and Petracca play a game for the first time in 2 years and first game ever as a listed Melbourne player respectively. If the Dees win and either of the above mentioned feature in the best it is the best week in the decade. Drug cheats round 2. We could go 2 - 0 and be at the pointy end of the ladder with talent to come in.

 

I'm a bit concerned that Stevie J could run amok, given his recent history against us, and he looked 
pretty sharp for an old cat in the NAB, who plays on him? 
If Gawn can beat the Mummy as said, we're a big chance, but we need to ensure they don't get the
outside game going, or we'll be crucified as we were early last year. 
Tag shaw (Vince) and Shiel (Viney or Bugg) goes some way to nullifying this.

Dees by 11pts, Big Maximum 3 Brownlow Votes