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Diary of a Demon lover. Sunday “the wake” I wake up tired and despondent, wander up to the café for a coffee and to read about last night’s loss. I read words such as “honorable loss” and “signs of improvement” as I soak up the reality of another 40 point loss. I sigh alot and spend a quiet day licking my wounds and thinking of “Sunday Bloody Sunday”. My family is compassionate to me. Link: “ ” by U2 Monday “suck it up” Supporters of the team Melbourne just lost to, call to “offer condolences” and enjoy my sorry state. I suck it up, silently swearing to enjoy it when the tables inevitably turn. I avoid Footy news and commentary so as not to suffer another in-depth analysis of Melbourne’s woes. I listen to “ People Ain’t No Good” and question my Demon love. Link: “ ” by Nick Cave Tuesday “consoling and purging” I spend time nodding in sympathy to other Melboure supporters and hanging out with the supporters of other losing clubs from the weekend. We discuss what went wrong and how can we improve next game. I ignore winning supporters when they try to tell me how their team too will also improve. I let go of the last game and forgive my players their flaws. I start hoping that the next game will be better. I hear “Too Afraid to Love you” and sigh for my Demon Love. Link: “ Too Afraid To Love You” by The Black Keys Wednesday “eye of the storm” I relax and recover. Wednesday is my favourite day of the week at the moment. I dream about seasons to come. Link: “ ” by Brian Wilson Thursday “the build up” I catch up on news and commentary from earlier in the week, read Demonland and contemplate the form and composition of the next opponent. I contact friends who support the upcoming opposition and arrange to meet for a drink before the game (never after). I wind them up with a bit of pho (as in phoney) confidence to which they are as gracious as only a massive favourite can be. I note for future revenge cockiness for any mates (brothers are the predictable worst in this area). I digest the team and listen to the commentary on their game analysis and predictions. I stop listening as all predict Melbourne to lose again. I watch the Dog Days video with Liam and ponder how this weeks game will be better than the last. Link: “ ”, music by Florence and The MachineFriday “game on” I am excited all day. I contemplate favourable match ups and imagine how the boys should and will go tonight. I text my Melbourne supporter buddies to discuss how we’ll go, who’s in/out, and where we’ll sit. I meet up with my friends who are opposition supporters, and I enjoy arguing that the pleasure I’ll have if we win will make up for the likely scenario of having to endure another lose. They laugh, as I drink and think how many times I’ve run this argument. My opposition friends are content winners, happy to talk up Melbourne’s team and prospects in tonight’s game as a backhanded way of singing the praises of their own team. I talk up our chances, they smile, and I drink. I walk to the “G”. The night is cool and clear, the crowd is gathering, and I can smell possibilities with a scent of hope. I meet my regular Melbourne supporting buddies, suss out who’s suffered the week the most, laugh at our prospects and ourselves for turning up. We discuss who and what we’d like our team to do as the team are warming up. I try and gauge if they are switched on, a sign of what is to come. They Break the banner, we sing the song and smile nervously. Count down to ball bounce and I am happy and full of Demon love Go Demons

Obviously Robert Walls doesn't read the MFC site....

They say there are no dumb questions but sometimes I wonder. My feeble attempt to answer these feeble questions. ■ Are the players who played under the old coach being confused by the demands of the new? Short answer is NO. Its back to basics for the boys. ■ Are they shaken by the off-field issues that have affected Liam Jurrah and Aaron Davey? maybe but do you think it affects the players every time they play. Are the players going out each week thinking about this issue and feeling burdened about it when they are playing. ■ Are they still grieving the loss of club legend Jim Stynes? Yes ■ Are they befuddled that loyal veteran Brad Green was dumped as captain and the two young men who replaced him, Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes, started last week's game against Geelong on the bench? Captain chosen by players and coaches so why would they be befuddled by their own decision the bench drama is a non- issue it's not the first time a team captain started off the bench in AFL. ■ Are the players angry the club couldn't persuade Tom Scully to stay? TS had 6 Million reasons to leave MFC and those 6 million reasons the club could not answer or better. Why would they be angered by it? ■ Are they miffed that Mitch Clark, who is no better than a good, ordinary player, walks in on superstar money? Mitch was voted by his fellow team mates into the LG. The players have a forward target to kick to and he is averaging just under 3 goals per game and is ranked 6th overall in the AFL for Goals Contributed. Riewoldt, Pods, Hawkins, Franklin, and Taylor Walker are ranked higher. ■ Are they embarrassed that their major sponsor was a dill and had to be replaced? why would MFC be embarrassed by this issue they acted swiftly and with principle when they discovered the problem. So they did not check the CEO's personal Facebook page big deal. ■Do they look at Nic Naitanui and think of what could have been? Why rehash the past when you can't change it. Football teams have to move on really quickly. ■ Do the players get exposed enough to former Adelaide coach Neil Craig? We never see or hear from him, unlike Rodney Eade at Collingwood and Mark Thompson at Essendon. How does the fact that Neil Craig isn't a media [censored] like Eade and Thompson relate to whether the players are exposed to him enough. Robert Walls obviously needed to write an article to get paid and picked the soft target of the MFC as he could easily write about his great love the MFC. If he gets paid by the line then doing something with bullet points is a money maker.

We need a montage.

I don't understand the game anymore I know we are going to lose. I know they are going to have 200 more positions than us I understand! I am so proud of how we've attacked this game, and can't work out why EVERY decision goes against us. if we have the ball and it's 50 50, it's holding the ball. if they have the ball and it's 50 50, it's ball up. IDENTICAL decision paid differently, FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAa rk

The list was & is not fit enough. That is all Robert Walls should have said. Article covered in one line. Who's fault is that? The MFC.

So here we are coming up to another game against Hawthorn. I think I hate being beaten by Hawthorn even more than I do by Collingwood. In the last couple of years we have been on the receiving end of some drubbings. Did not the unfortunate Dean Bailey coach his first game for Melbourne against Hawthorn with unpleasant results? I can remember Barry Vagg, who wore number 32 as I recall, potting the winning goal with the last kick of the day in 1968. I seem to remember Barry Bourke getting four weeks for smacking my sports teacher, the late Peter Crimmins, although I can't remember if it was in the same game. Most of all, I remember THAT game in 1987. We were sitting in the northern, (I think it's northern, but like many, I used to get disoriented at Arctic Park), end at Waverley almost directly behind the goal square. From the opening moments it was clear that Hawthorn had based their strategy around eliminating Robbie Flower. Robbie started from the goal square. At the opening bounce he led wide towards the half forward flank to receive the kick from the inevitable tap-out from Strawberry O'Dwyer. He was met in a vicious sandwich comprising Gary Ayres running in one direction, and Robert Dipierdomenico in the other. (I later heard that they had practiced during the week with a side of beef although that may be apocryphal.) Robbie had his shoulder reconstructed in the opening minute of the game. He played thereafter with one useable arm. Even though we played with half a Robbie Flower, there was no doubt that we were the better side. In a critical move in the third quarter, coach Northey sent Rod Grinter to full forward where he kicked three goals. Even though Hawthorn lifted in the last quarter and challenged, we should have won if not for the errors of three senior players in the last 15 minutes. Although I know their names I will not repeat them here. Two marked within meters of the goal line only to fluff extremely gettable goals, one chose to blaze away rather than handball over the top to Robbie, who although he had but one arm, was still the best player on the ground. When in a widely celebrated moment, Jim ran across the mark, after the siren sounded, I did not blame him then and I do not blame him now. It is a measure of our ability to mythologize, that the failure of those three senior players to nail a grand final appearance has been forgotten, yet Jim has been universally held responsible for that failure. And so, we come up against Hawthorn again. And the prospects aren't too flash. And I imagine what revenge might look like...

Couldn't agree more, Deeoldfart! Very pleased that Bennell and Fitzpatrick have been awarded for good form - very good form in the case of the former. I'd have made the Fitz for Sellar change even if Sellar hadn't been injured. Petterd for Dunn was a pleasant surprise for me. As I've said a lot of times this year I believe Petterd is the superior player (and it seems obvious they're both competing for one spot), but Dunn did enough most weeks to hang on to his spot by the skin of his teeth. This is a golden opportunity for Ricky - if he works hard enough he should be able to hold Dunn out of the side for the rest of the year. Perfect changes for mine.

At the start of the game there was about 25 odd players sitting together around N56 or N57, plus all the assorted hangers on, it seemed like quite a social affair. By the beginning of the 3rd Quarter that number had halved. By the 10:00 minute mark it had halved again, down to a pultry 5 or so sitting around having a laugh at their iPhones without even paying any attention to the game. I doubt it would have anything to do with the VFL, 3 of the players still there in Q4 are named to play tomorrow and a lot of those that had left were not even available to play. From a workplace perspective, surely the match itself is the most important meeting of the week and requires nothing short of 100% attention? As a supporter, it feels like these kids are just taking the complete [censored]... we stick fat through thick and thin and turn up for 120 minutes week in, week out, yet as soon as the game blows out they find something better to do like bored tweens. Worst of all, as a footy club, its just weak... any player at any club at any level has a responsibility towards their club to hang around and support their team mates at other levels wherever possible. I think its a bloody disgrace and reflective of what is being played out in front us.

Moneyball could pass for an MFC biopic...in terms of the layers of crap. It sure looked fun to Watts and Martin up in the stands. Second week in a row Watts has been spotted having a jolly time of it while his side gets annihilated, although that criticism was labelled "pathetic". I guess at least Wattsy watched the game. Col Sylvia would've been out back watching his favourite DVD. Possibly Moneyball.

Clark vs Hawthorn at the moment.

Loving the awkwardness of Mathews having to commentate on this....and everyone else saying how well Clark is doing. Classic.

* Sung to Summer of '69 by Bryan Adams I got my first real Dee's scarf Thought I'd died and gone to heaven Wore it proud out to Waverley Back in September of '87 Me and some die hard fans Had finals tickets and we barracked real hard Jimmy played, gave away a fifteen Shoulda known, we'd never get far Oh when I look back now That September seemed to last forever And if I had the choice Yeah, I'd always want to be there Those were the best days of my life Ain't no use in complainin' When the boys put in all day for you Spent my evenings down at the Junction 'Mongst a sea of red and blue - yeah! Standin' watchin Swooper coach We swore that we'd be good forever But knowing in our heart of hearts That it was really now or never Those were the best days of my life Oh yeah Back in September of '87 Ohhh Man we were killin' sides We were young and relentless But we kicked too many behinds I guess nothin' can last forever, forever, no And now the times are changin' Players, coaches that have come and gone Sittin', watchin' old Youtube replays Think about us wonder what went wrong, yeah! Standin watching Swooper coach We swore that we'd be good forever Knowin' in our heart of hearts That it was really now or never Those were the best days of my life Oh yeah Back in the September of '87 Un-huh It was the September of '87, oh yeah Me and my Dad in '87, oh ...

I take great exception to that. Especially considering I had a KPI thread which explicitly showed how we regressed in 2011 from a promising 2010. We shat on the bad sides last year to skew the stats on how bad we actually were against the middling and better teams. People have to get over the Sydney game and the two Collingwood 'near-misses' in 2010 - they were long dead when Bailey got his marching orders after 186.

"Mark Jamar will dominate the hitouts, so use that to advantage. Have Brent Moloney, Nathan Jones and Trengove be on the fly at stoppages to create effective breaks." Walls you are a genius. Why didn't we think of having our midfielders rove to our ruckman at stoppages.

Always be wary of a 'journalist' that just lists bullet points to fill up half an article. I mean what was the point of that? He clearly has to hit a certain word count. The rest of the article was a bit of revisionist history. I didn't hear anyone defending Bailey's 'slow build' of our defensive capabilities when we were belted last year. And what more does Mitch Clark have to do for Walls to cut him a break? He's kicked more than a quarter of our score in the games he's played, been voted into the leadership group before he played a game, and throws his body around with little regard for his own welfare.

Robert Walls methodolgy in assessing Dean Bailey's record is garbage. The bailey 'wins' were some of the most odd victories I have ever seen. What I saw were players who only got the job done when they felt like it e.g. Gold Coast twice last year, the Freo comeback early on. Of course amongst these wins were a huge number of totally unaceptable performances.

THE MFC is serially ridiculed by prominent media commentators as a blood sport, and this has spilled over into the community mindset, and by extension the club's and players' own self-perceptions. Newman and Champion two typical examples of this 'fit'. This stems from original jealousy of Melbourne's power era which the suburban clubs have never allowed us to forget.. By the end of 1964 we were the superpower of the competition, a juggernaut which infuriated many. unfortunately we let the rival clubs 'have the Anzac Cup' by surrendering our fortress, the MCG and by donating our intellectual property and spirit to rival Carlton.

I'd be just as concerned, if not more concerned, about our supporters reading it and thinking it is right. And once again, Mitch Clark is NOT a waste of money. He is worth every cent we are paying him. Robert Walls is very wrong about this.

We know we are really becoming desperate when we dredge through history and relate to Phoenix like resurrections to salve our misfortunes. There is hope. Japan rose again after being nuked. The Black Death did not wipe out all of humanity. Not all Christians were eaten by lions. And the bookie odds look good that we will win at least one flag in the next 100 years.

Where do you think Dean Bailey got his strategy on defensive play from?

The issue is he can match it for 2 quarters and then he is stuffed. He needs go to Casey and get fit enough to run out games.

I don't think you do hear rangey I never talked about playing a game of bluff and poker (like some have) I talked about doing win/win deals with gws/gcs of course, if we can't do a deal and our hand is forced we will take him with our first rounder but until our hand is forced we should try and come up with something it's not rocket science

I saw Blease walking outside the ground with some mates 10 or so minutes after the final siren. Surely even non-playing players are requried in the rooms after the game? Agree with Watts and co laughing it up while the side gets smashed on the field. Didn't see it tonight but did last week and thought it was pathetic. The side is getting pumped he has been dropped to the VFL and he is having a laugh while the supporters get more and more frustrated and angry. But he was quoted as saying a couple of years back that "losing doesn't matter." Not to single Watts out but it seems indicative of the whole playing group. As for chatting out on the ground after the game - I appreciated these guys may have mates in other teams or whatever but surely they can catch up behind closed doors. Shake hands after the siren sure but don't stand out there in full view of demoralised supporters back-slapping and yakking it up with the opposition that just made you look like fools (again) - there's plenty of time to catch up later on at Boutique, CQ or in Sylvia's case Spearmint Rhino.

Didn't see a Melbourne member there tonight having fun - we feel bad. It's not ok for Melbourne players (selected or not) to have an attitude that allows them to have a jolly time. Completely reasonable criticism.

Wholeheartedly agree. Same goes for all the after-siren backslapping chats with the opposition who've just mercilessly flogged you. Do they have any idea how this comes across to the success-starved supporters? Do they care? And if they don't, as a lot of them appear not to ... I ask again ... why should we?

Pretty much agree with that except id like to see martin come back in . Clark is clunking everything that comes near him down forward we dont want him rucking up the ground . Davey gotta go as well play sam blease for an extended period and see what he can do .

No more useless players than these two against good teams. At one point Sylvia cracked the shits with McKenzie for turning it over. Imagine the nerve of the guy to dump on a teammate who kills himself so that Sylvia can get a touch. Absolutely woeful. Selfish, lazy footballers who are symbolic of everything that is wrong with us.

Surely the skills of Watts and Jurrah cant go astray amongst this lot!

No good teaching game plans, direction of play, how to negate etc etc etc if we dont get the pill. And when we do get it, who can the whole club actually rely on, to deliver it in some positive manner to a team mate? Our disposal skills are the worst I have ever seen at AFL/VFL in over 40 years. Our ability to gut run are actually non existent. We need a shrink to get into our players minds to activate them. They look so lazy it hurts.

Anyone want to re-cast their vote?

need jurrah in this side asap at least he will give us some excitement to watch

Petterd and Bennell ... thanks boys. Se you at Cranbourne nice and early next week. Same for you Col. Bail isn't up to it.

Trengrove looks tiny out there.

For two years before he heads to Blacktown

No probs. See you next week.

At least Whitfield knows where he's destined to play now. No need to worry about going up north.

It's amazing what a large percentage of the half time top seven moments of the previous round are taken up by the demons. If you only watched them you might be forgiven for thinking that we are in the top eight! The team needs to start trusting each other and playing as a team. After all, players names aren't on the back of their guernsey's for a reason. Its a team game, not a group of individuals.

I said it last week and I'll say it again. Mitch Clark is our only leader. I've never seen a side go missing on mass like we have for quarters this year. Without the big fella we would have no one that puts their hand up. Whatever we are paying him he's worth it because he's carrying half the side.

The application is there. We just gotta believe in Neil Craig & Neeld. Hawthorn were knackered at half time. Just keep up the intensity boys. LEARN.

Sylvia and Garland are two of the dumbest footballers I have ever seen. Trengove is injured surely. He's a snail out there.

I don't like blaming umpiring, but this is the worst I have everseen! Also Sylvia and petterd cannot find the pill!

2 wrong holding the ball decisions 2 goals to Hawthorn. Umpires making this hard to watch

Marngrook is the real deal. dry wit and genuine cameraderie of the panel makes for a relaxed Thursday night. PS Gary Lyons' deflection of Sam's serial wit should be put into an anti-bullying programs and put through the schools. better still, play footy show for the naughty boys.

Yes, I Utubed Jimmy after watching MGrook and couldn't decide on the title, too hazed out to review your suggestion but I dip my lid to you. I was there in the 60's that's why i can't remember it. Really impressed with how lucid and together jimmy was post-performance, and how at-one he was with the Demons. He should be pushed up to the stratosphere; 1. For being an A-Grade legend of the 60's; 2. For wearing his heart on his sleeve for our colours.

Guys be careful you are not shooting the messenger! While I disagree with a couple of his statements I have asked myself a number of the same questions. The reality is we have no wins and are sitting second last below GCS. We could easily be last after this weekend below two teams that have a collective of less than one season in the competition. Whatever measure you want to apply we are very poor. Face the facts the MFC has rarely performed this poorly in half a century. Why?

Can i go into stasus until our next GF day? Not sure i can make it through decades of rebuilding again!!

I say - keep the leagues as they are and develop something to add to that if you want to.

I seriously question some views, with this one being at the top of the list. The OP talked about how we should have a fair bit of money up our sleeve to throw at players during FA, yet the best name you can come up with is 1AW? If we are serious about spending big money on someone, they have to be a game breaker and Walker isn't one. Why don't we look at some of the better players in the league and target them? We are crying out for a bona fide star, let's get him rather than 2nd and 3rd rate players (we have enough of them!).