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Tapscott played his best game for the club and will be a player. I regard Jones as now a bona fide A grader. Keep it up. Trengove and Grimes will prove to be quality leaders. The ingredients for a quality list are there when one considers our end of season opportunities. There is blue sky.

Could not agree more. Sign him up for another year right now. He is good enough AND he deserves it. Would also make a great statement to the other senior players, namely, "just because you're older doesn't mean you have a permanent target on your head like Junior and others had under the Bailey model. It's about performance and earning selection now - not just being a talented teenager".

My reaction to this is pretty much the same as it has been the last few weeks, because we've played the same way. The only variable is the quality of the opposition. I'm grateful for the win. Still can't wait for this season to end.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/143600/default.aspx Best news in a long time.

I had absolutely no doubts that Jones would re-sign...he is MFC to the core.

I'll listen to Terry Wallace's drafting tips right after I finish my book on Hitler's Advice for World Peace. Godwin's Law hread

We had a sh!te culture before we lost that game after the siren and we have a sh!te one now. And I hope people are just talking about THAT Richmond game. Because I know that many on here think that moving on White, Yze, et al, and getting so many draft picks was tanking. If it was we wouldn't have McDonald (late pick), arguably Jurrah (PS draft), McKenzie (rookie upgrade - someone has got to make way). And if we had, at the start of 08, not given chances to kids we wouldn't have seen Garland again - his first couple of games were hapless (to be polite). So, in conclusion, if playing Warnock forward and Johnson back in one game destroys your culture then your culture isn't that strong to begin with now is it? The senior players that were upset that kids were getting games ahead of experienced players should be told - that isn't tanking, that is simply a matter of not wasting games on players we know aren't up to it.

Not only another very good game today but just want to send out a personal appreciation. Post siren when it came to giving out the footy's Jonesy spied my little boy with the number two on his back and made a beeline. Giving him the ball, a ruffle of the hair and some words of encouragement. A truly great moment in his short MFC life and the smile on his face was/is priceless. Thanks Jonesy. Ripping bloke and heart and soul player...

At a local joint they have the Mighty Melbourne burger so I thought I'd give it a crack. It was pretty bloody good but as I got to the end I started "experimenting" with the burger by putting the meat on top of the bun and putting different sauces on it and basically I just ruined it to the point where I couldn't eat it. My wife asked me what I was doing and I told her that certain parts of the burger were never going to be eaten by me ever again so I wanted to try them out in different positions of the burger before I gave them the ass. I really regret it as it was a good burger in the first place. Now when I go back to the restaurant they never believe me that I just want to eat a burger they kicked me out for trying to ruin the culture of the restaurant. What a shame.

Taking my daughter to her first game of footy, unfortunately for her I've already had years to work on brainwashing her to follow Melbourne. Can we win?

What I like about Howe is that over the course of the year he has continued to do what he does best - take good contested marks - some amazing ones, but he has also improved the other sides of his game - his disposal and his decision making under pressure. He's a quality player.

It pains me to say it but he is the only one on our list who happily shepherds

I had a great day today...sat on level two,,right next to Robbie Flower and Todd Viney. Rod Grinter was directly behind me ,with Greg Healy next to him.. In the next bay was the melb current players ,Jurrah,,watts,Clark etc. Had a great win,then hada kick of the footy with my son on the g Got a terrific car spot too !

Lowlight of the match thus far was Melbourne supporters cheering when Morton was subbed off. Pathetic, even if you didn't realise he was injured. Poor kid, I really feel for him. Otherwise this game is a snooze fest of incompetence on both sides, with one side being slightly less shizen.

That was one of the worst wins I can remember. We were appaling through the middle, and were saved only by GC having virtually no forwards, and a terrible backline. Had we put on the same display versus Hawthorn today, we would have lost by 120 points, and to me, that is the only thing that matters. We are not competitive, we simply don't have a midfield (with the exception of Jones), which is good enough to beat any serious sides. Howe, Tappy, Jones and TMac made me slightly less apathetic about the game, but otherwise, I would have enjoyed an afternoon nap just as much. This season is so dead to me, I am literally counting down the weekends until it ends. P.S.- if anyone reading this cheered when Morton was subbed off, please uppercut yourself immidiately, you heartless troll!

Bennell is a fringe player . His fringe is probably his main priority .

jess trengove about to run the marathon for anyone thats interested. hope she runs better than jack has been this year!

You [censored]. Clearly no understanding of what he has been through this year. He couldn't hit the waits for the wrist injury, he then does an ankle in a practice game and loses the fitness that was being pounded into him, he then breaks his jaw and cannot undertake a weight or running program. So lets recap, first year being drafted- all kids on very limited pre-seasons. Second year gets a bigger pre-season and plays some reasonably good games before injury cuts him down again. Third year has an extremely interupted pre-season and first half of actual season. The kid has a good amount of talent. Has shown a very good work ethic to come back from two serious injuries this year and fight his way into the team. He is rusty in his first game back and you lambast him. I repeat. You [censored].

What attitude? I am sick to death of how MFC has gone this year just as much as the next person. Doesn't mean I don't give latitude to those that might deserve a little. I merely meant give him some patience. When I see a bloke play his first game in a the seniors after being broken all year I don't immediately think he's going to get have 20 touches and kick 5 goals for the game, unless he's Luke Hodge. But hey, maybe I am just getting a bit soft in my old age of 31 years. FWIW, I can't wait for this season be over its been disgustingly woeful and depressing, but doesn't mean I'm not going to enjoy a win when its there, without realising that there is alot of work to do before we get where we belong.

First game for the year after a broken jaw amongst several injuries he's had this year and punters are already putting the boots in. Give it a rest. Let him get use to the pace of the game again and fingers crossed for him, finish off the year strongly. Just soak up the win and try to enjoy. A third year player trying to get back into seniors mode is the least of our worries.

Gysberts is a first round draft pick, coming back from a massive injury lay off. Silly to say hes on thin ice or what not. Brad Green is a proven AFL player, as if we can afford to cut him loose. I love how people think you make your team better, by GETTING RID of players. The exception is Cale Morton. I'm sure he's a good guy, but it's pretty embarrassing having him out there for the Dee's.

WTF?! Were you guys at the game?! It was his FIRST game for the year after a pretty interrupted preparation, I thought he did well given where he's come from. Bad calls.

Agreed. Absolute joke that he gave the one vote to Green and not Nathan Jones.

Yes. Ablett and Bennell were head and shoulders above anyone else on the ground. Shows how much the other players provided to GC.

pretty sure Green got 5 and I think he'll stay.

The official Easiest Job In The World is being a retired player/coach in the media. You never had to decide anything. Never have to make a hard call or risk anything. You can just wax on about what club X "should have" done or what player Y "shouldn't have" done. You don't have to do any research, homework, or practice. The only thing you're accountable for are your weekly tips.

A second string Dees side convincingly winning not good enough for you, Barass?

Because Wallace's Drafting at Richmond was so good.

So this is what it's like to play against a team with no structure, no run and no fitness.

Mike Sheahan on the pre game getting stuck in. Thinks this is as big a game as we have played in for a long time, and if we lose we need to have a long hard look at ourselves. Well Mike, I can tell you the club needs to have a long hard look at itself regardless of today's outcome and I actually think this afternoon's result is close to as unimportant as it can get. Also said that tanking is when clubs don't put teams out there that have the best chance of winning, which again is completely wrong.

My five year old daughter says to me "why do you bother watching? You know they're not going to win.". I wonder how she got so cynical at such a young age, then I realised she was born post-season 2006 - we've been absolutely rubbish for her entire life. Depressing.

I love how many people here are talking about this as though it's some kind of moral decision the club has to make between now and the end of the year. Not all posters, but enough to raise an eyebrow. Truth is, we are terrible enough for the OP scenario to pan out even if we put in 100% every week. And thats a deeply embarrassing state of affairs, injuries or not

If you talk tanking - Freo round 21 2010 cannot be forgotten. Out: Matthew Pavlich (soreness), Adam McPhee (soreness), Roger Hayden (soreness), David Mundy (soreness), Stephen Hill (soreness), Anthony Morabito (soreness), Nathan Fyfe (soreness) Sandilands was also left out. All came in the next week as Freo topped Carlton to guarantee a home final. Freo lose by 116 points and, two weeks later, beat the same team in an elimination final.

And speaking of Age journos in London, have a read of Saturday's Caro interview with Demetriou. It is a new benchmark for arrogance. AD finds it "faintly ludicrous" that anyone could question him having seven weeks off in the middle of the footy season. "My family deserved some time," he says. Why, Andy? Do they pay you $2.2 million a year as well? Having been a guest of AFL sponsor Australia Post for week one of the games, he is now a guest of Foxtel. No wonder he's looking "tanned and relaxed" while having a coffee on top of Harvey Nicks. Any danger of dipping into your own kick? "He believes the games have been beneficial ... commercially for the AFL in ways he does not detail." Perhaps because they don't exist? Almost everyone in the game gives the bloke a free pass based on $1.2 billion for the media rights. The NRL, which has never had as big a following as Aussie rules, is a relatively unattractive game and has been woefully mismanaged for at least two decades, will easily get $1 billion when its deal is signed. The fact is that media rights for popular spectator sports are extremely valuable and getting more so. You don't have to be Don Draper to sell them. Connolly's criticisms of the AFL are entirely valid, but Demetriou and his cronies will continue to mismanage with their current levels of arrogance and smugness until someone tells them to pull their heads in. Doubt that it will Mike Fitzpatrick. A perfect example was the buffoon Anderson's indignance at criticism of the MRP. It was like, how dare anyone criticise a body headed by Mark Fraser? Well, let's see ... he's a failed player and failed umpire. So of course he'll be a successful MRP chairman. The entire AFL judicial system is a joke, apparent to all except Andrew Demetriou, Gillon McLachlan and Adrian Anderson. Someone in the media needs to launch a concerted campaign to explode the myth of AFL competence. I'm tipping it won't be Caro.

Insanely positive write-up. I thought he was slow, lacking match practice, and didn't really have an impact on the game.

Was funny to see the look on Campbell Browns face today when the ball was kicked high over him, he looked around as he was making position to mark the ball and saw Howe coming...it was priceless.

He got it dead right. Bennell and Ablett were far better than anyone else on the ground. Nearly 40 touches and 4 goals and you're saying that's a joke? I can't remember the last time a Melbourne player had a game anywhere near as good as either of those two played today. Pull your head out of your ass!

Jeremy Howe, I cant remember any other forward for us or any other club ever who can constantly take speckies like this guy.....averaging about 2 or 3 a game..... worth going to the footy just to watch him.

Melbourne dominated GCS in the first quarter and should've been in front even further! i felt GCS had the better of us after 1/2 time but they were extremely wasteful!

I highly doubt this. Yes his disposal lets him down but his marking and defending work has been exceptional for a 19 year old first season player. I shiver with excitement thinking how good he could be with a few more Pre-seasons and seasons under his belt. His disposal will improve, I can guarantee it.

Brad Green's goal celebrations are ridiculous. This game is the perfect opportunity for players like Gysberts, Strauss and Spencer to really stand up and give it everything they have without the risk of being punished by the opposition, but they all look a bit lackluster. On a side note, as much as I like Tom McDonald, his ball drop is so bad that if it doesn't improve in a couple of years time he won't be on the list (even with all his positives).

Completely one sided. To us. This feels weird.

Get her to focus on the pies and coke. A much safer bet. And she might want to return.

Agree mostly. Our senior players had years of underperformance. We were always losing unlosable games or 7 in a row after being in finals contention, that sort of thing. Daniher wanted a ruthless culture because we were soft. Very little changed over the years and our leaders were never there when it counted except for maybe Neitz and to a lesser extent Junior. I say Junior because even though I liked him he wasn't that damaging as a player. Some like Bruce never stood up when it counted, and accumulated a lot of meaningless possessions while selling his teamates into trouble. Guys like Yze and White in their later years were the same. Got a lot of games they didn't deserve.

I've used this example many times and I even heard Greg Denham say that this wasn't tanking because they (the punters) knew who was and wasn't playing going into the game. He must have Velcro straps on his shoes because there is no way known he has the mental capacity to tie his shoe laces every day.

According to the commonly held views here CFH you need to: cut deep and get rid of half the burger... even if it was ok last time go for veal ... the youth option get someone else to use the ingredients to remake the burger....but as a Kebab cos that is the way the restaurant up the street did it 2 years ago just keep going for the next 5 years in the hope that one day the burger will actually be better remember the one option not available is to simply go to a different restaurant that gives you what you need......dees supporters are made of sterner stuff

I know Sloonie can talk for herself mate but ease up. We have lost more games then we have won so in simple terms that makes us........?

are we a a rhetorical club ?

Is this a rhetorical thread?

Absolutely. Exhibit A: Jon Pierik (who?), author of this week's compelling series of Age back pages on Melbourne tanking. In Thursday's yarn alone, he: - reported "there were calls for" MFC to be fined $1 million and banned from the draft, but neglected to elaborate on who had made these calls. Internet peanuts, mainly, one suspects. - said we made 47 interchanges v Richmond (against season average of 92) "even though" we finished the game with three blokes unable to take the field. In other words, he's suggesting a team with one fit bloke on the bench should make MORE interchanges than a team with four fit blokes on the bench. (I am, however, putting this down to illiteracy.) - claimed Robbo had declined to comment "because he is now employed by the club and feared being sacked". If Robbo told him that on the record I would be extremely surprised. I realise many of their real journos are in London, but there's no excuse for that rubbish.