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"Hope is a dangerous thing. Hope can drive a man insane." - Morgan Freeman, 'The Shawshank Redemption' (1994). Like many folk around here, Im currently low on morale and struggling to muster the usual optimism and energy for the fight. Were hardened supporters whove become experts at dealing with loss and adversity. Whilst I shake my head regularly at some of the stuff thats posted on Demonland, Im proud of my fellow Dees supporter. Its a tough gig and if any group of supporters had reason to walk away its us. Weve experienced one setback after another but we always bounce back. Or so I thought. The last three weeks, like others, Ive noted the uncharacteristic deflation and hurt that has clearly overwhelmed a band of posters Id normally associate with balance, optimism and good humour. Its one thing to be down about our current form but more disturbingly, its another to be flying the white with no hope for the future. A great many posters have made reference to mergers, relocation and death. And theyve done so in a manner that you normally associate with a terminal patient wanting to be put out of their misery. This concerns me greatly. Weve also heard posters talk about the plight of their children. Im about to turn forty and have two small children who I have no qualms in saying will definitely be Melbourne supporters and members. Ive had friends throw the child abuse jokes my way as well. I remember wearing the number two on the back of my Dees jumper in the early 80s in primary school and feeling very much alone. In the minds of many the last three weeks and Mitch Clarks sad departure has been one kick in the guts too many. With Paul Roos, came an incredible tidal wave of hope. Expectations rose and hope morphed into genuine anticipation of improvement and wins. Paul Roos was like an adrenalin shot for failing fans and with the opening three losses weve relapsed and fallen into a hole of despair bigger than any weve experienced in the past. The timing and nature of Mitch Clarks affliction couldnt have been more symbolic of how the Melbourne masses must feel. Hope can indeed drive a man insane or in our case, an entire football forum. Im not going to sit in judgment and Im certainly not going to stand on my soap box. Posters have every right to vent their anger and point the finger of blame but there comes a point when anaylzing and over-analyzing the ills of the past serves little purpose. Weve made our mistakes at the draft table, weve allowed a culture of mediocrity to emerge over the past eight seasons. Our decision makers have erred and the power mongers have divided rather than united. Weve lost loved ones, sacked coaches and been ridiculed for deliberately losing. We cant ignore the past but at some point we must move on. I think weve learnt from our mistakes and am confident weve got the appropriate structures now in place. The last piece of the puzzle, sadly, will be the team we send out onto the paddock each week. So what am I asking? I guess Im asking for you to help each other out. Dont underestimate the power your individual posts can have on the shared psyche of the most passionate Demon supporters in the land. The group vibe right now is toxic. Talk of the club dying isnt productive. Repeatedly discussing past mistakes made by past regimes isnt productive. Slagging off young inexperienced players isnt productive. Abusing other posters who are in as much pain as you, isnt productive. And if I can indulge in another reference to Shawshank Redemption, can I state my intent to personally get off the canvass yet again and re-commit to the club that has played such a huge role in my life. Put simply, theres no alternative. They had me from the first day I walked down the players race at the MCG as a seven year old attending a dreary, waterlogged training session. Im not going to allow this part of my life to die. Im going to find joy in the journey again and Im going to look forward to the next win and the next surge of adrenalin that only footy seems to provide. Theres a clear choice to make. As a supporter you can get busy living or get busy dying.

i see your point and believe a lot in what you're saying: Blues by 45.

We have a forward!!! Now just to get him through the warm up...

I don't want to get bogged down with PP talk the same as many others but let me just say this: It is a rule of the AFL that consistently poorly performing clubs can be given draft assistance. That rule doesn't disqualify a club because of previous drafting failures, obviously. It was an AFL rule that we would have got a PP due to our results, which the AFL dropped to our detriment. It was an AFL rule that created 2 new clubs and gave them all of the top end of the draft, at a time when we were crap and were trying to recover. It was an AFL rule that allowed our number 1 pick to run off to GWS in the first 2 years of his drafting by us and funded by AFL money. It is an AFL rule that has brought in FA, which is not doing what it was intended to do, but has seen us lose Sylvia, Moloney, Rivers and probably Frawley, more than any other club and at a time when we are on the bottom of the ladder. It is also an AFL rule that allows the AFL to have a fixture not based on fairness, but revenue, which has compromised our financial position for years. We follow the bloody rules, let the bloody AFL do the same.

I wrote to Paul Roos about how I was impressed that Billy Stretch wanted to play for us and that I only wanted him to draft and keep players who bled red and blue. I did not expect a reply but lo and behold he wrote back last night. He said he agrees and he only wants players who are committed to the club and the game plan to remain. He also said that he played with Billy's father at Fitzroy and I get the hint that maybe Billy Stretch is a lock.

As someone who treats depression (including severe and suicidal), it is useful to stand back and get some perspective. Here is a young man who is probably feeling hopeless and helpless about moving forward. He has probably been advised to change his circumstances, to remove stressors which he feels contribute to his negative affect. I hope he finds peace, and can break the viscous cycle which depression can cause. Anyone suffering, reach out to appropriate support. I recommend 'breaking the patterns of depression' by Dr Michael Yapko if anyone is looking for some guidance from perhaps the worlds best in the field. I like that my team handled this so maturely.

Bail must be meditating really well.

I'd offer Jake Spencer a two year contract extension if he uses the first bounce as an opportunity to run through Warnock and uses the first possible occasion to put Bryce Gibbs into the third row of the crowd. That might wake a few others up. Next step after that is to target Mitch Robinson and wipe the smirk of his ugly head. It's about time we stop being insipid and if that means going way too far the other way first then so be it.

Saying that we shouldn't receive assistance because we have 'brought this on ourselves' is a terrible argument. Everyone 'brings it on themselves.' We have drafted poorly and developed sub-optimally. That is not being disputed. But equalisation isn't a 'we tried, it didn't work, move on' scenario. The draft gives the best players to the worst teams every year. Simply because we have been consistently bad at picking kids out of the Teenage Lottery that is the AFL Draft doesn't mean we have less claims for more access to equalisation - it should enhance our claims. And the chosen vehicle for equalisation by the AFL is the draft, and more to the point - priority picks. Follow the god-damn rules.

Spencer has been rucking manfully, one week he has Cox and NikNat, then Mumford (who Roos reckons is a top ruckman) in the wet, give the bloke a break Roos thinks Bail is an improver, so all you haters will just have to hate I am going along thinking we have a 50/50 chance

So the alternative is .... stupidity?

It would be worth a missed priority pick to see Mick Malthouses press conference after a loss to the dees

If we did finish last and Frawley left, I'm not asking for special assistance, I just want the AFL to follow their own rules and not change them in order to disadvantage Melbourne. Journalists like Mark Stevens tweeting that pick 2 for Fraley would be 'overs' simply don't get it. If he meets the criteria for a pick after our first pick, which he will, then it must be given to us. As for the priority pick, the AFL need to stop fluffing about and make a clear decision. If we do finish bottom, then either give us pick 3 as warranted or scrap the system.

I love the way Round Robbo writes "MELBOURNE could achieve the unthinkable and claim the first three picks in this year’s national draft" and then goes on to write the AFL say it's not going to happen. Hack. Beat up merchant.

as was i. the day we are able to properly distinguish tone through text, will bring immediate peace to many internet forums across the globe.

I think it was 2008, hardwick in his first year as coach, they started 0-9 and everyone was wondering what he was trying to do. By the time he finally got a few players back, as well as the youngsters understanding what he was after, I think they won 6 games in the last half of the year. Sure I'm not saying we will, I'm saying that if our players keep getting told they "can" win and they "can" play afl, sooner or later they will start to believe it too.

Franky, I'm not judging those people. But I'm merely making the point that we've taken hit after hit. During the lowest of low days during Neeld's tenure people would come on to Demonland and spew forth their judgements and criticisms but rarely would they throw their hands in the air and say, "I've had enough". Over the past three weeks that's been happening more and more here. I'm only suggesting that the arrival of Roos brought with it increased levels of hope for both the players and the supporters. When results haven't improved, the lows that both groups have felt may have in fact been worse than anything over the past seven or eight seasons.

We are in a draft regulated sport. Teams build their teams largely from the draft. The draft acts as a form of equalisation. We are a bad team. We are going to get preferential treatment in the draft because of how poor we are. That treatment will include (most likely) a top 3 pick. Teams that are consistently bad can receive extra preferential treatment. We have been consistently bad. We agreed to the rules as we continue in the league - I don't have a 'handout mentality' simply because I want the rules of equalisation to be enforced consistently. Scully and Strauss are our only Priority Picks. They weren't great picks. Sue us. We need a leg up.

I would like some high quality photo's from training sessions. I would love to see a beautiful canvas of Nicho kicking a ball out on the full, or Pedo eating, JT losing a running race to an infant, Spencer tripping over himself and Howe asleep in a full ground drill because the training cones are putting too much pressure on us to get the ball forward.

Makes no sense to me. Who do you support? It's sad we have to have this argument again so early 'P-man'. I think we should just read our posts from last year rather than repeat our arguments. We didn't get one then and it looks like we are not in a great position. Let me just say this, Hawthorn and Collingwood's premierships were built on the back of PP's, Geelong's on previous Father/Son rules. They got a leg up.

I'm am so sick of Melbourne supporters continually talking about the draft. It's been finally recognised the last week or so, but this is the attitude that contributed to this club's demise. This constant perception that 'oh, we'll just get some new kids, then we'll be right'. Even if we draft the next Lance Franklin this year, we will go nowhere until we improve across our entire list. Let's start focusing on internal change, not external change.

With good draft picks, a solid coaching succession plan and some favourable draws, i'd say that within a few years we could win a game.

In the spirit of bargaining, I say we ask for last year's priority pick they denied us as well and go for picks 1, 2, 3 and 4.

C & B is kidding himself if he claims knowledge about mental illness. I do charity work for an organisation that looks after, helps feed, find housing and jobs for those unfortunate enough to suffer depression and other mental illness like schizophrenia. It's only when you witness the hardship such people endure and how lonely some of them are, that you can really appreciate that above all else, the well being of the person is paramount. I'm proud of my club for the way it's dealing with this and the other ordeals besetting us at the moment and in the recent past. I don't feel let down by Mitch Clark's honest and elegant exit as a Demon who "will always consider myself a Melbourne player and a Melbourne person." Disappointed that we won't see him taking those big grabs or kicking goals for us but far more disappointed for Mitch and the pain of his ordeal. As for clowns like C & B, he proves only that the buffoon is often the best benchmark against which we can judge civilized human behaviour by comparison with the garbage he's been spouting above. Any more and he'll be facing a long holiday from this site.

Call me mental but I honestly believe our list is in better shape then Carlton. The difference is that our players don't believe it. For players under the age of 22, they rank 18th in terms of quality. Judd is gone, even though he is a "great" of the game, he's not playing against us so it doesn't matter. Kreuzer, how watts cops more flak then this bloke is beyond me, he's gone. Ok they have murphy, Simpson and .............................. Who, Gibbs? Warnock? Walker? Yarran? Yes on their day they are good, but that's on their day. We have players go can match this mob. The difference between these two teams is that Melbourne players don't believe they are better whilst Carlton players eg Robinson take delight and truly believe the are. This is Roos' challenge this week.

Figures, You do one while dreaming about the other!!

It is pretty funny that 8 playing minutes after "drawing the line in the sand" Hawthorn went from being 26 points down to being 66 points down. Also going on to lose their next 7 and 9 of their next 11 games. Only won 14 games in the next two seasons, as well.

I hate Carlton. I won't eat in Lygon St.

Confucius say: Problem with line in sand is that on other side ... there's just more sand!

Note the retweet...

How do you think we're going to get those players? All our free agents leave, hardly any want to come to us, NO ONE wants to get traded to us. Our best currency to make a trade happen is high draft picks. Do the people arguing against wanting a PP really think we have a list that's going to take us forward?!

Vince and Tyson were obtained by trading high draft picks. Hence without the picks we have no currency to bring in Talent. We will not become a good team without quality draft picks.

That could be a correct assumption. Did the AFL also think that when bringing in FA that bottom clubs could be raped by the strong clubs, which is happening and which we seem to have been the major loser in number of players lost. I note Danny Frawley and David King, just to name 2 commentators, see this rule as an absolute disgrace, as it will help to keep bottom clubs at the bottom. We groom them and they take them. Fantastic rule.

I fear for the next generation, too. My kids are 6, 4, and 18/12. All are members and the older boys come to the footy with me several times a year. My eldest asks me why I barrack for the Dees when they "are so not very good". I get the idea. He's floated wanting to barrack for Geelong (F-I-L's team). My line on this is that they will barrack for melbourne or no-one. While I'll never discourage them from another team, I won't buy them that stuff or take them to see them. The family barracks for melbourne and that is that. The way I try to make it work is try to make coming to the footy good fun and by being philosophical about losses while making improvement sound inevitable. And I know things will turn. Our luck won't always be diabolical. The wheel will turn. And I plan to be there when it does.

Thanks. Agree with your last line, we have stuffed up over several drafts and trades. But it is what it is. What I meant to say is that the AFL makes rules, some of those rules have hurt us and continue to do so. Nevertheless we comply with the rules. When changing the PP rule from an automatic one, to a discretionary one, administered by the AFL, the AFL last year disobeyed their own rule by using matters that were irrelevant, like "Clark will come back and be a star and we won't have injuries this year". They were not part of their listed criteria. They made it up to justify a breach of their own rule after bowing to the pressure of the Eddies and Newbolds. I want the AFL to follow their own rules and give a team with many years of failure what the rule provides, nothing more nothing less. BTW, of course I would love us to be a good team and not need help, but ATM we are not. That is a combination of our stuff ups and AFL rule changes.

Redleg, the sooner some realise that the above is incorrect, the better. We were in the "perfect" window to bottom out. We had 3 drafts to nail it, 2007, 2008 & 2009 before the drafts were severley compromised. Fact is, we fcuked our chance up by picking spuds. You could argue to some degree that the 2009 draft was compromised in our favour - 4 picks in the top 18 - including the number 1 & 2 picks, with just two of those players left on our list, and both those not in the senior team. If any club/s have been disadvantged by bottoming out at the wrong time, it'd be St Kilda and Brisbane. There is absolutely no excuse for us being in the position that we are currently in. We can't blame the AFL or any other external body. We have to take 100% responsibility for poor decisions made during this time. We can whinge about the AFL gifting GWS with our former number 1 pick, but gee, they looked after us in regards to compensation. It's too early to tell if we are the winners from all that - given our recent history I wouldn't be surprised if we lost out of it all. However, if it turns out we won from it, it'll prove to me that we may have turned a corner.

Right now: Ruck: Warnock > Spencer 2nd ruck: Rowe is no worse than Fitzpatrick Tall forwards: Henderson and Waite > Frawley and Dunn +/- Dawes Tall defenders: Jamison and White no worse than Pedersen, McDonald Half back flank: Simpson and Walker better than Grimes and Terlich Small forwards: Garlett and Menzel better than what we role out But in none of those areas (maybe HBF) are they head and shoulders above what we have. And main midfield mix: Murphy - Jones Thomas - Vince Carrazzo - Cross Gibbs - Tyson Curnow - McKenzie Robinson - Viney Yarran - Watts Bell - Evans If the thread is about future talent then yeah I think if we finally start to develop kids and a team our future should trend up, Carlton's will trend down. But in terms of talent 22 v 22 this weekend they have us covered. But it's not by a significant margin and every player should feel comfortable they can beat their individual opponent.

Crikey I'm head of Literacy at my school, and currently doing my MA in Literature and Writing too, so there is no bloody excuse for poor grammar! I'm a failure. Don't tell anyone.

I've never seen an episode of Game of Thrones which means I've seen marginally less of the Hound than I've seen of Dawes in a Melbourne jumper.

oh please dr jvf sometimes it's best to keep your mouth..........(you know the rest)

We only got two priority picks. The first one we selected Blease (stuff up) and the second we selected Scully (who left for one of the expansion clubs for a bucket full of the AFL's cash). Our recent picks have been heavily diluted by the compromised drafts. The AFL is now more uneven than the EPL and promoting the game as 'Anything's Possible' should be investigated by the ACCC for misleading and deceptive advertising.

I'm amazed that the hairy-chested don't want as much help as we can get. Sure it would be better to win games, but if the AFL wants a more even competition then we need help. Obviously we must not carry on as if that alone will be our saviour. I don't recall GWS saying "No don't give us all those prime picks, we want to build a winning culture based on picks 60 and beyond."

We have absolutely no control over the system of draft assistance and the AFL seems to be constantly changing ground over the subject anyway. The greatest danger however, is to get too wrapped up in the concept at this early stage of the year. If we can get over our current injury cycle to our big men and Paul Roos' game plan begins to sink in, we can still show sufficient improvement as to not warrant talking about such things.

You were the poster that first came to mind when a 'poster of the year' or 'best poster' thread came up a while back, Goodvibes. Chalk another great one up.

I want picks, I am not ashamed to say that. Just because they didn't work in the past, that means very little - especially when you take Morton, Gysberts, Toumpas and Cook. Quality picks - used right - will go a LONG way to turning this club around. I subscribe to the 'lack of talent' theory, because I've watched MFC churn out talentless stick figures since 2008. I want picks, I want quality, big bodied, aggressive ball winners - in the Mould of Wines, Selwood, Parker, Sloane, Martin, Prestia. Players we should've targeted in the past - but didn't. That is why we are in this mess, through poor drafting. We practically skipped 4 drafts. Adelaide know the importance of skipping even a single draft, we practically skipped 3-4. We need help, we simply do not have the talent.

In the 7 year period 1990-96, Fitzroy won 38 games in total (3 wins in total in their last two seasons). They had a best finish of 10th, in a then 14 team competition. In the 7 year period 2007-13, Melbourne has won 34 games and had 2 draws, with a highest finish of 12th in a then 16 team competition. If we don't get a priority pick then it would be difficult to see them ever being handed out again. Irrespective of who is at fault or how poorly we have recruited or developed, it is clear we are challenging all sorts of VFL/AFL records for poor performance.

This club is like an addict looking for its next pick fix.

Not spending the year hoping we finish last again thanks. Hope fully second half of the year we can win some games, and show some improvement. Its winning culture we need to develop.

TSFKA, I wholeheartedly agree. Our society does not yet collectively understand mental illness. When someone's lungs fail and they get cancer, they receive universal support and compassion. When someone's blood-pump fails and they have a heart attack, they receive universal support and compassion. When their brain malfunctions and they fall into depression, they receive... derision. It's a terrible shame. I've personally supported a dear friend through a deep, deep depression and it is incredibly difficult for all involved. I can't speak for how it would feel personally - thankfully - but from the outside looking in, trying to help, I can say with certainty that it looks like hell. Well done Mitch, for being a role-model that others having trouble with depression can look to for inspiration. I'm sure many others will seek professional help, with the help of their friends and family, thanks to Mitch's bravery in making this declaration. He could easily have lied and pretended his foot was never going to be right to play again, but he's made a conscious decision to do it this way, which I'm sure is for the benefit of others rather than himself. Truly a team player, and a fabulous human being. I'll miss him, and wish him all the best.