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In his 30 years on the job at the Herald Sun you'd have never known Mike Sheahan was a Melbourne supporter. Yet, thanks to his bias and pathetic articles, everyone knows Mark Robinson is an Essendon supporter. The difference between a fantastic balanced footy journo and the fat sack of [censored] that inherited his throne.

I've not read any of the thread as I fear it involved a lot of emotion and some less than logical thinking. Understandable because I would have been the same shortly after the performance. I'm disappointed at the loss but not our progress. We have "held up" against all teams in our "zone" this year. We have beaten two in the top 8 and Geelong at Geelong. Our progress is clear but we have a young team subject to significant differences in output from week to week as well as the vagaries of form which all teams suffer from. We have had two really disappointing losses. Essendon and Saints. They were disappointing because we had chances to win and should have taken them. But from where I sit whether we won by 2 points against the Saints or lost by 2 doesn't matter. I went hoping to win by 40 points to show we had moves out of the "bottom" bracket. Same principle with Essendon. But we are still there with a group of about 6 other teams. But against Essendon we controlled the majority of the game, we had 25 scoring shots (our average last year was 17.5 per game and this year is 20.5) and whilst we lost we were clearly the better team. The number of scores against Essendon were more than our best scoring shot number in 2014. Whilst I would have preferred to win more games I'm happy with how we are tracking as a whole. We have clear improvers on the list and those that need to go are becoming more apparent. Whilst I'm far from agreeing with all Roos does there is no doubt our best is good, the club is no longer an undesirable destination (that isn't saying we are "first choice") and we are generally competitive with teams other than the top 4 or 5. And I think we have a depth of talented youngsters not many others have and that under the guidance of the best development group we've ever had we can look forward to some joy in the next few years. Having said that I'm sick to death of losing and the longer it goes the more difficult it becomes.

1. My dad got off a boat from Italy in the mid fifties, when all the Italians went to Carlton, he liked the MCG and started taking me there in 1969. 2. Very first favourite was probably Gary Hardeman. Just loved his marking and dash across half back. Should never have left us midway through his career and gone to S.A. 3. In Feb 2007, my six and a half year old son was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. We asked for the WIZ to come into the RCH. He did. I asked him to dedicate his first goal of 1997 to Joshua. We played the Kangaroos on the Thursday before Good Friday - round one of that year. Kangaroos coming off a premiership. At the first bounce, Stynes taps the ball, Lyon gathers, handballs to Wiz who goals. Wiz pumps the air like we asked him to. Josh was there with me. Best moment ever. We only won three more games that year, making that round one victory more miraculous. My son is now 24 and follows the Dees 4. Worst moments? I was there for 186 and 148 against Geelong and Essendon. Schwarz's knee, Jimmy's death, getting smashed in two Grand Finals. Hard to pick one, but I'd probably go Brock McLean and the tanking saga. 5. Whatever happens, I am rusted on. A 39 year consecutive member (I will be 52 on Thursday) I will NEVER stop supporting our club

1. How did you start following the Demons? My old man. 2. Who was your very first favourite player and why? Garry Lyon. He was the first Melbourne player I watched that had real star quality. I think he's a bit underrated if anything. He was a mighty player in my memories of him. 3. Best moment as a fan? 2000 finals series Freo comeback of 08 Inflicting Roos worst loss as Swans coach (oh the irony) - "The Dees are gonna be something!" Salem's sealer against Essendon last year 4. Worst moment as a fan? Wow...how long have you got? 5. Anything else you would like to share? Dad passed away a couple of years back and I wrote about it here. The response to that post was pretty overwhelming. There are alot of good people here who deserve to see their team have some success. Demonland is an invaluable asset for us interstaters who have scarce contact with fellow Demon fans, and I'm very thankful to those who run it.

Loved reading everyone's stories about life and the MFC. We've covered everything from regulation brainwashing, to "my parents immigrated and didn't follow the herd" to "I was supposed to be a Collingwood supporter but got lost", to "how could I not be? We were awesome in the 50s/60s". So many different avenues in, but here we all are. Gotta say this thread has cheered me up a lot. It's nice to know that there's so many others out there feeling tortured in the same way I do at times. Ready for the MFC to break my heart again next week now!

FMD! Roos may not turn up. Imagine the terrible anticipation and quivering fear from the thought of being flo gged by an illiterate wielding a lettuce leaf

Fuckin robbo

I did terrible, terrible things in a past life.

1. Grew up in a Saints household. But was always left to my own devices on Saturday mornings so used to watch the Happy Hammond show and it had a segment called the Western Star footy clinic which was Barass giving footy skills tips every week. To me he was the first rock star personality I had ever seen. For some unknown reason I stayed with the jumper after he defected. I think I was too shocked and angry at his betrayal to follow. I persevered even when the household went crazy at the drought breaker for the Saints in '66 which I remember well. Unfortunately I was just a bit too young to remember '64. 2. Robbie. I started to go to games every week in his first year and saw the majority of his games right up to the last. 3. After 23 years of wondering if I'd ever get to even see my team in a final little own a Premiership and then starting the '87 season in typical fashion and with 6 games to go being resigned to another lost season, then that incredible run winning the last 6 games every one of which we had to win to make the finals and then the highlight of my Dees life to date winning that final round at the Western Oval, being glued to the trannies all arvo to see if the Hawks would beat the Cats so if we won we would get in. Then the final siren signalling the dam had been broken and for the first time in my living memory I was going to see my team in a final. 4. '87 Prelim. Should have could have. Even the footy Gods smiled on us and gave us the wind for 3/4's. It was destined to be our day for doing it for Robbie. A series of ridiculous decisions and misses and then the Irishman finishing us off. Closely followed by the final round in 1976 where if we beat the Pies and the top placed Blues beat the bottom placed Dogs we would finally get into the Finals for the first time since '64. We beat the Pies and mindblowingly the Blues and Dogs drew and so the Dogs took our finals birth. The Pies Players looked up at the scoreboard at the end of the game while they were still on the ground and that result came up they cheered. Hated that Club ever since. 5. I've been out of Melbourne for 25yrs now and in Sydney for 20 yrs. I love the game so started going to games just to see some footy. In the early days there was only Free to Air and you'd only see a couple of Dees games a season. Ended up getting a Swans membership in '97 with a bunch of mates as a way to catch up. Have seen a lot of success watching the Swans but I've never had the passion for them I still have for the Dees. Its in the blood. My 17yr old son was born and breed in Sydney who got the passion, he's a fanatical Dees supporter as well. Players, Coaches, Boards come and go. Roos will have been here for a flea bite of time compared to most of us but you can still watch the same red and blue jumper running out week after week. We are Melbourne the rest are short term tenants.

We can?!?!? You bloody ripper! I bags first shot.

Whether he's right or wrong, I'm not reading the article. I feel morally obliged to avoid reading his tripe. Can't believe this dribbling oaf has made a successful career out of the sport I love. He's inarticulate, doesn't seem to understand the game, and is hopelessly biased. I don't understand why he has the gig he has and I won't support it.

1. My old man, brainwashed all 4 kids into absolute diehards. He still proudly likes to get out my first membership card he bought for me in 1984. He also recently bought my niece one before she could walk. 2. My first was apparentlyTulip, had his number on my guernsey and badge but was so young I unfortunately don't remember watching him play. Chopper Lovell was my other, loved him, still have hopes one day he'll come back to the club in some capacity. 3. Being a country kid we used to go out and collect firewood. I remember just getting home and ready to empty the trailer and stack and we turned on the car radio, would have been about 1993ish, vs the Tiges I think. Chopper and Jakovich (my sister's fav) were going goal for goal. We stopped stacking, sat on the trailer mesmerized as they ended up with 8 apiece. Wish that game was filmed. 4. Seeing the Ox blow his knee. We were at the game, I think it was when he did it the 2nd time, as a kid seeing one of your favourite players go down is shattering. 5. My dad loved Mark 'Jacko' Jackson. My sister's 3rd word after Mum and Dad was Jacko. Allegedly when mum was out dad would stick his footy card on the fridge, pop the highchair in front and repeat Jacko and point to the card.

Maybe some of us are just sick of footy when we have been kicked in the guts for 8 yrs. There are better things to do in life than subject yourself to torment when its voluntary. The club needs to realise that people have options to do with their limited time. My kids are just about cooked with footy. The club can't afford to lose any supporters let alone the future. So stick to your Pollyanna outlook on life. Must be great.

I ought to be surprised at some of the pessimism in this thread, but I'm not. Some people on here appear to just be itching for the next error to befall the club so they can say 'I told you so! We're not improving! Why didn't you all listen to me when I said so!!' If you think we're worse than last year then you're far more delusional than those who you criticise for suggesting we're doing OK. If you think our best is the worst in the league then you didn't watch our best convincingly beat Richmond, the Dogs or Geelong (two current top 8 sides, one pushing for the 8 (and in Geelong)). You didn't see our best dominate Collingwood for sustained periods (current top 8 side), or GWS for the first half (current top 8 side), or Port for the first half, or Adelaide for the first quarter. Yes, the last four of those didn't turn into wins, and that's both disappointing and not good enough. But suggestions that our best is the worst in the league are just ridiculous, the evidence shows you to be wrong. It also obscures from the reality of football - no side plays at its best week in, week out (hell, Fremantle just lost to Hawthorn by 72 points). Our best is more than good enough. If anything, the issue is our worst - our worst is not acceptable and dips below pretty much all other clubs' worsts. IMO we're working on this but a combination of bad list management, bad team selection, bad luck with injuries, and bad leadership mean that it's not being improved as fast as I would like.

I agree with Robbo, after all the hype and crap, we are still exactly the same as we were last year. Same wins, same loses, same percentage, same beat a decent team of two, lose to the teams around us. We are a nothing club, going no where slowly. Yes we could have won, we did the normal Melbourne thing and didn't.

Along those lines anyway ...more so clam up, play dumb, deny everything & stick pat. To me there's no question that Hird knows what the players were given ... he was the coach overseeing proceedings. So they walk across the road on numerous occasions to receive copious injections of various substances under his watch and he doesn't know what they were given? Why would anyone buy that bs story? He knows all and so do many others. .

He doesn't get to the contests, that's part of the problem. He gets run off way to easily, much better to hide him at Casey.

Tom provided run and a target that no-one else had been able to provide. His field kicking was pretty good. His kicking for goal was no worse than many others. Jesse Hogan's and Dawes inability to run into space and provide a target was disappointing . Most of the time, our forwards were immobilized except for Tom's efforts. I don't particularly want to see him up forward but he gave a hell of a lot more than his team mates.

Great thread! 1. The choice was either supporting Melbourne with my Mum or Carlton with my Dad. Happy to say I chose the Dees and I wouldn't have had it any other way. 2. When I was a young-un going to my first football games around 1999-2000, it was hard not to like Russell Robertson. Even from a young age, some of his marks had me standing up on my seat and will forever be etched in my memory. 3. Beating Fremantle from absolutely nowhere to chalk up our first win in 2008. Best game I've seen live (well...the second half at least). 4. 186 (2011) or 148 (2013). No further comment... 5. The Dees are on the right track. Our club is in the save hands of Paul Roos and PJ. Saturday was hugely disappointing but we're getting there....one agonisingly short step at a time. I'll be there next Saturday. Go Dees!

To add to your comment rjay at this point JKH is not an AFL level Talent. Back to Casey for the foreseeable future for mine

So does Etihad and that's only 10 mins via the city loop and not a 5 hour flight...

Watched Dawes intensively on Sat and and came away wondering what the hell he gives us. He can't mark unless he's a mile clear and it's on his chest, his opponent isn't afraid to run off him, he picks the wrong option again and again, He's not a target, he's not a presence, and he's not a goal kicker. Give me TMac kicking points over Dawes any round.

It pains me to say it but Mark Robinson's appraisal as to where we are at, in todays HUN rings alarmingly true! Year after year, decade after decade, same best intentions, same ol demon result! Except for some fleeting almost there moments "1987" for example! Not sure what the "Fix" is but after being witness to the 64 Grand Final as a little tacker ( which I don't remember ) sheeit I reckon we are "Light Years" away from ultimate dream of a premiership It has been 51 years !! Just think about it over half a lifetime!! Norm Smith Curse, Bad luck, Bad recruiting, or just plain Bad?!! It is a hard road travelled being a DEE fan! Harder than it should be!

It's not so much about what he says, or what Denham says about us, as it is some peoples refusal on here to believe it.

Started supporting the Dees in 1965! Grandparents, Mother and Uncles were fans and went most weeks with them. Would sit each week near the race, often with Stan Alves family and Max Walker was often there watching the reserves prior to the game. Went to school with the Ritterman twins and Ross Dillon - Melbourne High. Early heroes were Hassa. Tassie Bob, Donny Williams, Ross Dillon, Gary Hardeman and Greg Wells. Then came the greatest of them all Tulip. He was the most artistic of players. Balanced, clean hands, great vision and sublime skills. In some ways more like a dancer than a footballer. Had the pleasure of seeing him play his first game and watched him in the reserves playing in spectacles. No one at the time would have thought he would become a legend. It has been worth all the years of pain being a Dees supporter to have been able to see him play for the team I have loved over the years. Greatest moments - seeing the side get into 2 grand finals. Worst moments - those 2 grand finals. Special mention to Ox doing his knee for the third time and seeing Jeff White kicked in the face by King of Geelong- still seething that he was never reported.

Spot on Gorgorth If "should have" won flags we would have 20 by now.

Stats wise he is right but there's more to this game than just stats. We've beaten good sides in Bulldogs, Richmond and Geelong and we are not a bottom side anymore,you just have to watch us play to see we are more middle tier that's getting its act together. We've had some rotten luck with Petracca ,and other injuries to Frost Kent Trengove etc.., and guys like Daniher and Cloke decide to put their kicking boots on when they played us. We should have had at least another two more wins to this stage and a fool can see we are a lot more competitive. The stats are also false in that every other team has also improved bar the couple at the bottom. It's also a mental thing with the opposition where if they play us they still think of us as what we were in the past, very beatable, and they have belief they will beat us going into the contest. We need a run of wins to start to build a reputation, and it will come. To say the next two weeks are extremely important in our development is an understatement.

You been on the funny stuff again pickett? It is against the rules to mention slobbo in anything but a critical, insulting or pejorative manner. You should be banned!

Bit harsh on Jones and Brayshaw.

there is a certain inevitabiity in supporting Melbourne. Moments of bliss when a new player is drafted or arrives , the pre season where hopes are built while we train the house down. The mandatory loss of the first game as we confront a team that actually plays to win. The remorseless procession of games that are lost due to just a few critical errors.The shock win over a much higher rated team when everything seems to fall into place. And always ALWAYS the humiliating defeats when progress had seemed to been made. Essendon was humiliating. They had a team who were spooked by drug events, and were mauled from the previous weeks loss, Crikey they even had a handful of young inexperienced new players . And yet again the Melbourne team that took the field could not overcome this rabble. I do not ask for thuggery and love the nuance and skill of the contest but there has to be a mix of agression and desire. Federer and Djokovic last night played until Federer gave his best at the end of the second set and he could not force Djokovic off his game for a sustained period after that. He did not resign but he could not win. This was the player who was invincible not that long ago. And Djokovic who currently seems invincible will soon meet the younger hungrier more aggressive competitor desirous of victory and he will be beaten. Melbourne has never been Federer or Djokovic in tasting the ultimate success. we fly for a fleeting moment of glory only to plummet back to the reality of the bog, that we cannot win. WE MUST ADDRESS THIS We have now many very skilled players and we have a blend of talents that can match it with every opposition, but we are yet to apply these consistently./ If we dont we will snuff the life out of the talent and they will leave us for better results. We may never achieve anything beyond mediocrity and perhaps even disappear as the old become weary and the young seek greater stimulation. Roos got the collective to perform against Geelong. How did that happen ? The contributors to these threads make many salient comments from many perspectives.about the selection of draft picks, the tactics of the game but there are some continuing givens that the coaches do not seem to be adressing. How do we get the team conditioned to perform as they did at Geelong consistently? I also have my theories developed watching other teams and other sports. Skill is not always an essential. Leyton Hewitt began with skill deficiency in every area of the game but determination, he kept putting in until the skills developed within his game and he could match and beat those around him. He became no one in the world a title they dont give away. But you do need an awareness of your skill and ability and you do need to work within those boundaries, maximising the skill and developing the weaknesses, matching yourself always to the competition. I will add to this diatribe later if I feel up to it unless the howls of protest tell me to desist

Sun Tzu? I always thought it was Don Corleone.

I've been in the 'clutches' of the Melbourne Football Club for all of my life, and I can't escape that, but bloody Hell, there are times when I wish I could!!

1. How did you start following the Demons? My mother was a demon fan she chose them because of Ron Jnr and as her sisters and brothers where filth or bombers supporters. interestingly none of her 7 siblings chose to support stkilda their fathers team and as his brother/mums uncle played for the saints after the war. Thanks Mum sincerely. I have immense pride as a Melbourne supporter and still believe our supporters are some of the classiest/ knowledgeable and loyal supporters in the land. My dad was also a demon his father a Melbourne supporter also and still to this day. 2. Who was your very first favourite player and why? as a young fella ,Robbie Flower , he came to training a few times when I was a junior. As I became taller and more interested as a player at around 12 I started to watch and admire Jim Stynes. Great days for footy fans, state games , champions across the league good melbourne sides and Ill never forget watching the brownlow with my little bro the night Jimmy won it .Sensational. 3. Best moment as a fan? Loved the excitement as a kid going to training at the junction in 87 . watching us beat north in the prelim in 2000 . 4. Worst moment as a fan? I remember during the 87 night series out at Waverley ( not sure if it was the GF ) but they turned the lights off about 10 minutes after the game and my little bro who would have 4 at time was no where to be seen. Mum was a little worried to say the least but we found him in the dark somehow around ten minutes later. On field there have been many tough times eh , seeing good players second guessing and bereft of confidence during the Neeld tenure was pretty bad. 5. Anything else you would like to share? With both parents passing at 52 and 59 going to watch the dees gets me a little emotional at times. Not all the time and not in a sad way but its kinda like we are all there together. Its a grand old flag was the last song played at a great womans funeral. Go you Demons.

Then watch them rebuild and get back into the 8 before we do

1. How did you start following the Demons? I thought it was because my aunt (the mother of former radio announcer Denis Scanlan) was a Dees supporter, but my mum told me some years ago that when I attended the YMCA in the early '60's one of the leaders was a Melbourne supporter and it was most probably his influence.. 2. Who was your very first favourite player and why? Robbie Flower - skill and grace. 3. Best moment as a fan? Round 18 1987. 4. Worst moment as a fan? Preliminary Final 1987 5. Anything else you would like to share? I was a cheer squad member in the early '60's. We'd either sleep out on the Friday night or get the first train (4:15 AM) to the ground. We'd spend the best part of Friday night tearing up phone books and then on Saturday morning raid the toilet blocks in the Olympic Park precinct for toilet rolls (to use as streamers). When St Kilda moved to Linton Street we lit a bonfire outside the ground on the Friday night. The timber came from the ground fence. The Saints cheer squad showed up and let us in to the St Johns room where stretchers and blankets were laid out. I was 15 years old and the goings on in that room were part of my sex education.

Two days later I still find it amazing that we were so awful for so much of Saturday's game in so many respects, yet we still had ample chances to win and couldn't get the job done against such poor opposition. Yet again Nathan Jones cops a heavy tag, and nobody stood up to help him out. If he is not in our top 3-4 players on the day, we cannot win and every team in the competition knows that. Nothing against Jones, I thought his effort was as good as anyone's, but every thing he did was under significant pressure. A decent team would have been into Howlett all day, but we let him shadow Jones all day. Viney's game was about as bad as I have ever seen from a capable AFL player. Couldn't find the footy, made horrible skill errors when he did, and gave away dumb free kicks at crucial times. He owes us next week. Hogan had a shocker as well, and I can live with that - he has played twelve games. But the instruction should have been in the third quarter for him to sacrifice his game and take Hurley out of the game. We could have isolated Garlett or Howe or Watts or McDonald inside 50. Dawes was as useless as always. I'm just not sure what he contributes, but it is just pathetic when a player of Gwilt's meagre talents takes you to the cleaners. At the very least he needed to be crashing packs and preventing Hurley and co from taking uncontested marks. Even if gives away 50 by crashing in after the mark is taken, at least they'll think twice next time. McDonald needs to decide whether he wants to be a full back or something else, and I'm not sure that his skills are good enough to be anything other than a full back. His general approach to playing on Daniher was poor, as it was against Cloke. You can't play from behind against opponents who are stronger or taller or faster. Gawn was our best player, but he beat next to nothing and we couldn't find a way to exploit his dominance. I suspect he may struggle against Martin and we need to play Spencer as well. We can't keep playing all of Stretch, Neal-Bullen and Harmes together, and Brayshaw was poor as well. It worries me that the coach and his million assistants don't have the sense for when our side doesn't feel right, or when players are not right to go. It sounds like Hogan has pulled himself out twice this year, rather than the club giving him a rest. The saddest thing about this was that it was so predictable. I agree with jnrmac, the club can't continue to serve up this kind of rubbish and expect that a supporter base will always be there to chip in money at the start of each season. There is clearly a tipping point, and it is rapidly approaching. My son is off to school next year, and I doubt that he will be interested in following a rabble like this if he cops too much of a hard time from his friends.

1. Barracked for St Kilda as a kid. Swimming against the tide as it seemed like everyone else barracked for Collingwood. We lived in a Collingwood zone. Every home game one of the teachers would take keen kids to watch Collingwood at Vic Park. Collingwood??? No effin' way. (I knew some things at that tender age.) Years later that teacher got himself into a touch of bother with the law for taking little boys ....... to the football. Favourite players were Big Carl and Paul Callery. When they went to Melbourne, so did I. When they went back to St Kilda, I was old enough to barrack for the team, not the player, so I stuck with the Demons. 2. Big Carl was my first love, little Paul Callery second. But for perennial long lived favouritism, it has to be Robbie. He kept us alive through those dark years (you know, the ones before the current dark years. The second round I mean, and after the first lot of dark years ... I'm losing track of our dynasties of dark years ... that's the damage that following the Demons can do to a man's brain.) 3. Making the finals in 87 was stupefying for someone who had only experienced finals vicariously through other teams I was partially, slightly, temporarily going for ... usually only because they were against Collingwood. Beating up on North and South in the first two finals was incredible ... something totally outside of anything I could have imagined possible. But beating Carlton in 2000 ... nothing could top that. That's the only game I have ever sought out and watched again. 4. 87 prelim. Had to go to an engagement party. Sneaking out for occasional listens to the radio. Are we going to do this??? Is this really happening??? WE MIGHT WIN THIS!!!! Then the blow. Dammit, I felt ill. Everyone at the do thought I had had a seizure. It damn well felt like I had! 2000 GF was pretty bad too. Goddam I hate Sheedy. I'm glad he didn't coach us. 5. Hate the term "Dees". Makes us sound soft and cuddly and harmless. We should be Demons. Fierce, fearsome, intimidating, etc, etc ....... a man can dream .... going for the Demons in the seventies was a lot tougher than in current times. If you can believe that. We were NEVER on TV replay, NEVER in the finals. If you think we are irrelevant now, you didn't follow the Demons in the 70s. That was the decade that really gutted us as a club. However, I do not like going over ancient history. Even last Saturday is now ancient history. Onwards and upwards! Go DEMONS!

I cannot believe some of the posts in this thread. I just don't know how some of you manage to make it through the day.

I was there!! Thanks fror the reminder about Jordie's kick for goal. Not!!

1, My Dad was the physio there in the good days 2. RDB - picture of me sitting on his shoulders on the back page of the Age - Friday 'pre 64 GF 3. Do it for Robbie 4. The sainted Jimmy running through the mark. 5. I inflicted this on 2 of my kids - we need to win. We don't look like winners. We look like losers. We need to be feared. We need hard men.

1. How did you start following the Demons? Born into it, 3rd generation Demon. 2. Who was your very first favourite player and why? Graeme Yeats. If you have to ask why then you don't get what made Graeme Yeats great! 3. Best moment as a fan? The Freo comeback at the MCG,what a second half. 4. Worst moment as a fan? The last 8 years....seriously though how hard has it been! 5. Anything else you would like to share? My son was born this year and will be a forth generation Demon.

Let's one by one move all our backmen forward and then out the door through free agency so we can replace them with inexperienced compo picks in a self-regenerating cycle of eternal cellar-dwelling.

No one deserves the punishment of having to watch that game again. One of the worst in the history of AFL...

1. Third generation Demon supporter. My great uncle played for the Dees. 2. Robbie Flower - say no more. 3. Like most of the above posters - 1987. 4. Until we played Geelong this year, I had not moved on from 186. 5. My daughter was wearing a Demon's jumper on her first day of life, she converted to Collingwood as a teen and this year has seen the light, dumped Collingwood and is now back in the fold. We both have a major crush on Bernie Vince! Both of my dogs are pet members and I proudly walk them with their Melbourne leashes.

Did things suddenly just become a lot clearer for anyone else?

Hassa. He'll probably be be [censored] at me for saying it here as he's such a good bloke and I'm pretty disreputable, but then again I don't think I've ever seen him be anything other than one of nature's nice guys, so I guess I'm safe.

1. from my Dad. He would take me and my sisters to the footy and we only got chewing gum if we went for the dees, he won me and one sister but the other goes for the Tiges. He is dees due to his father and so on back through the generations. 2. Ox 3. 88 prelim 4. Sitting in the rain with my old man at the 88 granny. 5. Is it child abuse to push my 18 month old towards the dees? She has the dummy, scarf, beanie and doll already. Should I be reported to the authorities?

Took my young sons into the rooms after one match in which the WIZ had blitzed. When I introduced my kids to him he picked up my youngest and gave him a massage on one of the massage tables. Such a humble guy for the superstar he's was. When we left my son was asking why he hadn't done any magic when he was called the wizard. Too young to realise the magic he produced on the field. My son cried for hours when he left for Freo and even followed Freo until the Wiz retired. He's now a Demon

1. A kid in my street followed the Dees when I was very young and I blindly followed. 2. Robbie Flower, he was just an artist. I tell my kids he was like Nate Fyfe and Steven Hill combined and then even better. And he was. 3. The John Northey years of 87 and 88, Prelim win over Carlton in 2000 final quarter only, interviewing David Neitz with a rolled up footy record in the rooms after a big day on it at the G. 4. Waverley, Preliminary Final 1987. We deserved that win and we will have our revenge in this life or the next. 5. Im hoping my business interests go so well that I can become a major sponsor sooner rather than later. That way I can use my influence to select the side I like and sit in the coaches box. Current status Unemployed.

NT had zero to do with it. We finished hard, we just didn't finish with anything resembling polish.