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Why do you struggle with it? I think we should not lose sight of the fact that at the end of the day, football is entertainment, and people have the right to invest as much or as little as they want in it. I'm like you - I sign up, I watch and support even when we're [censored], and am 100% completely emotionally invested in it, but I don't extend my own investment in to a requirement for others to have the same investment. It's purely personal choice. I say if people want to blow in and enjoy the MFC when we're going well, we should welcome them with open arms. It should not become a competition about who managed to hang on during the grimmest periods, which is what seems to happen at times.

Interesting to hear that one of the players to take him under their wing is Nev Jetta. For those keeping count, that is Reason #572 for loving Nev Jetta.

If we did somehow get him and then play him as a forward I would be less than impressed. He was drafted as a backman, played forward for a number of years where he had very mixed results, struggled marking the ball and never kicking 30 in a year, and then was moved down back where he became an AA. Hurley and Hooker are going to have 600k-750k price tags attached to them. To pay that for someone who can pinch hit up forward isn't smart recruiting. It's very justified for getting one of the best key backs in the comp. We may currently lack a 2nd key forward, but Tmac and Dunn are not always reliable against the best of the best, or even say like how a Daniher or Cloke tore us up last year. I doubt we land Hurley but if we do it's to play on Buddy, Kennedy, J Reiwoldt and Tex. Not as some expensive decoy for Hogan. Just my thoughts.

I can't believe this is even a debate! If there's a chance we can get him to the club, we go for it. It's not even a question. Essendon and at least one other Vic club (Hawks?) were into him last year as well. I can't imagine him going to Essendon now so we would have to be in with a chance. If we can't get someone with Prestia's family links to the club we're doing something wrong.

Dead set mate, you think I am just looking at the stats sheet and forming an opinion. I see what I see, and the stats back it up. You keep crapping on about his "presence", when he didn't even stick a single tackle in the whole game. But, but, he "got out the way for Hogan and Watts". I think we set our sights for that "role" a little bit higher. Worth pointing out Pedo stuck 4 tackles, and I remember one goal in the first quarter directly came from the pressure Pedo applied when the ball hit the deck. And I will stress again, I am not saying drop him or he won't make it as a forward, I am just saying I am yet to be convinced.

The man bun puts me off...

that watt's baulk, blind turn then handball to avdb was a thing of beauty. could watch it all day reminded me of schwarter in his nureyev period

Quick shout out to the 28,505 of us who got down to the ground on Saturday. North vs Adelaide was a game between two of last year's finalists, one of whom some say is a top 4 contender, at night (i.e. "primetime"), but only drew 25,485. WB v Fremantle was also a game between two of last year's finalists, both of whom people considered to be top 4 contenders (though to be fair was played in the dead-zone of 1.10pm on Easter Sunday), and drew 27,832. We also pulled a bigger crowd than in Round 1 last year vs GC (despite last year's game being played in glorious sunshine all afternoon). I'm quite proud of our effort this week and I hope we see a decent portion of MFC supporters this week to try to deafen the crap coming from the Essendon morons.

Protest by smashing them into the turf by 15 goals That's enough for me!

Melbourne FC ‏@melbournefc 3m3 minutes ago Congratulations to Clayton Oliver, who has been named the NAB AFL Rising Star nominee for round one! Awesome debut game. Thought the guy from Sydney would have got it but good start to your career Clayton.

More of a link man than Toumpas, better forward play than Howe. He plays a role that we don't have too many competitors for - especially if he continue to find the footy through the middle. 10 touches within 55m of goal and 11 further up the ground. Not many on our list would be comfortable doing that, or be able to do it.

Again, it just re-enforces in my mind that the experts try and extrapolate what 18 year old kids whose bodies and skills have not yet fully developed, playing in an age limited competition will turn out like in the open competition of AFL.They get it right and they get it wrong. Interesting for me is the way Roos handled Oliver - he had no hesitation in put him right at the coalface in the centre square to get clearances yet did not thrash him highlighted by his limited game time. Oliver talks highly of the influence of McCarthy. I cannot stress that we are a new club that does two things - drafts talent and then develops talent. I no longer feel we will be successful because we get high draft picks that were talented juniors. We will be successful because we have some high draft picks that were talented juniors that we will develop.

Pedo played a great last Q He doesn't get enough credit!!

Clayton Oliver's R1 highlights:

As Jim Carrey once highlighted..."like a glove!" I really really prefer a team of competitors Dee Gee. And if he's bashing a Josh Kennedy or a Buddy Franklin on GF day with us in front...the taxi driver incident - whilst I don't condone it - I'll just put it down to his doning the sash at that time with a 'whatever it takes' attitude.

148 Not for me - we owe them. I too am worried about losing this one but if we're well on top, I don't want to just win. I want to pulverise and demoralise them and give our percentage the massive injection we may need to play finals in 5 months time.

I'd go for Prestia over Whitfield every day of the week. Remembering performances from both of them that I've seen, and having a look at their career numbers, Dion is definitely the better player IMO.

I think it's not just that we won, but that he was instrumental in the win. Once they put him back in the guts in the last quarter, our midfield got well on top again, and he won the clearances that resulted in the first two goals of the last quarter. His absence during the third quarter was the only period where their midfield started to get on top in the contests. The kid is a freak. This may seem like hyperbole, but after one game and at 18, he is already the best inside midfielder that I've seen at the club. Even if he doesn't get any better, it doesn't matter. His focus over the next two years will be tank development; if he can get up to 75-80% TOG then he is going to be unstoppable.

I dunno - maybe for some just the sight of an Essendon guernsey might be enough to boo, but to me I'd feel like I was booing the players who opted out, the players who are young and unfortunate enough to be drafted there, and the players trying to eek an extra year or two in the system by playing as a top-up. None of the people I feel are guilty and worthy of my contempt would be present. As an MFC and sport fan, I'd be happy just to grind their team in to dust on the field and leave it at that.

I've put up with some horrible players over the decades and Dom Tyson isn't one of them. He made mistakes he wouldn't be proud of, but he also plays where there's the most heat. I'll cut him some slack in the first game of the year.

Just need to ask why when Dawes drops marks it goes along the ground to opposition backman to mop up but when Frost makes a physical impact and doesn't mark it allows Kent and Garlett to crumb. Are you suggesting that Dawes drop his marks to opposition advantage ?

Didn't know where to put this so here will do. It bemuses me that Roos not getting much credit for the win, here on DL or in the media. As i have said his value as a game day coach in terms of communication is his capacity to motivate the players. It seems he did a brilliant job of that. Four goals down against a pretty good side and we had the belief to come out and roll them. Also he made some excellent positional decisions and moves, something he has been criticised here on DL for not doing. Jeffy to the wing an on ball, swapping Nat Jones and Vince, moving Hogan on to the ball to get him going, Oliver starting in the centre in the last (gutsy move) and Pederson down back. All moves that work. No doubt his assistants including Goodwin, came up with some of those idea but he still has to sift through ideas and pull the right rein. Would love to hear David King give credit where credit is due. Who knows we might have lost thsi game if Goodwin was in charge.

And gee can he handball! There was one i think in the last but could be wrong (the second perhaps) that showed both vision and smarts. He collected the pill in traffic, in the center corridor, held it for just a brief second and gave a long handball to a player in space streaming through the middle. What was really impressive was that he deliberately put it in front of the player, who not only did not have to break stride, even had to stretch for it. It was almost as if he was directing the receiver where to run to. Vision, smarts and technical skill equals a good package.

Do you remember a couple of years back when rumours were floating around about Essendon players receiving "show cause" notices, ie ASADA had started proceedings against a bunch of them. That bastion of integrity Robbo wrote a story in the HUN naming 14 of them, and in the very same issue wrote an opinion piece bemoaning how unfair it was that the players privacy had been invaded. This "hair drugs" story, if published at all, should have been about the number of players in the pool of AFL players using illicit drugs and how that compares to the rest of society. (I don't know if it's more or less or equal.) To make it about Collingwood is taking the easy way out and is just the kind of thing we have come to expect of the HUN and those who work for it.

I wouldn't be ruling out 2016 so soon.

FB: Jetta / T. McDonald / Garland HB: Vince / O. McDonald / Salem C: Brayshaw / Tyson / N. Jones HF: Petracca / Watts / Vandenberg FF: Garlett / Hogan / Kent R: Gawn / Oliver / Viney I: Kennedy / Bugg / Trengove / Neal-Bullen E: Prestia / Hurley / Melksham No..?

He actually laid the best tackle of the round. It is just the umpires somehow called it a push in the back.

You have no idea what the salary cap will be next year or 5 years down the track. $600k will not be overs for a player like Prestia.

Since we won't win it this year, I'll be barracking hard for the Dogs to win it. Not sure it's possible, but gees wouldn't it be nice to see someone new win the damn thing? Not to mention one of the poor clubs! If it's Hawthorn, Geelong, West Coast or Sydney again, we may as well give up.

When we win next week and Richmond lose and drop to 9th spot, order will be restored.

also possible for us to be the only undefeated side and a game clear on top

Such an interesting game to dissect. A lot has (rightfully) been made of GWS's terrible kicking for goal and how they will lament the loss. I'd have to say though, given the general feel of the game and looking at the stats, we'd have been equally as livid if we had've failed to get the job done. GWS looked handy in patches but mainly on the counter attack. I don't think this is a great strategy and it's one of the areas we fell down in last year and already seem to have rectified. While they turned the ball over in our 50, we are aiming to turn it over much closer to goal. Their dinky little goals with no one around them look like effective ball movement but certainly is not a viable, September-minded plan IMO (and I certainly don't claim to have the strategies of the game figured out). Obviously they were also influenced by Cameron being out. Seeing St Kilda yesterday dominate in the middle and also rely on counter-attack goals yet still get blown away shows the dangers of this style. It's hard to conclude whether we turned the ball over on their terms and we were lucky to get away with the win as it was played on their terms. Or if we simply had to adjust the way we used the ball inside 50 and we would've trashed them. I suppose the answer may lie somewhere in the middle but I'm on the whole happy with how we seem to be moving the ball, playing pretty tough at stoppages and tackling well. If Max Gawn stays fit and we can get a functioning half-forwardline, this could be a pretty enjoyable season.

I know this won't happen. But we could simply move Frost back to replace OMac and bring in Brayshaw.

Matt Jones should not be and won't be dropped. I love James Harmes: he has a crack, he can kick goals and his attitude is infectious, but he is presently the 22nd best player in our side.

The beauty of the GIF is we won't see that part

They also got well on top when Gawn was off the ground. Pedersen and Frost aren't good enough back-up.

The role he played for us was far more significant than any of the other potential nominee's in my opinion, 15 contested touches in a hard fought close game with a quality midfield is a good effort but two clearances that resulted in two goals in the last from a first gamer is insane. imo he doesn't play anywhere but the AFL team in 2016 unless he is rested, kid is as promising as anyone at the club, including Hogan

You have been a constant basher on Kennedy right from the moment he walked through the door. Its fair to say he was one of our top 5 best players and set up 5 goals just from smarts and clss. Surely he deserves bit of praise from yourself?

Put a $10 multi on today. Rising star - Oliver Coleman - Kennedy Brownlow - Danger Premiers - Dogs paying 30k

Every team that won in round 1 plays a team in round 2 that lost which means it's mathematically possible for us to win next week and remain 9th.

I'd be interested to know how different the Essendon team we lost to last year is from the one we'll be playing next week. From memory Watson, Hurly and Heppell didn't play. This game will tell us how far we've come. It may sound strange, but can we really bury a less fancied opponent and a team we should beat? I suspect we can, but if there's that old MFC attitude of complacency it means we probably won't and that we haven't progressed as far as I think we have.

You know things are on the up when Tyson is your whipping boy.

Hird: gone Little: gone Thompson: gone Robinson: gone Dank: gone 34 drug-taking players: not playing What is left to boo? A whole lot of players who had nothing to do with the drug issue and a new coach. Just beat them, that's enough for me. Anything else is childish, vindictive rubbish. P.S. Are you going to boo Jamar too if he plays?

They have Neeld. That is enough payback.

Spoke to a Pies fan who goes to most of their games, who was upset they traded him. Said he was never given a chance to show what he could do. Said he was the sub in nearly every game he played for them and just had no time to settle in when he came on. Loved his 1% acts on Saturday.

i live in absolute fear of losing this game.

He was at his best as a link man and showed some neat skills hitting up forwards. A really excellent debut. If he keeps distributing the footy like that - he will play 22 games.

Got bored watching Collingwood get flogged, so I turned it over to the North game, and straight away got a shot of Brad Scott with his mouth open and hands in the air. There just aren't the words to sufficiently describe how much that guy irks me.