dieter

I thought Pickett was okay at the demons. Vardy was very good when fit, some games very,very,good.

I love the man. Great that he's playing for Melbourne.

Both of them set the seal in the first quarter: when Shuey missed what he should have hand passed and Darling with his [censored]-weak shot at goal and his turnover. Then the same pox that plagued them last week against North - inaccuracy. Game over first quarter.

Every time he's selected I feel we're sure to lose. Though he was good against Geelong...

My wife had dinner last week with Dangerfield's mistress's mother who says he barracks for Sydney and is waiting for a Buddy like offer. Whatever the outcome, we're out of the picture so get over it Demonlanders. She also said he's most probably gay.

I'd pass. Too much form. If he came good at another club I'd be really happy for him. In fact, I'd rejoice. Even if he kicked the winning goal in a grand final against us. That's the kind of fella I am. Go Harvey Bennel, prove us all wrong

Rod Owen's first 9 games for Melbourne were fantastic. Then he did his knee again. End of story. Marcus Seecamp could play as well. Didn't take any cheek either. Daniel Ward was good.

Gary Baker was fantastic. He was an outsider for a brownlow one year.

What, you're saying Hardeman wouldn't get a game today??? At least he could mark, at least he could outmark, at least he could get the bloody pill. So Greg Parke couldn't kick more than 40 metres: at least he took 20 marks a game, every game.

Saw the sheer sadness on his face when he was subbed at three quarter time about 5 matches ago. I assumed the hierarchy had decided he was gone.I was surprised to see him picked the next week and he hasn't looked back. I like him. He has a go and his disposal is intelligent and unhurried.

I agree with this sentiment. I do feel sorry for the players who have tried but come up short. I hate bagging them. Then again, I hate seeing us getting thrashed and beaten to a pulp so often because we've unearthed so many of these players.

I forgot to mention (Clarke) Kent. Now, if he can stay fit, there's a Dewie Stue-like beast waiting to happen. (as in Stue Dew.)

Dudes and dudesses Maybe because spring's sap is rising in everything but my lemon tree, I feel like there are things happening in the Demon camp similar to the time before 1987 when the phoenix almost rose again under Northey. The germ of this hunch is in the latent quality of the players blooded in 2015. All of the 2015 recruits showed something, White in the last game, Neale-Bullen, Stretch, Harmes, the Flying Dutchman, Brayshaw, a guy called Hogan etc etc. Then there'll be Petracca, Trengove, Frost, the return of the very under-rated Pederson, and whatever the savvy cats drag in over the trade period. Please exit Terlich - a noble warrior who keeps shooting his team in the foot- M. Jones - God bless him, but he ain't got it - ditto Bail, McKenzie, Fitzpatrick and, unfortunately, Grimes. Because of the likes of Hogan, Gawn, Viney and the old core of Dunn, Jones, Garland, Lumumba, Dawes, I can see a bright future. Yes, Hogan is a cross between Neitz, Schwartz and Jakovich sans the Slavonic attitude.

Watched the game today and I thought Newton was one of our weak spots. He kicked some nice goals but he fumbled a lot, dropped marks he should have taken and I see him as a back up player. The player who impressed me was Harmes. Now there's some material to work with. Great, clean hands and a tank and heart to go with it. I feel sorry for Grimes, ex captain, now just a turnover specialist. At least we now have some definite A grade talent: Hogan, Vince, Salem, Brayshaw, Jones when he's not just bullocking, and Gawn can be fantastic. Stretch is potentially A grade and Garlett is a friggin genius. The McDonald boys are exciting: pity about Tom's propensity to pass the ball to the opposition. Mitchie's disposal is very good, hand and foot skills are nearly A grade. Next year might be fun with Tyson, Frost, Petracca and Trengove to come back. And then there's the icing, that Sherman Tank called Vanden Berg.

Second that. Ditto Luke Hodge when the Hawks decide his indiscretions would be unpardonable were they to find out he voted Labour. In the end, we don't want thugs and snipers and selfish duckheads. Yes, I know there are there among you who want a team of Grinters . I'd prefer a team of Flowers, Schwarzes and Vineys. And Wights and Styne's and Alves and Wells and Lovetts. Thank you very much. .

Toumpas got a lot of games early in the season.

That's more than Mat Jones ever has. I know now that every time Mat is picked we're going to get thrashed. I don't get it how they keep going back to him. Admittedly live cattle stocks have been low recently but we'd be better off starting with 23 players.

Boys, boys, boys; it's a game called Aussie Rules. There are winners, there are losers. Times change. From 1955 to 1964 we were the winners. From 1987 to 1992 we were thereabouts, ditto 1994, ditto 1998 and various years under Daniher. We've been shite ever since, none of it the fault of the Roos. What he's paid is irrelevant. He was employed to fix a stagnant, cesspool. Unfortunately there is residual dross to clear, dross recruited by men who ought to have known better. Then again, the draft is a lottery. Then again, when you drop in some names we've rolled the dice with and you can see that we ain't the best dice rollers in the business. In the meantime, when Melbourne plays well - as it does all too infrequently - one can see hope for the future. Remember we would have looked a better side were Frost, Pederson, Kent, Salem, Tyson, Vandenburg, Petracca,Trengove etc been available more than they have been. Okay, the same scenario applies to every side. I know I felt way more confident at the start of this year then I'd felt for a long time and I accept that so many of the club's efforts have been below par, but I still have faith that with the quality of the lads coming through - most of whom have had expectations way beyond their capacity thrust on them - that Roos has pointed us in the right direction. Okay, armchair pundits like Matthew Lloyd and Gary Lyon have pointed out deficits in Roos's so called game plan but I'd like both of them to answer how one is to affect an alternative 'contemporary' game plan when saddled with troops like Terlich, Mat Jones, Bail, Riley and McKenzie. This is not meant as a slight to these men, I just acknowledge the fact that they are not up to the standard required of elite AFl players. And the bottom line is that apart from Jetta and Mc Donald, not one of our defenders would get a regular game with any other club. These are, please remember, inherited troops. I also believe that when the bible claims that jesus turned water into wine it was having us plebs on, maybe begging us to aspire, most of us, to levels we're not meant to be at. Roos was never going to turn a lot of water into wine at MFC, simply cos he ain't jesus.He's Paul Roos.

No doubt about it!

Yes, I know, Tommy... How many people on this thread read books, do you reckon, Skuit? how many people listen to Brahms? Just a question. Just nice to see a post mentioning something cultutal insteead of the normal gutter-sniping drivel.

Pynchon who?

Might as well be for all the illiterate bogans who express their bogan insights. Sometimes I imagine I barrack for port Adelaide...

Jaysus, haven't you dudes anything better to do than masticate semantics? Get a LIFE.

This is like trying to watch a show called Valley of the brain dead.

God, it's so frigging boring reading the same juvenile point scoring between the couch potatoes who seem to have nothing better to do than reply and re-reply to the same old crap they keep churning out day after day after day. Most of whom I vouch have never played a game of ozzie rules in their lives. If they had they wouldn't be making the same boring ex cathedra judgement they make so regularly.