Delusional demon 82

96 dees hawks merger game was on yesterday on Fox footy on Jason dunstalls feature day, may well be repeated again during the month

My reasons for optimism our midfield has significant improvement in 2016 1.Salem and VB back on the park add depth (as well as salems kicking ability and VBs added grunt ) 2. Brayshaw will go the distance this season , last year faded later on as you would expect a tired first year player to 3. Patrecca even conservatively is another 1st season Brayshaw player and most likely another hogan like impact rising star winner or at least top 5 4.Jones did not have his best season in 2015 by his own standards , and both he and Vince will benefit from depth and further experience of the emerging players, they will no longer have to carry the midfield, but instead now be supported. 5. Vineys a beast and takes no prisoners, can tag elite opposition effectively (e.g Selwood) and win the ball and is now at the mature age level to really assert himself on the comp. Kicking ability is the only hurdle, but then again that didn't stop Viney Sr 6. Tyson to improve on 2015 and can be an A grade midfielder 7. Stretch and Oliver as impact players during the season and further depth at a minimum, but surely there is more upside . Even half a dozen games from Oliver with a 1st year Brayshaw like impact early on is quite likely . Given our draw we need early wins and a younger players to have an impact before tiring later on. 8. Competition for spots in midfield will be tighter than it has been in over 10 years driving up the intensity and work rate of the playing group to earn their spot. The bar will be raised. 9. Silky finishing to come from the likes of Vince, Salem, Tyson and Brayshaw, coupled with hard edged grunt of Viney, Jones, VB and Patrecca and melksham off half back. I think the mix is getting about right, now just need the experience levels to creep up 10. Impact of Goodwins midfield and Maccas development coaching over past 18 - 24 months to really now show. IMO we are flying under the radar to outsiders, many will be quite surprised . The difference from earlier years is we have now have options and actual depth with players challenging for spots, no more walk ups into the side which will curb any insipid work rate efforts and drop offs like we saw against Carltank last year ....even if only 6-7 off the above actually come to fruition there is still considerable improvement.

Their finals dreams in tatters and ed & Co stuck in the box with nothing much better to say ...so bad it was hilarious. Season replay was in oct I think , In January fox is showing past great players programming on what in their view was the top games of the last 25 years (Brereton, dunstall etc) not necessarily their own but dunstall (surprise surprise ) has lined up the merger game in 96 plus a few hawthorn gf's in recent years, a bit too much hawthorn being shown lately if u ask me

Speaking of the propsosed merger , the 96 merger game with the Hawks is on Fox footy this sat morning, Jason dunstall's guest programming his take on the best games of the past 25 years ... A tad bit arrogant given he got to a hundred that night...but in fairness was a classic contest and historically significant , and scarily could have been that last mfc game ever

You need to revisit it watching "press red for ed" in the last quarter for maximum effect....

No melb players to feature, just a whole lot of overrated Richmond players... I look forward to a day next year dedicated to Jesse Hogan highlights, toweling up the likes of rance and frawley

Handing out floggings to the likes of Collingwood and hawthorn during the daniher years... yep those were the days !

Glad the club seems to be finally in a period of stability both in the football department and at the administration / board level since PJ's arrival. Can't think of the last time we both club stability plus a promising young list building. Hopefully some bright years ahead...

Yes but the fundamental trademarks of a champion and super star is consistency. Unfortunately it was always flashes of brilliance from Travis.

Someone at Fox footy must like really like Richmond with Rance on today that makes 3 supposedly " super " stars that still can't crack a finals win. Over used term today anyways....should just have been a superstars week, far more realistic, At least I know when we get to September our players will actually turn up. I wouldn't be at all surprised if we won a final before Richmond

History month was a way better concept ... got to watch some of the 87 finals games for the first time (as was only 5 at the time), relived a bit of 1998 but disappointingly there was none of our 2000 season... even some great neutral games Hopefully bernie or jonesy get a gig in the next week

8 - 11 is the range I'm working in, im still confident with our list developing and the evenness of the comp after 6th spot theres a reasonable chance to just sneak into the 8 if things go our way and player effort is consistently produced week in and week out however a couple of things need to happen: Firstly we need to end one of these 10 year winless hoodoos against either one of stkilda, North or the dawks. 2 out of 3 is realistic Second we need back to back wins ...early on... and then ultimately more than once - captain obvious for 8th spot , but when was the last time we did it...2011 ??? That's a serious hurdle mentally for the players and the club to overcome and believe they can compete for a top 8 spot When I see these both ticked off by queens birthday I'll be more convinced we can land in the upper end of that 8-11 range

1. My dad, growing up around Essendon he went against the trend of his cousins and uncles all bombers supporters, and barracked for the Dees. Don't think I ever had a choice...I can remember growing up and being one of only a few at school to barrack for Melbourne. My two year old son already says " go dees" 2. The ox (the dream began for me in Sept 94) 3.2000 Qualifying final against carl-tank and the prelim against norf was like a dream 4. 2000 gf- even though I didn't have my hopes up of beating Essen drug that day, just getting so close to the dream was still just a tease , almost cruel in a way ... any other grand finalist a couple of years either side of 2000 and we would have had a red hot chance to win the flag... timing of our rare gf appearances were not great. Can't comment on 87 as I was too young but I remember dad being upset. 5. In hindsight i wish i had appreciated more our on field performances from 1998-2006 whilst we weren't geniuine flag contenders (perhaps 2000 aside) and there was the yo-yo years I had no idea what lay in wait for us thereafter ...I just long for the days again when you can rock up to the G and have a better than 50% chance of winning. I'm sure it will be worth the wait!

Still somewhat of a backhanded compliment from Caro.... not surprising. Trajectory seems very good off field relative to the base were coming off pre PJ (as well as considering other hurdles with the poor fixturing which somewhat offsets the afl handouts benefits - agree with much of what has been said above), just need to consolidate it with the on field in 2016 ...need to at least be genuinely in the hunt for finals footy for most of the year, or best case sneak in 8th spot. Slowly (and patiently) we finally seem to be getting our sh!t together as a club. Keep it up !

The most disappointing part of 98 was the way the finals were structured back then 4th v 5th we smash adelaide by 10 goals and not only do they stay in the finals series because 7th and 8th lost but got the easy side of the draw and caught out and ran over the top of norf and Carey after they missed sitters to blow them away early on in the gf ... I know they had to travel all tjose weeks but fmd we just needed a bit more luck on our side that year. Schwartz has said 98 was more of a missed opportunity than 2000

Whilst it feels like a lifetime ago I recall both our 1994 and 1998 finals campaigns had two great potentforward lines, Thought just crossed my mind which was better?? (I was only 12 and 16 respectively back then so keen to get some views from the older crew ) my favorite memory was the ox ripping Carlton a new one in the 94 first qualifying final Names I recall in those years 1994 G Lyon, Schwartz, martin pike, sean Charles, Allan Jackovich? (Neitz was in the back line then if I recall correctly ) 1998 Neitz, J farmer, Schwartz, g Lyon , darren kowal ??

Australian football media association awards....never heard of it before but nearly fell off my chair when slobbo announced it on 360 tonight...apparently commeti won it last year

Did i hear right Derwaynne awarded most outstanding tv caller ??? Surely they must be taking the pi$$ , no way!

Agree with your connent about why PR and PJ are at the club but...on potting the supporters I think roosys first comment was that the supporters deserved better on sunday, the veil of negativity comment was simply calling It out I don't think he was having a go at the supporters for being negative he was simply highlighting that the last 8 yrs have affected us all. Who could blame supporters for being naturally pessimistic or at least cautious before getting excited about turning a corner it's a roller coaster ride. We have every right to not accept the performances dished up over the past couple of weeks. He backtracked because it suggested the staff and administration were being negative which is obviously not great as that's what he and PJ are there to fundamentally correct I'm ok with roosy calling it as it is..cos he's right, but I'm more concerned with how he's dealing with fixing it behind closed doors and with the players and administration. Because we are not privy to it and we only can go off what the players are doing on the field

Wasn't neeld held in the same regard with the pies back in 2011 as Bolton is now ?? a strong assistant coach from the reining premiers ...? I'm still ok with roos / Goodwin transition, the trajectory is well up from 2013 (not even just on wins) he wasn't going to turn it around in 2 yrs but we still have some fundamental playing group issues that need to be faced into. Roosy will earn his keep if he can make some bold calls in the off season, I think everyone acknowledges that yr 3 can't just be another 2 wins on the prior year need to be genuinely challenging for 8th spot ...

It's great that roos can identify the negativity aspect and it's affect, but to be honest we need more than motherhood statements on 360 from him as to "how do we as a club address this?" - I felt like saying that's your job mate that's why we brought you in and pay you a premium because your an experienced senior coach & you've come from a winning culture at the bloods He should have known this from the very start, if he underestimated it then he was naive and should have asked more questions. Ultimately we don't know exactly what goes on behind closed doors with the playing group, but to my mind the last couple of weeks highlight that roosys will need to be bold in the off season (even Robbo slid that comment in last nite too) we need on field leaders or at least future leaders. I think we as a club (however unlikely...here's my mfc negativity ...) to try and lure a captain courageous type to the club, I don't know how you do it..money, offer captaincy, use free agency... I don't know but that's what we pay roosy for and we lured him here even if it seemed unlikely at the time... just like carlton stole barassi from the club in its hayday we need to do the same...

I simply refuse to allow this current generation of inept, overpaid and mentally weak mfc players, the uninspiring on field leaders and the seemingly endlessly pathetic mfc player performances & results to make me want to give up on this club and the dream of one day seeing my footy team win a flag. I am 33 years old and so I can't profess to have suffered through the clubs woes during the late 60s, 70s and early 80, but looking back to the days when I first really started supporting this club as a12 yr old watching the ox (pre knee recos) tear up and G against the blues in the 94 finals series, it seems like a lifetime ago, but even then I could sense we were bitterly close to an elusive flag, and just the same in 98 and 2000 for many of the same reasons, hard luck , up there but just not good enough to go all the way. The ups and downs of the daniher era were annoying but you always knew we could turn things around and be competitive. I could never have imagined what lie in wake for us these past 8 years, but one thing I do know is that in this game the wheel keeps spinning, dynasties don't last forever and nor does languishing at the bottom of the ladder, yeah sure some clubs have a far better record than us of rebounding and turning things around , but no matter how far back you go through the history of the game , each club has it's day and it's moments, and it's glories, and we have been walking in the wilderness for a long time and waiting and dreaming (even if delusionally) for our time to come Someone earlier on this thread referred to supporting Melbourne, paying your membership and enduring all of this sh$t over the past 10 years as an "obligation" I would agree and part of it also gives me a sense of calm when watching typical performances like this today, whilst frustrating, I feel more connected to this club (not the players or the administration) but it's history and supporters and the journey and the obligation not to give up on it and the desire to one day see it be a powerhouse again. I wish it would come quicker, but it won't, but I know one day it will

Will be YouTube'n the 2000 qualifying final win before the weekend ...has to be one of my favorite mfc games ever

I think we cant really assess roosys performance until at least end of next year (to be honest it will be in 3-4 years time as frustrating as the last 8 years have been I still think we are on the right (yet slow and patient) track for sustained improved performance, not just shooting up the ladder for one year with a ganeplan only to fall back down (look at Port and watch the bulldogs once teams work out how to better deal with their running game next year) we want to ingrain a winning culture like sydney, geelong, hawks etc where we're consistently contending. This all comes back to strong club culture and having on field leaders which we haven't had anything close to since 2008. I think the main reason st kilda and dogs seem ahead of us now is their +30 yr old leaders are leading and this is where our current inconsistencies arise. This comp is so hard to win and what seperates pbly 3rd from 10th is more to do with what's between the players ears their intensity & confidence. Roos was brought in not to fast track a rebuild but to get it right off field and create a consistent winning and on field leadership culture. Goodwin (and us) will reap the benefits of the last 2 years ...