Rodney (Balls) Grinter

2 hours ago, Katrina Dee Fan said:

Two conversations I had with Collingwood supporters while near the slide before I went back to the safe haven of the Demon Army:

First Collingwood supporter.

CS (looking at me with venom in his eyes) - "I hate Melbourne"

Me (smiling, shrugging) - "That's okay, I hate Collingwood."

CS - "You haven't beaten us in 3 years."

Me (smiling) - "That's okay, you haven't won a premiership in 13 years."

Later on as the team is announced, he booed Brodie.

Me - "What are you booing him for?  He wanted to stay at your club."  His friend replied to him, "Yeah, that was pretty stupid."

Collingwood supporter 2

We were pretty crowded around the slide, and I was keeping an eye on my 12 year old nephew, who accidentally hit someone in the head with his flagpole and apologised straight away.  

CS - "He's only a Melbourne supporter, he can be chucked out."

Me  (turning into protective Auntie mode) - "Really?  He's 12! Besides it's our home game, and as a member he has as much right than anyone to be here." 

CS - screamed in my face that I'm a "f&*%ing arrogant entitled Melbourne supporter".

Because I was protecting a child from an adult bully.

 

Love the responses to supporter 1.  Supporter 2 - WTF are you serious?

BTW, I was there at the Gabba 3 years ago in 2020 when we absolutely belted them, which was soo enjoyable.

2 hours ago, YearOfTheDees said:

They were very confident before the game including the tool who  put the $91000 on the pies to win just before the first bounce. 

So the question is was a Collingwood supporter with this much money:

a)  A crack dealer?

b) A bank robber?

c) The collective dole cash for the cheer squad?

d) Not actually a Collingwood supporter?

1 minute ago, Gawndy the Great said:

Was just a stinger - he mentioned it in the post game interview. 

Phew

14 minutes ago, Macca said:

Sidebottom was playing very well until injured. I rate him very high

And we covered for Oliver in some ways with Viney

Elliott might have a few injuries but not always.  An extremely dangerous forward

De Goey is a star

Going into the game we had a bit of an advantage in terms of available high-end talent

But against all that we had the yips something chronic in front of goal so kick straight and we win easily

Don't be underestimating the Pies.  We got the win but there will be a next time

They've been up for a long time and this loss for them will probably do them the world of good

Put it this way, if we underperform in front of goal like we did today (in a final) ... we'll lose

But enjoy the win, we played very well and beat a worthy opponent

Agree with pretty much all your points Macca.

Sidebottom has been very damaging against us for a long time.  It's mostly me hoping that age catches up with him as much as anything.

Love the idea - how did this go?

4 minutes ago, Macca said:

Their outs hurt them more than our outs ... by a fair margin.  But if we'd kicked straight we win by 6 or 7 goals

So even if their outs played (and Oliver plays) I reckon we still win

Petty and Bowey are not in the same league in terms of pure talent and we covered for both quite well with Smith playing well up forward along with our running backmen collectively covering for Bowey

Sidebottom & De Goey are stars of the sport and Elliott is a gun forward in big games

We'll need to prepare well for a full strength Pies team (down the track)

Sidebottom and particularly Pendelbry have age against them these days and I'd expect them to become more fragile as time goes on.

Elliott has always been injury prone, so I don't know if Collingwood can really count on him being there in their best 22.

De Goey was cancelled by Oliver.

Great call by the fitness team to manage Hibbo last week.  Thought he was great today and keeping his body fresh for the big games and finals will be important to our success in September.  Don't really have a replacement for him at this stage, he's just a pig dog beast.

52 minutes ago, In Harmes Way said:

I reckon we should ask for a please explain from the AFL for Lever being paid a 50m against in the Anzac Eve game for carrying on behind the mark, and the Collingwood player at half time for Trac’s kick after the siren doing the exact same thing for no resultant 50. Really poor.

Then there was the time they let Mason Cox stand the mark while we had a shot on goal, when the free clearly wasn't paid against him 😠

2 minutes ago, YesitwasaWin4theAges said:

According to some Salem is a softy, i hope those doubters had a very hard look at his game today.

Put your hand up and say sorry to the great man.

Salem a softy - yeah nah.

1 hour ago, chook fowler said:

Like Tomlinson down back - is very reliable and good for Levers game. 

I also like Tomo.  Real quality of character to keep fronting up and presenting himself to be selected when he's frequently finds himself on the frindge.  I wouldn't say he's nessacerilly reliable though.  Think he's very much a confidence type player and for a season and a half he's lacked that, but I think it's great now he's found his mojo again and agree that today he was very good.

The win was great, but after having rocked up every week to the low crowd drawing games including Hawthorn, North and Freo I'm so [censored] that I couldn't be there today because of the Fffffed up ticketing arrangements.

On 5/24/2023 at 6:06 PM, 3183 Dee said:

@DubDee - you should check with the club as, if you have a GA membership you should be able to get into every home game. There may be less choice of seats, but your membership should be counted as a ticket already sold. There’s no way you should have to pay extra just to get in.

On 5/24/2023 at 6:10 PM, FearTheBeard said:

No, you cannot scan in on the day with a normal GA membership for Kings Birthday, that is the whole point of a fully ticketed event. The only tickets already counted as already sold for this game are reserved seat members. This was a decision not made by the club and there is not much that they can do about it.

Personally I'm really [censored] off about this situation.  I'd cut short a trip to Brisbane specifically to go to Kings birthday game for the first time in years on the basis that as a full home and away member (but without a reserve seat) I could reasonably watch the game if I got there early enough to get one of the GA seats allocated for the game.

Back in Feb the club sent an email that stated:

Your membership will grant you general admission access to all home games at the MCG. You do not need to upgrade to a reserved seat for these games, however it is strongly encouraged for Rounds 1, 6 and 13 due to capacity.

The in March (an email I missed in all the spam, it softened that to "(subject to availability)" and then a few weeks ago when I was busy with a whole bunch of life stuff, it's there burried in an email that you do need upgrade to a reserve seat as they have been busy preselling all the tickets.

I'd like to know where the buck truely stops with this mess as on the AFL website it states:

https://www.afl.com.au/tickets/faq

Who sets the ticket prices?
The home club sets the prices for all 2023 Toyota AFL Premiership Season matches.

I’m a member, will I be forced to upgrade to attend a game?
This process may differ from club to club. Please refer to details provided by your club or contact them directly for further information.

1 hour ago, kev martin said:

I've found that as well.

An example was in our loss to Freo, a supporter was claiming loudly that "if Lever plays again, he will never watch again". I am bewildered. 

Really unhappy people, or have such high expectations, or maybe entitlements. 

Where we have have been in the past 50 years, and where we are at the moment. That way of support doesn't add up?

At the Freo loss old mate up back of our bay kept yelling that Harmes shouldn't get another game, and that he should go back to the VFL, because that was his standard. 

Admittedly Harmes did quite a few stinker things that day, but he's got a well earnt premiership medallion and a memory of kicking that brilliant pass to Fritta that turned the game that old mate will never have.

1 hour ago, dworship said:

You clearly don't sit anywhere near Mrs Dw or myself. I had to move from where I was sitting for the Carlstink game because I was making a small child cry, I was that loud.

The game after playing Richmond (I think it was North), I could hardly yell out because of the short 5 day break between games and I'd yelled myself horse because of the atrocious umpiring we copped against Richmond that week.

52 minutes ago, whatwhat say what said:

my favourite comeback to 'gone skiing' during the football season is 'ugh...as if we ski LOCAL! japan or aspen only, daaaaaaaaaarling'

being fickle elitist rich snobs is one of the best stereotypes in sport

I play up on it too.  Was in a pub in Taralgon with my MFC scarf on a few weeks back and joked to my gf that it was a stop off on the way to Baw Baw from her place.  Asked the barman if they had any cheese boards i could try.

Then on the other hand in a pub in Newbrough wearing the scarf, I was asked what that '[censored]#t' thing I had around my neck was.  Classy.  Amazing the guy could talk without any teeth.  Probably a Collingwood supporter.

8 hours ago, jayceebee31 said:

Only needs 2 more AFL games to reach 100 for MFC……gee I hope he gets there.

4 hours ago, Redleg said:

Expect him to be a sub twice more this year.

Good plan.  There are a few little Melksham's running around arn't there?

From memory they probaby played with the Viney and/Or Jones kids during 2021 COVID hubs, so should be a few good future MFC stars in the making.

10 hours ago, picket fence said:

Swans Paddy McCartin ruled out for rest of season with ongoing concussion concerns

SERIOUSLY

Can someone Family, AFL, Swans just say

ENOUGH .. NO MORE FOOTY EVER!

PLEASE!🤯

I know what you're saying, but it's a bit like trying to make a smoker quit or a alcoholic stop drinking etc at some point surely it comes down to the individual making decisions about how they want to live and what they consider life is about living for?

We let people do all sorts of things involving risk in our society.  Riding road bikes is a risk I'd never be comfortable with, yet many keen riders I know have multiple near death accidents and get right back on the saddle - why?  Because it's something they love doing in life.

So who here remembers the tone at the start of the 2021 season, when we'd missed finals again in 2020 and St Kilda were closer to a premership than us?

Sucess and failure are on a knife edge in the AFL, but I think we've got more to be hopeful about than pessimistic.

Sounding a bit like a Goodwin clone here, but we nearly won yesterday while playing badly and I'm sure there were plenty of lessons for us to learn.  ...just like we did post 2020.

1 hour ago, Billy said:

Totally agree, but don’t we have to make the most of a quality list while we can, it turns around quickly 

Yup, on the same page there too.  Having watched so many talented sides in the 90s go unrewarded and then living through the pain of the 2005 - 2018 era, I also really hope we make the most of what we have now and get that elusive flag at the G.

I've got too much going on in my life to get too hung up about the defeats we've had this season.

Do I think we could and should be playing better and like it more if we were convincingly controlling games, closing them out and walking away victorious - yes totally.  But some of the over reactions (and amplified x10 on other forums) are crazy.

I'm largely tuned out just at the moment, but do appreciate the sensible analysis and thoughts on here even in the event of a loss.  Even some of the more reasonable vents as put by @Jaded No More are acceptable.

One thing for sure is that it's a completely different feeling being 7 - 4 or whatever we are now, compared to the 10 - 1 and 54% that is currently the Eagles lot, but use to be us not so long ago.

Perspective is a good thing.

9 hours ago, A F said:

Here's the thing though.

It's all well and good to be frustrated. I thought we were pathetic today, but I find it easier to look at the bigger picture and history is an important reminder in AFL footy (and anything really).

We're top 4, with a softer draw coming up in the second half of the year, with less 8 point games than our other top 4 competitors. Many parts of our game are in good shape (our turnover game, our scoring sources), and others (stoppages) need some work.

The stoppages issue IMV has much scope for improvement when we start to throw our better mids through the contest more often, plus I'm sure we'll have some tactical tweaks too. So that's personnel and tactics that you don't necessarily want to show in the first ten rounds.

The history side of it however is more telling. Many supporters seem to have this expectation that having won 2021, we'd be winning flags over and over in the same way. We've had to change the way we're playing because the competition adapted to our intercept game in 2021. But no team in the modern era has gone through seasons like our 2021 season repeatedly. They've all had ups and downs.

It's very similar for Richmond's 4 year period, but let's look at the Hawthorn threepeat team as a prime example. 2013 was their 2021. They won 19 games and aside from their strong qualifying final win over Sydney, won their prelim and GF by a combined 4 goals. Their finals series that season was nothing like the dominance of ours in 2021. And maybe this, plus the fact they'd fallen after their 2008 flag, kept them hungry going into 2014.

But still, 2014 saw them finish second on 17 wins. To Round 10, they were 6 and 3 (there was a bye at Round 9). Those three losses were to Sydney (who finished above them in 1st), Geelong (who finished one place below them in 3rd) and 5th placed Port. Plus, they fell over the line to Essendon (who finished 7th) by 4 points in Round 2, and some of their wins were big wins over the likes of the new and young Suns, eventual wooden spooners St Kilda and struggling Brisbane who finished in the bottom 4. 

If that was our start, we'd have been saying all the same things. Oh, we can't beat the sides around us, our competitors, but we have no trouble beating up the lowly sides. We're flattrack bullies etc etc.

Their 2014 finals campaign was better than their 2013 finals series, winning two finals easily, but only won their prelim against Port on the MCG by 3 points. Again, nowhere near as good as our 2021 finals series.

Moving on to 2015, and this time, they finished 3rd on 16 wins. They went the first 10 rounds 6-4. To Round 10, they lost to Essendon (who would finish 4th bottom), Port (who would finish 9th), GWS (who finished 11th) and one of their main competitors Sydney (who finished 4th, one place below Hawthorn that year).

Meanwhile, they beat Geelong (who would miss the 8 that year), us (who were very ordinary in our second year under Roos - we finished 13th), the 16th placed Suns and the 14th placed St Kilda. 

Again, a season to Round 10, nothing to write home about. And their finals campaign in 2015 saw them lose their qualifying final and having to go the long way to win it.

Why did I bother with all this? Well, perspective is a funny thing. And it's bizarre how quickly we forget things. We've forgotten how powerful and abnormal our 2021 finals campaign was. Expecting us to replicate that was always folly.

As for it's all over by Round 10 or 11, well, history shows us that is simply not the case and that if you're in the hunt for the top 4 and injury-free come the last few rounds, that's the goal. Just because we're not the clear premiership standout by Round 10, doesn't mean we won't win it, because we know how that one goes, don't we Melbourne fans (*cough* 10-0 in 2022 *cough*).

Thanks AF, you summarised alot of the recient history I was trying to recall as well.

Was it the break through 2017 premiership year that Richmond supporters were microwaving membership cards? 

If you go back even earlier to the dominant talent rich Geelong sides era 2007+, they didn't get everything on there own terms either.

We're not doing things as easy/dominant as we'd like, but we are definitely more disiplined and regularly competing better than any MFC team since 1964, so I don't think there's much more that we can ask than that.  Ask any AFL premiership coach and they'll all say how bloody hard they are to win and also require some extent of good fortune as well.

All the bed wetters decrying our 'pathetic' performances of late need to get a grip and are just showing their own lack of football IQ.

I'm [censored] with the performance and result, but sheeesh thIs the sky is falling down stuff pisses me off even more.

Sack Goodwin 🤦‍♂️

Scrolling the posts on the Melbourne Football Supporters Forum on FB - OMG.

On 5/23/2023 at 10:32 PM, JimmyGadson said:

One flag at the G this decade is all I ask. Please. 

I think that's all most of us want Jimmy.

...well almost.  I think if I feel it that once,  I'll want it again, but that one with our fellow Demon family and faithful would be magnificent.  Thankfully listening to Max, I know him and I'll bet the rest of the team really want it too.

I also want it to be a proper daylight flag before the AFL caves to the TV gods again and turn it into some kind of second rate entertainment spectacle for their advertising masters.

4 hours ago, Deebauched said:

Cockburn Central ?  Is that a real suburb or a medical condition?

Just asking.  Never been to WA.  I' m not trying to outrage anyone.

It's a real suburb and it kinda suits that's where they train.

...It's actually pronounced with a silent ck, except for the purposes of this forum, in which case, I'm happy to forget that.

Someone needs to buy those guys some lubricant, that really must hurt.