tiers

Umpires are close to the action and have the best view of who is working hard and succeeding. They have shown a clear preference in recent years for players who are highly visible and who run hard, collect the ball and deliver to advantage by kicking. Describes Angus perfectly. Clarrie's inside work is too fast and too subtle for easy comprehension. For example, everyone has lauded Jake M for the goal against dorks but Clarrie's role in contesting the loose ball in the centre, winning the ball against 2 opponents and then delivering to a free Angus has been overlooked. Without Clarrie, the opportunity might not have been there. Angus's run and kick and Jake's goal will win votes but not Clarrie's work to win the ball. With respect, others such as Salem and Hannan, could have successfully substituted for Angus and Jake 's. But who could substitute for Clarrie? No one. He's unique and special. And too good to ever poll well in the Brownlow.

Who cares? Caro has been around too long and will not make us better. Bartlett will.

Weideman - showed real potential Spargo - uses ball well vandenBerg - needs pre season

Nathan Jones needs a new role. He has earned the right to be indulged a bit so long as he contributes and he is not keeping any one out. His best position is still inside mid to hold the ball in but he is being denied the role. Maybe others should be trained to play his outside role that is more natural for them. I see Harmes and Brayshaw with the right attributes. FD better think hard.

A game plan built around the sum of the individual abilities of available players is the key to being competitive. A game plan that can be readily overwhelmed like today is not a good game plan. The boys tried as hard as they could but were beaten by a better prepared team that had worked out how to stymie our strengths and frustrate our game style. Foot passes went nowhere, handpasses were sloppy and chopped. That Kennedy and Darling had so much space to lead was because we were spread too wide. They did to us what we have done to others - smothered our play in the first half. We'll learn. The coaches have a lot of thinking to do. 2020. Go dees.

2020. All of this is preparation. Go dees.

Peanuts, peanuts, shilling a bag, peanuts. He was at every game at the MCG. The old guy with his sack of pre packaged bags. Even to this day, whenever I say peanuts, this refrain comes back to me. And I never bought any.

Deduct the score during the period when 19 were on the ground. Given that it was at the start of the quarter the time and score should be easy to deduce. Simple, fair and just. Tough on North Adelaide but it's the integrity of the game that counts, not the feelings of club. And who was the match steward? If appointed by SANFL then easier to adjudicate. A free kick and 50m against the SANFL.

How the lexicon of football evolves. In 1964 we would scream "C'arn the demons" or shortened to "C'arn the dees" or even "C'arn Melbourne". C'arn was the contraction of the expression "come on" and everyone "barracked" for a team. These days people "go" for a team as in "I go for Melbourne". Go dees is the contraction of that. In the end, it doesn't matter so long as we can share the delight in our team's performance with anyone in red and blue. Go dees. C'arn the demons. And to stick it up the nitwit commentators, let's show 'em our class with a resounding "come on Melbourne". Go dees.

It's just lazy journalism. Pick a cliche and run with it or make another trite comment because that's all you know. Perception, insight and understanding are the missing elements and it seems that articles are written to ensure that a juvenile sub editor can create an infantile headline. Think about the past two weeks. Melbourne supporters and colours dominated even though the dorks claim to have a much larger membership. The puny little gaps in the crowd after the final siren was telling - the overwhelming number of Melbourne supporters was a joy to be part of. And then the CHANT. Ignore them and save your breath to scream Go dees.

How about Rhino Richards run, Davey's "candy show", Farmer's give and get, Charles's run, and the list keeps growing. Imagine the commentators wetting themselves over any of the goals.

The commentators raved about dusty's goal from the boundary this year. Compared to Travis, Clarrie, Robbo and others and especially Yze's left foot from the boundary, dusty's was just run of the mill. Shows how quickly we forget. Go dees

Bobby and Dee got the special moments right. Three stand out. 1. The dees' determination and desperation in the chases, tackles and hunts. 2. Spargo's footy smarts and silky skills in a first year player. A true rover for the ages. 3. The CHANT. It was thrilling. Go dees.

My memories of 1964. They start at Glenferrie Oval in round 17. Hassa Mann kicked a goal from the boundary, we won by 4 points and we secured top spot. A loss would have placed us in real jeopardy. The following week we lost badly to the dogs but it did not affect first place. In those days, the finals were civilised. One final each week for four weeks. First semi, second semi, prelim and grand final. I had bought the cheapest standing room series tickets (yes, all four matches) in the open stand under the old scoreboard (now I believe at Manuka Oval - much more interesting but couldn't handle instant score reviews or obnoxious ads and interviews). Catters beat bombers in first semi then dees thrashed filth by 89 points in second semi. Filth beat catters by 4 points in a low scoring match in prelim. Then it was our turn. Not unexpectedly, after a 89 point flogging, we were deserved favourites. Torrid, hard contest all game and we were behind by 2 points at half time. 2.3 to 0.2 in the third gave us an 11 point lead at 3QT. Up until then the match had been an non momentous blur. Gabbo's run changed that. Ray Gabelich was a man mountain (listed as 6 foot 3 1/2 inches and 18 stone 10 pounds which translate to 192 cm and 120 kg) who, in those days, could take a whole season to get match fit because of his size and the slower pace of the game,. Until this day he had never run more than to the toilet but, when he gathered the ball and took off with no one between him and the goals, the ground shook. Step by step, crooked bounce by crooked bounce, he ran to the goal square and kicked a goal. Tony Anderson ran his guts out to reach him but was too late. I became a despondent, depressed, despairing demon and couldn't watch. I cannot recall watching Hassa miss but I came alive when i saw the ball sailing through the goals to where I was standing. Neil Crompton, the average rover who became a sensation in the back pocket, will live forever. We had reclaimed our rightful position as premiers and so the excitement and celebration was muted. If I had known what was to come, I might have celebrated harder. The following year, we won the first eight games straight (albeit some by small margins) until the day the world changed on Queen';s Birthday v sainters. Alan Jeans, their then coach, made the move of the century and swapped Bob Murray to FB and Verdun Howell to FF. They were on the road to success, we had tasted almost too much and we were thrashed by, I think, 63 points. We had started our long losing streak and didn't see finals again until 1987. This year's outcome is still to be revealed but I am heartened by the quality of the boys who represent our club. I believe that they are as good as any group we have had in 54 years and still have enormous potential. 2020 is the year when they should emerge as the beat. Fifty years later, I had the great thrill to attend a lunch at the Bentleigh Club to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the premiership. In attendance that day were 14 of the 20 premiership heroes. The team: Crompton Massey Johnson Davis Roet Anderson Adams Williams Dixon Vagg Jacobs Kenneally Lord Bourke Townsend McLean Emselle Goalkickers: Townsend 3 Lord 2 Bourke Mann CROMPTON 1 Scores: Q1 2.6.18 2.5.17 Q2 5.7.37 5.9.39 Q3 7.10.52 5.11.41 Q4 8.16.64 8.12.60 Go dees.

To MT64 - Steve Stevens was later Mayor of Moorabbin. Remember how goal umpires would always get it right without score reviews and conferences on the filed and were generally more mature, non athletic types.

To Prodee Whether or not you were at the match was not questioned and is irrelevant to this discussion. Whether or not I am happy is for me alone to decide and also irrelevant to this discussion. Whether or not if our first half is replicated next week will cause me to cease to be happy and/or whether or not I'll have a clue about next week's match will only be determined during and after the match. I do attempt to foretell the future. Being a longstanding demon supporter, I prefer to always live in hope. Go dees.

To Prodee Whilst we may have been down on contested ball at half time and we were playing the dorks game, we were still in front even though we had wasted as many opportunities as the dorks had missed shots from wide angles. It's not the number of possessions that count, it's how they are used. Winning contested possession counts does not win matches. I prefer to count the score. We were wasteful and even with fewer possessions were should have been further in front.

The free kick against Jetta showed a complete inability to understand the game. A fair contest by two players both holding the ball should have been a ball up. No wonder Shocking Hocking wants to reduce the rule book. The game is getting overly technical. The frees against Angus and Lewis were egregious errors and the umpire involved should serve a four week penalty and attend rule revision classes for 6 months. Where was the protection to the head? How else does a player on the ground attack the ball? The dork against Lewis seemed to fall over himself, not Lewis. Disgraceful and Shocking Hocking should lose his job if this is not fixed immediately. Carey, Ling and Richo on tv all condemned the interpretation of the rule and stated that it should be examined. Could not agree more.

Viney - never stopped creating gems Oliver - single handedly (literally) controlled the centre and his deft touches and disposals kept us moving Spargo - kicked goals and created so many opportunities for others with seven score involvements Petracca - wins one-on-one contests and converts to opportunities T Mac - best mark on the ground and four goals Frost - a weapon when unleashed

Oh, woe is me, the poor dorks were hurt by bad kicking for goal? So big deal? 1.10 in two quarters nearly cost us against catters but we were good enough to overcome that phase. We monstered the dorks but still nearly succumbed to our worst failing - gifting the ball to the opposition by easy turnovers. Too many to recount. Too often our kicks were intercepted due to overly ambitious passes to poor options or poorly executed passes to good options. If only half of these lost opportunities had not been lost, the win would have been closer to 10 goals not six and kingy would have to find another whinge. We are our own worst enemies. BT talks a lot about "chaos balls" (only because he tries to impress by his infantile insight and perception of the game). They are not "chaos balls" but are intended to force a contest that we expect to win by weight of numbers and by sheer skill and brilliance. Think of Tracca, Viney, Spargo, Clarrie, Angus, Salem and others who can turn a heavily contested ball into a clear path to goal. Retaining possession through short dinky passes and slow movement is no match for real class, skill and power. Go dees.

So long as the team does not drink it and take too seriously the base opinions that seem to populate the bath water, who cares? Go dees.

When Hannan did not miss the goal. The sign from above that there was not to be any further misfortune in 2018 against the scratchies..

Very easy line to draw. No feet up with studs exposed to an oncoming player. Immediate free kick and suspension. A gutless act. If it was so acceptable then why is he the only one who does it repeatedly. No one else does it because they understand the game's morality.

It's spooky to think that if not for Maxie's miss and poor selection by the coaches against sainters we would have finished SECOND on percentage. We had it in our hands but let it slip through our fingers. Does anyone believe that we were possibly the second best team over the year? If you do, then the Walls' prediction is not so far fetched. We have settled the team at the right end of the season, we are in form, if results go by rankings we play the first 2 weeks at home (having passed through the MCG curse), we are young, keen and determined and have nearly full squad. So why not? Notwithstanding that I have secured grand final tickets in the ballot and have strong memories of watching Froggy Crompton's kick sailing towards me behind the goals 54 years ago, I am more than ready. But I will still be taking it one game at a time.

Can only be the last premiership captain - RDB.