Lou C. Fur

Bloody great win Beat the lightening, the umps and Meth Coke all in one night Withstood relentless pressure in the last quarter I'm a VERY proud and happy Demon supporter tonight.

The 1998 finals series did my head in too DR! Melbourne finished the home & away season 4th that year, beat Adelaide in the first final but didn't get to go straight to the Preliminary! The McIntyre Final Eight System in use at the time really disadvantaged teams who were good enough to finish the home and away series in 3rd and 4th positions. This article by Tim Lane in the Age: Eight A Lucky Number For AFL Plodders, finally explained to me the farcical changes made to the AFL finals series in the 90's as the competition expanded and added new teams. The AFL really struggled to find a fair finals system during this time... After much criticism, the McIntyre Final Eight System was replaced by the current AFL Finals System in 2000. IMV it provides the fairest reward for sides good enough to finish the home and away series in the top 4. Let's hope the Dee's make top 4 or even better top 2 this year and take full advantage of this simpler and fairer system.

Clinical Kill. Love it!

Tom McDonald's conduct after receiving that elbow to the jaw from Dane Zorko was exemplary. He pushed back and Zorko staged a fall. Macca then leaned over the prostate Zorko and told him the time of day. Effen AWESOME. After that the umpire awarded Macca the free kick and reported Zorko. MACCA...UNCOMPROMISING...TOUGH...ALL CLASS. Well done Tom McDonald!

How good was THAT 2nd half comeback. SO proud of the MFC! GO DEES!

Really impressed that the umps finally spotted a push in the back from Hipwood. He's gotten away with all day...until now...

I know where to take him...

Because, IMHO, it is impossible for the at-present 3 field-umpires to spot all the obvious infringements. To address this, I suggest that boundary-umpires and goal-umpires should also have the authority to penalise infringements. 7 umpires could then spot infringements. Increasing the number of officials with the ability to award free kicks from 4 to 7 would more than double the chances of infringements being spotted and award free kicks for previously missed obvious infringements. Surely this would improve the game for all...

Just read your blog post outlining your life as a Melbourne supporter Colin. It's an excellent read - and has some great historical footage of the MFC too! There is much in it I can relate to - especially the inspiring players and games you mentioned. I really enjoyed it. Thank you.

Felt the steely determination from Goody when he made THAT comment in his presser after the Adelaide loss. Thought the boys would come out furious against the Dogs as a result, and how impressively and consistently over the 4 quarters they did!

Happily I concede the title is yours!

Maybe, but does Melksham have the required tank? I'd like to se him on the wing to find out...otherwise I'd be confident of ANB filling the role...

Tom Sparrow made me cry.

My liver empathises with your liver. Let's hope they cope with many more Friday victories (and any other day ending with day...)

After watching the Dees beat the Dogs tonight, I have just calmed down just enough to be able to read and write. I do this after texting several of those closest to me sending messages of congratulations after tonight's's great Melbourne victory over Western Bulldogs. I have so many positive emotions going on right now. The first is my absolute joy of watching the Dees maintain unrelenting pressure for 4 quarters during this evening's top or the table match against the Dogs, and watch them take down the temporary league leaders and reclaim it for us all!. Top of the Ladder. Earned it the hard way! The second is after 57 years of supporting the Melbourne Football Club, I, not for the first time, but for the most confident time, believe. A new whiff wafts and I like it. On so many occasions over the past weeks and months, whilst wearing my scarf with pride - not just to the footy but also in public and to work (like I have done for years), random strangers, old friends, and other unexpected people are now approaching me and having lengthy discussions with me about the MFC and how well we are doing. The third is I am so proud to be able to tell them I am a member of the MFC. These discussions have all been positive and I continue to enjoy them very much. I believe I may well be the most elderly continuous supporter of the the Melbourne Football Club to have not been alive when Melbourne last won a premiership. Having been born in October of MCMLXIV I challenge any MFC supporter to knock me off my mantle.

Allow goal and boundary umps to award frees. More umpire eyes and angles on the play would mean less chance for infringements (including deliberate OOB!) to go unseen and unpaid. I would prefer this to video challenges which would slow the momentum of the game.

I also watched the the episode of AFL 360 on Wed about Richmond's off the play "tactics"...unbelieveable that the MRP only found it necessary to issue a fine and even more unbelievable that the umpires failed to at least award a free kick. Richmond have been getting away with these "incidents" for ages. Forget the bus, the Karma Train cometh for Nankervis, Lynch and Riewoldt and it will hit them with divine retribution. Hoods is too good a name for these cowards.

Thanks for the heads up Dan! Just watched that now and enjoyed it very much! Learnt a few interesting things about the MFC too.

Me too!

YMCA beats YNWA. Let's sing that.

Well said Wells.

4 weeks in my books based on Nibblers precedent. Lycett is gone! By the way, who was it that ran the length of the field to hit Max 50 metres off the ball last time we played PtA at the G? Wasn't that the same dude - no 29 for PtA, Scott L. If not, who was that gutless coward?

Thank you, SWYL. I'm so looking forward to next Saturday afternoon...

GIVE 'EM HEAPS DEES!

Me too, however, I'm losing no sleep tonight watching Carlton lose...