Katrina Dee Fan

To be honest I couldn't care less if the non-Melbourne supporting members of MCC have any objections or not. Around a third of the 130,000 MCC members declared Melbourne as their team anyway. Those that are not Melbourne supporters joined a club knowing full well the MFC is the official football branch of the club, so if they have an issue with it, it's their own doing, as far as I'm concerned.

To be fair, Joe Biden is too young for Geelong.

It's amazing what can be accomplished when they can't exploit paper bag deals....

A big problem with AAMI Park is that MFC don't have exclusive rights to the facilities, it has to be shared amongst Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Storm. The facilities are also better out at Casey, MFC have exclusive use of the facilities there because it is their investment.

I'm counting 16 there.....

Dipper in the 1989 Grand Final, from a punctured lung curtesy Gary Ablett.

We wouldn't have to, if the media acted appropriately and didn't set about damaging our club.

What I find really interesting in that table is we're ranked 6th for least frees against. So we're not giving frees away, but we're sure as hell not being rewarded. That's the reason for the differential. It's bogus.

I'd really love the club to sue Collingwood/AFL/Maynard to recoup those costs.

Yep. I call it the Chicken Little Syndrome.

Trac was in quarantine for 2 week after the surgery, no one was allowed to go near him. That was reported at the time by both Trac and the club. If that's one of his beefs then he has a short memory. Or, more likely, more media made up BS.

He went back on the ground because Trac insisted he was fine. If you're so confident a paramedic with a stethoscope could have diagnosed his condition, then how come it took the Alfred Hospital several hours and scans to not diagnose it until 3 am?

We lose either way.

I apologise, I have a feeling that was directed at me. I wasn't intending my post to be solely about Trac, although it wound up being that, but more as an example of how the narrative in the media and AFL around Melbourne is being shaped.

They'd have a hard time proving that. Given the Alfred Hospital didn't detect the spleen injury until 3 am, after several hours and scans, how was the club supposed to detect it, with limited resources available to them? There have been several cases where players continued to play with broken ribs. Mason Cox played out the game last year, it wasn't until the next day that his spleen tear was detected, after he'd lost 4/5 of his blood. Matthew Lloyd's spleen wasn't detected for 3 days, again after he'd lost a significant amount of blood. Trac was in the ambulance before the game ended.

Look, I know the last couple of years has been "Kick Melbourne Football Club" season by the AFL and media, but I can't help feeling really flat about so many aspects. Just when we think it can't get any worse, the media and AFL find new ways to get to new lows and it's exhausting from a fan's perspective. The Petracca saga for me is pretty much the tipping point. I get he's had a traumatic experience, and we're all sympathetic to that, but the whole handling of this I find flabbergasting, and frankly Trac has to shoulder a fair bit of the blame for that. I'm at the point now where I don't really care if he stays at the club or goes, whether it's been his intention or not, the damage he's caused to the club is pretty much irreversible. This is evidenced in the whole media discourse over the last couple of weeks, and yes, it's caused damage to his own branding, but the perception now is that his brand is the be all and end all. Comments floating around along the lines of he wants to play at a bigger club, etc, I'm sorry, but is that an insult to us fans now? Low blow, Trac, given the fans have been nothing but supportive to you. I don't care anymore if that's based of fact or rumour, he's had opportunity to speak the truth, but he's remained tight-lipped, and it's his silence that has created the media storm. He's hurt my club. I can't forgive him for that. I used to have respect for him, but now, I don't.

Serious? He's 19, FFS.

According to Dougal it's still on.

I'm taking on board from the media with a pinch of salt, as it's nothing more than rumour and innuendo, until we get an official statement from either Trac or the club.

A fair bit of criticism here on Fritta, which has me wondering, how much do you put down to having Stafford as forward coach? I'm prepared to see how not only Fritta but all of them go under a new forwards coach before I make a judgement.

There was an email last week

Pretty much!!!

You're welcome to enrol in my VCE Media class and learn how the media is regulated in Australia. I'm doing this topic at the moment with my Year 12s.

Thank you! We do have one of the largest cheer squads in the league, even bigger than Collingwood's, so we know when to bring it. We also do have a regular group that does go to interstate games, and we enjoy a positive relationship with interstate supporter groups such as Western Demons, Queensland Demons and NSW Demons, who bolster our numbers on interstate trips. I've been to all but only 3 games this year, I couldn't go to the opening round, the Easter Saturday game or Alice Springs, and I won't be able to go to Gold Coast, but I have been to the other interstate games and all Melbourne games, all of them with the Dee Army, and wouldn't have it any other way. Best bunch of people in the AFL!

I absolutely get this, Jaded. There are a few in Demon Army, including WCW, who knows how close I came to walking away from the game. It weighed on my mind all summer, and to be frank I think there are elements that still affect me. I absolutely love and support the club, but my feelings towards AFL and the AFL media is still absolutely rock bottom.