Katrina Dee Fan

Sam McClure was amongst them, yes, plus the usual Twitter nufties

6. Clarry. Love to see you close to being back to your best, buddy!! 5. May. I love watching him when he's firing. 4. Gawn. Totally outplayed English. 3. Petracca. Recovered well from an ordinary performance last week, to being unstoppable yesterday. 2. McDonald. Was superb 1. Viney. Sublime. Honourable mentions to Chin, Jibba, Rick, Kozzie, and Rooey

So once again the journos and numpties on Twitter spent yesterday having a go at Melbourne about the crowd - where were they? why do they play Melbourne games at the MCG if they can't fill it? They'll always be a nothing club, blah blah blah. We've heard it all before, right? Here's my perspective: - 44,000 is still higher than the 2023 crowd average of 35,000 - the crowd yesterday was overwhelmingly Melbourne, yet no one was saying "where are the Bulldogs fans"? Why is that? Oh, because they're the darlings of the league. - The TV was focusing on the Shane Warne stand, rather than the Olympic Stand which was pretty chockers from where I could see - Of the 9 games, yesterday's crowd was the 4th highest of the weekend. No one was criticising the other games that had lower attendances than ours. My take is this - the media and the meatheads couldn't pick on Melbourne, couldn't pick on Goodwin, couldn't pick on Oliver, so let's roll out the barrel on the usual rubbish. Because Melbourne. I'm sick of [censored]....

With all due respects, given the season launch was on the same day as Gus announced his retirement, most people were thinking about him, not Joel Smith, but anyway. I find it ironic you should say WCW is sensitive, given the sensitive way you're reacting to the president of the club say cheer louder. Wow.

I don't want to pull it too tight because it was pinning my glasses to my head and it was uncomfortable!!

This is my thinking, too. I wonder if some there that night simply heard her mention Collingwood, and then let their hatred of the filth distord the objectivity of what it was she was actually trying to say. Those of us on the Demon Army table didn't see any negativity in what she was saying.

The journo was Sam McClure, and it was reported 3 weeks after the event. Enough said, really! The guy's a tool.

All we have to do is play Freed from Desire as the team runs out and the Bulldogs will be so distracted with annoyance they won't be able to play well 🤪

Hmm, a few Bulldogs supporters here trying to be as tough as the filth. It's not washing on me!

As a member of the Demon Army, I didn't get that impression at all. In fact she is constantly praising the Demon Army, she's a proud member of the Demon Army and often comes down and sits with us. Certainly don't get the impression she think we're not loud enough. I do think around the ground, though, it could be louder.

THIS!! Thank you!!

that's not what she was saying at all.

Why? In a lot of ways I agree with her. At the risk of sounding controversial, in the Demon Army, we get feedback from the players group that while the DA bay is loud, the rest of the stadium comes across a lot of the times as crickets. The players notice this, and they're the ones giving the feedback. They want the crowds to be louder, they feel inspired to do better when they're being cheered on, but when the crowds are not as loud as opposition crowds, they think, what are we doing? This is direct feedback we're getting, before some of you shoot the messenger. I look back at the Fremantle game at the MCG, where there is no doubt the Demons crowd massively outnumbered the Freo crowd, yet, when you watch the replay on TV, you wouldn't think that based on the noise - the Freo crowd made far louder noises than the Melbourne crowd, particularly in the Northern and Ponsford stands. I have no issue with what Kate said, I didn't then and I don't now. If Melbourne supporters don't like hearing you don't cheer loud enough, do something about it and cheer louder.

This is a really relevant point with today's climate. Back in the 70s and 80s we didn't have social media. As a media teacher I do love social media but have a healthy amount of disdain for it as well, simply because for some it's a licence to act like jerks to complete strangers. The veil of anonymity social media provides, particularly on Twitter (I refuse to call it X) which has become nothing but a cesspit of vile, toxic behaviours and people, who say stuff to others they wouldn't dare say to people face to face. I have had a handful of Collingwood supporters that have pretty much trolled me since the Maynard hit on Brayshaw, and in general, the behaviour of Collingwood fans on that forum has done nothing to change my opinion of the filth they are.

It wasn't the AFL's specialist who said it, though. Gus took it upon himself to have his own team of neurologists assess him. It was them that detected the change in Gus' brain, not the AFL specialists. Those same AFL specialists have cleared Murphy to play, but I honestly don't think he's in a good way.

From what I remember at the time, the merger vote happened in mid September 1996 and Gutnick became president a month later. The association with Bentleigh Club happened mid season, with one of the board members of Melbourne being the President at the time of Bentleigh Club. Bill Belcam, I believe. The association began before Gutnick was involved. Significantly, Belcam and Gutnick did not get along, in fact it was rumoured Belcam was one of the board members who sided with Ridley, and after he became president, Gutnick tried to push him, along with other board members, off the board for supporting the merger.

I'd be more blunt but the censorship on Demonland won't let me!

Exactly, and get 30 possessions

I really don't see Clarry leaving. He said himself, after the exit meeting, he really wanted to stay, and was acting in a more reactionary way when told to ship up. He has no intention of leaving. The club are clearly investing a lot of time and effort into him to get his mental wellbeing right, I don't see either the club or Clarry throwing in the towel on that right now. Clarry is clearly working really hard, and he's clearly showing a lot of love for the club.

I'm fully of the opinion that Maynard learned nothing from the Brayshaw incident, apart from him getting away with it means he can continue to do it again and again, because he's now of the opinion that he's untouchable. He not only hit Toby Green across the face on the weekend, he pinned him to the ground and face gauged him. And the commentators were laughing it off, saying "ooh, look, the two number 4s are at it again! No love lost between these two! Hahahaha!" Had me just about swallowing my own vomit. And look at when Murphy was concussed in the Grand Final, look who collided with him pushing him into the path of McCarthy. None other than Maynard. He doesn't even have any regard for duty of care for his own teammates. If Murphy prematurely retires because of that (which still could be on the cards), there's two careers Maynard has ended. I hate him.

Wrong, Leighoak and Bentleigh Club were both purchased by the club long before Gutnick became involved in the club. Leighoak was purchased in 1994, renovated and opened by the club in 1995. Bentleigh Club was purchased beginning of 1996. Gutnick became involved after the failed merger at the end of 1996.

I'm in two minds about Gutnick. He did help us out a lot in the aftermath of the merger episode, but then how much did he cost us in the salary cap breaches he sanctioned?

Do you have a link to the Richo reference re hair testing ladder? I can't seem to find any reference.

Oh, mate, you're not the only one. I absolutely get upset when I think of that vile excuse of an organisation and their bunch of ferals.

I was saying that to someone at work today, it would be a perfect fit for Gus to be in the club's Media department. I've been thinking for years he would have a brilliant career in the media after football, I can't think of a better fit for his talents. He's funny, clever, endearing, he'd be so good!