Wodja

Looking ahead- my excuse for hating Dockland stadium. I swear when I got on to the ticketing system earlier today I could not access any general admission tickets. FOMO kicked in and I bought a reserved seat for mega bucks. Whinging to one of my kids earlier this evening, and you guessed it, when we had a look - there were the GA’s right on top!. Yep, I’m old and obviously am a dinosaur! GO DEES! I want to get my money’s worth tomorrow night.

Dark horse for me is GWS. They really deserved to make and perhaps even win the GF last year- only thing that got in their way was the ‘umpire assisted premiers’ aka ‘the Ferals’ in the preliminary final.

I too still live in hope that we can make it. I know it’s a long shot but still. I hope the footy department/ team think likewise. Failing that, I look forward to our ‘Grand Final in August’ against the Ferals. We owe them big time. Make sure we put our best side together for that game.

Yep….next year!

Umpires requiring a HIA would be an extremely rare occurrence. One would hope / expect that if they were flattened and obviously needed an assessment or medical assistance that one of the doctors from either competing side would assist. Just guessing, have no idea to be honest.

A mate of mine who barracks for Collingwood said last week ‘No Gawn no Melbourne’ My response to him this weekend was the bleeding obvious ‘No Ginnivan no Collingwood’

I want Richmond to win!

I reckon they are pretty good right now

If Ginnivan happens to kick the winning goal against the Ferals later on today I will never say another bad word against him….. that by the way is a big ask!

Thank you Adelaide

That flying horizontal tackle against the Brisbane player a few weeks ago says it all.

I love the concept that every team plays each other once - it would make it a fairer fixture. Fixture, because I expect the AFL would still like to determine the dates for hallmark games- eg Anzac Day etc. That I could live with. Still reckon the ‘Broadcast Gods’ financial objectives could be appeased by having 24 rounds (or whatever) so they can max out their tv ratings. Football on tv every weekend etc. Surely that makes them money. This would mean that all teams would get a couple of byes throughout the season. Chance to recover, etc. Finally, as mentioned by others, a week’s break before the GF, not after the final round (give half a chance for injured players to get up and recover before the big one). Will it happen? Nah.

Love footy, hate the AFL. A logical oxymoron.

I don’t want to gloat, actually I lie, I do want to gloat- I managed to watch all three of our finals live in 21 and legally! Trust me, it’s up there with getting married, having kids, etc. More good luck than planning, just managed to be travelling and in the right states at the right time. The two finals in WA were extra special, smashing Geelong and then the big one.The atmosphere (particularly in WA) was phenomenal. Pretty much the majority of the state adopted Melbourne as ‘their team’. The party atmosphere, the noise was incredible. The average fan on social media are just jealous losers. Still hoping to see us snag the big one at the G in the not too distant future….with Goody at the helm. No guarantee of course, but am more hopeful than I have been for over half a century prior. It’s nice to live in hope. GO DEES

I was under the impression (particularly last season) that we were not so great in the wet. Didn’t Essendrug beat us in the wet over in Adelaide? Funny how things change. Maybe we are a team for all seasons! Hope so.

He is the heart and soul of the football club. He walks the talk when it comes to culture. At the end of the day more is said than done. He is a true leader that ‘does’. The impression I get is that the playing group are proud to follow. I’m proud to be a supporter.

Three guarantees in life: Death Taxes Consistently inconsistent AFL

I catch a train in and make a stop at Springvale to buy a pork belly roll. Then back on the train to the G. Love it when someone at half time asks me where did I buy that from.

Neale Daniher’s comment comes to mind- ‘after all that is said and done , more is said than done’ (or words to that effect). I hope plenty of us turn up. It is undoubtedly the best most tangible way that we the supporters can actually help our team on game day. Home game, home crowd advantage. If you can, be there loud and proud! It would ‘urinate’ me off if we were vastly outnumbered on the day.

When we beat north, I felt flat. Losing to Brisbane, strangely I felt a touch of hope. The win against West Coast felt just right. Looking forward to next Saturday night. I feel somewhat optimistic about our next game despite Essendon having a two day longer break than us between games Hoping there are many like-minded people as me that intend going to the game and making a lot of noise. After all it is our home game! Hope it feels like a home game for our boys (and supporters). GO DEES!

Only if we lose 😉

Would she mind much if you dragged her along to all our remaining home and away games?

Go kick [censored] Jake !

Not sure when the number of umpires were increased to four (which I thought was a good idea at the time- to pick up legitimate frees deep in forward/ defence)- which has proven to be an abject failure. This stretched the talent pool which increased the likelihood of more poor / inconsistent decisions being made. Add to this the fine line interpretations required to determine what is a handball / throw and players milking the system for frees (eg driving their own head into the ground) it all just looks / feels worse than the standard 10 years ago. Seems like quite a few games results this year were directly impacted by some very bad calls late in the game. Such a shame for those of us that watch football because we love football (as opposed to the ‘professional entertainment’ game that it had sadly morphed into).

I think it will become less fraudulent in the coming two weeks.