The Great Pretender

The weather on the Coast is fine today and I'm sure the ground at Carrara will dry out in time unless there's more rain later in the week. How do we overcome the undefeated Saints? They have a super midfield and two great key forwards who are in form - not unlike the Hawks who beat us last Sunday. Well, we overcame a poor start and not only avoided a blow out but we came back nicely to finish with only two scoring shots less than the Hawks. It would have been one less had Robbo decided not to lairise. So it's all about application for 100% of the game, not 60% or 80%.

To be fair it was Bruce and Phil's show where the pre-requisite for their football experts is that they must have attended the ballet or the opera once or twice a month. Stick with the Fox panel and you'll be right!

Do I detect you're shirking the issue of tipping the winner this week?

Good read and I like the conclusion. A couple of forwards who know how to kick goals would have been worth their weight in gold. Robbo's five for Casey would have sealed his place and Addam Maric has been waiting in the wings for far too long this year!

FWIW I think these are hardly the words of someone who has no passion for the Melbourne Football Club.

Damn good read Oracle. I'm ringing my stockbroker tomorrow morning to buy some shares. What would you suggest?

BTW the bullies deal is $4.5 not $4.1 and our second co-sponsorship is unlikely to get us $2.1 over 3 years. We end up much worse off than them.

There's a single rail line that runs from Cranbourne Station right past the ground. It seems to me that this line should be duplicated and a station placed at Casey Fields. A project like this and the extension of the ground is exactly what the federal and state governments should be promoting in tough economic times. Go to it MFC - put together a proposal. The Bullies and the Toiges have done it and reaped big money for Whitten and Punt Road Ovals respectively.

Disappointed that all of the post match publicity centred on Hawthorn and almost nothing about us. After all, we were one free kick away from winning the game.

To JJJ, Just a question on your player numbers. You listed Jake Spencer at #38 but I'm sure he was allocated #42 last year. Does this mean the official 2009 numbers are out? BTW thanks for such a comprehensive report. It's much appreciated.

I believe this has already been done and the club is working very hard to ensure the transition from the outback to the city is made as comfortable as possible in the circumstances.

Hey, I'm not suggesting for a moment that we made a blunder. You can only make your decisions based on the best evidence available and TJ was, at the time, one of the two outstaanding players in the draft. Ottens took years to develop and was never much at Richmond and he only really came good at his second club. On the other hand players like Simon Black, Adam Goodes, Luke Power and Nick Stevens were not as highly regarded at the time. Goodes came of age as a junior in the 1997 TAC Cup Grand Final but who was to say whether that was a one off performance or a sign of a future star?

Once upon a time there was this bloke called Travis ... and we didn't live happily ever after. Now this time, let's hope we got it right!

Watts sounds mature and sensible beyond his years. I hope the club looks after him and that we reap the rewards in the years to come. I'm pumped!

Several players have been named as leading contenders for the upcoming drafts - Sibosado, Rockliff (TAC Cup premiership player; 4 goals & 11 uncontested posessions v Vic Metro), Klemke, Sheahan, Riley, Allwright, Martin a few ruckmen and a handful of others from WA.

Collingw&%$ Collingw&%$ Collingw&%$ BIG BLOODY DEAL!

I wonder if the MFC ever followed up on this man. He's worth squillions and we have no sponsor. He might be a welcome benefactor for the club.

Seriously though, we have pick 1 in the PSD and pick 1 in the RD and all we've done is invite virtual unknowns and 2 blokes who played for Sandy who nobody else has shown any interest in. I wonder if we're going to maximise our return from having the benefit of first choice in the drafts?

I'm totally devastated

Let me give you another possibility: Luke Beveridge is appointed coach of Sandringham Dragons; Wayne Oswald applies to MFC for role as Development Officer; Luke Beverige quits and takes up a position at Collingwood; and With the departure of Beveridge and the appointment of a "rookie coach" in his stead, the powers that be at the AFL/VFL convince Oswald to return to the Dragons. In this scenario the MFC have nothing to do with his sudden and early departure.

Not concerned really but I wonder what he does now? Does he nominate for the National Draft or the PSD? How does he get to Carlton if he wants to go there - especially with Fremantle having so many vacancies and sitting in front of Carlton in the draft picks.

Saw the results of the APS sports in the Age today and I half expected to see J.Watts dominating the sprints and jumps but there was nothing there. Anyone know if he competed?

The screwing over was doubly distasteful because Demetriou led us to believe he approved of the Stynes-led board and would work with them to help the club out of it's difficulties. The help turned out to be more of a hinderance than anything else.

We might be the Demons but we certainly don't need a player with a tail.

Melbourne was angry at rumours circulating yesterday that Aaron Davey was up for trade and Port Adelaide was a potential destination. "It's absolutely 100 per cent bulldust," Connolly said. - http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...3-19742,00.html Now where did that rumour come from?