Roost It

There's 2 things I'm looking forward to over the next copuple of years. 1. The look on Sheedy's, Allan's and father Shitbag when young Tom's knee buckles in a Trengove tackle. 2. The look on there faces when we take one of their young stars for ourselves. I know the family of a young kid touted as a high first round pick in this years draft. He's already talking about which club he'd like to play for when his time at GWS is up

I've been banned in the past for saying far less ridiculous things than this.

The club wasn't hoodwinked, niave supporters were. The club played the game as layed down by the AFL and received it's reward. We got the same as Geelong got for Ablett for an unproven 20 year with a seriously dodgy knee and people around here want more. People still don't seem to get it. The AFL is no different to any other big corporation. It's run by predominantly fat men with massive ego's who believe that money = power and they'll do whatever it takes to stay on top. GWS, FFS, why bother!

When you die all that's left are memories, usually fond, unless you're just a money grubbing leach that not only exploits a system but you're own son.

I wrote this but was banned at the time “An ode to Scully” TOM – IF ONLY Oh Tom, where art though in this time of need? Where art though as others sign and pledge their faith in the Demon rising. Where art though as supporters unite to reduce the debt and sing your praise? Where art though as a new coach and professionalism begins to appear? What is that I hear? More money is your only fear? Be not scared Tom the money is fine right here, plenty for the Jacks to sign Even Colin put pen to paper, for much less than you were offered. Is there more I hear? Not happy with the club, players drinking and having fun not your thing young Tom you Gun. Well [censored] off then you mercenary [censored], We will Boo you like no other, may the crazy man wreak havoc with your plan. May the weight of expectation cause your shoulders to slump and your degenerative knee to collapse, May living in a Bogan castle in Shitsville give you nightmares as you team parties into the night. What is that I hear, you don’t drink or have any friends, not our problem loner, Well enjoy your restricted training program as your knee forces you to become a long forgotten footnote as the most expensive flop in AFL history. I hope the AFL’s corporate spin doctors had a glove on Tom because the anus is a terrible pace for an infection. How does it feel to be a puppet Tom? with that long slimy arm far up your behind. Anyway, good riddance. We will continue to play at the home of football as you see out your days in the recovery room of GWS hoping for a miracle on that troublesome knee. At least you’ll have money Tom, so much in fact that you’ll be able to afford a beautiful big plastic house, filled with beautiful big plastic things and best of all you can watch the Demon rise on your 1200 inch mega plasma HD, 3D, sonar equipped TV and think what might have been. If only, if only, if only, if only you had the courage, the commitment, the guts, the determination to play for the AFL’s oldest and greatest team. Watch us rise Tom, with our hardships, watch our improvement and watch Tom, watch as Jack Watts and Jack Trengove hold the cup aloft and watch as someone in the background flips you the bird as you sit, injured in your McMansion with Mummy holding your hand as you sob, If Only!

Trengove Grimes Sylvia Mckenzie Gysberts Jones Moloney Blease HB Davey FP

Take Clark, trade Jamar out at the end of 2012 for a high pick in that draft. Leaving us say pick 6 or 7 for Jamar, 2 x compo picks,take Viney and 2 other premium mids, Promote Gawn, play Clark, Gawn and Martin from 2013 onwards. So simple it's brilliant

We must inject some serious class into our list. We need to replace a wasted number 1 pick. O'Meara or Crouch wouldh've been great but paying too much is not a good idea. Rock and hard place springs to mind. Patience is aloo required. Looking at most young teams it's 2013 -14 until we start hitting our straps. We must keep drafting the best young talent and then in those years go out and grab a big name. Maybe a Swallow. O'Meara or other young gun from a start up will come to us and help us win a Premiership at the G. No point throwing picks around just yet. I think the club is making the right noises at the moment.

Happy to trade any of Jones, Moloney, Rivers, Davey, Green, Bate(not for nothing, still have small hopes), Dunn(delist), Warnock(delist), Spencer, Maric(delist), Spencer(delist), Campbell(delist). I'd even consider trading Jamar to land O'Meara. Wonaemirri needs to answer the question before starting next year otherwise delist To those who think we should trade Jurrah. Remember his biggest downfalls are his tank and his hardness. He'll be forced to work on his tank and as a born leader he'll grow into the hardness of AFL. He's a natural at the game and with strong coaching and leadership around him should flourish in this game. Only time will tell but I think trading him would be a massive mistake.

According to my local Organic shop owner, wholesalers and growers simply hold back the supply for awhile to make some good coin after what has been a [censored] year for fruit and vegetable growers and sellers alike. The price topped at about $170 a box for both conventional and organic and is back to around $80 now. He had his organic bananas priced at $9.95 on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays all through the year but they are back at $13.95 now. He tells me he's still paying $115 a box after they dipped to $85 for awhile, so it's no wonder he finally put his prices up. According to his sources (growers) by November it should be around $50 or less, just in time for the slowest banana selling part of the year, Xmas!

Time to trade Jamar. He's a top 10 pick in this years draft possibly higher. If we want some serious quality coming in we have to offer quality. We could have virtually anyone who wanted a trade with Jamar. Clubs would join the cue. The club needs to be bold.

No from me

As a Melbourne supporter buying a membership isn't an option anymore. Best way to make the club better than it is is to hand over the money.

He should have done it already. He's seriously taking the [censored] if he thinks that anyone actually believes that he's still making up his mind. Personally I think it's been a done deal since last October. The guy's used us for match practice for the season, he knows, the AFL knows, the club knows it. Worst of all the crazy old man and grubby allan know it. The fact that he's still riding us this hard a week after the season finished really sh*ts me.

"on the most part"

Of course it's along process. However supporters are rightly disappointed and frustrated with the way the year unfolded. Most would have been more than happy with 8 or 9 wins if we'd knocked off a decent side and put in some sustained effort in the tougher games. The way we rolled over time and again and then beat up on the weaker sides made for some pretty ordinary days at the footy. What everyone here wants to see (besides a Premiership) is sustained 4 quarter efforts. Watching our leaders roll over and leave it to the kids was also really poor. As for the Schwab - Bailey - Connolly - Lyon debacle, well it's just got amateur written all over it. I hope like hell we can attract a good coaching team because we still have holes to fill and a game plan to implement. Roll on 2012

You've certainly proved that of late

I'm in no way a pessimist but the reality of the situation is the Club has been on the most part weak, meek and crap for 50 years. Pessimists or Realists?

No woe is you Gareth for being so accustomed to mediocrity that watching your side run around in an incorrectly pink jumper doesn't bother you. The club made a huge deal of the new jumper and totally fluffed it. It pretty much mirrored our season.....soft and wrong!!

I'm not sure even you thought the year would be as big a train wreck as it was.

The club knows and the info's out.... GONE

The reason I love preseason's is because everything's good. Players love to train the house down in January. Apparently Watts was 5 kg heavier, Trengove, although looking a little slow was super buffed, Moloney and Sylvia were cracking the spray-on tan with every muscle flex and Davey was ready to resume his 2009 form. Demonlanders were pumped. Even Rhino'e dour suggestions of realism couldn't contain the excitement. When a Demonlander suggested top 4 was possible we yelled "Yeh" and posted high fives to each other as though it was a given. So we entered the season with moods ranging from hysteria to cautious optimism. The draw was kind and we had pretty much a full list to choose from. Those reading Bhima's pre season reports may have noted that the club wasn't doing any drills to combat the forward press. No matter most of us thought, we've got paid professionals running the club, surely they know what's going on. When James Frawley ripped his shoulder we commented how that would be great for the player taking his spot. More development, more talented kids, again we yelled "Yeh, posted high fives and moved on. The MCG members amongst us aired the tartan rugs, unpacked the thermos and dusted off the Wool knit Melbourne Jumper, not to wear, just to remind us of the glory days that were surely about to return. Others amongst us upgraded our memberships to Trident and Captains Club in anticipation of a finals birth. As the season got nearer we continued to sign up in droves pouring more hard earned into our recently inspired and professionally run club. Finally we were on the cusp of mixing it with the big boys again. The first signs that all was not as professional as we hoped was when our new jumpers turned up pink and blue. When one Demonlander ensured us they were in fact deep red and only looked pink on TV or when the sun was shining BelzeBub 59 pointed out that surely a club trying to reinvent itself wouldn't mess up the Jumper. The same one that previous players had swapped for Collingwood players after yet another Grand Final victory. The one with which Checker Hughes had made us the Demons in. The sacred Red and Blue, that we hoped our new talent was going to wear into battle as though it was a bullet proof vest. That before long would become a symbol of what is possible, what can be achieved when a battered club finally reunites and puts itself back where Demonlanders so want it to be. Yes the very same one that Ron Barassi wore with such distinction was now Pink. This time there were no "yeh's and certainly no high fives. Then we opened Demonland to read that Scully was off to GWS. At this stage very few believed such dribble but when the media storm reached fever pitch the Boy Wonder fronted the camera's. He did everything except look at the camera and say he was staying. The Yeh's were replaced with groans and the high fives were a distant memory. Surely this can't be happening. Surely our club had this under control? Surely the ridiculous sum of money we had poured into our China booze fest hadn't scared our best young player into the hands of the crazy old man? Were we seriously about to start our season of hope wearing pink with our star recruit using us for match practice. Turns out his suspect knee would keep him out of the side for awhile yet. Mostly we reassured ourselves by reading Rpfc's posts and skipped Range Rover's as the rantings of an infidel. Occasionally we were visited by the mysterious Hannibal who seemed convinced he would stay. As a group we developed a knot in the stomach. Was our club destined to implode again? Finally the season began and we were satisfied with a draw against the very same team we beat by 74 points at the end of last season. It's funny what losing for so long has done to us. We've got used to it, we even laugh at it some times. At half time against Tasmania the "yeh's" and hive fives were back in a big way. We ignored the fact Hawthorn had kicked 13 behinds and should have been in front. A little over an hour later as the pink and blue began to filter out of the G it became apparent the High fives needed to be put on ice. Over the next few weeks we beat up some Queenslanders and reassured ourselves that after the bye we were ready to take on the much improved Eagles. We'd unpacked the high Fives and were ready to use them. It was here that our lack of preparation against the forward press was exposed for all to see. Dean Bailey must have kicked himself for missing the obvious and leaving himself and his young team so vulnerable against the serious teams, all now switched on to the current method of winning big games. Once again the club escaped higher scrutiny as it beat up on another weakling at the G. Not long in to the game against North and with Micheal 'How the fark am I on an AFL list' Newton playing inspired football we looked like breaking our Etihad hoodoo and rolling the Roos. However after the break they kicked 12 goals to our 4 and once again we left Etihad with a pathetic loss against a side we needed to be beating if were to take a much needed step toward credibility. Next up we ran the saints back into form as our highest paid player refused to commit to a contest and then gave away a 50 in the last quarter that ended the arm wrestle. Not a high five to be seen. It was the following week that our season defining game was to be played. When the Blues rolled us on a friday night and accused us of playing Bruise Free Football in front of a TV audience not only were the high fives away but the Melbourne jokes were out again and we were being laughed at once again, if in fact the laughter had ever stopped. A lone high point for the season was watching Scully return and help us spank the out of sorts Essendon, a win that would hopefully get our season back on track. All roads led to the MCG on Queen's Birthday for our annual fundraising gift from Eddie Maguire. With Swanny breathing the rarified air of Arizona and Daisy suspended surely we were a chance. Sadly with Travis Cloke kicking as many goals as our entire side we were sent packing from another televised game looking not too different from the team of 2008. Once again we returned to the G to beat up a weakling, this time Fremantle in front of less than 20,000 bored fans. One only had to look at the lack of opposition to realise we were the giant pretenders of 2011. A win against fellow battler Richmond before running the Dogs into some form with another 10 goal loss left us begging for the bye before heading upto Darwin to post another win against one of the few sides below us on the ladder in Port Adelaide. Round 18 saw us against the Hawks and if we were to be a finals chance we'd have to win this one. Alas they spanked us again in front of a smaller than hoped crowd, as Demonlanders headed for the snow for their annual "escape this rubbish" pilgramage. What followed was surely the lowest week in our struggling club's history. First our captain, if you would call him that, spilled the beans on the club's civil unrest. Surely Jim Stynes dedication was enough to keep this stuff in house. By Friday Schwab was apparently 2 days from retiring. Then came the trip down the highway. Some Demonlanders recalled Robbo's heriocs when we upset the Cats. Not this time, not by a long shot! The moment will for ever be etched in my mind, similar to Waverley Park as a 9 year old when I demanded Mum take me to the footy only to watch Fitzroy beat us by 190 points. I really should have listened to her that day. Visiting friends in the country I wandered in from moving cows to turn the radio on. I missed the final score but heard the announcer read out the goal kickers. Using my brain rather than the calculator on my phone I counted 37 goals for the Cats... Sh*t... This couldn't be good.... It wasn't, only 7 for us and a loss of 186 points. Embarrassing doesn't do it justice. Nor does disaster, I tried epic fail but that didn't cut it either so I laughed. It felt good to laugh. It was a game after all.... I had a life, I would simply move on and let the rabble that was my beloved club sort their own sh*t out. So what did they do, something only Melbourne would do, sack the coach, reinstate the CEO and call in Gary Lyon to talk to his mates who had promised so much but dellivered so little. If only Jiimmy Stynes wasn't sick. Ignoring Football isn't easy for a Melbourne lad bought up on a diet of The Demons and the MCG so I simply closed down apart of my being and waited for the end. First Carlton, then West Coast then Richmond just to add some salt to an open and gangrenous wound. We limped home against the Suns before Port finally stomped us out of our misery. Then further humiliation when our club website pronounced "Dee's Delight" Had I missed something? had I simply dreamed the game on TV? I checked the result again, no, I was right, we had lost to a team that before meeting us had won just 2 games and had sat below The Suns for most of the last half of the season. A delight they say! Surely they jest? However it did at least end the season for us. I couldn't help but think "Was it really the end?", "Was this season of promise over just like that?" Were we once again left to ponder the next round of young kids who might save us from ourselves. Will Tom Scully finally put us out of our misery and as a perfect post script to our bruise free year will we be forced to look on as our Boy Wonder sits between Grubby Allen and The Crazy Old Man wearing Orange. We will stay sitting as he announces he is heading to Shitsville loaded with cash from AFL HQ to play in front 12,000 bored rugby fans with free tickets all the while our club again puts it's hand out for us to pour in more hard earned to pay for it's continued mistakes. What about a coach? The bookies seem to think Lyon will coach, I hope like hell it's the right one. What of Viney? Surely employing another mate would be beyond even our Boys Club. Malthouse, could it be possible?. If a Club ever needed a stern kick up the ginger it was now. As I sit pondering what was, I still somehow find an ounce of sunlight. Jack Watts and his improvement. The signature of Jack Trengove. The game of Sam Blease against the Suns. The fact Liam Jurrah still wants to play in Melbourne. All these things will keep us going. Each of us will hang on to a thresd of hope, the very same thread that has sustained this club of ours for over 150 years. We must decide that now is not the time to waiver, it is not the time to panic, it is the time to stand tall, to upgrade that membership, to send some hard earned to the 100% Melbourne campaign, to refresh the sticker on the back of the Volvo and change your phone ring to It's a Grand Old Flag. Because if we don't 2011 will keep happening, over and over again and Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton, Essendon and even possibly even Richmond, well probably not Richmond, will keep kicking us around and laughing at our history. So fellow Demonlanders grab hold of that thread and get ready to help make the dream a reality. To borrow a phrase from Demonology Go Demons, Unleash Hell

You flatter us thinking we need to tank to lose. Stopped caring about 2011 when I realised a young player would pick playing in Shitsville over us. Forget the money. Our club became an evn bigger joke this year. Calling us a basket case gives baskets a bum wrap. At least they do the job they were designed to do! My tip is Scully will be back playing in Victoria for a club that's professional, has the facilties to bring out his best and most importantly wins finals.

So if we could go back 8 or so years and take the deal the hawks got at tassie would you not take it? We'd be a hell of alot stronger and more competitive club financially if we had. The waverley deal!! we moved to casey if you hadn't forgotten, not to mention our style of play as opposed to the HAWKS. We could be the Casey Shared stadium Melbourne Pansies. That would be on par with your name calling. Oh yeh, then we could rely on our luck changing and recruiting players who don't leave our poorly run divided club to play for a souless corporate entity in shitsville. The only time we'll challenge the hawks is when we have the sustained success they have had over a long period of time. And on the merger. Our supporters voted YES, they voted a resounding NO and told us and the AFL to Jam it where the sun don't shine. Then they faught there way back to the top where they feel they belong. Get a Grip JJC and open your eyes.