pitmaster

The double was that the worst of Duh-wayne was the way he apologised for the umpires, as in Bate is ridden in the back across the boundary line - a clear infringement - and Duh-wayne justifies the lack of a free by saying he "played for it". Twice he accused Davey of "playing for it" yet ignored Reiwoldt looking to the umpires for hand outs and the soft gives to Kosi. As for the umpires - evening up their stats in the last quarter with one dodgy free to Bate and having a Jamar mark counted as a free was as lame as it gets. And calling play on to 20 metre kickins? Who is maggot number five? I've got some land I want to sell him.

Because it would be discussed in the context of what a wacky guy Robbo is - it would become a joke and would reward an attention seeker with what he is seeking all along. At least Jeff Farmer had his whole career ahead of him to learn from handballing to the back of Garry Lyon's head. Robbo has not much time left and has to make the most of it as a footballer, not as a clown.

Before we castrate you? I'm reaching for the gelding irons right now. You're an idiot and should not be allowed to reproduce.

Wash your mouth out with soap. Yze not once displayed the 'look at moi' characteristics that Robbo has not been able to shake. Yze was a quality player, very skilful, who played through injury. If he should not have played, then it was up to the coach to pull him out but players want to be out there and will play hurt if they can. Yze went through a long form slump and I lost patience with the selection committee, but not him. Players need to believe that their form will come back. Without self belief they won't make it. I am tired of reading about Yze getting bagged on this site by some posters I suspect are too young to have seen him at his best and who blame him for ND's failure to command. Back to Robbo: this club does not have a lot of 400 goal forwards in its history and at his best Robbo is gold. But that effort Sunday was a disgrace. He should be utterly shamed. He'd have taken the kick directly in front at a time when no breaks were going our way and we needed to reverse momentum. What I especially don't want to see now is Robbo on some footy talk show like After the Game this week getting bagged and ragged about it either. He should keep his head down and let his game do the talking. That brain fade hopefully will inspire him but we'll all be judging him harshly from now on.

One rule book for Hawthorn: another for us helped them get a start. That said, we began hesitantly as shown by Miller's refusal to take a shot. The heads were not in the right space. Sylvia obviously was fantastic. Bate was OK too. Frawley worked hard and would have learned plenty. That goal resulting from the multiple in the back was not his fault and could have been his free - other times saw him working very hard off the ball. Like the Dogs game, centre clearances killed us. Apart from Jones, who made mistakes but worked very hard, I was disappointed with our mids. Maclean must be playing hurt. Macca had little impact. They shut Davey down well. We lacked leadership - note Miller, Macca and Robbo's brain fade. The persistance and fight back were admirable and a good sign for the future. 17 minutes into the last term we were a quick goal or two away from giving them real concern.

Hawthron traded for picks rather than tanked - they offloaded KPPs who were not going to be part of their next premiership - like Hay and Thompson. They were brave in doing so and a class apart from Carlton.

It's not our home game - we won't be writing out any cheques. That was part of my reasoning. Hey, for our home games I have sometimes gone in twice - once on the footy club membership, then duck out and go in on the cricket club membership so we get a payment from the MCC. I don't miss our home games at all. But I do appreciate all of you and your passion so I am rethinking already. I know if I don't go I'll only be thinking about it the entire time. But I am still seriously riled by the fact that we get the yet-to-be-popular twilight slots in Melbourne, more Sundays than Lent and only one Friday night. The AFL is happy to screw down on vulnerable Victorian clubs.

Not at all - I've sat through many bad years and will keep doing so until we come good. I rode out the 70s, and the 80s, luxuriated at Western Oval on the last day of '87 (shivered at the rifle crack sound of Garry Lyon's leg snapping), loved most of the 90s, kept the 1997 (wooden spoon) membership transfer on my motorbike helmet as a badge of honor until I retired the helmet, am a "gold MCC-MFC member" and I am there at every home game and every away game I can physically get to - including Kardinia Park - but we are getting shafted on fixturing by the AFL and the twilights are the latest method

Coglin has gone out of his way to protest something that, if he had kept his cool, would not have gone beyond those present at the lunch. Instead he rings the Hun to big-note himself and to "defend the previous board's record on women's issues". Except that if he had not done that, no-one would have queried their record. What a goose

I'm an MCC member as well as MFC so I get in free, sure. I just don't want to foster this "experiment".

Hawks and Saints games will tell us plenty. I was struck in the first half how we were able to match the dogs run, and outplay them at their own game. We lost partly because of luck with some lousy umpiring, but also because they were more effective with centre clearances and scored easily several times. Still we did not see the Dogs at their blistering best that blew Adelaide away. As for the Cats, they did not hit their straps against us either. Did they just do enough to win, or are we learning to stop these top teams run? Over the next fortnight we'll complete our run against last season's top four. If we can counter them as we challenged the Dogs, we'll know we are really going places.

I am surprised to be doing this but I for one will not be attending next week. Another Sunday twilight job. And it's live on Foxtel. At least this is not our home game - if it were I would go - so my attending can only help Horforn Twilight Sunday is the worst scheduling option especially at the G in winter. Lame effort by our supporters against the Dogs, however, and maybe the live Foxtel coverage hurt there as well. The MCC was expecting 30,000. I thought, given how the Dogs are going, and our blokes improving that we would see 35,000.

"We are just a phone call away from scandal" is in fact a commonly-used phrase among AFL administrators who know that players can get into strife in countless ways, and the club cannot control everything they do. Stynes' use of it says precisely nothing about our playing group. Coglin looks hyper-sensitive by my reading of the Hun. Stynes' comments look to be a pretty general commentary on AFL culture. If he says he wants to shift the emphasis more to women and the young that does not necessarily imply an attack on the previous administration. We really do have to knuckle down together at Melbourne. During the pre-season I was talking to a couple of friends who have close to zero interest in football (originally from NSW). The one insight they had to offer of Melbourne was that it was highly factionalised. Interesting, isn't it, that people who know nothing about our game, and care even less have that impression of our club. Coglin and all of us need to knuckle down and harden up.

Brian Taylor and the Bermuda Triangle routine = tedious in the extremis. But

We must remember that what passes for knowledge among many sports reporters is what someone else has said before. So we are stuck with these recycled variations of old Coodabeens routines. Yeah only 14 and a half thousand turned up to the G on a wet and gloomy Sunday evening, but no-one makes anything of the fact that a day before only 15 and a half turned up at Geelong. Why doncha email the bludger - tell him to think for himself for once. Or just think.

Sweet lass. Do you apply this standard to other areas of your relationships?

Deanox: "just clear your cookies and vote again, if you want to influence the result. no need to use seperate pc's." Thanks Deanox, you're an education. Voted twice more just to prove you right.

Good ground. I enjoyed my last few visits enormously. Waite's first game and early goal ending in a Dees win. And the Blues last game there, ending in a flogging by the Dees. Big wins and nail biters sum up our last few visits. It's a good ground to watch a game but it's a beast to get to, unless you ride a motorbike...then parking is a piece of p---.

Gotcha. I have only the faintest memories of him playing - he was a player of reckless courage certainly and earned the moniker Tiger. For me, one of the interesting notions in the book was that if your namesake had lived longer the internal divisions against the Fox may have been averted. Dr Duffy may not then have been the evil influence that he became.

Lousy newspaper. Fraudulent poll - which is why I voted twice (on separate pcs). See what I mean?

Short answer: Quite possibly. And even Eddie seems to think so.

This comment intrigued me when I first read it. Now that I have finished 'The Red Fox' (bought from the MFC shop where all of us should be shopping) I'd like ivor to tell me just what in Red Fox he is getting at. Ridley does not come out of the book as any greater than numerous others, and, if I want to be picky about it, a bit slow witted not to take proper notes at the committee meeting which voted to sack Norm Smith. So what is it Ivor?

Wona's injury is an opportunity for Maric to consolidate a place as a small forward. Hopefully, he can do that. Meesen's injury appears to have no silver lining however.

What I mean is what are they doing dredging up that bonehead Jackson anyway? Whoever gives a rat's what he thinks? Dumb as dogshite and just as useful. He did not rate when he had the top job so why is AW bothering to give him air now?