pitmaster

Ditto. I am against a merger on principle. When we win our next flag I want it to be ours. Merging with any other club dilutes your integrity. And this mob, while they have a miserable four premierships, two of those in the 1970s were virtually purchased with a foreign legion and a bit of monkeying about with the transfer rules which the Roos seemed to know about in advance. But as well as opposing this on principle I see little practical value in it. Arden Street is a joke and their list is not much better. The Roos are in need of a serious rebuild. Their best players are for the most part on the verge of retiring. They have a smaller supporter base than us (although still probably a bigger one than Jackson's Port Adelaide). And we are more advanced than them in terms of off-field restructuring and on-field recruiting. The only benefit in this for us is the same for any of the other Melbourne clubs: one less competitior for sponsorship. That's it. It's not much to gain for losing part of your identity. When Brayshaw made a stand against Gold Coast it was always going to be tough. They have my sympathy, but that's all. As for AW, you really have to doubt them and what they are up to. Man, I hate that station.

And who amongst us needs some announcer to come on at quarter and half time to tell us the score? I mean really, are we football fans or what? The music is too loud and the ads too intrusive. As for the theme song, well that should be blared, but as an MCC member I was recently surveyed by the cricket ground administration and lodged a complaint about the public address volume. Maybe it's my fault, but I did not ask them to turn down the volume on our song - just the rest of the audio garbage.

Foolish remark

I don't think there's a better example of how posters on this website over-hype young players unseen at senior level than Maric yesterday. I'm not bagging the kid - that double play where he took the ball from half back, passed, ran by for the second possession looked good - until his over-hit handpass missed Colin Sylvia by a couple of metres. And he looked terrific running through half forward and sighting up the goals - until his eyes widened too much and he mis-kicked in his excitement. Give him another go, sure. But let's wind back the BS about how Jack Watts is already in our best 22, and how an 18 year old kid, free of high school next year is going to instantaneously fix our forward line. It is naiive to think he can do it for more than a handful of relatively low pressure games - which I hope he will do at times next year but when the heat is really on we can't expect first and second year kids to carry us. So simmer down folks. And hope Bate can find some form because he is good overhead and he is a more reliable kick than Robbo. Bate found space several times yesterday but his leads went unheeded by his team mates who were intent on handball practice. And hope Newton can learn to kick in front of crowds of more than 30 people and a couple of kelpies because he routinely takes several contested grabs and he will straighten us up. And while I am on the subject; yes Robbo straightened us yesterday and beat Scarlett but he was still wasteful and showed a couple of trademark bits of selfishness. Over the long journey Robbo has been a terrific entertainer and second forward. He is not a long term number one forward prospect. We have tolerated lousy kicking and worse from Robbo, and he still racked up 400 big ones. Congrats to him and more perserverence to Newton.

Key to it though was Blake getting the first tap. He dropped it perfectly into Ablett's path. Blake killed us in the first half ruck contests. Anyone who thinks ruckmen don't matter just don't get it.

I attended also but can't testify to the numbers locked out since I was up the front giving the evil eye to Bill Guest because of his buying up of memberships for his employees - none of whom supported Melbourne but who voted for the merger to support their boss (their words as reported in the print media). Hannabal is right it passed because of proxies linked to the board - rank and filers like us were overwhelmingly opposed. The vote should have included ALL who attended - that's where it was shonky. And thanks H for reminding me of Mark Jenkins and his brother Tony who got the alternative started - true club heroes. One last thing - the past players were coping it because Ridley was teliing them it was a takeover not a merger. I know this because at one point I rank Ray Biffen since I knew where he was working. He had misgivings, but said Tiger had convinced him and the others because it was Melbourne taking over that other mob. I read Ridley's book and unlike some on this thread I was not entirely convinced he did not have a merger on his agenda for a lot longer than he lets on - even the selection of Balme as coach - a man who had had success with a merged club in SA causes me to have doubts about the long term agenda that was at work.

I suggested nothing of the sort. I stated only the fact that hundreds, if not thousands were disenfranchised. What on earth made you read such a sinister interpretation into my words?

Boy have you got it wrong! Joe was on the scene weeks before the vote, promising to contribute to save the club. There was even a rally at the MCG at which the MCC allowed Demons fans in to the committee room to view the trophies and pennants won by the Dees, and Joe was there signing autographs. And he wasn't the only bloke there wearing a red and blue yamulkah either. As for the vote: it was crooked. Hundreds if not thousands of members were locked out of the Dallas Brooks Centre and could not get in to cast their vote. The vote "passed" only narrowly but may not have survived a Supreme Court challenge in any case because of the way so many members were disenfranchised (prevented from voting) because of the way it was carried out. The legal challenge became moot as they say in legal circles (in other words did not matter a rat's ----) after Hawthorn voted against it. FYI Joe was introduced to the club via a grass roots group called the Demon Alternative which had premiership player Brian Dixon as its figure head and ordinary supporters as their meat and bones. Joe ultimately contributed $2.7 million of the $3 million he promised - it was not a loan. At the time the Hawks were in more trouble than Melbourne. Melb wanted a summer training base and the Hawks had one at Glenferrie. We also wanted a social club and they had one of them. What they also had that we did not was a residual mass support. Their post-1960 era almost - but not quite - matched Melbourne's post 1938 era (10 premierships ins 25 years) and that's why they have found such a strong supporter base since rebuilding. Our golden era is just too distant.

And if you cannopt spell Jeremy BENTHAM then best not to quote him by name. Misspellings, agrammatical construction etc does nothing for your credibility. Basically, you say he's selfish, self-interested, lazy and motivated only by his own advantage. Anything I have missed?

Too bad YM. Another frustrating week at the selection table for you. Bruce to share Ablett-watch with Dunn. I hope we persist with Newton. He's a rare thing at MFC: a forward who can take a contested grab within range - just need to have the radar sorted. 2:7 is a rotten return but he will improve if we back him. Whether he improves enough for the long term is another issue, but he should stay for now. And those wanting Johnson dropped, did any of you see those two around-the-body passes into the danger zone - one resulted in a goal the other should have. He is not a Number One ruck but he and Spencer were slaughtered as a unit first up so Meeson and Johnno it is until the Russian has another try.

Not wishing to overlook the talents of your penis, I was appalled by Newton's kicking. One of those any kid in the under13s could have done better moments. But having seen the replay on Foxtel it should be noted that Gerard Healy at the time said that in those swirling conditions on that angle it was not more than a 50:50 chance. It looked better to me at the time but Healy knows the ground a bit. He made his comments BEFORE Newton took the kick. More disturbing was Newton's second attempt when his confidence was so shot he tried for a banana.

Damn right 3165. I thought the Lade incident very funny, because it did look like Cale was sprinting from a confrontation but it bercame clear he was heading into the next contest. While I agree we want players who put their head over the ball we have to remember that every decision to do so is not one isolated decision. Each time the player has to assess if there is a team mate in a better position, how the ball is about to bounce and countless other options. I see Cale in the thick of the action, still light-bodied, but developing. He does produce some clangers, but so does Cameron Bruce. The more you get the ball the more likely you are to cough it up at some stage. Cale may well warrant a spell in the twos as the season progresses but I would persist right now.

I thought it was pointless. Like everyone at the football is a paragon of decency. Sure they are. I'd rather hear the Dees crowd get into the umpires when they screw as they did when a Crow fell into Bate's back 30 metres from goal and penalised Bate for failing to get rid of the ball. It was outright in the back, meanwhile they penalise one of our blokes for a light back touch in a marking contest similar to those awarded Richo the week before. Get into the muppets

Coached by a man totally lacking in personal appeal or charisma, and the team plays likewise. It's not much satisfaction for what was an atrocious effort by our blokes - the falling off in skill is amazing to see from one week to the next - but their brand of football will take them nowhere. While some say they did not need to get out of second gear, I saw real alarm if not panic from them in the second half.

last I knew the skinny dog in high st kew was demon-friendly

I have not checked the replay but I have clear recall of Newton twice marking as he ran back with the flight. Fear is clearly not a factor in those circumstances. If it was the first quarter as you suggest maybe he got a rocket and has self-corrected.

I don't think that's right. True, we were lucky the Tigers did not punish our mistakes, but their two first quarter goals were heavily umpire influenced (I have rabbitted on elsewhere about the novice Findlay wanting to find his feet, and I see his pre-bounce report was duly tossed). By the 10 minute mark we were controlling the flow of play and while we continued to make mistakes, and they did likewise, we did hit the post four times. By the quarter's end we were clearly on top. Lot of energy expended and the return I think, was some self-belief among the players.

A bit of a show against Adelaide. Me? I want to do the Dogs. That's a mission statement. If we lose a priority pic so be it - winning is what counts. I "barracked" against us round 22 a few years back for the Sylvia/McLean double. It's a rotten feeling.

Mentally flawed but still a star because he is so important to his team and has been for so many years. He always worries me because he can turn it on so quickly and has often buried us. I agree though, that a key feature yesterday was that, unlike when we played the Woods or even the 'Roos, we were not made to pay for our own mistakes. That's what really damns Richmond. They couldn't punish us. How bad must they be!

I'd expect it to get withdrawn. Nothing in it but a bit of push and shove, at worst a low level jumper punch. It's what you get when you have a trigger happy first game umpire (Robert Findlay) wanting to make his presence felt so he's reporting blokes before the ball was bounced. Findlay followed that up a minute later by gifting a goal to Nathan Brown with a dud decision that drew howls from the crowd when it was replayed on the screen. That was their two goal start - all from dud Findlay decisions. Umpires we have to have, but it's a shame we get flogs like this bloke - it's the price of being a bottom side. Findlay should cop heaps at work this week. Maggot.

It's a bit churlish to look for faults in Sylvia's game this week. Give him his due: he gave us great drive in the first half and those two running goals were vital in maintaining our momentum. He was committed, determined and willing. There was a moment in the first quarter when he was free and calling for the ball on the wing. Our defence was intent on handballing to one another under pressure. When the over-possession game failed and the ball spilled to a contest Sylvia sprinted in and won his own ball. Right then, he showed his intent and he delivered in buckets later. If he keeps that up...then anything's possible. By the way QueenC, I love your avatar. I don't know where you got it from but fyi in case you don't know, it's the 1956 poster. Usually the date is clear but in that yearit is printed only in small print in the bottom left hand corner: Saturday, September 15, 1956. The season ended early then.

Petterd crunched in a marking contest, goes down, bounces back to throw a Tiger defender to the ground and wins a free for incorrect disposal. Result? 50 metre goal. Sensational second effort and great for a kid who looked terrific round one and has felt the pressure since. Really gave some back. For some reason the papers don't mention it.

Errrr...it was Foxtel Live boofhead. Not a matter of changing stations. Duh-waynes comments are actually pretty damaging in the context of our struggling club lacking respect. It's not just him. We seem to have plenty of enemies in the media (and few friends) who compound the negative perceptions of our club. You might not think that matters but it sure doesn't help.

as much as I'd like to see Aaron Davey playing forward, his precise delivery from the midfield is an asset we need to maintain. Bailey's use of him upfield is spot on. Now if we had Wona running around in the forward 50 we would start to look more potent. I like also the way Bailey is building a back six that will persist for years. His intent is right...I just hope the execution follows.

played up syliva's report outrageously too