pitmaster

"Iffy" is generous. (Just a detail.)

As one who thought 30,000 was a minimum number given previous crowds against Freo and the fact we have not been able to attend a game for more than a year I have to say my faith in Melbourne supporters is seriously shaken. We, collectively, must be as weak as others say. This old folks fearing Covid is lame. There is no virus circulating in the community currently and there were plenty of oldies around me yesterday. I do understand the ticketing was a pain but do it now to become accustomed to the system people. It's going to be this way for some time. And as for the 'Oh, I won't go until they win some games and play well' crowd'; get over yourselves. It's a new year, new coaches, find out for yourself what they've come up with in the off-season. Nope no excuses. That was a disgraceful effort.

Incorrect. One from his own boot. And great run, pressure and presence.

It's good to see MCC Demons have done their bit. I checked the ticket availability late Tuesday and only Section M38 had seats left. As of Wednesday morning the MCC allocation was "exhausted". At least we should see a record number for Freo (currently 27,000), although I'd be disappointed if we don't get to around 38,000 considering how long it's been since we could get to a game and we are not back at the 'G until round four.

Happy with my MCC allocation but for future reference I put in my MFC barcode to see what was on offer for club members today and was asked for $52...yet I have a full MCC-MFC Premium membership that admits to home games! Is this right? Or can someone advise on how to utilise your membership? Or is it the case that football members tickets only admit to the upper deck without paying extra? If true it's pretty shabby.

The old trick of misrepresenting what is written or said in order to cut down a straw man. "do not rate" does not appear. Actual quote " has knitted together a formidable unit".

Looking at our fixture my reaction to round one was “likely win, that Cairns loss is meaningless in any other context, they’re young and rebuilding. Their coach? Promising, but inexperienced and still finding his way.” But round two fills me with dread because the Saints’ coach is one I truly rate from his one year turning our midfield into a weapon and his solid grounding since. So I began to wonder what difference does a coach make on match day? Here’s my run down on how we are either advantaged or disadvantaged on the 2021 fixture and if, at all, the coach helps or hinders our prospects. And let me begin by saying I have an almost open mind on Simon’s work since he has had to cope with some setbacks not of his making. Round 1 FREO: As above, Longmuir is still the novice, Goodwin has a grounding and is well regarded by senior players if Viney’s re-signing is any guide. Lessons must have been learned by now. Coach Rating V Freo; (we are) Somewhat advantaged. Round 2 ST KILDA: Ratten is one I would have had in an instant. Knows the game, is focussed and a thinker. Goodwin is similarly grounded but I expect Ratten to surprise us. That said, the absence of Ryder will help us but in any case: Coach Rating V St Kilda: Somewhat disadvantaged. Round 3 GWS: Cameron has plenty of experience, a wealth of talent at his disposal but has not delivered, partly due to lousy luck in a prelim. His demeanour post match does not impress. Struggles for anything to say but his team’s record says he can still get them there. History says we compete OK. Coach Rating V GWS: Neutral. Round 4 GEELONG: Scott can be faulted partly because his record of an inherited flag flatters. On the other hand he has rebuilt what was seen as a fading group. He absolutely out coached Goodwin last year with his rope-a-dope tactics that took us until the final quarter to adapt to. I expect more trickery this year. Goodwin will need to be on his game for this one. Coach Rating V Geelong: Seriously Disadvantaged. Round 5 HAWTHORN: Clarkson created the template for breaking us several years ago. He is clever and has shown repeatedly he can find ways to bend the rules to his advantaged. He is ahead of the rest of the football world in this regard. Coach Rating V Hawthorn is Seriously Disadvantaged. Round 6 RICHMOND: I suspect Hardwick is not the genius we are led to believe, but a coach who is lucky enough to be at the forefront of a very well run club. He is certainly experienced and has knitted together a formidable unit but it’s not his doing in the way Clarkson’s success was very much his own. Coach Rating V Richmond is neutral. Round 7 NORTH: Cannot say much about Noble except that like all senior coaches he knows infinitely more about the game than me. That said, he will be less than two months into what is likely to be a very difficult learning year. Coach Rating V North Melbourne is Seriously Advantaged Round 8 SYDNEY: Another premiership coach and with plenty of experience, yet for some reason not as creative as you might expect. Has his system and pretty much sticks to it. Coach Rating V Sydney is neutral. Round 9 CARLTON: Teague is well regarded but that studious four-eyed look only goes so far. He has turned them around somewhat but is a steady rather than a sparkling performer. Coach Rating V Carlton is neutral. Round 10 ADELAIDE: Nicks is still a novice really and working with a diminished list with plenty to do. Goodwin’s experience and fresh thinking advisors should make a difference here. Coach Rating V Adelaide: Somewhat advantaged. Round 11 BULLDOGS: For mine this is the biggest coaching box negative we have for the year. As creative as Clarkson but with more to work with, we’ll finish this wishing Bevvo was still with us. The team will have to be truly firing to take the points. Coach Rating V Bulldogs: Seriously Disadvantaged. Round 12 BRISBANE: Almost as bad as the Clarkson-Bevvo prospect is our former development coach Chris Fagan. Loves his players; they love him; has built a terrific list and has them humming and is a thinker to boot. Coach Rating V Brisbane: Somewhat Disadvantaged. Round 13 COLLINGWOOD: Buckley’s been there a long time so he knows his players and is an experienced coach but he’s not ground breaking. He knows his game, and he knows ours. The reverse applies. Coach Rating V Collingwood: Neutral. Round 15 ESSENDON: A first year coach effect is not unknown but from this distance it’s impossible to know if Rutten will achieve that. He’ll be battling to put his mark on this mob after their troubled handover. Coach Rating V Essendon: Somewhat Advantaged. Round 17 PORT ADELAIDE: The team and club are highly rated, but Hinkley? Been there for twice as long as we’ve had Goodwin and the best tactic he’s come up with was having some third game punk try to beat up on Max 50 metres off the ball. Old style hard man but no ground breaker. Sadly, Simon did not respond. Maybe this time we’ll be ready. Coach Rating V Port Adelaide: Neutral. ROUND 19 SUNS: Dew is workmanlike but not especially tricky. Does his research and gets on with it. Similar to our bloke. Coach Rating V Suns: Neutral. ROUND 21: The AFL is making us wait for the heat to build before we make it to whatever has replaced Subiaco. Simpson is a very well credentialled coach and will be ready for us. Coach Rating V West Coast: Seriously Disadvantaged. I have us at a serious disadvantage 4 times, somewhat disadvantaged twice, seriously advantaged once, somewhat advantaged 3 times, with 7 neutrals, Of course, Simon could always “grow” through the year. I hope so because looking back at this it's more challenging than I might have thought.

Thanks for that. Anyone see Brayshaw in the twos?

Hmmm, I think I smell a warrior.

Absolutely. The context matters though. People were sold a pup over many years by campaigns of self interest. They were warned but every city had to have a casino apparently. I avoid the joint like the proverbial. Ditto the pokies.

Sorry to continue the history lesson but I just remembered that the bloke who built the Tennis Centre refused to legalise pokies and a casino because, wait for it, it would be used for money laundering and criminal activity. Go figure! That decision followed a judicial inquiry Cain called in order to stave off the pressure for casinos, and he was howled down for knocking it back. The pressure never really let up. People convinced themselves we needed a casino to be a modern city. What a joke. I thought I should complete the picture. I won't bother you with this again since I have derailed the thread, although it was going nowhere anyway.

Different matter. Both sides of politics were up for that and now, as predicted, state governments are the biggest gambling addicts of all. Gaming, as in off-course betting (the TAB) was legalised by Bolte's Liberal Government but I think you're referring to pokies. If you were around at the time you'd remember the clamour for many years from the media (Herald Sun/ 3AW in particular but I doubt they'd admit their role now) for pokies and casinos because, you see, money was flowing over the border to NSW into Leagues clubs. It was always a mirage but the push for it was immense. Incidentally it was Jeff - again - who handed a ridiculous quantity of Southbank to Crown for a dose of Lloyd Williams overkill.

Absolutely. His Liberal-National Opposition tried to block it; ridiculed it as "Cain's Cathedral" until it was obviously a winner. The Open until then was played at Kooyong. Here's a quiz: which lawn based tennis club in the eastern suburbs included Jeff Kennett in its membership at the time?

You said a Labour Govt would not spend on sport facilities on public land. Correcting the record. (It was also vehemently opposed by J Kennett.)

Talk about NFI. Three words: National Tennis Centre.

You'd think journalists would know the difference between number and mass.

There is no 'greater good of the game' in Clubland. Never has been. It's always been dog eat dog and every club for itself. Only occasionally does it become obvious, like when a ratbag such as John Elliott is in charge of one of the clubs, but it has always been so under the surface. That is why the AFL Commission was created, because self-interest meant the clubs were always tripping up one another and themselves and sending the place broke.

There is no 'greater good of the game' in Clubland. Never has been. It's always been dog eat dog and every club for itself. Only occasionally does it become obvious, like when a ratbag such as John Elliott is in charge of one of the clubs, but it has always been so under the surface. That is why the AFL Commission was created, because self-interest meant the clubs were always tripping up one and another and themselves.

You clearly have no idea how these things are done.

Real smart; we lose our home game in round one only to play on our home ground as the away team in round two. Starting to see why Cornes is not in charge of anything except his mouth?

Not sure it was panicked but it was poor and there were a couple of poor decisions as well.

Murphy - a media koala who can get away with anything because he ain't the typical footballer, but seriously, who cares? Maher - a blatherer. Not a bad bloke actually but suffers verbal diarrhoea from over exposure and relevance deprivation. Cornes - take Maher's verbal diarrhoea problem and multiply by a factor of four. Besides all that I am expecting a record crowd for a Melb-Dockers match at the G. We only need to beat 27K and considering how footy starved we are, and the fact we have had in the past 50,000 members plus another 12,000 MCC types who won't dig twice into their pockets, we should be aiming at 40,000 attendance minimum.

It was encouraging. That's all I'll say. I thought the skills were poor early and all the old issues were there, but that improved, particularly the ball use through the corridor. I liked the fact that we were willing to use the width of the ground to spread the opposition when on the attack. TMac was in and out but looked really strong and back to his athletic self. He was very encouraging. I might have to eat my words about Spargo who is just a tad exciting. Fritter going on as always. Max of course was good, as was Oliver eventually and Trac. May's disposal was a bit iffy but otherwise he and Lever looked to be shaping as a fine defensive unit. Jetta is still unconvincing. Whether he can return to his best remains to be seen. Loved Langdon and Hunt giving us run out of the back half. Petty and Bowey in the B game were standouts so overall some pretty encouraging signs. Of course it was a practice match, what the Poms would call a friendly (despite the antics of that nob Lynch), so it only tells you who is fit, who is running well and how we'd like to move the ball if we're allowed to, and it was maybe at 80% intensity. Put it this way, no-one's likely to decide not to buy a membership on that showing.

Promising signs from TMac. Lever's disposal hopefully rusty. Forward pressure not good enough to stop their run out of defence. Although we lead they looked more threatening when they went forward. Spargo promising.

So good to have a fitness bloke who can speak. Burgo gives you more confidence that he knows what he's talking about. As for his predecessor, I used to worry how he communicated anything to the players because he sure couldn't tell us anything.