pitmaster

Dreadful tone to this thread. Form does sometimes desert players, and there have been injury issues for Davey, too. I reckon his form in rounds four and five shows an increase in intensity, improved fitness, some of his old style finishing and a willingness to run. I think he could be on the way back bigtime.

Any Melbourne supporter whingeing during the first quarter Saturday night has NFI. They were totally switched on and matching a pretty tidy unit. Last 'supporter" I had carrying on a bit was, funnily enough, bagging Tom McDonald. I had to point out it was only the kid's third or fourth game. Maybe he was Sloonie? And then Tom Mac goes and handpasses to a 'Dog just to shut me up. Still I hate it when we eat our own. Yes sometimes the players frustrate us but the endless bagging some fans go on with is so inappropriate but we are no worse than others at that.

There is something in this.

Stop it! Too early for this conversation. You'll have the 't' word up and running. (And we MUST load up on midfielders with pace and the ability to use it.)

Why bother? Most of Australia doesn't.

what he said

What is it about the 'Dogs and the umpires? Decisions hurt us so badly, but we hurt ourselves as well. Missed so many chances to put scoreboard pressure on in the first half. It was nonetheless encouraging. Four quarter effort minus about 12 minutes. No luck at all. A flash of Flash suggesting he can refind form

waste (in case kallergur was too subtle for ya)

I'd like to see Dunn start. Was effective with few opps last week and he has a body that can hold its ground. Rotating Watts, Howe and Dunn through the forward line to work alongside Clark gives us serious contested marking muscle (too bad we don't have the crumbers to work with them).

Is that a recommendation?

I'm still haunted by that Etihad effort last time. I was expecting a win and was really discouraged by our effort that night. It was so lame it was like a rehearsal for what we have seen so far this year, and our recent record against the Dogs is not good. Hey, I'm still haunted by that Friday night at the 'G in 2010 when we had them on the ropes with eight minutes to go and one of those pink umpires prompted a turnover from Bartram and the tide shifted. If we win I'll be surprised and totally rapt and possibly incapable of turning up for work Monday.

He's had 11 games without making much impact for mine. Just doesn't seem to get enough of it. I would love to be proved wrong but 11 games without leaving an impression of any sort apart from that horrific injury in slightly bizarre circumstances is not encouraging.

Has to do with being clean before presenting oneself to the almighty (should you believe).

You got me.

Some of you blokes need to grow up. There is nothing wrong with this article. Mark Stevens was in a privileged position for that draft and he has gone back with the benefit of hindsight to give us who weren't there some insight. It's a perfectly reasonable journalistic exercise, and pretty interesting. So you don't like it, too bad. Shooting the messenger is always the easiest thing. I don't rate Bennell at all and clearly we could have done better out of that draft. Broken leg or not, the mistake was Strauss for mine. I can live with Blease. He does have blistering pace and if he gets the confidence to use it he could develop into a valuable player. Pick 19 was where got it wrong. And once more on the subject of Watts, it was absolutely the right call. Others here have said it already but I'll add my voice to those who reckon NicNat is all iciing, no cake - plenty of highlights but little football sense. Watts is an innate footballer and highly skilled below the knees as well as balanced and able to take a contested grab as well as a reliable and accurate kick. He is about as well rounded as Mark Stevens, one of the better H-S journos.

Agree - it seems to be her mission but I seem to recall others including Sheehan seem to have accepted it.

Without Vickery and Reiwoldt to play off Miller would not be a contributor. He has not improved. He is working in a different structure. Was only any good with us when he had a big teammate to take the main heat.

Not quite everyone. Bailey at interview told the Board we were potential finalists in his first year (remember how highly rated we were at the end of '06), BUT within a couple of months he was back to the board to declare us as shiteful and in need of a rebore, new rings and gaskets.

Groin - 2 weeks away Ditto Moloney I believe...and Sylvia 2-3 so there's not much respite

Cynical is not the word you're looking for Clinto. I believe delusional would be closer to the mark. Full marks for positive thinking, however.

Correct decision and the statement is appropriately strongly worded. This guy is a creep and yes, I too wondered about EW as a sponsor - rapid rise and wide boy at the helm. It's now up to us as a members to find ways to lift club revenue - hit that merchandise stall for a start, and attend paying functions. $2 mill divided by membership numbers works out to less than $70 a head.

Correct decision and the statement is appropriately strongly worded. This guy is a creep and yes, I too wondered about EW as a sponsor - rapid rise and wide boy at the helm. It's now up to us as a members to find ways to lift club revenue - hit that merchandise stall for a start, and attend paying functions. $2 mill divided by membership numbers works out to less than $70 a head.

I also was impressed by the hardness of the Demons teams from the '80s and '90s in the Stynes marathon. I did not think about the rules so much. What occurred to me was that I have been watching some very ordinary Melbourne teams who did not even approach the hardness of Brett Lovett, Todd Viney or Stinger. As to "rules interpretations", the one that's really got me going is where a player slides along the ground to take out the legs of an opponent and then the slider gets a free kick. Total bulldust. In effect, it's a trip by body rather than hand or foot. If the AFL was fair dinkum about protecting the head which is put at risk in this manouvre they would penalise this tactic.

My first thought on hearing this was what HWSNBN would think. Pendlebury could have had $1 mill a year but will take much less and will be a club hero on several levels. He will never been seen as a mere mercenary. If anything this cheapens our former number one draft pick in character terms even further.

Two weeks for that??! They must have forgotten he ain't a Demon any more.