Suzanna

Group hug..... Sending out one to everyone who needs it (that is all of us right now)

Now now, that's not nice saying the ATO is as bad as the AFL.

So the problem the AFL has is not whether the substances were illegal (which they weren't) but that we didn't ask 'how high' when they told us to jump. Vlad the control freak is just angry because we didn't tug our forelocks and bow down to his royal highness. He can't get us for the substances, so he is going to get us for not playing the game by his rules. This will cost us, because Vlad is a spoilt, nasty little boy who gets vicious when you don't play the way he wants to play.

The fight had four quarters and although he was holding his own in the first half he went down in round 3 and never got up....

Melbourne is run by aliens who are actually using their experiences to observe how well humanity cope with a lack of hope...

My town is celebrating its centenary tomorrow, something that clearly only comes around once in a lifetime. I will be at the game, foregoing some of the celebrations, but if we are getting thumped I will not feel any compunction about leaving early so I don't miss the parade - once in a lifetime, or a round 3 game? Hmmmm.

We never man up. We never kick the ball down the middle, instead kicking it across goals and to the boundary. We never take our time when we mark, but instead quickly handball off, putting our teammate under pressure. Probably a few reasons why we never win.

Can anyone enlighten me as to why we let Stefan Martin go? It seemed to me he was just getting it all together, then he is gone. Seems to be doing ok now - it seems to be our 'thing' - put all the hard work into young players, then wave goodbye to them and watch them do well at their new clubs.

Long week? It's going to be a long year...

It's a pity they didn't wave the white flag a lot sooner tonight, then we could have all gone home....

Kick the ball up the middle of the ground! Aaargh!

Oooh, it's rather embarassing to see in slow mo, even worse than in real time!

Is there an under 8's team we can call on to stand in for us? They will probably try harder and display more skills.

Spot on. Those of us who turned up yesterday are real fans. The ones who turn up even when we know we are going to lose. The ones who turn up when the weather is predicted to be cold and rainy, we pull on our plastic ponchos and demonstrate our insanity by sitting in the freezing rain in order to cheer on our boys. The ones who are pitied by nice people, and laughed at by those who are not so nice. We are Melbourne. In return, all we ask for is that our team show a bit of spirit, and put in a little effort. That insipid tripe on display yesterday qualified for neither. I did not boo, and would not do so, but can understand the frustration of those who did. I even stayed to the end, although leaving early was tempting and I could understand those who thought catching an earlier bus/train/tram or just getting into a warm car was more interesting than watching Port Adelaide look good. If any of us were 'fair weather supporters' then we would not have stuck around for the last few years, and the club would not have ANY members. The fact that we are still here shows either that we are committed supporters, or else, deserve to be committed. Either way, we deserve better than this. Many of us have busy lives, and have to make choices about what we are going to do with our weekends. Go to the footy or do 'X'. Unless the Club attempts to make going to the footy worth our while again, doing 'X' is looking pretty good right now.

Brock got out because it was too far to travel from his home (in Altona I think?) to Casey. Or at least that's what he said then. He has since proved to be an unrealiable sod who put his old playing mates and supporters right in the poo for no reason other than spite. (He left Melbourne because of tanking? Really? Yet he went to Carlton to play alongside Krueser and Judd who wouldn't be there but for games Carlton 'lost'? Gimme a break). So was he lying then or is he lying now? You can't put any faith in anything he says because you don't know when he is lying and when he is telling the truth. Scum.

As much as it might feel good to get your rant off your chest by sending an email of complaint, how much more infuriated will you be when you get a response along the lines of "Your feedback is important to us....". It will just make you angry all over again. Yesterday's effort was awful. Insipid and boring. The sort of game where you wish you had brought a book to read to pass the time, because the game isn't keeping your interest. But when you have 7 new debs in a team, what do you expect? The team has been substantially recast, and that sort of thing takes time to gel. But who else could they have played after the cleanout last season? Don't know the answer. Just know that something has to be done, because the club can't go on dishing up this rubbish and expecting supporters to turn up each week. The on-field performance will lead to off-field 'breakage'. People who were undecided about memberships won't waste their money. Our bottom line will suffer. It's time the club considered that the damage being done to the brand has to stop. And shave off those beards - they look like shite.

Bored with the play today, I found myself looking at the boys, and wondering why they look like escapees from Ned Kelly's gang. Is there a common theme, (are they fundraising or something?) or are they just trying out a new look? There was some serious facial foresting going on - anyone enlighten me?

Is Lyon ever going to live that stretcher bit down? Poor dear. All in good fun anyway - no harm in having a bit of a laugh in the middle of a working day.

It reminds you of George Orwell's Animal Farm (I hope I get the quote right - I am sure someone will point it out if I don't): "All animals are equal. Some are more equal than others".

Woo Hoo! Don't care why we won, it's been a while and it feels goood.

He is really good - could anyone of us get paid that much by putting in so little? That takes real skill!

There's nothing wrong with experimenting. Just this year we have discovered that both Colin Garland and Jared Rivers can kick goals. How was this discovery made? By the coach shifting them to roles they haven't been doing at this club - experimenting in other words. It worked. He shifted Watts to the backline, and he had a couple of good games. What is wrong with that? I also read the article and giggled to see the big deal that was made of the fact that the doctors chose NOT to fill players up on painkillers and send them out to play when the game wasn't going anywhere. Should players EVER be injected with drugs that will mask an injury and possibly allow them to make it worse? I would say no, but then I am not a doctor. However, when there is no hope of making the finals, it is only logical not to put added stress on players. How is that tanking? If 'tanking'= list management, then there are 18 clubs out there tanking right now, because they all have made changes due to injury. The AFL will have to be very careful with what it decrees to be tanking, if it does at all, because so many clubs have done just what ours has done.

Now I know this isn't strictly Dees stuff, but she is the sister of one of our captains, and we did win today, and wouldn't it be nice to think he is sitting in front of the telly right now cheering on his sister....

I think it's obvious that he did. Scully was offered far more than he was worth, and the decision to pursue him and pay him so much can hardly be called a sound business decision - an unproven young player with a dicky knee? Well, we profited from the deal, so should we complain about it? No. But by the same token, can we be done listening to his rants though? There's nothing worse than listening to a senile, bitter old man berate others for his failures.

Port Arthur