layzie

Might be harsh but that's the perfect comparison really. Hopefully gets his chance at some point.

Said all the right things by the sound of it.

Does seem a bit 'cookie cutter'

I'm sorry but this is silly. This isn't the SAS, our players are vital assets and there is a bunch of capital tied up in someone like May. I’m not paying my membership fees so an already concussed player can be put into more danger just because boys will be boys occasionally. As far as punishment goes they were both handed your suggestion of community service. If the club decided to give May a 1 game ban for breaching concussion protocol then that's their prerogative. If concussion can lead to irrational behaviour, then fair enough I can accept that as a possibility but why go fuel the fire more with alcohol? May is a leader of the club and we all praise him for his on field leadership and how much he demands from his teammates. You can easily lose respect from situations like this, would you want to be told what to do and how to act like a winner by someone who couldn’t do that himself the week before? The only way to nip this in the bud was to come down hard. As for violence being something that just happens, yes it does but it should happen a lot less. I don’t know how many one punch life destroyers we need for this to eventually sink in.

If nothing else you are a brilliant salesperson!

Out contested in the end.

Geez Bolton, need 19 for margin

I like the name Goody two shoes as well.

Devil's advocate for a second but there has to be a reason that more than one person is calling for AFL intervention other than purely having an agenda and being out to 'get us', supporting a team that is counter to us etc.

Whether we like it or not it's something and something that could threaten to torpedo this ship but also bind us together. I don't know how it got to this point but we have to take the second option, there is no alternative.

I don't see why it has nothing in common with 1965. I thought Norm's post and thread title were perfect, we're reigning premiers just like then, started with a winning streak just like then, there are troubles off field that have come to a head mid season just like then. The title of the thread is called 'Learning from the past' and doesn't appear to be suggesting this will happen again. It is just that, learning. 65 the club was in a lot more peril obviously but they are both fork in the road moments for the team on the field.

I work in Commercial furniture fitouts and was very tempted to give them a call! 😛

Overkill, he hasn't murdered anyone. Sydney Stack spent time in prison and remains on Richmond's list. The punishment is sufficient in my view, knock it on the head and move on.

It's a fork in the road moment for Melbourne this year no doubt. Whether people want to admit it these kind of incidents go either way. They can tear through a football club or they can sharpen everything up and give you the biggest reality check. I’m confident this team will go the latter and get back on track. I think if there is a good time for it to happen this is probably as close to it as you can get. It’s also a good chance for the media and opposition fans to learn as well rather than making fun and sticking it. It shows that no matter how good a team is, nothing is perfect and the most growth can come from moments like this.

The plus is that it's happened earlyish in the week. Still time to dust off and get our heads right for this task. No point complaining about it now, gotta play the cards as they are dealt.

Gutted, very very gutted. A stupid thing to do under the protocol. The team will be severely impacted now. But right at the bottom of all my disappointment I see a very ballsy decision that successful organisations make. You aren't bigger than the team and whether you are the best or worst player on the lost you will be punished. If it hurts the team then that is May's fault.

Exactly. I can appreciate loading being a factor but I struggle with it as a sole reason for why we are losing games. Am I willing to admit that the fitness staff and coaches look at the season as a whole and decide on which games in the year don't quite have the same importance as others hence the loading period? It's possible and long range thinking we may be better for it. However if we're being totally honest with ourselves, neither of these previous two losses should have happened. Forget about healthy win-loss ratios, forget about losses we needed to have, there is no reason why these two games should have been lost. I'll say it again, loading should have no affect on our skipper taking a shot from 15 metres out on an angle, loading should have no affect on sticking a 3 metre handball. This team has earned some major credits in the bank and rightfully so, but the pocket urinating needs to be reigned in a tad. If this was two years ago and Melbourne blew near 5 goal leads twice in a row we would be RIPPING the place down. You can say these were two very good sides we played and yes they were but I think there was a fair bit of us handing these games as well. Loading, illness, injuries. I subscribe to all of these being major factors but I don't want this getting away from the fact that we do not seem to be performing in the moment when it matters right now. I don't know if months of building leads and sitting on them rarely being challenged has anything to do with this but we've lost our edge when the blow torches come our way. It's a bigger game than people think next Monday.

Just need some more people to pony up. The people I'm having a go at are in their 20s and 30s, in good health and living in metro Melbourne, sitting on their ar** at home with Kayo. You get this period in your life once, you get this successful period in your life very few times. Why would you not want to do everything possible to make it to every game of this era? There is a part of me that hopes the new TV deal stuff up Kayo and means people will either need 100 subscriptions or actually go to games. I don't really mean that but there does seem to be a real 'Kayo clientele' and type.

No I hear ya, do something about it or accept and move on. A brainstorm isn't wasted. Appreciate the effort.

Would you get a title like official Demonland Team Leader/Area Manager/Hall Monitor? You'd have to have a sash as part of the uniform surely!

I just want to see more when it comes to attendance. I know not everyone can make it for various reasons but I really think 5k extra per week on average isn't unrealistic. I've sounded like a broken record in the last few days but not one of my MFC friends bothered to show up for this one and opted for the couch and Kayo. I'm certainly getting sick of that especially since I paid to go to Marvel and sit with the 500 other Melb fans while these dopes sat at home as if it was an interstate game. I'm not super focused on the noise level I feel this would naturally improve with that bit extra in numbers. I yelled my lungs out too but it didn't stave off the cold, to be fair though I already had it 😛 Just want to see more people make the effort.

Maybe not yet but we are probably closer than we think to trying out these kinds of experiments. We are going to need something big from Weid. A consistent effort where he can at least provide a presence physically. Now if this doesn't work as well as we'd like there's probably not a lot of other options so it's definitely worth the thought.

I get it, but you just need to choose the words very carefully when doing so.

Can we back in and give a shout out to the Demon Army cheersquad for all their great work on the show tonight guys? Getting a bit sick of seeing them cop it on threads here lately after all the time and effort they put in.

I hate to say it but it's a bit of a tough one Kozzie. On one hand you have fans who are there, in the stadium which is what we want but then people complain we aren't loud enough or clapping hard enough. You've then got people and I knew plenty of them who bailed on going and watched in the comfort of home which really if they are paid members they are also entitled to do. So what is it that we are actually aiming for? I think what I would like is to just have as many fans get to the game as possible and then there's enough to cheer, scream, boo, be silent to still give the place a decent presence. It's not black or white either it's a case of anything people can do will help. If you're there in your MFC gear you still form part of the presence and we still bring out the 'Demon' in everyone. It's not about decibel levels and who appears to sound louder. I'd actually like to know where everyone was who thought we were out cheered? Last week I did think the Freo fans sounded quite loud but that was because I'd moved around to the Ponsford to sit with mates and we were on e bay away from 90% of Freo fans in the stadium. If people thought the opposition fans sounded louder on TV well there's reasons for that too with ground mic placement. But yeah enough waffling, I think the more fans that come, the better, but I'll also be happy with the ones that make the effort to get there. I don't think crowd has any reason whatsoever for these last two defeats but if I was going to look anywhere I'd look at my friends who didn't get there long before looking at the Demon Army for something to blame.