bush demon

Totally agree Ron, but for me what does it is the Babe Ruth/ Ron Barassi dramas where both players left their clubs, one unwittingly, the other for financial and career reasons. In both cases the spirits of the two clubs were decimated and in our case, never recovered. Not that i am blaming Ron. As i see it, Melbourne remained a club with an amateur gentlemen's philosophy and the new, hungry clubs jealous of mfc's war-chest of premierships adopted a whatever it takes approach. And that was the way Ron operated.

Dawes' article sounds like he is paying the bills. Compare his article to Bob Murphy's excellent piece.http://m.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-dream-that-never-dies-20130515-2jmx6.html

Ed Burston: http://demonwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Ed%20Burston

According to our CW, he is being lined up for a gig at Melbourne: The problem with Melbourne is not the coach

Waverley failed because the AFL said it failed. Much better than Docklands. Look up some old youtube clips and see some great matches there. Casey is a no-brainer, can learn from Docklands and Waverley. The new Melbkurne is now demographicay there now makes sense to acquire that new fan base and call it melbourne. .

Your mate was playing Barassi! Hope that show plays again, was thinking of going up to see it. Funny how the red n's blue colours have become tainted and you feel like people r going to laugh. It takes a Lot to kill a supporter. Ron you have a lot to answer for.Ed: sp.

It's good chilled, and very nice after a pizza.

pick the +ve and -ve sentences, i will zig zag around in my comments like the boys do when they try to link up possessions. The coach is like a conductor, if the players can't dance to his tune they fight as individuals, like we did on the w/e. at the moment the players are too terrorised by fear of failure in everything they do. IF we started getting the pill a bit more and we had our best forwards in this would straighten us up - and our midfield would improve immediately. At present we have no avenue to goals so have to invent ways to score, opens us up to deadly turnovers. Long time supporters are entitled to feel severely depressed, hence i understand belzebub's pain. i got a letter from the membership manager, "hey, i see you have been a member for nine years straight, we are doing our best etc pls re-join. i have written a reply in my head several times but just can't see the point in replying yet. i will rejoin but won't drive four hours round trip to wreck my weekend. the scary thing is, teams like swans and geelong aren't getting worse, they are defying gravity because they have worked out the system of how to maintain playing lists in the era of drafts. a pick in the 30's or 40's becomes gold for these teams whereas our boys are weighed down by falsely high draft ratings. swans are bankrolled by the afl with their extra pocket money (read kurt tippett), whilst geelong can invite a micr0-crowd to fill their stadium and make squillions. finally, other teams are down in the mire, we are not all on our own. my tip is that footscray and gws are going to struggle for quite a while too, and will soon feel more heat from the football commentariat.

I never went to Glenferrie; sad about that. Never seen us win at Docklands. Went to Kardinia Park once )lost}, went to Lake Oval a couple of times (lost), it ain't nice out in the Badlands.

Have to have a screw loose to believe that...

One thing that got me going with the mighty Dees was my 1964 Mobil Swap Cards. Unfortunately the whole set was burnt off at the end of that season but was good to see some cards displayed on Lynda's Carroll's article. Here are some more, from the 1964 season. Pictured are Hassa Mann, Ron Barassi, Brian Dixon and Tassie Johnson.

I don't know what's more disappointing out of Melbourne's fade out after 2006, John Lennon's fadeout after 1968 or Lynda Carroll's item on demon swapcards which totally ignores our glory era of the 50's and 60's.

The clock is ticking until the end of the season when it will become apparent how many of our top 22 want to leave the club. If there are 3 or 4, or more, we will move into an end-game scenario. we are being crushed by a competition which doesn't want or need 18 teams. the tv rights deal is illusory and won't keep propping up the bottom clubs.. when mfc is sacrificed, other clubs will be discovered lacking in culture, namely footscray, stkilda and a few years after that north melbourne.

Today could get interesting if GWS continue their good form into second half. Essendon could become the new laughing stock.

Blease is obviously being told to run and break the lines. That high hit on him was a low act and I hope the guy gets cited.

Fits with the development mantra. i thought we were in development mode in early 1966 with the infusion of syd catlin, jungwirth, leahy and rattray. Ed: Oops, I forgot Frank Vearing, debuted as a two year old, late 1965. Now that's development: http://demonwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Frank%20Vearing

If Watts is to play forward the mids have to be instructed to honour his leads, not hang him out to dry as occurred previously.

Brisbane so predictable with their short, chipping to set up shots on goal. How come we had no answer to this?

Losing Scully was a win, allowing us the opportunity to pick up a handy forward. He has disappointed at both clubs, and surely his poor disposal should have been picked up by those handing out draft rankings.

Good to at least see JW have a big fly when he went forward. Jamar is too predictable in the ruck and too gentle with taps. should thump it clear occasionally just to keep the other side guessing.

Saddlebags weighing him down! The transfer scandal has wrecked his career.

I'm not saying 'recruitment' in the 70's was right or wrong, just saying it happened in that period and is not exclusive to the brand new world of football-as-a-commodity, which is the current fashion. I just get sick of the newby supporters who just seem to think that players can be got without other clubs having similar designs on our playing list, which is a shootout we would, and will lose in the future. i also get sick of posters banging on with their latest recruitment theory and concluding with 'thoughts'? as though there is any thought to be had... as though the poster had any sway whatsoever in the runnings of the club. i wonder what the players think about their being 'traded up' by eager onliners in these cyber garage sales. yes, they must think the people who support our club are a joke. at least the ones who conceal their identity in these swap meets. i admit that i maybe somewhat jaded in this regard, even out of fashion.

1973 was around the time when big transfers started happening, with North buying a premiership, (Davis, Rantall, Wade) and Melbourne getting Ditterich on the back of the ten year rule, not to mention Topaz Tilbrook. Mitch Clark was already on the move, not a father-son at the beginning of his career. I think Dawes was let go to get Lynch, wasn't he?

There is harm in trying. This kind of kids game only destabilises our current list and players think they are no more than swap cards. Better to build our own brand than launch fanciful raids on premiership clubs.

Actually I thought Eddie's response to the Swan to the Swans gossip was ambiguous to say the least, where he casually alluded to a chat with his 'mate' Gubby Allen about what Pendlebury Thomas Swan etc would be worth etc. Definitely thought his mouth got away from him there...