Dappa Dan

A little surprised at that... I reckon Miller will play back, at least to begin with. We only have 2 full-time KP defenders in there who have to take Gehrig (Carroll) and Kosi (Holland). If anything goes wrong with one of those, Miller will HAVE to go back. There's no-one else. Excellent to see Moloney in there... And the biggest shock... BARTRAM!!!!! He's back already! Absolutely all for it having watched him the last 2 weeks.

Yes, yes, yes. If you're going to be serious about it then you could argue that the Blues could possibly win the flag. But, as I said, was it good for a laugh? Was for me. Most of it was. Personally I agree Hawthorn were high too, but I rate them much higher than the Blues. IMO they have good reason to at least be a little excited about this year. Though admittedly not all of it was comical to me. He has to have done his homework to know that Jones is still eligible for the Ron Evans award. Many still have to be told he's up for it despite having been nominated last year.

I thought Brock was right to go? sauce?

Are you serious? Carlton? 8th?

New name for the Rising Star...

Whoa.

It's such a laugh, up until you look at his pick for the Ron Evans medal and 2 of the All Australians. http://www.afl.com.au/Default.aspx?tabid=2...mp;newsId=40109

I absolutely applaud the gist of this thread, but I'm not sure about this phrase here. I'm not so certain we "need" him. can see us being hugely successful with him out of the team as well as in. But that's beside the point. MFC celebrated Jim breaking this record some years ago, and on the very match he broke it the commentators said it's a rule that would never be broken. As he said this a young floppy haired Yze was running right behind the man who set this record. If it's going to be broken I don't want ANYONE to say that he did it because he shirked contests, or was soft, or whatever. Whether or not it's true is up to the individual, of course, but what I want is for the record not to be a farce. What's the worst that could happen Ooze? Maybe you go in hard the match before you break or equal the record and are knocked unconscious because of a selfless and admirable act. What happens then? You're remembered even more fondly because you sacrificed an almost certain place in footy history for your team/teammate's/club's benefit. You'd be more of a legend then than you would be if you broke it. In that sense it would be the same as Rohan Smith announcing his retirement before his 299th game, which was a knockout final. If the dogs lost that game he'd be remembered for self-sacrifice, not a number.

Great thread topic in the light of who visits this forum. There are exceptions to this rule. For example there are people that KNOW they won't be able to attend games, so they buy a $200 raffle ticket and decline getting a membership. In this case I don't think you can say they're any more or less involved than a member who gets a standard membership and only attends a few matches a year, or none. To take this further, if you're a fan who buys up a few hundred dollars of merchandise, say a footy, gurnsey, keychain, and a couple of DVDs, and you buy them from MFC's store, then you're doing the club a favour there too. I don't know if there's a dollar amount you can put on whether a fan becomes a supporter, but you can always tell a person who doesn't bleed when their club loses. I always find within about 5 minutes they say something that no die-hard fan would say... like "How good is BRETT Moloney" or "I hope Nicholson has a good year." I never have a go at pretenders for not knowing anything about the dees, but my eyes glaze over when I realise they don't really know anything about MFC. I was talking to someone the other day, and I said they should buy a membership because the club was in trouble financially and needed the help, despite recent successes. He said "meh, there'll always be a Melbourne demons. There has to be a club for Victoria's capital city. they'll be fine." I could have slapped him.

CJ - classy left foot Trav - best MFC footballer Green - superboot is back Bell - 200 game player

You betcha!!! Unfortunately for you Old it'll only go to my specific email list, which is small, but growing by the minute. Funny you should mention the number 30,000. At the completeion of the season last year I emailed my brother who missed the whole season while being a ski-instructor in Canada (and no, he didn't drive a Range Rover while he was there). Having pretty much missed EVERYTHING that went on, I went into a great amount of detail, as only I can. In two days I wrote him 30,000 words on the season's achievements, and how each player went... and yes.... that's 30,000 (thirty-thousand). That's a thesis in some universaity masters degrees. If only someone would pay me for this...

Condolences, Tony.

I'll put up a cardboard cut-out of your Avatar on your seat. You'll be there in spirit.

Just noticed your new signature and profile Y_M... Nothing if not entertaining... BTW is it you that keeps posting all those match videos on youtube? If so... Do more. Maybe rounds 20 and 21 of 2005 if you're bored.

I had a look through some old threads and I can't see anything on there being a footy tipping league for demonlanders or 'ologists. Last year I had my name in both, will it be done again this year?

Could you elaborate on this if you catch this reply? I'm not sure what that means. Only Sylvia played on Sunday, so the others should be cherry ripe. But did that quote mean that since they were approved to play last Sunday they can't play on Friday? Seems odd to me. Thanks.

I wouldn't say that. I dunno. According to reports he didn't exactly have the opportunity to hit the weights this pre-season. In an interview he said he'd been doing a lot of aerobic stuff. Like swimming.

Worst. Post. Ever.

On the net it says the game is on from 8:30 on channel 7... As live as it has been in recent years. This is it. The big time. Season opener, Friday night football, 2006 finalists, one list of generation now, one list of generation next. MFC can hit the big time again. Smash the highly rated Saints, on the first match of the year that EVERYONE will be watching and they'll stand up and take notice. The demons of today are no longer soft, no longer incompetent. Now is the time to follow this club. I'll be there. For MFC. For Neitz. For demontime.

Yeah, I agree with that. He has a habit of shanking kicks slightly more regularly than you'd prefer, but the way he's been crucified for it is a touch out of whack for me. I reckon last year was one of his worst by foot, but one of his best otherwise. I remember thinking in his 3-vote bame against the Bulldogs where he stopped Johnson that barely a kick went where it was supposed to. There are a handful of better kicks in the team, and he'll certainly never be a TJ, but he kicked some important difficult ones last year. A good example is one I just watched then in the Saints final in the third quarter where Miller found him deep in the pocket. The commentators, including Darcy, wrote him off and were disappointed Miller didn't kick to Neitz one out close to the square. Bruce proceeded to calmly slot the goal and run back to his mark. I think you'll find he's done this quite regularly in his career. IMO bad kicks are guys like Godfrey, and to a lesser extent (slightly) Ward, who almost never deliver the ball in scintillating fashion. Bruce makes mistakes by foot, some of them horrendous, but then has proven time and time again that he CAN do the incredible. Not a bad kick, just inconsistent.

- I can tell because that's the report I recall seeing. Sadly it was some time ago so I can't recall where or when for a quote, but I distinctly remember reading that shortly after his operation was completed early this pre-season his OP returned. From many reports I've heard he's had an enormously interrupted pre-season and has been in recovery along with PJ, Bartram and various others for bulk time. Add to that the fact that he's been listed as having a "groin" injury for the entire pre-season and I'd say I'm satisfied to say his OP has at least been a factor. If you can offer proof I'm wrong then I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be delighted to hear it. - All the above aside, Sylvia was NOT fine today. He was rusty, yes. He was slow compared with what he can do. He didn't jump high or often. He had a grimace on his face for an ENTIRE quarter (I was watching him very intently as you can tell). He has starred at this level a hell of a lot more in the past than he did in his half today. Lack of match practice and fitness was not the ONLY factor for him today, but keep in mind that was just how I read his game. Now you've got me sounding like I'm stringing the guy up. If Bell can return from these problems to have the impact he did last year, then I'll give Col every chance to come back soon, and come back well. I reckon your idea of 4 rounds or so is about right assuming nothing else derails him... - Yeah Bartram was good today, and if he was better last week, it wasn't by all that much, if by anything at all. The only difference was, as you say, he got caught a few times. Nothing to worry about. I said about round 4 I think for him last week, now I reckon that might be a touch pessimistic. Round 4 would probably be the latest he'd return going on the last 2 weeks viewing. - I couldn't help thinking this too. My group of friends all agreed too. He seemed to play like a Robert Harvey-type ball magnet. My one problem with how he played last year was that I didn't see any footy from him that another team would characterise as dangerous. Seems to me he could be exactly that, given the room and the role. Having said that, it's early days. - Warnock looked ok I thought, but I'm still far from convinced for exactly the reason you highlight. Seems solid at this level, and lost at the top level. One thing though... he has very good pace for a guy his height. If I had to guess I'd say that would be one of the major reasons for his retention and promotion. - Too right. Oh, and I had a look at Stefan Martin today, and he looked so good in the ruck and up forward, until the ball met his foot. I didn't feel so bad about not picking him up when it came to his shots on goal.

You need to stop posting so much. You're going to catch my total posts if I'm not careful... And we can't have that can we?

Kick - Brock Handball - Jones FF - JMac FA - Godfrey. I mean Carroll Goal - Green

Naaah. He looked WELL short of a run to me. 4 weeks at least, and then you have to be sure the OP is gone before you can expect him to make a huge difference. Took Bell until the last 4 rounds to make an impact last year. MFC is a hard 22 to break into at the moment, even for Sylvia. That's my thoughts anyway. OP was still a huge factor today I thought. He didn't get out of 2nd gear when I watched. Pace is a strength fo him, and even though he wasn't able to use it, he got in the guts and had an impact by just being talented and strong. He's always been pretty darn good at VFL level. And we don't have our whole list up and running do we? Dunn and Frawley were on the cusp weren't they? I won't add to others' comments really. Sylvia looked like an underdone champion today. Had impact and was good, but was a fair way off his best. Warnock is pretty quick, and took a few strong marks and kicked pretty well for a guy who isn't supposed to be able to, but he wasn't really among the best. Is a bit mistake prone. Bartram wasn't quite as sparkling as last week, but was still a cut above. He was pinged for taking guys on, and while I encourage a bit of confidence, he was doing it a little bit too much on the day. But that's ok, when he plays that well he can do a few bad things. Pretty heated match really, but there weren't too many AFL players as suggested. On the day I saw Williams walking around and Belly, CJ, Weetra and Bode looked like they were there to see Col play. Then again, Belly and CJ just live down the road, so that's to be expected. Lovely day for it, but besides seeing Sylvia I didn't get much out of the game. I'm sick of praccy matches. Oh, and Valenti is a gun. Love watching him play footy. He's little, but a rookie spot would have gone further for him than it would have for Hayes at this stage.

Yeah, but even though he's not played much, apparently he played pretty well. I rate Hayes enormously. In fact, I'd just about go as far as to say he's the Saint I'd be most worried about on match day if I was MFC coach.