mauriesy

That's not what I said. You could stop speaking for me and making things up.

That's not what I said. You could stop speaking for me and making things up.

Yep, it was Jack Watts fault in 2007 even before he got drafted.

The past negativity. As a supporter I am approaching the finals series with a hugely positive outlook. Even if we don't get past the first week. Then I'll be positive for 2019. I'm not interested in what happened in 1965, 1975 or 1985, to Norm Smith, or Neeld, or Watts. I don't need to be reminded of our past every minute of the day, every day of the week. I know it and I choose now to ignore it.

No one's asking you to deny it. They're just asking you to get over it.

There you go ... again.

Harping on ancient history is not fully supporting them. It's placing a load on their shoulders that is not of their making, nor their responsibility. I don't care how much you sent Melbourne and I'm not lecturing you. I'm just sick of the continual negativity and backward outlook here, even when we win. (Supporting Melbourne since the 1950s.)

Coincides with the rise in expectations of supporters and their anger after any loss.

You can either become eternally depressed by the past or get over it. I can't see the point of continually harping on it. Fifty-5's point was that this is a new team, without that baggage, with a great chance of success in the future, and they don't care about what happened 30 years ago (like you obviously still do), only what happens on the road ahead. We should support them.

Yes, but the veil of negativity needs to be lifted, in fact consigned to the bin.

A more experienced coach at Port Adelaide hasn't been able to get any more out of him than Goodwin did.

Not as though we haven't got time to re-focus before the finals start.

Yeah, but if we lose this week, half of them will probably jump off again.

They still have a far better idea of what constitutes a free kick, and are better trained to recognise it, than any biased supporter (us included). I often watch a replay and see that most decisions that I might disagree with when I'm "live" at the game, are in fact technically correct. The hardest-to-understand rule is the idea of "prior opportunity". We (and the WCE fans) might want umpires to call holding-the-ball at the first sign of a tackle, but that's not how it works, or what the rule says.

Do you read Demonland after a match? Or even before it when people here try to pre-empt the "poor" umpiring they're expecting to get? None of it is "during a match".

I hope that the pathetic rubbish and constant booing that WCE supporters go on with about the umpiring brings a little introspection on here about our own pathetic recent bias in regard to the umpiring decisions and our game outcomes. It's not like we're angels here. MFCSS in regard to umpiring is alive and well.

I don't think I'd bring in Jeffy ever, let alone "just yet". I'm very sceptical about his required performance in big games, and there's nothing bigger than finals.

You missed the bit where we blame the umpires for half our shortcomings.

That would be lovely, lovely, lovely ... wouldn't it?

It's an indicator, but it's not pointless and it's not an excuse. It's simply a comparison of experience as one factor in list maturity, therefore ability to cope with pressure, build physical strength over time, and understand the structures and nuances of the game. Experience without talent means nothing, but talent without experience needs time to build. The problem in the past was that we couldn't get to a certain level of experience because the talent wasn't there and we delisted lots of players before they got to 100+. I also missed: Port Adelaide 17 North Melbourne 10 Given the list including these two is the current top 11 teams this year, Melbourne is the definite experience "outlier". That doesn't mean we can't make finals this year, but I think it does mean that we can have real optimism in 2019 and 2020 when the list matures, just as Judd says. You also missed the fact that the last Geelong premiership side, seven years ago in 2011, had huge experience with the likes of Scarlett, Ling, Mackie, Lonergan, Hunt, Johnson, Enright, Wocjinski, Chapman, Kelly, Stokes, Ottens and Bartel.

Here's another example of the experience and maturity of our list. Number of players with 100 or more games experience: Hawthorn 17 Collingwood 16* Geelong 15 Adelaide 15 West Coast 14 Richmond 14 Sydney 13 GWS 13 Melbourne 8 * includes Grundy who plays his 100th game this week.

You build a potential side around a tough, skillful and experienced midfield. You can have stars and/or talent on every other line, but the midfield is the engine room that makes you go places. It's been the case with every premiership side, such as Brisbane in the early 2000s, Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong. Collingwood's midfield comprises players like (games played in brackets) Pendlebury (268), Sidebottom (202), Treloar (135), Adams (111). Geelong has Selwood (266), Selwood (161), Ablett (314), Dangerfield (218), Duncan (174), even Guthrie (135). Richmond has Cotchin (214), Martin (194), Edwards (224), Houli (180), Caddy (132). We've got Jones (256), but as a comparison we are building our real midfield around Brayshaw (50), Viney (95), Petracca (55), Oliver (52), Salem (62), Harmes (62), Neil-Bullen (51), Fritsch (16) etc. You work it out. These games played stats highlight our present condition, but are also a reason for huge optimism. It's hard to be patient when we've been down as long as we have but we have reason to be genuinely optimistic. They are not "excuses", just reality. Calling the side "mentally weak", highlighting deficiencies in individual players, saying someone "should never play again", asking for the coach to be sacked and handing in our memberships will never overcome that current lack of experience. They are just poor analyses, and mentally weak in themselves. I agree with Judd. It's a good summation of where we are and where we are going. I'm look forward to the next two years with great anticipation, regardless of whether we make the 8 this year (which I think we still can).

The Age must see it differently. They gave Jetta 7 votes.

West Coast in Perth last year?

I didn't realise a TV knows where the signal comes from when someone watches it. So, how many people watch an AFL game on Foxtel? Do you know? What about all the people who might watch it on AFL Live (like me)? Or who stream it otherwise on an internet channel? What about everyone who watches Foxtel in pubs and clubs? You need to update your idea of "television" in terms of exposure.