SuzDee

"They know we're coming"....to destination Nowhere "Can you smell what the Blues are cooking?"...Manure We're Carlton, the great dumping ground of the AFL & we're a thick-skinned group...gotta be with the slogans the brains trust have come up with in the last 2 seasons

I have to say as I arrived at the local train station to go in to Etihad Stadium for the Essendon game I was greeted by a group of young boys kicking a footy along the platform. They called out "Go Dees" & "Go Bombers" in unisom and I started chatting with them. One of the boys couldn't wait to proudly announce his brother played for Melbourne & he played for the Northerrn Knights. I didn't need a second glance to know he was Jack Grimes' younger brother. We talked freely and one of the subjects that came up was how many games do you go to? & for Jack's young brother Do you go to all his games? As someone who goes to as many games as possible, no matter what, I told him and his mates he should go to all his brother's games because you never know when he may kick his first AFL goal, take a speccy, be BOG. Well, that night Jack did kick his 1st AFL goal & 2 weeks later he is BOG, and Rising Star nominee. I'm watching this boy and he has a big fan base from his local area. They're rightly proud of their local hero and for what it's worth they believe their boy will be a great AFL player and a great MFC player and will be a great MFC captain. Eyes on Jack!

The Selwood boys are the new Carr Brothers ( all except the Geelong arm of the brothery ) They niggle, niggle, niggle and don't let up. It has been published in the Western Australian papers earlier in the year before our West Coast game over there that that was Aaron Davey's weakness in the past & West Coast looked to exploit that....niggling intimidation behind the play. Aaron doesn't cope well with it and it worked again. Remember the explosive Selwood and Des Headland situation a few years ago? I thought Headland was stupid for being sucked in. Now that I've had the luxury of viewing the Selwood boys at my leisure I have to apologize to Headland. The Selwood clan are nasty.

I missed the Brisbane game, my one & only for the year & had to watch the game on TV. Even with Fox footy there's nowhere to hide from your errors. As miserable as I felt I had to feel for the players that were genuinely trying to do their best...like James Frawley. Up close on TV monitors he looked like he was really hurting when play didn't go his way and most importantly at the end of the game when the team walked off..he looked shattered, so he should, I was too. I'm pleased he showed his pain & I want him to make that work favourably for him. We don't want to keep losing, we want to keep working towards not losing, towards winning

I negelected to say what I've said on a previous post... speaking with Martin, who was sitting behind me for a game, I did ask why he was writing these stories & he said it was at the request of Cameron Schwab who followed his Bulldogs stories in 1993

No, he's not a Melbourne supporter in the traditional sense. He grew up in Tassie with no allegiance to any VFL team, however his mother is a North Melbourne supporter

I have a seat on the inside of Etihad, I just need to purchase a general admission ticket to gain entry to the ground. However I was told today that there will be no tickets available to purchase at the ground on the night, that I must pre-purchase through Ticketmaster, which is what I've now done. There were no available tickets in AccessOne, so I've ended up with a Level 3-where-in-the-hell-is-that ticket, reserved for moi and I won't be sitting there, because I have a seat elsewhere. Yes. it was $22.60 + a $5.50 handling charge. But I'd watch the game live anywhere. C'arn the Dees!

We get one aftermatch function a year (this game). We've got one fantastic function organised before a game once only (this game). I was volunteering at a post in Fed Square on Monday morning and spoke with supporters that had come from Hobart, from Alice Springs, from Perth, from the Gold Coast, from Cobram, to name a few. It's a wonderful occasion to gather all red and blue supporters together in terrific spirits as the team behind the team. Our team let all these supporters down in the 1st quarter at the 'G , but we need to come together to give each other a lift in these dismal times of few wins and remind us all why we're red and blue through and through, remind us why we love showing our colours because the journey up will be all the sweeter for having endured the down times. Functions like this help us stick together. RED & BLUE through & through, always!

Raw and confronting. Courage doesn't always have to happen on the footy field and this article shows tremendous courage for Colin to expose himself as he has. Congratulations to Colin, Emma and whoever it was that suggested Colin was ready to put himself out there in the public ready to take the next step.

I spoke with Martin Flanagan at the weekend and found the reason he is writing these articles is at the request of Cameron Schwab. Schwab read Flanagan's 1993 series on the Western Bulldogs, enjoyed and asked if he could do the same for Melbourne. It's certainly all positive promotion from what I've read.

RD 6 has just passed and Melbourne has had 3 home games at the 'G. I'm a Heartland supporter and was comfortable seeing the RD 1 group in M1, albeit, they needed some red and blue paraphernalia like flags & clappers or caps & beanies to identify themselves. However, since then our Heartlanders have gone missing. We were lucky if anyone sat in those seats when we played Adelaide...just a bit cool and miserable... and on Sunday the area was full of average Geelong supporters. Where are our Heartland kids?

For something a little light hearted can I inform you the MFC Cheersquad was more than ably represented in the Marngrook Footy Show quiz today. This is a Channel 31 program screening on Thursday nights at 7.30pm. Conditions were such that caps blew off and coats blew away during filming outside Gate 1 today. But the three girls representing the Cheersquad performed admirably with scores of 9, 9 and 8 out of 10, much higher than the average score so far on the program. It was a breeze!

Dandeman Were you talking about an incident in M2/3 (Cheersquad area) ? We had the Heil Hitler of security on the boundary there today. The next time his head popped up I was going to ask for his number and I'd be taking it further. If you're the person I'm thinking of all I can say is Thank heavens the security chaps on the other side of the fence saw the idiocy of what he was up to and placated him by saying a warning was in order before an eviction.

Yes, MFC Cheersquad will be behind the Punt RD goals for the Rd 2 away game.

I should also mention that Bay M1 was graced with the presence of Aussie and Matty Whelan in one of the breaks (Q1 or Q2?) whilst Jimmy Stynes presented himself in Bays 3-4...the Cheersquad ...briefly. It's wonderful to see the Club finally connecting with their everyday and everyweek supporters and I hope it continues.

I know a child who was in this guard of honour and he has no connection at all with Casey or any concept of Heartlanders

No, Kids don't have to wear a collar. As for the age, the admission prices are quite simple...$4.50 for children, $29 for all others, no concession ticket available. If you want to enter the MCC reserve that's what is asked of you and be prepared to be turned away if you can't prove your "child" deserves to pay for a child's ticket. You get a magnificent seat on the wing, mostly under cover, rif-raf dealt with quickly by being evicted. No drunken yobbos. What a lovely place to see the game from.

Ripper Jack...Not. I sincerely hope this is just a bad rumour

Brent Moloney (the Tank) only played the 1st half of last week's practice match. At the beginning of the 3rd quarter I saw him speaking with Bails behind the stands. I don't know if this was a planned half of football or another injury concern. Regardless, Beamer is not playing this weekend and that worries me.