RalphiusMaximus

Who's that rucking for GC? Looks like a big bugger from the photo.

Melbourne FC ‏@melbournefc It's currently 27 degrees, humid and reasonably still here at Southport. Players like @howie0038 have opted to cover their face in zinc. So not a wind to one end? Odd.

Bit of a breeze by the sound of it.

Melbourne FC ‏@melbournefc A goal to Ablett at the scoring end of the ground bringing the game to a draw. Suns 27 v Dees 27.

Do you actually think that post was serious?

The second quarter fade-out strikes again.

Goal to the suns! The sky is falling!

Melbourne FC ‏@melbournefc Jamar receives a 50 m penalty and kicks the goal. Suns 6 v Dees 27.

That would make it 15-7 our way I think.

Looks like we have a lot of the play but aren't hitting them on the scoreboard.

Melbourne FC ‏@melbournefc Col Sylvia kicks forward to Hogan who dribbles it across for a goal. Dees 1.2.8 v Suns 1.0.6 #firstandforever

That's what the twitter feed is for

GC 0-1-0 6 MFC 0-0-2 2 Are they doing supergoals for this one?

No Frawley today apparently.

Actually, I do find my IQ funny. I think the fact that I score so well on those tests is a great proof that they are bloody stupid things and nearly worthless in assessing a persons ability to think, reason or indeed function intellectually.

I guess it's the live chat on the website then.

So as far as we know there won't be any coverage?

Watching the final. Moloney has been decent but not outstanding. Martin hasn't done much.

The players getting the most game time in the NAB are the ones who are borderline. The coaches want to get a real look at them to see whether they will be played in round 1. The ones who have only had a couple of hitouts are either clearly in or clearly not in.

Getting back to the actual topic a little (sorry if that upsets people), I would like to say how proud I am if the club that we are still in there backing Liam even after he walked out on the us. We still have player welfare people up there at the trial and presumably are still footing much of the legal bills. I think that this is a great show if integrity and fair-mindedness.

History suggests that Melbourne players are considered fair game in the pre-season comp. I can't remember the last time someone was suspended for a hit on one of our players. Edit: Has there been a more recent one than Long on Simmonds?

Well, in theory his pre-season list is his predictions for how the coming season will go, while his post-season list is how he thinks the players have performed in the season just completed. As such he can make a case that player A didn't really do well last year but on talent/pre-season form should have a really big year, while player B was dominant last year but is getting on a bit and could be expected to slow down and have less of an impact. My issue with the way he has done this is that I think there are a couple of Melbourne players who can be expected to have very strong seasons and should be in the list on that basis. Mitch Clark would be the first of these. Last year he was on track to challenge for the Coleman until his foot broke. With more support and a better midfield he would be expected to match that output this season I would think. I would also think that Nathan Jones deserves to retain the spot he claimed in the 2012 Post-season list. He is only going to get better, so why does he drop out of the top 50 again? We also have some reasonable claims to putting a defender in there. If Frawley gets his AA form back he should be a lock. Tom Macdonald played on some of the best forwards in the game last year and beat them, and if he continues to improve could also be a shot. Then there is Watts, who Wayne Carey called as a possible AA this year after the first set of NAB cup games. In all, I think the complete lack of a Melbourne presence in this list is a farce given that it is supposedly based on what players are going to do this year.

And once again, Melbourne has failed to make the list. Not to worry, the pre-season one is basically his man-crush list. The end of season list deals in actual facts and rates how players have performed for the year as opposed to how much he likes them. I'll expect two or three on that one.

Link to BF here. Towards the bottom.

As C&B noted above, we won the i50s. We also broke even on possessions. What this says to me is that we were either not hitting our forwards or the forwards were not able to capitalise on the ball they were getting. I suspect that with the first choice forward line in place we would have seen a better telly from the entries we had.