Well written, but as a man that works within media circles, I can tell you that Sheahan won't have any sympathy or regret.
His job is to report unbiasedly and to provide entertaining opinionated articles. He wants to get hits and people reading his articles, and in order to do that, especially on the internet, you need to write hyperbole, you need to pump and hype things up.
If I was in his position, I'd probably be writing a similar article, whether I was critical of Melbourne fans in the past or not. He was writing that article as a football commentator, not a Melbourne supporter. He has fulfilled his obligation as an unbiased commentator.