praha

North have never had a strong supporter base. Even in the 90s when they were flying. I think in their case they'll either survive or die completely. I personally don't want them to die. I think that for every club that dies (especially Melbourne teams) a part of the game's heart goes away with them. The AFL officially became a heartless, money-craving organisation when Fitzroy merged.

Umm...tourism? Tasmania sponsors Hawthorn.

To sit with all the Melbourne fans, your best bet is from the MCC, right along the wing past the goals at the Punt Rd. end, to the pocket. I sit right on the wing in the Southern Stand, first level, right in front of the Red Rooster.

I will be exploited. If they are to implement it, they need to have a non-club doctor hired by the AFL at every game that can determine whether or not a player can go back on the ground. If a player is suddenly available before a match but it's too late to include him, they can substitute him mid-game for a player that has a cut on his head, but they'll say he is concussed.

I was in the Southern Stand and it sounded fine.

Morton is no where near ready to return.

Massive, MASSIVE facepalm for this post. Macdonald was dumped from Brisbane for a reason. He is not and cannot be part of our long term plans. He's essentially another Craig Ellis. Expect him to be around for maximum 3 years. Rivers is ahead of him at every turn.

What a silly thread. He's still at Melbourne because of Pia. No man in their right would dump a player with a wife like that.

Grimes.

We should win by 4-5 goals. Not by much. We don't have the strength up forward still. Our mids have to step-up and kick most of our goals, and lots of them.

Hmm, I hate to be so negative, but at the end of the day, we still struggled to beat a side that was severally hampered by injury, and with no bench. We played good, not great.

We got 39,000 and 40,000 when we played Adelaide in 06 and West Coke in 05 when we were at the top of our game.

5-6.

I guess you've never visited Bay 13 then?

I don't really care if we're top 8 after 4 rounds. Nor do I really care if we are top 8 at the end of the year. As long as we play consistent football and our young guns put in performances and lead the side like they did today, then my expectations will rise. But atm, playing good football is more important than ladder position imo.

OK so that's based on a very simple statistic (points against: only Sydney and St. Kilda have less), but it does help prove a point I've been saying for a while now - our backline is probably the only 100% settled part of our team, in that we've got all the pieces for it to be a successful formula in our plan. And I think it will only improve, especially with Garland now back. Throw in Rivers also. I think Frawley only had 4 possessions on him for the whole day today. I'd be curious to see how many possessions, shots on goal and marks inside 50 our backline players have had kicked on them, and also how effective their own possessions have been, as well as clearance out of the back 50.

Fremantle have had about 100 promising youngsters in their 15 years (much like us in our last 15 years) but haven't capitalised. I think they are due to start playing consistent, good football. Remember, it took Brisbane 8 years to make the finals, and I think 10 years to win their first finals game, and 14 years to win a flag. They are due to start playing good football, and based on the game against Geelong today, their fans are really itching for it. If they get on a role, they will be unstoppable at Subi; that place was looked like a cauldron today.

We can't finish top 4 without suitable replacements for Travis Johnstone and Broke McLean, which we clearly do not have.

We were making that fossil look good in the first half.

Hmm, I don't think that was Bailey's doing. Adelaide insist on playing a terrible brand of football when they come to the MCG. It's not just against us. They always have 1-2 extra players down back, and the Melbourne players that are on those players don't want to enter the 50 so as not to flood our own forward line. It's pretty simple and a tactic Sydney used in 05-06. So suddenly, whenever they get the ball out they stream forward, bringing our players with them. When/if we rebound from our defensive 50, we have no one up forward. That changed quite obviously in the second half, as we played an extra man down back and our forwards played far more aggressively and concise to the forward 50, not allowing or following their men down back when Adelaide went forward.

lmao Newton - played important role? He struggled in against a backline that is hampered by injury. Can't believe this guy still gets a game.

Hopefully Michael Newton.

I despise it when a player is pinged for being over the ball. What exactly is a player supposed to do when the ball is on the ground? If they try and pick it up and stand up, they get tackled and lose it. If they jump on it and try and knock it out but get it caught underneath, it's holding the ball. The rule should have stayed the way it was. Watching the 93 Grand Final between Essendon and Carlton on Fox Sports on Tuesday night made me realise how much the game has changed for the worst.

I think Malthouse is a great coach who has done superbly considering the list he has had to work with. In saying that, he is an arrogant arse that thinks he is gods gift to the world.

He played OK. Made a few ugly mistake in the first two rounds that kind of justified Brisbane delisting him. I guess it's good that we have an experienced played in the side, but I can't imagine him being part of our long term plans to be honest. He's another Craig Ellis at best.