praha

most of them yes but Papley played it to perfection. Was sitting on that pocket and he fell to ground straight away. He played for the free kick and the umpire technically right to award it but not in the spirit of the game. Not sure how experienced that umpire was but that simply doesn't get paid in finals.

I always think of the 2008 comeback against Freo. The game against Brisbane that same year as well. 16k and very loud. If Sydney had been premiers and on top and the roles were reversed, I suspect we may have been louder. As it stands supporters are getting up and about because they're beating the colossus. Freo and Sydney both paying close to $5. Rank outsiders by a fair margin and no one tipping them. If the Pies get going on Monday you can bet they'll be louder than they were yesterday vs Hawthorn. Everyone is eyeing us and wants to take us down. We still don't get respect, neither as a club nor a supporter base. We may well lose on Monday but true respect earned will be how we back it up in the second half of the year. As it stands our reputation as a club is on shaky ground Harsh reality.

The noise isn't the issue for me. It's the numbers. They're just not big enough. Melbourne supporters clap and watch. Like Whaetley once said, watching Melbourne is like viewing art at the museum. We're very much like Chelsea or the Chicago Bulls. During the season it's boring home games. Once the pressure rises and it's a big game or the playoffs though we're as loud as anyone.

Keep reading about "loading". What does this mean? Are they increasing training loads? What would be the purpose of this?

The problem isn't the cheersquad. They're no different to any other clubs. The problem is that a large chunk of our support base sit in the MCC and Olympic stands. Other clubs fill the Olympic and spill out into the Southern Stand. So for Melbourne games you basically have a free for all of GA and reserved club members of other clubs. We just don't have the numbers sitting around and with the cheer squad to really make much of a difference. They were heavily outnumbers by Swans supporters last night. Which raises the question about ticketing. I felt sorry for the cheer squad last night because Sydney basically had a second cheer squad sitting right behind them. So is it the AFL or MFC allowing ticket sales of away teams in areas otherwise dedicated to home team members? It didn't feel like a home game yesterday and I think it has a lot to do with ticketing. Force them into the Ponsford stand. Unless they're AFL or MCC members, they can sit with their own cheer squad.

The Melbourne FC Twitter account used to livetweet the press conference but haven't this year. Can someone summarise key points?

Definitely.

It's more likely that he had a dull pain there and thought he could play through. The diagnosis on Saturday morning then forced their hand.

That's AFL Members. Melbourne has among the lowest number of AFL members in the league. It's always a dead zone. I'm an AFL member but I walk around now and sit or stand near the cheersquad or in Olympic Stand.

I say we go all in on the Mark Neeld philosophy, bring in Daw, play Hunt one out in defense against the opposition's best forward, Ben Brown on the wing, send Petracca and Langdon to the VFL. And have May return via VFL reserves. Yolo.

Imma give this take a Kent Kingsley Award. Not sure which award specifically but it deserves some sort of recognition. It really is a special take.

Definitely. Someone mentioned this on the radio. We aren't very fun to watch atm. And haven't been all season. The only "fun" game was vs GWS. All other games have been pretty clinical bores.

That was a [censored] pathetic turnout. Was standing behind the goals and Swans supporters outnumbered and outcheered us badly. Everywhere. I'd say 60% of the crowd was Sydney tonight.

gifted

sydney *should* win this. they are way more dangerous up forward and look like scoring every time they go forward.

Concerned every time they go forward. they are smartly isolating Hunt and Lever every time. And every time they get beaten. Gawn needs to float back more often this quarter.

hunt on papley is going to give me an aneurysm.

exactly. hunt was embarrassed.

May ain't the issue. The body pressure is non existent. Everywhere. We're not winning tonight.

The bye really couldn't come soon enough. So many of the teams we've played thus far have thrown absolutely everything at us. Almost every game has been a grind. We just look so tired. It's really quite concerning how we look though. Don't think we win tonight. Sydney look just as Freo did. Seriously I love how every team is suddenly made up of aerial superstars whenever they play us. Sydney hasn't looked this good all year.

Swans supporters outnumbers Melbourne supporters 2:1. Maybe Caro was right. Maybe we do have a problem.

Richmond supporters definitely take the cake. The last two years I have been flat out abused by sore losing Tigers supporters. Simply cannot handle losing. Like they just hurl insults at you. And not even prompted. I remember one bogan looking at me while they were walking out and saying, "You're not even that good." Like wtf kind of comment is that? Eagles supporters are horrid. Similar levels of just inability to accept a loss. And when they win, they jeer and ridicule. I have absolutely zero sympathy for that club atm. I hope they end up with the worst percentage ever. All that said, Melbourne's support base is pretty tame. There's definitely your loud and passionate diehards but holistically we are a tame bunch. And it stands out more now that we are winning. We sit and watch and enjoy. We don't really seem to "barrack". I think it was Gerard Wheatley who made the comment that watching Melbourne was like viewing art in a museum whereas Carlton was like a rock band. I think that pretty much sums up both how the clubs play but also how their support bases carry themselves. I know it was 22 years ago but if Safeway Niddrie back then was anything like it is now, she was doing you a favour.

Seems our entire philosophy is around "exposure" to the elite level rather than "easing" in. We haven't really been conservative with anyone over the past two years, Brown excluded at the start of last year. Still, bringing in Salem who has played 10 minutes in the past 8 months, in freezing and potentially wet conditions... I really don't get why we wouldn't have kept Bedford in, especially given he was probably our best small last week, whilst having Salem ease back in via the twos. I really can't help but think we are slowly grinding to the bye here. Internally they must surely be content with a few loses now before a huge drive at the end of the year. Just seems to be like we are "managing" things to the extreme, maximise exposure, accept a few loses, and then we're ready for a huge push. I'm really indifferent about the result for the next two weeks.

I want him to get off. We don't need the opposition to be missing players. Also Buddy at the G on a Saturday night....easily brings in an extra 5k at least. Swans fans in Melbourne haven't got to see much Buddy over the past 5-6 years. People literally go to see him. It will be electric if he's playing.

Crowd was okay. Would have been nice to tick over 30k though. Honestly though the whole Mt Buller joke is actually legit. Our crowds tend to pick up towards the end of the season. We somehow got 38k vs GWS in 2018 in August. Absolutely zero chance we get that in May or June. It's always been like this. I hope we can get 40k+ vs Sydney this Saturday which is definitely doable. No Buddy definitely hurts but should still be a bumper crowd.