AlphaDee

There was quite a good turnout but I thought less than last year. There were plenty of players and staff around to chat with and to sign autographs. I also spoke with Ronald Dale Barassi in the carpark but didn't see him inside. Jimmy's hair is coming back and he looked reasonably well. I spoke with Ricky P about our forward line and he is well aware of our problems down there. He isn't happy with his own form despite kicking a few in the pre-season. I also chatted with Neville Jetta and Jamie Bernall who are both really nice blokes and who have been friends since they were 6 years old. Brad Miller was fantastic with the kids and I saw hin rustle up half a dozen or so and go on the pirate ship with them. I also chatted with a few other players. One of the coaching staff told me that the club is well aware of issues such as turnovers, insufficient pressure being applied to oppositions and insufficient movement by our players when we have the ball. They are working hard to overcome these and other problems. To be honest, I thought the mood among the playing group was a bit low with none of the players I spoke with sounding particularly enthusiastic about the season ahead. Also, Jimmy's and Bailey's speeches were low key and were about continuing development of the group, taking small steps, opportunities for our youngsters due to the large number of injuries and some improvements this year. But, to me, they didn't really sound happy at all with the way things are. Hopefully somebody else who attended got a better impression than me. The players arrived slowly (and late) for the formalities and looked a bit like the walking wounded. Apart from the obviously injured, several of the non-injured guys looked rather sore after yesterday's game. From what I recall, Green, Sylvia, Tapscott, Trengove and Wonna were absent. On a positive note, the crowd was enthusiastic, the weather was great and Luna Park is a fantastic venue for the family day. My kids and I enjoyed it. Hopefully the club can fire-up after a poor pre-season and come out all guns blazing for round 1. Despite our problems, this is the team we have and the players need our support and enthusiasm.

I remember a game at the 'G, probably in the '80s and I think it was when he played for Collingwood (after he left Richmond). The game was full of incidents and I think BT gave away quite a few free kicks. Anyway, eventually he totally cracked and charged full speed at Rod Grinter to clobber him. Grinter simply bent over and flipped him a' over t'. One of the funmniest things I've ever seen and it made BT look like a complete dill !!!! Perhaps this was when he started to hate us?

"Kaspersky Lab has signed a three year, multi-million dollar sponsorship with the Melbourne Football Club". I assume that "multi-million" means more than 2 million as this will make our 2 major sponsers worth more than $4million over 3 years - hopefully closer to $5 million.

The other important announcement that Cameron Schwab spoke about at the AGM was a deal with the Melbourne City Council that would involve Red and Blue all over the CBD. Does anybody know what's happening with this?

This is good - Col needs a role model!

At the AGM I asked one of the MFC staff if there will be a 2009 scarf and I was told that we will be able to collect them before the games (as in previous years before 2008)

Great idea - perhaps it can be marketed as the "MFC Pyjama top".

Hey Rhino, You always contradict everybody else's posts so I couldn't resist the temptation to have a go at your spelling - "lookwarm" is what MCC members like to do when it is cold.

In the '60s and '70s when the MFC was still part of the MCC, us football club members were the poor relations and got no benefits at all from the MCC. If it happens, there must be some benefits for MFC members and even MFC supporters. As an example, perhaps MFC members can have limited access to the MCC facilities on match days and at other times? Perhaps we will be able to pay a small match-day fee to gain access to the MCC area? Other ideas????

Agree 100%. When I got the e-mail I was really shocked at how awful it is. Hopefully some will like it or the MFC shop will have more stock to write-down!

This is a real shame. My son and I met him at my kids' school carnival (West Footscray Primary) the morning after the draft and he is a really nice young guy. Looking at him, however, I'm not surprised he got injured because he was a total beanpole (very, very skinny) and it looked to us like he'd get injured easily. I hope he recovers well.

How can we get him to Carlton?

I was there that day and we all got very excited, expecting a great season!!!!!!!!!!! Speaking of North, they had a similar player called Phil Baker who was a finals specialist but didn't do that much throughout the season. Also, does anybody remember if Garry Baker had a beard for his entire MFC carreer? I seem to remmber him also playing without one.

Not bad. The "Founded 1858" part goes some way to stating who we are but this can be added to as follows: "Australia's Oldest Footvball Club - Founded 1858" or even better: "Australia's First Footvball Club - Founded 1858" or better again if it is true and if we can prove it (I know it is debatable) "THe oldest Football Club in the World - Founded 1858"

How would it look with white shorts? The shorts will need some design work to go with the jumper - perhaps a wide blue stripe down each side?

Further to my previous post, any design put to the vote needs to be shown being worn by a few players, wearing it with shorts, socks and boots on a football field. Even the silver one looked OK on the website but looks terrible on the field. I have e-mailed the MFC about this.

Hate them both - I abstain from voting.

Article in The Age this morning that the total is now around $2.8 million raised from an estimated 1,400 supporters, http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/news/new-...9516471698.html While the total is great, I am devastated that only 1,400 have donated. That is a very low percentage of our members, let alone our supporter base. I hope Jimmy and Gary hit the media and come on the Footy Show to encourage ALL of our members and supporters to make sure that they give something, even if it is only $5 or $10 dollars.

I disagree that it is getting worse. When I started watching footy in 1966 as a primary school kid, the umpiring was just as bad as it is now. After every game the talk was always about the bad umpiring and losing supporters nearly always blamed the umpire. As now, the "holding the ball" rule and holding/pushing in marking contests were always issues. The other team always seemed to get the "ticky-touch" frees and we were never paid the obvious ones. The umpires were always abused and referred to as "bilnd" or as "white-maggots". As the game got quicker it got even worse and hence 2 umpires were introduced. We than had arguments about inconsistencies between the 2 umpires. While I don't agree that it has got any worse, I do agree that it will never get any better. That is just the nature of the game.

Could it be Ben Buckley, the CEO of the FFA (Soccer)?

I thought this was a thread about Cale Morton and the rising star nomination but you guys are turning it into a personal slanging match thread. Enough is enough. Thanks.

I've just made a $50 donation and it is fantastically simple. I'll wait to see what other ideas the club comes up with but by the end of the month I plan to have put in at least $260 - to match the cost of our memberships (me and my two kids). Come on Demonlanders - no negativity please - just generosity.

Too many judge Newton too harshly for a 14 game player who's been injured for much of the season. Also, many seem to imply that he doesn't try. He constantly tries to make position, and always tries to pick up an opponent and chase when they run the ball out of defence - he often seems to chase in a one on 2 situation and this obviously exposes his lack of pace. I'm not convinced that he will make it but it is far too early to judge.

The SEN team was equally bad. A complete joke after the game when they said they were going to discuss the 3 bottom teams' prospects. They did not mention Melbourne once but discussed which of Freo and WC were closest to a premiership. They concluded that Freo was the closest - they seemed to think they have a great list. What a joke!

It seems to me that so many posters are over-reacting. Before the game I thought we would lose by about 40 points and it was only marginally worse than that. Sure, it would have been better if the effort in the second and third quarters was better and if the turnovers were less but these things happen with a young side. We had a very, very young list and we were playing at Subiaco where a 46 point loss is no worse than normal. Don't forget that Freo are still a capable side with much more experience than the list we had out there. They have also gone very close to some top sides at Subiaco (including Geelong). The upside for us is that we have bottomed and are on the way back whereas, in my opinion, they are still on the way down with a list comprised of several older players, some mediocre players that have been around for a few years and only a couple of good youngsters. Don't be despondent you lot - we will put in a good performance in the next week or so (hopefully next week) and the optimism will be back.