AlphaDee

Same (1967) - except not getting old (yet!).

The 13 marks and 9 goal attempts don't surprise me given his talent - he did this a few times last year for Sandy. The surprise is the 11 one percenters - this is fantastic for Juice. If he is now over his injuries and can show this level of commitment consistently, he may be in line for MFC selection in a few weeks time.

Walker has clearly been extremely effective in his Major Events and Grand Prix roles BUT he is not the sort of person I want at the MFC right now. In my opinion, the public "face" of the MFC needs to be comprised of people who are effective, well-liked and have charisma. Such people will enhance the status/image of the MFC, attract supporters and unify the club. Jimmy and Chris are ideal for this. Apart form these people, we need everybody else to be hard-at-it and effective behind-the scenes. Walker would need to be one of these but unfortunately he is not liked by many people and I can't see him staying out of the limelight. Like Jeff Kennett, he has a big ego and the media would always be onto him looking for a story..

True. I didn't realise it until I checked the fixture at 12.50, just before stepping out the door. Got lucky with the trains (only from Footscray) and got to the ground about 1.20 so only missed a bit. There were stacks of people just turning up at that time.

I know a lot of people will agree with you CB and I respect your right to have this opinion. I'm not one of them, however. I find Sam crass, insensitive, rude, disrespectful, unintelligent and not funny at all. Just my opinion.

Agree - noticed some unsavoury looking Tigs fans outside the ground but, to be honest, all of their supporters in our area were good humoured and friendly with the Dee fans. They even managed to maintain this when we were on top in the first qtr and when we came back in the second half. They didn't even get that upset with the umpiring that was definitely in our favour. I guess they have got used to being crap and having to turn up each week for many years for little reward. At least they have Richo who is by far the most entertaining player in the comp IMO.

I am actually glad that they did well this year and hope they do just as well next year, if not better. We should strive to get more members than them BUT I want both clubs to thrive.

Watched him a lot and noticed that he frequently didn't chase but still tried hard when the ball was close. Definitely not 100%.

A bit harsh on Ooze. I thought he he ran hard, attacked the ball, got plenty of it and found teammates on frequent occasions. Also some good passes into the forward line. The only blemish I could see was some poor finishing.

The Saints are playing on their turf, with their crowd, still have talent and will come out fired up. We will have to play as well as last week and for a full 100+ minutes. We have a great chance but I expect a tough, hard and close game.

I agree that Morton needs to go out for a while but not because he is too skinny (which he is) but because a few weeks at Sandy will allow him to have more impact and develop his talents and confidence further. When he comes back, he should be a far better player.

I don't think they lacked confidence in Bailey, but there needs to be a chemistry of sorts. Bailey is probably technically very good and might be a good teacher BUT, in my opinion, the coaches that get the most success are those that also have a strong charisma or a strong bond with their playing group. Only then will the players not only try to do what has been asked of them but will also do it with passion. After all, they are human beings, not machines. Perhaps the recent improvement with the MFC is partly due to the development of this type of player/coach relationship. I hope so!

Under ND, the coach and the players were very close (some would say too close) and there was a great bond between them. The players appeared to me to be unhappy with NDs departure but performed reasonably well under MR who had been around the club for a long time and was part of the family. Bailey, on the other hand, came in as a complete outsider and until recently has been unable to get the more experienced members of our playing group to perform with any passion (Green, Bruce, Davey, JMac, Brock etc). The passion now seems to be returning and part of the reason could be that Bailey is gaining acceptance and the players are starting to respond to him. Any thoughts?

Those of you with young kids probably know the Wiggles song "Wake up Jeff". Now, whenever I hear it, it will be "Get Stuffed Jeff".

For 4 years now I have been going to about 12 games per year with my 2 kids (son 11 and daughter 9), plus a few games without them. From 2004 to 2006 they really wanted to come and we won more often than not. Last year, however, we left early in the last quarter a few times after a big effort on my part to stay that long - putting up with "can we go" for the previous hour. This year, my daughter has said that she barracks for the doggies (like 75% of the kids at her school) and my son has been complaining about how awful it is for him being a Melbourne supporter. When they received their MFC kids membership packs, my daughter wasn't even interested in opening hers and my son was so disappointed that he threatened to abandon the MFC and barrack for somebody else. Fortunately he hasn't changed yet. Anyway, this week they were quite keen (because of the free flag and the kick after the game) and they both donned their Melbourne jumpers and off we went. My daughter lost interest and started the "Melbourne sucks" and "can we go" routine about half way through the second quarter. I told her that if she was quiet we could go at 3/4 time. Well, by 3/4 time there was no mention of going home early, and in the last quarter, they were yelling wildly, waving their new flags and joining gleefully in the chants after our many goals. We also tried to join in the kick to kick after the game (more like "I can't find our footy") and we all really enjoyed it. My daughter kept her MFC jumper on all night and went proudly to school on Monday once again a Demons supporter. What a difference a win makes. Also, great thinking by the club to hand out those flags outside the ground and for organising the kick on the ground after the game - as a result they might have retained two young demons.

Good post. I think the problem you have come across, "fiddledeedee", is that many of us Demonland posters are in similar form to our on-field side. That is, we are a dis-spirited rabble, unable to read the play, low on confidence and unable to apply any positive pressure. Perhaps you can be our new coach?

What has happened to Ricky Petterd? Is he injured?

Went to my first game in 1966 and have been an MFC member since 1967. It has been tough at times but, like many others, we have been able to last the journey up to now. I will always retain hope that we will win a premiership and nobody can say there is 0% chance of that happening. This hope and a deep loyalty means that I will always support the MFC. The only thing that will ever stop me from supporting this club is a merger or relocation. If this ever happens I will just become a neutral observer of the competition but could not support another club.

Demonland is a great forum for all of us to put forward some ideas and there have been several threads in the last year or so where we have been able to do this. Some really good ideas have been put forward. The problem is, as far as I can see, that there is no official mechanism for members and supporters to put their views to the club - either constructive criticisms or practical suggestions. If somebody here is able to organise a meeting, I think that one of the first items on the agenda should be to work out how we will communicate our ideas with the club and get a guarantee from the club that they will respond to EVERY idea put forward. If this isn't done, the whole thing will be a waste of time. Alternatively, perhaps we can have a "sticky" thread on Demonland just for putting ideas and constructive criticisms. A volunteer Demonlander could then prepare a weekly or monthly summary, send it to the club AND follow up with the club to get their responses.

From Western Suburbs - it's too far for us. We are the MELBOURNE football club and IMO should be more central. Still, if Casey is the only option available, we should take it.

Intersting to note that we were ahead of the roos in the following stats: - Disposals (363 to 316) - Hitouts (40 to 22) - Marks (97 to 94). Although I can't find it, I'm sure we would have had many more clangers. The Roos were ahead in the following: - Tackles (55 to 47) - Frees (25 to 23) - Goals from frees (5 to 1) - Goals from 50m penalties (1 to 0) Apart from the killer goals from frees, the really bad stat for us was disposals per goal at 33, compared with the Roos 17.5. They were clearly more efficient, probably had many more inside 50s (can't find this one) and IMO applied truckloads more midfield pressure. What does all this mean? To me it says 2 things: 1. We can get the ball but we don't do anything with it 2. We don't apply enough midfield pressure and our opponents get it inside 50 far too frequently and too easily. As a result, they get too many easy scoring opportunities and our backs are under constant pressure resulting in too many free kicks being given away. IMO our the lack of midfield pressure IS OUR MAIN PROBLEM. If we can improve in this area our backs will be under less pressure, we will get more turnovers and frees in our favour and more clear-cut scoring opportunities.

I'll be with a bunch of die-hards in M50 - come over and say g'day (we will be wearing red and blue so you should be able to find us)

Agree totally, but it saved the bulldogs and gave them some breathing space while they rebuilt their club.

The comment about our Auskick numbers is very worrying. My kids are told constantly at school that "Melbourne Suck" and my daughter now reckons that she supports the Bulldogs. If we can't win any games and continue to get constant bad publicity we have little hope of any kids barracking for us. The board (old or new) needs to come up with a realistic plan over the next couple of months covering our many challenges. If they can do this part, perhaps we can have a "call to arms" among our members and supporters - perhaps a half year membership for $50 for new members and maybe most existing members might be willing to kick in an extra $50 each. This could raise $1 million if 5,000 new members took up the offer and 15,000 existing members put in their $50. I know this type of thing is not well accepted around here but the Bulldogs did it several years ago and it helped save their club and re-awakened the population in the West (where I live) to support them. The better idea, of course, is to get new sponsorship but this might be very difficult until we can regain respect. It might end up being up to us to do something about it!

Gary Hardeman for CHB and Ray Biffen for FB or FF!