Little Goffy

I can't remember which Port Adelaide player it was that paddled the ball over the line in the last quarter but the TV coverage picked up the umpire's explanation as to why it wasn't deliberate.

He said words to the effect of 'he was under intense pressure ... etc.' Don't the umpires realise that that is the exact situation when players deliberately put the ball out of bounds?!

The state of umpiring is a disgrace, and these blokes explanations for their decisions is an even bigger disgrace.

Andrew Demetriou recieved a bonus recently based on financial achievements, his salary should be based on supporter satisfaction because the actual 'game' is in a bad state of affairs.

Yep, I heard the umpire comments too - 'under pressure (blah blah)', then, the gem... 'he was paddling it to himself, he was paddling it to himself'.

If that was paddling to yourself, then I reckon Byron Pickett was trying to bounce the ball, not tackling the Cornes boy at all.

NNNaaaRRgggh.

My first instinct is to go for past players...

Top of list would be Viney, given he has coaching experience for a few years with Hawthorn's (lets face it, overachieving!) midfield.

Hmm... Jimmy Stynes, the media would love him - the accent alone would be worth a thousand memberships. Maybe as a youth/ruck coach, rather than top job. I imagine he'd want to carry on with his youth support activities, though.

Then Gary Lyon. Lots of people seem to find him very annoying. Minimal coaching experience, may not actually be interested, given he's raking in the dough and keeping his ego nice and safe commentating from the sidelines.

Connolly just about IS Daniher, as far as strengths and weaknesses go.

Be nice if Sting came back for some more fitness and prep work.

But really, the cupboard seems a little bare as far as past players go.

Maybe by next year, NEITZ!!

Hey, Roos went just about straight into coaching...

I dunno about best game ever... but damn I'd be laughing!

Actually, my train of thought shortly after I heard that Rivers was out, and Sylvia wouldn't be coming in was along the lines of -

'Well, we're mostly screwed... but... if we win this we'll actually have the same number of wins as supposed new permiership fancies Geelong, and probably ahead of the supposed unstoppable Fremantle...'

If we win, they'll need to call a fleet of ambulances to the 'G as thousands of Demons supporters collapse into laughing fits at Geelong's expense.

It took one win for them to get ahead of themselves. A win against the 2006 spoon team.

We're in with a shot. We match up surprisingly well considering the circumstances.

McDonald and Jones, it's fair to say, kept us going on the ball

Whelan was solid,

Carroll worked hard under pressure

Bell, again, was a solid performance

Brown and Ward were some of our better running-creative players

Green, Moloney, Miller, Robertson, Jamar, Rivers and Godfrey were mostly OK and sometimes good

White & Jamar, Johnson, Wheatley and Bate all struggled

But Johnstone and Davey are where I'm really worried.

Gotta get that magic back, hell, they ARE our magic

But seriously, "Bruce - no longer elite"?

Ho hum.

I'm real impressed by your bagging. No really. I can't wait to see you at training, telling it like it is to the coaching staff, who obviously are in real need of your advice...

Freaky, that ladder is pretty close to my own.

From memory, I went with

WC

Melbourne

Freo

Dogs

Adelaide

Sydney

St. Kilda

Richmond

the rest

I made comments including 'Kangaroos to finish lower than 16th if they lose Nathan Thompson for an extended period' and 'West Coast could drink themselves if not under, then at least down the table.'

I feel guilty about Nathan Thompson, and now I fear I must pity the unfortunate Kangaroos.

Really hoping my dire predicitions for Essendon, Brisbane and Collingwood all come true, though!!

Neitz has stated that he wants to hand over the reins to another player before he finishes his career, and it's fair to say Neitz is in the twilight of his career. It wouldn't be the biggest shock in football if Neitz stepped down.

Surely Neitz will be aiming for 300 games at least.

By my reckoning, if he could see out his career playing as 'just' a reliable 50+ goals a season FF then he'd be pretty happy. And might have a few more years left in him, too.

Maybe then people might start noticing things like the way he was in the top 5 goalkickers almost every year of the 21st century.

But still captain this year - he'll want to grab that premiership before he heads back down to the goalsquare! It's much more fun being the captain that took Melbourne into it's mighty new era than captain for the eight years beforehand.

A side note - Has anyone else noticed how Melbourne captains tend to go in a cycle of 1 long-serving, then a short stint, then another long-serving?

Ok, I was bored...

Just how important is it to come top four?

Well, discounting the value of home-ground advantage, and discounting the possibility of the week of rest...

If each finals game is considered a 50-50 chance (someone has to win!)...

If you do a basic sequence of probability (blah blah), coming top four TRIPLES your chances compared to a mere top-eight finish.

About 18% vs about 6%.

I just thought I'd throw that out there - now you have the stat. If people care enough I'll show the working too.

What a different one measely game can make.

How big a deal do you lot think it is to get home grounds in finals?

Demons lost 1 game at 'g last year, best Home advantage in the comp!

This is an old one, but when I first got down to Melbourne in 2005 (at last! Regular Football!) one of the first games I got to was Demons-Carlton at the dome. (not a good omen, you could say)

Sure we lost, which was annoying, but I got a bit of amusement when a couple of dodgy looking teenagers sat down next to me and started commenting about the game. Fair enough comments, though they seemed to think they knew everthing. It wasn't until Mark Thompson sat down directly behind 'us' that I realised I was pressing for room against Gary Ablett Jr. Dodgy looking teenager, definately!

Nice way to arrive for a year of constant football... I mean, living in Melbourne.