Dr. Gonzo

What, when you were 30? You must have matured at a different rate because most guys I know knew this by the time they were 20 if not earlier.

Teams have also played a lot of possession footy against us (Essendon, Port, Hawks etc) meaning less opportunity for pressure acts.

Electing to physically assault someone, let alone someone recovering from concussion, let alone your teammate should be the absolute last resort. If you are defending yourself for example. Punching someone in the head because they said some mean things is not on. That's not to excuse May's behaviour but there are other ways to resolve conflicts.

Can't wait til May returns against the Lions in a couple of weeks, hopefully the crowd gets behind him as well. He is an essential part of our success, not just his ability but his mentality. Like it or not his ruthless attitude is exactly what this club has been missing for a long time and I can't wait til he is back out on the field I know he will be itching to get back out there.

Don't investigate something if you don't know what the answer is going to be. Investigating the De Goey incident had the potential to open a massive can of worms.

Surely after 2 years of being stuck at home people are itching to get off the couch!

Bwahahaha give me a spell hahahaha

The Brisbane game will be lucky to crack 20k if we lose Monday I reckon unless 5k Brisbane supporters show up. Thursday night in the middle of winter is ****house fixturing, thanks AFL

Dogs have played 2 games in Ballarat (10k and 6k attendances). North/Hawks games in Tassie. These obviously impact the average attendance numbers.

I was at the game. I've been to every game in Melbourne this year (including the North game at Docklands which some Melbourne supporters seem to think is played in China). I'm not scolding you. I'm scolding the supporters who weren't there.

Listen to the clip - he is clearly talking specifically about Melbourne supporters.

It's BS. If the positions were reversed and we were languishing in 16th while Essendon were on top after winning last years flag do you think the numbers would be comparable? The amount of justification and finger pointing/deflection by Melbourne supporters is laughable. Christian Petracca has commented on it in a public forum. But sure, just tell him how great our crowds are compared to 1965 and how Essendon crowds aren't as good or how it was Easter Saturday or its a night game or its a day game or it finishes too late or starts too early or its too cold or its too hot or the moon is half full or Jupiter is in Capricorn or or or

Melbourne - reigning premier, 10-2, 1st on the ladder Essendon - a rabble for 20 years, 16th on the ladder, one win for the season Geelong - playing at Kardinia Park during redevelopments - 23k capacity The whataboutism is ridiculous. Just admit the Melbourne crowds this year are anywhere on a scale from disappointing to embarrassing instead of pointing fingers. It is so poor our star player has publicly commented on it.

Punishing the team for an individuals behaviour.

Yeah and in 1901 we only averaged 8k to our games so things are looking rosy all over really 🙄

There are going to be mitigating factors for some but I don't think our supporter base solely resembles the cast of Last of the Summer Wine as some on here would have you believe (cheeky Ricky Gervais reference 😆)

What are you on about? Our crowds have been pathetic this year, it is not really up for debate. The fact one of our own players has now come out and commented on it is an embarrassment. Reigning premier, top of the ladder and sub-20k MFC supporters attending prime time games. It is a disgrace.

I'm fairly certain TV numbers are down as well - it's not just game day attendances.

Firstly, we won a few games with no spectators. There were also no spectators for the opposition. The Grand Final and Prelim were played in front of packed houses. We also performed poorly in a few games without spectators (Hawks and Bulldogs last year). Secondly, if you are denying the players don't feed off the energy of the crowd - especially when one of our own players has just emphatically stated that they do - you are living in denial. Can players play well without crowds? Of course. Do crowds provide greater energy to players/teams when they are up and about? Of course. Anyone who says otherwise plainly doesn't know what they are talking about. It is evident in team sports the world over.

That's great in theory but it's not the reality in any sport around the world. Players feed off the energy of supporters, it is undeniable.

I think it's probably a bit of both.

I wonder if we could see some swings this week? Petty to the forward line, Brayshaw to the midfield?

I'm sorry but this is complete BS. Gawn basically admitted after the Port game last year they'd just finished a block of higher intensity/loading training. It was evident to everyone watching the Pies, Bombers and GWS games last year we were extremely sluggish.

Yep there's more than a couple on here whose only response to any nuanced discussion was " but we lost". Well now we're winning but that's still not good enough!

Ideally I'd like to see more as well but I'm not going to fault the team when they're winning and up on top of the ladder. It would be great to see them play like the Harlem Globetrotters but ultimately that is unrealistic and unsustainable, the primary motive is winning. Let's take Saturday - we were blitzing the Swans in the first quarter, we were up 6 goals to 1 at the start of the 2nd - pretty good footy with a couple of breathtaking efforts from Kossie. The crowd just wasn't making much noise though - yeah there were the cheers and claps after goals but what about in between? I was yelling my lungs out mainly to stave off the cold but also to make up for the lack of noise from many around us.