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It's no laughing matter. Despite Collingwood's humiliation against Richmond last night, Malthouse seems to regard the melbournefc with contempt. Says he's going to rest Travis Cloke and possibly Dale Thomas - We need a midfield makeover: Malthouse. Bloke has a short memory. With Fraser and Swan appearing to be injured and Ben Johnson reported, we could derail their whole bloody season next week!

DON'T JUDGE ME ON RECENT GAMES, SAYS COACH RILEY That bulged disc could be the explanation for his apparent slowness and ordinary form in his first year at the club. After all, he was an All Australian at Under 18 level in 2005. Fingers crossed that e might have a good one there.

RILEY & BODE

TO COACH OR NOT TO COACH That is the question. Interesting comment at the end about Kevin Sheedy - "There is a lot of comment going around about what Sheeds should do and, like I said, I don't want to be making judgements on him. He's been a good mate and mentor of mine for a long time. In his first year at Essendon in 1981, I had my best season of AFL football as a player. He was my coach until I retired and then a mentor when I joined the Bombers' coaching panel at the start of my coaching career. All I will say about him is that he is a big boy, he's been in the game a long time and whatever decision Sheeds makes, I know it will be the best for him, his family and future club. And that's good enough for me."

SUMICH MAY PITCH FOR DEMONS JOB Late runs coming from Peter Sumich, Dean Bailey and Chris Connolly is back in the mix!

He said within a month.

I taped Football Classified last night but only had the opportunity to watch it tonight. Here are some snippets from the programme:- Early in the programme, Caroline Wilson suggested there had been an MFC board meeting that evening and it was claimed that the coaching position wasn't discussed (didn't say who made that claim). She also stated that Melbourne is a club in trouble but didn't elaborate there and then. Later she said that when the Demons interviewed Kevin Sheedy last week they were impressed with what they saw in him and that there would be a further interview next week. The feeling of the panel was that Ratten would get the Carlton job and Harvey was virtually assured of the Freo position. Caro suggested that despite suggestions made by some Fremantle people, Sheedy wouldn't be an Alex Ferguson type of manager. Essentially, they were suggesting that Sheeds would fit Melbourne well. There was also some discussion of Mark Riley and the Pickett coin toss. Apparently the Sydney media savaged Riley over the political correctness of his statement about Pickett's decision to kick against the wind having something to do with indigenous beliefs. She said this was stupid because Riley's record with indigenous players spoke for itself. There was also some criticism of the statement he had made about not "inheriting Phar Lap". This was also explained on the basis that the team he inherited was the injury riddled team of the last half of the season and not the one that was touted as possible top four at the start of the year. CEO Steve Harris was on a panel that faced the press. Caro asked him if he felt under the pump given the club’s "poor relationship with the AFL." and its poor financial performance. Harris said that this was absolutely not the case and that you have to understand that the club has had injuries and performed poorly on the field and as a result this affected off field results. It's correct that the club wouldn't make budget this year and that's what often happens when you have a poor season. Asked if the club needed a person to coach who was a marketing coach or a football coach he answered that it was looking for someone who is primarily a football coach because although selling the club is one of the dynamics of being a coach these days, its off field success comes from on field success so it’s important to get the team to perform consistently. Harris was asked how much does he listen to what the supporter base wants (in relation to the coach) and he said that he listens but tries not to take too much on board because it's not a popularity contest. Finally, he said that the coaching announcement would be made within a month. I hope I got that pretty well right.

You won't be able to count the votes after each round because the in camera part means they won't be revealed until after Round 22.

I'm certain he mentioned the game. Isn't the toss at the beginning part of the game? The point should not be lost however that there was apparently no instruction given to Choppy about the direction the team should be kicking if he won the toss. I remember our school coach discussing this with our skipper before a game and telling him what to do. It was invariably to kick with the wind at the start. I can only surmise that this is no longer the professional thing to do or the coach isn't very thorough or organised himself.

As WJ pointed out a while ago, in addition to feeling the horrible effect of injuries from week to week we've also had to endure many of those injuries happening during games. This happened a lot earlier in the season when we sometimes only had 18 or 19 fit players left by half time. Worse still, we often come up against opponents who have full or near to full lists e.g. how many key Sydney players were missing on Sunday? Leo Barry (and wasn't he missed in the quest of having to silence either a 20% fit Neita or fully absent Robbo?). On the other hand, an already injury ravaged Melbourne loses two players at team selection (Bruce and Sylvia), two before the game (Robbo and Frawley) and one within 5 minutes of the opening bounce. Of the five, three are first round draft picks, one is arguably in our best three players ad another, our top goalkicker. Meanwhile, our skipper is out there in spirit by physically - meh!

Doesn't James Frawley qualify for a mention on the injured list?

VOSS, SHEEDS ON DEE RADAR

According to Geoff Poulter in today's Herald Sun [Casey Scorpions on march], the Coburg Tigers VFL side "has promoted promising James Polkinghorne, 18, from its TAC Cup affiliate club Calder Cannons and named him at half-back for the Scorpions clash." If you can promote an Under 18 player to top up your team why aren't the other clubs doing it?

MELBOURNE Daniel Bell (hamstring) - test Cameron Bruce (hamstring) - test Daniel Hughes (groin) - 1 week Travis Johnstone (Achilles) - 1 week Clint Bartram (knee) - season Ricky Petterd (lung) - season Jared Rivers (groin) - season Matthew Whelan (ankle) - season Adem Yze (hernia) - season No mention of Mtthew Warnock who missed last week's VFL game.

Three Quarter time: Zebras still lead 6.8.44 to 4.9.33 but they aren't particulalry convincing. Goals Holland Summers 2 Dunn Gallagher Poyas and Crowe dominating. I'm off to the Dome now so good luck Dees and Zebras.

Half time: Zebras lead 4.7.31 to 3.6.22 Goals: Summers 2 Gallagher Holland 1. Willaimstown's quarter, their defence got on top after Sautner missed two early chances. Pickett started to get a bit of the ball.

Quarter time: Zebras lead 3.4.22 to 1.3.9 Goals: Summers 2 Holland 1. Crowe, Poyas and Summers dominating. Lynden Dunn has taken some good marks. Stronger bodies of the Zebras are on top of the Seagulls.

All three emergencies have lined up this afternoon for the Zebras - Benny Holland has kicked the first goal. Sandy 1.0.6 Willi 01.1. In the reserves, Sandy defeated Frankston. Sandringham 9.2 54 10.4 .64 14.5.89 15.6.96 Frankston 0.1.1 1.6.12 6.6.42 11.9.75 Goals Sandringham M Johnston 3 Lyall Weetra 2 Collyer Curcio Hayes McKenzie S Martin Paule Roberts Turcarelli Frankston Foggi 3 Booth Rafferty 2 Beaton Murray Ongarello Shinners Best Sandringham Johnston Tregear Paule Dean Roberts McKenzie Frankston Foggi Ongarello Barker Ulms Degenhardt Stanley

On SEN yesterday they were saying Chris Connolly as Melbourne coach is virtually a done deal.

TWO FEET BETTER THAN ONE He's fast, fearless and skilful!

On Melbournefc.com.au this article - SENIOR PLAYERS WILL GET THEIR CHANCE: RILEY "The two players returning are skipper David Neitz and Daniel Bell, but Riley said Cameron Bruce would miss the match against the Kangaroos as he continued his rehabilitation of a hamstring complaint." My guess is that this week's changes will be: In: Bell Neitz Out: Davey (suspended) Garland (omitted)

It wasn't all that long ago that Melbourne played the Kangaroos in Round 9 and lost by 1 point. However, there will be a lot of differences in the make up of the Demons' side when it runs onto the field this Sunday. The selected side for the game on the Thursday night was as follows:- Backs Daniel Ward Nathan Carroll Ricky Petterd Half Backs James Frawley Ben Holland Daniel Bell Centreline Travis Johnstone James McDonald Aaron Davey Half Forwards Brad Green Russell Robertson Cameron Bruce Forwards Adem Yze David Neitz Matthew Bate Followers Jeff White Simon Godfrey Nathan Jones Interchange Clint Bizzell Lynden Dunn Paul Johnson Brad Miller Emergencies Nathan Brown Chris Johnson Brock McLean In Clint Bizzell James Frawley Ben Holland Russell Robertson Out Ryan Ferguson (broken thumb) Colin Sylvia (hamstring soreness) Matthew Whelan (foot) Nathan Brown (omitted) * definite outs slashed/ doubtfuls underlined However, by the time match day came around, Brock McLean had been added to the list of emergencies and Melbourne played him in place of Matthew Bate who withdrew with a hamstring strain. Yze (groin) was also replaced in the selected side by Nathan Brown. Meanwhile, this was the Kangaroos' selected side:- Backs Daniel Pratt Michael Firrito Scott McMahon Half Backs Jesse Smith Shannon Watt Jess Sinclair Centreline Adam Simpson Andrew Swallow Brady Rawlings Half Forwards Daniel Harris Aaron Edwards Corey Jones Forwards Lindsay Thomas Leigh Brown Drew Petrie Followers Hamish McIntosh Shannon Grant Brent Harvey Interchange Glenn Archer Matt Campbell Josh Gibson Blake Grima Emergencies Kasey Green David Hale Ed Lower In Archer Out Green The Kangaroos then replaced Watt in the selected side with Hale.

Contact between Carlton's Anthony Koutoufides and Melbourne's Paul Wheatley from the third quarter of Sunday's match was reviewed and it was the view of the panel that Koutoufides was tackled and lost possession of the ball. While he was being held by a Melbourne player, he simultaneously extended his arm and leg in an attempt to tackle Wheatley. The action was seen as a legitimate attempt to tackle in the circumstances. Contact between Melbourne's James McDonald and Carlton's Kade Simpson from the fourth quarter of Sunday's game was reviewed. McDonald was wrong-footed in his tackle attempt on the Carlton player, and due to being off balance, accidental contact was made with McDonald's foot. The action was seen as a legitimate attempt to tackle in the circumstances

Thankfully, it's nowhere near as bad according to this article in the Age - DEMONS YOUNGSTER STABLE AFTER LUNG INJURY. "Club officials said last night that Petterd, who came from the ground in the first term of the match against Carlton at the MCG, was in a stable condition although he was likely to miss at least a month of football." Probably should take the rest of the season off and come back fitter and stronger next year.

Garry Lyon is one of the people asked to help the club out with its coaching appointment. Since he's already made his position known that he wants Connolly doesn't he have a bit of a conflict of interest? FWIW I reckon Freo will win enough games to make it to the finals.