Rollo2

As we lost clearances by 100 I just kept chanting 'they're not part of the red and blueprint, they're not part of the red and blueprint' but it didn't work

Not complete, but I think it has peaked. After hoping for it for 40-odd years I watched the MFC win a flag with my nine-month-old son in my arms, my wife by my side, and tears flowing down my cheeks. Life doesn't get much better than that.

I can honestly say that even just two years ago I was convinced I would never see a Melbourne premiership. Dismayed by Landon's and Tomlinson's early form at the club, I wrote some posts to the tune of 'this generation has shown they don't have what it takes to win a flag, we should tear this team down and rebuild again through the draft.' Suffice to say I have never been more happy to be wrong about anything in my life. I doubt i'll ever fully understand how it happened, but this group found something within themselves, somehow developed into a juggernaut, and have now etched their names into the history books as legends of the Melbourne Football Club. We have witnessed greatness, and I couldn't be more grateful and proud. Thank you, lads. It's truly hard to express how much this means to us supporters. This will last forever.

No team has ever kicked perfectly accurately (all goals, no behinds) and won a grand final either. So I guess if we kick perfectly accurately we have 0% chance of winning? I do take your overall point. We need to kick straight. But the reasoning behind your 5% figure is all kinds of flawed.

Insipid and mentally weak. It's one thing to lose, but the lack of intensity they showed all through the first half was inexcusable. We need to break the cycle some day. Win a few games, get ahead of ourselves, slack off, get exposed, get pilloried, play with intent again, win a few games, get ahead of ourselves...

We should have tried putting someone on Liam Ryan. Live and learn I guess.

That play was a huge turning point. We had momentum, the centering kick from Trac was genius, ANB just needed to take possession. He's lively and was involved a lot, but he's still just not composed enough with the ball. Someone needs to challenge him to stand up against good sides.

I feel your pain mate. I keep thinking of those old grey supporters of the Swans and the Bulldogs whose long years of loyalty and pain were highlighted when a bunch of twenty-somethings broke their teams through. Maybe that'll be us one day. There's no guarantee, but those old Swans and Dogs had no guarantee either. The poster above is right. Players and coaches come and go. Supporters are the heart and soul of the club. And we are the reason it will mean something if it ever does happen. I know you're not leaving, just like I can't ever leave. It's in our blood. But I know how much it can hurt, too. You're definitely not alone feeling this way.

We haven't done it much this year but I think the team needs to consider moving T-Mac back onto Buddy if/when he starts having his way with O-Mac or Frosty.

Ha! My eternal respect. You truly called that one.

What do I win?

Jeez guys. It's just an article. Way to keep it negative on DL! For the record, the article didn't make it clear how the statistic was calculated, but it did say that the percentages were calculated 'relative to expectation'. At the bare minimum one would expect that would relate to part of the ground, pressure on kicker, and pressure on receiver, all of which can be easily measured with today's software capabilities. If even this minimum amount of variables were included in the analysis, then it renders the vast majority of your criticisms invalid. So nyeh.

Pretty interesting stats piece from the AFL website: http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-08-28/the-inquirer-just-for-kicks I would have thought for sure we would have someone in the bottom threes. Guess the grass is always greener on the other side!

Considering how much Melbourne scores this output is phenomenal. Only Eddie Betts has played better as a small forward this year. Garlett would be knocking on the door of all-Australian if Betts wasn't having the season he is. Fantastic work from a guy not many teams wanted.

Plus, we just beat a top 3 side.