Rollo2

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.

If you have criticisms of the guy's football skills, fine. But if you don't want this guy at our club because he has stuck his head out over a couple of things that are important to him, then get (censored). If you think everything is great and the world doesn't need changing in a lot of ways you are either wilfully ignorant or just ignorant. We need more people like him, not less. I haven't seen enough of his footy recently to make a call on it, but it's just sick to see so many posters can't accept anyone who isn't a conformist sycophant at their team.

Rollo, going out on top, and just quietly telling bomberblitz to keep dreamin' pre-game.

I'd say Green and Bruce were stars. And Whelan, as you say, was amazing. Back pocket is a tough place to spend a career, and he was as good at it as any i've seen in the red and blue. But even if you have a higher criterion of stardom than me, you have to admit given the picks we had it was a pretty amazing haul.

Lot of really good info, thanks Demonlanders! I find it really interesting looking at these past drafts. I guess determining which promising junior is going to become a star AFL player is always going to be a bit like black magic. But I still think that's where i'd spend extra money if given a choice. My house mate is Richmond, and it's just been bizarre how our clubs have diverged over the past 5 years, in my opinion because of recruiting.

Let's let last year's draftees prove themselves a little more before judging it to be a brilliant year, but yes, it looks good so far. Well, it looks OK. Toumpas at pick 4 isn't certain not to have been a blunder you'd have to say. Not bagging him or defending him, just don't think he's shown much yet. Craig Cameron it was. http://demonwiki.org/tiki-index.php?page=Craig+Cameron Now at Richmond, who i'd argue HAVE drafted brilliantly since he got there. Surely the AFL will buy him back for us!

This is crazy. We had picks 19, 20, 42, 50, 63 and 64, and we ended up with Green, Wheatley, Bruce, and Whelan. Who was our recruiter back then and can we get him back please? The more I watch this game the more I'm convinced that drafting well is the only way up for a bottom club. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1999_AFL_Draft