Pates

Yet again I wake up on the other side of the world interested to see where the game is at. Last week it was close and I was excited, this week it's close and I'm frustrated. The Dees should come with a health warning on the side of the membership.

The Misson bashers are quiet this season. Another reason why we must make sure we finish off the season well, I can't remember the last time our list was in this healthy state this time of year.

I think he was referring to the clubs that were outraged by the decision and make a point of saying it. The AFL giving the VFL tribunal the tick of approval is a very bad look for the game on this one. Worse still that this Hook guy defends it despite not even being there himself. They got this wrong plain and simple, and everyone but the VFL/AFL seem to see this.

I'm feeling a big win coming here, usually don't come straight out and say it (I've been burned many a time with the Dees) but the Suns are really in a bad state with their injuries and we are for the most part very very well off with our squad. We lost last week, but we shouldn't have so I feel the boys will be breathing a bit of fire. Jesse has been pretty well held recently so I think he'll be looking for a big game, Big Max again had his colours lowered against Longer but he doesn't stay down very long and will give the likes of Viney, Brayshaw, Jones, and Vince first use at the stoppages. I'd like to see us just explode from the blocks get out to a big lead early and never look troubled. I think this could also be a good chance to play Petracca in the middle for an extended period. I'm still fuming about the loss last week, hope the boys are as well and take it out on the Suns.

Tommy is a bit of a whipping boy around here but for the most part he is actually a very good defender, he has good courage and is a very important part of our team. Hopefully he is keen to build on what he's been a part of at Melbourne and he has another 100 games added on in the Red and Blue. For someone who's some pretty dark times at the club I hope he's keen to be a part of the good times!

http://jrickard1991.fansunite.com.au/2016/07/26/38692/video This is the replay of it, and just makes me even more angry. No excuse, no fingers in his face, Oliver's hands were on the footy and Cook turned his head and bit him. How he only got a reprimand for that is incredible.

The fact that we can be patient with Weeds shows how far we've come. We no longer need the top 10 draft picks to slot straight in and make an impact. Plenty of time for Weeds, let's just let him develop.

Seriously a reprimand for biting is a disgrace. I'm not saying he should've been give a massive ban but I think a week minimum for one of the lowest acts you can do is warranted. Clearly the way Oliver reacted he wasn't impressed. Seriously if we had an incident that a player got a reprimand for something but the resulting reaction on the park meant we got a 50m penalty and a shot on goal I'd take the reprimand!

I think that's more to the point, in the past the umpires had to be absolutely sure it was a fully deliberate decision to put it out, now the umpires are adjudicating if the player "did enough to keep the ball in". Maybe they should change the rule to be called that! But perhaps the players need to be given time at training to practice fudging some of those niggly rules to find ways of getting away with it. I actually really hate the interpretation as it is, I think safety of the line isn't a bad thing as it can give the game time to breathe for a bit. FWIW while I said that Gawn's one of understandable I still think that in those conditions and with the teammate around it was a harsh call.

I actually got the same injury as O'Meara and while I would say he is on a better track because of his far better fitness and conditioning base, I'll still testify that it is an absolutely shocking injury. Approximately 2.5 years on while I don't have any debilitating affects it is still very uncomfortable at times during and after activity. Again I point out that he has many more advantages than me in conditioning and experts treating his progress, but it does not surprise me to hear he is struggling through soreness and issues with it. I like the idea of us looking into him but I honestly don't know how the knee will hold up long term, I think the structure of the knee will hold but I also think he will suffer knee soreness on a fairly regular basis. Whatever he does I wish him the best of luck.

Both deliberates are harsh in their own ways and the frustrating thing is on another day they wouldn't be paid there is the lack of consistency. For both of them the issue is body language, Tyson looks relaxed and given up on the contest in that he is thinking he will force the ball out. Now looking at it the force initially shown by him on the ball doesn't appear to match the speed in which the ball goes out. Therefor you can only conclude it was affected by the West Coast player coming through at the same time. I thought he was very stiff and was very much a crowd affected free kick. I also think it wet conditions there should be a fair degree of leniency. The Gawn one again, his body language is what hurt him. He didn't look intently at the Melbourne player in getting it over to him, he kinda saw him and put it in his general direction. He also might be becoming a victim of his own success in that he's actually got better skills than that usually. I think it was his intent to put it out and he didn't mask it well enough. Whether or not they'll be paid the same this week.....

Exactly what I was going to say. Back then we were two seperate organisations, at times with conflicting interests. Now Casey are more integrated with us, and we have a closer relationship with them. Obviously I still feel the MFC comes first but the development gain by young players witnessing a rise in intensity come finals and the desperation the comes with it will be certainly beneficial. If they're fit and they qualify I say they play. Players like Grimes, Terlich, Trenners, Pedo, Dawes, and Michie also get opportunities to put their best feet forward in making the club want to keep them next year. Obviously if there are question marks on their fitness then they get put in cotton wool for next year.

North have always been an enigma with how they are still towards the bottom of the food chain with crowds/members/fans. They had some seriously dominant and successful periods in the 90s and early 00s when AFL coverage was increasing more and more but never built on it. The most successful thing they did, marketing wise, was pushing for and building the success of the Friday night slot. The AFL eventually took that over spread it out and then of course gifted it to the big clubs (even when they aren't successful). I really dislike Harvey as a player but respect his abilities and his longevity. He is still a cut above at times (ask the MfC squad from Hobart earlier this year), North are still very reliant on him which is a credit to him and a discredit the club because he can't hang around forever! But for how long he's been playing he has seen so many changes to the competition and game styles. Would probably be a very good read his book.

Yeah Molan is just one of those hard luck stories. Never given a chance with injury and if memory serves before he joined Melbourne he had never had a single serious injury in his life. He was cursed. Cook's issue's seemed to be between the ears, unwilling to take the next step in professionalism. That said we were a joke of a club at the time with development, we were a graveyard of failed careers due to woefully poor development. I don't buy that it was all Prendergast's/other recruiters fault, the amount of high draft picks we got points to the fact we were never able to get these players to AFL quality. I haven't seen any of Weeds but I trust that we have an infinitely better structure in place for nurturing young players so I'm confident that they will be able to push in over the next pre-season into that top 25-28 players who are in selection consideration. He's only in his first year.

The commentary on the radio seemed generally positive about his game, wasn't his usual impact but still worked hard. We lost it going inside 50 and front of goal, kicked ourselves in the ass.

Disappointing, frustrating, angry....that doesn't come close to covering my feelings. We have made progress no doubt, but Goodwin's got to find a way to convert these good efforts but frustrating losses into wins.

Oh thank f-ing Christ!

Ah this is killing me hearing us miss all these chances! Someone in red and blue (and white) kick it through the big sticks!

Every time I wake up on the other side of the world on game day I have no idea what to expect. I didn't expect us to be in front by 2pts at half time and sounding like we should probably be further in front. C'mon Dee's keep it going!

My feeling is that Jesse will sign a 5 year deal with us and it will be around the 1 mil a year mark. But for all his talk about how good the team is progressing he also needs to consider the amount he gets paid and that if he gets paid an excess amount he could potentially hurt our chances of maintaining the core group of good young players coming through. The club just needs to keep giving him reasons to stay and less reasons to go! Also get him attached to a Victorian Girlfriend who doesn't want to leave! As for his quality, the attributes are there but for me a weapon he really should be better at given his size is kicking beyond 45m. I hope over the off season it's something the coaching staff really look at improving as well as his general run up. I don't have the biggest confidence in his accuracy despite the stats saying he's usually quite good.

....laugh and cry! Laugh that we somehow beat West Coast in Perth and cry that we keeping losing to the Saints and somehow lost to the Bombers.

It's been a really great experience this year watching Jack play well and really enjoy his footy. You can see it in him now, there's no hesitations or flinches of doubt, he's backing himself to win contests and kick goals. Great to have you on board till 2019!

Unless we beat another team of note this year I'd say our improvement overall hasn't been huge. Sadly we're on a slow burn with our improvement, not the rapid rise the dogs managed. It's frustrating because I felt like the stars had aligned for such a year but it hasn't turn out that way. But progress is progress, and we do have some genuinely good young players coming through, but it's the transition from the old Melbourne to the new Melbourne that is one of the biggest challenges. The Ox is right to be frustrated when talking about losing to the Saints 14 matches in a row, until we shed that stigma we won't have turned the corner.

10 is what I said before and I'll stick with it, but we'll have to win the two "expected wins" (GC and Blues) and pull one out of the box big time. I've lost count how many times losses against the saints have equaled lost opportunity.

By the way if anyone is thinking we were tired after the Darwin game, Freo looked pretty good again Geelong. Darwin should not even factor, and I'm putting my hand up and saying I've changed camps on that. Not sure what Roos is on about with the Ross Lyon bit, but I think they are a micro step ahead of us. We are a younger team, but that still does not excuse losing to this mob for so long. Next year we must beat the Kangas and a Saints to claim any real improvement.