Pates

That bad start to the year has certainly hurt our numbers. When does the membership period end? Perhaps a couple of wins could just kick our numbers up.

In recent time we seem to have had more luck with higher draft picks than lower, that's what tanking has got us. Win. Every game we can.

That's right, I forgot we basically got a straight swap for Beamer.

Him leaving really cut me up, I could see he was going to be a very quality player in that final year with us. He had a very injury prone time at Melbourne and was finally starting to show something in his last year, what really added insult though was his manager saying that he'd given us 5 years of good service. Bulls--- he was injured for most of it, we spent time and money on his rehab and development only for Adelaide to reap the reward. And what did we get for him? Pick 14 if i'm not mistaken. I could cop him leaving but we got seriously shafted with that trade. (Thanks to jurracane for opening up this wound!)

It wouldn't surprise me if when Junior gets the ball for the first time the Melbourne faithful applaud him. I see it a lot in the premier league where great servants go to other clubs and the fans show their appreciation for him. Scully on the other hand may well get the roughest reception for a 20 year old. Thanks Sheedy, the blood's already starting to simmer for the weekend and it's only Monday!

I was at the SCG for the Sydney training drill, was completely depressed and pretty much wanted to leave. Howe gave me something for at least 5 seconds where I could cheer loud and proud. Reminds me a lot of Shaun Smith in the way he just goes up there week in week out with no regard for his own safety, needs to work on his set shot for goal but there's a lot to like from him.

Would love to see the cheer squad get something like these going, but AFL moves too quickly for this sort of stuff. Even something as simple as booing the ump gets lost in the game until there's a stoppage! Still if you guys can get them working best of luck to you.

Name me 5 top players in the league who haven't had "down years". Third year player, does look to be carrying a bit of a niggle as his pace is not what it was last year. But mostly I think he's just learning new parts to his game, and is struggling with his form. I reckon kicking that goal he kicked on Monday will help his confidence.

Would've liked to see him line up Sculldog, but I think we should take the week. I wasn't unhappy with the hit, but it was late and intentional. The bloke looked in a pretty bad way straight after it, but since he played on I'm sure that helped Tappys case. Chance for Couch?

I agree to a point. I like the fact that 90% of the time I can go to the game, sit in GA and generally have good banter between supporters of the other clubs. That said, I too pay for the privilege of sitting in a Melbourne only reserved area. I have taken friends from other clubs to games in that area and every one of them understands that they are guests in a Melbourne only area so they act appropriately so as not to [censored] off the people around us. People who go into opposition areas and carry on like pork chops are doing it deliberately to make the experience less enjoyable for others, it's pathetic.

There was no doubt in my mind that he would stay a demon, maybe a touch surprised we gave him a three year deal but still very happy. Hopefully others will start to follow his example and ink some deals.

The win against the bombers last week was great, but we MUST back it up with a similar effort this week or it will be simply seen as an anomaly. I'm not saying win or it's nothing, but I want the pies to come off the ground and know they've played us.

The main difference with Cloke and Beamer is that Cloke is a top player who commands a massive salary whether he stays at the Pies or moves on. Whereas Beamer, while yes he had a very good year (by our standards) in 2011 this year he has been mostly poor. Therefor market (and media) interest around him is a lot less. There's also the fact that Cloke is a Pie, so naturally will get more coverage. I'm a fan of Brents, have been since he arrived at the club. Despite his poor start to the year I've felt that he has too much hunger and ability in him to maintain his average form. I really hope the Bombers game is the start of his resurgence.

I don't see this move as permanent, he'll end up being a versatile player that can play where we need him. This is just another component of his education. Also who else thinks playing on the established forwards in the comp will help him learn about creating space and leading in our forward line?

I think Travis will come to terms at some stage, I reckon he wants to stay. I don't particularly want him for that price anyway.

All I want is for him to be a valuable member of the team, I couldn't care less if he does this as a backman. Look at the opportunity it's allowed Garland.

Happy for Jetta that he's got a time frame on his injury now rather than indefinite, from all reports he was looking the goods pre-season until his latest injury. And for gods sake can Gysberts PLEASE be allowed to get out and play some footy!?

It was an excellent move, and with Watts developing his game in the backline we could see more of Col up forward.

Gotta say I loved how as soon as he finished celebrating on the boundary with the bench players he went straight down to the rooms and let the boys have the moment. Not criticising Bailey, but I certainly thought last year we carried on a bit too much with the Essendon win. The players and Mark celebrated, but they were already starting to move on and think about next week. I'm looking forward to him joining in the next winning rendition (hopefully on June 11th!).

That's what gets me about all the captaincy talk is they seem to totally ignore Grimes, 90% of the talk is about Trengove as captain, not even co-captain! I'm happy with how Grimes is tracking, Trenners will get there.

Moloney will be gone I'm not convinced Stefan Martin will be gone He's been injured much of the season, I won't write him off Aaron Davey will be gone On current form, highly likely Brad Green will be gone 50/50 IMO Colin Sylvia will be gone On current form, highly likely We can't ditch every single seasoned body we have on the list, every one of these guys, except maybe Stef IMO, are very much in the firing line and are playing fit their spot on the list, but I'd be very surprised if every single one of these guys will be gone. On current form, highly likely

Bottom line, if he wanted to come back and the FD thought he'd be valuable I'd be happy for us to try to get him. When does he come out of contract? Surely he'd be frustrated at being constantly played in the VFL and he'd want top level exposure. If we can get him cheap/PSD, I say why not. If we have to chase him/lure him/sweeten the pot for Carlton, no. He would have to come back on our terms. Who here thinks on current form he wouldn't push the likes of Sylvia and Moloney out of the team?

He does a have a fair few runs on the board to demand a spot! Hopefully Stef will be returning this week (seniors or VFL, I don't care) would surely push Sellar out on current form.

Even if, and I stress if, Jack doesn't live up to his full potential, at this point in his development he is proving to be an important cog in our team when he's out there. Yes he probably deserved to be dropped but as freak is pointing to a moment that "typifies Watts ", I can remember moments that typify what he hasn't been in his first few years of development. I can think of at least three crucial points in the game where he did the "hard stuff" one that directly resulted in a goal. I was a little concerned at the start of the year with him, he's now the least of my problems. I'm making the call now, in 2 years he will be in our top 3 most important players.

A shame that 3 quarters of effort gets erased by one quarter of pure undiluted shite. One thing that stuck out, I can think of at least 4 times that we had clear cut simple chances completely squandered by Bennell and Dunn. Twice Bennell had the chance to run into an open goal and chose a glory shot. These undisaplined acts cost us BIG TIME!! There are more positives from the likes of Blease and Watts (although he did a couple of very poor kicks), Howe showed bits and Magner again was prominent. But when the going gets tough there are still too many passengers, a lot of players getting found out.