Pates

The crowd doesn't matter to us, all that matters is the dollars coming in, and the expectation that we get the 4 points. I really look forward to the day when we don't have to sell games to keep us in the black, personally I'd hate us selling more than one game in one year. Look at the tigers, two sold games, two losses that would've likely been wins at the G.

Was just glad to see we came away with the win, GC beating the Tigers today showed how dangerous it can be selling these games no matter who you play so a win is a win. I'll be a very happy man when we get to the stage when we don't have to jeopardize 4 points for extra $$$$$.

Am I right in saying that we don't have to use the picks straight away? If we hold on to one of them does it "ripen" to a better pick? If life were fair we'd get pick 1, ultimately we're down because we've pumped two years of recourses, development, and injury rehab into him so we are behind. FWIW I still haven't given up on us keeping him, even though the AFL have made it plainly clear they want this deal to go through.

His passion for the dees is unrivaled out on the field, well done to him on his 100th for the club.

I am absolutely filthy about this, it was bad enough we have to have a home game at this joint but now we have to pay for something that our membership's entitled to?! Are we going to get a make up game at the G much like we do for Darwin? Because that's how I feel like we're being treated. Screw you ES, never going there again for an away game (and we should never play another home game there).

I thought about it, and in my opinion the silence would've been deafening. No comment from Schwab yesterday would mean an acceptance that Scully is already gone, and that would've told me more about the situation than anything else could've. Schwab is no dummy, he wouldn't have just woken up that morning to hear this new story and suddenly think, "i'm going on the radio to talk about it". I applaud his defense of Tom's character as well and call me naive if you want but in my eyes Scully has been vindicated in his statement earlier this year that he has not already signed on.

What I make is that the club is continuing it's classy way of handling a very tough and potentially destructive situation. As you'd expect he as much as admitted that the amount offered by GWS can't be matched, but that the club pitch is that he is an important component to Melbourne becoming a powerful club in the next few years. He also pointed out that our facilities are at a fully professional standard and are comparable to just about any in the league. What I really like about how the club, in particular schwab and bailey, have acted during this is their vehement defence of Tom's character with people calling him a liar and such, whether or not he goes is irrelevant in this point, he is a Melbourne player this year and the club has shown great loyalty by defending him every step of the way. One other thing, Schwab makes me feel secure about Melbourne's future whatever happens.

My ultimate fear is that we'll sack Baily but finish right back with an untried coach, if we can't get a one of these experience coaches then we should stick with Baily. As Lyon said, we should do our research and find out who wants the job before we go making decisions with Dean. FWIW if we can get Clarko i'd be over the moon, I'd be happy with Roos as well.

I flicked on to hear Kevin Bartlet's "take", and I found myself partially agreeing with him, there was not much difference in ferocity and action between this latest incident and the Dangerfield tackle. The ultimate issue with the MRP is the punish based more on the result rather than the action itself. A great example was the Joel Corey tackle, of all of the sling tackles I've seen that was the most likely to cause serious damage. Having said that, Trengove was made a martyr earlier this year with the 3 match suspension so he was owed that time.

Yeah i remembered think about that at the time, I also thought that if he was quicker to kick it he could've drilled it and controlled the direction rather than having to clear the doggies players. Jurrah was poor last night but i swear no one was honouring leads inside 50, just bomb and hope. Plenty of times Jurrah and Green lead out only to be completely ignored.

Good Petterd's mark - a rare highlight Trengove - our only winner in the middle Bad Soft goals Handballs, handballs, handballs!! Poor disposal into the forward 50 in the first half Ugly Umpire gifting goals to the dogs and killing the game Players giving up AGAIN The sickening feeling Trengove could go for a sling tackle.....AGAIN!!!!

Worst loss for the year, doggies wern't exactly swimming in confidence and we had close to our best team out there. The game plan at Etihad seems to be "handball, handball, handball", we did this v kangas and we did it v saints, it isn't bloody working!!!! As bad as we were the game was over earlier than it should've been, I counted MINIMUM 4 goals directly gifted to the doggies, one of the worst dispays I've seen this year. We would've lost anyway the way we played, but goals change the complexion of the game, an 18 point deficit looks a hell of a lot easier to claw back than a 5 goal deficit. I try to limit the amount of times I leave a game early, this time I could not stand any more of it. I've always said finals wasn't my end goal this year, looks like I don't have to worry about it.

I hope we also wear our traditional guernsey as a mark of respect to Sean, the clash is minimal at best anyway. Could be an emotional night, let's do it for Sean!

Good luck to Blease in his debut, from all reports he's been on the cusp for a while now so I hope he does what the rest of the young boys have done and grabs his opportunity with both hands. Congrats to Col, hard to believe he's only played 49 games, not only is our backline one of the toughest in the league but it's got MANY years ahead of them!

Sean Wight was really one of the first Melbourne players that stuck in my head as a kid. Although I can't remember a hell of a lot in my early days of following the Dees, I definitely remember him. RIP Sean

Beating Carlton would just about make the year, regardless of whether or not we made finals. Top 8 this year would be the cherry on top for me, as long as we finish thereabouts and continue our improvement.

Lol we may need to win there to get into the finals period!

Yeah I hate the joint too, can't quite put my finger on why, if I had to guess I just get a very cold and unnatural feeling about the place. Still I go, and so should every man, woman and child who goes for the dees and can get to the ground. It's not as enjoyable as the MCG but very few venues are. Be there and scream your guts out for the boys!

We'll hold on to Dunn, I reckon he's a decent depth player to have waiting in the wings. He always has a crack, and on his day can be quite dangerous while negating the half back runner from the opposition. Bate on the other hand needs to go to another club, or else he'll languish at Casey for the ret of his career. I actually think dogs might be a good fit for him, he's still only 24 and has some good hands on him. It seems like they're lacking tall targets and with Hall retiring at the end of the season (I presume) he could fill that void.

Very important today, in fact he becoming very important full stop. What impressed me was that he gave away that stupid free, but didn't go into his shell, that goal he kick just before 3 quarter time was that biggest he's ever kicked, and boy did I love it!

Yeah i had a look at the fixture as well and saw that horror run, if we manage to keep a good team out on the park the only game i could see us winning is V WC but it's at Etihad so that could be the killer blow. FWIW i don't think either us or the Tigers will make the 8 this year, if fact i can see us finishing the dreaded 9th (which i'll actually be happy enough with).

You could be dead right that it's the last traditional clash, with GWS coming in next year the AFL will have to fit another game in somewhere and it could mean Saturdays go the way of Sunday with the early and late game. I'm loving the idea of this game, to me there are so many levels to it: as you said the traditional rivals part playing at the MCG, the fact that it is a Saturday 2:10 match, but the point that it's arguably the two most exciting young lists in the AFL at the exactly the same point in development going toe to toe. I pumped!

I think the players will be genuinely hard at the contest this week simply because they see this game as THE opportunity to break the up and down craziness. As has been said, there are extenuating reasons as to why we've been up and down (lack of personnel & opposition) but quite simply there is nothing we can fall back on, quite the opposite. I reckon the Russian's the wildcard in this, and will be the difference at the end of the day.

Just goes to prove; you can't polish a turd, but apparently you can spray it with perfume so it doesn't stink as much for a while! For the record, i am LOVING watching Essendon's free-fall!

I reckon he's been a direct and fantastic replacement for Cam Bruce and what his role across half back was. As has been said on here, his disposal and decision making can be a little suspect sometimes but overall he's been a very good pick up for us.