Pates

I'd say no matter who you are, if Pia was your wife you'd be batting above your average. She is stunning! And I thought Miller spoke well, so well done to him.

The big thing is that by the time we're ready to challenge for the premiership, he'll probably be retired. Not worth it IMO.

The media's reporting of the Freo saga was the very definition of a beat up, but for christ harden the F up. As has already been said on this thread, Freo is a common target on all the forums. Mainly because at practically every turn you guys have made the wrong decision. That said, you guys have dug yourselves out of a ditch and have built a good supporter base. I've never liked Freo, don't ask me why maybe it's just your terrible jumper and song, so get over everyone's comments and look forward to watching your team put in another brilliant performance.

Although his skills as a forward aren't spectacular i think the weekend showed how important it is to have someone like Newton the forward structure. If nothing else he provides a target that can bring the ball to ground. While we're on Newton, we all know his kicking is atrocious but i noticed a lot of our players, particularly Miller, were playing on even though they had a shot for goal from as close as 25-30 metres out. I know confidence must be a bit low (hopefully a little higher now!) but our players must back themselves from that distance.

I picked him at the start of the year for the B&F, so far it's a pretty good prediction i reckon! It was interesting watching his reaction to kicking that goal v Tigers, i think he misses getting those opportunities.

I thought that the idea of Melbourne v Sydney in the ANZAC day round was a fantastic idea, and i don't know why they got rid of it. To be playing for the Barrassi Cup when both teams have such a huge connection with him and with Melbourne losing Barrassi Snr in Tobruk, it felt right. Perhaps it is just the AFL wanting to make it all about the Pies and the Bombers. And it was a brilliant initiative from Bailey or whoever to get the players more involved with what ANZAC day is all about.

26, 840

His 2nd quarter was the best i've seen from him at the club, he was like a different player. Next few games are the test, he needs to back it up. No apologies, but well done on a good game.

I wasn't able to make it to the game today but listened on the radio, for about 5 minutes after that the commentators couldn't stop talking about his courage and what a shame it was. All the best Brad, i hope for the best but i'm expecting the worst.

Bailey has been saying from the moment we picked him that his devoplment will not be rapid this year due to his school commitments, i have no idea why these people are talking about it. Must be a really slow day for football issues. Ultimately, he is young and very raw. If we wanted a walk up start we would've picked Rich.

I'll be missing it because of work as well unfortunately, but thems the breaks. Hopefully we get a win and i can watch it back afterwards.

We don't need to, because the way he's playing i'm sure Bailey and co are doing just that. And if they're not then Sylvia is the least of our problems. We as supporters and members have every right to pass judgment when we think our players aren't pulling their weight, just as you have every right to defend him if you feel he's being hard done by. Now i didn't see the Port game so i have no idea how he played, but if YM is jumping off sticking up for Sylvia then i know he played poorly again.

We need to come out next week and attack them hard and fast. They are extremely vulnerable at the moment and still young in many parts of the ground, from the opening bounce we need to smash them into the ground with ferocious tackling and hopefully we can get a forward line functioning.

At 19 years old there isn't much more he can do to put on weight, as he said he just needs to eat as much as he can and do plenty of weights at the gym. He's got a wonky kick on him but i'm still very confident that he'll become a star of the future Melbourne midfield. I had to laugh at the end of the interview when Liam Pickering said, "he's got captain material written on him, very smart kid" and i'm not so much laughing him, it's more that right after evey interview i've heard with one of "Melbourne's young guns" the interviewers always state that they are captain material!

Until he passes it off to someone else because apparently no one else could kick on Saturday. I was happy with his game, it's probably not where i'd like to see him stay, but he was MIA last week and considering the lack of penetration into our forward half, he probably wouldn't have got much of it if he didn't play that role.

WTF!!!! Why do we keep getting this BS luck. We finally get another defender to rival Rivers, and what happens!? He gets a 4 month injury. Many of you will laugh at me saying this, but in all the years i've watched to Dees the major component that we have lacked every time we seem to get a quality team, no even just a quality player, we get struck down by unlucky injuries. Man i'm [censored] off! BTW best of luck with your recovery, Colin. You will be sorely missed!

In a team devoid of forward options, he has an opportunity to have a good game here. Jetta and Bennell have been given another chance to settle into the team, both showed what they're capable of in parts but the game was going at a pace they weren't used to. I'm hoping at least one of the will be able to have more of an influence on the game, there is no doubting there's some serious talent there. Much as i'd love to tip a win for the Dees, i keep coming back to the fact that we have no forward line. Pies by 36 points, after another fade out by the boys.

49,000. Based on what was at the G last weekend for our game, i'd say we had about 16-18,000 of that 28,000 and that's a home game. That said, i hope the supporters that went last week saw enough to be encouraged to come again.

It was a terrible effort from the Roos fans yesterday, we easily out numbered and that's saying something. Also noticed that the cheersquad was back where it belonged on the wing, and behind the goals is a different membership group? Looked a hell of a lot better.

Miller didn't play well yesterday, but he created at least two or three goals through his competitive nature. I also noticed he got injured just before half time. Just saying.

Thankfully there won't be a knee jerk reaction to the loss, there'll probably keep it fairly simple actually. In: Sylvia Out: Bennell For me WOG was probably PJ, but i don't think Bailey played him well. Should of parked him as a lead up for for the second half IMO.

All right Sylvia, you think you're top of the pops? It's time to show us, dominate this week at Casey and get your ______ back in the senior side.

It's a ballsy team to name considering the experienced players we've left out and missing. But it adds another spice to the name with us debuting 4 people.

Number of wins: 6 Average losing margin: 36 points Average winning margin: 15 points B&F top 3: 1 - Davey 2 - Mclean 3 - Green Leading goal-kicker: Bate - 29 All Australian representatives: Davey Top votes at the Brownlow: McLean Best first year player: Jetta Breakthrough year (first-year players do not count): Grimes Disappointment of the year: Newton, again. Biggest area of improvement: Midfield, getting the likes of McLean, Moloney, and Davey back on the park for the year will keep us competitive Surprise packet of 2009: Stef Martin Headline of the year: QUICK AS A FLASH - Aaron Davey sets MCG on fire on Queens Birthday Best win of the year: Queens birthday Worst loss of the year: Tigers Final membership numbers: 32002

We budgeted for 30,000 members this year, so if we don't hit that mark we will lose money in that department. I would say at this stage we look almost certain to crack it, but not if we get flogged in the first round like last year. In terms of endangered species list i'd say we're on par with the Kangas and Port is ahead of both of us purely for the fact that they are an interstate club and the AFL would never let them fold. Much of our financial success will rely on the team backing up on the good work that we've done off the field, and i don't necessarily mean winning, just not getting hammered! A big coup will be if we can pull of a win this week and then face the pies with some confidence the following week. Memberships and exposure would give us plenty to hear about.