Pates

If you think we're going to win our last three games of this year your either the ultimate optomist, or the ultimate doomsayer. We haven't won in Adelaide even when we're playing well, Port have a MUCH better team than us, they should be higher than they are so i can't see us pulling it out when we've got one of the youngest and most inexperienced side out there. Once the sirens sounded at AAMI we will have nothing to think or worry about, and Dees Dayz, if you're getting hung up over getting either the no.1 or no.2 draft pick than just need to take a breath and put things in perspective. Very few no.1 draft picks have become bonafide stars, look at Travis. There was no reason for us to lose, and i'm glad we didn't. We won, i'm happy. If you can't celebrate a win, then drown your sorrows with a fine glass of wiskey!

I'm not going to suggest that WC gave it their all, but i don't think they went in there wanting to win. It wasn't pretty (just the obvious), but there was no reason for us to lose. We're not going to win 5 games this year, we MIGHT win against the Toigs but i can't see us beating Port next week. I agree winning culture is a bunch of BS, but a losing culture isn't. We should never gear our players up to lose a game, it'd be a final nail in the coffin of our soul as a club. Speaking to fans of WC, they wanted to win. I can't speak for the players and coaching staff, but that was their opinions. Diablo: on the subject of the atmosphere, there wasn't a whole lot happening anyway, but when the siren blew i can gaurantee you that the fans around me were plenty happy!

My thoughts exactly, might be the complete opposite to last week if we primarily play PJ as a forward. Miller, PJ, and Newton all tall timbre in the forward 50, this is a real chance for for all of them and Sylvia to have an impact. My concern is our midfield, or lack of it.

He is the toughest player for me to read, on the one hand i see the talent and i have seen some of the good football he can produce. But on the other had there so many things holding him back, weak body, perceived laziness on the field, and simple errors for a guys that has been hailed as "skilled". At 22 he still has a lot of football in him, but he needs to show consistency more than anything else over the season. I reckon he could do a real good job as a Nathan Brown type forward, but for him to succeed he needs a fair few things to go his way next year, and the first step with that is a full pre-season.

Agreed, Jamar has earned that right this year and White should be played in the same vein as PJ. It makes sense anyways because White is better than Jamar around the ground, perhaps a forward role for White for the rest of the year, give us a tall target to hit.

Out: White, Carroll, Bruce/Morton/Sylvia/Jones In: Jamar, Miller, Davey What i find amazing is that in a 100+ hammering, i still find it hard to make way for players coming in. I see potential and hope in many of our young players, so having White, Carroll, and Bruce in my potential outs is significant to the direction we're going.

You've got my vote! If Brock wasn't out for the season with injury i'd say the coaches would've put him straight in, but as it is i think he needs a full season just in the leadership group.

I can't believe people's reservations with Brocky, this guy is a champ! Contributing $10,000 freely, while Collingwood had to take 10K out of Shaw. I love it! There is no doubt in my mind that he's a future captain.

We should've tried to get a spot inside the new stadium inside the ground. If we opened it there on game day, especially if it was near the MCC area, we'd get a much better response to it.

Tell ya what mate, that is an excellent point. That doesn't mean we shouldn't be grateful for them allowing us to take the reciepts every year, but the fact is they don't need that extra money, it's a great PR thing for them to be shown as giving a leg up to a struggling club, and as you stated, they get another match at the MCG. Gary's comments shouldn't be taken litterally, he was showing the passion he has inside for the MFC, and when you're a passionate Dees fan, hating the Pies and laughing at the hole they've dug for themselves this past week comes with that. Perhaps in hindsight not the smartest comments, but funny none the less!

The question is, is Schwab the best man out there for the job? His lack of enthusiasm at this stage has me a little apprehenive about bringing him on board, he'd need to know that if he was to take this job, it would effectively be his life for a good 12 months while we stabalise the club.

Can we beat them? Yes. Will we beat them? Extremely doubtful. Will we take it to them? I think so. My prediction: Melbourne to loose by 28 points. Sylvia to kick 4 goals, Morton to play well and earn the nomination he deserves.

Spoke very well, as you'd expect from a seasoned 27 year old veteran! Some interesting points off hand were: - he described the feeling of the Brisbane win, when you don't win many games it makes those few wins very satisfying. He felt the emotion through the whole club - pointed out that the team has been working well together since that point, but because it's a young team it's harder to maintain it for longer periods. - got asked if he had ambitions to be captain, and he just said that if the opportunity came and that was the role the club wanted him to take then he would do it. - he recons Newton is a player for the future, to be either a CHF or FF - said people shouldn't read too much into Gary's comments regarding Collingwood and kicking them while their down

There is absolutely no doubt Collingwood have handled this poorly. Heath Shaw should've been suspended for at least 3 matches for the drink-driving offence yesterday, by not taking any serious action they have been made to look like fools. All of a sudden when they find out Heath Shaw and Didak lie to the club they suspend them for the rest of the year, this is more about them trying to save face then actual punishment. Suspending Rhys Shaw for 2 matches for heavy drinking is confusing due to what happened with the other two, but would surely have been the action taken by any competant club, and until now they haven't been all the competant! The sweetest thing about this is that Mick Malthouse, in all his wisdom, set this precedant last year by taking suspensions more-or-less off the table for punishments. It's really come back to bite them now!

Pacey Midfielder Ruckman FF

If he has one game where he kicks accurately, he will get the nod, i do find it amazing that he missed out this week though.

I felt he came across quite well, and i get the feeling that the reason why he didn't ake up the invitation last week was more to do with the fact that there was more bad news than good news. Now that he had things to say on the positive side it made more sense to come on. Interesting that we are trying to create a long-term foothold in Casey, as opposed to the previous board who wanted it as a short term training fix.

I'll be bringing my two mates along to bump the attendance up! Although one of them is a Gees fan the other is almost a Dees fan!

Lloyd was in the zone yesterday, there are times when players can just do no wrong and that was one of those days. FFS he took a MOTY contender dead in front, so we can knock that one off as a result of poor defense, he kicked 2-3 from outside 50 so it's not like all his shots we easy. He tried to push him wide and far, but Llyod kept kicking them! He will learn from this, and if he doesn't then he is an idiot!

Sometimes it's nice to know we aren't just one-eyed and overlooking the truth. The truth is yesterday we were murdered by the umpires, i won't speak to whether it affected the result, but certainly affected the game and my enjoyment of it. And i'll reiterate what gOLLy said, if it wasn't for the Dees i probably wouldn't follow footy anymore.

Ironic that this game is meant to be one of the AFL's "150th year" celebration matches, marking the the first official game of football was played. Now with the Olympics opening ceremony it seriously jepardise our attendance, on the plus side i recon there'll be a good audience, due to the Olympics being on afterwards, tuning in to watch us (probably get smashed).

I believe the AFL FORCED us to have a third colour this year, due to a possible clash with Sydney i think. Personally i think that that's an absolute load, i can't see why they rejected the red and blue inverted strip.

Pfft, the Olympic ceremony takes like 4 hours and is not even close to stopping me from going to the game.

If the offer is good, there's no reason why we wouldn't consider it. But the club has identified the void in 25-27 year olds in the team, so if we do decide to trade him we'd need to find a way to replace his gap.

21 and blessed with a fair few finals appearances including a grand final! Unfortunately i've been able to see the worst of what Melbourne has to offer as well, just glad we've got a plan going forward now!