Pates

6 - Colin Garland 5 - Brock McLean 4 - Brad Green 3 - Cam Bruce 2 - Brad Miller 1 - Bate

I think Bails is doing a decent job at this stage, it's difficult to analyse this early into his tenure given that the worst has been that horrible but the best has seen us take it up to the form teams in the comp. Ultimately i think we need to look at where the improvement is coming from, and the promising thing is that it's coming from the under 23 year olds which means that he's paying closer attention to the future than the present. There is no doubting, he is building a team that aims to be challenging in 3-4 years. Hopefully the short term pain, will give us some long term gain.

Fair go, i thought his first half was excellent. Second half he retreated back to his old selfish ways, but he wasn't horrible. BRFE has got it almost spot on: 6Mclean 5Garland 4Green 3Wheatley 2Aussie 1Warnock A good effort, just couldn't get there in the end.

I'd be interested to know that reasons for the no-shows, i can't believe that it was purely results. Last year was just as bad, but at least this year we're weeding out the duds and blooding some young guns. I do think that Vlads comments had a bit to do with it, but i also think that Collingwood supporters wern't as pumped for this as usual. From my vantage point it looked like 60% Pies-40% Dees, which means a drop in support from them as well.

If we get the QB match, and everyone supports it, it could be something to think about. And being a part of it was fantastic, gave me a real connection with other passionate Melbourne supporters.

The article itself didn't really detail what he was going to do and in fact he didn't actually say what his plans were for the next week, let alone the next 5 years. To me his point was everyone that has a connection with Melbourne making a stand and pulling this club out of the dark ages. He was showing passion to get the fans to the ground, frankly i'm [censored] off with the lack of voice from the club to get us there. It's taken Vlad saying he'll take the game away from us next year to get this game and the club's 150th heroes stuff in the news. Disgusting.

If i had to go with a strip that didn't just have red and blue, i wouldn't mid that. And i completely agree, let's bring back the demon!

You read my mind, Melbourne should now put forward that strip again and say, "this is what we want, if you want to give Collingwood and Essendon a free ride on this issue than at least give us this". If we had to wear that abomination, then they should make the Pies and the Dons do the same. Perhaps a way to encourage them to do it they'll say anyone not willing to put forward a feasible alternate strip must wear a pink bib! And just on the one they rejected, i posted pics on 'ology comparing the respective strips. The inverted strip barely clashes with Essendon, doesn't clash with Bulldogs AT ALL, and i can't see why we'd have to wear an alternate strip against Sydney. They are making a simple thing complicated, it doesn't have to be perfect, in the heat of the moment when players are search for their players they will looking for the dominating colour (v Sydney dark blue, v Dons red, v WB red).

Part of me is sad about this, but another part of me recognises that this is the smartest move for all parties. I'm a local Hampton boy, so i've really enjoyed being able to go down to watch the Zebs play with a few of the Melbourne boys mixed in there, from next year i won't have that luxury. Whatever people say about our inability to develop a key forward and other KPPs through sandy, i don't care. This has been a really successful partnership for both Sandy and the Dees (probably more so for the Zebs), it'll be a sad day when they play their last match with us as they're AFL affiliate but progress and all that must always play a part. Thanks for the memories Sandy, depending on my feelings towards the Saints i might still wander down (but i won't get in free!).

I should get down there.

I don't quite know about that, but i think given 2 years he'll be in the leadership group. I've had a couple of different thoughts about Jones this year, a few time he has reminded me of another bald player that wears the blue and white hoops. Chapman. Against the Lions he kicked 4 goals, and he kicked 2 against the Tassie Hawks, while i'm not suggesting we play him as a permanant forward i think there could be potential for him be rotated between midfield and half forward line because one things i've noticed about him is that he loves a goal. Ultimately, like Jaded said, he'll be a hard working aggresive midfielder and for him to be as good as he can be he's got to have players in the ilk of Ablett, Bartel, Judd etc. to shovel the ball out to.

You'd think if big Jimmy was serious about becoming prez, he'd start by making a good impression in joining to the walk to the G with the fans and members, get amongst the people and all that. It'll be a great experience to march with some of the greats of the club, something i've looked forward to from the moment i heard about it.

Rivers will be fit as well, so added on to your ins and outs: In: Rivers Out: Frawley

Exactly my thoughts, children are extremely fickle supporters and go purely for the teams that allow them to say, "well my teams better than your team". There aren't many young Dees fans that'd have the balls to say that. When i started really following Melbourne it was late 1997-early 1998, i was able to say my team was winning. I got sucked in early! Bottom line is we need ultimate success to get the young buggers on board!

I said this to my dad this morning, it's such a shame that this amazing milestone had to come in such a terrible year. Can you imagine what the response to our 150th birthday would be if we were having a year (or start) like 2005? The march would be massive. But no, it had to come during one of our worst on-field patches of all time, the footy gods sure know how to mess with us. Still i'll be there to make up the numbers, and i'll drag a couple of my mates along.

I hope so too, but The Age had him listed as 1 week out. I would love Davey back as well, he has become the spark of the Dees again, he and Aussie work really well off each other.

Brock (nose) and Robbo (Achilles) will be out due to injury, and Bate's a possible omission as well with his hand. Rivers and Carroll are available for this week, i don't know about Whelan but if he's available surely he'd be straight back in. Valenti and Holland were unlucky to be dropped last wee, and Bails did flag a possible return for Newton. Can someone tell me what the severity with Davey's injury, i'd love him to be back but only if he's fully fit. My Ins: Valenti, Holland, Rivers, Maric, (Newton, if Bate injured) Outs: Brock, Robbo, Frawley, Buckley, (Bate, if injured)

I always go to the QB match, biggest match of the year. So far this year we've put in against quality opposition (Fremantle excluded of course), this will be a massive test and a chance to really play for the club with pride and passion. DB should get Barrassi and co to talk to the players before the game, make sure they know how lucky they are to be playing for the MFC.

I have thought about that, he showed a bit when we chucked him in the forward line last year a few times. But IMO Rivers is worth so much more as a defender, having said that, when we needed a forward in the late 90s we changed Neitz to FF and he ended up being the greatest forward of our club. Mind you let's get him fit first!

I can't believe this was the same team that challenged Hawthorne last week, but i guess that goes to show getting up to that intensity isn't the challenge, it's mantaining it into the following week thats the difference. But don't think i'm accepting this, it's frustrating as hell to see the boys go out there and produce such a disgraceful performance. Warnock and Garland battled today, but with our midfield being so insipid and pathetic there was nothing those guys could do. PJ showed a bit, but i don't think he has the class at the stoppages the mix it with the best. White needs to be taken aside and aksed if he wants to be apart of this team because right now he's just wandering around getting cheap possesions and not having any positive influence on the team. With Robbo out we need someone to stand up to take the FF position, we've got good crummers, a decent lead up CHF in Miller, and Bate who can pinch hit in the HFF, but we lack someone to take the no. 1 defender. Holland may have to step into this role but it's only going to last us for this year. To put it simply, when is Newton going to say, "i'm here and i want to take this chance".

I really hope this isn't the end for Robbo, we've already had our greatest servent of the MFC retire because of injury, and whatever people think of Robbo is irrelivant because he loves the club and has given us plenty of excitement over the years. Good luck with your recovery Russell.

The rectangle stadium from late 2009 onwards is a lock, we have signed an agreement and we will be there once completed. The issue is a summer training venue, obviously Junction oval is not good enough and the club is (finally) rectifying that, but before we say goodbye to that venue we must have a place to go. The rectangle stadium, as i said, is a lock. We will use that as a training facility (gym, recovery area etc), and we will aparently have Gosh's paddock as our training oval. We expected to be in there by 2008 but Victory delayed the construction by being indecisive on whether they would go there and the size of capacity, because of that we we didn't put a contingency plan for summer training. BTW i'm already a fan of Paul Mac!

It's already been said, but i'll say it again. I can't believe he was made a co-captain, how is it that he can get in the leadership group in front of Green. Very poor game today.

I believe it was at our request that this would be the situation for 2009, bearing in mind when they said this we were on track to be dept free by 2010, now there just doesn't seem to be any hope of doing that in the next 2 years. However i do agree that it's outrageous that we're being talked down at and spat on by the media when we ask for this, when no matter what happens Collingwood, Essendon, and all the interstate clubs will STILL have all the financial advantages the AFL hands them. The fund is there to even out the competition from the inequities the AFL generates, under the current setup and regime we should still be entitled to that funding. It's that or the AFL takes away the Collingwood's of the competition's monopoly on the night matches.

I like the idea of getting him here, and i think we have plenty going for us to get him us. C'mon Matty, get your brother in Red and Blue!