Pates

We only need him to get SOMETHING for his hit, he has about 90 carry-over points from the Selwood incident so any misconduct charge will make him loose a week. He should've gone for the Selwood bump, he should've gone with that dog act against Godders last year, he's been very lucky so far and it's time his luck ran out!

Exactly, at this stage he is still jsut potential but there is much there to work with. I'm certainly not salivating over him, but given that he wants to return to Melbourne (city), we are in the box seat to get the top PSD draft pick, and we have his brother who is establishing himself as a long-term defensive option, we have a great chance to bolster our future ruck division. As for fitting them all in, i personally think we're in more need of a quick, high skilled midfielder, and with PJ showing something around the ground as well as at the stoppages, Warnock, PJ, and Meesen (who i still have hops for) could all take on the no. 1 role.

Yeha not happy that Jamar get's a spot before Morton and Valenti, but i will be interested to see what Bails decides to do with all three of our main ruckman in the side. It's something the Neale was never able to do well, use the talls flexibly. I think either way we're going to lose, so why not try a few new things. PS I'm glad CJ's got another run at it, i haven't rated him but i don't think he's been given a fair run at it.

Dal Santo's efficiency was at 59% last week. A stat, i know, but something to look at. But McLean's stats DO tell a story in his case, leading contested possesions in his role is exactly what we want from him. Watching Dunn's chase against Richmond (the one he got nominated for the army award for) showed how little pace he has, but that's alright because we've always known that. You're fighting a losing battle here Tarzan, McLean will be a future captain and basically everyone else sees that.

I'll take this as a positive report, it seems like we're very much on board with it so hopefully we can get Casey as excited.

Knowing our luck he'll get fully fit for them and star, just like Thompson is doing at the moment.

Playing purely in the forward line and back himself in has given him lot's more confidence than he did under ND. Not bagging Danners but it's a simple fact that some players just thrive under some coaches but fail under others. He's looking much better, and IMO at this point he's vindicating his selection in the leadership group.

I know plenty have said these words about other players before hand, but i've got really good feeling about Morton. He had a ditry day, disposal wise, on Sunday, but as the Oracle said the fact he got plenty of it gives me great hope for the future with him. There was a Melbourne supporter sitting a could of seats down from me bagging the crap out of him, i said to him we've got to get him off the ground, he said to me, "he's a dud for sure", i refrained from having a go at him but he's young and clearly got plenty of talent.

Sounds about right, mind you we certainly got the rub of the umpires so i think there would've been plenty of Tigers fans saying something similar!

I was in aisle 33, a had a couple of Melbourne supports around me but it was dominated by Richmond fans. Early in the first quarter a group of very loud Tigers fans said how pathetic it was that the Melbopurne fans didn't turn out. I wanted to challenge him and give him a snappy retort, but what the hell could i say? I'm not usually in the business of having a go at our turn outs, but FFS it doesn't matter if it's not our home game, it doesn't matter if it's at the Dome, and it doesn't matter if it's the crappy twilight timeslot, if it's in Melbourne and you can go you get your butt out there, then show some effing passion for your team. I hate constantly being disgusted with my fellow Dees fans, i would've thought after Jimmy Stynes' passionate plea last week our fans might actually get out there to the game, but again we prove why we are and for the near future always will be at the bottom rung of the financial ladder.

Selling games isn't ideal, but at then end of the day, if we're able to get $500,000 for a game that'd we'd lose money for in Melbourne then it's an option we must consider. Thet only thing i'd say is make the contract as short term as possible, ie two years or less. If we get stuck into something for too long the AFL may use it as leverage in the future. Another thought, not so much an option, is that why didn't we look at making Olympic park a boutique stadium? All it would need is a bit of an upgrade on the city end pavillion and obviously converting the race track to grass (which they are doing for the Pies now).

It's what his role is, he is the "magic" man. It's a very hit or miss scenario, sometimes it'll be brilliant, other times it'll be frustrating. I'm not sure we really need him in the side, but i think he's earned a place next week.

Brock doesn't have the pace and chase down ability of a tagger, he must be our most damaging player. The hope is that eventually he'll become so good to the point where his direct opponent must close check him or he'll get hurt every time we get the ball. That's hypothetically how it works, two top players on each other, the better player forces the other out of the game.

Maybe i'm a loner in this but i thought that while he got plenty of the ball and showed great run off the backline, his disposal was at times almost as bad as Morton today. Too many times he would just bomb it into the forward 50, not even looking to see what our odds were in there. The ball would be turned over and goal up the other end to the toigs. I'm not blaming him for us losing today, in fact he probably was up there with our best, but a senior player such as him needs to show more poise and thought before just bombing away. Moloney used to do that, i noticed this year he did more shorter kicks and he looked a lot better. Just my two cents.

He's been a shining light this year, i'd like to say i saw it from the start but although i never called him a dud, i wasn't quite sure whether he was going to make it. Along with Wona, Warnock, and Jones, he keeps me going to the footy with hope for the future.

He was alright today, warrents another shot next week. He needs to have a couple of games before we can make a true jugement on him.

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!).