Pates

Going forward next year we must take the course of action that we did when Viney retired in 1999 and named Neitz for 2000. Get youth and enthusiasm into the captaincy, and none of this co-captain crap! For me, it's Brock McLean all the way. PS. no one is worthy to replace Neitz!

A sad way to end one of the greatest careers at the MFC. It will be very tough for us to go on without him, he's been the heart and soul for the club since the likes of Todd Viney retired. I really wanted him to have a send off match, but he has taken the smart move and put his health in front of anything else. You've given me so many great memories, I hope you will stick around the club for a while, and i wish you all the best in your post-football life.

Would be one of the stupidest things to ever do, if we are to have any chance at getting back to strength he will be one of our leaders to take us there. I would expect that he is not where he wanted to be at this stage of his career, looking at Cooney dominating for the Bulldogs would probably frustrate him, but 2007 not only halted his progress and prevented him from building on 2006 but has also sent him backwards and on top of that he now has to deal him the no. 1 tag basically every week. The very fact that you back in Sylvia, who has shown barely anything (injuries preventing of course), before Brock reduces your credibility to nil.

Bell took many of this i believe, there was that period in the 3rd quarter where it just went back and forth out of there, we'd constantly play on and kick it straight to a 3 on 2 contest, with us being the 2. It's not good at all and i've only seen one year where we've actually been good at it.

This is one of the MANY reasons why we lose games. You can never put it down to one singular issue, especially when your losses average over 50 points.

He was a positive, however i'm not going to get carried away with him. He's been stringing good performances together at Sandy for a good while now but it's taken until now for him to be put on the senior list, s there are obviously question marks over him. But if he keeps working hard and does the things he did today then he could have a future at the MFC.

I remember Chris Conolley saying that we wouldn't promote him until he was going to go straight into the the team so you'd think he'll at the very least be an emergancy, smart move IMO given our situation with money and why promote someone unless the are ready. Congrats Valenti, i wish you all the best in the big league!

I think they should all be on our radar, but more so Warnock and Mundy, they both fit into the vision of where our club's going and they sound like they could both forced a spot in the 22. Don't know about Murphy, honestly can't comment on his abilities or whether he'll fit into the side.

Cooney would have to be considered as one the demands no. 1 pick. Him, Ablett, Bartel and Buddy are the only ones i'd consider giving up no. 1 for and even then i would have to be sure.

I remember Gazza saying on Footy Classified that they were showing what Channel 7 didn't, pretty poor from the host broadcaster to not show it but i ain't surprised one bit. Funny though how they always managed to show it in the good old days.

Players i defend: Moloney, I've always liked his style and defended him when he was out injured saying that he'll come back and dominate. McLean, Never said a bad thing about him (except when he did his silly things over the summer, but still defended him!) Robbo, I criticise him but i defended him when people were saying his singing was impacting on his game. Plus i still think he loves the club and when he's on he can be one of the hardest forwards to match up on (i just wish he'd stop falling over!) Jones, I love this kid and although there hasn't been much to criticise him about but when that time comes i will be there! Players i critcise: Miller, still refuse to eat humble pie about him despite his game on the weekend. It'll take a while before i erase the memories of the last 2 years of him however credit to him he is on his way to doing so. CJ, really don't rate him. Simple as that. Sylvia, I've been waiting and waiting, and i still don't know what's to come of him. Have high hopes, but i'm not going to defend him after so much time and very little to show. (Yes i know injuries have made it difficult, but enough is enough)

What the hell was PG doing announcing the Olympic park upgrade as a win for MFC, he even said this is one of the most important days for us. I've been defending him, but he really just seems to be losing the plot. Still Gosch's paddock (i suggest a re-name!) all to ourselves is still a win on some level.

Whatever happens, the AFL MUST compensate whichever team comes last. The thing about getting those early draft picks is that it's not just the future on the field but off the field as supporters get excited when their team gets first crack at the talent pool. And I'm not talking measly $10K or so i'm talking 300-400,000 PER POTENTIAL PICK lost. It's the only way the AFL can bring this in and be fair to the teams that should be getting the leg up (unless it's Collingwood). It really sucks this whole situation we're in, but hopefully we won't cop the full brunt of it.

I'm in the same bote as you, vanlo. Uni student that would love to go but can't even consider it with the amount of money i've got, what is their target audience for this event? It's silly to even think that an average member would be willing to pay that amount. I hope it gets a full turn out, sounds like it'll be a great night.

Miller is one player that Baily seems to rate, i just don't see it. Works hard but he just doesn't have a good enough footy brain. I think you're being pretty hard on most of the players you mentioned, especially Brock who at 22 is pretty much our key midfielder. Dunn could do with a stint in the forward line, it's where i prefer he'd be. Bartram is returning from a a long period of injuries, he's young and finding his feet again.

This is confusing, if Bate is OK then play him, if he's not then why put him down as an emergency? If they want to give him a run in the VFL then be done with it. Doesn't make any sense.

If this does happen, the AFL should compensate the team that would've got those bottom picks, it's only fair and that way they would have the potential to be able to trade to get better players. Typical that it happens right when we're the worst i've seen in the whole time of supporting Melbourne.

This is not about judging people's loyalty or discussing our teams success in the past or future. It's a research poll for a project i'm doing at university, however i am also interesting in some responses as to the reason of the choice.

One of the greatest players to don the red and blue. Hard to classify him as THE greatest as Lyon and Stynes are the only other great players i've seen, certainly one of the hardest working players in the history of the club. Will be hard to watch him go.

Stupid thing to say, sang his guts out and did an excellent job of it. He may be in the twilight of his career and not playing well but he's bled Red & Blue for his entire time at Melbourne and IMO has been a great servant of this club, it's no wonder club greats distance themselves from us once their careers over, every supporter stomps all over you when your time's up. Congrats to him on getting to the Grand Final, at least someone at the clubs having some success.

As a local to Sandy i would be sad to see a parting of the ways between Melbourne and the Zebras, but of course that's a selfish viewpoint. If we are going to make Casey a summer training base, it is logical to make our VFL alliance with them and we would be entering a growing community. However at this stage St Kilda are allied with Casey so until that changes Sandringham is the best any team could hope for.

This is massive for us, if we win this week (bearing in mind it is Carlton, atm the second worst team in the AFL) it will at least give us a bit of confidence to go on for the rest of the year. Plus we need our supporters to come out and make a noise this week, to show that we're still behind them. Melbourne by 4 points in a thriller.

When was that on TV, i think it's fantastic! They should've used the same footage and marketing campaign to get members this year, personally i thought it was very well made. Tugged at all the right heart strings!

I think it's time for transparency, i'm sick of getting the information about our clubs predicament in small streams through Caro. Everytime a new piece of information about where we are at comes out i'm thinking, "why can't the club just be honest with us"? I know it's their job to keep faith with the members but perhaps they are underestimating how much faith we have given them, and how much we care for this club. A year or two ago PG was always on the front foot, getting into new ideas and being excited about our club, now he seems to be on the back foot and being questioned about things that he has concealed from the supporters. At the end of 2007 the Kangas board came out and told exactly what needed to be done in order for their club to survive, the supporters responded and now they have over 30,000 members. I hope when the time come that Melbourne says, "we need your help" it won't be too late. TELL US HOW WE CAN HELP!!!

Just was i was thinking, every week supporters on here winge that we don't have any past players and legends giving us help and support, and now possibly one of the GAME'S greatest legends and one of our own calls for support and everyone is questioning his intentions! Perhaps this is one of our (many) problems, we're not trusting enough to accept help. It's always a conspiricy, just take his kindness and assistance and thank him for it! Thanks Ron, and well done.