Pates

- Cameron Bruce is soft and overpaid and must be traded at the end of the year, preferably for a top 20 pick. You cant run around getting cheap kicks, and play two good games a year on Brad Johnson while being ion 500K. A shining exanple of why our club is up [censored] creek. (In VFL/AFL history, has there ever been a 28 year old with 160 games that has failed to lay one hip and shoulder or do something physical? I doubt it) He's looked better across HBF. And i can name a few incidents where he's been physical, albeit way back in 2002! - Brad Miller has no place in a Demon jumper. Leading up the ground and taking a few uncontested grabs in another 10 goal loss is not cause for optimism. Wake up and realise this. Average footballer, most around here know this, he has looked better in his last few matches but these are in losses. - Colin Sylvia is a gun, and one of the few players on the list than can use the footy. Has great foot skills, and is a great overhead grab. If the coaches finally give him a spot to settle, he will dominate. Not sold on him and considering how harsh you're being on other players i'm surprised you're letting him off the hook so easily. If he gets his attitude right, we may have the player you see. - Nathan Carroll , despite being a [censored], is actually a pretty good footballer. BUT he is not good enough to be the main man at full back. If he was our 3rd defensive option he would have a field day and be a damaging player for us. Bottom line is we need a full back, and if Frawley was any good he would be in the side. We are in trouble. Well put, he should not be our first choice FB, he must be due to our lack of quality KPP. - Chris Johnson has no potential, no future and simply cant play the game. If you want evidence, watch when he took the advantage and played on, then had no idea what to do with the footy. Instead of drilling a goal from 40, he kicked it straight to a Kanga. Out of his depth. I have never seen anything of him to make me think he'll make it as a player, hell be an excellent VFL player, nothing more. - We have unearthed two future superstars in Cale Morton and Austin Wonemarri, who look like the second coming of Hird and Pickett. I know real talent when I see it. So while you people cream yourself over some very average players, I will continue to spot the gems. Love the look of Morton, Aussie i'm not convinced on but i am optimistic about it. - Daniel Bell is not very good. I had high hopes for Belly. He has been around long anough now to be a backline general, and calm the troops in times of trouble. At one stage he even looked like a future All-Australian. But he has not improved his poor awareness, and its probably something that will never change. Damn shame. Endeavor's there, he'll be around for a while. Not much we can do about it. - Nathan Jones has a dip, but has a very slow footy brain. Gets caught to easily, take way too long to dispose of the footy. Probably wont ever become an A-grade midfielder. He's got something many on our team don't have, heart. He'll be our new Jmac for the next 10 years. - We have more rubbish players on our list than any other team, besides maybe Carlton. Miller, Jamar, C.Johnson, Warnock, Garland. Off the top of my head. Agree. - Dean Bailey will be a great coach, and we will be good again once he builds the list he wants. It will take another couple of draft/trade periods, but he will get it right and we will be much better off than with any list we had in the Daniher era. We will even see some key position players in the ranks, thank God. Agree. - Our ruck position is in dire straits. White is finished. Jamar is a dud. PJ is not a ruckman, depite his great work aroud the ground. Meesen is in the wilderness, and is more of a PJ type player anyway. And to look at Brisbane and see their 1-2 punch of Leunberger-Charman. We are a long way behind a few teams in this critical area. Not all the best teams have had dominating, just one's that can hold their own. If we get a good enough midfield, this will not matter as much. Now love me or hate me, everything I say is true. if you dont agree with the above, you should toughen up or find another sport to follow. Just because you say it, doesn't make it true or fact. You have an opinion, nothing more, nothing less. I don't agree with you, many here won't, i'm gonna follow the Dees until the end of existence, i don't need need to toughen up because i don't have to agree with you to follow the MFC.

We won our first quarter for the year. Apart from that, Whelan's back!

What he said. If you care about the club then now is when the club NEEDS your support.

I get the feeling that the crowd sizes for Sandy will grow as the Melbourne crowds get smaller.

I will sit back and watch it on TV with a bottle of bourbon. Perhaps i'll play a drinking game, every time Geelong scores i take a swig. I'll have alcohol poisoning by quarter time!

This really should be a year that Brock takes the next step. We've seem patches and glimpses of what he's capable, 2007 was ruined by injury, but IMO at this point i think he's trying to do too much. I think he recognises that we need someone to step up but he's not there yet. He should just go back to basics, first option and kick the bloody thing. He does or did have good disposal, it's just his footy mind seems to be out of wack at the moment.

One of my biggest concerns with this is that we've pumped a lot of time and money in the Olympic park project, we have been told that this will make all the difference on and off the field. I don't think this is an entirely stupid idea, and we certainly need to look outside the box to stay alive, but i need to know that this investment hasn't been for nothing. The MCG needs to remain our home IMO, but this is a possibility to force ourselves into a growning area and still stay in Victoria.

OH MY GOD!!!! WHEN WILL HE LEARN!? YM, STOP TIPPING US! STOP TELLING US WE'RE GOING TO WIN! JUST STOP!

I was getting a bit frustrated with him, he made some critical turnovers on Sunday. But then again name a player that didn't! I saw glimpses of potential so i take a little heart from that.

Our core supporter group, like anyone elses, is extremely passionate however with performances like Sunday it is going to be very difficult to expand that group. But that's beside the point of this thread. I refrained from going on to this forum and 'ology after the match because i knew everyone's emotions would be all over the shop. Our club is finnancially in trouble and when it is imperative that we do well to attract new members we get humiliated, i'd recon that loss has prevented us from getting another 2000 memebers. True Melbourne supporters are not weak dogs, they are upset and angry at the players for putting in such an insipid performance. Here's the kicker, they all care so much about the club that they need to vent their emotions, i'm an optomist but what i saw on Sunday really worried me and for christ sake it's only round one. In closing, we lost by 104 points, i think if ever our suppoters can lose the plot a bit, it would be now! Gold!

Thanks for the suggestion guys, he's certainly one that i'll try to talk to. I spoke to him briefly last year when we were come out of one of our close losses, he's certainly got passion for the club!

Hello all, i'm a film student and am currently in the process of producing a documentary based on the fanatics of the AFL, and i'm looking for people to interview. So if you love the game or know of someone who is football obsessive, please drop me an email or post in this thread. Thanks in advance. [email protected]

2005/06 Green and Bruce were rotated between midfield and HFF, they both would kick 2 gaols and pick up 25-30 possies. That was one of the best combos we've had imo. I would love to bring that back!

Honestly mate the amount of times you've bagged our club for having gutless supporters who won't stick up for us in our time of need, i never thought you'd become one. I still don't think you will and i recon that you're more than anything else making a point of where our club is at at the moment. Sylvia's disregard of the curfew after just one week has me a little concerned about his lack of respect for not only the club but the leadership group. If he can't follow a simple rule like this, how the hell is he ment to take any notice of what they're doing on the field? One more point YM, you've made me laugh many times with your......er.....insightful posts, but if you honestly believe what you said, then don't think you'll have the right to critisise once you abandon ship.

Yeah i would be more inclined to call that "A-Graders", elite is a bit of a stretch unfortunately. And one other point i might make is that i would've had another column: experience. In there i would've had: White Macca Neitz Robbo Neitz isn't quite depth yet, depth means that you are only used if required. Plus a fit Whelan puts him in Core at least. But other than that i thought it was well thought out and well presented.

2. Agree, in our 150th year we should be pulling out all stops with events like this, that means getting all of our major players at the club to show thier support. 3. Agree, i might've considered going if i'd known this. 10. I listen to SEN so obviously i'd get plenty from the, i check the website often, and i'm a member here so i got plenty of warning. I'd imagine to the regular supporter who is thinking of becoming a member they wouldn't get the same amount of notice. Giving people notice of what's happening around the club is not what the MFC is good at, for god's sake it takes them a month to update the injury list if they're on the ball!

Yay! YM's put the kiss of death on someone else for a change, every game for the first 9 rounds he predicted us to "bounce back". I also believe his prediction for 2007 was 3rd or 2nd. Thanks YM!

Could be good, but i know the club's got one organised for QB, might be a bit much to get two in one year going. I'd be up for it if we can get one going though.

1. Geelong 2. Port 3. Fremantle 4. West Coast 5. St Kilda 6. Brisbane 7. Hawthorn 8. Melbourne ------------------------------- 9. Collingwood 10. Sydney 11. North 12. Carlton 13. Adelaide 14. Bullies 15. Essendon 16. Richmond

This is when it gets a bit serious, we are playing a side a lot closer to the best 22. In saying that, i predict that most of our key players will be used sparingly just to ease them back into it.

Farmer - Ditched us for his family, not much we could do Thompson - Ditto Jolly - Could've kept him but no big loss Armstrong - Yawn Johnstone - Would've like to still have him but he has under-achieved at our club, but there has been a total of two games (NAB games!) so still very early --------- Alwyn Davey - Perhaps we should've taken him but from what i gather he wasn't good enough when we gave him a go, Essendon had an earlier pick last year and took him Peverill & Bassett, couldn't tell you anything i didn't know we could've had them.

Exactly what i was thinking, it's great they're giving other areas a chance to see some AFL but given that we've been to Geelong and Carins isn't it about time we got to see our team live!?

Pies Blues Essendon Sydney Richmond Blues have taken second spot in the off season. Dons and Sydney are a bit of a tie, irronically Sydney used to be my second team (since i was born there) but both times i've been to the SCG, i've come home infuriated with my treatment. Don't really mind the team, but every time they lose i think of those ignorant supporters going, "but wasn't that off-side?"

TJ could be both damaging to his opposition and to his team, his type of game ensured that. It's high risk, low, and penetrating. If he saw a chance in the centre and he had a 10cm target to hit he'd go for it, often of one step. Best disposal, but potentially damaging. But TJ has moved on and so should we, therefor my nominations would be Whelan and McLean. I've rarely seen these two turn it over by foot.