Pates

I NEVER wanted him as our coach. I'm glad he's come to his senses, because i was really worried that we'd go hard for him. But the funny thing is that now instead of going into full commitment role of going for a coaching job, he's decided he will review his decision after another 12 months in the media. IF YOU WANT TO BECOME A COACH, THAN TAKE A LOOK AT WHAT EVERYONE ELSE HAS DONE AND LEARN THE ROPES AS AN ASSISTANT!

Saw him at Sandy this week, if we're picking on form as we appeared to do last week than he should get to his 200th this week.

If Bruce and Bell are indeed fit to come back into the side than i think the team should look something like this: In: Bruce, Bell Out: Buckley/CJ, Brown Neitz really didn't look right last week but perhaps it was just a case of being underdone through not being able to string games together, unless he's injured he'll still play this week. Chris Johnson still looks like a lost child when he steps out on to an AFL field, maybe i expect too much from him but he's at that stage where he should be showing more. Some key match ups this week will be Cornes x2, Burgoyne x2, Treadre, and Brett Ebert. Last time (if my memory serves me right) we started with Brown in the forward line on Chad Cornes and he got killed, afterwards we moved Dunn on him and Cornes was taken out of the game. I implore you Reilly, if you're gonna do that again just make the swap now and bring Dunn in rather than have Brown in the forward 50. Godders will go with P Burgoyne again as he absolutely killed him last time. There is also talk of bringing Pickett in for his 200th this week, if that were to happen it would surely mean Buckley's out. Nothing against him, i think he's done alright in his first few games but it just seems the logical choice, the only other one may be Ward. Could be an interesting week at the selection table.

He looks good, and that was as good a speckie i've seen from anyone in the red and blue. The next two years will be very interesting to watch for hi, because he'll still have to contend with Neitz and Robbo for leads in the forward line. Perhaps they will have to look at moving either him or Robbo outside the 50 at periods to prevent congestion. BTW anyone saying that Robbo was lazy yesterday, he did get injured quite early on and while it really shat me that he couldn't put the ball through the big sticks when we needed it, i think it's increadibly disrespectfull to bag a player who would bleed for our club, those players don't come around every day.

I think we need to develop a winning culture, i'm not saying that we pick our absolute best team, but we need to find a balance whereby we get plenty of experience into the young brigade but keep the established older players in there as well. ATM i think we've got a good balance. But take Carlton for example, the plast 3 years they've played nothing but young kids, and yet they are still floundering at the bottom. I have a feeling that that's because without the experienced players to back them up on the field and take them aside and give them a whipping their development has been stunted. The time that Newts spends on the field this week with Neitz will be invaluable as he'll learn where to lead into space with you're the third target as opposed to the first or second target.

I'll take Connolly over Voss, but otherwise, HELL NO!!!

If we put in some good performances in the games he's coaching then there is no reason why we shouldn't consider him. I'm not sure it was the best thing for Robbo to do to endorse Reilly for next year, the players need to be able to just have faith in the board that they will reach the right decision and they must bear it.

A demon through and through, passionate to enth degree. It's been an absolute pleasure to watch Robbo these past 199 games, so good luck to him for his 200th.

Get him right for next year, he's extremely important to our backline.

That could just about be the smartest thing you've ever said on this site YM! I also think that when things arn't looking good for Davey, he should be right at the feet of the forwards to be there for the crumbs. Too often the ball goes to ground and no one's there to recieve it at ground level, this clip shows what Flash does best and it should be utilised more. Awesome goal Flash!

What the hell, at the end of last week he was 2-3 weeks. IMO there is no point in risking him, keep playing Newts at FF and give him as much experience as being one of the main foward targets. As for Moloney, i really hope he can shake this OP. When he's out on the park he's one of my favourite players, but he's got to get out there!

I'm not too worried about his form, he's being heavily tagged and still looks a bit hampered by injury. It's actually quite good that he's getting experience at this age of having their no. 1 tagger, it'll teach him to shake 'em off for next year. Plus he still seems to be ge getting enough of the ball at the stopages.

I heard an exerpt of an interview with Ricky's dad, he credited the Melbourne medical staff with doing everything right when he came off. But one thing that was interesting was that the doctors said it might not have even happened during the game, it could've been a bubble inside his lungs that developed last week.

Christ that's unbelievable, get well soon Ricky.

A mate of mine knows/knew him, so we're definately going to give him some support. Good luck to him!

-Is everybody over this season? Season from hell, i'm so over it. -Does anybody care if we lose this Sunday? I still care, but no where near as much. It's more of a pride thing now. -Do people actually want us to lose to get the best draft picks possible? The only time i've ever wanted to lose was the final game of 2003, but i don't EVER want us to to tank for draft picks. -Will you be upset if we lose? Yes, but not too upset. As long as we get plenty of games into the kids and they show something, i'll be happy. -Are you going? F-oath i'm going, a mate of mine knows Buckley, but more than that, the players need our support this year. -Crowd? 32,000 65% Carlton-35% Melbourne (if we're lucky, but i hope more)

Not surprising, at least we'll be able to get a glimpse at our future. It's about all we've got now.

Certainly no champion or legend, but one of the most honest footballers at our club. Has always given us 100% for 100 games.

He's the best captain i've seen, admitedly i only saw the twilight years on one G Lyon but Neitz is a champion of this club and deserves a premiership medal around his neck.

It's now we get a real idea of just how much of the season from hell this is. Bloody gutsy effort from Neitz to get out there and kick three goals, as soon as he kicked his third i saw him clutch his knee and i knew we wouldn't see him for a while and i had a bad feeling about the night. People talk about how great the Essendon side of 2000 was, don't get me wrong i was in awe of their increadible run, but i wonder how that side would've done with the same injuries we've had this year? Getting a good squad is one part of the equation, but until we get some luck as well we won't get that elusive premiership.

It seems like Daniher's the only one that's handled this well. I wasn't happy about Gardiner coming out after the Richmond match and making the in-house discussions very much public, and equally i'm dissapointed that Neita has come out and made comments that do exactly the opposite to what Neale was trying to stop. The only thing that his comments have achieved is to create a divide between club and players. Don't get me wrong, i respect the hell out of the guy and love him to death but as the captain of our footy club he should've taken some time and thought about what was best for the MFC before fronting the media. He's just made Mark Reilly's job 5 times harder and Gardner will have a very tough time ahead of him for the next 4-6 months.

Sums up our year really, but yes, i'm shattered we couldn't come away with a win.

Devastating last few moments, but sums up our year. There isn't much that's gone right for us this year, but i really hoped that we could send Neale off with a win and you could tell the players (especially Neita, Robbo, and Browny) were gutted. Thank you so much for your time here, you have always conducted yourself with dignity and passion and tonight was no difference. Good luck with your future coaching aspirations. PS. I'll never get to sleep tonight, 6 bloody seconds away from a fairytail ending!

I think he wants to go till the end of the season, unfinished business with this year and all that.

I personally have never really been threatened or anything, at worst i've just been told to shut up or sworn at (Geelong and Sydney were the worst). However there was an incident with some close family friends (who are Bombers fans, but i won't hold it against them) two years ago. They were in a Gen admit area for a game vs Richmond and there was a drunk, loud, foul-mouthed and smoking tigers fan in front of them. One of them has asthma and so the father quietly and nicely asked him to put the cigarrete out or go outside, the tigers fan went of at him and punch him in the mouth. He got a bruised face and almost broke his nose, so i've now decided that the tigers fans are the most feral bunch of misfits in my book. The only incident which almost became physical for me was when i was in Sydney in 2003 and there were a bunch of feral swans fans in our area, they were basically taking every opportunity to put us down and abuse us. At one stage they were saying some really pathetic and cowardly things to my mother, and my brother, dad and i were coming close to retaliating. In the end, we sat quietly and ignored them but it soured any opinions i had about them in later years. Ironic that i used to live there and they WERE my second team, not anymore.