Pates

Mate, i would think that most interstate supporters are excluded from this plea to Dees supporters. Most of us would like to think that when the chips are down, the team looks to it's supporters for inspiration. If that IS the case than it's no wonder we lost to Freo. We need every able Melbourne supporter (bandwagon or not) to get down to the G this Sunday and help the boys get over the line. Neitz should be back this week and that will bring back half the leadership group of Melbourne, not to mention one of our best Full Forwards of all time. I will be there, and i hope there'll be much more than 16,000 as well.

I hope that's not the case, it'd be such a blow to the game if he were to hang to boots up. It was a terrible injury, it doesn't surprise me that it's been so hard for him to come back.

He should definitely play Queens Birthdays, that would be friggen awesome. Hopefully this will become a thing for the MFC, a way of uniting the fans.

It's a shame it was at a dead point of the game and he only got a clap from us. Had it been in the middle of one of our thrid quarter fight backs the whole ground would've erupted! It was nothing short of incredible though!

I thought it added to the atmosphere, and considering how little there was, we needed every bit of it. It also got the crowd more fired up, at least it did for me. Go the trumpet man.

Basically the things that gets me about this Headland/Selwood issue is that Headland didn't take responsibility for his actions, instead taking the highroad and saying the it was Selwood's fault that he provoked him. He's an adult, and therefor must be held accountable for what he did. That's why i'm [censored] off with him. As i said though, i only started booing after he pointed to his tattoo.

Funny, but i was actually referring to Dunn specifically. He certainly didn't seem below fitness today, he did well!

This is from the MFC website, does anyone know what they are refering to here, or are they just talking about his earlier-than-expected return?

Maybe i read different papers, cos i only read he told Neale not to hesitate before dropping him. Have known to be wrong though, besides i think the point is he recognized that his from was off and was lacking in confidence. Rather than pleading to Neale to give him another chance, he accepted responsibility and was willing to work hard to get back.

Actually i think he just told Neale not to hesitate about the record, that he knew his form was off and he will not complain if left out of the side. I don't believe he actually ASKED to be dropped.

Did very well today, i am glad he was dropped (thus ending his record) because it puts him on notice that sub-standard games won't be tolerated. Good on him though, and that goal was nothing short of phenomenal!

That's exactly what i thought as well, though i wouldn't quite have put it like that. I might've been ok with it if Selwood had gotten fined or suspended, but even then nothing should give you an excuse for belting someone. He used his daughter as an excuse to get of rather than standing up and saying, "i made a mistake and i let my teammates down" he took the gutless option to use a "but he started it" explanation. And for the record, I started booing him AFTER he pointed to his tat.

T Johnstone (hamstring) replaced in selected side by C Sylvia B Moloney (groin) replaced in selected side by M Bate M Whelan (hamstring) N Jones (ankle) D Bell (concussion) N Brown (calf) P Wheatley (shoulder) These are the injuries we sustained today. One would think Whelan, Jones, and Brown won't be right for next week. I'm not convinced Moloney will be OK, same with Travis. In the 15 years i've been supporting Melbourne i have never seen us have such a rotten run with injuries, this is beyond frustrating. What on earth can we do about it?

He played well today, i knew he would, but he didn't deserve to be out there. Pointing to something like a tattoo of a daughter, wife, mother, father ect. IMO is appropriate if that person is undergoing some kind of hardship at that time or has died (ala Travis pointing to painted armband at Troy's memorial game). But what Headland did by pointing to his tattoo of his daughter, to me, said "this is why I'm out here, so screw you". He was lucky to be out there, he played well and he should've just gone through the game quietly. The way he acted felt like he spat in the face of every Melbourne supporter who came that day. I can't wait for the day when he gets belted into oblivion and is out for the four weeks he deserved.

Exactly what i was going to say, Condemned. He is down on form but hardly the worst today, i would prefer that he go back to Sandy to get some confidence but who would you bring in for him? If Travis is OK for next week, than maybe, but we've lost Jones and Whelan today, Moloney didn't come up (as expected). It doesn't seem likely that he'll be dropped.

We needed Nick Smith! Will that do it? Seriously though, i don't think it was Neal's doing today. It's a shame that he'll be judged on a year in which he really had no control over our downfall, but that's life. Tactics or not, had we had even half of the players missing today we would've won IMO.

Fair call, mate. I personally think that Selwood went too far with his sledging, but if was the difference between us having a premiership or not than i think a lot of people morals would become selective.

I went to the 2003 match, we were up by i think 25 points going into the last quarter and the swans slammed home 10 goals to 1 to win by about the same amount. It was a hard night to take made even worse by us being surround by some of the most ignorant and feral supports I've had the displeasure of being around. One of the Swans players went down in a marking contest when he run into ONE OF HIS OWN, and the Swans supporters were abusing us saying that our players were pathetic and gutless. If I'd been the age i am now i would've stood up to them and given plenty back, but i was like 15 at the time and my mum was with us. I would love nothing more than to come home with a win, especially one like last year.

I'd very much hope that if i had any kids in the future (hopefully quite a bit of a distant future as i'm in second year uni!) they would be Dees through and through. Although choosing to support Melbourne, or any team for that matter, condemns you to much pain, it's worth it for the moments like last years qualifying final or for when we do finally reach the Holy Grail.

I don't think he was having a go at the club or the players, bob, i think he was just making a point that despite the fact that it's a good chance we will continue our poor form, he will be there. It's always interesting to see how many people jump off the bandwagon and can't be f&*% coming to the games when the team's down, personally i think that if you aren't willing to take the bad than you don't deserve the good. But that's just my opinion.

Can someone please tell me what the deal is with Rivers? The club has told us nothing.

It might also help if our players can learn to kick, seriously guys your meant to be among the best of the best!

Ratten would be a bit out there, he was credited with making our midfield tougher in the year that he was here. Viney might be a someone to consider, but i don't think he's had much AFL coach experience, i know he's had other experience though. I like the idea of going for someone a bit left-field, but i think I'll hurl if Lyon becomes our coach next year. This is, of course, assume our season continues it's uncontrollable nose-dive. If we make top 4 as we all expected at the start i think we can let Neal off the hook!

I'm going to the Sydney match, had it booked before this nightmare started so there's no backing out now!

But when will the ultimate good come around to us!? As you say though, you can have good without the bad, hopefully the good won't be too far away.