Lord Ivanhoe

Now he is home & surrounded by his support group, real chance he may really start to grow. Love it. Hope! It sells!!!!

Nothing new but getting there! Balic poised to become a Dee Midfielder Harley Balic looks likely to head home to Victoria. Fremantle midfielder Harley Balic is expected to land at Melbourne before Thursday's trade deadline. Balic wants to come home, having battled personal issues across his two years at the Dockers. "We're hoping to get a deal done with Melbourne in the next 12-24 hours," his manager Matt Bain told NAB AFL Trade Radio. "I think they're waiting to see what happened with Jack Watts and what picks they have available for Freo." Balic, 20, has played four AFL games but missed most of this season when he returned to his family in Victoria to deal with reported homesickness and anxiety issues. He struggled in his first year in the AFL system because of wrist surgery to repair an injury he sustained as a junior that had failed to heal properly. Bain expects the deal to just involve draft picks.

When we played North last time we still had not synced our new game plan/style. So I feel we are superior now. I also feel the reason why North rested players last week and brought some back this week is because they know their future is as the Tassie Kangaroos and they need to play their best for their Tassie Brand. Port & North I previously believed had the big bodied players to potentially monster our young team. After we took care of Port last week we only have to emulate last weeks performance to gets the chocolates tomorrow. Go Dees!

Fair Dinkum? So sick of the tripe some of our very own have been dishing out recently. We are finally the mongrel team and the serial complainers who hate their own Lives can't wait to post their habitual drivel on social media. Very clever in bringing in the big guns and commence our challenge up the Col De Finals. We have kept in touch with the peloton despite some falls in the early stages. Time to Do some serious damage to the rest of the pretenders!

Let he who has committed no sins cast the first stone. So many perfect people on this site! You are a supporter or a criticiser. The latter is more a reflection of the comment within oneself.

I choose to believe that we will be there in September. I dont dwell in the past or let fear rule my present. Our KPI's are first class. Despite injuries and until last weekend both the seniors & seconds, after taking the first 6 or so weeks to get the new Goodwin game plan together were smashing it. We WILL come home with a bang and at the right time. So far this season luck has not been with us AND we are still in there. Hopefully the winds will change as we get all our key personal on the park at the right time. Go Dees!

Sorry for the late reply AF, hope this link works https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154365178746580&set=gm.10155848264773797&type=3&theater

Moment before OMac gets the ball. A tackle would have been too late. The guy is a gun and we're worried about tackles????

Wow I wonder whether the 'MFC' mental issues are about the self survival of supporters. We are playing a serious brand of football. Our KPI's are amongst the best without our 1st choice ruckman & backup. Without our full fwd & backup. Aside from GWS who else is hanging in there with injuries to first choice players? We are not been blown away like in past years. Frost, Hibberd, Hannah, Oliver amongst others having breakout years. Our percentage is the 5th best in the comp! If your going to bed in appreciation/gratitude mode your enjoying our ride. Otherwise it's fear based journey which leads to ........ Looking forward to with excitement of what the future holds. Go Dees!!

I'd rather be in appreciation mode. One of the best backmen we have had for 20 years!

Not sure if many noticed but I can't recall 4 Melbourne defenders contesting a pack mark (like we have all year). The coaches may have addressed this with Hibberd waiting back Waiting to see who is available before I comment

Multiple goal scorers. Ability to kick a bag of goals in a quarter. Coaching team making several positional changes during the game to get a mix that will work. In the top 1-4 for the most important KPI's. Quick fix = house of straw. We are building a house of stone. We started the year at lock up stage. Some of our best tradies decided to awol, some were legitimacy sick and others took unwanted long term holidays. When they are all on deck in the next 2-3 weeks the mansion will be complete and we can enjoy the house warming party!

Thanks Josh. Thats why we have been in a winnable position in the final quarter every game this year. Forward entry conversion & lack of talls certainly has been some of the reasons. (Bring in any of Gawn, Hogan etc) Makes for an interesting second half of the year!

I am with you. Thanks Danelska.

Plays tall, sure/quick hands, works hard to get to position, can rotate thru the mid-field, hard to match up and how many times has he been there in the goal square!

Gold!

Great news. Operation went very well. Now let's all visualise positive stuff and see a happy n healthy Jesse returning and kicking a bag of goals!! https://www.triplem.com.au/shows/the-hot-breakfast/content/jesse-hogan-s-operation-went-extremely-well#.WRqmk13nsvs.facebook

As supporters we are still overlaying the past onto the future even though we have mainly new players/leaders (Petracca, Oliver, Hibbered, Lewis, Hunt etc) who were not part of the Melbourne past. Goodwin has said many times we are a young team and still learning. He and the team new that if they were in the top 2/4 of the important stats & KPI's & been in a winnable position in every game this year then then most likely that when they had learnt how to do it for a majority of the game that a win may result. On Saturday night it all came together. The team now has a full game example of what to do and how to play. All this 'must win the next three', 'we dont win when we are favorites' 'the demon curse' etc is more a matter of supporter baggage than Maths. Let go and enjoy the ride up the sign wave.

Sending you healing energy Jesse Gee, How long has he been dealing with this and his Dad!!! Like having to play football with a ball n chain on your leg and a sack of potatoes on ya back!

Another positive about Goodwin is that he is not a control freak. He empowers those around him including the assistant coaches and actually carries out their suggestions. In the second quarter after ADL had kicked six in a row, he asked his assistants to make a change/changes. Hence T-Mac moved forward. The challenges of the past 8 weeks has unearthed many positional changes & previously unknown player potentials that can positively impact our on field mix. In past it has been rare that we have had any of these 'swing' type payers.

Sunday was the first game 'we' didn't lose, but the opposition won. A team with 15 (1,2,3or4) premiership players who have played together for 6-10 yrs & who got their Mojo back(Lewis & Hibberd have played together twice!) Against the best coach of the modern era vs a 7 game coach. With major injuries to important players (Was it 41 touches plus a goal for Gawn last year against the Hawks?). We were still in it after not showing up for half! The injuries have exposed our lack of depth and the fact we need one more yearly list turnover! As Jones said today the positive is that in addition to our new game style which has us up in the top KPI's, we have learnt to play differently, we have challenged players in roles that they may have not played otherwise & hence have made changes through necessity that will be of use in the future as it finally all comes together. When we finally get our 'best' 22 on the park. As frustrating as it is our best 22 are still being worked out = rollercoaster = Selection issues/mistakes. Our best football will be in the second half of the year.

Classic post! Actually going to bed laughin (& dreamin about those donuts), thanks for the therapy

Gee the Casey team looks hot! Depth at last despite our huge injury list

I agree. First time in years that Hogan will playing 'Free'. Got a feeling Jesse will step up big time in the next month or so.

The Club & Supporters need to show their compassion, which the majority are. Anyone who has watched someone they love slowly dying knows the difficulties & challenges of dealing with so many personal emotions let alone the lack of control of the situation. Its very difficult to not let it affect other aspects of our lives. Jesse is no different. He has carried this burden for as long as he has been with the MFC. We all grieve differently . Now his father has passed(RIP) & once Jesse begins to heal he will have such a weight lifted from his shoulders that who knows what he can become as both a person & AFL footballer!