Jaded No More

Look, I'm a moderator so I really should restrain myself from abusing you, but that has got to be one of the dumbest comments ever written on Demonland, and I've been posting here for a long long time. He ruled himself out of the captaincy because he SHOWED PASSION? Are you for real? Did you actually see the entire passage of play? McLean ran himself stupid to make a 50m side-ways lead so that Holland can have a target to kick to. Holland's kick missed him, and he got frustrated. You know what, I rather he shows he cares and wear his frustration, than be an emotionless robot. The man played 78% game time, had 10 clearances and 26 disposals, and was one of the main reasons we kept coming at Collingwood in the last quarter. You are a complete joke if you think McLean shows bad team skills. He is the consummate professional, and at the tender age of 21 he is already more of a leader than most of our senior players. He runs alongside Neita for a reason. Brock McLean is our next real leader. Regardless of age, experience, or the fact that he is apperantly injury prone (does anyone else in the side bounce back from injuries better??), he is equal to Neita in terms of on-field leadership. Deal with it!

Exactly. Belly was never in doubt. PJ has surprised me, because he was a hopeless ruckman last year and he couldn't mark overhead to save himself. Now he is excelling at both. The likes of Jones, Bate and Sylvia are just showing their natural improvement which comes from more experience and better fitness.

Ha, funny how he thought he could take them on! Almost as funny as Fraser trying to beat up Carroll. It's like Mr.Bean taking on King Kong. Just give up while you're only slightly behind Frase. At least he didn't wave Whitey off the ground this time. Must have learnt his lesson after last year.

And what about Robbo marking strongly and doing a half turn that put Ms. Thomas on her arse. There is something about that kid that infuriates me. Maybe it's the hair, maybe it's the attitude, maybe it's the jumper... but seeing Robbo knock him over in such a sly way, was gold. Also loved TJ in the three quarter time huddle giving the boys instructions. It was good to see that despite him not being able to play, he was still contributing. He could make a good assistant coach one day, if he gets his head out of the clouds. God it's good to beat the Pies!!!

Yep, that was my favourite moment too. Also Robbo running past the members after the siren and grabbing his jumper with such passion. I think we forget sometimes just how much he bleeds for our club.

And what happened with Jonesy and Medhurst? One minute everything was fine, then I looked over and Medhurst was topless. It wouldn't surprise me if Medhurst had to go change his jocks as well.... it's not wise to take on The Jones! :D

Yep it was a mutual hold, in the same way Carroll and Fraser (I hate that man with a passion!) wrestled in the goal square, and Fraser marked the ball. The ump let it go because both were holding on. Rocca was well and truly demolished by the great Benny Holland, and every single free-kick he gave away was there. They highlighted them all on Footy Classifides, and apart from the Robbo one that should have been paid, they were all right according to the new rules. Whether we agree with it or not, the umpires were just following the guidelines.

But I thought Rivers had a back-related hammy I hate the silly games they play sometimes, but good to hear about Beamer. Thanks for the report!

A few years ago I had the pleasure of sitting at AAMI Stadium in the midst of the Port Adelaide cheer squad. I was cheering in a pretty calm manor (no swearing or anything), and had a few guys turn around and threaten to shut me up if I didn't do it myself. After that, we ended up swapping seats. I was pretty lucky to have been there with a Port supporter who was pretty big, because I'm sure these guys wouldn't have thought twice about hitting a 17 year old girl. They are a very scary bunch, the ferals from Port. VERY scary.

Loved Robbo show of passion to the members after the game. As he ran past the bench to join his teammates, he clapped us members and grabbed his jumper as if to say "show you're proud to wear red & blue" I thought it was great. He was great. As for the article, good on him for showing support for the coach. It doesn't mean much though, because as he said, the board will make a rational decision, not an emotional one.

Toughness is about more than just diving head first into a pack. It's going again when you've stuffed up, it's lifting the side when it's down, it's running as hard as you can despite not being at 100% fitness. Neita is probably equal in the toughness stakes. Not because he is the greatest tackler, or because he dives on the footy, but because as he showed today, he will put himself out there for the side, even if he is in pain. Brock missed a lot of football this year, and came straight back in and dominated as soon as he set foot on the ground, despite not being anywhere near 100% fitness. And he isn't perfect, but when it comes to toughing out a game, he is probably our number one player. The St.Kilda final is a great example of that, and it's refreshing to have someone like that in a team that is known for going missing when the heat is on. As for him not going in today, I didn't see it, but I'll watch the replay and get back to you.

At 21 years of age, and with 50 games experience, please list for me all of Brock's glaring flaws? He isn't perfect, of course not, but saying that you don't like him because other supporters can see Bruce's flaws, is just idiotic. Classy Dees is spot on, they shouldn't be compared, and the only comparison that is being made is in regards to the captaincy. And poor kicking or not, Brock is miles ahead of Bruce in the leadership stakes.

Brock got one extremely dodgy 50 paid against him, as apperantly you are not allowed to show emotions in footy anymore That free kick was an absolute joke, although he shouldn't have mouthed off. Still you gotta wonder what the umpires are thinking, when Brady Rawlings didn't get penalised for taking 3 bounces when the ball was clearly out of bounds against us a few weeks ago. As for Bell, I gave you his stats and Didak's stats. Not exactly sure how you see this is a popularity contest. Didak tends to rip us apart, and yet Bell shut him down while creating a lot of run from the backline. Can't ask for more.

As I said before the game, Rocca was under an injury cloud, and I knew that Dutchy would play if Rocca came up alright. Too bad Holland comprehensively smashed him. That was as bad a game from a forward as you are ever likely to see. Could he give away anymore frees? Absolute gold!

Spewing I missed it... What did he say?

Nothing, but it could be another option to have. We also need an opponent for Schultz.

Yeah ok, whatever you reckon

What game were you at? He was the leading possession getter on the ground with 28, and 5 tackles! Seriously, there is something wrong if you think he had an ordinary day. Behind Robbo, the most influential player on the ground.

Yes, it is a disgrace that our players are dominating in the VFL, what are they thinking? What a stupid thing to say! If nothing else, it puts a lot of pressure on the rest of the forwards to perform. And I agree, he might be back to play on Richo in 2 weeks time.

I couldn't believe it when he didn't make the distance from 40m out. It was embarrassing. He had a shocker today, he really did. Just goes to show that we can win even when he doesn't have 30+ possessions. But hey, he's been excellent for us all year, so he is allowed one bad game. The kicking though... it's reaching Ward-like proportions.

He kept Didak to 16 disposals, 1 mark and no goals, while having 16 disposals and 6 marks himself.

6- Robbo (the difference) 5- McLean (the star) 4- Bate (super-glue hands) 3- Bell (did a fantastic job on a very very dangerous Didak and provided good rebound) 2- Jonesy 1- Holland (what a gun! )

He is marking overhead!!! His ruck work is getting better too. Jamar is slowly waving goodbye to his career at Melbourne IMO.

I thought Frawley did well and we must persist with him. It's a shame that Petterd's kicking today was poor, because he does everything else so well. Jonesy and Brock are the perfect midfield duo. Nothing better than seeing Jonesy dive onto a pack and feed it out to McLean. But my favourite goal of the day was when Sylvia took them on and kicked it to Bater who kicked the long goal. That was awesome.

He is a star. Pure and simply the best leader, hardest worker and toughest footballer we have at this club. He leads by example and he MUST be our next captain. His workrate today was something to marvel at. He was making 50m leads every time, when everyone else stood still. Brocky, you are a pleasure to watch in the red & blue and you make me so happy to be a Melbourne supporter!