Jaded No More

It's in the rules to avoid players wasting time. Brock did NOT waste time. He slammed the ball into the chair, not over the fence. The umpire was stupid to give it a free in a crucial time in the game, and worse still he gave him the 50m penalty when earlier in the game Rocca told the umpire to 'go away you...' and no 50m was paid.

Just watched the replay, and I am convinced that there is something wrong with Cameron Bruce. He must be carrying an injury. There is just no way his kicking could be that bad. He might have a foot injury, and similar to Greeny last year, is having shots to numb the area. Would also explain why he spent a half up forward, and not as Walls suggested 'to keep him fresh' (FFS Walls, Bruce is one of the fittest players in the AFL ) I hope that whatever is going on with that boot, gets solved quickly though, because his disposal was downright awful. No penetration is his kick whatsoever.

So did I (finally!). And I stand by my rating of Bell's game. Did a great job on Didak (one of his two shots on goal came from a free kick given away by Dutchy), then went onto Lockyer in the last (at least the first part of the last quarter from what I could see), and kept him to just 5 disposals. He is fast becoming our best defender (with apologies to our injured CHB). McLean was awesome as usual and that free kick paid against him was a disgrace. His awareness of where to run, and how to deliver the ball is well beyond his years. Sylvia was just fantastic in the first half. Also loved his 'get the hell out of my way' shove and run. He has got to have one of the best strength-to-size ratio in the AFL. Looked a little uncomfortable before the start of the last quarter while stretching his groin. Hopefully they don't push him too fast too soon, although we'd all love to see him play more in the middle of the ground. Neita inspirational to come back on, and have a really big impact in the last. His work directly resulted in our last two goals to Davey and Robbo. PJ was good, but dear god Chris Bryan is average. I could beat him in the ruck and I'm about as tall as Milne. Just awful! Anyways, great game, lovely shots of Joffa with what could only be described as a dish rag on his head cracking the shits. Joy all around! :D

I read that Daniher knew all along that Yze wouldn't play... I think it was in the Herald Sun or the The Age today, in an article about Benny. How does a veteran who hasn't missed a game in something like 10 years, suddenly get OP? That is incredibly strange. And poor Bartram, you really have to feel for him. First his ankle, which turned out to be a really bad one (I was still seeing him on crutches months later) now the knee. I miss watching that little goer! P.S.- Injuryupdate.com has Bartram returning in Round 12. What the hell is going on then?

Is there some sort of a competition going on to see who can post the dumbest thing tonight... First McLean is not a team player, now Neita is not contributing to the side... have we been attacked by bitter Collingwood supporters, or is there something seriously wrong here? P.S.- watch the language people.

Jared Rivers, our new Nick Smith Please refer to Rivers as 122 from now on. He is gone, won't play again this year would be my guess. And Bartram still 4-6 away? Wasn't he 2 weeks away last week? And what's actually wrong with Yze? So many questions...

That mark had a touch of Leo Barry about it. And I don't think anyone but Melbourne supporters appreciate how rare a Simon Godfrey right-foot goal really is! It was an awesome goal though.

You've been here 5 minutes, so don't you tell me who I do or don't defend. You weren't here last year when people were abusing Brad Miller left, right and centre, and I stuck up for him because the way our fans were talking about him was beyond disrespectful. The point still stands, you said that Brock 'ruled himself out of the captaincy', those were your exact words, and that is just insane stupidity. Don't think many people would disagree, I guess most just won't bother, and I shouldn't have either.

This has nothing to do with me being a moderator, or whether I like Brock McLean. You really haven't been here long enough to judge my comments. If Bruce, Ward, Jones, Godfrey or whoever did what Brock did, I would say the same thing. Showing passion is not a crime, and in fact sometimes we really lack that at Melbourne. I wish we had more players who hated losing as much as this guy does.

Nobody will remember that. They will remember that he won us a final last year, that he came back from injuries and dominated, that he leads the team alongside Neita up the race before each game, that he handles himself beautifully in the media, that he is hard at the ball, the man and the contest, and above all, that he is a very VERY good footballer. For someone who apperantly doesn't hate the guy, you sure do like picking out some stupid faults. One show of frustration does not set back a natural leader. He is still miles and miles ahead in the running for the captaincy. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, and I usually let most things slide, but gees sometimes I read things and go 'WHAT'?

Get over it! The 'tanty', was in fact a show of frustration because he didn't mark it and the ball bounced out after all of his hard work to present and chase. He got annoyed because he cares, and it kills him when he doesn't win a contest, or a possession. It's called being a winner.

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!