Jaded No More

North cannot possibly play as poorly as Richmond did today, especially at Etihad. We're obviously in full tanking mode and we are not letting anyone get in our way. Not a chance that we're throwing away those picks now, given how desperate we were to lose today.

They'll try their best to tank, but it's going to be hard given how many top players Essendon are missing. Still, after watching Richmond today, there is no way they are losing to them at home in Round 22. Tanking or no tanking. If we nearly beat Richmond on a neutral ground while pulling the biggest tank tactics of all time, West Coast will surely beat them. Surely!

I loved the positional moves. Every time I turned around to Dad to say something stupid like "put PJ on Brown" or "Newton to the wing", it happened! :D My favourite was Frawley and Warnock running the boundary, and me thinking that it's great how we are never letting those two and Rivers play together. Next thing I know both are up forward. Gold!!! Dean Bailey is a genius. The media can cry foul, but we were in front at the final siren, and can therefore claim that everything we tried today was done with the purpose of winning. They can't touch us!

Please show me when I said that players tank... go on Players NEVER tank, and if they do, they should be shown the door. But the clubs, the coaches, administration etc... tank. Do you think Bailey would have a job tomorrow morning if our administration wasn't on board with this 'list development' process? Bailey would never ever play Warnock and Frawley up forward, Miller in the ruck (when PJ was at CHB), Newton on the wing and PJ on Brown if he didn't have full backing from those above him. The club is tanking, and as a support of this club I am very happy and proud that we are choosing to play the system to its full advantage. I bet you'll be the first to praise Scully when he dominates games of football for us.

That's the one. Although Jack and Ricky were really starting to [censored] me off with their skills and goal-kicking abilities! :angry: I walked away from today very positive about our future for so many reasons.

Post of the year!

Everyone can get on their high horse and blame the AFL for a system that encourages teams to lose, and supporters to barrack against their team, but the fact remains that priority picks have helped many many clubs turn their fortunes around. Have a look at St.Kilda. So yeah, it's a [censored] system but it's there for a reason, and we would have no chance in hell of ever winning a premiership if that system was not in place because putting it simply, we have no resources, no cash flow and no power to manufacture a premiership in any other way. It's the only system in the AFL that rewards everyone equally, without prejudice. Yes, you are going to the footy hoping your team loses, yes that sucks, but you get to walk away with hope that things will get better, the team will get better. Had we won today, it would have done nothing for our future, absolutely nothing. I don't want to beat a rubbish team, I want a premiership, and getting the best players to your club is still the only proven method of winning a flag.

6- McMahon 5- Newton 4- PJ 3- Bailey 2- Cousins 1- The siren

The best thing Newton will do at AFL level is help us tank. Yes we played him out of position, but it was glaringly obvious today that he has no idea how to position himself, that he can't kick and half the time he completely gave up on chasing, which is unacceptable when you're playing on the wing. Horrible stuff, and if I wasn't so keen on losing, I would have lost my [censored] with him today. Instead I just laughed and yelled out "kick it to Newton", but they stupidly kept giving it to Davey and Grimes!

We can beat North and ruin it all. Newton is the greatest tanking weapon currently at our disposal (PJ a close second). Also Spencer played really well in the ruck today. He has a good future ahead of him, even though he is an awkward looking gigantisorous. Depending on injuries, Martin, Bennell, Whelan and Rivers may miss. If we're serious about picks 1 & 2, Grimes and Davey should take a hike. Not sure how long we can keep Sylvia out of the side, and Morton is likely to get over whatever made up flu kept him out today. Also if Watts is fit, I'd like to see him get a few more matches before the end of the year. But whichever way you look at it, today's team cannot possibly be made worse for next week, and that makes me nervous. Gotta hold on for just one more week!

The players were, of course, and I'm glad they were. I thought many lesser lights today stood up and played really well, even when clearly out of position, or given ridiculous tasks. But as a club, we were not trying to win. Bailey and co. were orchestrating one of the biggest tanking jobs I have ever witnessed, and the best thing, we were in front when the siren went so nobody can accuse us of anything! Even with a D grade side, if everyone played in their intended positions, we would have beat an almost full-strength Richmond. We didn't, and now we are one loss closer to securing the two best kids in the country. That's why our future is bright, and Richmond's isn't.

YES YES GOD YES! Mere seconds earlier I was fuming, filthy, devastated that I've sat through 3 years of utter garbage and it's all going to mean nothing when we beat the worst team going around, in a meaningless game. I had to look away when McMahon was kicking it. Figures that the biggest dud in their side, who couldn't hit a target all day, was going to line up for the victory. I was ecstatic when he won it. Some people around me must have thought I was crazy, but they will all be very happy when Tom Scully is dominating the competition for the next 10 years.

I don't know what shocks me more, the game itself or the fact that I agree with this post 100%. Richmond is garbage, pure and simple. Bailey and co. could have done no more to lose. We somehow ended up with 1 fit guy on the bench, our defenders played as forwards, PJ was at CHB, goddamn Michael Newton on the wing. And yet, Richmond, with nearly a full team, won by pure luck. This game is going to go down as one of the greatest Melbourne victories of all time. It's fate. I have no other way to explain what the hell went down today. Finally our luck is changing!

Ummm Richmond is the worst team I have ever seen. We are losing because we're tanking, they are barely winning because they are [censored]. We could easily beat them if we tried, but we're not and the matchups are a joke. Possibly the most depressing game I've been to, mainly because we are a big chance of winning despite having our D grade side out there.

Well Martin came off injured at one stage last week, so I guess Martin for Spencer is a possibility. Spencer straight to FB thanks!

Poor Rohan. All the best to him and his family. The club has really been hit hard by cancer this year. Terrible stuff!

Read what I wrote about him wanting out. He has no grounds for despair, none! He has a long way to go before he breaks even with our club.

Come on, even you can't be that dumb! 3 goals against Richmond tomorrow could be the difference between Scully and no Scully, so just give it a rest. It actually says a lot about how far he's come that we are now trying to keep him out of the team for tanking reasons! Edit: if he asked for a trade I'd show him the door. For 5 years we stood by as he wasted our time with self-destructive behaviour, and gave us nothing on the field. He owes us plenty, because many other clubs would have thrown him out on his arse by now. He should be thankful that he still has a career, cop his 'punishment' for being a tool and getting himself suspended and move on. I have no doubt he will (whether you do as well, is another matter).

It seems that Mark Jamar is taking the whole 'player' title very seriously :D

Oh no, we don't need milestone games to give the boys extra incentive to win. Keep him until the Freo game thanks. Good point about the forward line. The key though is to make sure we don't tag Cousins, Deledio or Cotchin so we give their forward the best possible supply.

Glad that Grimes' injury is not serious and that he is back in the team... but on the other hand, how the hell do we plan to lose with that backline?! Bench will probably be: Whelan, Moloney, Morton and Sylvia Bench should be: Spencer, Whelan, Valenti and Jetta This is going to be one ugly game!

Firstly, yes the specs are the technical illustrations that get sent to the manufacturers, so what you see is what you get. When I did the singlets I had the Bonds ribbed cotton singlets in mind, for the men, but wanted something more fitted (cotton-elastane) for the females. I see what you're saying about those Singha singlets though. I can easily manipulate the shape of the female singlets to a less for fitting one, although you don't want such large armholes because that really limits where you'd be able to wear them to, and almost forces you to layer them. Which could be the look you're going for, but in a limited range you need to have multi-functional items to bump up your volume. That Singha style, is very limiting for females and I can only really see younger females buying them. But I will make the singlet let fitted. Also I really want to stay away from making things that look similar to our Reebok range. I know Reebok does make a performance style singlet that is quite similar to the Singha design, so I gotta be careful. We can't have multiple ranges take sales off one another. Any males (who can bloody see those stupid pictures :angry: ) not liking the male singlet and want thinner shoulders and larger armholes? The reason I put a bream on the beanie is because I know that when I sit in the rain, a bream is really useful for keeping the water out of your face. I have one of those 'cap' beanies and they are great if you don't sit undercover. I've also done the very plain knitted unisex beanie that sort of works for everyone, although I'm thinking I'll get rid of the double fold and just got for more plain shapes. Can I ask what specifically you don't like about the unisex headgear? Got a specific design in mind? I'm sorry that the stupid pictures still won't work for some of you, although they should work if you are viewing the site in Firefox. I tried to view them on a computer at uni (when I stupidly turned up 30 minutes early to a lecture ), and they worked with Firefox but not with IE. Hopefully Demonland's technical support (ie- resident nerd) will help me figure out this mystery soon :D

Are you using Firefox, because I just tried using Internet Explorer and the pictures didn't come up.

Ok, the elastic waist goes. To be honest I wouldn't wear a guernsey no matter how it was cut, but then I don't wear any Melbourne apparel to games apart from my scarf and I think that guernsies by nature are ugly and masculine and look ordinary on women. If you were going to make it flattering and appealing to women, you'd have to radically change it, in which case it probably won't really be classified as a guernsey anymore. Also, since they are made from 100% polyester, it would be pretty hard to put shape into them, since darts would pucker. Someone like Reebok is unlikely to invest in that sort of item because it won't generate a large enough sale volume. Just to give you an example, last year after the Hawks won their flag, their apparel sponsor put out a special premiership guernsey, at substantial costs (they wanted to rush production which made it even more expensive). They did that because they forecasted huge sales figures. They ended up selling around 12,000 units, which is more than I'd say Melbourne sells in a four year period. So while there are millions of possibilities here, you gotta look at financial viability first and foremost.