Macca

And where's all the kicking backwards and time wasting tactics? Another blight on the sport that might be a thing of the past Anti-football and bloody boring No fights in the crowd either is my guess ... the eyes are glued to the actual game One simple man on the mark rule changes things for the better ... who would have thought? Teams are compelled to attack otherwise they lose

If you don't like it turn it off then (I'll bet you don't!) As previously stated, you've become accustomed to congested footy so much that now you miss it. We humans are like that! We are creatures of habit And it is not bruise-free either ... fast attacking footy was the norm for decades and it was never classed as bruise-free in that time. You play in front of your man in a game like this and you can still get thumped in the back of the head (repeatedly) No room for the faint-hearted out there even though the congested garbage is at a minimum

I don't how you lot kept watching the boundary hugging negative garbage that was served up for 5+ years. Scramble ball with a million stoppages. Ugh Anti-football and you kept watching? Easily pleased or just plain addicted These threads on the other games are getting a stack more traffic than in previous years. Usually full of people moaning incessantly about umpiring decisions And it's not about the extra goals either ... attacking footy slam dunks congested boundary hugging rubbish every day of the week Enjoy!

You're wrong You've just become accustomed to congested garbage (like many others) What do you want? ... 6 goals vs 5 goals for a whole match with a million stoppages and no ball movement I'd rather eat a ****t sandwich that watch scramble-ball

Entertaining game This new/old/new footy will have me watching wall-to-wall

Value Bet Saturday Bendigo R3 Mo.7 Matao Ma 7.50/2.40

The MC would want to win every game that we contest and if we can get all or most of our best players on the field (and firing) then any game is a potential win But in my view our biggest weak point is not having a functioning forward line often enough ... so the MC needs to come up with a forward line that can help us win games. Certainly against the teams where we've got a relatively good chance of winning Right now if T-Mac, Gawn and/or LJ aren't influential up forward, we're going to be up against it. Our medium talls and smalls up forward wouldn't be able to get us over the line against the best teams and even against the lesser lights it's a big ask without the Key bigs up forward firing But all the best teams can have an off day so that's a factor as well. We're going to need to win 3-4 games against the top 8 teams as we can't be expected to win all the games against lesser opposition (the teams below the top echelon generally have more 'off' days) I'd rather look at the number 8 as the magic number ... i.e. a maximum of 8 losses only 14 wins and we'll play finals ... 16 will get a team a top 4 spot but we're a ways off being that good

Hindsight tells us that we would have better off spending 4 x $10k on 4 players from other clubs (Laurie Fowler types?) Even $10k was a lot of money in the early 70's ... that sort of money would have just about bought you a house back then! Diamond Jim wasn't really the problem though ... we were very much an amateur club in the midst of league entering the professional age. For instance, teams like North Melbourne seemed to have never ending cash reserves (to bring in ready made talent) And hearing that Jim Cardwell was still our chief recruiter in 1975 only reinforces to me how poor our zones were ... its hard to go from the best ever (arguably) to an also-ran without sound reasoning

I remember the figure as being $38k for Tilbrook and $62k for Big Carl But the actual details would be difficult to ascertain D17 The Wells transfer fee (midway through 1980) was rumoured to be in the region of $200k - did the club need the dosh to pay for the homecoming of RDB? Wellsy picked up 48 disposals in his last game for the Demons and in his first game for Carlton (2 weeks later) he picked up 31 disposals (against Melbourne) Ugh!

MD's last major target was none other than Steven May So perhaps we should be looking at the positives (opposite outcomes lol) So we could point MD towards an out of form player like Harmes in order to get James back into top form!

A lot of our players have technical issues with their actions ... we should have had a biomechanics expert down at the club over a decade ago On top of that not many want to take on the big sticks (they'd rather hand it off) So a lack of confidence intensifies the issue. And that in turn sends a clear message to the opposition And many here have being saying as such (here) for a decade or more. Not that the club would take any notice of what those on a fans site would say but can't they have thought of it themselves? One of the most important aspects for a footballer is his ability to kick well under pressure (either perceived pressure or actual pressure) Hit targets or turn the ball over ... miss an easy shot for goal (choke) and you hand the ball back to the opposition (an 11 point turn around can often result) Do that against the good sides and you lose the game We will not beat the best sides until we sort out our poor kicking skills It's terrific that we defeated Freo but the club needs to look at the bigger picture and become a lot more professional with regards to our disposal issues

The footy has been terrific & easy on the eye. Managed to watch 2 full games and the 2nd half of 2 others The new rule (man on the mark) has changed the way the coaches are framing their game plans (far more attacking) ... the carrot has been tangled and teams are responding Of course it is early doors but we're already seeing a better balance ... decades ago most I knew and spoke to thought that 24 - 30 goals in a game was about the right number I initially thought that having the man on the mark standing still sounded quite silly but it seems to be working with regards to less of a defensive intent by the coaches Good Key forwards can have a bigger impact as a consequence (if there are lots more 'Faster' attacking forays) We need to get a fit & firing Ben Brown into our team asap

I often wonder why KPD's don't poll votes to any sort of degree in the Brownlow Hardeman was a great player who came 2nd in a Brownlow once but never finished higher than 3rd in the B&F Steven May might poll well though as he really does stand out in a dominant way. But no chance of winning if we go on history Backmen don't figure in the media awards either and it's possibly the same with B&F's (so it's not just the umpires who fail to recognise) Matt Scarlett was an astonishingly great player but did he ever figure in any awards? (of any description) Other greats such as Dench & Southby and others were often ignored with the votes The positive is that we haven't been able to have this sort of conversation very often with regards to one of our own players

They are just frustrated and who can blame them But hey, it's all just harmless banter anyway ... our words doesn't change things either Here's some positive stuff ... if T-Mac fires up again and we produce another marking forward next week (Gawn? LJ?) we'll beat the Saints and remain in the top 4 Make it happen MFC!!!

The Tassie reasoning is a cop out by the media & footy fans (re North) ... "They're heading to Tassie anyway" (bs) As previously stated, whenever there is a crowd numbers issue it's always our supporters who cop it (flavour of the selected moment?) I remember Vlad threatening us years ago re Queens Birthday ... meanwhile the club itself was in full tank mode and was basically a basket-case Blame the supporters? Utterly ridiculous Again, we are the clubs greatest asset

Many can wholeheartedly support the club and be highly critical of the club at the same time ... or have an attitude where the club can do no wrong. Bottom line is us supporters can change very little at the club and the club will do what the club will do regardless of what we say and do Negativity, positivity ... it means nothing. Talent and good coaching wins games and we are mere spectators & onlookers By the way, we might have had a positive W/L record in 2017 & 2020 but we choked it up big time in both years when finals were on the line And that's what people remember I have always urged people to buy a membership if they can afford it but I totally get it if they stay away because they are dissatisfied with the product on display. And you know what? Sporting clubs the world over deal with the above reasoning on a year to year basis. It's incumbent on the club to put on a good show otherwise they run the risk of losing their customers Ever been in business?

Why do hate so many of your fellow supporters? You constantly berate others with your hate based on your own over-the-top optimism You and your glass half empty reasoning (which lacks logic and intelligence) We lost 17 games in 2019 ... did you forget that year purposely? Endorphins overload has a downside ... and hope, faith & trust will get you absolutely nowhere in life Lose the hate 58er and allow others to display their feelings

And there would be a fair proportion of members who don't go to many games at all They support the club with their money ... I'd say about up to 20% - 25% would be in that bracket And that's right across the board at most of the clubs. I for one will be on crowd watch this season and will keep this thread going accordingly North pulled 13k to a home game under the roof ... where is the vitriol? (both here and elsewhere) Comments please even if it ruins your own argument ... I'm expecting crickets

Every sporting club in the world would have the same sort of proportional amount of 'so-called' fairweather supporters People like winners so they therefore don't like losers. So they stay away I know a stack of people who went 23 years without finals ('65-'87) and have then witnessed 1 finals appearance in 14 years ('07-'20) To say that are angry at the club would be understating things But they are still members and they still go to the games. But they don't get stuck into their fellow supporters. They understand why people stay away The club itself only has itself to blame ... they serve up mostly dross so what do they expect? We supporters & members are the reason the club still exists. They ought to be bloody grateful they have still got us And for all that feral support that the Tigers got between '83 & '16 it amounted to diddly-squat. And they stayed away when their team was a cellar dweller. They very nearly went under as a consequence

Excellent point but will the heat go onto North? Highly doubt it ... the footy public & media will pounce at every opportunity to get stuck into Melbourne supporters Demon fans who want to beat themselves up over this issue astonishes me. You're allowing yourselves to be bullied We are a small club with a small supporter base that has played 1 finals series in the last 14 years. Getting 21k is quite a high figure when considering how [censored] we've been for the last decade and a half. We also have a number of older members in the Covid-Kill zone Do they expect us to be masochists? North fans don't bother turning up and we get crickets And the club achieving 50k members 2 years ago was a minor miracle all things considered ... the club is damn lucky we're still here in any capacity Trying winning more games than we lose for a change and watch the crowds increase

Rosehill postponed May put their Autumn back a week or integrate the races from today. Pattern will be out of whack if they integrate though

Wasn't on it but Masked Crusader wins the William Reid in fine style ... a cut above a crack field. Burst through with high acceleration like a good horse That's a big breakthrough Group 1 win ... the TJ Smith has to be on the radar now

Sisstar breaks the track record in the 955m challenge! They could have a whole card of these sprints and it might gain a lot of interest (similar to the Flemington card of 1200m sprint races)

Drawn well and generally starts well I've got it in a few quinella combo's

I got on at the $8 but with all the rain about the horse (Jungle Edge) could easily start favourite ... it swims in the wet! The track up there could be a Heavy10 if the forecast rings true And Gator has marked my pick (Maritana) on top ... 3 starts at Mornington for 3 wins