pantaloons

I mean, all he needs now is a ponytail and...oh.

I see Tracey Holmes, a "frothing at the mouth" Essendon-supporting journalist tweeted it. Not sure who it came from but I assume the club.

Anyone but Melbourne (QB), Collingwood (AD, QB), Essendon (AD), Geelong (EM) or Hawthorn (EM). It's a chance for some teams without public holiday blockbusters to have some exposure. An all-Vic MCG game in the arvo and an all-interstate game at night sounds like it could work. And yes, I'm a Christian, have no problem with Good Friday football generally, though I'll always spend that morning at church and the afternoon with extended family so I would be stroppy about missing a Melbourne game if we played.

The correct answer of course is, someone they could have picked at #34 in that draft.

I've probably only been to the footy by myself a handful of times and tonight was one of them. I watched from space station height for the first three quarters then went down and stood at the back behind the goals in the Ponsford for the final quarter in case the game got tight and I could drown my frenzied squealing in amongst similar pitch. I'm not really contributing anything to this thread, I just haven't had the usual chance to debrief on the game with friends and family on the walk back to the car, and have had to settle for vigorous hugs from strangers after the final siren. That feeling immediately after the siren. Gold. Very proud of the team tonight.

I never cared whether we tanked or not. I've always maintained that there's nothing wrong with doing so and that there are a thousand shades of grey on the issue. Wilson was either unable to comprehend or unwilling to pay attention to the way in which teams around the modern (ie. leagues with drafts and salary caps) sporting world have utilised list management practices, blown up seasons and shelved players for future betterment. She was completely unable to grasp that if you have some sort of moral high horse issue with these practices, then the way to deal with it is structurally, usually in the form of a draft lottery. It was the intellectual genocide she attempted to inflict on the sporting public and the unwarranted slander of the MFC that irritated me.

How recent is 'recent'? In the 90s we had the game where we lost after leading by 47 in the final quarter, us beating them in the 1991 elimination final, and another game where if my memory serves me correctly Steven Clark was lining up for the match winning goal after the siren at Windy Hill and missed amidst a ground invasion. Also, Lloyd took mark of the year against us late in his career.

I am aiming to be the last person left in Australia without internet access on their phone. On the plus side, it prevents me from being sacked after letting fly with a torrent of in-game vitriol on Facebook and Twitter.

Yep. I genuinely couldn't understand why we took another punt on him in the rookie draft, but I think it goes without saying that I'm happy to be proven wrong any time a Melbourne player (see also Pedersen and to a lesser extent Dunn) turns it around for the better. A full pre-season and a clear and consistent role seem to have helped. Good on him.

I just scanned this thread to make sure I didn't post anything about Jetta two months ago. Thank goodness.

It was 4 until the game was destroyed.

That didn't work out so well for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

If we change the song, I will sit there booing through it after every victory. If you haven't worked out by the end of a two-hour game that you've been watching Melbourne, then referencing us in song is probably not going to turn the light on for you.

I think this is a valid consideration. It's all well and good to look at them right now as a flag contender, but Ross Lyon has proven that he will build for the now, with little to no consideration for the future. St. Kilda are looking at some Melbourne 2007-2013 years if they don't use the draft, trade table and free agency exceptionally well over the next three seasons in particular, thanks largely to Lyon's list management, drafting failures and short-sighted trading. Don't get me wrong, he's a terrific coach and had they kicked another score in either of those Grand Finals he'd be the greatest coach in Saints history, but if Frawley went there he'd want to hope they won the flag in his first year or two there because after that he'd probably have more chance at Melbourne.

Kings in 4. They have just won three straight road games against teams who are several levels better than the Rangers. It's one of the biggest sporting finals mismatches I've ever seen, but then again, I said that about the 1998 AFL Grand Final and the first Pats-Giants Super Bowl.

In terms of volume, you're right. We had almost all of our best tall players out though. You're not going to win games with entire sections of your team out.

A begrudging congratulations to the Kings on winning the Stanley Cup again.

It was bad timing. We were effectively sending out the Scorpions in the first three weeks as well as adjusting to the gameplan. Unfortunately that coincided with three of the easiest games in our fixture.

Yeah, I think it was something like Cheney + 66 (Puopolo) for Tom McDonald (53 or thereabouts). By the way, did I see that Hawthorn only had 17,900 at the G today??!! Good golly, we get more than that against GWS and we've won about 20 games in the last 7 seasons.

With the bit you highlighted, I'm not sure if what I said requires a right or wrong label, but classic work nonetheless. Anyone who has watched sport for a while will know the difference coaching makes. We've gone from the last two coaches to the best coach in the AFL so the surprise factor isn't there for me. I don't want to turn this into a discussion on the merits of coaching though. Carry on.

Anyone surprised by our play so far, raise your right hand. Then lower it slightly, and slap yourself firmly across the face. JVFP, I'm not having a go at you at all here. The early signs are good. My most hated saying is the one pertaining to the inability to polish excrement, as though we're playing EA Sports NHL 95 and it's near impossible to change individual player ratings. This just reinforces that if you don't have things right off-field, you don't stand a chance. There is so much to like about Melbourne at the moment, and we're only 3-7. I'm not surprised to see us playing well, but I'm probably most happy about the honesty of the team and the ability to adhere to a gameplan that is sustainable.

If it's any consolation, our loss was only the second-most crushing loss by a Victorian team playing interstate who threw a game away by allowing its opposition to score the final four goals in the dying minutes today.

This is a night of celebration thus far. Sidebottom and Maxwell gone for Queen's Birthday. A genuine chance to get our percentage back up to 100 next week.

Too early for the AFL to step in and sort out this mess down at Sleepy Hollow?

I was 8 at the time but I was sitting right behind the Carlton team that day. They were licking their lips as the two teams smashed the stuffing out of each other.