pantaloons

I've had the calculator out, and it's very much dependent on the amount of scoring tomorrow. If we score 100 points, then if we win by 18 points, then we stay on the bottom, but if we win by 19, we move to 15th. If we score 135 points (ha!), a one-point win would suffice. If we only score 75 points however, we'd have to keep Richmond to 43 to move up to 15th. You get the picture. The higher the scores, the less we have to win by to move up to 15th. In reality, we're probably looking at 2-4 goals. I'll have my phone calculator handy if we're up in the last quarter though.

I'm glad they both missed out. Neither side has made the 8 since 2001. I'd like to see them both pass our 23 years in the finals wilderness suffered from 1964 to 1987.

I'm looking forward to Sunday's game, if only for the farewell of a couple of long-serving players. Grimes' debut is also exciting. I didn't think Stefan Martin had been too bad, besides his calamitous last quarter against Port. Clint Bartram has amazingly escaped the axe again. His skills and decision-making have been deplorable this year. While he's certainly not alone in that area, most others have paid for it with an extended trip to Sandy.

Indeed. Although I'm not sure why I expected something definitive when we're more than a montha away from the trading period and three months from the national draft. In any event, I echo the sentiments of those who've said that White's delisting was unrelated to any Warnock rumblings. We're years away from being a contender, and will still have three ruckmen on the list after White's exit.

I'm happy to have at least had the chance to vote on this one. I agree with much of the sentiment on here regarding the colours. White simply isn't the MFC, and unless they were going to do a complete throwback to the Invincible Whites days, then the new guernsey was going to be a cheap option. I've voted for B, since it's classier and neater than A. How a red guernsey with a blue MFC clashes with any team is beyond me.

I'm happy to see Yze playing this week for a couple of reasons. For sentimental reasons, I'm glad to see him out there - it's not like we're gifting a spot to a hack who will cost us a spot in the finals. More importantly though, it emphasises Bailey being true to his stance of playing players based on form. While Yze may have had a bit of a free ride under Daniher in Neale's last couple of years, Bailey has made him work for every cent. If Yze has been in the best most weeks for Sandy, then play him. It send the right message to the players that form will be rewarded, regardless of a player's future.

Oh, how I would love to have heard that segment. The WA Foxtel footy commentators are straight out of the West Coast and Fremantle cheer squads - the most biased and inept commentary teams ever assembled. It's pretty hard to take them seriously at the best of times, but as Redleg has pointed out, their hypocrisy is comical.

Yep. Ideally, we'd front-end his contract, giving him a fatter amount next year and thinning out after that when some of the kids start to command more money. Green's an important part of the club. You need older players who lead by example on and off the field. You can't just have a list entirely comprised of kids.

After years of free advertising at our expense, it's time for the likes of Range Rover and Mount Buller to cough up the dough next year. Range Rover as the major sponsor and Buller on the shorts.

We were banned from even trading into the second and third rounds of the 2000 Draft, as well as the first round of the 1999 Draft, in which we still managed to pick up Green, Whelan, Wheatley and Bruce. Had Thompson stuck around, we'd be looking at a gun and probably our next captain. Obviously we picked up diddly after the third round, but you're not always going to find a Bruce in the 60s.

Fair call on Garry's unofficial status. Redleg, do comments made at these sort of gatherings ever remain in-house? Hmm, maybe they do and we just don't hear about it! For me, Mikey, that doesn't make it right. Nice! I'll finish by saying that I'm not banging my head against a brick wall over Garry's comments. While not a big story, I just don't think they're helpful. I don't delight in anyone's misery, not even Collingwood's. Well, maybe a wry smile. That's my tuppence worth. Garry was right about the positivity of the night for Melbourne though. A fantastic night for the club.

I detest Collingwood as much as the next human being, but what Garry said was neither smart nor classy. There's no need to kick clubs while they're down. We're not even 'up' yet. All his comments achieved were to decrease the chances of Collingwood and other AFL supporters putting their hands into their pockets to support Melbourne in a time of financial need.

But he's such good mates with Sylvia! Think of the all good times and bonding they could share, helping Melbourne become a happier place and an unstoppable force on-field!

It's nice to wake up and read that such a sizeable chunk of the club's debt has been wiped in one swoop. $2,051,000 in one night! Thanks to everyone present for their generosity. Well done.

We would have had about 8,000 supporters at the Essendon game and 13,000 at the Kangas game. Disappointing turnout from the Melbourne fans on Saturday, but unsurprising given the lack of incentive to pay to see your 2-15 team.

This is the only way I'll accept white in our clash guernsey. If we're able to market our clash guernsey as a heritage-style "Invincible Whites" guernsey, replete with fake laces and the orginal design, then that could work. I'm not sure of the original design though. If it's just a plain white strip, then I don't know if I could handle looking at us in full white maggot material. On a separate issue, I can't believe the AFL's stubbornness on this. Their farcical concessions to Collingwood and Essendon make their stance against Melbourne a mockery. A simple Red strip with the blue MFC logo would suffice as a perfect clash strip. Perhaps a white guernsey with a ironed on photo of Jabba the Hutt will be all that will satisfy Vlad.

Why burden ourselves with another unnecessary contract? How often do we see Melbourne unable to delist or suitably trade players because of the length of their contract? I'm assuming Melbourne re-signed Newton for the minimum wage and a packet of chips and felt this was a good deal for a full-forward with potential. His efforts have got to improve 1000% if he's to repay the faith of management though. Happy with the rest of the signings though.

Wow, I think I've mistakenly stumbled across Tantrumland. Anyhow, everyone is tradeable. As for Chris Johnson, I would have taken pick 60 for him last year. He's proven himself to be worth more than that this year. I couldn't see Melbourne and another club coming close to agreeing on his worth though. I doubt we'd get many offers better than the mid 30s for CJ, and after the development put into him, I doubt we'd accept much worse than 25 for him, unless the coaching staff see it along Hannabal's lines and want to get rid of him due to his weaknesses. Personally, I'd keep him, for the reasons already stated about the difficulty agreeing on his worth, but also due to his age. He's also proven himself a useful contributor to the team and has improved with each game. I do see the point about his softness though. Hawthorn has a group of players who regularly soil their undergarments when the pressure is on - Young, Murphy, Clarke and the like. Melbourne made a concerted effort to unsettle them last time around and it worked well. Had we been a half decent outfit we would have beaten them that day. Come the finals, Geelong will squeeze these little athletes until they burst.

I appreciate that you're not advocating his retention on the list beyond 2008, but delisting Weetra would be about the easiest decision any list manager would ever have. I'd have Weetra and Bode as automatic delistings without a second thought, and add the retirements (pushed or not) of Neitz, White, Holland and Yze plus the elevations of Wonaeamirri and Valenti and the list is at 36. That only means we've got a couple of tougher decisions to make this year. Carroll's contract means he dodges a bullet, otherwise that'd be another easy decision. I'd delist Newton too.

I believe in Harvey Dent. This current group will take time though. The next few drafts after 2008 will be pillaged by the new expansion teams, and we won't be afforded the same blind charity offered to Hawthorn when they offloaded the likes of Hay, Rawlings, Croad and Thompson for top price.

Maybe a straight MFC membership instead will suffice next year then!

This is our hope for Valenti - in the shining rays of light that players like Diesel and Mitchell have provided to the true footballer. If we look at our best young midfielders though (Brock, Jones), Valenti brings some similar (though not identical) attributes to the table. We're desperate for an injection of skill and footspeed into the midfield. Simon Buckley going through a How To Play Football 101 course over the summer would be a good start. He's got the pace and confidence and knows how to find the footy, I just hope he can improve the kicking and decision-making aspect of his game, otherwise we may as well delist him and replace him with Shirvo. Valenti needs to make himself indispensable to the club by regularly racking up over 25 possessions. Players like Mitchell and Williams forged careers of which accumulation of hard-fought possessions were a feature. Valenti must do the same.

It's not often I laugh out loud reading Demonland, but that was one of the most disgraceful yet amusing comments I've read. McLaren never ceases to amaze with his lack of consistency and his ability to consistently appear as though he is a lost international tourist looking for the Sport Museum who has accidentally stumbled onto the ground.

Hmm. I'm actually not 100% sure. There were some pretty cheap goals kicked by the Kangas today though. Every goal they kicked after quarter time came from a free kick or Melbourne error or both. They didn't kick a goal from a drop punt in any of their first 6.

Nice. Good to see the Wrecker given some credit. I thought he deserved it. He brings his experience to the table, and will be an asset in the twilight of his career in defence, teaching the younger guys a bit about contesting and tackling. He spoilt impressively a couple of times today when out of position.