The heart beats true

I watched the game last night and as a non partisan viewer the only thing that I kept thinking was.... 'If St Kilda win it will send half of Demonland into an anxiety induced negative spiral'. Have we become that predictable? ;-) This morning I thought - Saints have an Etihad game plan playing against a team they always perform well against who've shown serious lapses against teams below them. What does it tell me about Melbourne? Absolutely nothing.

I wish I was as optimistic as some on here. He looks a step off the pace to me. I'd say his leg speed looks to be on par with where he was before his time out. He deserves some time, but it is a slight concern for me where he fits in to our game style moving forward.

Love the Trengrove story but he looked very slow today in what will be the slowest game we play all year. I reckon Stretch and Oliver looked flat and tired too. Harmes and Brayshaw for Stretch and Oliver. M.Jones for Trenners. Maybe ANB deserves another crack instead of Jones. I know Michie is the emergency but I reckon he's had a good crack at it over the journey. That's why I think Harmes, Brayshaw and ANB should be given a chance first. Back half of the year is about the future.

Boys look tired. Glad we've got the bye. Not throwing the baby out with the bathwater on that one. Game really suited the Swans bodies. Our boys will rebound when they are fresh.

I've seen enough from Jack Watts this year to know that he really has turned a corner as a player. He has no right to be as clean as he was that quarter. I'm thrilled for him. He really tried to lift us. Cant think of another midfield more suited to these conditions than the swans. We are trying hard but just lack the hard bodies and composure around the ball.

For anyone at the SCG today could you just duck up to the Fox Footy commentary box and give Tony Shaw a slap? Thanks. He clearly hates Melbourne and he speaks like a bloke that suffered multiple frontal lobe brain injuries. He's bringing new meaning to the title 'special' comments.

Trenners is a great story but he's a massive liability. He can't turn and he's too slow. Love the bloke but can't see him in the future.

How great is this Brad Scott fiasco? He simply doesn't have the temperament for the modern game. You can only coach what you can control. The rest isn't worth worrying about. He just comes across like a spoilt brat all the time. I can't wait for North to fall off the cliff when the game goes passed their older blokes. They are essentially Richmond with better players, but their better players are all 31+.

I don't know. Rockcliff reminds me of N. Jones circa 2012-13. He tries but the gap between him and there bottom 7-8 each week is MASSIVE. It's a long way back for any team whose second most honest contributor is Mitch Robinson.

I'll move things forward.... Leppa should be getting onto Seek.com during the week, and updating his LinkedIn profile. 2017 will be full of 'different' opportunities for him. The Bears look bloody uninterested against a Freo team with a makeshift forward line. They kicked the first 3 goals. Since then it's been 128 - 30. Thats ugly against the 17th team on the ladder.

I watched the game and had a slightly different wonder.... Stringer, Wines or Toumpas? :-/

One area of the club I think the footy department seems to have full confidence in is... The Footy Dept. I don't say that flippantly (although, admittedly, I probably typed it that way). That's a brave call about Jeffy and it's obviously based on the fact they feel they have clearly defined the things he needs to do to be in the senior team and he hasn't done them. So he gets a spell. Very confident decision. Regardless of how I feel about it personally it does set a standard.

Wow, when you look at that he's very, very lucky to only get a week. Had the media had 3 days of replaying that before the MRP met you'd think he'd get 3. The MRP rulings need to have a third party that can intervene on behalf of the game. The Hawkins thing is a joke. I hate Geelong but it's a very poor system when an effort to appeal your conviction risks more time. The punishment either fits the crime or it doesn't. This whole 1 week down to 2 thing is stupid, as it's irrelevant. It implies you're 'lucky' to get suspended, but have no genuine recourse to appeal, or even question it.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2016-06-05/umpire-admits-error-in-dubious-high-contact-free-to-hawk-stewart I liked this quote... '...we won't be bringing in anything that just gives a green light for sloppy and forceful contact to the head," Evans said. Ummm, nobody asked for that mate. We just ask that your blokes do a better job. He's trying to take the high road after they've created a highway of [censored] for themselves. Nice try.

Just a lazy 15 extra free kicks to Geelong. In a game of such professionalism surely we need to get answers on that discrepancy that are beyond 'we thought they were all there'. Oh wait...some cheapies going to GWS all of a sudden. I'm shocked.

That was the moment where I decided that ducking your head needs to be a free kick against. The issue is that he's ANOTHER first gamer - which means it's infiltrated the way kids play. Take the ball off the player that ducks. If you choose to duck then you give the ball up. Simple and takes away the 'try your luck' mentality that is being coached into players that get tackled.

Scott brothers look really ordinary in the box. Just don't seem in control and always worrying about umpiring decisions and throwing their arms around. At least Roosy gets frustrated about things we should be able to control!

Tyson was great but ran out of legs. On a day when our 2 best where experienced, in and under players (Vince and Jones) we were stiff to come up against Hawthorn today - since that's half their side. Gave away 60 games experience on average. Omac, Tmac and Frost is a heart in mouth backline though. We feel too short on experience down back.

Run out of puff after half way through the 3rd. Why do we play games in the NT? Never win and look dead the week after. Surely as a footy club we've evolved beyond that.

It is fascinating the perception of him from the outside. I can vividly remember him being one of our most skilful players at his prime. He was an incredible mark for his size too. I could live without seeing the 87 prelim again though. Ever.

Out: Viney, Garland, Newton, ANB In: Oliver, Dunn, Dawes, Trengrove Kids will be lucky but can't afford to lose leg speed (Harmes, Hunt, Kent) if we bring in Trenners and Dawes. Can't see Frost getting in over Dunn if the comment about bigger bodies and experience from last week rings true. Really interested in selection this week. I think it'll say a lot about the style of footy we want to play. A lot of the kids look tired but I can't see the 2nd tier of players adding the necessary energy.

Just saw it on 360. I might not be able to sleep tonight in excitement. I hope he looks fit. Would love to see him off the back of the square.

What I find most interesting about this is that Demonland has rapidly turned into a race to see who can declare this a new false dawn the quickest. I've seen enough this year to know that we are moving in the right direction. No amount of hand ringing on here, or working stats to suit your argument will convince me otherwise. It doesn't make me 'soft', or a 'fool' - it just makes me hopeful and optimistic (you know - a supporter). Every team we beat now everyone is quick to call useless. Really? GWS? We pushed North to within a kick (and got rubbed by the umps)? I realise I'm not going to convince a lot of you but I say relax, focus on the potential and stop trying to kill yourselves with angst. You may be very surprised at whats round the corner - I hope so (for all of our sakes).

100% agree with this. Incremental improvememnt will ingrain how hard it is to be a great side. No point jumping up too far and thinking it will all come easy.

So clearly this was the case last year when we beat Geelong at Geelong? Why are Melbourne supporters so freakin masochistic after a loss? Honestly, it's boring.