Diamond_Jim

Was it a mark. Lousy game but great ending

GWS slowly getting on top. Occasionally you see a glimpse of the running game but their players lack the strength to break tackles They have wonderful agility that does allow them to evade a tackle. Just no good against close checking Amazingly the saints are still in this game

At docklands at present. Very small crowd. Hope the game improves. GWS really struggle against close checking.

Agree Ding we need to shape the message by performing and playing an attractive brand of football. If you want the opposite have a look at how badly Carlton and St Kilda will perform media and finance wise this year.

2pm Sunday at Punt road oval Admission $10 ... reduced to $5 for MFC members or AFL (MFC Support). Free for Tigers Members so expect a fair few

Was thinking the same DC... wonder if each team will get a brand. Ruski and Smirnoff self select for GWS and perhaps Port Ellen for Port (does sound like a great drop ... 35 year old malt from the Isle of Islay and a price to match.) Of course it's great that we didn't get Tanqueray !!

The last sale of world cup tickets started a couple of days ago which won me an email from FIFA. Anyway their ticketing site had an interesting comment about who bought tickets: "1,698,049 tickets have already been allocated to football supporters from all over the world via the official website at FIFA.com/tickets since September 2017. Most of these tickets have been allocated to Russian fans (796,875), followed by fans from the USA (80,161), Brazil (65,863), Colombia (60,199), Germany (55,136), Mexico (51,736), Argentina (44,882), Peru (38,544), China (36,841), Australia (34,628) and England (30,711) – the top-ten countries from abroad." Australia right up there and ahead of England and every European country bar Germany is a surprise. Must say from reading Guardian articles there seems to be a degree of weariness about the WC with many saying that the WC is no longer that exciting etc and stating a preference for the Champions League etc. This is borne out perhaps by the high number of South American countries featuring in the top 10. Those fans are now forced to go to the WC to see their stars play. The venue for the 2026 WC is between Morocco and a joint US, Canada and Mexico bid. One would think it's an open and shut case but who knows how the politics will play out. The vote takes place on 13 June (the day I arrive in Moscow). Suspect that the FIFA delegates might well be at a more upmarket hotel than my Stalinist era digs on Prospekt Leningradsky.

would be useful if they actually said what they were going to do

These days with virtual projected walls and needless to say the improvement in technology to come a shared facility is possible. Not sure that long term it is a great idea. Pubs have been in decline for years and have been reinventing themselves in various guises ... why do people think that social clubs that require heavy alcohol consumption/pokies to make money (and let's not have sports betting please) are a good idea.

Not only is there the 7Mate issue (to be honest it would be better after all these years if it had its own moniker eg ch 77 or the like) but we have to compete with the prime time show on the main channel 7. Every little bit hurts.. PS if you get a chance watch the last 20 odd laps of last weeks Chinese GP. A spectacular drive by Ricciardo ... perhaps his best

Sponsors must really love us. Our one and only prime time blockbuster and we are shunted off to the "Channel of the Lost". Sure the avid footy fan might find it but the theatre goers who sponsors love will be elsewhere. Then again given last Sunday, it might be better if we stay under the radar for a while.

And of course our biggest TV audience of the year by a factor of at least two

Agree ...on a wet slippery surface not playing a goal keeper type back was very strange. That five (MFC players) on two which ended in the soccer off the ground for a goal should go down as one of the worst goals against us in recent history. I just could not stop laughing at how bad we were. The Bernie toe poke was not far behind

Hi On Saturday night there was a suggestion that Balic had pulled a hamstring. There was also suggestion it might have been cramp. I assume from his absence from the injured list that he is fine. Wouldn't it be a great story if he comes good.

For some of us it does take just a little while to move my friend....

Yes Earnest ... failure is always relative and at MFC we have learnt to excel in it my friend. I find myself enjoying the VFL more by the week... By the way have you ever read the Paris Wife a great book, mainly fiction about your namesake.

you're right OD but he is better than our revolving fringe set so he will be picked up/re signed on reasonable coin. He won't move for money I suspect. It will be family reasons and lifestyle. The plus for us is that at 22 he may be ready to distance himself a little from mum and Dad as most kids do. I suspect he is at his lowest value now and his manager is saying ... get some senior games .. perform and watch the money flow. Can't blame him. The kid deserves some good luck. Must admit I chuckle at the Weid to Collingwod stories but MFCSS could have me believing anything. Should be a good game at Punt Road this Sunday afternoon... nice weather

Interesting and do not disagree with the premise. Would hope management are doing the analysis on the pros and cons of trading him now and going for Tom Lynch. Would love Hogan to stay but the will he or wont he go scenario is becoming tiresome and distracting. Imagine if the salary cap were just a base and then a bonus pool. Would make it so much easier to reward the right players for the right performance. For every Franklin deal there is also the Tippet and Tom Boyd deal.

agree.. did not look out of place and did some good things... certainly not disgraced and hopefully the next few weeks rewards both him and us with some good demonstrations of his skills. Wish I could be so sure of young Stretch who we all hope makes it as well.

Makes you wonder what it must be like to be a Hawks supporter. "Oh hell we missed the finals one year and we did not get our fourpeat." Perhaps they will be bored into oblivion by success How many down years did they have before they picked up Buddy and Roughead? (3-4)

My thoughts while reading that started with mild amusement before passing onto interest and finishing with depression. Please tell me there were golden highlights to come and we only had to give the players or the coach a chance.

Negativity is just not on this board. https://www.theage.com.au/sport/afl/after-decades-of-failure-how-can-i-raise-my-kids-to-be-demons-fans-20180416-p4z9ut.html "We can choose to pursue excellence and, like the Tigers and the Doggies, draw a line under decades of failure by standing up and showing some character in 2018. Or we can squander all the talent and riches bestowed on us by the draft and continue to muddle through, go missing for quarters at a time (as we do every week), and waste a golden generation of talent. "

In 5 weeks we play Carlton

Tough but true unfortunately George Brayshaw's reasonable return was nice ... would like to think there will be a quick rise in his AFL form as he settles in.

Gawn is the future of the club in the sense that his dominance equals success. Like many I fear that we could look back and say we wasted his skills. Mid fields are so good at roving to the opposition ruckman I despair of finding a tactic to maximise the advantage. If his round the ground performance is the yardstick.... he's good but there are better.