Diamond_Jim

I wonder if they count seats that are sold but the person does not attend. The general admission section on the top level yesterday was abysmally full but I agree there was plenty of room on the second level and a fair bit of space on the ground level Essendon have a very large number of season reserved seat holders. Far more than St Kilda. As an aside the Crows have that area locked up. People literally assign their seats if they are having a season off. Reserved seat revenue is a real sleeping giant for these big clubs as the memberships grow but the stadiums don't. We lesser clubs can only dream

The Bernie Vince kick out with 10:41 to go in the second quarter has to stand as a low point. Watched it on replay to see if there was an excuse but no..... one MFC player ringed by five Bombers around 30 metres out The only thing I can think of is that is that Vince made a mistake re depth perception in that while the MFC player appeared free there was time for the zone to drop in. Love him or hate him Shaw for GWS has the kick in down to a fine art. If you can get the 10-15 metre post goal square run you upset the zone

where does Hannan play in that scenario assuming you want to play Watts forward Playing Salem and/or Hunt as a primary defender is potentially limiting our two main attacking weapons Personally I don't know what the answer is but we certainly need to get more out of our bottom six (whoever they are)!

Understandable sentiments and I agree with it simply because we need to build some stability and cohesiveness in the team. However the game yesterday revealed that we have a long way to go. Hawthorn will be a good test. On Hawthorn's form we should win and indeed we need to. There is no obvious performer at VFL demanding a game especially when you consider our game plan. The one I do want to come back when form is right is Stretch simply because other than Hunt we perhaps don't have real line breakers and our game plan demands that role. Bulldogs appear to have at least three line breakers. Finally we need to understand how Daniher was able to dominate that first half. If he had kicked reasonably straight it could have been a very different outcome.

I have been enjoying the read on Bomber blitz about the game. The main thing I took away from it was that the Bomber fans do not rate us as a team. Hopefully the next year is about getting us some respect in the general football community. On a more interesting note here is an extract from an insightful post looking at the game from a Bomber viewpoint: I was (un)fortunate enough to watch the Carlton game from L2 at the MCG. Today, I thought we were in trouble in the first 90 seconds of the game when Melbourne set up a zone defence exactly the same as Carlton did - and I mean almost exactly. Namely, stronger concentration in the corridor but allowing us to go wide if we wanted coming out of defence Like the game Carlton game - and without the excuse of poor conditions - we did exactly that. Rarely trying to use running players to cut through the zone or try and hit up passes. Instead we went slow and wide with short passes and the player marking near the boundary then didn't even try and find someone in-board and just bombed it down the line....where of course it came back with interest. This all happened at the end of Q2 on Anzac Day. It was best illustrated in Q4 (I think) when we tried to switch and Hurley received it just inside D50. He already had Gleeson out wide and went to him - he hadn't bothered looking inboard to the point of the centre square where Heppell, unopposed had led to. Well Gleeson marked it out wide and showed no urgency at all so the Melbourne players pushed up and blocked the paces....until Jobe pushed through just forward of the wing for what would have been an easy 15m pass inboard and forward and Gleeson totally ignored him. Gleeson just bombed it long down the line and of course we were outnumbered and the Demons swept the ball away and scored. This is precisely what happened against Carlton time and time again and today was a straight repeat. The players gradually lost confidence and some of the skill errors were as a result of not having options and not knowing what to do. Only McGrath & McKenna actually tried to run and break the lines hit up options (not always successfully) and it's run from behind that breaks up zones - just like at the start of Q4 on Anzac Day when two early Pie behinds resulted in coast-to-coast goals for us because Goddard & Merrett hit targets on the kick-outs who quickly handballed to a running player from behind who cut through the Collingwood players and opened the game up. After half-time the Demons got right on top in clearances and that contributed to the score blowing out. Coaching - Worsfold was unimaginative in a way that all modern coaches are. None make too many positional changes as players are now trained to play specific positions. All coaches want is a lift in intensity & effort, especially around the ball. Which is where we were found wanting. To have only 46 tackles on the day was pathetic (Demons only had 48). That lack of intensity was was shown by 3 Demon goals from 3 free kicks against our younger players (McGrath (Melbourne's first), McKenna (Q3), Tippa (Q3). On each occasion it was this younger player going to fight for the ball without one teammate assisting with a shepherd or block. Senior players just looked on. We were seriously off our game. https://discourse.bomberblitz.com/t/review-vs-dees-melk-and-hibberd-vindication/10370/179

College football is enormous in the US. In some ways as big as NFL

And even then they effectively take half of the screen away with advertising... as you say useless

Everyone has their bucket list and as well as an MFC flag mine includes visiting the graves of all Australia's deceased PM's. Started it off today with a trip to see 5 at the MGC (Melbourne General Cemetery)... well Harold H Holt is not really there but his memorial is closest to the fountain which is somehow appropriate. Anyway after wandering through the cemetery, reading lots of tombstones and dwelling on one's mortality I headed for Docklands only to find that it seemed I was still at the cemetery. What a woeful first half. My seat in the Gods only allowed me to see one end of the ground and frankly the sounds of Go Dyson and wonderful Jobe were getting to me. Accordingly at half time I sought the solace of the standing section behind the MFC cheer squad. Little did I know what was going to unfold. Joy to my old eyes. For the last quarter I wandered the outer reaches like a lost soul daring to dream until with 10 minutes to go the Bomber faithful gave up and I scored a seat. Ten minutes of bliss..... Thank you MFC Now... do it next week as well !!!

Seeing seat advertising at Docklands tonight that I never knew existed because there is usually a few people sitting on them. Very bad game except for Ablett's dominance. Time for some book reading methinks

I raised the injuries a few times but got howled down saying only two at most were best 22 Gawn and Hogan (not injured ... I know)

Giving them a good thrashing at the MCG could well be remembered as the day the Hawks plunged into mediocrity. Sounds arrogant ... just like Hawks supporters have been for 20 odd years

Riewoldt just kicked his 700th goal in AFL well done Appropriate for him to do it in Tassie as he came from there I think Saints by 34 now half way through 3rd quarter

sorry it was only half time.... game so slow one can be forgiven Saints up by around 20 with a goal on the siren at half time

looks like a nice day for footy in Hobart but only 8 goals scored and one minute before 3/4 time

Casey Demons‏ @CaseyDemonsFC 5m5 minutes ago HT Stats Disposals - Scott 17, Trengove 15, White 12, Harmes 12, Kennedy 12. Goals - Fritsch, Gardiner, Scott, Kent The Cats kick one right on the HT siren. That hurts. They take the lead at the main break, 4.6 (30) to 4.2 (26).

Don't remind me ........please

are there that many? Remember the Orange bananas as the rent a cheer squad at the MCG a few years back. It would be an hilarious memory except that they thrashed us despite MFC being the odds on favourites As an earlier poster mentioned the Giants still have some serious talent to return...........

Bulldogs just have the knack of being at the fall of the ball. Irrespective of whether they or the other team fumbles there is someone racing past to pick it up By contrast Scully streaming forward props on the wet grass... the ball falls away from him and is picked up by a Dog and they are back down their end Talent wise GWS should be a mile in front but that Bulldog style somehow delivers

strange game to schedule for Canberra given the ground only holds around 15,000 Then again the AFL were probably desperate for a sell out even if it was at such a small ground crowd wise

welcome to Docklands or more particularly welcome to the world of ticket prices for the bigger clubs. They block allocate for varying levels of pre-sale and thereby maximise prices. What remains is General Admission. My guess is that there will be around 10-15,000 general admission left for Sunday's game all on Level 4. Remember you have Medallion club, Essendon Reserved seat holders (there are lots of them), pre-purchased tickets and then GA. Cannot see a large MFC contingent attending so you should be right for GA.

It certainly helps to build recognition of the fringe players. Perhaps it could be phased in so new VFL players get 50 and above. It is a very difficult line that needs to be maintained in order to respect and incentivize the non AFL listed players. Whole of group training is something I would like to see introduced at least on an occasional basis. Agree.... Oscar Mac is the same number for instance....

It's a real fun experience especially walking onto the ground at the breaks and getting close up to the huddles. Make sure you take note of the player numbers in KC's opening post on this thread (or buy a record) as the players wear different numbers from their AFL numbers. Enjoy yourselves

Children under 15 are free. Visiting VFL members are half price.... I showed my AFL Melbourne support and got in for half price at Willimastown a couple of weeks ago. Reading however the 2016 ticket prices it seems that the discount perhaps only went to Casey members... http://websites.sportstg.com/assoc_page.cgi?client=0-118-0-392693-0&sID=60281&&news_task=DETAIL&articleID=5073948 The good news is that full price is only $10

Sunday's match brings back memories of the famous game against the Eagles in Perth. So famous I forget the year but we took an almost reserves team to Perth against a strong Eagles team. Against all the odds the MFC prevailed and a strong team was born.

Just have that gut feel that many Hawthorn members are not rusted on and as they meander downwards those members will change to supporters and then to occasional attendees. The Tasmanian deal papers over some matches that would have low attendances if played in Melbourne. Time will tell and who knows it would not surprise me if they won their next five or six games and were back as boring old winning Hawthorn !