Diamond_Jim

An important few weeks for Trengrove coming up. Would be great to see him finish off the season strongly accompanied by a return to the Melbourne side in the remaining rounds.

Have we discussed the possibility of sainthood for this guy or will we move straight to deification a la Roman times

I think you are onto something here drdrake The clinics are in my understanding aimed mainly at the younger children. Time the AFL seriously interacted with the 14-17 year age group at grass roots levels and not only at the elite level.

Is he a chance to be named a legend this year ??? I know we normally wait until they are retired but perhaps a special case for such an all time great player

I do not mind Docklands except for the seating arrangements. When we play there the middle deck which is the best view is almost empty. Yes I know about Medallion club members etc but surely they could work out something so our measly 25.000 fans are not stuck in the Gods or on the ground floor where viewing is a little better but not ideal. Perhaps I am spoilt by the MCG where I am used to a whole bay almost to myself !!

Laughable you are talking about resting players In another thread they are saying no difference to the hawks in tasmania typical MFC.....all over the place.... and yet.... more games in the hell hole !!

Thank the heavens that the game is over !!!!!!!!

Hard game in Darwin Our home game makes so much sense

Talk about this in a few days time Let's not hope we rue this decision.... good luck tonight

Ground holds around 25000 apparently Looked to be half empty at least. Must be Collingwood's lowest crowd in a long time. Considering that GWS were playing for a top two spot it does not say much for their drawing power

Love it

46 spots available on a Friday night plus 8 on a Thursday night Can someone remind me how many appearances MFC has on those nights Our sponsors must laugh at us !!!

Ok... here's one minor equalization goal If we have to play in far away places such as Darwin and NT... why are those games not scheduled as Friday (I'd accept Thursday) night games with national free to air coverage. Could not be any worse than some of the games in those scheduled times this year Small thing but compare it to Port playing in China... no home game loss ( we lose two home games)... a season opener with a big break afterwards and of course mega coverage for their sponsors. As I contend .........some clubs are more equal than others Perhaps the Bulldogs will buck the system but like the Saints my gut feeling is that they will be bridesmaids. The Saints had Riewoldt....one of the greatest players in the last twenty years and yet ?? North, the MFC, Bulldogs, Saints ........... we are all TV fodder to make up the numbers for the Foxtel deals The next set of draft concessions will go to Brisbane (one can feel it)

Dominance in an equal competition is not that hard (perhaps even easier) when some are more equal than others. You just need an edge Interstate teams = Home ground advantage Top teams = ability to retain players who are willing to take a few dollars less to be part of a winning team Wealthy teams= just that little bit more support/comfort for the player Teams with high membership numbers= ability to sell reserved seats= higher revenues Successful teams = TV coverage/ratings = sponsors Hard for the lesser bracket to get a run

Just shows what wonderful pundits we all are on Demonland Cannot remember anyone mentioning White as a possibility. (If I am wrong please accept my apology and my congratulations)

agree that three does sound high wonder what is the reasoning..... I suspect the shorter season is due to ground availability

Hi I take it that the number of byes in the VFL and indeed the length of the season is a function of there being only 15 teams and that number being an odd number. Just seems that it is disruptive to the season and player development. On the bye this coming weekend it makes some sense in that it allows MFC to take the full number of emergencies and an extended group to Darwin but on the other hand it precludes a perfect opportunity for some of the MFC members to get along and see Casey play. And then of course there must be the problem of having a two tier system within a playing group. How do the non MFC players deal at a personal level with the knowledge that they can go so far but no further not to mention that the success or otherwise of the team may be regarded by some as secondary to the plans of the MFC

Tasmania..... 300 kilometres 3-5 degrees cooler and a flight of 30 mins Darwin ??

The real point is that we should not be playing there at all if we are going to be taken as a serious player in Melbourne I know the financial arguments but time to look for an alternative source of funds (crowd funding perhaps? )

Time perhaps for an experiment along these lines........ the season is over (it has been for a few weeks) and my only interest is in improving the mix. The problem with Spencer is that I doubt he is a long term solution (eg 1.5 goals per game etc) but if ever he is going to get a chance to show his wares this is the time. The big bonus is that it should give us ruck dominance and thus compliment our game plan.

Thanks George Interesting listening to Leigh Matthews over the weekend where he was saying that the ruckman is almost irrelevant. All you need is someone to make a contest and that it is the old fashioned "follower" who has become the key clearance man. While we have a dominant ruckman we need to continue to work on strategies to maximise that dominance. At the very least we need to negate quick movement by the opposing side at our expense. The other thing he was saying is that some teams deliberately play from behind which allows them to sit on the player who receives the tap out and who then suffers an immediate tackle. This results in a secondary ball up which is of course a different tactic in that all players and a third man up are allowed near the ball thus negating the ruckman's dominance.

All Melbourne teams have to play one of their home games at Etihad. It was part of the guaranteed deal that the AFL did with the stadium to get them out of some other forgettable deal that they had done which was (I am sure you get the drift) As to the two NT games they are our fault just like all those home games we used to sell to the Lions. In defence of the club I suspect the AFL "encouraged" us as part of their largesse. Just one more hurdle for those clubs that merely make up the TV numbers

Very interested to know if the Diamond Defence was employed today and particularly whether it was used in the first five minutes of the third quarter. It does rely upon a clear win in the ruck which was something lacking today. On the AFL site it mentioned that as at the start of the final quarter: "Melbourne ruckman Max Gawn has averaged 37 hitouts at the MCG this season. So far today he has 34, including 12 to advantage. He has had the better of his Adelaide counterpart, Sam Jacobs, who has 22 hitouts, of which seven have gone to a teammate. "

You may be so depressingly correct but I live in hope

Strangely enough I am not as upset as I thought I might be. Sure we lost by around the same margin as we did against the Hawks and the other teams in the 8 but by kicking 8 in one quarter we showed that we have an attacking brand of football that can take us places. Just hope I am around to see it