TGR

How Scully is not top 5 is beyond me. Other than looking at the ankle injury 18 months ago. His output over nearly a decade has been top 5. Also, Richmond were lucky to hold on to Dusty when they let him go to GWS and inspect facilities. Fact is Melbourne would not have held on to Fyfe (Lake Grace, Trucking & Surfing pull) or Martin if we landed them. The GWS and Gold Coast anomaly cost us Scully. He accepted what 99.9999999% of us would have accepted. When Stynes looked at him and demanded a guarantee, if this occurred, was ridiculous to ask from a kid who had the deal of a lifetime. Players do return to clubs (Ablett etc...), but the way MFC supporters and the club treated the Scully saga was self-limiting potentially, and an absolute embarrassment. Geelong supporters thank Christ were 3 steps above us. The money bags thing was funny for the first game; but the continual jilted lover, traitor, liar-to-Jimmy's-face thing, is absolutely juvenile and absurd; and really reflects the veil of negativity and woe-is-me that transcends the club into its' supporter base.

0/6 1/5 at best. Goody on jobseeker.

I reckon you can add an asterix or 2. What I can't work out is there a lot of MFC supporters who would prefer we play ultra-attractive footy, than win a flag. Moreover, if an ultra-defensive coach was on offer with a guaranteed premiership, there would be uproar.

Typically Melbourne to reject the offer. Kennett was so good as a president, that Hawthorn changed its constitution to get him back after the Garvey/Gaudry disaster. The safe option or ''conservatism'' has been the titanic anchor of the MFC lifeboat since the mid-60s. It''s so heavily entrenched in our culture, that it easily explains the chronic failure post-Menzies. There have been glimmers of hope under Barassi, Northey, Daniher and Roos; with the latter more focused on our culture, leadership and the veil of negativity. Conversely, the supporters need a veil of objectivity; and the club needs to adopt more of a 'whatever it takes' approach. Case-in-point, "we wont draft Martin, if he doesn't want to come". We have done that in the past too, and it makes me sick.

Exactly. I thought the merger was a no-brainer to be honest, and history has and will prove this correct from an MFC perspective. The only issue I ever had was that it would have been the MFC 'we know best mob' that would have moved forward making the same rubbish amateur decisions and hence contaminating any brown and gold. The real winner really was Hawthorn. They should thank Donald Scott every minute of the every day. Legend status is understating his input to that club, on-field, on the board, and stopping the merger. Interesting to note in the latest Newman/Sheahan/Scott, podcast that Kennett was serious with the Melbourne Presidency. He wanted the "mother of all challenges" and his parents were Melbourne supporters.

Probably the best game of football I have seen from a supporter viewpoint. Brad Green was and should have been an elite forward. The leading and kicking skills of this teenager was unbelievable. Daniher achieved plenty with a lot of ballast, but gee wiz, his rotation policy (12 max per game) was really the stuff of the 1960s and 70s.

What we will take with a grain of salt is what Lyon said about the 2020 Melbourne side. "Either the method is correct, and the players aren't adhering to it" "Or the method is wrong".

Sad fact is that if Donald Trump came in at the start of 2019 and instructed all I50 entries to be a torpedo or a drop kick, our scoring rate per I50 wouldn’t have been worse.

100% about Lovett. Couldn't disagree with you more about White.

Brett Lovett rarely got beaten. Ever. The MFC's rock of Gibraltar. No. 1 for mine. Handballed like Diesel. Could have been a premier onballer if he had a tank. Had the softest landing when he got thrown on his big backside. Pure talent - Wight & Schwarz Sorry but Lyon is overrated. Like Lloyd, took a dive too often. Great on-field captain. Perfect kick. Average mark. Lyon at his peak? Look at a state game where Carey ripped him a new one in 10 minutes. Neitz is a rare breed excelling key back and forward. I wouldn't have Gawn in our top 2 ruckman over 40 years. Moore and Stynes easily. pTGR

Darren Jolly Stef Martin Jeremy Howe Lynden Dunn Scotty Thompson (harder to predict) Sam Frost

Not Lever. Not May. Not Gawn. I’m talking about the player manager. The pie is shrinking before their eyes. Players should exclude parasites from match payments. All contracts will be up for review surely. One club will lead the comp with its players taking over the TPPs. Who will be first? Will take balls and brains. Couldn’t be done in an era of Hollywood Boulevard, but something tells me the current crop could pull it off. pTGR

The spectre of mergers is looming over the AFL. One club will merge with GC. One with GWS. One might link with Tassy. A game person to punt on the Melbourne Demons, North Kangas, St.Kilda Saints and Western Bulldogs existing as they are in 2023. Don Scott better grab that velco hawk from his bottom drawer.

1. Any player who had a heavily front-loaded contract in 17/18/19 2. Ross Lyon - Who will be (or is) the highest paid coach in the AFL in 2020. Freo gave him the RRRs; and paid him out in full for 2020. (He also gets icing $$ from channel 9). If they kept him on, he would have worked a lot more, for a lot lot less. 3. Any player injured round 1

A lot of MFC supporters have pseudo-bagged Viney here over the last 2 years. Can count the posters on one hand that never sold J Viney stock. I’m the thumb by the way. pTGR

I think 'impossible' is a bit of a Steven Stretch. Who was cast into impossible situations? Travelling teams? All teams? Just the MFC? If Melbourne accepted the Mission Impossible; I guess we can convince ourselves that West Coast thrived on Mission Improbable. What we saw in that game was a replica of 2019's standard. As for Joeboy's generosity...and against-all-odds predicaments.... Dom Tyson currently shaking his head, and thinking "didn't I dislocate my knee cap on camp horribilis and continued squatting, jogging, kneeling through incline and decline. Now that is an impossible situation". Joeboy, unlike Dom, I rush to this after every game. This has always been the modicom of clarity and objectivity on this site. If this is the new you, you might get more likes, but at the risk of selling your soul.

Yeh coz he won’t win a popularity contest due to setting the bar too high.

TGR - Lost money today 2019 - Not an aberration Viney - Our real captain Defensive spread - Not really capable Reality - one paced list Goodwin - No brave moves Goodwin - Looks outta depth MFC - 20 goto 10 Brown/Spargo/ANB - Not AFL level Lockhart - continues to grow Pickett - has valuable traits Gawn - not top 2 MFC supporters - super dooper optimistic

You are basically remembered for your last effort. The 2018 PF hovered like a stench over the 18/19 preseason; the 2019 season has been the veil of hopelessness since. A good win against West Coast will probably erase that for the autumn and beyond. MFC will treat this like a GF (but hopefully not a PF). Put your stimulus cheque on the $3.50.

There will be a tipping point where wireless technology actually starts to fry your DNA. 4G 30 years? 5G 2 years? 6G 15 minutes? Soon, it will be safer to smoke 2 packs a day.

16 minute quarters and a bigger bench rotation means ultra quick footy. This disadvantages the MFC who are largely one-paced, and advantages young and quick teams (particularly quick) like St.Kilda IMO, who weren't slow to being with; and then have added Hill and Zak Jones on the wings. If the season is completed, it will more than likely be a year whereby a quicker younger team, before its' premiership window, will pinch a flag.

16 team final series starting August 1.

You need a fair dinkum Rudd/Gillard NBN fibre to each premises though. That is where your prediction will fall short.

1. Because Peter Fitzsimmons is the smartest guy on the planet, according to him, and he thinks the ball won't be bounced this Thursday. 2. Laws of mathematics and probability. 3. The trend is your friend. In essence, it will take one player being suspected in the lead-up to first bounce. Finally, the community is entertained. For decades the middle class white man has ignored the plight of refugees in detention, or Islanders in the Pacific with oceans at shin level. Suddenly when the way of life of the middle class white man is threatened with 'anxiety', who acts most like a neanderthal? As Keating would say, "this is the crisis that Australia (+/- US) had to have". The right in this country (and the US) have been absolutely focused on issues that don't really matter. Safe schools...freedom of bigotry....budget surpluses.....woke-a-phobia: all while enshrining the boganisation and nationalisation of Australia. Trump and America deserve what's coming. Guns and 'freedom' over a health-care system for goodness sake. Sugar and fat over a nanny-state. Trump will look like the clown that he always was, is and will be. That's entertainment. This might be ground zero when it comes to a realisation of what really matters.

17 round season at best. Round 1 will surely be called off.