WAdee

Sunday evening was a real healing experience. This is my second year as a member (third year I've supported the MFC, and third since I've moved to this country), and the first Dees game I saw at the 'G was Essendon vs MFC last April. Watching it with my Weagles supporting Father In law and my Bummers supporting Mother in Law was a real respect winning moment, as well as work &my WAFL mates yesterday, especially wearing my scarf to work & on the train for the third time in three years was a fantastic experience, have just made the decision to blow off my Mrs birthday (and our anniversary) for the Weagles match in August.

I follow the WAFL with a fair bit of interest, and to be fair to him Sylvia has done well in a couple of games, but not enough to impact the result one way or another. What has been fun is the change in tone of my Freo supporting mates - when they got Col through FA, I remember two of them in particular talking about how he would be the missing link for them this year, a la Brian Lake at the Hawks . Today their discussion was how to reverse his 'Melbournisation'

Maybe I'm insane but I agree with the OP. I had a look on AFL.com.au today for a preview, and had a read of the stats. With the exceptions of clearances and hit outs (which was skewed by last weeks mauling), we match them in all the key stats. With Dawesy back in and two tall targets to kick to up front, plus Chip showing something last weekend, I'm hoping we can pull it off. Carlton will be expecting an easy win over us, but they're mentally brittle at the moment as well, so if the boys can sock it to them and keep their hands on the footy for long enough, I think they'll get frustrated, sloppy and start to make some mistakes. http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2014/4/carl-v-melb

Like most people here I watched yesterday's game with a mixture of shock and horror. It's clear now the club is in a horrible position, so what can we do to help? We the members are the backbone of the club, we need to do something to help the club in its hour of need

Not going to happen. The last time they merged/ relocated a club was Fitzroy and they had been undergoing financial troubles much worse than ours with a very small membership for decades. We clearly need to get our act together on the field but the current problems are manageable as we have dedicated members and a good core support of 19-20k at matches and about 30,000 members. Despite our horrible run of late we still have the support and the stadium to make a good go of things on our own without any need to merge or relocate. Any journo who says otherwise is attention seeking

We're not going the way of Fitzroy- they had less than 6,000 home supporters to most of their games in 1995-1996, had a huge debt and were breaking the law by trading while insolvent. Whatever our problems (and they are many) let ua give Neeld a chance to see this rebuild through and not call for his head after two improved performances.

At least they showed guts in the first half. Why the fook we keep getting clattered in the third quarter each match though?????

Emailed the editor, chief of staff plus a few others at the West Australian and going to text local sports radio to let everyone know we're gettin behind our club in its hour of need.

Anything inter-state fans can do?

Get rid of Jamar and Sylvia. Replace anyone who's marking time with someone who actually gives a [censored] about the colours and the club.

It was pretty apparent last night that the team are not united anymore and are not playing as a unit or.for.each other. Several times in the first half our boys had possession and failed to pass to a team mate close boy who was free, instead belting it down to someone covered by two or three defenders. Perhaps Im reading too much into it but Im beginning to suspect there are serious divisions in the playing group.

Im in. Stayed to the bitter end tonight and will continue to do so. This is OUR club, we need to stick by it now, although no excuses can be made for the FD and the shite performance.

White Flag by Dido, if they keep playing like last week

Cheers!

I have two Irish parents and growing up Jimmy Stynes was a hero to me and the old man- a Gaelic footballer from home who'd come over as a minor, had a crack at the footy and became a legend of the game and the irish community in Aus.

So this week is my first time seeing a Dees game at the 'G, what I would like to know is where do our fans sit and will we have an assigned section for members? Thanks

Ffs, was heartbroken watching this and it's hard to draw any positives at all from it. The team were shite and comprehensively beaten by a team of second-raters in Port (with no disrespect meant to their players who at least went out there and fought hard for their club), and I honestly don't know where the improvement is going to come from in the short term. BUT...MFC is our club, we are Demons and always will be, today many of us lost faith in the coach and players and are much more cynical now, but merger/winding up of our club is NOT an option. Footy would not be the same without the Dees, and the AFL would be poorer for our disappearance. We are entitled to be angry and frustrated with the players, the coach and the board, but at the end of the day we will still be there at the 'G or for those of us interstate watching and hoping for a win regardless of the odds. These days will pass. But winding the club up would be a permanent solution to a temporary problem and would really be a case of the cure being worse than the ailment.

The Casey move is a good one for the future, also the Jim Stynes connection has attracted a lot of people with Irish heritage to the club. Ultimately, it's performances on the pitch that will build the support base, but the cultural changes Neeld has introduced and the new ruthlessness in the FD, will help in this end. More against the odds victories like Round 10 vs Essendon will help attract people to the club as well- after all everyone roots for the underdog