Ash35

I doubt very much Essendon would give up pick 8 for Rischitelli. I wouldn't be a happy camper if we did. If the guy is virtually walking out on Brisbane, they may have to settle for a second round pick.

Yep, Reiwoldt against St Kilda, McPharlin vs Melbourne at Subi, and Scott Gumbleton against the Crows at AAMI were probably the top 3 until this week. But Goddard and Jurrah are definately the two best ATM. That's why I suggested the AFL suspend voting this week and just put both marks through to the grand final voting. Otherwise which ever mark gets eliminated this week will be superior to 2 of the marks in the final.

Yep, they were very similar marks. Amazing that we had two like that taken in the same round. If I was the AFL, I would suspend voting on this weeks MOTW and put both marks straight into the final vote at the end of the year. Both marks deserve to be in the MOTY vote. Goddards was very stylish, a classical high mark, whereas Jurrah's grab had something electric about it. Very difficult to split them.

Sylvia 30+ possies Melbourne win by 19 points Dustin Martin to deliver his weekly average of 14 "don't argues".

Dane Swan just about single handedly dragged Collingwood from 5-6 goals down against Port on Friday night. Green was good, IMO Swan was better. Didn't see Martin or Griffens games, but from all reports Adam Goodes was back to his best on Sunday, so perhaps there are a couple of efforts that are unlucky to go unrewarded.

He still would have won it, but the extra votes against WCE meant Scott West missed out on tieing with Woewodin. I remember the Rigoni goal that won the game against Richmond, cos that night Melbourne had it's 'Team of The Century' dinner. For a non Melbourne supporter, that was actually a bloody good night to be at.

I do find this kind of supporter annoying. When I go to the football, it's to support my side, not just bag the opposition. Unfortunately every club has got them.

Yep, noticed this as well. Usually there is a bit of "back a metre, back a metre" and if the player doesn't respond it's 50. But on Sunday it was just BANG, back you come.

If Sam Lonergan's name was Cyril Rioli, Chris Judd or Gary Ablett it would have been play on. No doubt.

I hope not. Blaming the umpires would be deflecting from the real problems at Windy Hill at the moment. I really thought we might have shown up with a bit more desire than we showed yesterday but Melbourne lead the way in that regard.

Would you have preferred to win the 2000 flag, but lose to us yesterday, or the way it turned out. You are right though, it probably put a bit of a dampner on the night, especially with the way we played.

I was that Essendon supporter you are talking about you idiot. Nah...just kidding. Hardly earth shattering stuff, the Essendon supporters cutting up rough about the umpires, the Dees fans enjoying the free ride. I could imagine similar conversation happening all through the crowd yesterday. As long as it doesn't get personal, it's all part of attending an AFL match. Good stuff. I bet the Melbourne supporters have been waiting for a while to give it to the Essendon fans.

Umpiring was pretty average, but it's not the reason Essendon lost. The same way the umpires didn't cost Melbourne those games in 2008 and 2009. The Watts free and the free against Lonergan were the ones that got me a little upset. The 50's not so much. After about the first 3 or 4 goals from 50's I lost interest in worrying about it. Our players should have picked up on what was happening. Unfortunately just about every game in the AFL each week is umpired differently. As it's been mentioned, the Geelong/Hawthorn game was very different to yesterday. So the players need to read what is going on and adjust.

Good luck to both teams. I hope its a good game not decided by a stupid umpires decision etc

Is that the Lloyd 'Mark of the Year' game when he kicked 8 goals? Melbourne screwed by the umpires that day???? Wouldn't have thought the umpires were the difference that day.

I'm one of those Bombers that would prefer Slattery not in the team. I can't cop him. Poor decision maker, poor skills. Plays as a stopper but more times than not gets beaten by his opponent. But Knights loves him. Will probably miss with rib soreness. But it does mean a "rejigging" of the back half for us. Tyson Slattery [no relation] looked ok Saturday night considering it was his first game. He's a lucky boy to be playing, should have been suspended, but I doubt the result of this match will hinge on his input. Possibly the inclusion of Neagle will mean Hurley goes to the backline. Hooker, T Slattery and Hurley to play key back, not the most intimidating backline you've ever seen. Maybe Dempsey will come in for Slattery, Houli for Quinn. Who knows with Knights. He seems to want to give everyone on our list a game at some stage. Doesn't make sense.

Fletcher missing against Melbourne is the least of our problems at the moment. Melbourne should win this game. Essendon are lacking any sort of confidence or spirit after Saturday night. The Hawthorn loss was deflating. A game that we could have won. Often games like that when you can win but don't do more damage than coping a flogging in a game that you were never going to win. Both teams forwardlines are struggling. Ryder vs Jamar should be interesting. Melbourne have the edge in the midfield and Melbournes backline looks more settled with Fletcher and Pears missing from Essendons line up. But in the end, neither team will play finals, so the result is more about making a statement for both clubs rather than gaining the "all important" 4 points.

Fletcher will still be missing this week.

Both teams should see this as a very winnable game. But I favour Melbourne at the moment. We (Essendon) don't function very well when Hille is out of the team. Fletcher and Pears being out hurts, but not as much as Hille. It could be the first game in AFL history that both teams play one short. That is if Essendon pick Quinn and Melbourne select Spencer. I like the heat Essendon is copping so far this week. History shows that clubs respond when they take a beating in the media after sub standard performances. Should be an interesting game.

Franklins goal was one of the greats. Scores were close, late in the game, to be able to steady and nailed it from the boundary after sprinting like that was a brilliant effort. But I did like Allen Jakovichs mid air scissor kick goal against North Melbourne in 1991. Surely one of the best at the MCG ever.

Ok, well I've decided. I don't know you, but those on here that do know me personally will know that I don't get on Demonland to "bag" Melbourne. All of what I said was just my opinion. Didn't think I was too far offthe mark with much of it. Melbourne are on the rise with lots of young talent. Melbourne have timed their stock piling very well, whether through design or accident. I feel more through Danihers poor list management, but that's another topic in it's itself. Tanking was probably involved. Anyway, I truly believe Melbourne will win a flag before alot of teams, which includes Essendon. Sorry you think I'm having a dig.

Bagging Melbourne? Have I said anything not factual?

I pretty much know where Essendon is at. I see them every single week. Middle of the road team at best. In 12 rounds we've so far played every team in the 8, including Geelong twice. Have yet to play winnable games against teams like Brisbane, Melbourne, North Melbourne and Adelaide. We get another crack at West Coast and Richmond as well. Doubt we'll make finals as we aren't good enough and don't have much depth. But I see signs for the future. I really doubt any team in the AFL is just floating around only trying to make finals and not genuinely trying to win a flag. It's pretty hard to deliberately bottom out. You are either crap enough to finish bottom or not. A by product of Essendon having champions like Hird, Lloyd, Fletcher and Lucas etc means we have never really been bad enough to bottom out or tank to get high draft picks. Melbourne have been fortunate enough to be so bad for a few years, you have been able to stock pile young talent, and now it is paying dividends. People bag Neale Daniher, but his poor list management has probably got you in the position you are in today. The issue for the likes of Richmond, Essendon and West Coast is that getting quality young talent onto their lists in the coming seasons is going to be very difficult. Melbourne have timed the whole thing perfectly. But I'm sure Melbourne will win a flag before Essendon, so I'm probably not going to win this debate.

No, I wasn't happy it ended up at a 71 point margin. But I hate the games more when we don't compete at all.

So you are happy with a game where you were never any threat to Geelong, but escape with a 9 goal loss? What was the 1/4 time score in your game? 5.5 to 2.1. 10 shots to 3. 1/2 time it was 9.6 to 4.4. Melbourne never challenged Geelong, which I think would have been disappointing for a team on the rise. Essendon, in both of our games against the Cats, have had chucks of the game where we were able to match it with Geelong, and in Round 1, be 4 goals up against them. The end results haven't been great for us, and the obvious thing to say would be 54 points is better than 71 points, but I have actually taken something out of our games against Geelong. Not sure Melbourne could this year, other than Gysberts first game. But while Geelong are the yardstick, I'm not sure why everyone thinks how teams perform against them is the big indicator. If this was the case, Carlton would be second favourite for the flag.