It's colouring time.

Rd 19 v Gold Coast

There are some classic signs to look for on gameday at the MCG that let you know who Melbourne’s playing. If you arrive and the only colours you see are black and white with a splash of red and blue suffocating somewhere in the corner you know it’s the pies. If there are lots of dees fans  wearing easy-to-remove smiles, we’re playing someone like the Bulldogs who we think we can beat. On the weekend the tell tale signs were the closed bars, the food outlets only half open and no lines for the women's at half time. (There are perks to being a female Dees fan). All of these pointed to one thing, it’s an interstater! 

I do hate to have to bring up attendances again but the sub 20,000 crowd figure hurts. I know we’re not so great, which means not good, which means often terrible, but you’ve gotta stick with them. Think of how the Melbourne bandwagon is going to fair once we start winning again. If we all jump back on at once it’ll be like an Ian Thorpe comeback, all the parts are there but covered in rust! That's OHS 101. But you’re right, that’s a bridge far away.

Sunday’s game made me remember back to a time when twelve year olds would enter colouring competitions designed for grade twos and threes. Adopting a pseudonym and a false age to match was the norm. Even if you’re colour choice was junk you’d sneak a win just for keeping it between the lines. It’s how I felt about our win on the weekend. Melbourne were good but we can’t parade the streets crowing on about some juicy win. What I saw was a pre-teen with good texta technique winning over a small child who enjoyed chewing the crayon as much as colouring with it. Don’t get me incorrect, Melbourne looked very good in parts but there were plenty of times when I could only imagine what a top 6 side would have done when met with our sloppiness. That sounds dirty. It shouldn’t.

heraldsun.com.au

So we take the points and Brad Green kicks five in a Grand Final nailbiter, or so his celebrations would suggest. No. Hey. Come on. He’s a great competitor who’s had a very unlucky run this year and it’s great to see he’s still got passion for the club no matter how down we’ve been. Great game Greeny. 

Other points of interest were Jeremy Howe maintaining his high altitude training throughout the season proper. Why isn’t this man concurrently entertaining a high jump career? I wouldn’t be surprised to see him soar over the bar vertically.

Due to the small crowd figure and reduced size food outlet I didn’t get a second hotdog. At least my wallet was happy. In addition to this, never has the red V on my demons guernsey been more greatly appreciated than when my first hotdog dribbled some saucy sauce down my front. I’m now in the market for a bib.

So not long left in a season that, at least externally, has shown little progress. Here’s hoping the last few games present themselves in much the same manner this one did. Any points are good points at this stage.

For the record, I won a pencil case using the name Jason.

Go Dees.