Thursday, July 24, 2014: Off-field defense...

A lot has been said about Melbourne under Paul Roos. Perhaps the most sighted area of improvement has been their defense, the team is now able to stay in games for longer - setting them up for potential victories in close finishes. The demons on-field defense has seriously lifted in 2014.

It is off the field, though, that Melbourne's defense is apparently rather lapse. It may not be costing them Premierships, but it has cost them numerous flags, namely the several Premiership flags that went missing while under the care of the MCC. The missing flags emerged this week when a Moama man was so confident in his ability to elude the Demons that he put the 1948 Premiership flag up on eBay - only to have his house raided and the flag confiscated by Police.

Melbourne are not the only club in this position. Carlton's 1970 and 1972 flags were also stolen, returned years later via Eddie McGuire (with Carlton involved, one can only assume this was a strategy to minimise Capital Gains Tax, but I digress).

Hopefully this event is the trigger Melbourne needs. After all, when you look so far from another Premiership - it's probably wise to look after the ones you have.

In the news...
James Hird is back and the circus is in Toorak to get more footage of him walking near his house. Surely stock footage of the last hundred times would suffice?

Collingwood draftee Matt Scharenberg will play his first Collingwood VLF game this weekend after recovering from injury.

St. Kilda ruckman Tom Hickey will miss the rest of the season. Knee tendinitis will see the 23-year-old's season end early, after struggling to jump for the last two weeks.