Shh, 4 wins at most please..

[Tigers Dayz 2]

I've never been supportive of not trying to win games, and I'm still not. In fact I can't see our boys winning more than four.

And we can try out a lot of young guys this year. Blood them for next year, on.

As a member who has gone through as much heartache as anyone else, I can live with this year being a year to work up the game plan and the boys, so a real tilt at finals and flag can be made in a few years time.

I'm not an inner member of the club, or even close, so I don't get any feeling for future strategy. But I can go the distance required to get the best picks at years end in the last uncompromised draft.

We will have 30k plus members this year, and if we get the right draft picks at years end we will have even more members next year, and the game will be on!

[angryfijian 25]

Luckily for MFC I don't think we have the team to win more than 4 games - no need to tank - just keep on playing the kids (as long as they have earnt their spot).

[Guest JACKtheRIPPER]

we want freo to win this week go the dockers.

[Deeman 1,512]

IMO we are a much better team now than we were last year. We should win at least four times this year and I believe we will have a decent second half of the season. Seven wins might see us through 2009. We'll still get a decent draft pick.

[Jarka 767]

IMO we are a much better team now than we were last year. We should win at least four times this year and I believe we will have a decent second half of the season. Seven wins might see us through 2009. We'll still get a decent draft pick.

This years draft is no where near as deep as last year, the chances of getting a great player outside of the top 5 picks is doubtful.

[Pipefitter 2,168]

Seriously can we start another board where "supporters" who dont want us to win can go talk about draft picks for the next 2 years.

[dee-luded 2,959]

This years draft is no where near as deep as last year, the chances of getting a great player outside of the top 5 picks is doubtful.

Yeah, I think you would, But after the first Round, at first glance, the pickings, at this early stage, seem thin. So a pick in round 2 may be a lottery.

[Sir Why You Little 37,128]

After reading the Article in the Hun this morning i wouldn't mind Butcher & Scully in the "new Side" But at the same time if the Boys win more than 4 games playing good football i will be yelling hard for them. After Round 14 i would consider "List management" if we are down the bottom.

[CARN THE DEES! 14]

whats the point in not winning games and having players lose confidence and struggle to win games when we have the squad.

We need to develop a winning culture, im not and i don't think the coaching staff or the board are worried about draft picks. I mean its Round 6, lets just worry about playing football atm!!

[Roost It 1,434]

whats the point in not winning games and having players lose confidence and struggle to win games when we have the squad.

We need to develop a winning culture, im not and i don't think the coaching staff or the board are worried about draft picks. I mean its Round 6, lets just worry about playing football atm!!

There is no way the club intends to win more than 4 games. The lure of the top 2 picks in the last untainted draft would be at the forefront of future planning. Butcher and Watts could well be the the saviour of our club from both a winning games perspective and also marketing and attracting a better draw. Without Franklin Hawthorn would be minus a premeirship and 10,000 members less. You do the math!

[cooko 124]

we want freo to win this week go the dockers.

dont we want west coast to win? if west coast some how get under 5 wins this season they also get a priority pick ..which would lower our 2nd PP... if that makes sense?

Then again I think west coast will easily get 3 more wins to make 5 this season and freo does suck bad this year so they might steal last place from us!

[two sheds jackson 3]

If we have five meaningful wins this year I wont be upset. As an extreme example, lets say we beat the Hawks, the Saints and Geelong (twice) for the remainder of the year. We'd miss out on pick 1 and 2, but those wins would have immeasurable value for the kids development, and would be a sign that the list is improving quicker than expected. Obviously that scenario wont happen, but you get the point. If we win matches against good opposition, it will instill some confidence into a young list as well as being an indicator of meaningful improvement.

Now people might read this, and point to our 2007 wins against the Bulldogs and Carlton (which cost us pick 1 and 2 in last years draft) as "proof" that victories, when you wont make the 8, are meaningless. The big difference here is that in 07, our senior players got us over the line in those two games. Those senior players are gone now, and if we win five or more games this year it'll be on the back of some great performances from our younger guys.

I'm probably in the same boat as Why You Little; when we start to push into the second half of the season, if we've won three games or less, I might want to start seeing a few players "pull up sore". At this stage, there is not even a part of me that hopes for anything less than a win each week.

[MadAsHell 4,215]

IMO we are a much better team now than we were last year. We should win at least four times this year and I believe we will have a decent second half of the season. Seven wins might see us through 2009. We'll still get a decent draft pick.

I agree with what you say however I would have thought that'd we could only win 6 games at best. It will come down to some of those 50/50 games such as Essendon in round 12 and when we play Richmond again later in the year. End of the day if we win 4 and are able to get Scully and Butcher that will be great for our future. If we win 5 or 6 at least we know the sides already showing a decent improvement after just one year. I still think it's very early though. Well see where we are in 10 weeks time.

[Roost It 1,434]

If we win matches against good opposition, it will instill some confidence into a young list as well as being an indicator of meaningful improvement.

What will install confidence is players knowing that teammates such as Newton will be replaced by the likes of John Butcher and the grunts in the middle can dish off to players such as Tom Scully. Great players instill confidence in their teammates and we don't have enough of them, if any

[two sheds jackson 3]

I dont think anyone is arguing that picks 1 and 2 wouldnt be good. What I'm saying is that if we win five or more games against good opposition, it will be a reflection that our list is significantly improving; in fact it can probably only happen if we do have great players coming through.

Of course I see the value in pick 1 and 2. That doesn't mean I'm about join the "OMGz loze at all costs, srlsly!!!1!~~" camp this early in the season. Alot of footy fans lose the plot sometimes, and start wanting to see their team play poorly for consecutive years, so that they rack up draft picks, so that one day they might improve, instead of wanting to see, you know, actual improvement from year to year. Hawthorn didn't win a flag by racking up draft picks; they spent two years down the bottom, then finished 11th, then made the 8, then won the flag. While I'd gladly take pick one and two, I'd be happy to see meaningful improvement this year, possibly even if it comes at the expense of the first two picks.

[LITTLE STINGA 1]

If we overacheive and win more than 5 games I will be shattered. Beating Carlton has ended up being disasterous we can't do the same mistake again.

[Real Demon 232]

I don't want to see us lose games, but from a long term point of view, we are lacking a genuine A grade midfielder. I don't know if Scully is the one, but it's our last chance for a while to land a genuine top pick.

Is 1 or 2 extra wins really going to make a difference to the psyche and development of a young team?

I doubt it. Bringing in more young guns that are used to winning could be just as beneficial.

It doesn't really matter what we want as supporters anyway..........what we end up with is ultmately up to the current players.

I'd say they've got 10-12 weeks to win as many as they can, then it's "list management" time.

If the opportunity arises later in the year to secure the top 2 picks, the club won't make the same mistake as last time.

With senior players coming back in, and youngsters continuing to improve, I think there's a very good chance we will get over 5 wins for the year.

Time will tell.

[Bring-Back-Powell 14,939]

Winning 5 games this year would be nearly as bad as being 5 million in debt. The club would be negligent in passing up the opportunity to get picks 1 and 2 in the last 'legit' draft.

[spurs-r-us 0]

I've always been a huge sceptic of tanking, but...PLEASE Melbourne do it for the future of our club!!

Its been 45 years since our last Premiership and 9 since our last Grand Final appearance, this chance is too good to miss! Had we not given Carlton what they wanted we could have ended up with Judd who ended up finding the lure of playing with future stars Murphy, Gibbs, Kreuzer and more attractive then his boyhood club, and of course Natanui AND Watts; imagine if right now we had both a future forward star and a ruckman with a F***ing vertical leap!

I'm already drooling over Watts/Butcher and think it could/WILL be as good or better than the Neitz/Robertson combo when they were both playing their best footy. I don't know too much about Scully but from what I've read he's given up his teenage years to get into the AFL and is an elite midfielder in the '2001 4 draftees' (Judd, Ball, Hodge, Bartel) ilk

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

I always kind of thought if we WERE going to win 3 or 4, it would be at the start of the year, due to our young guys running out of legs. If we get to round 8, or even 11 or 12 and we've won 2 I think we should end up with the PP.

[Hannabal 4]

Obviously players don't tank and clubs can't start orchestrating losses at round 6, but if we're within reach of a PP by round 13 it is incumbent on the club to do everything possible to ensure we make the best decisions for the long-term betterment of the list.

It would be very Melbourne to end up with 5 wins. It'd make me sick.

[stevenDEMON 0]

The supporters and media will be [censored] if we win 5 games this year.

If we beat tigers twice westcoast once fremantle once and one more win, who will be happy with that?

It is great that some people on this forum are passionate enough to want us to win no mater what it costs us, but in reality we have to look to the future and find the best talent in the land. 1 top draft pick is good, but 2 is gold. Even the write up about Scully will have most people drooling, add another forward (Butcher) and we will have the makings of a competitive side.

Now if we win 8 to 10 games its a different story, everyone would be happy for that and not care as much about the draft picks.

Try to think of this time next year. If we are in the same position next year with 1 win after 5 rounds and we had won 5 games the year before then people we be calling for heads to roll, due to the fact that we wont have improved. This is our last chance, we have to take it.

One last thing. I can see why people say it is good for the younger boys to get the wins for confidence, but where did the win against the blues in round 22 get them? All we hear now from that game was that we should have lost it, not that the younger boys really grew up through winning the match.

[bush demon 2,062]

Wacking a bit of futurology into the prognostications, i would say that the draft system is coming to an end in its present form, and that we may be one of the last beneficiaries. the present system creates too much of a gap between the bottom three or four and the top three or four. It means if you are stuck in the middle lane of traffic (ie have got a good coach, administration and play with desperation each week) you never get a chance at the top pickings. this makes the middle of the ladder the new bottom. in recent times carlton, hawthorn, stkilda and footscray have just shot up the ladder. teams like fitzroy, south, collingwood and north on the other hand may well be locked into the 'almost good enough' category for years. i was wondering whether a lottery system which distributes the largesse more randomly would be a better way to go. it would certainly scale back the tanking.

[Je Roos Salem 661]

Can everyone stop talking about the future?

We can't spend a whole year talking about the future of the club- when we have games to play.

I would MUCH rather win games of footy than think about any draft pick at the moment.

I don't want the club to win 4 wins or less, I want the club to win as many games as possible- and then think about draft picks when the season has finished.

I'd be happier with 5 wins than 4 wins at the end of the season.

[e25 5]

The "We need to develop a winning culture" argument is utter cr@p.

In no circumstances should losing be acceptable, but have a look at Geelong's record before they went on a 45-2 tear. Or look at Hawthorn the years it got its priority picks and built its list.

Didn't seem to hurt them.

In fact, I think losing and losing badly plays an integral role in fostering a killer instinct.

Having been through the experience of having other teams step on your throat is what will teach our young players to cherish the chance to inflict pain in the future.

There's few things better than hearing one of your players say:

".. I remember them doing it to us just a few years ago, so I have no sympathy; I take great pleasure in comprehensively flogging the <insert team name here>..."

(preferably the filth)