MUST BE DROPPED. I don't care if he is captain he has been shocking all year time for him to hang up the boots the game has gone past him he can't get near the ball, his tackling has been ordinary and all he does is fumble and he can't tag and if McLean wants to be captain he is going the right way about it cause he is playing just as bad as his captain he has clearly been our most dissappointing player this season.

McDonald has been a good contributor for the club over many years, but he was always going to struggle this year due to his age. His appointment also higlighted our problems with leadership. It's going to be difficult to manage him for the rest of the year as he is fast becoming a liability.

his tackling has been ordinary and all he does is fumble and he can't tag and if McLean wants to be captain he is going the right way about it cause he is playing just as bad as his captain he has clearly been our most dissappointing player this season.

woah dude, take a breath

had his knee heavily bandaged which im guess he was playing injured? why? i was really hoping bennell was gunna replace him today but hey looks like brad dick had the last laugh...

I reckon he carried a knee injury into the game. If he wasn't captain he probably would have been rested. Showed some good leadership and absolutely loved the hip and shoulder on Swan, but overall had a very poor game.

He's set for retirement, is a fantastic leader on and especially off the field, and we're currently sitting on one win.

Let him play out the year and leave the game with the dignity and respect that he so richly deserves.

Dropping him is not going to help us achieve success, and it certainly won't sit well with the players.

Did you read the article on Sylvia? It gave an interesting insight into McDonald as a captain. The little note that when he was down and things didn't seem to be working, the captain called him up out of the blue and told him that he was doing the right things and it would click for him. That raised my opinion of him as a captain through the roof.

had his knee heavily bandaged which im guess he was playing injured? why? i was really hoping bennell was gunna replace him today but hey looks like brad dick had the last laugh...

Probably just had to get through this one then a week off to get it right. Lets way his efforts up later in the second half on this season.

My dear old grandfather has much more sense than most of the posters on this forum.

As he said today, McDonald was given the captaincy for his last year, this year. His spot, and contribution to the MFC, should continue to be respected for the last 11 games of his career.

It comes down to what sort of situation we are in. Are we playing him because we want to play him or because we have to play him or because we think we should play him as he is captain? It is hard to know what the inner sanctom at the club are thinking at this stage.

We are in quite a predicament where there are apparently no real obvious young players who are pushing for spots in the midfield. I think we should use McDonald purely for rotation depth for the remainder of the year and put a few (admittedly raw) kids in the middle while he is still there as back up. Grimes, Jetta and Bennell are all underdeveloped but they are examples of young players who could get a bit more game time in the middle whilst we still have the likes of McDonald to rotate with them. If we wait until next year it makes things much harder IMO. At the end of the day, there have been first year draft picks thrown in the middle by other teams for almost entire seasons, Palmer last year, Rich this year. I realise that they were more developed physically but half the season has already gone and we have to make every last game this year count.

Did you read the article on Sylvia? It gave an interesting insight into McDonald as a captain. The little note that when he was down and things didn't seem to be working, the captain called him up out of the blue and told him that he was doing the right things and it would click for him. That raised my opinion of him as a captain through the roof.

McDonald is a brilliant captain, he has the respect of all the players, coaching staff and everyone associated with the club. He is a true leader. He's won two best and fairest awards, he's the only AA on our list and he has represented our club with distinction.

I believe Junior comfortably earns his spot in the team but what many overlook is that the role of Captain is more about what happens off field than on it.

RalphiusMaximus is spot on with his comment.

McDonald is a brilliant captain, he has the respect of all the players, coaching staff and everyone associated with the club. He is a true leader. He's won two best and fairest awards, he's the only AA on our list and he has represented our club with distinction.

I believe Junior comfortably earns his spot in the team but what many overlook is that the role of Captain is more about what happens off field than on it.

RalphiusMaximus is spot on with his comment.

In most other team sports I may agree with you, using Mark Taylor towards the end of his career as an example. However, in AFL you can't have any passengers, and unfortunately McDonald was one of them on the weekend. He may be a great bloke and a fine leader but he still needs to lead on the ground, in fact this year we need him to do it more than ever to provide an example to the kids.

I'm sick of this attitude from Melbourne fans that just because he's a good bloke means he deserves game time when clearly he's not up to it, regardless of the reason. If he is injured then give him two or three weeks break to get over it, bring him back when he's ready.

had his knee heavily bandaged which im guess he was playing injured? why? i was really hoping bennell was gunna replace him today but hey looks like brad dick had the last laugh...

I thought Dunn might have come in for him. McDonald, for all Queens birthday clash intentions, should not have played IMO. Yesterday he was a shadow of his former self, clearly struggled with his knee and the pace. The football to him yesterday resembled a bar of soap. As it did for several others.

I'm sick of this attitude from Melbourne fans that just because he's a good bloke means he deserves game time when clearly he's not up to it, regardless of the reason. If he is injured then give him two or three weeks break to get over it, bring him back when he's ready.

Have to agree with you here. If he wasn't captain, he wouldn't be playing, and there would be a lot less hesitation in admitting that.

It looked like he was hampered by his knee yesterday. If he was, then he shouldn't have played. If he wasn't, then it just futher enhances the argument that he's no longer up to AFL football.

None of that changes the fact that he's been a fantastic servant of the club and that his off-field leadership is probably top notch. But at the moment, his on-field leadership is being reduced by his inability to influence matches.

I thought Dunn might have come in for him. McDonald, for all Queens birthday clash intentions, should not have played IMO. Yesterday he was a shadow of his former self, clearly struggled with his knee and the pace. The football to him yesterday resembled a bar of soap. As it did for several others.

Hmm. Not sure Dunn for McDonald is that much of an improvement HT...

Hmm. Not sure Dunn for McDonald is that much of an improvement HT...

I thought he was under some cloud all last week. Bartram could have been another alternative. Dunn played well the previous week at Casey. Might not have been much of an improvement, but at least we would have had 22 fit players yesterday take to the ground.

In most other team sports I may agree with you, using Mark Taylor towards the end of his career as an example. However, in AFL you can't have any passengers, and unfortunately McDonald was one of them on the weekend. He may be a great bloke and a fine leader but he still needs to lead on the ground, in fact this year we need him to do it more than ever to provide an example to the kids.

I'm sick of this attitude from Melbourne fans that just because he's a good bloke means he deserves game time when clearly he's not up to it, regardless of the reason. If he is injured then give him two or three weeks break to get over it, bring him back when he's ready.

good post. Totally agree. I watched junior closely yesterday, he is not the player he was. He has had a very good go, and should be given a few weeks off.

good post. Totally agree. I watched junior closely yesterday, he is not the player he was. He has had a very good go, and should be given a few weeks off.

Yep, fair enough, I'm happy to be on my own on this. I believe Junior is comfortably good enough to have a spot in the team. He was poor yesterday and clearly played injured. I won't judge him solely on that performance but look at his season to date and make my judgement on that.

I agree he should not play injured and whether it was the match committee or his call it was not a good one.

BTW Jarka, I never said he was "a good bloke". I said he had everyone's respect, a very different thing. Junior is an exceptional leader and that is worth a great deal. His contribution will benefit our club well after he leaves.

Yep, fair enough, I'm happy to be on my own on this. I believe Junior is comfortably good enough to have a spot in the team. He was poor yesterday and clearly played injured. I won't judge him solely on that performance but look at his season to date and make my judgement on that.

I agree he should not play injured and whether it was the match committee or his call it was not a good one.

BTW Jarka, I never said he was "a good bloke". I said he had everyone's respect, a very different thing. Junior is an exceptional leader and that is worth a great deal. His contribution will benefit our club well after he leaves.

As an under performing senior player I'd take him out of the team for a couple of weeks with a knee strain. We need to look at the kids who want his spot so give him a rest and let him play out the last 7 or 8 games and then retire. I for one will thank him for being a tireless servant of the club and a fine captain.

As an under performing senior player I'd take him out of the team for a couple of weeks with a knee strain. We need to look at the kids who want his spot so give him a rest and let him play out the last 7 or 8 games and then retire. I for one will thank him for being a tireless servant of the club and a fine captain.

And take Bambi with him.........

And take Bambi with him.........

I don't get it

I don't get it

McLean.......the love child of a lot of posters.

I will go out on a limb here and say that all that are being critical of our captain are wrong.

The fact is he is the captain and for a reason. He did not get the job by default. If he believes he is fit then he plays simple. What may happen at the end of the season will happen at the end of the season. We could do a lot worse then JMac as C ATM IMO.

then there was that bump on swan. He had just run around another snr player, and jnr player who both laid less then satisfactory efforts and then along came macca. About the only good memory out of the whole day. Where was the rush to congratulate him? only a couple made the effort which is reflective of our team at the moment. If every player made an effort like that yesterday who knows what may have happened. We have a few passengers at the moment both snr and young players JMAC is not one.

McDonald is a brilliant captain, he has the respect of all the players, coaching staff and everyone associated with the club. He is a true leader. He's won two best and fairest awards, he's the only AA on our list and he has represented our club with distinction.

I believe Junior comfortably earns his spot in the team but what many overlook is that the role of Captain is more about what happens off field than on it.

RalphiusMaximus is spot on with his comment.

and who respects us us a club at the moment

McDonald is a brilliant captain, he has the respect of all the players, coaching staff and everyone associated with the club. He is a true leader. He's won two best and fairest awards, he's the only AA on our list and he has represented our club with distinction.

Stop looking into the past. He is no where near the player he once was. He is only in the team on reputation it doesn't send a good messege to the youngsters that the older players don't need to perform this is what has got us into this mess. Our leadership group is a disgrace I don't know what they are doing off the field but on it they are showing no leadership. Play players on form not past glorys.

Junior has been a great player for our club for a long time, & shall always be highly regarded. BUT the Game has overtaken him this year & i think he should retire now, as i do not want to see him play badly. He is now brushed aside by opponents & his kicking often does not hit targets putting defenders under pressure. As if they are not under enough pressure already!!

Collingwoods overall age was 5 years younger than ours!! Amazingly But it was us who was running around headless for 3 Quarters, while other players like Junior were unsighted.

James Mac should be sitting in the Box with Dean Bailey. We need him, but his time on the Turf is over.

My opinion...........