What the hell is going on with our lack of clearances from stoppages and centre bounces lately, it is really embarrasing. The lions just got it away from the centre so easily. Seeing we were getting smashed I would have thought they would go man on man.

Either Bailey has no idea how to nulify the other teams stoppages or the players are not listening. Either way it does not say much for Bailey.

Or the midfield coach who i dare say would have a fair say in where they set up.

Scott west would be involved, wouldnt he

Numbers to the contest, it is very simple. Our players either couldn't or wouldn't get numbers around the ball. Run harder.

A bit may come down to us not having a genuine ruckman being able to tap it to advantage, or at best a 50-50 contest

Has nothing to do with the ruckman. Look at Sandi. Wins the tap every bounce and yet freo rarely have a center clearance. It's positioning of midfielders. They are also too slow to react. No structure or plan either.

Has nothing to do with the ruckman. Look at Sandi. Wins the tap every bounce and yet freo rarely have a center clearance. It's positioning of midfielders. They are also too slow to react. No structure or plan either.

They are actually ranked 5th in the league for clearances according to this

if you look at the bottom teams for clearances, they are the ones without dominant tap ruckma - Melbourne, Essendon, Brisbane

They are actually ranked 5th in the league for clearances according to this

if you look at the bottom teams for clearances, they are the ones without dominant tap ruckma - Melbourne, Essendon, Brisbane

My bad, i remember reading something regarding the amount of hitouts he wins compared to the number of clearances they get. So my mistake. But I still think it has less to do with the ruckman and more to do with the strategy.

My bad, i remember reading something regarding the amount of hitouts he wins compared to the number of clearances they get. So my mistake. But I still think it has less to do with the ruckman and more to do with the strategy.

I think you're right, there was something about that last year, where he won stupid amount of hit-outs yet the mids couldn't get a touch.

The strategy is an interesting one too, when you consider Scott West, who was an out and out gun at clearances, is in there helping the club

We lack pace, commitment, talent, passion, hope and any other superlative you may choose....watching paint dry in winter sounds more appealing than witnessing Melbourne's insipid efforts in 2009.....will another 45 years go by without a premiership?

We lack pace, commitment, talent, passion, hope and any other superlative you may choose....watching paint dry in winter sounds more appealing than witnessing Melbourne's insipid efforts in 2009.....will another 45 years go by without a premiership?

You're a ray of f#$%*# sunshine aren't you.

Things will improve no doubt - off field we have got our act together and on field improvements will come - there's no doubt about that.