I think Bailey and Co did what they could to make sure we didn't give ourselves the best chance to win.

For example Davey deep forward instead of setting up the play, Grimes deep in defence instead of setting up the play. Took Jurrah off at key moments, same with Jamar.

At the end of the day, our bloody players decided to pull a victory out of their arse and Port were absolutely pathetic, particularly in the first quarter. They were unaccountable and loose and our players capitalised.

I hate feeling annoyed when we've just won two games in a row, but seriously this is a very costly victory. I can't see us not winning another two when we still play Freo, Richmond and North.

A big big tanking effort is required now, and I hope we've got the balls to do it.

To miss out on PP and especially to miss out on Scully, will be a disaster!

OH, SHIET

How can you actually go out there and lose? We will still get at the very least a Top 3 pick which will still land us a gun midfielder. Didn't help that Port were absolute shite today either, when the other team doesn't show up there isn't much we can do about it.

I agree with this... Sort of. I'm not BLAMING anyone for winning the game. I'm just [censored] that we play like carp for the whole year, get into a position where we can't make finals by about round 6, then from there we end up winning nothing games...

You can't blame Bailey, or the players. If they end up winning 6 games it will be because they were too good to win any less. Nothing wrong with that, but it still hurts our future.

As Jarka said earlier... We need a midfield, and Scully would be only the first name on the shopping list.

After al, if we ever come into GF contention again, it won't be playing against sides like the one that turned up today in P.A. jumpers.

Will end up like this -

14. Melbourne

15. Richmond

16. Freo

We'll beat Freo, so losses to Carlton, Richmond and the like are neccesary as pathetic as it sounds.

Will end up like this -

14. Melbourne

15. Richmond

16. Freo

OH SHIET!!!

I hate the AFL - I almost feel like we've lost a game that has cost us top 4.

That's exactly how I feel. I feel like I've been utterly robbed of the best young gun in the country. At the same time, I also feel as if I have been utterly robbed of the joy of winning two in a row and have some other bunch of schmucks hit the blunt end of the ladder. A double hit, after what in reality was an excellent win. This system blows.

Like dancing with your sister...

Like dancing with the grim reaper, we could be building a base to be a powerside of the future, but yet now we could miss the advantages designed to help battling clubs, & could still find in years to come we are still fighting to survive. r relocatewith a different name.

2 more wins will not only see us lose the pp but we could end up with with pick 5 the way north wc and richmond are going. At least next year ill save money not buying a membership.

Believe me when I say you're not deserving of a membership if that's your attitude

This thread, and it's misguided bollocks that number one draft picks win premierships is mind-numbingly irritating.

Scully will be crying himself to sleep tonight,hes off to freo, poor kid,fancy giving the first 2 picks up for the second time in 3yrs,there and extremely smart club, baileys lost me, hes another mark riley.

We just beat an experienced, hardened team whos Finals aspirations were on the line.

We were lead by kids like Jurrah, Petterd, Jetta, Frawley, Grimes and Morton.

Sook all you want about priority picks at the moment.

But realize one thing - the season isn't over you idiots.

We could easily still end up with pick 1, so for now just STFU.

it seems that the club has stopped developing for the future and going for junk time wins

We won the game with Petterd and Jurrah kicking 4 each! They've played 23 and 4 games respectively.

So, let me get this right, we need to play a load of young kids to make sure we don't win but we've got to make sure we send out the right ones in case they end up winning you the game. I think I get it now - easy! And you're suggesting we should be playing Bennell more. He's missed only two games all year!

Why don't you have a little holiday from your computer before you lose all credibility. I didn't want to win either but venting your frustration with incoherent drivel is going to help.

Aren't we all getting a bit beyond ourselves. There are still 7 rounds to go of those only two are possibilities - Richmond and Fremantle. North played well today and Richmond are playing better so the game which will be the most important to lose is Fremantle at the MCG. I still believe it will come down to percentage and we will see some of the players out with "soreness" etc. I hated sitting there today hoping that we would lose by a point but for long term gain short term pain.

I'm proud of our team today, they played a great game and beat a pretty good side who thrashed them earlier in the year. However, they couldn't have picked a worse time to find some form. We now need to have a very hard look at the remaining fixtures and find a way to get that no. 1 pick. I honestly think that Richmond will beat us, but Fremantle could be a very big problem.

While I can understand everyone's passion here for tanking, a bit of positivity would be good from time to time. Look at today - the way Jurrah played, the way the backline is continuing to work together, even Jamar had another good game. I've been supporting Melbourne for 25-30 years and I'll celebrate every win we have.

I do still hope we can get Scully this year, however there may be 2 things that stand in our way that we can't control even if we send players for surgery and 'rest' half the team and go out to lose.

This 2 things are the general crapness of Freemantle and the fact that Richmond are pretty much worse than us this year.

Look at the positives - we're still likely to get a top 5 pick this year and who knows what will happen. Players like Jurrah, Watts, Bleese and Strauss (who haven't played at all this year) will have another pre-season of development. I guess I'm an eternal optimist but I don't reckon it's all doom and gloom.

Calm down people, we haven't won 5 yet. I've said since the start of the year that the ideal finish would be off the bottom with 4 wins and I still think thats the aim. Picks 1&3 or 1&4 would be fine with me, still leaves us with Scully and a Trengove, Lucas, Morabito or even Rohan.

We'll know how ruthless the club is over the next few weeks. Five wins will be diabolical.

Unless of course you're a supporter that is satisfied not seeing another flag any time soon. And yes, amazingly it's not the be all and end all for many of you.

This thread, and it's misguided bollocks that number one draft picks win premierships is mind-numbingly irritating.

Agreed.

Scully looks an outstanding prospect who I'd love to have at the MFC but he wont be the difference. The next best player in Trevgrove has been equally (or close to) impressive in my opinion.

We could easily still end up with pick 1, so for now just STFU.

?????

So you think we will or you think we won't?

Does anyone seriously think we came up against a football side today? Suddenly our midfield are magic and forward-line look dangerous, but surely this has more to do with the fact the opposition had anything but the game on their minds?

Besides, Port are terrible against us at the G. It's like a 10 goal worse side compared to when they're at home. I rate the games of Bruce (no shock there, he's one of our best) Green and the other older wise heads as that's what they've always done... but of the kids only really Jones, Jurrah and Petterd gave us genuine cause for future optimism. The others were playing on nothing. It's like how many sang the praises of our last quarters in the "month from hell" a couple of rounds back. Scoring goals when the opposition have gone to bed means nothing. In this case the opposition went to bed at the start of the game.

While I can understand everyone's passion here for tanking, a bit of positivity would be good from time to time. Look at today - the way Jurrah played, the way the backline is continuing to work together, even Jamar had another good game. I've been supporting Melbourne for 25-30 years and I'll celebrate every win we have.

I do still hope we can get Scully this year, however there may be 2 things that stand in our way that we can't control even if we send players for surgery and 'rest' half the team and go out to lose.

This 2 things are the general crapness of Freemantle and the fact that Richmond are pretty much worse than us this year.

Look at the positives - we're still likely to get a top 5 pick this year and who knows what will happen. Players like Jurrah, Watts, Bleese and Strauss (who haven't played at all this year) will have another pre-season of development. I guess I'm an eternal optimist but I don't reckon it's all doom and gloom.

It will be if we don't get SCULLY

How can you actually go out there and lose? We will still get at the very least a Top 3 pick which will still land us a gun midfielder. Didn't help that Port were absolute shite today either, when the other team doesn't show up there isn't much we can do about it.

Agree Wiseblood.

If the footy department came out and dumped Davey, Robertson, Frawley and Mclean with 'general soreness', we truly would have been the laughing stock of the competition. In light of Stynes' battle, it was never going to be that way.

For what it's worth, I fully expect to beat Fremantle, but I wouldn't be at all surprised if we were pipped by Richmond.

I wish Demetriou could read this thread. Particularly the part where a rare Melbourne victory is called a "disgrace".

?????

So you think we will or you think we won't?

Im not Nostradamus mate, even though my game predictions are usually perfect.

There are many things that could happen.

We get pick 1 and 2.

We get pick 1 and 3.

We just get pick 1.

We get pick 2.

We get pick 3.

Who knows what will happen.

All I know is we should smash Freo at the G, so thats 4 wins The other six games, who knows what will happen.

This thread, and it's misguided bollocks that number one draft picks win premierships is mind-numbingly irritating.

Melbourne FC is a stupid club and have no planning for the future at all. Especially in the last draft before the concessions our list is leaps and bounds off the pace of the top clubs. The gap between Tom Scully and the next best in this years draft is huge, I have never felt this way when we have won, ever. I know what a difference Tom Scully would make to this football club and if we blow it like we did in 2007 I will be furious. All season I have been willing to lose 18 games so that we build a list capable of winning a premiership. Today the best player on the ground was Bruce. Bruce drove MFC to win today, where will they be in 3 years when we will supposedly be threatening for a premiership? Who will be left to take over the slack? Positives out of today were Petts and Jurrah, but to be honest Port were a rabble, especially their defence. We need gun players and we need them THIS year because if we don't, Gold Coast will come in and our list will be mediocre for a few years yet. Rant over.

Calm down people, we haven't won 5 yet. I've said since the start of the year that the ideal finish would be off the bottom with 4 wins and I still think thats the aim. Picks 1&3 or 1&4 would be fine with me, still leaves us with Scully and a Trengove, Lucas, Morabito or even Rohan.

I'm actually all for doing a Carltank and ending up 15th. We miss a spoon AND get the valuable Scully plus one other of the next 4-6, who all look like much of a muchness. I'd almost be pleased with that.

We'll know how ruthless the club is over the next few weeks. Five wins will be diabolical.

Unless of course you're a supporter that is satisfied not seeing another flag any time soon. And yes, amazingly it's not the be all and end all for many of you.

Exactly. The POINT of getting the earlier picks is that it's not enough just to improve. We have to mine every last screg of potential out of the three drafts we bottomed out in. We WILL improve, but if we do and only manage a handful of Prelims, what then? People will say (rightly so) that the win against the Blues in round 22 2007, and potentially the two more wins this season made the difference between a team with Morton, Watts and Rohan... And a team with Cotchin, Watts, Naitanui, Scully and Trengrove.

The issue is in the details.

As Godemons said to me at the G today, we always beat Port here even when we're [censored].

Nothing to be excited about by today's result. I left feeling glum.