This topic keeps raising its head so I feel it is time for a open and frank discussion on what supporteres feel with regards to our performance so far

With the Odds on Melbourne winning another Wooden spoon getting worse 18-1 I last heard

What is your opinion

Are you happy?

Do you feel we are heading in the right direction?

Do you feel the on field performance so far lives up to your expectations

And how do you feel about the way the players and the coach have performed to date?

Personally I believe we could have done better even if only slightly

Some of our performences have certainly been lacking

Others have shown that we can match it on certain occassions with some of the contenders

We certainly need a key forward target and I cant wait for Liam to get back

Watts is a work in progress and as long as he keeps trying to improve and he doesnt loose confidence in himself then they should perserver but certainly not to his detriment, (that is purley up to the coaches of course)

Our Mid field can certainly turn it on but consistency is the issue here.

Our Backline is solid but needs more support from the midfield

Coaching at times leaves you wondering at other times they seem to get it right

The problem is it is "Soooo Frustrating as I believe they can do better "

I still have faith that we are heading in the right direction but there will be some hard decisions still to be taken and I hope the MFC is up to it.

I'd say we are slightly below par for the season so far. Looking at the remaining games we have to play, we probably have a shot at four more wins, and that will be dependent on us playing well and possibly other teams playing badly. Assuming our fluctuating form continues, I would say expect to get two of them. Going by that we will wind up with 6 wins and a draw for the season. I don't think I was alone in hoping for 9 or so for this year. Admittedly we have been robbed of a couple of very big wins over the dogs and the pies, but these were not games we could have realistically factored into our calculations at the start of the season, so I don't see how they can be used as an excuse.

That being said, there is still an opportunity to pull it together and end the season with a bang. We have upcoming games against Bombers, Sydney, Brisbane, Richmond and Port. All of these are very winnable, although we'll need to do better on the road. At the start of the season I said that I expected the team to drastically improve in the second half as the new players really clicked and found their place in the team structure. I based this on the fast finish of West Coast last year. They have nothing near the list we do, but were knocking off some very good teams at the end of the year. If we were to finally get some consistent form, it is entirely possible to finish the year with another five wins on the board. If that were to happen, a huge pass mark.

We have shown Glimpses of great improvement-Brisbane Game. But the Follow up games to Good Performances have been woeful-As in Game over 5 minutes into the first Q. That is the Biggest Worry.

If Dean Bailey & his crew, along with jimmy & his crew can fix this "attitude" problem, because that is what it is. We treat a big Game as a GF, Have for years, The Following week we have nothing left.

Until we treat all games as merely 4 points in a season of 22 games then we will struggle,

I really feel like Melbourne are going backwards. I find it incredibly frustrating watching Richmond, who turned over an enormous number of players, playing good competitive footy, and yet we are 2 1/2 years into a rebuild and don't seem to be progressing. North Melbourne the same. Maybe it's just disappointment with the last quarter at the moment.

I really feel like Melbourne are going backwards. I find it incredibly frustrating watching Richmond, who turned over an enormous number of players, playing good competitive footy, and yet we are 2 1/2 years into a rebuild and don't seem to be progressing. North Melbourne the same. Maybe it's just disappointment with the last quarter at the moment.

We are going down the drain. Hate to say it but Bailey is like Rudd, all spin. Hasn't got a clue about coaching.

We have shown Glimpses of great improvement-Brisbane Game. But the Follow up games to Good Performances have been woeful-As in Game over 5 minutes into the first Q. That is the Biggest Worry.

If Dean Bailey & his crew, along with jimmy & his crew can fix this "attitude" problem, because that is what it is. We treat a big Game as a GF, Have for years, The Following week we have nothing left.

Until we treat all games as merely 4 points in a season of 22 games then we will struggle,

No. Until we treat all games as a Grand Final we will struggle. We should be able to produce that intensity every week, not just on the odd occasion.

unless MFC get more games into the babies (young players) I will not be happy... Hate to speak too soon but the losses have been better (if you can put it that way) compared to the last 2 years.

There performance thus far is about even par. Some great performances. Some shockers. But the improvement is there.

I really feel like Melbourne are going backwards. I find it incredibly frustrating watching Richmond, who turned over an enormous number of players, playing good competitive footy, and yet we are 2 1/2 years into a rebuild and don't seem to be progressing. North Melbourne the same. Maybe it's just disappointment with the last quarter at the moment.

We can't control what Richmond or North are doing so there is no point beating yourself up over how they're playing.

I completely disagree with you. Melbourne today at times looked like they were going to get blown out of the water and they were able to fight their way back into the game with pressure and intensity at the contest. They were beaten by a class team who in the end, were able to better execute their game plan when it matters. Yes it was disappointing to have so few inside 50's in the last quarter but that was the St Kilda strangle hold. Aside from that i think they showed improvement and good fight.

We are going down the drain. Hate to say it but Bailey is like Rudd, all spin. Hasn't got a clue about coaching.

Stupid comment.

With the exception of Jamar, I am not sure if any of our listed players from 2009 have made any significant improvement or shown that they will be better than honest players.

Petterd has shown glimpses but his injuries or the threat of GC, don't give much hope.

Grimes, Jones and Bate battle on. Morton and Sylvia have stalled due to injury but another lost year suggest they will be honest not very good.

Even the coaching staff other than Wellman have not improved.

All we really have is a lot of hype from the Ringling bros (Connolly and Schwab) - who have to talk it up otherwise its their job.

Win against the bombers or get the wooden spoon again.

With the exception of Jamar, I am not sure if any of our listed players from 2009 have made any significant improvement or shown that they will be better than honest players.

Petterd has shown glimpses but his injuries or the threat of GC, don't give much hope.

Grimes, Jones and Bate battle on. Morton and Sylvia have stalled due to injury but another lost year suggest they will be honest not very good.

Even the coaching staff other than Wellman have not improved.

All we really have is a lot of hype from the Ringling bros (Connolly and Schwab) - who have to talk it up otherwise its their job.

Win against the bombers or get the wooden spoon again.

It's very easy to feel that way when we're 14th and losing games. All our players are spuds, none are improving, none are capable of reaching the heights we hoped they could, our coaches are clueless.

However the truth is that this was never going to be our season. 15 players under 23 years old playing today. Lots of inexperience. many of our most promising youngsters have played less than 20 games.

As Scully, Trengove, Watts, Jurrah, McKenzie, Frawley and Garland improve, Sylvia, Bate and Morton will start to look better and the coaching staff will suddenly become genuises.

how can anyone possibly be happy when we are close to winning our third spoon

need to finish the year with some wins and good stories

While we have alot of room for improvement, we have had three games where we have missed out on the win at the last gasp. The way the ladder is you could basically put the bottom 8 (arguably 9) in the same bucket. Had we taken the additional 4 points against either the Pies or Dogs we would be on 22 points and sitting 10th and posters would be naively talking about number of wins for the finals.

And I would still rather be in our shoes than in any other side position in the bottom 8. Keep the strength.

This season has gone pretty much as I expected.

Unexpected wins (Brisbane at the G, Port in Darwin) and..

Terrible losses (West Coast, Adelaide).

We were not disgraced against last years Grand Finalists. Against Geelong we were sapped after the match in Darwin. We`ve barely won a game in 20 yrs down there, so I thought it was not too bad despite looking very tired towards the end of the match as you`d expect. Today, we were pretty good for 3 quarters against last years runners up who beat Geelong fairly comfortably just last week. We were however terribly outclassed in the last quarter, not exactly unexpected IMO.

We should have had 3 wins against 2 other Top 4 aspirants. Fair effort that! We may well win another game we didn`t expect to win later this year, and may even lose games we thought we`d win.

It`s exactly what you`d expect to see from a team that has won 2 spoons in a row, that is slowly gaining some respect on it`s way back up the ladder.

I also think we are a massive chance against Essendon next week if we get our skipper back(has been sadly missed the past 2 matches), Sylvia and Morton (after a reality check).

I also still think we are a chance to be challenging for 8th spot next year.

We are 1/2 a game and 14% ahead of where we finished last year. And the season hasn't finished.....

The percentage is the critical measure, showing how much better we are both defensively and offensively together.

No 100 point losses.

Just not getting those wins which were within grasp.

8+ wins this year would be the benchmark....but the disappointing thing will be when we see just how little extra was required to get a finals berth!

No. Until we treat all games as a Grand Final we will struggle. We should be able to produce that intensity every week, not just on the odd occasion.

But that can never Happen. The Reguiar season should be treated as 22 games of equal 4 points. If you Win Great-If you lose, not good enough and why?

The Finals should all be treated like GF's. That's the time to excell. The Home & away is the time for work. We as a club have always struggled with playing 22 rounds as long as i have supported the club.

But that can never Happen. The Reguiar season should be treated as 22 games of equal 4 points. If you Win Great-If you lose, not good enough and why?

The Finals should all be treated like GF's. That's the time to excell. The Home & away is the time for work. We as a club have always struggled with playing 22 rounds as long as i have supported the club.

After our abysmal efforts in round one I thought about the prospects of another wooden spoon. We then had a bit of a resurgence and postivity creeping back into the club/supporters. My fear is that a long season will start to play against our young list and this will be exacerbated by injuries to key players like Junior and Sylvia. I am trying to be positive, but just hope our long suffering supporters can be given a few more signs of a light at the end of the tunnel.

The lows are still too low for me. I reckon we should be past putting in performances as bad as the Hawthorn, West Coast and Adelaide matches.

And we still haven't worked out how to start matches and quarters.

But how many other botom 8 teams could push Collingwood to the line twice, almost pip the Dogs, and match it with St Kilda for 2 and a bit quarters?

The lows are still too low for me. I reckon we should be past putting in performances as bad as the Hawthorn, West Coast and Adelaide matches.

And we still haven't worked out how to start matches and quarters.

But how many other botom 8 teams could push Collingwood to the line twice, almost pip the Dogs, and match it with St Kilda for 2 and a bit quarters?

Andrew Gaff would be a good addition to the midfield though. We need to give the younger players time to take over. As soon as Moloney/Davey etc struggle we seem to loose and they haven't been able to have consistant positive performances lately (bar QB clash).