1. Dean Bailey just has to go... this week. After such a spineless and heart wrenching performance someone needs to take responsibility and we as a club need to make a statement to the fans and members that we will not accept this anymore. I coach another sport as a profession and ive always been a big believer in the fact that my players performance reflects directly on me as i provide them with their structures and try to get their arousal at the right level for a match. If i know deep in my heart that they have the talent and ability but arent performing to their potential then i take full responsibility for that. Bails should do the honourable thing and stand down tomorrow.

2. This also reflects on Dean Bailey but our game plan is an utter joke and i could go on forever with examples of this. We have tried to adopt the Geelong gameplan from 2007- but as we all know football constantly evolves and that gameplan has now almost become obsolete. That gameplan is now so hard to execute with the modern day forward presses, rolling zones and increase in forward pressure. The increase in pressure means teams employing that tactic are more likely to make skill errors which leads to turnovers which result in easy goals on the rebound (this was evidenced in a stat i saw at one stage on T.V tonight where they had scored 8.7 from turnovers to our 0.3 i think it was) Our kicking out is appaling and clearly has not been addressed.We defend way way way too deep and constantly put our defence under extreme pressure. We constantly get smashed in the clearances and contested footy despite having a generally dominant ruckman. We apply no forward pressure at all and allow teams to rebound easily. We dont do the basics well like manning up through the middle, blocking shepherding smothering etc etc.

3. We are seriously soft not just as a playing group but as a football club- i want to see a response this week from the hierarchy that sends a clear and consice message to us members that these performances will not be tolerated again by this 'proud club'

4. West Coast are not the real deal we just made them look outstanding. They will not finish in the 8 this year. (how frustrating is it that we were being talked about coming into this year as the up and coming team yet West Coast, Essendon, Richmond etc have just rocketed past us)

5. Ive been very harsh on Jack Watts. i dont think ive seen such a big improvement in such a short space of time in any AFL player. All of a sudden he came out tonight, presented well, took some strong marks, contested, tackled, chased and was also surprisingly willing to stand up for our club and show a little bit of fight and aggression. It was i think a huge step in the right direction and lets hope this continues. Based on tonights game i would like to withdraw my comments from a few weeks ago on him not playing 100 games but lets hope it wasnt just a one off.

5. Ive been very harsh on Jack Watts. i dont think ive seen such a big improvement in such a short space of time in any AFL player. All of a sudden he came out tonight, presented well, took some strong marks, contested, tackled, chased and was also surprisingly willing to stand up for our club and show a little bit of fight and aggression. It was i think a huge step in the right direction and lets hope this continues. Based on tonights game i would like to withdraw my comments from a few weeks ago on him not playing 100 games but lets hope it wasnt just a one off.

Agree with all except #4 - unsure about that one.

A well-considered response, Gotzy. I especially agree that the hierarchy needs to make a statement - if we don't hear of one, let's hope the team is assembled behind closed doors and 'spoken to'.

Like Striker, I will withhold judgment on #4: it's difficult to say how good the Eagles were, but to me they were taller, stronger and (to my surprise) much faster than I expected. Their pressure was so impressive our boys soon began to expect a hammering, even when they had opportunities to clear. Their skill-levels -especially delivery by foot- have greatly improved.

You ARE right: WCE, Essendon (obviously) and Richmond have zoomed past us, Fremantle has continued to improve, as has Hawthorn. Geelong has recovered. But at the end of the year we will deceive ourselves with wins against Port, Gold Coast, North, Brisbane and we'll jag a couple of surprises - so we'll just miss out on the eight and delude ourselves...."next year". Always next year.

Unlike everyone else posting tonight (I was at the game), I saw nothing impressive about Watts at all. I think everyone is just comparing tonight's 'ordinary' performance with his past performances. I have the game on tape, when I have the courage, I'll review it. But I know last time he played I took special note of his performance and gave up after counting after 15 blunders, squibs and misjudgments in a row (with one uncontested mark followed by a 20m delivery in between). I agree with the Age report: Watts "showed glimpses".

What I learnt from the game is that our game plan and our players have no flexibility and just some down right stupid ideas.

1. We kick out long almost every time, and we know we are going to do it, yet the opposition have more players there.

2. We wait until the opposition are on the wing or HFF until we put pressure on them.

3. We let the opposition simply chip the ball around through our "zone" (a term I use loosely for us).

4. We dont get our hands on the ball enough.

5. Our experienced players give us sweet FA too often.

6. We bomb it long to our marking targets who are not big, strong or good enough to take pack marks.

7. The opposition do the same tactic over and over again (see Natanui at the start of every quarter, see Natanui/Cox hitting it behind to a running crumber in ball ups in the forward line for at least 3 goals) and we dont adapt or stop it.

Tonight was the first night where I really, really thought our so called game plan will get us nowhere. Geelong still do it, but they have the skill and strength to do it, we dont.

We need to pressure like the rest of the teams.

I was hoping our different tactics would help us succeed, but if they are not working, try something else.

I know we have lots of promising youngsters, but if WCE can change in 3 months, why the hell doeas it take us 4 years of redvelopment and we still get this crap.

GIVE ME 4 QUARTERS OF HARD RUNNING, HEAD OVER THE BALL, SMART FOOTBALL AND I CAN ACCEPT A LOSS, BUT THAT WAS THE WORST I HAVE SEEN.

I am glad we had Bail, Jamar, JT, Watts and Garland in the first half or it would have been a lot worse.

It is going to be a long, long year unless something drastically changes, be it the coach, the players attitudes or my not turning up and wasting what little money I have.

1. I have been fan of Dean Bailey's since he was appointed and have stuck up for him in various places among Dees fans. In a previous thread this year I said that everything is in place, now we wait and see if our coach can coach. After last night I have changed my position. His coaching tenure is now to be fully questioned and investigated. No coach should be tapping encouragement on young footballer's butts when they come through the interchange gates after performing the way we did. Shows he is accepting mediocrity.

2. Game plan.

Predictable by oppositions, but not our players.

No pressure until opposition reach wing / half forward

Kick-ins after an opposition behind is the weakest of any team in my memory

Run-and-carry requires in close skills and confidence. We lack both.

3. Yes, at times, the Dees play soft. (I hate typing that about my beloved red and blue!!) Morton, Bennell and last night Frawley.

4. WCE are being coached by a premiership winning coach and are now on the rise again. We are down among GFC, Lions, North, PA.

5. Jack Watts is a gun. Hellcyonyears, you are mislead by emotion. He ran, tackled, marked, kicked in that fist 15 minutes when everyone else was still in their hotel room.

I also learnt:

As a team, our kicking skills when not under pressure are a disgrace.

Any game plan that requires Liam Jurrah to win possession on the half back flank is dysfunctional.

Melbourne supporters are too patient.

.

Edited April 28, 201114 yr by Maldonboy38

Unlike everyone else posting tonight (I was at the game), I saw nothing impressive about Watts at all. I think everyone is just comparing tonight's 'ordinary' performance with his past performances. I have the game on tape, when I have the courage, I'll review it. But I know last time he played I took special note of his performance and gave up after counting after 15 blunders, squibs and misjudgments in a row (with one uncontested mark followed by a 20m delivery in between). I agree with the Age report: Watts "showed glimpses".

Watch the tape....He was the only one who contested in the first quarter. He continued to present and work hard. He had a hand in all (i think) of Melbourne's first half a dozen shots at goal. And he also showed, for all the hype and crap spoken in the last couple of years, he is in front of Nic Nat....