Vent your Spleen

[bing181 9,436]

I'm sick of telling you why we are still a basket case

... but you do anyway. Over and over.

[Samsara 65]

IT'S ALL OVER PEOPLE, WE DON'T HAVE A PRAYER!

Just to break it up a bit. I'm gonna throw this out there. We'll win 3 of the next 6.

We are well and truly expected to lose the next 6, so this wouldn't surprise me.

[jackaub 1,402]

Do I watch the same game? On one hand you say players (Bennell) does not work hard enough and on the other hand you say you would love Jetta to never play again. Jetta laid 12 tackles and Gysberts aside was the only player relatively clean in close. Would love to know your issues with him and why you do not lump Wonna in the same who for mine was useless and lazy today.

We were beaten today not because the effort was not there but because we still have too many players that make too many skill errors and turn overs kill you at Etihad. We also without Jamar struggled to get a clean takeaway which is crucial at that ground. It is going to be a tough time without the Big Russian.

We smashed North in the clearances for the whole first quarter

We were pressing forward with momentum Davey kicks a dinky kick backwards to Wonna

He spills it and we are running backwards chasing North to goal

The team never recovered momentum form that time on.Oh and by the way it is so obvious that the players choose not to kick it to Jack Watts . What is behind this ? Is it a tactic?

[Redleg 42,039]

Do I watch the same game? On one hand you say players (Bennell) does not work hard enough and on the other hand you say you would love Jetta to never play again. Jetta laid 12 tackles and Gysberts aside was the only player relatively clean in close. Would love to know your issues with him and why you do not lump Wonna in the same who for mine was useless and lazy today.

We were beaten today not because the effort was not there but because we still have too many players that make too many skill errors and turn overs kill you at Etihad. We also without Jamar struggled to get a clean takeaway which is crucial at that ground. It is going to be a tough time without the Big Russian.

Agree. Throw in these names, Rivers, Grimes, Trengove, Scully, McKenzie and an injured Garland, Bail and Martin with loss of power and rotation and it is not unexpected.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

... but you do anyway. Over and over.

Maybe it's because i'm concerned about the club. I'm not one of the MCC Clappers that sit there and applaud all we do and who aren't interested in the result just the way we play the game; are you?

Are you just a little bit concerned that we are on the wrong path, or are you happy that we've recruited some nice boys and not that nasty Darling or types like him?

[Sdemon53 15]

ARGH!!!

Fire away!

POOR conditioning leads to POOR physical management of the players.

There is no doubt about it the Melbourne players are not anywhere near fit enough to be a top 8 side.

To add insult to injury the side is poorly managed on match day plus being poorly coached overall as well.

Dean Bailey and his assistant coaches are now in their 4th season at the club. We seem to be getting nowhere compared to emerging and top teams. Our skills are still shocking and we have a very poor game plan.

If Bailey is the teaching coach then why aren't the players learning?

The whole FOOTBALL DEPARTMENT needs a total shake out and we should get people that know what is needed and who can give the players the SKILLS, the GAME PLAN and HARDNESS we need.

[Guest Rajon Rondo]

Injuries are one thing. The inconsistencies are so hard to take.

We even manage this within a game as that 1st qtr showed what was capable but then we are run over by 12 goals from that point.

Plain disappointing dees.

[Roost It 1,434]

Worse than the WC game.

[Juicebox 629]

Last week we papered over the cracks this week the wall fell down, we are downhill skiers and as weak as [censored] once the pressure is applied and that's the reason Norf beat us, they know it.

Amen to that!

[PeterJames 46]

Davey and Green are out biggest downhill skiers. These two do not play consistent enough footy to lead us to a top four team. Every one points the finger to Moloney and Sylvia, these two are prob top two in the bluey at the moment. Moloney was heavily tagged and stopped at the clearances, he still managed five and he doesn't get the cheap stats al la davey. Sylvia is our best player at the moment. Green it's all to hard for him. He's not a leader he doesn't work hard enough at all when we don't have it. Doesn't want to have an influence. Shouldn't be captain much longer. Davey I have never seen someone work so hard to get the easy ball but then always look so puffed out when he has to work hard the other way.

[Juicebox 629]

We aren't the only team with injured/suspended players. Norf where without a handful of players from their best 22.

What's frustrating is that when an opportunity for a spot in the team arises, our players just don't seem to make the most of it.

It's times like these when the depth of the playing list is both exposed and put to that test. What's the saying? 'When one door closes another one opens'

This next month of footy is going to be a big opportunity for the club. St. Kilda, Carlton, Essendon, Collingwood = Big crowds and Friday nights. Hopefully we see a few of the fringe players really stand up and cement their spot in the team.

[titan_uranus 25,209]

Should we though? It's well documented at what stage teams should be in flag contention in terms of games and age experience, but at what point should a team start expecting consistency? Yes it feels like this rebuild has been going forever, no I don't think we should accept poor efforts, but really I'm not convinced it's reasonable to expect consistency yet.

I honestly feel like we should be past the wild dips in consistency. I didn't expect us to come out this year and have no bad losses at all, but the extent to which our form is fluctuating is, IMO, unacceptable. By now I feel the gap between our best and worst should be smaller (or maybe what I'd like is for our worst to not be as bad as it is).

The troughs are too low and too frequent. The West Coast game could have been an 'acceptable' part of the season, but to back it up a fortnight later with what we served up yesterday is worrying.

[Cheesy D. Pun 1,765]

Davey and Green are out biggest downhill skiers. These two do not play consistent enough footy to lead us to a top four team. Every one points the finger to Moloney and Sylvia, these two are prob top two in the bluey at the moment. Moloney was heavily tagged and stopped at the clearances, he still managed five and he doesn't get the cheap stats al la davey. Sylvia is our best player at the moment. Green it's all to hard for him. He's not a leader he doesn't work hard enough at all when we don't have it. Doesn't want to have an influence. Shouldn't be captain much longer. Davey I have never seen someone work so hard to get the easy ball but then always look so puffed out when he has to work hard the other way. Pea hearted [censored]!

I've tucked these ones away in a little word document to bring back at a later date. Classic.

FWIW, every team has outside players and Aaron Davey is a very good one. I reckon our little pea hearted [censored] is going to come in very handy in a couple of seasons when our young boys are up and running.

[drdrake 3,203]

He has Dr, but if you take Bartram out & plonk him in the middle to bolster that, and take Grimes out for the year, and put another newbie there, and take Garland out injured, and have Rivers out of the 2011starting defence, then that defence has no resemblance of our working defence. The Defence structure is shattered.

Next week back to the starting 2011 defence, as close as we can, + Tapscott. Bartram back, + Rivers or Mcdonald. Keep Warnock.

I don't think he has all those players played against West Coast, Brisbane and Hawthorn.

[Roost It 1,434]

I had several arguments on here about Green and his "softness". Sure he might take the odd courageous mark. But real toughness is about finding something when all seems lost, about inspiring your teammates, about running further and harder than your opponent every week, about doing the little things that make all the difference. Green does none of this and worse still, he's the captain. Played AA as a lead up forward, couple of sprints, couple of marks, couple of goals, big deal. He's the ultimate front runner and well worthy of the tag SOFT. You can throw Davey in that boat as well. Don't get me started on Morton, Bennell, Wonaeamirri, Jetta. These guys are scared of their shadows. Time for Malthouse and some assistants worthy of AFL.

[DEELIGHTED 16]

some of the comments on here are just plain embarressing. Calling someone a pea hearted [censored]. Need to have a look at yourself i reckon Mr James. If these blokes upset you so much you must be an emotional man. Green isnt going great but the footy dept and players obviously think otherwise. Anyway i know this is a vent your spleen for but ffs, if this is your biggest problem in the world right now you must be doing alright.

[DEELIGHTED 16]

as is my spelling!!!

[bjDee 1,249]

Don't have a lot left in the spleen to vent. Think all the blood just drained away to my toes as I watched the performance from late in the 1st qtr onwards.

I was looking at the atrocious umpiring, the injuries, the North / Etihad hoodoo and any other excuse I could think of, but nothing external to the club is an adequate reason why we fell off the perch from late in the 1st qtr. Could be players, coaches, motivation, tactics, I don't know. I don't have the footy smarts to work that out.

I don't know about you guys, but my moods are affected by the MFC performance during the season. Two weeks ago - outraged and prompted into action at the insipid performance against WC. Last week, big lift in spirits as the boys showed thay could play with full intensity for a full game. Yesterday, left the ground just numb with disappointment. As I said, not so much spleen today from me, just a feeling of sadness that the promise of continued improvement in 2011 over 2010 is not materialising...at all.

One other comment if I may - I'm a bit saddened to see that the forum contributors are turning on each other. C'mon people - it's the team that's not performing, don't take it out on fellow supporters.

There's a medical condition called seasonal affective disorder - SAD - which manifests as a type of depression during the darker, colder months. I'm proposing a new disorder - FAD - football affective disorder. Disgruntlement, irritation and crankiness when one's footy team doesn't live up to its promise.

[demons27 1]

I agree completely, except for the comment about Martin, who was very good and tried his absolute best to not only win the ruck contest but also get the clearance. He was excellent, especially when he was injured last week, thrown into a first ruck position this week with no support and copped a hit to the knee during the game. He is the least of our problems.

I think everyone needs to remember that in today's game, being down on rotations kills you. We lost a very important part of our structure in Garland early on, and we then lost Bail who gives us so much run and has great endurance. We played more than a quarter with 2 players on the bench, one of which was Jurrah with a sore back, and Jones with a corked thigh, and the Roos ran us into the ground. We were also missing our single most important player structurally in Jamar and when you combine that with Beamer having to battle with the best tagger in the comp, it was always going to be hard to win.

Yes, it is inexcusable that we still have guys like Jones turn the ball over under no pressure, that Davey still chooses too many risky options at critical times in the game, that we got caught several times during a quick switch and that we turned it over too much up forward. Chippa said after the game that we "gave up", which is not good enough, but everything that could go wrong this week (and today) did.

I have no idea how we are going to win the next 4 games without Jamar, Bail, Trengove, maybe Garland and Grimes. That is a chunk of talent from a young inexperienced list that can barely afford to lose a single player in their structure, especially when only McKenzie looks like a good replacement in the not too distant future.

Down on rotations didn't seem to impact the Hawks today?

[PeterJames 46]

I'm glad someone brought up the hawks. Shows there winning, never give in culture compared to ours. They lost two key big men and looked as though they would thrive on it. They had there number 3 ruckman rucking for most of the day and still managed to win. THey don't use excuses just love the challange. There captain stood up when counted.

[Jaded No More 68,976]

Down on rotations didn't seem to impact the Hawks today?

Ummm seriously?

Where are Hawthorn in terms of development and where are we?

Where is our Luke Hodge, Franklin, Rioli, Mitchell, Roughead, Burgoyne, and so on and so forth?

Oh and Hawthorn vs Saints is a far more one sided game than Melbourne vs North Melbourne on current form of all teams.

So please stop making shizen comparisons.

Also, Hawthorn lost 2 big men today, they didn't lose run through the middle, or a key rebounding defender.

[Demonic Ascent 0]

Oh and Hawthorn vs Richmond is a far more one sided game than Melbourne vs North Melbourne

So please stop making shizen comparisons.

Hawks were playing the Saints.

[Jaded No More 68,976]

Hawks were playing the Saints.

Derrr, I did know that. No idea why I wrote Richmond.

Argument remains though, Saints are in crap form and Hawthorn are having a good season. Us and North are equally average.

[Demonic Ascent 0]

Derrr, I did know that. No idea why I wrote Richmond.

Argument remains though, Saints are in crap form and Hawthorn are having a good season. Us and North are equally average.

Well we'll see how crap the Saints form is next week I guess. But still the Hawks not only came back from 5 goals down at 1/4 time, they did so with 20 fit men. That is a club that has character, pride, a winning culture etc etc

[drdrake 3,203]

On Hawthorn, when they went though their re-build stage, like us they got smashed most weeks, then one week at half time a legend of the club had enough, he draw a line in the sand. From there the club changed they got the hard edge. We seem to have the line in the sand match then we seem to jump back over the line the next, this can't continue to happen.