GAME DAY - Round 1

[Striker475 696]

Bate who played less than a quarter and collected 10 possesions and kicked a goal or two? Agree on the others but be real.

Did he kick one? Every time he touched it it seemed to end up in Brisbane hands

[stuie 7,374]

Thats just plain simple stuie.

The club has been waiting for 58 years, not the team.

What about waiting until the team has time to adjust to a new game plan? (one which centres around a forward target since Neitz)

What about allowing an almost completely new coaching group time to work with the players in reaction to what they produce on the field.

Wait for Sylvia to return, Liam to appear, Grimes to get some match fitness after months away from the game. Give the team at least until round 12 until you write them off.

Footy is simple.

And I've heard all that new coach, wait for this, wait for that, spin for too many years.

[Lord Travis 10,763]

Pretty terrible day for the club after the terrible week and preseason we've had. The problem is I can't see where the improvement will come from. It's been 6 years now since finals, and we're still looking at bottom 4-8 with no light at the end of the tunnel. It's at the stage now where I hope we trade in a bunch of middle of the road players like Sydney just so I can see my team compete. These kids are going nowhere.

I'm not proud supporting this club anymore, especially when the players aren't proud to play for it. To hear that the effort isn't there after what's happened this week, a new coach, Round 1, is heartbreaking. If anything I expected this to be the most effort I see all year. Show some [censored] heart for gods sake!

I've invested decades of my life into this club. I buy memberships for family members who aren't even in the country anymore. I'm not getting any return on that investment, and now I don't enjoy watching us play. Things better change soon or I and 6 other freebie memberships every year, are done.

[BAMF 4,387]

For mine:

Green gone

Davey gone

Bate gone

Moloney on notice

Bit harsh on Bate. Boarded a sinking ship at 3/4 time.

I'm surprised he was the sub.

[Tassie Devil 28]

Long bombs to the forward line would work fine if we had Hassa Mann or John Townsend - we have nothing remotely like those 2.

Hard to find any positives - Magner has probably done his ankle and will never play again.

[McQueen 17,867]

McQueen - what have I denied? The second half of vat match name of sick. It was a terrible performance, no doubt. By the end of the third I genuinely asked myself why I was putting myself throug this for yet another year. I reckon my family have had a gut full of my bad moods.Then I read some of the reactions on here and suddenly the irrationality of others made me aware of how silly I was being. You can wallow, point fingers and feel sorry for yourself if you like. I choose not to.

Your post came across as though it had a condescending tone to it.

Sorry if I misinterpreted it.

I feel sorry for everyone attached to the MFC today, not just myself.

[Face Your Demons 175]

Bate was ok so was Watts but Green and Davey WTF.

[Jaded No More 68,974]

The problem today was the middle. Sure, we all went in to get the contested posession but there was no one hanging around the pack to receive it. Brisbane hunted in packs, we didn't. Kicking long to a contest just won't work unless you have players to crumb. Tackle the arms as well as the waist.

Terrible day.

I don't think anyone here is blind to our obvious and enormous flaws. We are a bottom 4 team with our current midfield, and it's incredibly depressing to know that years of list management has netted us a garbage midfield.

However, there is a big difference between not being good enough, and not putting in enough effort.

Today I saw a bunch of self-indulgent players put in a half-arsed token effort and get cleaned up and humiliated. Today was the day our players had every reason to stand up and take some pride in the jumper, and frankly, it's embarrassing that this is how 22 players chose to perform for Jimmy Stynes, but more importantly, that that's how they chose to perform for themselves, in round 1, with everything to play for.

When are we ever going to see an improvement in attitude? Forget skills, forget game plans, when can we genuinely not feel embarrassed to be a Melbourne supporter?

[BAMF 4,387]

I don't know if I can watch next week. It will be the first time in 5 years that I don't watch/listen to a game live.

[Jaded No More 68,974]

Cam Mooney just summed it up

Just leaving the 'G' what a shocking/disgusting display from the dees today #longseasonahead no passion no pride. What does everyone think?

[P-man 13,366]

Imagine how we'd go without Jimmy Magner? It would've been even more humiliating.

Being a supporter of this club is like being repeatedly kicked in the ribs after the fight is over.

[Yossarian 1,820]

All I can say about this loss is that I am fkn shattered.

[P-man 13,366]

Cam Mooney just summed it up

Geeze we could use a guy like the hairy cat right now. Someone with a bit of ticker...and skill.

[melbournefc18 4]

Moved to Melbourne in 2001 and since then have not missed one single game in Melbourne. I know it's round one but my passion is fading for this football club.

Melbourne Football Club= No passion

Why should I bother watching and supporting a football club that has no passion

[Dee Fan 3,247]

We are a seriously bad football team, we lack skill speed and general knowhow. I would love to know what the plan is as it wasn't evident today' unless Neeld told the players to kick the ball indiscriminately when they got it and always try to kick it to a contest where we were outnumbered at least 3 to 1.

If this is what we have to look forward to then we are in serious strife. When the best player for the side is a 24 year old ex VFL player it really says something.

Bottom 3 awaits.

[titan_uranus 25,045]

I honestly cannot imagine a worse performance, given the context of this game.

I'm going to put Jim to one side. Whilst we showed him nothing on the field, who's to say what was going on in the minds of the players.

Let's just look at the match for what it was. Brisbane is not Geelong. They are Brisbane. We should be, at the absolute worst, on par with them. To lose by as much as we did, in the manner in which we did, is nothing short of disgraceful. There will be those who say that it's about the future and one bad performance does not ruin that. That is true. But it does not change the fact that today's performance was utterly abysmal.

What has improved since Neeld took over? We kick the ball a heck of a lot more than under Bailey. But what else?

Are we more skillful? We weren't today? Are we faster? Or stronger? Or tougher? Not today we weren't. The kick-to-handball ratio aside, I see no changes. We're still soft, still slow, still unskilled, and still have no decipherable gameplan. And we still can't kick in from behinds.

Today was as bad as I think we have ever played, and it would show on the scoreboard if we had played Hawthorn or Geelong. We cannot brush this aside as simply a bad week in a development year. We have been writing off bad years as 'development years' for enough now. For mine, performances like this against mediocre sides are, quite literally, inexcusable.