http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dees-need-to-show-they-are-on-right-track-20120510-1yfmm.html?rand=1336655150959

http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/dees-need-to-show-they-are-on-right-track-20120510-1yfmm.html?rand=1336655150959

Suprised Walls keeps going on along this tact. The MFC is not good at the moment.

But not at all for the reasons Robert talks.

What a shocking waste of trees. Sadly opposition supporters will read it and think it's right.

Suprised Walls keeps going on along this tact. The MFC is not good at the moment.

But not at all for the reasons Robert talks.

What a shocking waste of trees. Sadly opposition supporters will read it and think it's right.

I'd be just as concerned, if not more concerned, about our supporters reading it and thinking it is right.

And once again, Mitch Clark is NOT a waste of money. He is worth every cent we are paying him. Robert Walls is very wrong about this.

I'd be just as concerned, if not more concerned, about our supporters reading it and thinking it is right.

And once again, Mitch Clark is NOT a waste of money. He is worth every cent we are paying him. Robert Walls is very wrong about this.

... and not just that. We're losing games because LJ got into a stoush in Alice Springs, TS left, we cut Energy Watch, and Neil Craig isn't doing enough interviews?

Guys be careful you are not shooting the messenger!

While I disagree with a couple of his statements I have asked myself a number of the same questions.

The reality is we have no wins and are sitting second last below GCS.

We could easily be last after this weekend below two teams that have a collective of less than one season in the competition.

Whatever measure you want to apply we are very poor.

Face the facts the MFC has rarely performed this poorly in half a century.

Why?

The list was & is not fit enough. That is all Robert Walls should have said. Article covered in one line.

Who's fault is that? The MFC.

THE MFC is serially ridiculed by prominent media commentators as a blood sport, and this has spilled over into the community mindset, and by extension the club's and players' own self-perceptions. Newman and Champion two typical examples of this 'fit'.

This stems from original jealousy of Melbourne's power era which the suburban clubs have never allowed us to forget.. By the end of 1964 we were the superpower of the competition, a juggernaut which infuriated many. unfortunately we let the rival clubs 'have the Anzac Cup' by surrendering our fortress, the MCG and by donating our intellectual property and spirit to rival Carlton.

BD above hits a sound note with the idea there seems to be sime current sport amongst media to have a nice big go at us. Maybe we're 0a bit touchy as partial reality is they ( the media hacks)will fing someone/anyone to write about and give work and self import tothemselves. It just happens we're flavour of the month(s)

Then again we are our own worst enemey at times with providing them with a truck load of subjects upon which to write. Having said that very little of what theyCHOOSE to concern themsleves with actually goes to the core of why we're on Struggle St at the moment.

But you know how it goes, Never let the Truth get in the way of a good story.

Walls fancies himself as a bit of a Sage..a bit of a Football Intellectual....a braggart. His attitude of I Speak therefore Im right is in actuality quite comical as really his comments belong on a Cornflake Packet !!

And ...btw. Walls.. The club didnt over react...if anything it was SLOW to react... But youd be to slow to understand that.

Robert Walls methodolgy in assessing Dean Bailey's record is garbage. The bailey 'wins' were some of the most odd victories I have ever seen. What I saw were players who only got the job done when they felt like it e.g. Gold Coast twice last year, the Freo comeback early on. Of course amongst these wins were a huge number of totally unaceptable performances.

They say there are no dumb questions but sometimes I wonder.

My feeble attempt to answer these feeble questions.

■ Are the players who played under the old coach being confused by the demands of the new?

Short answer is NO. Its back to basics for the boys.

■ Are they shaken by the off-field issues that have affected Liam Jurrah and Aaron Davey?

maybe but do you think it affects the players every time they play. Are the players going out each week thinking about this issue and feeling burdened about it when they are playing.

■ Are they still grieving the loss of club legend Jim Stynes?

Yes

■ Are they befuddled that loyal veteran Brad Green was dumped as captain and the two young men who replaced him, Jack Trengove and Jack Grimes, started last week's game against Geelong on the bench?

Captain chosen by players and coaches so why would they be befuddled by their own decision the bench drama is a non- issue it's not the first time a team captain started off the bench in AFL.

■ Are the players angry the club couldn't persuade Tom Scully to stay?

TS had 6 Million reasons to leave MFC and those 6 million reasons the club could not answer or better. Why would they be angered by it?

■ Are they miffed that Mitch Clark, who is no better than a good, ordinary player, walks in on superstar money?

Mitch was voted by his fellow team mates into the LG. The players have a forward target to kick to and he is averaging just under 3 goals per game and is ranked 6th overall in the AFL for Goals Contributed. Riewoldt, Pods, Hawkins, Franklin, and Taylor Walker are ranked higher.

■ Are they embarrassed that their major sponsor was a dill and had to be replaced?

why would MFC be embarrassed by this issue they acted swiftly and with principle when they discovered the problem. So they did not check the CEO's personal Facebook page big deal.

■Do they look at Nic Naitanui and think of what could have been?

Why rehash the past when you can't change it. Football teams have to move on really quickly.

■ Do the players get exposed enough to former Adelaide coach Neil Craig? We never see or hear from him, unlike Rodney Eade at Collingwood and Mark Thompson at Essendon.

How does the fact that Neil Craig isn't a media [censored] like Eade and Thompson relate to whether the players are exposed to him enough.

Robert Walls obviously needed to write an article to get paid and picked the soft target of the MFC as he could easily write about his great love the MFC. If he gets paid by the line then doing something with bullet points is a money maker.

Walls has conveniently forgotten about the bruise-free footy last year; and all the games in 2010-11 that we "should have" won, or at least been competitive in, but ended up being thrashed.

I wonder why Walls the Omniscient didn't warn us about Energy Watch before we signed with them?

Robert Walls methodolgy in assessing Dean Bailey's record is garbage. The bailey 'wins' were some of the most odd victories I have ever seen. What I saw were players who only got the job done when they felt like it e.g. Gold Coast twice last year, the Freo comeback early on. Of course amongst these wins were a huge number of totally unaceptable performances.

Slight correction: players who only got the job done when the opposition allowed them to get the job done.

Walls blind support for a fellow sacked coach is seriously compromising any remaining media pundit credibility he may have accidentally accrued since he was sacked by Richmond.

■ Do the players get exposed enough to former Adelaide coach Neil Craig? We never see or hear from him, unlike Rodney Eade at Collingwood and Mark Thompson at Essendon.

How does the fact that Neil Craig isn't a media [censored] like Eade and Thompson relate to whether the players are exposed to him enough.

Robert Walls obviously needed to write an article to get paid and picked the soft target of the MFC as he could easily write about his great love the MFC. If he gets paid by the line then doing something with bullet points is a money maker.

Well answered.

As for Neil Craig, everytime I've been at training he has been working with the players talking with them, firing out handballs, rolling balls doing anything that needed to be done. Plus he has a big role in the development of the leadership group.

How often has Walls been down to training this year, how would he know.

This is just another example of a topic I started earlier in the week, the longer out of the game and less relevant that an ex player/coach becomes the more prone to making ridiculous comments (think Mathews comment on Clark and Hudson) they are.

Guys be careful you are not shooting the messenger!

While I disagree with a couple of his statements I have asked myself a number of the same questions.

The reality is we have no wins and are sitting second last below GCS.

We could easily be last after this weekend below two teams that have a collective of less than one season in the competition.

Whatever measure you want to apply we are very poor.

Face the facts the MFC has rarely performed this poorly in half a century.

Why?

+1 - agree with this OD.

THE MFC is serially ridiculed by prominent media commentators as a blood sport, and this has spilled over into the community mindset, and by extension the club's and players' own self-perceptions. Newman and Champion two typical examples of this 'fit'.

This stems from original jealousy of Melbourne's power era which the suburban clubs have never allowed us to forget.. By the end of 1964 we were the superpower of the competition, a juggernaut which infuriated many. unfortunately we let the rival clubs 'have the Anzac Cup' by surrendering our fortress, the MCG and by donating our intellectual property and spirit to rival Carlton.

Disagree... I seem to recall that not so long ago they were all over us as being the next Geelong, the next super power... funny how things change when a team performs with no spirit and no apparent will for the contest. We get what we deserve unfortunately.

Well answered.

As for Neil Craig, everytime I've been at training he has been working with the players talking with them, firing out handballs, rolling balls doing anything that needed to be done. Plus he has a big role in the development of the leadership group.

How often has Walls been down to training this year, how would he know.

This is just another example of a topic I started earlier in the week, the longer out of the game and less relevant that an ex player/coach becomes the more prone to making ridiculous comments (think Mathews comment on Clark and Hudson) they are.

I would put money on Neil Craig having already mapped out what next summers preseason is going to be..

I am sure he has been far too busy to speak to media journo's like Matty Thompson...who is one of the worst journo's i have ever come across.

The Days of the Martin Flanagan reads are all over peeps.

It's the cheap shot kick in the nuts now...i knew it would happen, suprised it has taken this long to be honest.

After Round 5 2010 i really thought we were on our way.....wtf happened????

"Slowly, Bailey was building the required defensive strengths."

Any supporter could see we were getting much worse defensively and had no guts when the chips were down.

Just wrong, wrong and wrong.

The truth has never been a strong point of the mainsteam AFL media. They're paid to write articles and are selective with the truth to suit what they write.

Whether Walls is right or wrong, if you're 1 win from your last 13 games and none from six so far in the season you're inviting negative articles to be written. I don't blame them, we're an easy target. This will only change when we start to see some wins.

thanks for the good laugh wallsy

loved your work at the bears tooj

Yeah, the 'defensive pressure' comment was bizarre - he had nothing backing it up. Which most likely means nothing backed it up.

And the Neil Craig question was a strange one considering, from all reports, he involves himself quite a bit...

Look, Walls liked Bailey and thought we should have backed him but we went backwards in 2011 (funny how he doesn't mention the scores against and scores for from 2010 to 2011) and he had to go.

All this angst comes from the fact that he helped pick Bailey for us and he doesn't like to face facts - sometimes flag winning coaches can be wrong.

Oh, and Mitch Clark is not a good, ordinary player...

I can tell you that much.

I've read more in-depth analysis on this forum. Maybe Walls should just start stealing content from here like the Hun writers.

It is such a lazy article.

I was kind of embarrassed for Walls when reading it.

from original jealousy of Melbourne's power era which the suburban clubs have never allowed us to forget.. By the end of 1964 we were the superpower of the competition, a juggernaut which infuriated many. unfortunately we let the rival clubs 'have the Anzac Cup' by surrendering our fortress, the MCG and by donating our intellectual property and spirit to rival Carlton.

The MFC sacked it's good culture & instated a politically correct politeness which dogged the club Before Checker Hughes,,, & since Norm Smith.

This is modern journalism guys. Emotive writing to get a response, with little to no research, just opinion.

I think it's a great article...... of sorts.

Walls has admitted on SEN that he writes these kinds of articles to fire teams up, so who cares if he's right or not, let's just hope it has the desired effect.