Caro came out last night and said "when are the AFL going to finish their inquiry into Melbourne tanking".

I guess she is saying that because it was McLean who raised it but seriously the inquiry needs to cover everything that has been done in the last decade from Carlton, Freo etc if it is to be relevant.

The media are pathetic yet again with this stuff. If you're gonna raise it then raise it all.

Somehow the whole tanking story has been turned into the "inquiry into Melbourne tanking" so whichever way this goes now we've been seriously tarred. Amazing really when you consider that went before us.

The media witch hunt this year has been at least as hard to stomach as our on field performances.

By way of contrast, if anyone didnt notice, WB lost 11 staright at the end of the year ... and almost no one even whispered their name. No one doubts their coach's credibility, his game plan, his relationships with his players ... or wonders about their "culture", their CEO or their brand.

We're definitely the team everyone likes to dump on. I think the only thing thats going to shut everybody up or at least change the tenor of the stories coming at us is to start winning. I'm just not sure when that's ever going to happen!

You're

No, you are.

What the hell do you want them to say about us? Lie and be positive?

We ARE pathetic. How else can you describe it after the last 6 years?

It can be turned round with hard work and savvy recruiting, but you can't hide from the recent past.

I dont like to go quite as hard as that but there is nothing to disagree with here. We are an easy target because we have provided so much ammunition. Start winning games and keep a tight lid on what we do and the press turns around in a hurry.

Caro came out last night and said "when are the AFL going to finish their inquiry into Melbourne tanking".

I guess she is saying that because it was McLean who raised it but seriously the inquiry needs to cover everything that has been done in the last decade from Carlton, Freo etc if it is to be relevant.

The media are pathetic yet again with this stuff. If you're gonna raise it then raise it all.

When she said that I ask myself, and when did Ratten get questioned about tanking at his press conference? If she's so all over tanking why didn't she ask the question?

Stop sooking about the media being out to get us. We are a complete bloody rabble and they have every right to be asking questions about how we got here. The club is a joke whether you like it or not, or recognise it or not.

We deserve a hammering. For 5 years the media pumped us up, and then what did we do...?

Fall over again. Winning will get the media off our ass.

Look at Hawthorn. When has a negative article been written about them?

They'll ease off us when we start winning some games of footy and don't open ourselves to ridicule and criticism.

Until then, buckle up could be a few bumpy roads yet.

Who gives a flying [censored] what the media says!?!?!?! Anybody with brain cells can work out that a bad news story (melbourne) is easy fodder. The club needs to come out and make a statement...and that statement starts day 1 of pre-season and winning more games next year!

Stop sooking about the media being out to get us. We are a complete bloody rabble and they have every right to be asking questions about how we got here. The club is a joke whether you like it or not, or recognise it or not.

Sure we are a rabble. And it really helps when media men that are supposed to support our club get some dirt from an explayer, ignore the obvious irony in his statement of why he moved to Carlton and make the whole tanking debate about one club rather than at least 7.

The media has had no role in disabilising the club with Scully, Davey/Misfid racism claim, etc.

That [censored] Denham is at it again. Contrast his story in the Oz with Michael Gleeson's in the Age. Denham says LJ was not looked after at Melbourne as there was a change in personnel and LJ didn't feel he was being properly looked after. Gleeson quotes LJ's Manager who says Melbourne was great to LJ and did everything possible to help him especially this year. He said Melbourne did nothing wrong and played no part in the decision which was purely family based, Two very different versions.

Now tell me that [censored] after all he has said about us this year, doesn't have an agenda.

The media don't have an agenda. They spend their time wandering about trying to pick up the scent of blood. When they smell it, it's all in, like sharks around a wounded fish. Until a stronger trail of blood shows up somewhere.

They don't care which club it is.

We've been tempting them with plenty of blood trails the last few seasons. They have no self restraint, so they pile in.

Denham has a personal gripe against Schwab and is unprofessional enough to let it cloud his thinking.

Ted, maybe the media as a whole act that way but there are definitley members of it with their own little bents !!

I meant the media collectively.

Individually, we get the Denhams. Patrick Smith the Hanging Judge. Mike Sheahan who is now bordering on dementia. And so on.

Sheahan grew up a Melbourne supporter due to his parents, but once he became a reporter those feelings subsided. He's admitted he still has empathy and he attended our 150 birthday celebrations, but he also spent decades deciding that he wouldn't let emotion override his professional duties. I respect that. And I also realise that having spent 30 years subduing those emotions he wouldn't have the same passion as most Demonlanders.

He's a reporter and we've done a hell of a lot wrong for him and others to report on. If he misrepresents us I put it down to ignorance, not an agenda.

Tonight they 3 clowns (Roos, Healy and Mike) had Adrian Anderson on and they made

sure they brang up tanking, showed Brock, etc.

If it was up to the 3 stooges, they would've pushed their agenda all show.

I don't know what Melbourne done to Healy, but he is a snake in the grass,

he has a massive gripe towards the club.

Can't exactly remember but it was something like this :

The MFC chose his brother Greg over Gerard back in the day and Gerard has been dripping poison as subtley as he can without being so naked as to be called on it : others may recall the history better than I can.

One thing I will say for him - he's been consistent over the years

I used to be paranoid about the whole media and Melbourne thing too but now I reckon they're just out to get us.

I keep asking my psychiatrist during our regular sessions whether it is paranoia if they really are out to get you. He never answers, probably because he is out to get me too, or so the voices tell me.

Can't exactly remember but it was something like this :

The MFC chose his brother Greg over Gerard back in the day and Gerard has been dripping poison as subtley as he can without being so naked as to be called on it : others may recall the history better than I can.

No. It wasn't like that. Gerard did a runner to Sydney when he got an offer he couldn't refuse. Greg got the captaincy a few years later.

However, Melbourne improved dramatically after Gerard left and soon overshadowed Sydney which eventually hit rock bottom in the early 90's. During most of that era Melbourne finished ahead of Sydney. Of course, Gerard did win a Brownlow and buckets of money but missed out on being a one team player in a reasonably successful era, albeit without winning a flag.

No. It wasn't like that. Gerard did a runner to Sydney when he got an offer he couldn't refuse. Greg got the captaincy a few years later.

However, Melbourne improved dramatically after Gerard left and soon overshadowed Sydney which eventually hit rock bottom in the early 90's. During most of that era Melbourne finished ahead of Sydney. Of course, Gerard did win a Brownlow and buckets of money but missed out on being a one team player in a reasonably successful era, albeit without winning a flag.

We played in a GF after he left from memory WJ

Something Gerard never achieved

Somehow the whole tanking story has been turned into the "inquiry into Melbourne tanking" so whichever way this goes now we've been seriously tarred. Amazing really when you consider that went before us.

The media witch hunt this year has been at least as hard to stomach as our on field performances.

By way of contrast, if anyone didnt notice, WB lost 11 staright at the end of the year ... and almost no one even whispered their name. No one doubts their coach's credibility, his game plan, his relationships with his players ... or wonders about their "culture", their CEO or their brand.

We're definitely the team everyone likes to dump on. I think the only thing thats going to shut everybody up or at least change the tenor of the stories coming at us is to start winning. I'm just not sure when that's ever going to happen!

This is what gets me. The media only have backed off because of the Ratten-Malthouse thing, and even then they still have their foot on the jugular, they're just not trying to squeeze.

For some reason both the media and the AFL love to sink the boots into the Melbourne Football Club. I don't understand why either. For the better part of 20 years this club has always been the one lined up by the AFL. We've copped a full-blown merger attempt, salary cap targeting, draft targeting through the $cully fiasco, racism accusations, continued sponsor issues, a tanking investigation and everything. It even goes back further to VFL zoning problems and the reasons for the MFC struggling from after 1964.

Over the last 40 years the club continually is made a scapegoat. On the other hand, other sides such as Hawthorn and Essendon have been allowed to continually prosper. When you consider that Melbourne are probably the second-least successful club of the last 50 years (ahead of the Bulldogs) and yet still copping the hairdryer every time something doesn't suit the AFL, well...you have to wonder.

Stop sooking about the media being out to get us. We are a complete bloody rabble and they have every right to be asking questions about how we got here. The club is a joke whether you like it or not, or recognise it or not.

agree, but they never ask the same question about carlton in 2007round 22 trapper was not tagged at all

David King may know about tactics but he knows little about structures and personnel of individual clubs.

On SEN this morning he said Melbourne need to spend part of off season looking at latest tactical innovations in overseas sports.

He is obviously not aware that the MFC employs a person who is specifically tasked with same.

Neil Craig - Director Of Sports Performance

Craig is a highly regarded and respected identity in Australian Sport. He comes to Melbourne following seven successful years as senior coach of the Adelaide Crows, the longest serving coach in their history. Prior to that, Craig was an assistant coach with the Crows and also acted as fitness adviser, overseeing their back-to-back premierships in 1997 and 1998. Craig has also worked at the Olympic level, advising the Australian cycling team at the Sydney Olympics. As a player, Craig amassed a total of 319 games in the SANFL as well as 11 State of Origin matches for South Australia. He is a member of the South Australian Hall of Fame.

As part of this, a key responsibility for the Director of Sport Performance will be supporting, developing and mentoring the coaching team. The role will strongly focus on the establishment of an elite performance culture, in particular strategy and innovation.

David King may know about tactics but he knows little about structures and personnel of individual clubs.

On SEN this morning he said Melbourne need to spend part of off season looking at latest tactical innovations in overseas sports.

He is obviously not aware that the MFC employs a person who is specifically tasked with same.

David King is the epitome of a dumb person who thinks he's smart. What a waste of space he is.

No. It wasn't like that. Gerard did a runner to Sydney when he got an offer he couldn't refuse. Greg got the captaincy a few years later.

However, Melbourne improved dramatically after Gerard left and soon overshadowed Sydney which eventually hit rock bottom in the early 90's. During most of that era Melbourne finished ahead of Sydney. Of course, Gerard did win a Brownlow and buckets of money but missed out on being a one team player in a reasonably successful era, albeit without winning a flag.

100% CORRECT