This group of players are totally devoid of playing football that is competitive. Craig now admits the task of the next coach is almost impossible with the current list. This makes me very angry at those including g the players who brought this about.

There should be a hall of shame for those who have messed this club up.

It will take an almighty decision by Bartlett and PJ to get some seriously good people and a few players into this club in order for any supporters to cling onto any hope.

As for the playing list, they might as well go out on the slurp for all the use they are on game day.

Disgusted beyond belief in 2013.

I thought the effort was there we were in it for 3 quarters but gone blown away in the last, will be better with clark and Hogan and an injection of a couple more midfield types, jones tagged all day

Absolutely pathetic group. No heart. No guts. No personal responsibility. The whole lot should be sacked for not fulfilling their contracts as football players. They play tiddlywinks.

What is this stupid cougar life ad? Get rid of it. The people who run this must be scum.

Call me crazy, but I think the heart and effort is there in this second half of the year (with the odd exception), they are just shite.

Edited August 24, 201311 yr by Forest Demon

What is this stupid cougar life ad? Get rid of it. The people who run this must be scum.

I always thought Melbourne supporters got trophy wives...

Honestly, everyone who participated in the decisions that led to Melbourne's current embarrassing predicament should be blacklisted like Soviet-sympathisers in Cold War America. No contact, no association. Just cut them off from the football world forever.

They're clearly not up to it, and any role they are given will simply lead to more suffering for those who employ them.

Effort there. Too much handball in first half then it was all over. Carn Dees. Roll on 2014

when one of your top 3 highest paid players is Colin Sylvia you have serious problems, and we do

we have been soo poorly coached for so long its hard to know what this group.is capable of.

The tanking & mishandling of players along with poor development and pathetic drafting has led to a cancerous culture. It's going to take a miracle to turn this club around.

we have been soo poorly coached for so long its hard to know what this group.is capable of.

Yes and no.

Let's recruit some players who can hit targets from 20 metres, arrive at the club with a BASIC skillset, demand high levels of fitness, show high levels of competitiveness and a willingness to listen and learn.

Our list is not up to AFL standard.

Simple.

What is this stupid cougar life ad? Get rid of it. The people who run this must be scum.

First date didn't go so well?

Aside from 7 minutes in the second quarter and the last half of the last quarter we were with them.

The umpiring was terrible and gave them about 8 goals either directly or from the next kick.

Holding the ball didn't exist for our 70 tackles yet they got about 10 holding the balls from their 58. It is very hard when you are being umpired out of it to keep going at the end. we eventually dropped our heads and gave up when it was over and they got soft goals.

We have some players who give no effort. We have some who don't know what gut running is. We have some who are simply soft. We get no leadership from our captains. I now think their elevation is a monumental blunder. It has affected their games as well.

Our skills are what let us down time and time again. It is easy when the other side gives you the ball. Some of our passing by foot and hand is as bad as I have seen, but we do it all the time.

The coach seems to have got us trying, but without a midfield and skilled, hard, players, it is an impossible task.

We should just show film of Hodge, all day to our soft players. We have no one like a Campbell Brown who can intimidate.

As every Dees fan knows, we have no midfield, though I think Viney, Jones and Toumpas will form the basis of the one we end up with.

Edited August 24, 201311 yr by Redleg

First date didn't go so well?

What? Gloria is only 5 klms away.

I feel like leadership is missing as much as the midfield, Trengove and Grimes are solid players but Grimes is a handy half back, and Trengove is a link up player and good tackler who has the potential to be more if his body comes good.

they aren't guys you'd follow into battle, for mine Garland, Clark, Frawley and Nathan jones are, a serious look at the leadership group and captaincy would be a pretty decent idea imo

the midfield group is full of potential but seriously needs support from some experienced heads, we need to look at blokes like Dal Santo, Sewell, Chapman, Corey and those sorts of blokes on 1-2 year deals to sure up the midfield short term, teach the kids and provide support.

Aside from 7 minutes in the second quarter and the last half of the last quarter we were with them.

rre

The umpiring was terrible and gave them about 8 goals either directly or from the next kick.

Holding the ball didn't exist for our 70 tackles yet they got about 10 holding the balls from their 58. It is very hard when you are being umpired out of it to keep going at the end. we eventually dropped our heads and gave up when it was over and they got soft goals.

We have some players who give no effort. We have some who don't know what gut running is. We have some who are simply soft. We get no leadership from our captains. I now think their elevation is a monumental blunder. It has affected their games as well.

Our skills are what let us down time and time again. It is easy when the other side gives you the ball. Some of our passing by foot and hand is as bad as I have seen, but we do it all the time.

The coach seems to have got us trying, but without a midfield and skilled, hard, players, it is an impossible task.

We should just show film of Hodge, all day to our soft players. We have no one like a Campbell Brown who can intimidate.

As every Dees fan knows, we have no midfield, though I think Viney, Jones and Toumpas will form the basis of the one we end up with.

Agree with most of this RL have said before that we need to approach the umpires board and ask their advice on what we are doing wrong ie not criticising just asking advice.

What? Gloria is only 5 klms away.

Apparently true if he lives in Melbourne, Florida. Hence the anger.

I don't want to be an apologist. In fact apologists on here have been the bane of my existence every time I log in.

Truth is, no matter what Craigy or Nate Jones say, this season has been shot pretty much from round 1. The players know there will be another mass turnover of the list regardless of whoever is in charge. They also know that their football future is on the line and captive to the whims of a new coach. Wonder why blokes don't do any heavy work around the stoppages? Most of that revolves around the fact that most of them want to boost their disposal counts so they remain on the list next year. Because everyone wants the ball, no one gets it in the end. On top of that (this isn't me abdicating responsibility for the players so much as it is an objective statement of fact) these blokes have been ground into the earth so often, I wonder if many of them think if they can still play and win or not. They second guess themselves. They got some spunk back after Neeld was sacked but yet again, they have sunk back into their own pit of despair.

People on here have been annoyed at the players and I guess we can go back to Viktor Frankl's maxim that you are not free to choose your life's circumstances yet you are free to choose how you react to those circumstances. Yet, the club has been run by monkeys for so long that it's hard to take the nature side in the nature vs. nurture debate. Dean Bailey may have been quietly smirking to himself today if he took the time to consider his position in footy (assistant coach at one of the biggest clubs in Australia) versus Cuddles' and CS' position (unemployable).

If the admin. is put in place next year and the players still dog it then it will be hard for me to accept. Cuddles, Cameron and their band of merry men are now gone. I appreciate the damage their reign of error was never going to be cleaned up in the space of 12 weeks (some seem to think their foolishness could be cleaned up overnight and some were still confusing their foolishness with expertise right up till preseason this year) but there will be a long hard preseason ahead. That should be ample time for the players to begin redeeming themselves and well and truly burying the legacy of the past.

The next coach will need to restore some belief in these blokes. First they were told they were never good enough to amount to anything. Then they were told they weren't consistent enough. Then they were told they had to learn the basics of training again. There is some polish on the list (plenty of shockers too but some polish). Many of these blokes as well were told by Sir Mark that they were lazy and unprofessional. They need to be told 'You've got the talent. Your spot is yours to lose. Put in 100% and I can guarantee X position is yours.' The coach can't be a pushover but first things are first. While he doesn't need to stroke their ego, he does need to get some confidence back in these blokes.

Edited August 24, 201311 yr by Guest

I am 100% confident that an effective coaching group could have this team (plus new arrivals of course) competitive in one year and in finals in the second year.

Mark it for 2 years' time.

I thought the effort was there we were in it for 3 quarters but gone blown away in the last, will be better with clark and Hogan and an injection of a couple more midfield types, jones tagged all day

FMD did you miss the part in the second quarter where they conceded 6 unanswered goals in 15 minutes?

Aside from 7 minutes in the second quarter and the last half of the last quarter we were with them.

The umpiring was terrible and gave them about 8 goals either directly or from the next kick.

Holding the ball didn't exist for our 70 tackles yet they got about 10 holding the balls from their 58. It is very hard when you are being umpired out of it to keep going at the end. we eventually dropped our heads and gave up when it was over and they got soft goals.

We have some players who give no effort. We have some who don't know what gut running is. We have some who are simply soft. We get no leadership from our captains. I now think their elevation is a monumental blunder. It has affected their games as well.

Our skills are what let us down time and time again. It is easy when the other side gives you the ball. Some of our passing by foot and hand is as bad as I have seen, but we do it all the time.

The coach seems to have got us trying, but without a midfield and skilled, hard, players, it is an impossible task.

We should just show film of Hodge, all day to our soft players. We have no one like a Campbell Brown who can intimidate.

As every Dees fan knows, we have no midfield, though I think Viney, Jones and Toumpas will form the basis of the one we end up with.

We have too many players that get easy games and don't have to fight for them and on the other side you have players that put in 100% of the time, and can't get a game at all.

I honestly cant believe some posters have the gall to predict we are one or two mid-fielders away from being competitive.

So many experts here believe it.

Well I actually dont think they do, but they dont want to see if we blink. So they keep our chins up. Thanks...

That next to the "oh the umpires just dont get us" routine is sad and predictable.

Ive heard this shite for so long. Give me a break. Youre not talking to the faithful any more, believe me.

I thought the effort was there we were in it for 3 quarters but gone blown away in the last, will be better with clark and Hogan and an injection of a couple more midfield types, jones tagged all day

Cannot agree with your summary. I am a bit tired of the effort mantra, does this mean effort is ok but zero football nous is also acceptable. There is no damn initiative to play watchable football.

Far too many excuses are given as to why these drafted AFL players are playing very poorly. At some time in their careers (if they continue to have one) they need to take responsibility themselves for what the scoreboard looks like. As for Trenners and Grimes, both these blokes were thrown under the bus and both need to get on the front foot and give up the skippers job for the sake of their own careers. There is no shame in this.

Give Jones the top job with Clarke and the 2 jacks as deputies. They both need to play uninhibited.

I again reiterate the desperate need to get an A grade coaching group with tons of experience

Honestly, we have had some rock bottom times in recent years but it just seems to get worse. It seems like every promising player just turns out to be another bust. I am looking at the list now and asking myself 'who in this group is likely, at their ceiling, to be a player worthy of being a premiership contending side, and still has a good number of years left?'

N.Jones and Clark (who may be finished)

Sylvia - not looking likely and he's 27.

Garland at 25, maybe

Dawes, 25

Frawley, 24

Tommy Mac, 20?

Honestly that's about it. 7 names I would consider assets we can have confidence in.

Even halfway through this year I would not have hesitated to include the likes of Watts, Howe, McKenzie, Grimes and Trengove - but how could anyone include any of them .. their combined efforts in the last month would scarcely add up to one genuine performance from a true elite player of the competition!

and for all the scrutiny that goes on these blokes... what about somebody like Tapscott? Pick 18 in his 4th year, this bloke has deadset done maybe 3 or 4 valuable pieces of play in his entire career. What is the explanation for that? His story is similar to Blease and Strauss, it just defies belief.

so of course we look to Viney, Toumpas, Hogan, Fitzpatrick and more high picks to come - the problem is only a complete madman would look at the precedent set for developing talent at this club and actually expect these players to amount to anything. It is just the way it goes at this wasteland of a club, look at our list 5 years ago, it includes: Maric, Morton, Cheney, Wonaeamirri, Petterd, Bate, Newton, Buckley, Martin, Johnson etc all these blokes at one time or another were young hopefuls for us and they all amounted to JACK SQUAT.