Not sure you draw that conclusion PaulRB as your Poll is structured to get that result.

You give seven alternatives and six assume there is going to be a turn.

But anyway it is a bit of fun and I have enjoyed a chance to discuss a matter concerning the MFC that is little hearted and entertaining.

You have also set a record no one has asked for the thread to be closed.

Good work.

That sanctimonious, self righteous party pooper Moonshadow will start his carping shortly OD.

5.17 am and again at 6.23

I think we are on the right path. Once Morton,Gysberts and Cook get some game time into them we will rise.

I thought the messiah had already made it to Melbourne.

So if the Seas are now parted, wont we see the tide turn.?

youre mixing up Moses with Jesus.

I now believe never,

That way I will be pleasantly suprised rather than havng my hopes shattered leaving. Its diffcult drinking from a stubby lying in the foetal position

No it's not get a bendy straw it works really well when I drink my rumbos!!

the tide may ebb a touch this year but until more of the dead weight is cleared out not much more can be accomplished this season me thinks.

When some gelling of the newbies ( trade and draft ) occurs in early 15 then we'll see change

I reckon we will improve slowly in 2014 as the game plan settles, confidence starts to inch its way back, and we (hopefully) get something like our best 22 on the park. However the tide will only truly turn when we get rid of some of the flotsam and jetsam that has been drifting around the place for way too long.

As we are all too familiar with, going to a game and then having to endure the Four Stages of Despair & Disappointment, namely:

1. Will we score;

2. Will we score a goal;

3. Will we score more than 1 goal; and;

4. Will we lose by less than 100 points;

is hardly a recipe for optimism.

At the same time, Roos has the reputation and sufficient 'credits in the bank' to be able to play a 'long game' and ensure that the team develops in the fashion that he wants over the timespan that he has committed to.

Last Sunday undoubtedly shocked him and I suspect that we will see a fundamentally different approach in the rounds to come, starting with GWS this week.

The harsh realities of critical injuries to a playing list of limited talent and depth handicaps the pace of development but should never be allowed to distract or derail that development.

Post-bye is the time to properly evaluate and assess what improvements are discernible.

P.S. I would still dearly love to see 4 points come our way this week!

Apathy set in firmly by mid way through the second quarter on Sunday. It's futile being negative, but I really can't see a turn in the works. I will support the club by going every week and I've bought my membership again. I can only put faith in Roos, because he's been there before and if he can't do it, no one can. But to predict when it might happen, I'm not sure I could. Fingers crossed it's soon though, eh?

Wanted to say never but is just too pessamistic, so l'll go for the latest date on the list and hope, just frickin' hope they can start playing proper football by then but l'm not holding my breathe.

We'll be just fine. All we need is skill, class, toughness, determination and about 15 good players. Once we get that...

Oh, and luck. A couple of tonnes of luck.

Before the injury situation got so absurd I ad thought we'd be seeing a real improvement by mid-year. Now? Who knows?

Tbh I think we'll scrape together 2-3 wins. But I think the spoon is just about stitched up.

Yes! Draft picks!

How many more can we [censored] up?

Yes! Draft picks!

How many more can we [censored] up?

Lots!

We think of everything. Pretty thorough, huh?

I don't think it takes that much to be honest (to set it up), just a brain storm and hey presto.

It appears you have thrown down the challenge - I need to find that fine balance of finding a word that has slipped through your net but wont get me banned....

This site is censored way to much.....talk about people from the nanny state

nah....talk to most posters on here and they will have had nothing altered, censored or removed. Keep respectful and non abusive and then censorship is a non issue.

Tough few weeks , extremely optimistic in the past but this has been a test.

Individually we have some good players.

Individually we have enormous potential/talent.

Collectively it is poor at the moment.

It will take 6 weeks for Roosy to work it and hopefully find a scoring set up and get the guys switched on. Viney Blease Tappy Maximus and any of the big three are part of this equation .I am also hopefull of the blooding of more young talent like Salem to replace guys like Byrnes and Bail unless they fire right up.Trenners needs to play forward, as an inside mid or defensive mid/tagger unless he can make the transition soon but will be given time..

And for the interim no matter how long please show some aggression. at least hurt a couple fly that red and blue flag.

I think Roos and co know exactly what's needed at Melbourne in terms of quality through the midfield. He mentioned before the season, and you can see it's given us some more depth but it's still not enough and he'll know that..

Forget about the forwardline for a minute, obviously we're struggling with our three kpps all injured....

One of the major problems lies within the psyche of many players on our list and we'll know we are on the right path only when we see the habits of these individuals change onfield. Either that, or they will not be on the list next year or the year after. I'm talking about individuals who perhaps have talent and skill, but due to poor development and what I would term 'MFC conditioning', play at an intensity and level that is far below what is required to succeed at this level. Jack Watts, James Frawley at times, Sam Blease etc are some examples.

Another problem is that due to our terrible track record with drafting in the past, we are relying on players who simply do not have the ability to play at this level. If you look at who we've moved on over the last few years you'll realise it's those guys who at other clubs would be the ones helping carry the team forward. But alas, due to a combination of poor player development, poor recruiting and/or being subject to this 'MFC Conditioning', they didn't and haven't come on. Examples are Gysberts, Cook, Bate, Morton, Maric, Sylvia, Bennell etc..

So the guys who are now getting games because of this huge turnover of players, (most of whom were picked early in their respective drafts) who shouldn't be are the following: Nicholson, Bail, Matt Jones, Byrnes, Pederson, Spencer etc

That's a list of very average players who on the weekend against West Coast gave us very little.

The problems with our list, development and culture are all very complex and the only way I see us improving over the next few years is by doing more smart trading and bringing in more 'quality' players such as Vince. The Tyson and Salem trade was a big win I believe and it would be huge if we could do something similar next year. I'm not opposed to another Cross-like pickup either. Getting him is completely different to when we went after Byrnes. Cross is as fit as ever and can play but the dogs needed to keep giving their plethora of young gun mids games. Byrnes was brought in purely because he was from a 'successful' environment.

I also have much greater faith in our recruiting department and that they won't make the same mistakes as the previous lot did.

Whilst I'm sure we'll have a more successful second half of the year, (providing our tall forwards are ready and our midfield stocks stay injury free), next offseason is going to be another huge one for the club with some of the decisions they need to make. We need to bring in more quality midfielders. If that can happen with Frawley leaving, so be it. I'd say he's almost shot the way he goes about it for us so I'm happy to look at the bigger picture.

We need quality, quality and more quality.

It's gonna be another long year..

Edited April 2, 201411 yr by stevethemanjordan

When? When our leadership group stands up (on the field) would be a good start.

Leadership group:

Clarke - ?

Garland - back soon, so hope he sets good example

Frawley - playing without endeavour

Trengrove - struggling

Jones - Champion and quickly becoming the stand out leader

Grimes - tries hard but not effective

Are our leaders unified? Do they have their on-field leadership roles sorted? I didn't see many on field huddles/leaders talking on Sunday. I didn't see much encouragement (eg JKH 1st AFL goal). We don't have a leader on the forward half but none of our leaders took on the role on Sunday. I don't feel our leaders can galvanise the players when things aren't going well on the field. It can't be left only up to Jones to be the lone ranger. Even if leaders individually are having a bad game they can still stand up as leaders, can't they?

Our leaders need to stand up on the field!!!! As a leadership group not just as individuals. It is about behaviours guys, not titles!!! We need to see them lead on the field not at training, not at functions, not in the press. On the field!!!!

Until they do it will be very hard for the rest of the team to make the extra effort to be competative.

End rant.

I was just talking to a mate about the Dees and it struck me - I've been to around 20 games over the past 2 and a bit seasons and have only seen 2 wins, both against GWS....

The sadest part is that the concept and what a win looks like is almost foreign to me - Everytime I go now I'm expecting a loss.

I was just talking to a mate about the Dees and it struck me - I've been to around 20 games over the past 2 and a bit seasons and have only seen 2 wins, both against GWS....

The sadest part is that the concept and what a win looks like is almost foreign to me - Everytime I go now I'm expecting a loss.

I reckon the players are the same mate.

We will start to improve when we stop making excuses. I have never known a sporting organisation to make and accept so many excuses. Still cannot believe the talk last week about forgetting about the scoreboard and I almost vomitted when I heard Jack Grimes was asked whether Paul Roos' contract situation is a distraction to the players. Bugger me how many things can people think up to excuse this lot. Paul Roos' contract didn't make Grimes fumble and bumble his way through the game last weekend. Paul Roos' contract ins't making Jack Trengove, for some bizarre reason, slow down and steady himself BEFORE HE EVEN GETS THE BALL! What these blokes are turning out is way below what we should expect from them, and there are still people that defend some of these things.

I remember watching Mark Baguley playing what I think might have been his second game for Essendon back in 2012 on a Friday night vs. Geelong. Watching it, I felt sorry for him because I thought 'Geez this bloke is so far out of his depth it isn't funny'. He looked way too slow for the game, couldn't hit a target and couldn't stop his man for love nor money. I thought there's no way they can play this bloke again. But the mistakes he was making aren't acceptable at Essendon. Whatever they told him, taught him, demanded from him or he demanded from himself he was able to cut those mistakes out and has been able to establish himself as a reliable role player for them within a very short period of time. Now you can't tell me he is considerably more talented than many of the players we have? And I don't believe it comes down to coaching. It comes down to what level of performance is acceptable at the football club. We are still excusing too many mistakes from people who shouldn't be committing them.

This hurts me saying this but we have missed the tide.. GWS and GC are now preparing to be the powerhouse clubs while we missed our chance in recruiting the right players and developing them so we too can rise up.

I was really positive at the start of the year but now with all our key forwards out for god knows how long we will be lucky to get 3 wins.

I think the best way to move further is back to square one and rebuild through the draft. I know il get shot down for that comment but I am at ease we will develop our youngster much better with Roos and PJ running our club. There will be no more cleaning out our leadership or gifting games to our youngsters for the sake of it. I reckon bite the bullet and this time just focus on the draft because this year I cannot see anyone coming to our club unless through delisted free agency.

I was just talking to a mate about the Dees and it struck me - I've been to around 20 games over the past 2 and a bit seasons and have only seen 2 wins, both against GWS....

The sadest part is that the concept and what a win looks like is almost foreign to me - Everytime I go now I'm expecting a loss.

Lucky bugga!!!!