Last night, the wife and I had dinner with friends at the Railway Club Hotel Steakhouse in Port Melbourne. Apart from the fact that the food's great, the other benefit is that there are a number of television sets placed around the walls so, if you strategically select your seat you can watch a game of footy as well as enjoy your food and take part in the conversation (in the case of the blokes you know what that's about).

The game was Collingwood v Geelong and it was a ripper. The Pies were dominated in the first quarter, came back in the second to be level at half time and while neither team was at its top, the second half was close enough and exciting to retain the interest of all for the evening. If you like a comparison between the way these teams and Melbourne play, one of the ladies at the table who follows the Dees expressed it best when she said there's less stuffing around, less mistakes and more direct football.

I would have added something about more endeavour from the experienced players in defence - the ones you rely on to save or win games - because as the game went on you could see blokes like Maxwell and Lumumba working their butts off trying to get their side up for a win. The former went off with an ankle injury early, got treatment and came back to play an important role in keeping his team in the game for its full duration.

I wondered where are our equivalents? Why the hell do we have defenders not even chasing four minutes into a game?

To make matters worse, at the bottom left hand of the screen they kept putting up the scores from the West Coast v St. Kilda game in Perth. To my astonishment, the Saints who a fortnight ago were about on par with us give or take some errant kicking for goal and the unfortunate circumstance of an injury or two incurred during the game, were in front at half time and there was only a goal in it at the final break. This was against a team that monstered us six days ago on our home turf in front of our own people.

I was seething. It brought home to me how insulting that display from the team was to the coach and the supporters. I don't care about the fact that we have injuries to our talls or that some players have more important things on their minds like how much money are they going to be on at another club next year, I want to see them playing the sort of football today that ends up in a scoring opportunity and not turned over into an opposition score.

Above all, I want to see the same endeavour and purpose shown by every player that Nick Maxwell displayed for Collingwood last night because that bloke plays as if he hates to lose and too many of ours don't.

[Rant ends here...]

Careful. We don't want to upset the poor dears, do we?

You're right Freudie. It's not their fault at all. It's mine. My expectations are waaaay too high.

You're right Freudie. It's not their fault at all. It's mine. My expectations are waaaay too high.

Exactly! Obviously something happened to these young men when they were in their infancy. It could have been during their breast feeding days or perhaps their first coach in their junior days made them play with a scoreboard.

gonna be a really good day or a really bad day

gonna be a really good day or a really bad day

Yeah, one or the other I reckon.

8 goal loss.

WJ, Garland is one defender who always chases and gives his all.

gonna be a really good day or a really bad day

There is another alternative?

GWS cut us to shreds last game with super fast ball movement by hand , didnt fumble and kicked well . We need

to get our hands on it and do the same , Gold CS were a great example last night of how to get outside with lightning handball to set up attacking moves from stoppages .

Last year the side, coming off yet another 120 point thrashing flew up to GWS with absolutely no interest in getting the 4 points or even trying for that matter. I remember bumping into PJ prior to the game and asking him if we were a chance today? He just shrugged his shoulders and grumpily said who the hell knows...

I sincerely hope the club goes up today with a different mind set as it's just soul destroying seeing the players not give a crap.

Is response to OP, belief is an amazing thing.

The saints have built it since R1. We can build it too.

Today is a big opportunity to take some steps in the right direction...

The feelings expressed in the OP are seconded by me. I have been saying for a long time we do not get the same effort from our 22 each week that other clubs get. I don't mean the stats that you can necessarily measure...but yeah the chasing and pressuring for example. The blood of this club is currently on the hands of the players and they need to wash it off.

If our effort is AFL standard today then you'd have to wonder what the hell these blokes were doing last week.

God help us please.

Some divine intervention would be VERY much appreciated by all.

Certain individuals will have far more scrutiny to how they chase and support their teammates than ever before in their careers today. If like last week there may be metaphorical lynch mobs waiting.

Edited April 5, 201411 yr by america de cali

Same old same old the team is a disgrace and it seriously needs some players to give more This team is going out backwards

The endeavour shown last week was weak as..

COME ON THE DEES!

Bloody daylight savings ending....just delaying the inevitable!

Ok time for my rant....

I'm sick of being the cellar dwellers with other teams like Tiges, Lions, Freo, GC, GWS to see them overtake us and few years later watch them even play in finals, whilst we're still the pits. To rub salt into this, bloody GWS are favorites for today and after our efforts last week I'm expecting another embarrassing loss - it just pisses me off.

End of rant - unfortunately still don't feel better though.

I'm sick of us having "opportunities to take steps in the right direction". I know we don't have great talent, but what we lack that really hurts is spirit and unity. We hear all the talk about the Melbourne Demons "brand", but what everyone wants from their club is guts and enthusiasm, and until we find a way to snap out of this current malaise we will still be talking about how every game is an "opportunity" rather than expecting some fight.

As Cross said this week - bugger being competitive, I want to win....

Let's fricken do it then!

The loss against the saints still hurts because regardless of what happened last week if we have one win on the board we could still hang our hats on that. But now it's same old same old.

I think we're a decent chance today but it depends on the mindsets of both teams. Melbourne has to find a way to believe again, and it wouldn't shock me if GWS start with a poor attitude thinking they've got this won.

Welcome back Viney.

I don't expect much today to be honest...

I think Viney will make a big difference, as long as he's completely fit.

His attitude will lift others around him as well as the fact that he's a great extractor and tackler. I'm keen to see what he can do today.

I remember bumping into PJ prior to the game and asking him if we were a chance today? He just shrugged his shoulders and grumpily said who the hell knows..

Haha, that's the confidence you want in your leaders! Not that I could blame him, but that is pretty funny/depressing.

Few careers on the line today i reckon.

Certainly hope so.

Good to see the sloppiness is part of everything we do.

Damn you Autocorrect!!