SMALL MERCIES - POST MATCH DISCUSSION

[Pates 9,660]

I don't really know what to say, commitment was good in the conditions, I mean they were throwing their bodies in but they still lack confidence. So many times we are our own worst enemy's turning it over with little pressure on. And the simple fact is we cannot buy a goal at the moment.

We could've won this, it was there for the taking.

[Guest]

I agree with Nasher.
Today, I was thinking of heading out to Chadstone to get my I-Pod fixed at the Apple store. There was a little voice telling me that I needed to wait till Monday so I wouldn't miss the game as though it was like a job interview or work deadline. It kind of dawned on me that this at the end of the day is a form of entertainment and not of real consequence. At the end of the day, me watching it won't help them one iota and will probably just leave me disappointed.
My I-pod miraculously came back to life earlier so I could catch the game but as usual, I left gutted and it's not simply about application.
The skills of a lot of the players are absolutely deplorable. This was exemplified when Pickles Evans was clear about halfway through the third and had Chip Frawley one on one with his defender, my hopes went up a little. Then he proceeded to give off one of the biggest mongrel, finger breaking, up country punts I have seen and any chance we would have had at kicking a goal were gone. The spray Roos gave to Terlich was well deserved also.
Jumbo is right (in the other thread). There is no way Roos can be happy with this list. There are too many blokes who have been around the club for about 5 years who have never lived up to their potential and blokes who get stats mostly because they are the beneficiaries of the oppositions' unforced errors. Be it because of culture, motivation,or talent level, it doesn't matter. A lot of these blokes need to be moved on.

[Webber 10,538]

I am sick of wondering if we will go through a season winless. We deserve better.

Stop wondering. We will be winless. We are the worst AFL team since I've been watching footy (over 40 years). Yes, worse than pre-fold Fitzroy, worse than GWS or Suns in their first year. This is not coach repairable. It may be repaired through generational change, so 10 years or more, but it will see out Roos and the next two coaches, and our entire current list.

The biggest concern however is how the club remains financially viable. Memberships will dive, sponsorship will jump, and the media, who unfortunately have too much control over central decision making, will want blood from anybody even vaguely connected with the club. They will turn Paul Roos, who came to this club with a seemingly impenetrable reputation, into their first kill. There's nothing they relish more than seeing the mighty fall, the tall poppies lopped. So good luck Roosy, they're gonna be coming for you....

[rjay 25,086]

Great that Game of Thrones starts again this week. Been enjoying Justified and thought Rake was great...

[Dr. Gonzo 24,289]

We have far too many players that are simply not up to AFL standard and no amount of development, will or could change that, it's all about the recruiting.

We are miles away from being even a reasonable side.

Pederson, Terlich, M Jones Bail, Georgiou and probably Spencer aren't up to it. If Frawley wants the big bucks he needs to lift a bit as well.

At least the guys who aren't up to it had a crack today - I thought the effort was pretty good until the last 10 minutes, still stupid mistakes and second guessing themselves but the effort was infinitely better than last week.

I come out of this game EXTREMELY frustrated with guys like Howe and Grimes who have the talent but either don't want to go hard enough or make stupid lazy mistakes again and again. I would drop Grimes for next week and Howe would be 50/50 for me. 3 times in the first half Howe just tried a torpedo out of defense in terrible conditions and it cost us a goal and lucky it didn't cost more.

Overall the game was there to be won but we still do stupid things which cost us. It was evident early this game was going to be about metres gained but we still took too long with our decision making instead of just getting it into the forward line and trying to scrounge goals.

Don't get me started on the umpiring either it was absolutely pathetic today and cost us at least a couple of goals.

[Dr. Gonzo 24,289]

In fairness to Pederson he was one of few to win his position today.

Yep Pedersen did well today I thought.

[Jack7 528]

I think Melbourne need a run in the VFL!

Matt Jones can't hit a handball target 3 metres away FFS!

Half of today's team are not AFL standard but what options do we have?

15 player turnover at the end of the year

We are in this predicament because of the decisions we made at the recruiting table,PERIOD.

Neeld and Roos can only try to teach what's on the list.

[Tatu 416]

Wonder what the relocation package will look like?

[Dr. Gonzo 24,289]

First 3 quarters - whilst not great it seemed like a pass.

But last quarter we just totally gave up (again). It's unacceptable but I don't know what can be done about it.

Strange thing. 2 forwards go play in defense and as good as any of our other defenders. 2 defenders go forward and are as good as our other forwards. So just how bad are the rest. I'm talking

Grimes, DROP

Terlich, DROP

Byrnes, DROP

Fitzpatrick DROP WHEN WE HAVE A REPLACEMENT

[Webber 10,538]

At least the guys who aren't up to it had a crack today - I thought the effort was pretty good until the last 10 minutes, still stupid mistakes and second guessing themselves but the effort was infinitely better than last week.

I come out of this game EXTREMELY frustrated with guys like Howe and Grimes who have the talent but either don't want to go hard enough or make stupid lazy mistakes again and again. I would drop Grimes for next week and Howe would be 50/50 for me. 3 times in the first half Howe just tried a torpedo out of defense in terrible conditions and it cost us a goal and lucky it didn't cost more.

Overall the game was there to be won but we still do stupid things which cost us. It was evident early this game was going to be about metres gained but we still took too long with our decision making instead of just getting it into the forward line and trying to scrounge goals.

Howe is one of the dumbest footballers around. He can take a hanger though!

Don't get me started on the umpiring either it was absolutely pathetic today and cost us at least a couple of goals.

[wattsup 470]

Well I never watched the game spent the day with the family and had a great time, so I have decided that's what I will be doing every time Melbourne plays for the rest of the year would rather have fun with my son then watch rubbish football so it's about time the football club wins me back it's like Groundhog Day and I am tired of it

[DeeZee 7,445]

And they said we didnt need a priority pick last year....ha ha.

Youve got Hawthorn....then daylight, then Freo, Geelong, West Coast Essendon.

Then Another group including Collingwood ,Richmond , Sydney,North and Port.

The almosts are next in Gold Coast , Bulldogs and Gws, carlton been stuck in this group for last five years.

Adelaide,St Kilda and Brisbane still competitive.

Daylight

Melbourne.(perennial cellar dwellers...no star players, battle on but totally bereft of talent required to compete at AFL level )

[Adam The God 30,407]

Terlich was horrendous. His disposal and decision-making is atrocious. Roos' out-of-character spray said it all

I've been saying it since we drafted him. He's a horrible kick and an even worse decision maker. I was living through Roos when he was giving that spray.

You've also got Grimes who is the most unreliable captain in the history of the game. Then there's Bail, Evans and M Jones. They are borderline VFA standard. Seriously.

You cannot win games when all your runners from the back (this is where attack is generated these days), turn it over two out of three times they get it.

Furthermore, coaching wise, what is our plan from kick outs? We've still failed to address that since 2005 or '06.

Edited April 6, 2014 by AdamFarr

[Webber 10,538]

Howe is a great taker of hangers, but one of the dumbest footballers going around, and the others also play for us.

[Dee Fan 3,247]

At least the guys who aren't up to it had a crack today - I thought the effort was pretty good until the last 10 minutes, still stupid mistakes and second guessing themselves but the effort was infinitely better than last week.

I come out of this game EXTREMELY frustrated with guys like Howe and Grimes who have the talent but either don't want to go hard enough or make stupid lazy mistakes again and again. I would drop Grimes for next week and Howe would be 50/50 for me. 3 times in the first half Howe just tried a torpedo out of defense in terrible conditions and it cost us a goal and lucky it didn't cost more.

Overall the game was there to be won but we still do stupid things which cost us. It was evident early this game was going to be about metres gained but we still took too long with our decision making instead of just getting it into the forward line and trying to scrounge goals.

Don't get me started on the umpiring either it was absolutely pathetic today and cost us at least a couple of goals.

Some of the players I've mentioned are a liability with the ball in their hands, the turnovers cost us more that the gains we have when they have it.

Sure they have a crack but their skill level is simply appalling.

[Webber 10,538]

And they said we didnt need a priority pick last year....ha ha.

Youve got Hawthorn....then daylight, then Freo, Geelong, West Coast Essendon.

Then Another group including Collingwood ,Richmond , Sydney,North and Port.

The almosts are next in Gold Coast , Bulldogs and Gws, carlton been stuck in this group for last five years.

Adelaide,St Kilda and Brisbane still competitive.

Daylight

Melbourne.(perennial cellar dwellers...no star players, battle on but totally bereft of talent required to compete at AFL level )

Nailed it!

[Little Goffy 14,639]

With Jones hurt early and not having a great day, Dom Tyson was clearly our best, which was borne out in the stats.

25 disposals, 19 of them contested. 10 clearances (not quite a third of our total)

Had some clangers but overall maintained a 76% disposal efficiency, well above most of the team.

Honourable mention to Tom McDonald who played a good game considering. Also, despite it not quite working on the day, I'd say Frawley at CHF-ish looks like being worth persevering with.

Infuriatingly, a lot of our players had short good patches, though for some that seemed to be literally 15 minuets or so.

And even moreso, a lot of players managed to do one or two parts of their job well, but butcher other elements to the point of not giving us a whole lot of overall gain.

As a team, we broke even in contested possessions, but got smashed in the tackles and clearances. Which suggests to me that we're pretty good at fighting to get the ball but terrible, really terrible, at the awareness in close required both to find eachother in a pack and to be react quickly to a ball being worked out of there by our opponents.

79 to 37 in hitouts... the mind boggles. I think you'll find that Mumford's 60 is in fact an all-time record.

[DeeSpencer 26,080]

So much to learn from GWS. Yeah there skills are a bit up and down at times especially in the wet. But their intensity and physical stuff is 110%. And they tackled like their life depended on it. We were insipid tackling. I can't even remember us forcing a second ball up or locking it in our forward line even once.

A wet day kept us in it but also highlighted Mumford. Spencer sucks but at least he tries and the free against him was laughable.

Speaking of laughable - Jack Watts. Complete joke how a couple of skilled efforts paper over the giant cracks in his game. He can't even outmark Scully.

Positives

- Pedersen as a lumbering defender at least tries

- McDonald held up pretty well on Cameron

- Frawley and Dunn were kind of ok

- Viney and Kent better for the run, they try and have talent these blokes, give them a bit of time

- Evans, whilst very sloppy, showed an ability to find the footy, I'd persist with him

My main concerns today were that the midfield couldn't win contested ball or spread and match them on the outside. That and the form of Grimes and Terlich who both have some horrendous moments. Terlich by foot and by brain and Grimes with no touch or feel around contests and no creativity.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

The worst part is not being able to ever get excited about any game or feel what it's like to actually beat an opponent. Especially the artificial ones like GWS, GCS and Freo. I wish Roosy luck. He would need an absolute miracle with injuries etc from here to find a win or maybe 2 lol

I suspect he'll have very little hair left, and what's left will be jet grey by year's end. Poor bloke must be having kittens around about now

[Guest]

Grimes was average, but there was far worse: Byrnes, Evans, Bail, TERLICH, Fitzpatrick to name a few

[Devil In Disguise 2,278]

What a masterstroke it was to overlook Kelly in the draft. The kid put us out of the game early in the last quarter with his great skills in the wet. Tyson can get the ball but has average disposal. The AFL must be smiling with all the concessions given to GWS & Gold Coast. We can surely forget about making the finals for the next 10 years.

Edited April 6, 2014 by wizardinoz

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I'm at the North game (free corporate tickets) crying as I watch Wines kick a goal.

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

Put them all up for trade.

These players will not save the MFC (with a few exceptions)

Grimes should be stripped of the Captaincy this week.

Give it to Bernie Vince or Cross.

We need absolute change.

[64was2longago 6]

Deplorable. No will to win and where is our fitness? We are never able to finish off games. Misson has a lot to answer for but never seems to be questioned.

Skills shocking. What about 'kick the ball long' when it is raining? It is pretty basic stuff. Can't see us winning a game this year.

[Whispering_Jack 30,640]

Embarrassing.