On 14/06/2015 at 10:20, jumbo returns said:

Too many not up to AFL standard.

Too many kids not ready yet.

Too many injuries.

No depth.

Michie, Pig Dog, Grimesy all struggling.

Howe played.....bored.

Michie played 29% of the game. Yes made two clangers BUT was one of only two that I could make out that went down back after we hit the front. Against Richmond he was gushed over, has not really put a foot wrong in his games except today. He is still one of our best disposers.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:37, Django said:

He positions well, makes a contest and gets hands on them too, just can't hold onto them. Frustrating.

Exactly. Just before Toumpas scored his first, Gawn dropped an absolute uncontested sitter, practically in the goal square. He ended up being involved in that Toumpas goal, but his hands are horrible. As you say, mate, he positions himself quite well.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:38, stuie said:

I said it after the Collingwood game but everyone jumped on me cos he had a good game, but he makes himself small in ruck contests and marking contests. He bends his knees too much and tries to come up rather than stand tall. I'm not sure if that's from lack of confidence in his knees, but he needs to literally stand up.

Correction. He had a good three quarters. He just doesn't watch it into his hands. He drops his head. But perhaps there's also something in the knee history.

I am putting this on Roos. Where was the rubber telling them to get back. There should have been one Melbourne player forward of the centre. Hogan

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:50, Hogan2014 said:

Too much focus on the last 40secs though poor defending we should turn our attention to all the [censored] turnovers which occurred prior to the last 40secs which continue to result in goals & gift the opposition games on the plate!

It's hard to go past the last 40 seconds but you're right. We were awful from halfway through the third quarter onwards (just the Howe goal from that point to the end).

St Kilda being a fellow bottom 6 side is the only reason they didn't blow us apart in the fourth.

Has this been posted?

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-06-14/highlights-st-kilda-v-melbourne

Skip to 2:30 and look at the 'effort' from our VC.

Absolutely disgraceful.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:44, Je Roos Salem said:

While most may say that Roos isn't at fault, if his players aren't listening to him and/or they don't know how to setup when the game's on the line then his coaching has to be at least questioned. It's his job to make sure this doesn't happen.

Turn it up. Do you think it's a totally foreign concept to them. Do you think this is the first time they've been confronted with this situation given most of them have been playing footy since they were 5 ? Do you think they've not had to defend before ? Do you want Roos to send out a message for each possession so they know whether to kick or handball ? Jesus wept

This is on the players. And you could see it coming. As soon as I saw them all bouncing around Howe & celebrating like they'd won the World Cup, I knew they'd forgotten the game was still on & I knew we were [censored].

And I was pretty damn sure it would be Steven getting the centre clearance

100% on the players and the leaders should take responsibility

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:44, Undeeterred said:

True re Collingwood, I just think they consistently have more class than us and they are a bit too far ahead of us (ie, we didn't really look like winning on QB although we did ok).

I'm not even confident about the annual Essendon smashing this year.

We looked more likely to win against Collingwood last week, than we did against St Kilda today, IMO.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:52, Leoncelli_36 said:

I am putting this on Roos. Where was the rubber telling them to get back. There should have been one Melbourne player forward of the centre. Hogan

FWIW the runner tonight was Brad Miller. He surely would have known to tell them this without Roos or McCartney telling him.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:54, AdamFarr said:

We looked more likely to win against Collingwood last week, than we did against St Kilda today, IMO.

And St Kilda struggled to put us away, whereas Collingwood's class held us out all day. They just too many weapons who bob up when the others are down.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:50, Hogan2014 said:

Too much focus on the last 40secs though poor defending we should turn our attention to all the [censored] turnovers which occurred prior to the last 40secs which continue to result in goals & gift the opposition games on the plate!

But it was the 28 minutes of the last quarter tht didn't help. All 18 MFC players in our back half defending. We need better playing set ups.

  On 14/06/2015 at 10:55, Colin B. Flaubert said:

Like I have said before on this same board... The class of 2008 onwards will not be the one's to take this club forward.

Looking at Hogan and Brayshaw, you can just tell that they have the spunk that makes a great player.

Most of our blokes from the Bailey and Neeld eras look as though they feel as though they need to apologize for getting on the pitch in the first place.

I won't accept this stuff about Roos. I lived through 2011 and saw the criticism leveled at Bailey who in reality was in his second year of real coaching (the first two years of his tenure had him following CS's and CC's mandates). We sacked him after 186 and then fell into the bottomless pit that we have yet to climb out of. Now after 1 and a half seasons in charge, apparently this is PR's fault.

To even consider that Roos caused this problem or is even contributing to it cheeses me off no end.

Deserves reposting Colin.

Finally back on here sick of seeing crap about Roos coaching.players have to stand up and for those that have ripped into tomp for so long we are starting to see the player he could be (still makes silly mistakes but I can handle that ). Just shows how void our list is of quality leaders and depth.thought we might break our duck tonight but another hard luck story. Still we have seen some great effort from most of our first year players which is a bonus. Carn dees

We have blown big leads vs GWS and Port

We were in winnable positions the last 2 weeks and couldnt get it done

This season could have been looking really bright at the halfway point but sadly its looking like another season of shite again

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:54, Go the Biff said:

Turn it up. Do you think it's a totally foreign concept to them. Do you think this is the first time they've been confronted with this situation given most of them have been playing footy since they were 5 ? Do you think they've not had to defend before ? Do you want Roos to send out a message for each possession so they know whether to kick or handball ? Jesus wept

This is on the players. And you could see it coming. As soon as I saw them all bouncing around Howe & celebrating like they'd won the World Cup, I knew they'd forgotten the game was still on & I knew we were [censored].

And I was pretty damn sure it would be Steven getting the centre clearance

100% on the players and the leaders should take responsibility

Exactly. I envisaged Stevens getting out the back in open space like he did for his goal earlier in the match. Sure enough, it happened. Absolutely hopeless.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:53, Seraph said:

Has this been posted?

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2015-06-14/highlights-st-kilda-v-melbourne

Skip to 2:30 and look at the 'effort' from our VC.

Absolutely disgraceful.

Perfect example of how insipid our 'leadership' is.

Other things to note include Riewoldt's goal at 1.07, where four MFC players contested the mark (four. They had one.)

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:54, Go the Biff said:

This is on the players. And you could see it coming. As soon as I saw them all bouncing around Howe & celebrating like they'd won the World Cup, I knew they'd forgotten the game was still on & I knew we were [censored].

Good observation. The footage of Roos yelling 'push back' into the phone is actually as the ball is being bounced after Howe's goal. Clearly he's looking at our players not flooding back and trying desperately to fix it.

Howe kicks the goal and Jones, Grimes, plenty of senior players get around him, but none of them motion to run backwards. I think back to the 2012 GF when Malceski kicked the selaer. As soon as he kicked it, he smiled (obviously) but started running to full back. Howe? He lapped it up.

IMO a part of the losing culture at the club is a chronic inability to keep the lid on when any hint of success shows up. Hence the inability to win consecutive games. I think a similar thing happened with this goal, too many players thought the job was done without putting in the hard work.

  On 14/06/2015 at 10:50, Fork said:

Damn right he's dumb.

Plan A - Get ball and bomb it into forward line.

Plan B - Get ball and bomb it into forward line.

When pressure comes on .... Go missing.

And don't get me started on McDonald.

This and many other posts that are on this page is what is wrong with this forum. Too many people ready to pot all and sundry and not realise that we were very competitive with a team at our level and as much by bad luck as bad play we lost tonight. Hogan playing on becomes a goal and we win, The ball bounces to us in the dying seconds instead of taking a warnie type turn we win. I am not bothering to check in for a while. It is sad. I read a few other forums and quite honestly this is often the worst. I reckon some on here would eat their own. I am sure glad I don't work for you. Players have good and bad days. How many of you can say you are perfect at your job all day every day? Yet that's the expectation on here.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:30, Sylvia Saint said:

After the break we have West Coast (certain loss) then a stretch which includes Essendon, St.Kilda, Carlton and Brisbane all at the MCG. Barring a catastrophe we should be fielding stronger sides by then. We also have Collingwood again and the Bulldogs and Giants at Etihad. I expect us to get more than 4 wins by year's end.

I like your optimism SS but when it comes to the MFC's on field fortunes i'm more used to, well ......

Bernie says the players didn't know how long was left:

https://soundcloud.com/abc_grandstand/afl-rd-11-bernie-vince?in=abc_grandstand/sets/afl-rd-11-st-kilda-v-melbourne-at-docklands

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:46, titan_uranus said:

We had 108 more disposals, I'm not that worried about having had 29 fewer tackles.

Most of those were handpasses under pressure to teammates under pressure.

  On 14/06/2015 at 11:49, The heart beats true said:

A couple of positives, because I'm happy to pot blokes, so it's only fair it goes the other way:

Toumpas - ran out of legs but gee he finally showed he could be a player. Hope it does his confidence a world of good.

Jack Watts - still tries to take it on too much but at times in the first half his ball use was a class above most on the field.

Brayshaw - we all know he's a player but in the last month I'd love to know how many scoring chains he's been involved in. When he has it we look good.

Future -Viney, Hogan, Brayshaw, Petracca, Toumpas, Tyson, Salem, JKH, TMac, Pick 3 2015

There's 10 years there if we can keep them fit and teach them how hard they'll need to work.

Jack Watts took on too much?

Next week, not enough.

Poor guy can't take a trick.

  On 14/06/2015 at 12:04, Seraph said:

Bernie says the players didn't know how long was left:

https://soundcloud.com/abc_grandstand/afl-rd-11-bernie-vince?in=abc_grandstand/sets/afl-rd-11-st-kilda-v-melbourne-at-docklands

Yup thats what I thought. Was a very short quarter so I don't blame the players for this one.

Absolutely pathetic coaching and lack of communication.

  On 14/06/2015 at 12:04, Clint Bizkit said:

Most of those were handpasses under pressure to teammates under pressure.

Or as I like to call it "the Lumumba special"

  On 14/06/2015 at 12:06, Jaded said:

Or as I like to call it "the Lumumba special"

Lumumba has come from a premiership winning side. He's not used to guys just standing around waiting for a handball.

We should learn from that.

  On 14/06/2015 at 09:25, Jaded said:

Paul Roos is 99% to blame today

We get in front with minutes to go. He doesn't put Jones in the guts. He doesn't put 3 extra back. He does sweet [censored] all.

This team is a joke. I've had a gutful.

Sorry, but ridiculous post, ridiculous comments, and not even accurate. Though you're not Robinson Crusoe.

We "got in front" with 40 seconds to go. Roos sent out the message, but that's not the point - he shouldn't even have to, the players should know what to do - and probably do. But as always with Melbourne, they don't do what they should do, and don't do what they're instructed to do.

But as I posted on another thread, we should never have been defending a 4 point lead with 40 seconds to go - we had our chances, and we gave St Kilda plenty. The fault lies in poor decisions and poor execution when the decisions were correct. Mitchie and Riley in particular are liabilities in this regard. I'd love to see those "marks from opposition kicks" and "scores from turnovers" stats - we must be leading them across the AFL.