Some serious questions asked about Paul Roos ...

[dazzledavey36 55,991]

He is hurting like all of us. I am now sick to death of putting all our blame on the coach. Happened too much during the Bailey years.

The finger pointing needs to go on the lazy players who are already booking their holidays. Sick of half ass efforts from Garland Grimes Howe Watts from time to time. He wants to see this club rise and thats why he wants to stay on because he is PASSIONATE to see this once proud club up and going again.

The players should be ashamed of themselves for putting in [censored] weak efforts and tarnishing his reputation as a great AFL coach.

[SaberFang 7,151]

That was really difficult to watch.

Is it really necessary to letter bomb the guy every time the team comes out and underperforms? Does that really achieve anything?

He's as frustrated and lost for words as we are, and he's deservedly upset at the constant scrutinisation of his commitment to the club.

[What 18,810]

The finger pointing needs to go on the lazy players who are already booking the holidays.

yes it does. Would be good if someone could post their email addresses instead of Roos and PJ's

[Forest Demon 4,681]

yes it does. Would be good if someone could post their email addresses instead of Roos and PJ's

[email protected]?

[The heart beats true 18,188]

I'm acutely aware of the irony of being on Demonland and talking about what he said but I'll paraphrase it here:

We as a club (not just a team of players, but as supporters, administrators, everyone) are overly negative. We say things like 'of course we'll lose to Carlton'. We manifest poor behaviour. He didn't excuse himself from it, he just said it was unique to Melbourne as a club. He said we need to turn that around as a group. All of us.

Sadly I know exactly what he was talking about. Not sure yet what we can do, but it's got to be something.

[Pennant St Dee 13,415]

Heading to Subiaco on Sunday and expecting the mother of all floggings the Dockers whilst losing on the weekend came out firing in the first quarter as they did in their recent game against the Saints, god help us if we aren't switched on from the Start

[Biffen 12,949]

We are extremely slow.

Need more natural speed.

Not Roosy's fault.

[Sir Why You Little 37,342]

This mess is all on the players...

[Biffen 12,949]

Open your eyes Boss

Nobody is going to watch or sponsor efforts like yesterday. We have been putrid for a decade.

That is a full generation

Too many people think it will just fix itself...

Actually a generation is about 25 years.

[Coq au vin 755]

What's saddest to see is the dwindling number of posts on here and the dwindling passion. We all have a severe case of demonitis and despondency.

How could the Blues beat us at their second lowest ebb?

The first of course was their last game at Punces Park - which we won!!

[chook fowler 19,735]

This mess is all on the players...

I would qualify that it is on the senior players.

[DemonOX 8,837]

Watching Roos on 360 was the first time I saw him be really passionate about our club and genuinely frustrated and annoyed at the past few performances.

In fairness to him there were a lot of issues at our club and I think he and the other coaches maybe have nailed the problem in regards to the negativity around the entire club.

First step to fixing a problem is recognising it.

Hopefully they can fix it now.

Here's hoping anyway.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

These quotes again make me feel like Roos is distancing himself from the club.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,477]

What more can he do, the players were meant to take ownership, that has failed again. It's the kids busting their guts. Hats of to Luke Beverage but the foundation was laid by McCartney. I recall certain Bulldog players not liking his honest appraisal of their performances, I wonder how honest our coaching panel will be this year. Look at Frawley at Hawthorn and how highly rated he was here. A lot of our senior players are overrated.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,339]

I found his interview on 360 thoroughly frustrating. He refuses to take any responsibility. He continues to distance himself from the team performance. He seems more concerned about his legacy and how dare people say he does not care than actually doing something about it. He prattles on about it not being about the past then continually goes on about the past. It has taken him 2 years to realise that maybe we don't have a mindset to be able to perform when we are favourites. Half of that team was not there before he arrived yet again no responsibility. What are we paying him for?

If I was a player I wouldn't feel motivated to play on edge for him either.

[Sir Why You Little 37,342]

These quotes again make me feel like Roos is distancing himself from the club.

i think he is being brutally honest

[Gator 18,017]

We are extremely slow.

Need more natural speed.

Not Roosy's fault.

We didn't lose because were are slow, we lost because we didn't compete.

We didn't beat Collingwood, Richmond, Footscray and Geelong because we are fast, we won because we harassed, contested, ran and had decent ball movement.

Most of it is mindset.

[Jaded No More 68,976]

It's ironic that my workplace is also very negative after albeit a short period of failure. It effects everyone and makes you second guess everything you do, which creates instability, stress and resentment. It's certainly driving me to leave and put in less effort than I normally would (which unlike Melbourne is 24-7!).

It all comes down to leadership though. If management and senior leadership is negative, if they "give up" when the opposition kick the first few quick goals of the game because they think "here we go again", then things will never change.

When this is your headspace it is almost impossible to come back from. When you've given up on your workplace, something pretty drastic needs to happen for you to change your mind

We are all emotionally attached to the club, we don't just give up, but to most players the club is their workplace. They aren't attached like we are.

[titan_uranus 25,211]

I'm glad a few people have mentioned Garland. He often gets left alone on here and I know he's rated by the club, coaches, etc., but I find him utterly hopeless. He's either giving away frees with contemptibly stupid decisions, or turning it over with skill errors.

I shudder whenever he goes near it.

I fail to understand the way Garland is discussed on this board.

Almost every other player on the list comes under fire repeatedly, but for some reason Garland is some sort of wonderful hard-working sympathy target who is exempt from criticism because,,,.who knows.

IMO, he exemplifies everything that is wrong with this club.

I found his interview on 360 thoroughly frustrating. He refuses to take any responsibility. He continues to distance himself from the team performance. He seems more concerned about his legacy and how dare people say he does not care than actually doing something about it. He prattles on about it not being about the past then continually goes on about the past. It has taken him 2 years to realise that maybe we don't have a mindset to be able to perform when we are favourites. Half of that team was not there before he arrived yet again no responsibility. What are we paying him for?

If I was a player I wouldn't feel motivated to play on edge for him either.

The odd thing is, at the press conference yesterday he didn't say any of this stuff at all.

I wonder if yesterday was the honest view slipping out a little bit, and today was the media performance back on point once more.

It should be noted, regardless of whether he should be saying this stuff so frequently, it's all true.

[Gator 18,017]

I found his interview on 360 thoroughly frustrating. He refuses to take any responsibility. He continues to distance himself from the team performance. He seems more concerned about his legacy and how dare people say he does not care than actually doing something about it. He prattles on about it not being about the past then continually goes on about the past. It has taken him 2 years to realise that maybe we don't have a mindset to be able to perform when we are favourites. Half of that team was not there before he arrived yet again no responsibility. What are we paying him for?

If I was a player I wouldn't feel motivated to play on edge for him either.

I think this is harsh, although I've been critical of him constantly dredging up the past too.

He did blame himself and the coaching group for not getting the players in the right mindset, although he also blames the culture of the club and the negativity that seeps from every pore.

Is he wrong in that regard ? It's a manifestation of long-term ineptitude.

There's no easy solution, but everybody is what they think about most. And if the club as a whole has a losers mentality that's what will continue to be cultivated.

[titan_uranus 25,211]

I think this is harsh, although I've been critical of him constantly dredging up the past too.

He did blame himself and the coaching group for not getting the players in the right mindset, although he also blames the culture of the club and the negativity that seeps from every pore.

Is he wrong in that regard ? It's a manifestation of long-term ineptitude.

There's no easy solution, but everybody is what they think about most. And if the club as a whole has a losers mentality that's what will continue to be cultivated.

One of the best bits of that 360 segment was when he discussed the email from the supporter who said 'driving in today, I knew we were going to lose', which caused him to reflect on how many of the players would have had the same mindset.

People talk about how almost every single player who was here under Bailey is gone, so how could the tanking era still be affecting us?

The problem is, this club hasn't prioritised winning since 2006. It's always been about development, or about building to the future, or worse, actually about losing.

Consequently, I'm confident that when you come to the club, you second-guess yourself. What are these other players thinking? There's no winning culture here, they don't win a lot, where's the belief? And it seeps through.

It doesn't help that we have no respect from the public. It doesn't help that the supporter base is, by and large, pessimistic. It all feeds into the same thinking - we probably are going to lose this game.

We're down to a handful of Bailey-era players. Funnily enough, they're the biggest offenders - Garland, Howe, Watts, Grimes, probably Jones too. They're the wrong players to lead the club, and the mentality just trickles down.

[Jaded No More 68,976]

Gary Lyon, as much as I dislike him sometimes, nailed it just now on Footy Classifieds.

No effort, no pressure, no contest, no care, no energy. Heart breaking stuff.

Lazy senior players being shown up for not chasing, not manning up, it's pathetic. Beyond pathetic actually.

Scarily Caro is also right to question why Roos hasn't been able to remove that negativity, and why with new president, new CEO, new board, new coaching panel and nearly a new playing list, why is there still negativity?

[praha 11,253]

If Roos doesn't seek or entertain trades for Jones, Dunn, Garland, Watts and Dawes, then I'll really question him.

We can't move on with losers leading the club. Move them all on.

[Guest]

This may seem off topic but I think it's pertinent.
I remember in I asking a few questions in one of those despicable threads that slandered Mitch Clark as having faked depression (never directly but the perpetrators always used weasel words) that I think has resonance in this situation.
What were those questions you may ask? They went as follows:
How many of the people who now sling mud at Mitch were kissing his ring when he came to the club? And how many were talking about how 'brave' he was before he went to Geelong?
I followed it up with the observation that many of the same people who were gushing over Mitch but eventually turned on him like Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction would be the same time of person who carried on like Roosy had ascended from heaven like some divine figure but would turn into complete peanuts the second things turned remotely bad.
I would like to see how accurate my observation was. I would say I would be pretty much on the money.

[Bombay Airconditioning 6,477]

Gary Lyon, as much as I dislike him sometimes, nailed it just now on Footy Classifieds.

No effort, no pressure, no contest, no care, no energy. Heart breaking stuff.

Lazy senior players being shown up for not chasing, not manning up, it's pathetic. Beyond pathetic actually.

Scarily Caro is also right to question why Roos hasn't been able to remove that negativity, and why with new president, new CEO, new board, new coaching panel and nearly a new playing list, why is there still negativity?

Great post, the only thing left is the players. The sooner we move them on the quicker we turn the ship around.