On 16/08/2015 at 23:57, rjay said:

Our grand final, our most important game in a decade, blah, blah, blah. These sort of things have been posted most weeks and they are just so off the mark.

It's another game, hopefully we win it but if we don't we move on...

Sad as it is, I'm over this season and looking forward to how we set up for next.

The only joy I will get for the rest of this year is Geelong missing finals and Hawthorn finishing 3rd.

Amen to that! "Our Grand Final" lack of a better phrase.. I just don't want my Carlton mates to have any ammunition..

  On 16/08/2015 at 23:42, rpfc said:

No it isn't.

We are a 6 and 13 team playing the worst team in the league.

Two bad teams playing each other is never a Grand Final.

We have much work to do with this list to get a Final let alone a Grand Final.

Utter embarrassment is what we would feel if we lose to Carlton this week, that's all.

The sad reality is that it IS our Grand Final.

We have failed to turn a corner at every single opportunity this year.

Win 2 in a row

Win at Etihad

Win games we are supposed to win

Play consistently good football for more than two weeks

Carlton is down and out. They have lost five in a row. If we have improved we will come out and smash them by 10 goals. It's very important that we beat them and beat them well.

It would just be a normal game had we turned a corner in another regard this year, but we haven't. That leaves us to treating a match against the bottom-placed side as a gauge for what sort of team we support. This is like right down the bottom of the barrel of the stuff we turn to in order to define the year. We don't have a choice because every other gauge has suggested the club hasn't turned a corner. Winning one game and then playing crap for three weeks just suggest normalisation to me, not improvement: it's normal that with the players we have brought in that we would win 1 or 2 more matches this year. One gauge this year was that we won when we are supposed to, and consistently. We haven't really done that. It's not as important as playing consistently well over 2-3 weeks, or winning two in a row, but it's important nonetheless.

How does the team respond after losing by 100 points? Earlier in the year they did it by beating the Dogs by 40 ponts.

How does the team respond after consecutive poor starts in matches?

How does the team respond to coming up against a struggling side when it's struggling itself?

How does the team respond when it goes into a match as favourite after losing by 100 points?

How does the team want to end the year?

How does the team want 2015 to be remembered?

How badly does the team want to win a match that has zero bearing on finals?

This week is a Grand Final insofar as seeing what sort of mindset this team is in, what sort of influence the coaching staff has on the playing group, and how much the players actually care about the club.

It's integral we finish the final 3 matches out strongly. They are pointless insofar as we can't make finals. But they are actually all 3 very winnable games. If we finish on 9 wins, this season turns from being a failure to a colossal success in the space of 3 weeks. This club can do it, but it probably won't.

We need to finish strongly for the sake of membership, sponsorship and free agency. If we lose the remaining three matches, and lose them massively, the club will go through what will be its hardest pre-season yet in regards to marketing and branding. It'll be very hard to sell the product anymore. Even after 2012 and 2013. Finishing the year poorly would be disastrous for this club. You can't sell hope anymore. You need a tangible product.

I highlighted those points because we can't undervalue how important it is to finish strongly, irrespective of what teams you're playing.

  On 16/08/2015 at 23:46, Biffen said:

The $1.5 Mill is proving to be the biggest joke ever played on our club.

Roos needs to display some passion ,nous,common sense and grit.

The philosophical approach isn't doing it for me at all.

I can't see this train of thought, list, performances and overall competitiveness clearly shows Paul Roos has been one of the best acquisitions the Melbourne football club has made.

He is passionate about Melbourne football club, but chooses to be restrained and philosophical in front of cameras because it's the media who gives a [censored].

Melbourne will have 7 wins, which is a real improvement from the basket case we were, sure there is inconsistencies and there will still be inconsistencies next year, but we will continue to get better and we will be pushing for finals next year!

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:07, Mad_Melbourne said:

Melbourne will have 7 wins

Says who?

I can only see '6' in the W column. If anyone can lose to Carlton, it's this pathetic excuse of an AFL team.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:04, praha said:

You can't sell hope anymore. You need a tangible product.

This is exactly why Roos' tenure should be under question. He's survived two years on hope. We're all sick of hope. Time for results.

The Dogs are on a roll that reminds me of us in 87

Absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

Sacking Roos now will do nothing but put us back another two years.

It sucks. We suuck. But ride it out. Because changing the coach won't speed the process up.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:33, Roost It said:

Absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

You're right.

Losing by 100 points in Round 20, nothing to worry about.

Really? *tilts head*

Improvement is there - just other teams have improved too - but the core is there - improvement will come

  On 29/07/2015 at 05:36, Baghdad Bob said:

Lumumba finished 4th in Collingwoods best and fairest last year if my memory serves me correctly. He would be lucky to be in the MFC top 10. He may have been in our best 3 once.

If he wasn't playing he'd be one of the last players I'd be worried about. Hell, if people pick on Grimes what do they think about this bloke. It's hard to remember too many bits of genuinely constructive play from him this season. For a senior player he's been exceptionally disappointing.

IMO he's erratic with his decision making and disposal, good at one on one ground ball contests and timid in the extreme in the air. His desperation is poor. His shocking effort to spoil Daniher in the last seconds of the Essendon game are representative of the way he plays and showed a lack of leadership. By spoiling Daniher he may have given away a free but Daniher would have been sore which wouldn't have helped him kick it 50 metres. If Viney had been where Lumumba was it would have been a different scenario.

Lumumba in my opinion was much more effective at Collingwood. He may be having trouble adapting to the different game plan, the game plan mightn't suit him, he may be playing injured, he may be struggling with less capable players around him but he certainly isn't playing like he was at Collingwood. He's been a poor pick up for the price.

Couldn't agree more BB.

IMO he has been a bust. he was sensational in the pre season and then collapsed.

It is not the game plan that causes you to be outmarked constantly, fumble, take wrong options and generally play poorly.

Grimes last few games have been far superior to HL's. If asked to keep one Grimes stays.

This is probably unfair to say, but HL looks scared of the contest at times. He is a shadow of the Pies player he was.

On another note, I was thrilled for Jack Watts, when he backed into a Dogs player to take a lovely mark. It was one of those courage moments and he passed with flying colors. Leigh Matthews praised the effort as well. Moments like that can make a player's career and hopefully Jack goes on to bigger and better in his career with us.He is a great bloke and hopefully becomes a Demon great.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:20, Dr. Mubutu said:

Says who?

I can only see '6' in the W column. If anyone can lose to Carlton, it's this pathetic excuse of an AFL team.

Watch their selection this week, they might have their eyes on Pick 1 and PSD 1.

Time to trade some players on such as Garland, Dunn, jamar, Howe, they have been there too long to have any future in our rise.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:04, praha said:

The sad reality is that it IS our Grand Final.

We have failed to turn a corner at every single opportunity this year.

Win 2 in a row

Win at Etihad

Win games we are supposed to win

Play consistently good football for more than two weeks

Carlton is down and out. They have lost five in a row. If we have improved we will come out and smash them by 10 goals. It's very important that we beat them and beat them well.

It would just be a normal game had we turned a corner in another regard this year, but we haven't. That leaves us to treating a match against the bottom-placed side as a gauge for what sort of team we support. This is like right down the bottom of the barrel of the stuff we turn to in order to define the year. We don't have a choice because every other gauge has suggested the club hasn't turned a corner. Winning one game and then playing crap for three weeks just suggest normalisation to me, not improvement: it's normal that with the players we have brought in that we would win 1 or 2 more matches this year. One gauge this year was that we won when we are supposed to, and consistently. We haven't really done that. It's not as important as playing consistently well over 2-3 weeks, or winning two in a row, but it's important nonetheless.

How does the team respond after losing by 100 points? Earlier in the year they did it by beating the Dogs by 40 ponts.

How does the team respond after consecutive poor starts in matches?

How does the team respond to coming up against a struggling side when it's struggling itself?

How does the team respond when it goes into a match as favourite after losing by 100 points?

How does the team want to end the year?

How does the team want 2015 to be remembered?

How badly does the team want to win a match that has zero bearing on finals?

This week is a Grand Final insofar as seeing what sort of mindset this team is in, what sort of influence the coaching staff has on the playing group, and how much the players actually care about the club.

It's integral we finish the final 3 matches out strongly. They are pointless insofar as we can't make finals. But they are actually all 3 very winnable games. If we finish on 9 wins, this season turns from being a failure to a colossal success in the space of 3 weeks. This club can do it, but it probably won't.

We need to finish strongly for the sake of membership, sponsorship and free agency. If we lose the remaining three matches, and lose them massively, the club will go through what will be its hardest pre-season yet in regards to marketing and branding. It'll be very hard to sell the product anymore. Even after 2012 and 2013. Finishing the year poorly would be disastrous for this club. You can't sell hope anymore. You need a tangible product.

I highlighted those points because we can't undervalue how important it is to finish strongly, irrespective of what teams you're playing.

Not reading all that.

Roos was brought in at a low ebb and I am frustrated - how can you not be? But to say that this coming game is important as the most important game a club can have is pretty rich...

We have had some lows but unlike previous seasons - the highs have been much higher.

The progress has stuttered but its there, unfortunately, we keep on taking steps backward after clawing forward.

It's all about the Sunday to Monday culture for this club and Roos will help that immeasurably. The difference between finishing 7 and 15 and 9 and 13 will be irrelevant in a months time and we once again hope that we can get another Vince, another Brayshaw, another Vandenberg...

...and do it all again in 2016.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:46, Ugottobekidding said:

Improvement is there - just other teams have improved too - but the core is there - improvement will come

Ur Moniker says it all!

We surprised them last time by being able to tie up their running game.

But they were ready for us this time and worked out how to make sure we wouldn't do it again.

They have a system that allows them to transition brilliantly from contested to uncontested play, like all the very best teams do, so any team that loses that many clearances to them is gonna get smashed.

Our 3rd quarter positional changes worked extremely well. We began to win clearances & put them under pressure, which made them panic & look quite ordinary.

It's very unlike Roos to make such decisive and bold positional changes (T.Mac on to the ball for the whole quarter & Gawn forward were really out of left field) in the course of a game, but they nailed it.

So why couldn't we keep it going? Did we change it all back in the last quarter? T.Mac seemed to be back in defence the whole quarter.

It was a very strange game, and our third quarter was the strangest part of it. We seemed to grab the initiative with bold moves, and then just meekly hand it back again.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:49, Ugottobekidding said:

Time to trade some players on such as Garland, Dunn, jamar, Howe, they have been there too long to have any future in our rise.

Getting rid of experience to replace it with youth has worked so well for us in the past, why not give it another go.

People seem to have very short memories. P Roos took over when 100 point smashings were not uncommon at all. We would lose pretty much every week by at least 10 goals. We were absolutely deplorable and the culture of the club was just as bad.

Paul has come in and is working through these issues. I for one never thought the rise would be fast due to the damage done by the previous administration and coaches. What we have now is a team that at its best is actually pretty good (see Cats, Pies, Dogs, Tigers games from earlier this year), we couldn't have said our best was anywhere near that good 2 years ago. The problem we have is that our worst is still pretty bad, but we are seeing far less of it than we were.

Roos and the great coaches he has around him are turning the club around both on and off the field, the job wont be complete when Roos finishes up but he should have a group ready to continue to the push when he does.

The worst thing the club could do now is either go with a youth policy or remove the coach. The instability it causes would kill the club. There would be no coming back.

  On 17/08/2015 at 01:57, Chris said:

People seem to have very short memories. P Roos took over when 100 point smashings were not uncommon at all. We would lose pretty much every week by at least 10 goals. We were absolutely deplorable and the culture of the club was just as bad.

Paul has come in and is working through these issues. I for one never thought the rise would be fast due to the damage done by the previous administration and coaches. What we have now is a team that at its best is actually pretty good (see Cats, Pies, Dogs, Tigers games from earlier this year), we couldn't have said our best was anywhere near that good 2 years ago. The problem we have is that our worst is still pretty bad, but we are seeing far less of it than we were.

Roos and the great coaches he has around him are turning the club around both on and off the field, the job wont be complete when Roos finishes up but he should have a group ready to continue to the push when he does.

The worst thing the club could do now is either go with a youth policy or remove the coach. The instability it causes would kill the club. There would be no coming back.

Thanks for being rational. It's quite refreshing on this page.

Everyone take a deep breath, sheath your pitchforks, and watch the replay of the Cats win.

  On 16/08/2015 at 23:46, Biffen said:

The $1.5 Mill is proving to be the biggest joke ever played on our club.

Roos needs to display some passion ,nous,common sense and grit.

The philosophical approach isn't doing it for me at all.

1.5 mil is too much I agree. But we are locked in now. I don't like the handover either, but we are stuck with it.

the 137 point turnaround is the damning thing for Roosy.

Same people,12 weeks difference.

i don't see any benefit in changing him but it makes a mockery of the money he receives.

lets hope we see Sept in 2016.

  On 17/08/2015 at 02:16, Biffen said:

the 137 point turnaround is the damning thing for Roosy.

Same people,12 weeks difference.

i don't see any benefit in changing him but it makes a mockery of the money he receives.

lets hope we see Sept in 2016.

Week by week, too inconsistent to think finals IMO. We are in better shape than when Neeld coached, but that isn't saying much.

The good thing about Roosy is that he provides stability when the wheels fall off.

If we had a more low profile coach, The whole world would be calling for blood and the coach and club would be under great pressure and the club would be in turmoil.

We have seen some great football this season with win against Geelong, Collingwood. Richmond, W Bulldogs, (Roos called a saviour)

We have also seen some horrible losses against Hawthorn and Bulldogs St Kilda and Essendon. (Roos called a dud)

This was always going to be a year of ups and downs.

Changing coaches is the last thing we need.

We may well end up with 8 wins given Carlton and GWS are coming up.

Most of us would have taken that at the start of the season.

  On 17/08/2015 at 00:33, Roost It said:

The Dogs are on a roll that reminds me of us in 87

Absolutely nothing to be concerned about.

Was thinking exactly the same thing...that was a great ride for us.

Good luck to the Doggies supporters.

It's hardly a "Grand Final" when the team you're playing wants to lose.