Good article by Watts here in regards to our culture. But words mean nothing to me now as I expect to see us back it up with winning results.

 

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/melbourne-players-no-longer-protecting-their-own-backyard-in-new-selfless-culture/story-e6frf3e3-1227696844398

1 hour ago, dazzledavey36 said:

Good article by Watts here in regards to our culture. But words mean nothing to me now as I expect to see us back it up with winning results.

 

http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/melbourne-players-no-longer-protecting-their-own-backyard-in-new-selfless-culture/story-e6frf3e3-1227696844398

same stuff said, just said differently every year for 8 years now. big, MEH, from me.

11 minutes ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

same stuff said, just said differently every year for 8 years now. big, MEH, from me.

I have to agree with you, we get this sort of thing trotted out by a player or two every year.

Gee, the boys were training the house down the year Sylvia joined and every year since.

l suppose they have to be positive but, deeds not words please boys.

2 minutes ago, Dee Dee said:

I have to agree with you, we get this sort of thing trotted out by a player or two every year.

Gee, the boys were training the house down the year Sylvia joined and every year since.

l suppose they have to be positive but, deeds not words please boys.

I also hate how they always seem to bring out Watts to say this kind of rubbish, which obviously opens himself up to personal attacks etc. by people online, the media and us drop kicks on Demonland. 

I guess we always get platitudes in the preseason.  This one is a bit different.  Last year Grimes was dropped because his game was too self-centred.  Jones (captain that is) received a similar talk from Roos.  Both too worried about personal stats.  Both co-caps from 2014 needed to be told by the coach.  Both players improved somewhat in 2015 on the selfless scale.  But improved enough? 

We can all see that teamwork has been diabolical, especially when the going gets tough in games.  Chips down each and every player goes into 'self preservation' mode. 

The coaches are working hard to get a team ethic going.  Hope the players are listening!  We will know soon enough if this 'selfless' message means anything or just more puff.

I am surprised that a couple of posters saw this as the same old pre-season meaningless guff.  While it contained a lot of that (surprise, surprise) we don't often see such direct mention of something that was wrong in the past.   Seems a (small) positive to me.

1 hour ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

same stuff said, just said differently every year for 8 years now. big, MEH, from me.

Harsh.

I thought it was a good read and was happy to hear Watts emphasise the strong influence that Goodie is having on the group.

Our culture has been shitful and Jack has been through the depths of despair during his time at the club. He should have one of the better understandings and knowledge to speak about the topic of culture shift and the actual translation now taking place at the club.

It does however open him up to more pot-shots as you've mentioned. Publicly speaking about the new selfless culture and not backing it up on game day will not be a good look.

 Still haven't gotten over those two completely  gutless capitulations against the Bulldogs and Blues. Me thinks upstairs things are still NQR and no ticker. Nothing can convince me we have made genuine improvement until we can slog it out for an entire season. Humiliations are erased by deeds not  words. Those overpaid jokers still think it is OK to put the cue in the rack once the finals window closes.  

I'll start by saying what I'm about to post is not directed solely at Watts but the list as a whole and secondly I just posted something similar in the "pre season list update".

I think we are some way off a strong culture and having strong leaders at the club. The losses to St.kilda/Carlton/Essendon showed that, all disarstorous for different reasons. The need for the byo shovel training camp. Some players clearly haven't bought in yet and the list as a whole hasn't taken ownership of the culture of the club, that is still being driven by the coaches. 

- The win over the Tigers wasn't an upset as we always play well against them. 

- I wouldn't read too much into the early season win over the Bulldogs as they absolutely annilalated later in the season.

Roos needs to stop referring to players as being mentally scarred because it gives players something to hide behind. Since taking over we've turned over half the list, those senior players who have remained on the list have either grown as players or have been found out. What we did discover is that a lot of players we had were simply the wrong selection. Player development is no doubt massive at a footy club and yes we had that wrong before Roos coming to the club, but as we've seen several players have left for other clubs without furthering their career to any great level. You don't simply loose your talent, Nathan Jones took his game to a new level from just one pre season under Roos/Stone. 

We need a new system for identifying leadership, being a leader at junior level doesn't always translate to AFL level and bringing in premiership players from other clubs is overrated. I think Cross set a great example without being captain or coming from a successful club. 

I think it's time for an internal grilling of players. Once a week the players meet and those that have broken team rules or not complied with the non negotiables need to stand up in front of the playing group and address them as to why. It can all be kept in house but we need done accountability from our players.

 

34 minutes ago, america de cali said:

 Still haven't gotten over those two completely  gutless capitulations against the Bulldogs and Blues. Me thinks upstairs things are still NQR and no ticker. Nothing can convince me we have made genuine improvement until we can slog it out for an entire season. Humiliations are erased by deeds not  words. Those overpaid jokers still think it is OK to put the cue in the rack once the finals window closes.  

That Carlton performance was an absolute disgrace. I don't want to see anything close to that in 2016.

57 minutes ago, McQueen said:

Harsh.

I thought it was a good read and was happy to hear Watts emphasise the strong influence that Goodie is having on the group.

Our culture has been shitful and Jack has been through the depths of despair during his time at the club. He should have one of the better understandings and knowledge to speak about the topic of culture shift and the actual translation now taking place at the club.

It does however open him up to more pot-shots as you've mentioned. Publicly speaking about the new selfless culture and not backing it up on game day will not be a good look.

I agree Steve with your comments and that little cynical part of me agrees with your last comment.

On the 4th Jan I will take his comments at face value. We have been in the pits for a decade I am trying to think that 2016 will be a lot better year.

I misread the thread title at first. I thought it read:

Melbourne's new selfies culture.

Which i thought strange as we had a selfies culture for some time so it would hardly be new.

In 2014 I think I saw about 1 or 2 shepherds from a Melbourne player. 

In 2015 I think I saw about 6 or 7 shepherds from a Melbourne player. 

There has been improvement but hopefully we can start shepherding and protecting team mates regularly in every match instead of playing Hot Potato with the football whilst we handball to players backs or stationary targets. 

 

I'm all for the sentiments expressed in the article but until I don't have to scream "NO NO NO" every time we get in a stupid circular handball clusterf**k then it's all just words.

 

3 hours ago, The Song Formerly Known As said:

same stuff said, just said differently every year for 8 years now. big, MEH, from me.

Yes we have heard this all before in various forms and disguises. However at least this time we have;

• A stable and competent administration
• An highly professional coaching group who seem to be all on the same page
• A seconds side with a Melbourne coach providing continuity of coaching (I think not enough has been made of the significance of this)
• Greater depth and competition for spots. 
• And whatever your opinion of our recruiting over the past trade and draft periods there is no arguing that we have gone out and got blokes who don't take backward steps. Competitors as Roos calls them

Perhaps it is the same old song but just maybe this time it is different

I know Wattsy said we want to concentrate on the positives of 2015 and as a team and players, confidence is a wonderful thing, so I am happy for them to do that, but as a downtrodden MFC supporter  I am one who often sees the glass as half empty (not alone there).

Last year Cloke of Collingwood had his best game of the year against us, Daniher of Essendon had his best game of the year against us and Carlton had their best win of the year against us. We have to beat the teams near us on the ladder. It could be argued we caught a couple of sides well below their best last year and had good wins but we need to beat teams when they are bringing their best. We failed badly at that in 2015.

 

1 hour ago, fndee said:

Yes we have heard this all before in various forms and disguises. However at least this time we have;

• A stable and competent administration
• An highly professional coaching group who seem to be all on the same page
• A seconds side with a Melbourne coach providing continuity of coaching (I think not enough has been made of the significance of this)
• Greater depth and competition for spots. 
• And whatever your opinion of our recruiting over the past trade and draft periods there is no arguing that we have gone out and got blokes who don't take backward steps. Competitors as Roos calls them

Perhaps it is the same old song but just maybe this time it is different

pardon the pun.

FACTA NON VERBA

15 minutes ago, deespicable me said:

I know Wattsy said we want to concentrate on the positives of 2015 and as a team and players, confidence is a wonderful thing, so I am happy for them to do that, but as a downtrodden MFC supporter  I am one who often sees the glass as half empty (not alone there).

Last year Cloke of Collingwood had his best game of the year against us, Daniher of Essendon had his best game of the year against us and Carlton had their best win of the year against us. We have to beat the teams near us on the ladder. It could be argued we caught a couple of sides well below their best last year and had good wins but we need to beat teams when they are bringing their best. We failed badly at that in 2015.

 

 

Either way, half full, half empty, there isn't enough wine (or whisky).

I rate jack as a player, but enough words, 2016 he needs to become a leader and take some ownership of where this club is going, he's a senior player, been around a long time and while not everyone agree's i think he can play, he can't just be a player who is possibly a wingman, maybe a forward and probably not a defender, by the end of the year we need to know what he is, and i suspect it will either be, a solid MFC player or at another club if he doesn't take the next step.

One thread gets locked, another opened. Admittedly this is based on an article, but the hilarity of people suggesting that people no longer care about the fella. 

I like the statements about culture but it's all stuff that every football club says and is almost certainly dictated to him via media management. 

1 hour ago, Mad_Melbourne said:

One thread gets locked, another opened. Admittedly this is based on an article, but the hilarity of people suggesting that people no longer care about the fella. 

I like the statements about culture but it's all stuff that every football club says and is almost certainly dictated to him via media management. 

This is it though.

If Jack Viney was interviewed and made the same comments we'd all be banging on about how awesome it was.

5 hours ago, P-man said:

That Carlton performance was an absolute disgrace. I don't want to see anything close to that in 2016.

Still have that vision of Kruzuer waltzing leisurely through the centre corridor and goaling from just on 50. Just plain awful 

Pantzing carltank and essendrug are a must this year 

Seeing that Watts thread was locked yesterday guys, do you think we can turn this in to our new Jack Watts thread? 

Glass half full..... Glass half empty??? 

Wrong sized glass.....

 

If there's an interview with a player, they're criticised because it's "only words" and meaningless. If there's no interview with players, the club is criticised because of a lack of communication.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

(Not sure what exactly people expect them to say ...)