Lewis Whacks Playing Group

[DemonOX 8,800]

PATHETIC 

Coaches didn’t move with the times. 

Players didn’t have the right attitude. 

This just amazes me and they wonder why this season was crap. 

Its ALL STILL BETWEEN THE EARS for our club and has been for the past 15 seasons. 

Until this changes, nothing will change at our club. 

What an indictment on the coaches, players and club. 

PATHETIC. 

I think I might align my membership with the way they perform. If they have a good year and are switched on then I will pay my membership but if they are switched off I won’t. 

If the players can do it then I don’t see why us supporters can’t do it either. What a joke of a club. 

[beelzebub 23,383]

4 minutes ago, DemonOX said:

PATHETIC 

Coaches didn’t move with the times. 

Players didn’t have the right attitude. 

This just amazes me and they wonder why this season was crap. 

Its ALL STILL BETWEEN THE EARS for our club and has been for the past 15 seasons. 

Until this changes, nothing will change at our club. 

What an indictment on the coaches, players and club. 

PATHETIC. 

I think I might align my membership with the way they perform. If they have a good year and are switched on then I will pay my membership but if they are switched off I won’t. 

If the players can do it then I don’t see why us supporters can’t do it either. What a joke of a club. 

It's  disappointing that the more we are told of change...the more it stays the same. 

This is culture driven...and imho...it starts at the top and trickles down.

Take  a bow Melbourne  ..excelling at irrelevant  since 1964

[Mazer Rackham 14,971]

10 hours ago, Ethan Tremblay said:

We really are just an amateur club in a professional organisation. 

That's what Barassi was saying way back in 81 or 82. The more things change ...

 

23 minutes ago, Cards13 said:

Just hurry up and get to round 1 next season, what a blood waste of time and $$$$$ this season has been for everyone associated with this organisation and mainly for the fans.

We were in the front group in the marathon for once, and we were so pleased with ourselves we decided to enjoy a little nap. Woke up to find everyone km's down the road. Surprise!! But what does it take to get back to the front group? Is it automatic that we get back there just by running hard? Everyone else is running hard too. We may have set ourselves back more than one year.

[Bitter but optimistic 22,246]

20 minutes ago, Mazer Rackham said:

That's what Barassi was saying way back in 81 or 82. The more things change ...

 

We were in the front group in the marathon for once, and we were so pleased with ourselves we decided to enjoy a little nap. Woke up to find everyone km's down the road. Surprise!! But what does it take to get back to the front group? Is it automatic that we get back there just by running hard? Everyone else is running hard too. We may have set ourselves back more than one year.

Correct Maze - this very thought has concerned me for some time.

We didn't just "enjoy a little nap" we clearly went backwards this season. With the exception of GC everyone else appears to have moved forward.

We have a lot of catching up to do!

[Demons11 7,051]

11 hours ago, bringbackthebiff said:

Genuinely don’t understand. The club hasn’t won flag in 55 years. How is it possible that this playing group wasn’t hungry for success. Only MFC...

The group hasn’t been there for 55 years 

[drdrake 3,187]

I remember back in the Dean Bailey years, most likely his last preseason as Melbourne coach.  The season before we improved a lot, still one of the best wins of that era V Sydney at the MCG, most picked Melbourne to move into the top 8, then pre-season rumours, players refused to do a time Trial at Casey because it was to hot, players started controlling more on what they did, the coaches wanted to be the players buddy.

Fast forward to this year, reminds me of the same.  Interesting 2018 pre-season story was all about Max Gawn and Clayton Oliver the mountain of work the did in the break to change body shape, 12 months later all we heard was injury and recovery.

Funny thing is two outside mids that can kick the Footy and a fit list, it can change back real quick.  It is 1999 all over again, 98' Prelim, 99 shocking year, 2000 GF

[Lucifers Hero 40,360]

At a recent game I sat next to someone, not in the club but close to our fitness department.  Apparently, the club was very disappointed with the (lack of) condition of players after the off-season.  Even the players who had surgery could have done more on their rehab in the off-season to be ready for pre-season.   It is second hand but consistent with Lewis' comments.

At a guess, the players who have stepped up this year are the ones more likely to have done all the off-season work.  

I recall Roos saying players need to be in tip top condition at the start of pre-season; pre-season is not to get fit; it is to develop skills and learn game plans.

It is time the players felt the blowtorch so I'm glad Lewis has as no-one else in the club could publicly say it. 

It is what the players do in the off-season (and skills and game plan learning in the pre-season) that will best place them and the club for a successful 2020.

Edited August 21, 2019 by Lucifer's Hero

[sue 9,142]

10 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

Imagine being a member of the team that breaks the drought.

Once again this is something relevant to us long suffering supporters, but of only minor relevance to current players.  I can imagine an excited player being interviewed after the GF siren and being asked how does it feel to break the drought.  Response, "oh, yeah, that too".

[Superunknown 4,223]

7 hours ago, kev martin said:

My two cents worth.

Could be the problem of the modern organisation?

Working hard, ambition, entitlement, desire, aspiration are not the same as skill.

For me the naturally skilled will always come through as superior. Being lazy does not mean you get the lower hanging fruit, though the ambitious expect it to be so. As soon as motivation falls off so does the outcome.

Skills create the magic. Alex Neal-Bullen is a prime example, always working hard at it. Compared to Clayton Oliver who is quite often lazy and going through the motions. Clayton will take a game apart whereas Alex can become a liability when his energy is depleted.

Organisations are always failing us unless the insider have a vested interest in serving.

I don't trust the ambitious, I trust those with heart and altruism. Those that care about the other more than themselves.

I believe it is more about group cohesion and sharing than the avarice getting to the apple tree first, controlling the distribution and then saying how they are unsatisfied.

A whip merely causes separation. George Orwells book animal farm, “we are equal, but some are more equal than others”.

I don't trust our education system (hierarchical utilitarianism) and class system in creating a functioning society. I see hard-working students unable to live up to their resume. So the majority barely get any fruit as the power waste what is there and the society fails through a dysfunctional dystopia. Two billion hungry, 70 million displaced, 40 million enslaved, the majority have no access to medical help, 5% own more than 60% of the assets,  etcetera, etcetera. 

Base the collective around the skilled and those with high emotional intelligence and not the ambitious. That way we get caring, sharing and commitment.

The hard workers will always overestimate their abilities. I find them the unhappiest people and that effects the group.

Players need connection and the support of each other and only then will we get close to the holy grail.

An excellent contribution 

[Lord Nev 13,512]

2 hours ago, binman said:

I heard this live. This comment came right at rhe end as they were wrapping up and he wasn't asked to elaborate or expand on it, whicj was [censored] poor (but symptomatc of the rubbish mfooty media he is going to fall into).

Certainly caught my attention and if true in part explains their eviden5 lack of fitness. When you add our boom recruit coming to the club miles off the pace fitness wise  the picture doesnt look great.

I get the leasdership criticism but really each player  should  drive their own standards. And besides I can't imagine viney or Jones not coming back cherry ripe.

Yep, I took the same thing from it mate. Felt like more of a collective/cultural wack than a swipe at the leadership.

[Grimes Times 1,278]

13 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

Speaks Volumes of our 2 Captains. They should just walk now. 

Nobody took any notice of what Max said at the B&F

”You cannot win the Flag in the off Season, but you can certainly lose it...”

Of Course we plummeted 

and Lewis more importantly. What was he doing to change things or did he just let it happen. He'd at least seen it and lived it before while the 2 captains where new to it.

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

3 minutes ago, Grimes Times said:

and Lewis more importantly. What was he doing to change things or did he just let it happen. He'd at least seen it and lived it before while the 2 captains where new to it.

That part we don’t know. He did send an email cc’ed to all on the list the year before on similar matters. (How often does someone need to be told?)

 

[dazzledavey36 55,318]

13 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

That part we don’t know. He did send an email cc’ed to all on the list the year before on similar matters. (How often does someone need to be told?)

 

You are seriously finding excuses now to pot the players.

He sent an email to all the players leading up to the finals to keep everything in check and not get over excited. This was after the West Coast game last year.

They needed to be told because no one bar Nathan Jones and Lewis have not experience finals expectation before and it was a whole new territory for them. They needed an experience campaigner like Lewis to share his wealth of knowledge and experience on dealing with expectation. Without Lewis at the club, I reckon there would have been a fair chance Geelong would have knocked us out first final. 

Easy to pot these blokes when every single player was experiencing something they have never done before.

Edited August 22, 2019 by dazzledavey36

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

8 minutes ago, dazzledavey36 said:

You are seriously finding excuses now to pot the players.

He sent an email to all the players leading up to the finals to keep everything in check and not get over excited. This was after the West Coast game last year.

They needed to be told because no one bar Nathan Jones and Lewis have not experience finals expectation before and it was a whole new territory for them. They needed an experience campaigner like Lewis to share his wealth of knowledge and experience on dealing with expectation. Without Lewis at the club, I reckon there would have been a fair chance Geelong would have knocked us out first final. 

Easy to pot these blokes when every single player was experiencing something they have never done before.

But how often do you have to tell a group to pull their head in. 12 months later it was exactly the same situation 

For 12 months nobody took notice

you bet i will pot these players, along with their Captains and Coaches

[dazzledavey36 55,318]

9 minutes ago, Sir Why You Little said:

But how often do you have to tell a group to pull their head in. 12 months later it was exactly the same situation 

For 12 months nobody took notice

you bet i will pot these players, along with their Captains and Coaches

But Lewis didn't tell him to pull their heads in mate. It was more so around what to expect and to remain composed and low key as possible and not to change anything different.

It was all new for them. They wouldn't have known what to expect if Lewis wasn't at the club. 

This year's results? Yep go your hardest, I have no issues with that. But potting the blokes leading into the finals is just pathetic.

Edited August 22, 2019 by dazzledavey36

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

1 minute ago, dazzledavey36 said:

But Lewis didn't tell him to pull their heads in mate. It was more so around what to expect and to remain composed and low key as possible and not to change anything different.

It was all new for them. They wouldn't have known what to expect if Lewis wasn't at the club. 

This year's results? Yep go your hardest, I have no issues with that. But potting the blokes leading into the finals is just pathetic.

No i am not potting them for Lewis’ first email. You miss my point. 

I am potting them all because, even after the email was sent, basically to reset and focus, and after Max gave his final sentence at The B&F 

Nobody Listened....

and this is the same group who balked at Hard Work 12 months earlier. 

They will be worked ragged this summer

[DubDee 26,117]

Trying to be positive - our core group is young. learning important lessons such as how hard you have to continually work each year, more and more to not only stay where you are but not go backwards is a critical lesson.  and as easy it is for us supporters to say 'work harder' and 'dont take things for granted', lessons sometimes need to be learned the hard way through experience.  this season should burn in each player over preseason.

let's hope the young blokes learn fast and those that arent hurting ad arent committed are shown the door

[dl4e 5,851]

Lewis is right in what he said. He would be better off saying it directly to the players and not the media. Will be interesting to see if the media based knives come out after Saturday. Just watch slobbo on afl 360 try and goad him into a melbourne bash. I hope that does not happen.

[rjay 25,087]

2 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

At a recent game I sat next to someone, not in the club but close to our fitness department.  Apparently, the club was very disappointed with the (lack of) condition of players after the off-season.  Even the players who had surgery could have done more on their rehab in the off-season to be ready for pre-season.   It is second hand but consistent with Lewis' comments.

Heard the same from someone close to the club...

[Diamond_Jim 12,627]

14 hours ago, Sorry kids said:

Many are happy being AFL players.

add to that the lack of competition for most spots in the side and you have a recipe for mediocrity

[binman 43,759]

1 hour ago, rjay said:

Heard the same from someone close to the club...

If Lord Nev's rumour that there has been some divisions this year between younger and more senior players is accurate one wonders if this issue is at the heart of those divisions. 

[Clintosaurus 7,861]

Surely the #1 aim of every player is to win a flag. The average AFL career is around 4 years I think so it's not like there are unlimited opportunities. I would be doing absolutely everything I could to give myself and club the best opportunity.

[Sir Why You Little 37,125]

18 minutes ago, Clintosaurus said:

Surely the #1 aim of every player is to win a flag. The average AFL career is around 4 years I think so it's not like there are unlimited opportunities. I would be doing absolutely everything I could to give myself and club the best opportunity.

This is the puzzle ? of the MFC that has baffled all comers. 

If we had won the GF last year, i could fully understand a down year afterwards, i wouldn’t be happy but it is explainable. 

But last year we were thrashed unmercifully in Perth, so i have no idea what the players and coaches are hanging their hat on, as far as this year was concerned. 

Was Goodwin unaware of this attitude creeping in? How would you miss it if you are astute at your job. 

The whole 2019 Campaign stinks, which is why after 25 odd years i will be holding off Membership Payments until i can see a massive change in attitude throughout the club. 

I don’t pay to see arrogance when it is never backed up. Anyone can do that

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

As far as i'm concerned the entire playing group should be on notice. everyone come back in peak condition, anyone who doesn't won't play the first 3 rounds and cops a fine. 

we have a number of players capable of having All Australian years. if Goody and his team can't motivate them to come back in great shape and turn this club around, we need to get someone in who can.

[Kiss of Death 755]

Wondering if random supporters can join the pre-season camp, and bust their guts showing the lads how to give everything you’ve got..