Nathan Brown.

Why is he playing?

And even worse why he is even selected?

If ever there was a time to dispose of the ball properly, it was with 30 secs to go. I saw it, my wife saw it, your gutted team mates saw it, but YOU? No, you stared at the umpire and wondered why? Players like you are the reason Daniher is now unemployed.

Jesus. Take it easy.

Brown is done now. He was played as a last goodbye, to Daniher and for us.

And no, players like him are NOT the reason Neale is unemployed. He DID select and retain him after all.

Yes, you are right. He had the choice to play or leave him out, and sadly chose the wrong one. Brown used to be one of my favorites because of his work rate. I cannot understand how i overlooked his abysmal disposal for so long.

He played because he's Daniher's boy, he and Neita and Robbo... they are his men and Brown was absolutely gutted in the end, was on the ground crying.

This is as much his farewell match, as it was Daniher's.

He is an ordinary player with some extraordinary characteristics, and he has given his absolute all for this club, often putting the club before his own needs.

I didn't want him to play and I'm still annoyed that they dropped Frawley, but you know what, it doesn't make any difference.

Brown wanted to play for Daniher, and so he should.

as Ive said elsewhere

HE COST US THE GAME ..

and he bloody well knew it..

never to play in firsts again !!!

somewhat ironic in a way that one of his favourite pets cost Neale the game..

Can't say i can blame him directly for the loss tonight, if we'd booted one of those four or so behinds in a row for 6 points the game would be ours, however with a minute or so to go, you would at least pretend to punch the ball... i saw the squatting umpire in position at least 5 seconds before he stuck his behind out to wave ball. Too many players still sit on the ball and chance fate, when all he has to do is punch the ball against his side or something, it wasn't going anywhere, and we would have had a good match-saving 10 seconds wasted in a pack situation

Brown knew he screwed up the sec he draged it in and did nothing.. that was always going to be a free unfortunately.

Forget Brown, our horrible start cost us more than anything else.

Why not blame Robbo and Neitz for missing a heap of set shots if we are playing the blame game?

Why not blame Robbo and Neitz for missing a heap of set shots if we are playing the blame game?

Because both of them were playing on 1 leg each. Even when they are unfit and struggling they are still the best 2 options we have down forward. If Neitz heart wasnt as big as Pharlap's he wouldn't have even played.

it may seem rather harsh on Doggy.. but Robbo and Neeta didnt decide to 'not kick a goal".. Browny did decide to not get the ball out. There is a difference.

Forget Brown, our horrible start cost us more than anything else.

Why not blame Robbo and Neitz for missing a heap of set shots if we are playing the blame game?

Not excusing Brown but a very very very very very very very very very good point.

Brown is done but we won't win many when our forwards kick like that.

Brown used to be one of my favorites because of his work rate. I cannot understand how i overlooked his abysmal disposal for so long.

He used to be one of your favourites because he was hard, put his head over the ball and was a good creative runner out of the back line. At his peak opposition coaches would play a defensive forward on him to try and stop his run. Now he is older and not as quick as he used to be, but after all his years service to the club all you can do is sink the boot in and show your true clours. he has taken a lot more knocks for the club than you ever will.

nostalgia is a wonderful thing...it never won a flag.

it may seem rather harsh on Doggy.. but Robbo and Neeta didnt decide to 'not kick a goal".. Browny did decide to not get the ball out. There is a difference.

I'm not saying Brown didn't do the wrong thing, but to flat out blame him for the loss is ridiculous. Newton could have been the hero but he dropped the easiest chest mark any player could want, but do we blame him? Nope, it's all about the excellent debut (and he did play alright, no doubt about it) Yep, Neitz and Robbo didn't decide "not to kick a goal", but isn't that what they are paid specifically to do? Robbo may have been on one leg but it was ok for him to take a hanger in the last quarter.

A tonne of things cost us in the end tonight, and to heap all the blame on a guy like Dogga who gives 100% for us every game is highly unfair.

He used to be one of your favourites because he was hard, put his head over the ball and was a good creative runner out of the back line. At his peak opposition coaches would play a defensive forward on him to try and stop his run. Now he is older and not as quick as he used to be, but after all his years service to the club all you can do is sink the boot in and show your true clours. he has taken a lot more knocks for the club than you ever will.

Quite simply, carrying players like Brown is the reason we dont win the games that count. I want a club that settles for nothing less than the best, every time. I am sure Miller gives his best each time too. It just aint good enough.

The harsh reality is...what is...IS !!

In this instance with less than a minute remaining.. scores too tight for breathing let alone comfort...the game gets reduced to the happenings of seconds... and not all the minutes that preceded it..

At that juncture of the game a number of outcomes were possible. He caused a bad one. Unfortunately its a simple as that. All preceing events , though contributary to the result...didnt carry the gravity of that particular passage of play.

Its harsh for sure but when a game comes down to the wire...its what happens at THAT moment that matters.. as nothing else can !!

He fluffed it !!

more knocks than me... what a ridiculous comment...he's paid to play...thats his job !!

as an addendum....just to show Im not too overly singularly focused; Brocky's major faux pas in the square wasnt too far behind as clangers of the day... but we had a bit more time up our sleeve then.

as an addendum....just to show Im not too overly singularly focused; Brocky's major faux pas in the square wasnt too far behind as clangers of the day... but we had a bit more time up our sleeve then.

That was a bad one too. He tried to do WAY too much and backed his pace, which is silly because his pace is one of his only negatives.

At least his disposal was better tonight, after his shocker last week.

Teams are now focusing on Brock as the number one player to shut down, and rightfully so.

He needs to start working through tags though, and he did break away a fair bit in the third quarter and was excellent in close as always.

Thought he and Jonesy were quiet by their standards, but it allowed Sylvia to do a bit more and get into the game through the middle. He was excellent tonight!

In regard to that instance, the decision making from any player is vital. Poor awareness from Brownie. Should've known better not to just dive on the ball as he was surrounded by several bomber players. The best and probably only option in that situation was to knock the ball towards the wing. Mclean was there ungaurded and could've gathered the loose ball and have enough time to pinpoint a pass. But that is left unsaid as we can't change the past. The fact is Melbourne lost, and red-time in the last qaurter has worked against us once again.

At that juncture of the game a number of outcomes were possible. He caused a bad one. Unfortunately its a simple as that. All preceing events , though contributary to the result...didnt carry the gravity of that particular passage of play.

You should of had a listen to Finey's Final Siren on SEN this evening. He had some good points to make about the dying seconds of a match.

One was that the final play of a match isn't where the game is won or lost. He says that if you get a bad umpiring decision, or you drill a bad pass, or fluff a mark... there are hundreds of free kicks paid or not paid in a match and likewise hundreds of kicks and marks drilled, taken or dropped... It's among all of these that you find the reason for winning or losing, and with footy, sometimes some of those are sheer dumb luck.

On the other hand he said the Bombers deserved it more. They are in form enough to know how to win, they have a winning culture, they're SICK of losing footy matches over the past 2 years etc etc...

For my part, I reckon it's more the former... And that goes for entire seasons. Was the reason we didn't make the top four at the last hurdle last year because we lost against Adelaide? No... it was to do with losing the first 3, and losing twice to Carlton. And more-over our fade-outs... Likewise for this match we didn't lose BECAUSE brownie gave away a free, or Bruce didn't get his.... we lost because we weren't good enough. We never were. The fact we got close amazed me.

as mentioned...all events are contributory.. but as I see it..and its only lil ol bub's point of view.. is..

If you are at the dying moments of a game.. and one passage of play will effect the outcome.. then what you have is a microevent.

By this I man..everything thats gone before is irrellevent to the final outcome.. because at that moment, that moment of multiple outcomes..only that event will have any effect or influence on the result.

its like playing a game that last only 60secs... well thats my view.

You make a good point... and I'll make one that will either enhance it, or denounce it.

I find, when the last 60 seconds of the match contain a play or two that are match or even season defining, that fitness and endurance play a more important part than at any time throughout the match. That is, if you are fit enough to edge ahead slightly of an opponent, you give yourself the chance to control more of what is happening...

This may not have been such a huge factor tonight, but I think it's important to consider.

I think it's also important to your case to consider that somehow, champions kick the goals and lay the tackles that are important at these times. Consider Hird, Neitz, Archer.... captains' goals are a regular occurence for these guys... I think there's a fair amount of evidence to suggest that some players are chokers, others are not. Or perhaps some players have the mental make-up of a person that is more susceptible to choking... others don't...