Brown - heart , no skill

Ferguson - heart , no skill

Miller - nothing at all

Bell - needed the run

Ward - made up numbers

Holland - heart , no skill

Bruce - skill , no heart

McDonald - a poor game

Green - many meaningless possessions

Buckley - little to commend

Newton - played without intensity

Robertson - just a shadow

Neitz - please rest now

White - a valiant performance

Bate - is going backwards

Jones - still a beacon

Wheatley - many usless disposals

Frawley -kept at task

Godfrey- heart no skill

Sylvia- couldn't get going

Moloney- probably wasn't playing

McLean - career worst game

Melbourne FC - history's worst skills

I agree with 99% of those, still think bruce has heart.

The Melbourne Football Club- sad shadow of former self

Today's Effort- disgusting

Jones- forgiven

ferguson- carrol is milesahead

I reckon today was the final straw - 5 more games like that have the potential to stuff up young player's careers.

Guys like Bell, Buckley, Newton, Bate, Jones, Frawley, Sylvia, Moloney and McLean are going to be good - interesting the comments on some of the more senior players - apart from white and perhaps Godfrey, there was nothing particularly in leadership

Their fwd line was working so much better than hours. every time the ball went fwd it was crisp and clean, everytime we went in it was under pressure and not to the fwd's advantage. Their disposal skills in the midfield were so much better than ours. not good at all.

Jones for future captain

Football is a confidence sport and lets face it, we've had all the confidence knocked out of us. Next year some guys we be better and some will be delisted or traded, but we just have to continue to develop soem of the younger guys like Frawley and Newton.

Good point re Jeff White, who to the constant misunderstanding of many posters here, has remained our best and most consistent player this year - will win the Bluey in a cakewalk

Jones for future captain

AAAARRRGGHHH!!!

Can't a young guy play well for a year or two without being our 'NEXT CAPTAIN FOREVER WOOHOO GONNA LEAD US SINGLEHANDED TO A PREMEIRSHIP'.

Sorry, I know that's exaggerating, but damn that is one bit of hype that really worries me.

Miller couldn't handle it when he was made 'NEXT CAPTAIN' before he had assemble a decent few years base of confidence.

Mclean is really suffering from the pressure now, I'd speculate.

Now Jones?

How about -

"Jones for player who the leadership group makes a point of supporting so they can build confidence and not get knocked out of games by older heavier bodies..."

Although Davey could do with a bit of the same support. Sometimes I think that the 'job' of flying the flag in support of Davey has been assigned to just two players - Whelan and Pickett.

Sometimes I think back on the last few years and get the feeling each player has been taught to think too much about their own, precious little role, rather than the things that everyone needs to be doing all the time.

You know, tackling is McDonald's 'thing', long searching leads was Miller's 'thing', courageously filling space across CHB was River's 'thing', long kicking is Moloney and Wheatley... So no-one else needs to do them...

Brown - drop to VFL

Ferguson - drop to VFL

Miller - drop to VFL

Bell -

Ward - drop to VFL

Holland - drop to VFL

Bruce -

McDonald -

Green -

Buckley -

Newton -

Robertson -

Neitz -

White -

Bate -

Jones -

Wheatley - drop to VFL

Frawley -

Godfrey- drop to VFL

Sylvia -

Moloney-

McLean -

If only we had the luxury to do just that..

I give up* really, and I suggest to you fellow Demonlanders to just follow Sandy for the rest of the year if you don't want to be turned off footy for life watching the pathetic, insipid, atrocious, appauling and every-other-negative-word-one-could-use-to-describe-this-garbage-that-we're-being-subjected-to performances.

Or alternatively, get stuck into Idol .

*The alarming thing is, as angry and appauled, and as sure that we're going to get a hiding from every opponent we face for the rest of Season '07 as I am, I'll still be going to the rest of the games we have left in Melbourne.

Why?

Because that's just how I am .

Brown - drop to VFL

Ferguson - drop to VFL

Miller - drop to VFL

Ward - drop to VFL

Holland - drop to VFL

Wheatley - drop to VFL

Godfrey- drop to VFL

Replace with?:

C Johnson

Jamar

Bode

Pickett

P Johnson

Bizzell

Dunn

Excuse me if I dont get too excited with the replacements (well most of them!)

bruce - drop to vfl, to make him see what playing for the club is all about, and teach him to learn how to get the hard ball. all bruce people just whinge about how he's not an 'in-and-under' player, yet then complain when other players show flaws, how about teach bruce how to overcome this short coming, send him to a vfl ground where the ball is often in the middle of a contest and show him how to get it. if he still can't get it, i dont see anything wrong with getting rid of him because we won't win a premiership without guys that get the ball

I don't think I can remember seeing a game played nearly so completely in one half of the ground for almost the entire match.........

The defence was under what must have seemed like blitz-like conditions given the way the ball was being won in the middle and delivered so precisely.

Turn overs all over the ground were killing us, and our skill levels and decision making, if possible, are just getting progressively worse with each week.

And this was occurring disappointingly even on the few occasions our defence managed to stop Port from actually scoring, but a quick turn over somewhere between the arcs, they feed it in quickly and then end up scoring anyway.

Story of the evening (and the season) unfortunately !!!

bruce - drop to vfl, to make him see what playing for the club is all about, and teach him to learn how to get the hard ball. all bruce people just whinge about how he's not an 'in-and-under' player, yet then complain when other players show flaws, how about teach bruce how to overcome this short coming, send him to a vfl ground where the ball is often in the middle of a contest and show him how to get it. if he still can't get it, i dont see anything wrong with getting rid of him because we won't win a premiership without guys that get the ball

u are a true moron..

first game back from injury.... had plenty of the ball kicked a goal.... wat more do u want? he gets the hard ball find me and urself the stats he gets it enough.

we have players that go get the balll they are suppose to be jones moloney mcdonald and MCLEAN.

jones moloney and mcdonald get the ball, they go in hard and put their bodies on the line. i dont know whats up with mclean and i dont pretend to. bruce will learn nothing from 5 weeks playing amid a bunch of guys that dont seem to be trying, so why not let him add another string to his bow? why not teach him another aspect to his game that would be invaluable if we push for a top 4 position next year? but of course you'll whinge over how dropping bruce is a joke rah rah without seeing he bigger picture.

hey, maybe mclean should be dropped for confidence and maybe to learn about the red and blue again, but you must see this isn't a bruce vs. mclean debate. he kicked a goal, i never said he didn't, he got the ball (given to him) i didn't say he didn't, what i want to see is him add to his game for the first time in 3 years and learn to put his body in, because i reckon that would help our team immenselly. but of course bruce supporters will whinge and complaing and say that this same bruce model should run around until the rest of his days, part of an inept melbourne leadership group

Just on Bruce, I am a keen supporter of his so I won't pretend I'm not a little bit biased because I probably am. You say that he doesn't put his body on the line? Thats crap, and the stats back me up. Bruce is one of our leading tacklers this year which doesnt surprise me in the slightest.

If you ask me, some players could learn from Cam Bruce's work ethic.

u are a true moron..

first game back from injury.... had plenty of the ball kicked a goal.... wat more do u want? he gets the hard ball find me and urself the stats he gets it enough.

we have players that go get the balll they are suppose to be jones moloney mcdonald and MCLEAN.

Cam Bruse had 4 possessions to half time and Neita had one handball!. If the senior players are not fully fit no point playing them as season is shot and especially in Port game at AAMI!.

Bruce and Green over the past couple of years have fallen into the trap of thinking they have played well if they get 20 possessions per game. Like the Bowdens at the Tigers! their performance must be judged by the effect of their possessions which is far far less! Those 2 should be leading the pack at about 26YO with TJ, instead of MFC relying on thoe ones named above. All the young guys other than Junior, whitey and godders.

On what do you base "he gets the hard ball?" Jonesy & Junior = gets the hard ball!

The end of the day our senior top line players are inconsistant and lay down when things don't come easy.

I'm talking about the players that have been playing week in week out since 2000. We always have excuses 2001 we got ahead of ourselves these players that are still playing today thought they were better than they actually are, so did the club and the supporters

2002 no spine, no KPP defenders or CHF, whats changed?

2003 Injuries, but we still had the same core players going around as we do today

2004 Geez we looked good at round 18 top of the table to lose our next 5 straight

2005 How good are we we break our odd year drought to be knocked out first week

2006 Mid year flyers to only just make the 8 and we get happy about winning one final

2007 Injuries again but like 2003 we still have the same players who are not injured, they are selfish only worried about their own stats and demand high pay cheques from the club.

Our current group of senior players have under acheived, maybe like the club these players convinced us the supporters that they are the real deal but everytime it gets to hard these players have gone missing for 7 years. It's time for the oldest sporting club in the world to stop accepting excuses and defeat. If we dont we will still be chasing our next flag in 20 years.

The thing yesterday that was so concerning was the number of players Port had on the ground - was sure that they had extra players, as they had five onto one in our forward line and then switched the ball to the wing where they would invariably have two players on their pat malone!!

Honestly, it is that sort of insipid performance that makes you wonder whether the players are fair dinkum....

There appears to be no pride in the Melbourne jumper or name...

Our leadership is an issue that has not been addressed - Neita is only one man and when the ball does not even cross the centre circle, then his influence is diminshed!!

brad green yesterday did some nice things at times but he does not put his stamp on a game.

cam bruce was returning from injury so shall excuse him but still think he should be a premiere player for this footy club!! he should have been looking at cornes - difference sized bodies but can play the similar roles.. also lynden dunn should have been keeping a close eye on the chad...

paul wheatley is another that continues to frustrate, although being played deep in defence is not his game....

the overuse of handball again got us into trouble and we do not have the skills of a geelong to do it, so why not just kick the bl00dy ball to a contest!! has to be better than kicking it 20 metres to a contest and turning it over or kicking it directly to a port player!!!

oh man, it was frustrating...

riley feeling sorry for the players because this is not where they expected to be... how about the poor fans that buy their membership and have to watch dribble served up by a very rank footy club week in week out!!!

spare me!!

Cam Bruse had 4 possessions to half time and Neita had one handball!. If the senior players are not fully fit no point playing them as season is shot and especially in Port game at AAMI!.

Bruce and Green over the past couple of years have fallen into the trap of thinking they have played well if they get 20 possessions per game. Like the Bowdens at the Tigers! their performance must be judged by the effect of their possessions which is far far less! Those 2 should be leading the pack at about 26YO with TJ, instead of MFC relying on thoe ones named above. All the young guys other than Junior, whitey and godders.

On what do you base "he gets the hard ball?" Jonesy & Junior = gets the hard ball!

Exactly! This is why i don't rate brown as highly as some, he is not damaging with his possessions, they are mostly little kicks or handballs and i would love to see a stat of how many times a player has been tackled after a 2 meter brown handball.

Dees rule 4 eva, tackling does not mean hardness at the ball, it means you were beaten to the ball and had to stop the opponent who has the ball.

I thought Holand was good in his limited time, especially in the ruck......

Cam Bruce - another stinker

Bater - i love the bloke but his last 3 weeks have been his worst in his short career

Chook -Cant be fit and needs to add more dimensions to his game (still should take the captaincy if Neitz gives it off)

Neitz - rest 4 08

why did we drop Biz?????????????

Exactly! This is why i don't rate brown as highly as some, he is not damaging with his possessions, they are mostly little kicks or handballs and i would love to see a stat of how many times a player has been tackled after a 2 meter brown handball.

The real question is why can't some of our better players get it as often as this little bloke with limited talent. That's what is really frustrating.

For the record, I'm also very disappointed in McLean at the moment. That was his eighth straight game after coming back from a bone (not soft tissue) injury and I don't think injury or fitness is a problem. He has failed to get to 15 possessions in 5 of his last 6 games. He's certainly not alone in his poor form but I expected more.

BRING IN JACE BODE!! hahah lol