IN Batram, Dunn, Sylvia, Holland, CJ, possibly Rivers if 100% and about 25,000 Melbourne supporters who didn't show up today

OUT Miller, Yze, Newton or Neitz, McLean (not 100%), Weetra (some good signs but needs more time at Sandy), possibly Robbo

protecting the ball carrier does not even appear on the game plan agenda. This is the essential ingredient of run & carry. We all run away from the ball carrier, leaving him to run into trouble... TURNOVER

Brad Green MUST be played as a leading forward, FF if necessary

leaving the first kick from a point kick-in uncontested is STUPID football

leaving the centre corridor to your opponent for 100 minutes is the quickest way to lose by 100 points

MILLER IS NOT A BACKMAN, he is hardly a footballer... one thing he can do is lead hard at the ball-carrier, let him go back to Sandy and rehearse what he does quite well

Holland should have been played. leaving Bell to play on Buddy was excruciating. HOLLAND would have forced the ball to the ground on half a dozen occasions

At one stage we had three of the tallest players on the list within 30 yards of our goal (whilst Bell was struggling against Buddy!)

THE GAME PLAN DOESN'T WORK! I hope Bailey is man enough to admit a mistake and change to kick long and one handball to a running player before kicking (this might be considered old hat, but it puts pressure on backmen and I guarantee it yields more than 6 goals a game!)

Thank God Sylvia will be back

A bloke that loves to tackle and loves the rough stuff. Can play a bit too!

He is the anti-Bruce

B: Bell Carroll Holland

HB Wheatley Rivers Petterd

C Buckley Jones C Johnson

HF Bruce Dunn Sylvia

F Davey Green Neitz

Foll White Bartram McDonald

Bench PJohnson Morton Weetra Garland

I feel sorry for our backline, especially Carrol and i applaud his efforts for keeping Franklin to only 6 goals, who is superior in size, strength and speed. They just couldn't stop what was coming down to them, no backline could. Our mid-field was woeful in manning up, our HF line even worse when trying to apply some pressure. It took the likes of our 33 year old FF and Juice to try and chase.

Bailey is new, his game plan will take time, he is in it for the long haul, we as supporters need to be too. Melbourne will be down the bottom end of the ladder for a coule of years unfortunately. A quick rise up the ladder will just result in a mediocre effort of making the semi's at best. We need to get more kids into the club and continue to do so.

As supporters we need to keep turning up to games to ensure that the club is around for such a time that it is able to again rise up the ladder. Hawthorn were on the bottom for atleast 3 years, now look at them, they will be premiership contenders for atleast the next 5 years. For ultimate success, we need to face facts and see it like it actually is.

Please don't lose the faith melbourne fans, a premiership will eventually come to the MFC, it has to! All droughts are made to be broken. Stick by the club, even moreso in the lowest of times, and that eventual premiership will taste even more sweeter. I am young, a mere 20 and my patience no doubt will be greater than many on here who have waited for more than double my lifetime. Stick by the club, our survival very much depends on it.

I feel sorry for our backline, especially Carrol and i applaud his efforts for keeping Franklin to only 6 goals, who is superior in size, strength and speed. They just couldn't stop what was coming down to them, no backline could. Our mid-field was woeful in manning up, our HF line even worse when trying to apply some pressure. It took the likes of our 33 year old FF and Juice to try and chase.

Bailey is new, his game plan will take time, he is in it for the long haul, we as supporters need to be too. Melbourne will be down the bottom end of the ladder for a coule of years unfortunately. A quick rise up the ladder will just result in a mediocre effort of making the semi's at best. We need to get more kids into the club and continue to do so.

As supporters we need to keep turning up to games to ensure that the club is around for such a time that it is able to again rise up the ladder. Hawthorn were on the bottom for atleast 3 years, now look at them, they will be premiership contenders for atleast the next 5 years. For ultimate success, we need to face facts and see it like it actually is.

Please don't lose the faith melbourne fans, a premiership will eventually come to the MFC, it has to! All droughts are made to be broken. Stick by the club, even moreso in the lowest of times, and that eventual premiership will taste even more sweeter. I am young, a mere 20 and my patience no doubt will be greater than many on here who have waited for more than double my lifetime. Stick by the club, our survival very much depends on it.

Havent left yet

Players that need to be retired are Yze and White - Yze didn't get a touch and Jeff continue to chase cheap stats out wide - I said this last year also. His best days are past him and he is holding up a spot for Meeson

Newton won't make it - too slow and can't play below his knees. Wheatley is on soft ground as is Carrol.

The best side we can hope for includes Whelan, Bartram, Dunn and Bate.

We also have too many single paced mid-fielders - Moloney, McLean, Jones, McDonald, Sylvia.

The improvement will come but the hard retirement decisions have to be made by round 4.

I think Yze must be running out of chances now. I would also like a secondary stat on White that measures how effective his taps are. I heard commentators on the radio say White 'won the tap' but I am sick of seeing him win taps that go straight to the opposition. On at least two occasions today they resulted in Hawthorn goals, after a perfect tap to a running Hawk. I am also getting sick of watching Wheatley trot around as the game passes him by. He's had a few years to bulk up and become a stronger player but we still continue to get an insipid effort from him. Robbo needs to lose some weight and get interested in playing or retire and go into showbiz fulltime.

What has happened to Davey ? he contributed little today.

I thought Carroll did ok, as did the other defenders. Th ball was coming in relentlessly, with little pressure, and man for man we were generally undersized.

The good thing to come out of today ?......Hopefully a wake up call to see how far we have to go (or is that how far we have dropped?) .

I fear that Bailey still hasn't worked out the strengths and weaknesses of our list. It was obvious we were stuffed at CHB today (prior to the bounce) and that he'd need Holland, but he still hasn't worked that out. He seems to love Miller, despite the fact that he's wholly ineffective. This is a worry.