NOTE: I wrote this last week but never got a chance to post it.

It would be hard to not know about the debacle that was the Melbourne Football Club’s performance at the MCG in Round 1 against a superior and powerful Hawthorn side. Not only did the Demons lack any sense of urgency from the opening bounce, they were always behind and they were comfortably beaten in every area on the field.

Very rarely does a loss reflect any positives for the losing team. Even in the many 100+ point shellackings we’ve seen over the past few years, the losing team has always had at least one positive to come out of it, be it the impressive performance of a youngster or the performance of an injury plagued star returning for his first hit out in months. However, after the 104-point belting of Melbourne by the Hawks on Easter Sunday, the Demons could take no positives whatsoever out of the game, not even the debuting performance of Isaac Weetra and Cale Morton.

To sum it up simply, Melbourne’s performance yesterday was reminiscent of a dying Fitzroy’s performances in its final AFL season in 1996. The Demons struggled to kick goals (they had only one to half time and two to three-quarter time), they were annihilated in the centre and their drive out of the back-line was non-existent. What’s very worrying for this team is that it’s almost at full strength, and even the existence of back-line stewards in Jared Rivers and Matthew Whelan in yesterday’s team wouldn’t have made much difference.

It’s easy to sit back and place the blame on someone. The only acceptable person/people to blame would be the players themselves, but I have a different theory. It’s one that is harsh yet logical.

Neale Daniher coached this team from 1998 until mid-2007. In that time, he conjured up a negative coaching record yet led the Demons to six finals appearances and one Grand Final appearance. If you could sum up his time at Demon land in two words, the ones “consistently inconsistent” come to mind. Firstly, Melbourne struggled to make the finals two years in row from 1998 to 2003. They would make it one year and then miss it the next. Secondly, when they were able to finally make the finals for consecutive years from 2004 to 2006, they always fell down at the most inappropriate times. In 2004 they led the league after 18 rounds with 14 wins, the first time they were 1st so deep into the season since 1964. They lost the last four games of the home and away season and then went down to Essendon by 5 points in the first round of the finals. In 2005, they were 2nd halfway through the year, lost gallantly to a superior Eagles outfit at the MCG and then went on to lose another six games in row. They scrapped into the finals, only to be belted by over 10 goals by Geelong in the first week. In 2006, they lost the first three games of the year and gave Carlton, the year’s wooden spoon recipient, two of their three wins for the year. They beat St. Kilda in an uninspiring performance in the first week of the finals and then lost to Fremantle in Perth in what would be the Dockers first finals win ever.

It’s logical to say that Daniher’s coaching tenture, on a win-loss perspective, was positively progressive. The Demons made the finals the third most times of any other team during Daniher’s tenture, behind only Essendon and West Coast. However, you have to be able to look beyond what he did inside the coach’s box and examine what he put together with his recruitment team. That’s because the rabble of a team that took to the MCG yesterday is a Daniher-built mess, one he believed had the potential to win a flag.

Daniher seemed to always have a fantastic relationship with his team, but was perhaps too close with the bunch of men he coached. There was a lack of player movement, even when the team required particular types of players, and players who wouldn’t get a game at another club were frequently being named in the Demons senior squads.

It’s not at all surprising that as soon as last season finished, the first off-season in which Melbourne would be without Daniher for 10 years, the team traded Travis Johnstone. If you ever met Travis, you’d think he was a socially disabled 14 year-old. His personality isn’t something you’d base your marketing around but we all know that a player’s on-field performance strongly out-shines their social capabilities. Travis had the potential to be a superstar of the highest calibre. He got close to winning the Brownlow in 2002 and showed flashes of brilliance during the 2004 season. However, a majority of Johnstone’s career at Melbourne was marred by disappointment and inconsistency. His lacklustre personality was reflective of his play; uninspiring and careless. He never reached his full potential and fitted in well with a Daniher -coached team that never met public and personal expectations.

Players like Simon Godfrey, Daniel Ward and Ryan Ferguson were delisted far too late and, again, not until after Daniher left the club. In 2002, after the semi-final loss to Adelaide in which Melbourne produced one of its best, and worst, performances in recent memory, Daniher conceded that the team needed an overhaul. As per usual at the time, Melbourne had an “off” season in 2003 and in 2004, young stars Brock McLean, Colin Sylvia, Aaron Davey (2nd in the Rising Star award) and Jared Rivers (1st place) led a young yet exciting Melbourne squad to the finals (only to be outed by the 8th placed Essendon in the first week). One could admit that Daniher put together a team capable of winning games, but not one with any individual standout, something almost every premiership club has had.

Now, it seems, this team has become unstuck and found out. Cameron Bruce, a player often touted as a top-tier player, goes missing when he’s needed and often backs out of contested balls. He’s an overrated and overpaid player that sprays his kicks far too often and is only on fire when his team is. See Tracey McGrady of the NBA’s Houston Rockets, a similar player who is nowhere to be seen when his team is struggling.

Brad Green is a player whose been coached terribly and led in the wrong direction. He once had one of the best set-shots in the competition, yet he rarely, if ever, played out of the goal square under Daniher. Now, he seems to have lost his kicking touch and was a quality tradeable asset two seasons ago. Melbourne would be lucky to get a top-20 draft pick for him now. He, like Bruce, goes missing when the club needs him. He backs out of contests and frequently, if unintentionally, looks frightened in contested instances.

Adam Yze has done little in the past three seasons and the game has passed him terribly. No longer can show-pony players make it in this league and, like Green, should have been traded a few seasons ago. However, unlike Green who has some value, Yze isn’t worth even a top-100 draft pick and should retire before the season is out.

To say that Colin Sylvia has been unimpressive as a top 5 draft pick is the understatement of the century. Granted, he’s had some terrible luck with injury, but I can’t help but wonder whether his dedication is there to condition himself better and avoid these nagging injuries. He seems to care more about his rock star appearance and hairstyle then his football.

There’s one thing in common all of these players/problems have, and that’s that they’ve all been coached and/or brought into the game by Daniher. Players haven’t been traded when they should have been, the clubs top-tier players lack the toughness to be coupled with their potential and delistings haven’t occurred as soon as they should have.

Was Melbourne better off keeping a player like Simon Godfrey, instead of sacking him and filling his spot with a rookie? Godfrey had the stamina and determination, but his skill and decision-making were terrible.

It’s only been one game, a game in which the Demons lost by 104 points. That loss also propelled Bailey to 2nd on the list for largest coaching-debut losses. However, little to no blame as been placed on Bailey, his coaching staff or his gameplan, and all on the performance of particular players and the Melbourne Football Club’s list. Who built this list, you ask? I don’t think I need to answer that question.

No doubt at all

Daniher and his cohorts set the MFC back 10 years.

And dont think Ill let that [censored] Chris Fagan escape criticism either. He was an absolute goose. Had no idea about football.

These blokes screwed us over big time. Now Bailey and Connolly are left to clean up the mess