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FYI, a way around the H-S paywall is to click on the article. The abridged version will show up. Copy the URL and paste into Google. The Google search result link will then allow you to view the entire article.

I was hoping for a crying room myself.

Plain bad luck that both Blease and Strauss have had bad leg breaks in their first few years in the game. In hindsight, Redden and Shuey would obviously have been great pickups, but I hate hindsight draft heroes. Once their names are read out on draft day we need to concentrate 100% on turning whoever we have picked into AFL footballers, and anyone else I don't care much for.

Throw Shuey and Redden into our mess of a team and they will look just as bad as the kids we are playing anyway. Our kids are asked to do too much, too soon and they get no help from those 25 and older and that is damning them.

HA unbelievable So Strauss has played 11 games, and it's too early to call Whilst Blease spent near on 2 years recovering from a snapped leg and has played 6 games but he's useless? Unbelievable

But this is the thing - it's not what he can and cannot do. It's what he does and does not do. That incident on the forward flank last week was not a skill error - it was a seriously bad mental lapse. It was petulance because he'd been pushed out of the way, wanted a free, and gave up. He'd have been shown that incident, he'd be very embarrassed, and if he has any pride (which he does) he'll go out there and try to make up for it on Sunday. He can and will change. I've already seen it this year. I saw him run with the ball as hard as I've ever seen him go just last week. He also looked like he had more power. Small signs, but I won't give up on him yet... and I'll be very disappointed in the match committee if he is dropped this week.

Meanwhile the Muslims won't get a look in as these rooms will be filled with dees supporters no doubt..

I feed off the ridicule, knowing who I am and who I support; it makes me stand a bit taller, strut prouder, shout louder and open up wider. Because it intimidates people, makes them feel uncomfortable at the sight of a Melbourne supporter they cannot connect with. I used to work in a shoebox office with my boss. We were die-hard supporters of Essendon and Melbourne respectively. Not a day would go past that I would hound him about it, that he was an inferior creature because of his allegiance. It was cannon fodder, you would think, given that I'm part of a supporter group who haven't seen a flag in half a century and probably couldn't give a rats if we did. The game of football these days doesn't fit in to our perceived conservative culture, right? "Have you seen a Premiership in your lifetime?" the boss asks. Who cares. My team is greater than yours. "Has your Dad seen a Premiership in his lifetime?" the boss continues. Who cares. My team is still greater than yours. "How is the snow forecast? Have you dusted off your leather armchair for another season of misery? Remember when we flattened you in 2000?" It goes over my head. Because my team will always be greater than yours. It reached a point that whenever the boss had a client in and was discussing the footy, he would introduce me as "a feral Melbourne supporter." That's what I like to hear. The boss had given in, and was respecting me now. I can't wait to bare my own son or daughter and teach them about Melbourne.

RobbieF - I'd suggest you stop searching for evidence based explanations here. There are none. In my observation, Dr Who seems consistently to avoid fact based analysis - and he is continually in the habit of qualifying, or ignoring altogether, overwhelming evidence that counters his view of our recent recruiting decisions. To be fair, recruiting has not been our only problem, but to suggest that it's actually been good, is completely delusional. It literally breaks my heart to see some players that many of us (as rank amateurs) would liked to have seen in the red and blue overlooked by us, then picked by other clubs with lesser picks, and now dominating in those positions. In terms of some of our recruiting decisions, I feel as though we received this great inheritance, spent it recklessly, and we now have this sickening realisation that we're facing bankruptcy. And we're all saying - how the hell did this happen?!

Agree. FFS. He played under Lyon, Stynes, Tingay, Neitz, McDonald. At Brisbane he played under Brown, Black and co. Do you think he needed a wet nurse during his 10 years? An inate and inconsistent talent with an immature gameboy mentality. I doubt he would have been in a No 1 pick calibre in the 2010s

1. I don't actually think we're paying Mitch Clark all that exorbitant an amount of money 2. If he turns into the power forward we need - he's worth every dollar (and it's looking more and more like he will fulfil that role) 3. If he doesn't: 3a. There is speculation Jamar is off, despite the fact he's been shizen so far, we probably should keep him at the right price. 3b. Given 3a. Clark can move to the Ruck, acknowledging a futile experiment - He's a good footballer no matter what so it'd be money well spent/money not given to Jamar can be directed elsewhere 4. He's a hard-nut and about the only guy who wears the jumper with pride - amazing after 3 games. Oozes passion. A true part of the club already. imo a really smart pick-up and one of the only positives to take from this awful awful start ~ Augers well for list management/recruiting transformation that is underway

I agree with you Deers. I cop heaps of cra p for being a passionate Dees supporter - especially living in Sydney. My response to this is always, " ... unlike you pr1cks, I have character. I could easily choose another franchise/more successful club to support, but my loyalties can't be bought. And cop a tip - the clubs you support would love to have the core MFC supporters behind them - because we stick behind a club that hasn't exactly given us a lot of joy over the past few decades. Supporters of the Swans, the Toyota Camrys and several other franchises would have skipped the coop long ago if they had to endure our run." I also say this to kids who support the Dees. Stick in there - it shows character. It's easy to support some cliched club that's always competitive and that all your friends support - it's much harder to show loyalty to a club that isn't quite as cool. But, at the end of the day, you know who'll have the most respect as a person and a supporter. Gallipoli wasn't exactly a successful invasion - but it did say a lot about Aussie character, and that's why it's now such a celebrated and iconic part of our history. In much the same way, for all the heat we've endured in this journey, I reckon a lot of people will not resent any success that ultimately comes our way. And it's for this very reason. ------------------------------------------------------------------- As an aside, whenever a friend of mine has a kid, I give the kid a Demon beanie bear - they're only about 10 bucks. Despite generally having many more expensive fluffy toys in the cot, it's bizarre how many of the kids only want to hold the Demon beanie bear. I'd like to think I'm programming their minds before they even know what's going on. My mates don't particularly like giving their kids anything red & blue, but, because it's a present for their kids (not them), they generally feel obliged to let their kids have the beanie bears. Even if it only converts a few, it'll be worth it.

....but Sisyphus at least pushed to rock to the top of the hill, not just a third of the way up!

please explain why robbie is a bigot. i don't get it. i would say he is the opposite.

HaHaHa, hmmn, what would you, could you expect, from one who barracks for high fliers, & likes to look down on the world from a wing & a prayer.... famous philosophical greek pilot, (Con Descending).

I said MCG because they AFLmake it clear all clubs and venues must follow suite What worries me most is that in the statement that the AFL has ruled that prayer rooms MUST be installed at all venues. A friend of mine summed it up beautifully for me "He said "Has the AFL investigated what percentage of the attendances are Muslims?" Have they checked what percentage of memberships are Muslims? To make decisions to add, install, modify or improve venues there has to be a need. Unless there is a significant need for these prayer rooms then the whole idea is worse than silly. It is just another case of political correctness gone mad and another example of pandering to a minority group. The AFL is not excempt from this madness anymore than some others.

Some of you blokes need to grow up. There is nothing wrong with this article. Mark Stevens was in a privileged position for that draft and he has gone back with the benefit of hindsight to give us who weren't there some insight. It's a perfectly reasonable journalistic exercise, and pretty interesting. So you don't like it, too bad. Shooting the messenger is always the easiest thing. I don't rate Bennell at all and clearly we could have done better out of that draft. Broken leg or not, the mistake was Strauss for mine. I can live with Blease. He does have blistering pace and if he gets the confidence to use it he could develop into a valuable player. Pick 19 was where got it wrong. And once more on the subject of Watts, it was absolutely the right call. Others here have said it already but I'll add my voice to those who reckon NicNat is all iciing, no cake - plenty of highlights but little football sense. Watts is an innate footballer and highly skilled below the knees as well as balanced and able to take a contested grab as well as a reliable and accurate kick. He is about as well rounded as Mark Stevens, one of the better H-S journos.

get it right Ben.....it's not all about development.....it's all about development $$$$$$$$s ya gotta buy-in in modern football AFL that is....................don't worry the penny will drop for you and the majority of people here eventually get on board or perish and i don't find it surprising that people here can't understand that BP is in a pivotal position at carlton.....ah well never worry

Well, my view is that it won't be known whether we stuffed up for a couple of years yet. I can tell you that we stuffed up our drafting, and development of, most players drafted pre-2005. And that is why we are this bad.

I understand where you are coming from Rhino but for christ sake I'm just over every comment being media approved. I don't want Aker but I could shut my eyes and ask any player from any club and they'd all answer the sames. Like noted above they're all robots. After 3 rounds of absolute [censored], I'd love nothing more than Nathan coming out and showing some heart. Extraordinary to think it's a memorial game and we won't hear one quote about 'how we'll attempt to play like Jim, give it his passion from first bounce to last bounce'. Who gives a rat's ass if Caroline Wilson comes out and says they put too much emotion into the game- well that'd make up for the 3 games of no emotion!

Im not advocating going out and not trying to win. Im not advocating the directives to "play players in ...interesting positions" What im saying is it obviosly comes as no greta surprise that we arent setting the world on fire. The great teams of this century , i.ethe likes of Geelong, Brisbane, Hawthorn and dare i say it that team of Filth all had some very medicocre games, indeed season(s) as their respective rebuilds to hold. Brisbane possibly a bit of anexception , bit still bumbled to start. Why....because the teams didnt comprise the required talent to start with, not across the board nor with experience, real experience (75-100 games ) in legs that prove more than useful in years to come. But rebuild/build they did and play together they did and eventually things clicked. There was the required tweaking along theway, this bloke out, new bloke in etc but they came from raw positions . So the FD will have to think...who's likely tobe in any decent lineup in 2-3 years time. If the name doesnt pop out now...then in simple terms theyll be relegated to playing out their days with the MFC in the ressies. yes we're paying/paid them but we are dealing with that finite of resources called time. That is more precious for some players to develop than the dollar value already accredited to some players. So this is where we go back to the time honoured way of 'list management". Its not game throwing,its not tanking (as some rightfullysuggest it infers a a decision not towin where youcould) We simply cant, arent able. Neeld upon arriving showed the board a picture that indicated he couldnt fill all positionon thefiled with the cattle he had to hand. He has started shopping... but only started. He also indicated ( by some reports )he had misgivings about some players being bookmarked for particular positions/roles. And he is changing that. This for all intents and purposes is a year of real investigation. Preseasons are full of hype and fluff and only when real competition starts does the wheat separate from the chaff. As the season progresses I would expect Neeld and his Assistants tofurther refine the list and identify the glaring holes, whilst also possibly unearthing a few positives. At seasons end he will have real first hand and relevent info upon which to cull and remodel the playing list. Stevens alludes the process is tanking. He does this because he is lazy in his writing and flawed of argument. We will win some games this year, but i cant see that number going far beyond the fingers of one hand now. Another year of pain....how novel.

Imagine your boss gives you valid criticism of your work, tells you how to improve it, and then sends you to the basement to sort letters or something. What would you think about that? How is Morton supposed to show improved his intensity if he's relegated to a leage where the intensity is inherently lower? I'm not saying leave him in the ones forever., but nothing good comes from chopping and changing a team every damn week. Mortons issues are mental; confidence, willingness to risk injury and help his team-mates, and so on. Those areas of his game are most easily fixed by keeping him in the side.

The answer as to who is to blame for Travis Johnstone's failure to capitalise on his talent is Travis Johnstone.

Well played!

1. Yeah I get it mate, I was stating that Couch and Morton play different roles too, hence highlighting why I didn't understand someone saying a particular player would keep another player out of the team when they play a different role at the expense of another player who plays a different role etc etc.... 2. Actually at the moment it does! See anyone from MFC being physical enough? See anyone stand up for Grimes when polaxed? See anyone being the aggressor rather than the timid apologetic wuss? On current form and history I would play Dunn EVERY DAY of the week ahead of Morton. We're done with playing players on potential and draft order aren't we? 3. Riiiiiiiight... So our best inside 50 tackler doesn't chase but others do? Not seeing he'e the best chaser ever but he's pretty close to number one for our team on it's current efforts

Jah live!I wont be offended if the Muslims bow down while I smoke my spliff. Hoping they are the same .

Why would Morton hold his spot?

If they build a special one for Rastafarians then I'm all for it . Watching Melbourne play makes me reach for my special medicine . In my personal opinion ,this is a lot of garbage and all those who suffer from religious delusion should bow down for 2.5 hours of Demon worship. I dont care what race you are-I care even less about your religion . Build me a FKN Rasta room now!

this bloke needs to stop getting "another chance" and start cementing his spot in this team

You have spouted what you believe to be the case and tried to pass it as fact not what is actually the case. Regardless of what you believe to be the case he needs to significantly lift his game..

Is it going to be called the "Melbourne Coach's Box"?

It's interesting how the Hawks use Suckling, one of their best kicks. They don't expect him to play like Sewell or Mitchell. They expect him to find space when they have the ball, and his fellow defenders look for him & try to get the ball into his hands, so he racks up the uncontested possessions and does damage with them. We expect Strauss to play like Matty Whelan & get his own ball under pressure. Will we ever use Strauss like they use Suckling? Not holding my breath.

Id love to think the team could lift for jimmy but I just don't think this playing group is capable of doing it. Bulldogs midfield will run rings around ours and their high inside 50 rate will finally click. Not even slightly optimistic.

Your comments are what I was alluding to. Moreso the delivery from upfield.

Jeez Jeff really had a day out today, didn't he?

Thank God we didn't take Lewis Johnson. Maybe we just had too many Johnstons/Johnsons ......

When Mitch starts taking grabs from strong leads we will know that we're heading in the right direction.

The black dots are posts...

If Bail is delisted at season's end I will be very disappointed. I think he has the goods and just needs to deliver on a consistent basis. Same goes for Petterd. And as much **** as I'm going to get for saying it, Morton. They're all still quite young players, and a change in coach could create a major change in attitudes and output. Give them all at least one more season and see what they can do. I will save all comments on Jurrah until after his court date.

You would keep Jake Spencer over Rohan Bail and Jamie Bennell? Really? I don't care how tall or strong the guy is... Spencer dropped the ball walking in for goal. My mum wouldn't even do that. Career = over.

Pm24 isn't so wrong with that comment. For example, do you really believe that with so few incursions into our forward 50, Clark could afford to attempt to play on when he had marked so close to goal? That effort had be shouting at the TV! I think your reaction to pm24's comments are a little over the top...he was hardly crucifying the guy, just providing a fairly well balanced assessment.

Better tell Jake Niall ...

Nothing wrong with the colours now.

Another thread carpetbombed out of existence...

Guys. - Hindsight, 20/20 - Those two players have both broken their legs. You can rattle on all you want about luck, but a snapped leg is generally a 12 month injury for a professional sportsman. Think about a 'normal' person breaking their leg. At least 6 weeks in a plaster cast, followed by instructions to avoid any serious sport for a further 3 to 4 months. Generally it's about 6 months without doing a thing. Then you have to rebuild your fitness levels - running a lot etc. This can be further set back by soft-tissue injuries in the legs as they have been inactive for so long. - Jack Redden has a Brownlow medallist standing next to him when he walks onto the field. He also had another guy who was a contender for a while there. - Luke Shuey has a guy who nearly one a Brownlow. As well as one of the best ruckmen in the competition. And half a premiership side surrounding him. The reality is, our 2000-2005 drafting is what's killing us now. We were always going to have to go through the mass retirements from 2007 onwards. Look at our best 22 in 2006 and see how many of them were still playing by 2009, for example. Compare that to West Coast and Brisbane and look at some of the names that are still there.

I am no longer interested in what the players have to say about the game. Fine for one player to join the coach (as Howe did yesterday) but I no longer want to hear from others be they captains, past captains or senior players. As an example I don't want to hear from Trengrove or McKenzie that we were not good enough and they have to improve. I think that is fairly obvious. When they put in a 4 quarter effort then I am happy to hear from them. I am happy to hear from the Coach and Administration because they need to tell supporters and members where they are heading. Enough is enough. If I hear one more player tell me that there were positives but they need to be consistent over 4 quarters or they need to improve, I will spew.

Remember only two weeks ago Leigh Matthews stated Ben Hudson would be a more valuable pick up than Mitch Clark? Who got dropped last week from the Lions Leigh? Statement for the sake of a statement.

One way to get the kids more interested is to have more opportunities for them to interact with the players. DeeTV having a kid reporter is a good start. It would be a good way for kids to be able to fight back in the playground. When a Dawks supporter says "we're winning all our games", the Dees kid could turn around and say "yeah, but I got a birthday card from Colin Sylva". I know a lot of clubs do something like this, but maybe the club can think of a unique way to make the kids feel more connected with the players.

It's taken 9 years, but wifey has finally seen the light and i will be buying her first membership tomorrow. GO DEES!

I got the call today. It's not the first time my brother has told me he's disappointed in me. But apparently my niece and nephew are now excited little Dees fans running around the house with their horns on. And if I wasn't already in my sister in laws bad books, i certainly will be now, she's just had her face painted red & blue. Priceless.