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My free time and my money is very important. I work bloody hard for both. And I choose to spend it on this club, year after miserable year. You wanna call me a fair weather supporter, and I want to punch you in the face. Deal? I've gone to games sick, on crutches, during exams, I've missed birthdays, family events and many other things to make time to go and watch us play. I spend hundreds each year on a membership without fail, even when I barely have the money. So if I wanna boo a team that plays like absolute shite with complete and utter disregard for the fans or the jumper, than I friggin well will and who the hell are you to tell me otherwise. I deserve better for my time and money. We all do. And the players and coaches should know that what they have dished up for 6 years now is unacceptable.

I couldn't believe my ears when I was labelled a fair-weather supporter last night after the game. This is the second such instance of the term being used. 50 years without a flag, 7 years of horror and one of the most inept halves ever dished up on that oval. Anyone who sits through it and still wears red and blue deserves a medal - not the term "fair weather fan".

I watch a lot of footy This MFC Team and recent MFC Teams work ethic is the worst in the competition. They do not work hard at all for this level of football, and this is no exaggeration. This is the essence of all our problems. Pure lazy list of footballers who simply do not work hard enough on game day. This reflects on EVERYONE at this club.

That's crap, he was hurting like everyone around us, he was devastated.

Yes another depressing thread. Just saw Hawthorn's Shoenmakers affect a great defensive spoil against the cats, the huge crowd erupted. Young kid, high draft pick, being worth it. The side up and about and looking the goods again. Plenty of enthusiastic fellow supporters around you. Down the other end, the poster boy of the AFL is just doing what he does, which is consistently kick arse in a very entertaining capacity, while the country watches, and you gain more support and more money. These moments are NEVER available to you as a Melbourne supporter. Yesterday was a HORRIBLE experience, an actual NEGATIVE experience that I am still feeling the brunt of, that is not what supporting an AFL club is supposed to be about. None of us can be accused of being soft, we have been sticking at it year after year and have gotten nothing but anger, shame, despair, embarassment and humiliation for our persistence. So sick of it.

Today hurt. I'm as gutted as anyone. But what I won't do is call for the dismissal of the coach/board/players/cheer squad/demon mascot/pie vendors after Round 1. I heard the booing from our own fans today. But I won't participate in that. I understand the frustration but abusing your own team doesn't help them and reflects badly on the people booing. This is not the end of the world. This is only the end of Round 1. We were terrible this afternoon, on a scale that I couldn't have imagined this morning. There were so many problems that I can't even begin to list them. I'll take a couple of days to get over it, and then I'll watch the tape to see if I can pick out some details. But I'll be at the game next week. I'll support my team. I'll always be positive. Because that's loyalty.

said this on a different forum, someone turned it into our new slogan for 2013. gold.

Getting paid doesn't mean he should have to suffer abuse. Hell, he didn't even play in the match, why should he cop it? There's this prevalent attitude that many have that because they barrack for a club and can access the players by social media that they have a right to say whatever they want to whoever they like. People seem to lose their sense of social conscience when they're behind a Twitter account, or a Facebook account, or a Demonland account. It's something that needs to change and I think Magner is within his rights to return serve.

We do need a line in the sand moment right now. Seriously. I don't care if we lose 12 players to suspension and they cop $100,000 in fines. Get out there and just whack someone. Throw Essendon off not by playing, but by running into them, going the extra oomph in the tackle, making the sneaky jab in the ribs behind play. Play dirty. Start a melee. Then start another, and another. At least show you're willing to fight in the jumper, if you're not willing to play in it.

Mods deserve some credit for giving free reign to vent without locking threads and deleting posts.

There was a lot to make you feel sick today, but Clark going down was seriously the moment I wanted to just give it all up, walk out and never come back. Great to see him come back on, but he could hardly walk and I'm sick of so few trying so hard and killing themselves in the process. Bring Dawes in, underdone or otherwise, we have to help this poor man before he does irreparable damage, because god knows he's trying.

I found this on the MFC Facebook page from Nick McCallum*...Now i know Nick has worked hard for the club but i find his spin on this a little insulting to the supporters who witnessed yesterday.. I get the impression that people within the club do not want to know...Deep Down they hope this will just go away..I was there yesterday & i gave the team a good Boo as they came off...There was no EFFORT...watch todays Hawk Cat Game. Our club deserved a spray yesterday...5 months of training for that poo?? Sorry Nick but this rubbish you write is one of the clubs biggest problems....You refuse to accept how bad things are. "Fair weather supporters who boo their club off the field deserve to share the same level of hell reserved for people who cheat on or leave their partners when they're suffering a terminal illness. Shame on the lot of you who did that today, I thought I was a part of a club that was above such dreadful displays of sportsmanship and witnessing that simply made me feel sick."

A bit of context though. This is the comment Magner has reacted aggressively towards: "The entire team should be forced to watch a replay of yesterdays game. It's embarrassing to be Melbourne supporter at the moment..." Pretty inoffensive, just honest. There are a hundred better, smarter, more positive ways that Magner could've responded to one of HIS fans than the one he chose.

That's like saying it's okay to abuse a liney because your power bill was too high. "We" don't pay the players, and even if we did it doesn't buy us the right to treat them like dogs.

Congratulations, keyboard heroes everywhere. If we are supposed to be short of young suppoerters, how come so many of ours act like f'ing 14 year old boys?

Fuucken oath they do.

Stellar, Gilligan and Pedo. No. No. And No. None of these guys should be in a senior Melbourne AFL team worth a damn. Who is Neeld kidding with this "Moneyball" nonsense?

if the demons fold im in trouble because i hate all the other teams.

Paul Roos is sitting here with his son two tables away from me in Clarendon St, South Melbourne. I could ask him if he'd be interested in coaching the Dees but he might suspect it has something to do with today's date.

Have a mid week bender at Aami park Simplify the game plan to man on man, beat your opponent etc Let Neil Craig coach the team on match day Bring in Kent, jetta and Terlich - guys who take the game on

They are spiritless and are not bold and they look like they do not enjoy their job. That has got to be on the head coach. He has time but he has a long way back because yesterday wasn't a step back - it was an uppercut that put us on our arse. Get them to like footy again. Play like Sam plays.

Frawley was a great one on one player when he was all Australian, now he is a zoning player...he may not be so good at this. Surely you must coach a team based on strengths? Otherwise you are developing new weaknesses.

After listening to the Post-match press conference, and the interview with Jack Watts, my take on it is that they had a great pre-season, and just assumed it would all happen for them on match day. Maybe now they have figured out that training with your team-mates and playing against a real, committed opposition team are two entirely different things. For me, the real test will be how they react to yesterday's abomination, and what they serve up next Saturday night. For everyone's sake, I sure hope they get their act together, and quick!

Why was no one within 5 metres of Boak all day? What was Mckenzie doing by himself on the wing if he is the tagger? Why play Tapscott and Nicholson ahead of Jetta and Terlich? Why were no positional changes made when we were being thrshed? Why was no one manning up in the backline?

NEWSFLASH 1. there is absolutely nothing a coach or player can possibly say that will satisfy anyone after a loss like that 2. despite this, we will still get posters expressing their outrage at whatever is that is said FWIW I thought Watts seemed genuinely shattered, or did a good job pretending to be. He did not quite serve up the usual platitudes, obfuscations and prevarications you expect.

When Mitch was on the ground in agony holding his foot, I felt physically ill.. Honestly I hadnt felt thaty bad since the Ox did his knee for the 3rd time. I was positive he had broken his foot or torn the Lisfracn again. Im still a bit scared that he will have scans tomorrow and something bad might be there.

<p>I came to realisation over a year ago that our current administration is a disaster and must go. I cannot see any way we will ever improve with these incompetents in charge.</p><p>Any other issue are a distraction to the real problem at the moment and pales into insigificance Responsible for a failed rebuild and rebuild Mark II going the same way.</p><p></p><p>A brief outline of crimes accused.</p><p>Implementing a high risk long term bottoming out strategy that turned out a disaster. A sackable offence for failure in its own right.</p><p>Poor recruiting.</p><p>Even poorer player development.</p><p>Failure to address legitimate player and FD grievances.</p><p>Meddling in FD business.</p><p>Creating internal divisions which seem unresolvable. </p><p>Losing the trust and sucking the life and spirit out of the playing group. </p><p>Unwise sponsorship decisions.</p><p>Tanking debacle.</p><p>Failure to seek out the best possible coaching option. Why were people like Ross Lyon overlooked?</p><p>Extracting money from the gullible and faithful under false pretences. </p><p>Lack of openess and transparency. Andrews Report. Fobbing off legitimate questions. </p><p>Turning this club into the laughing stock of the competition.</p><p>Losing the respect of the football community and media. </p><p> </p><p>Any thing else to add. </p>

must agree with this.

this isn't about Melbourne players attitude wise, this is whats happening to the game. The AFL game thinks its passed the supporters by, & it treats us like Milkers, to walk through the gates & cough up & sit down & shut up. The whole AFL money machine is a disgrace of greed & arrogance. the game, at this level, is just taking the supporters for granted. I don't blame Magner for his defensiveness, as the whole club is really peddling uphill atmo, but the bigger picture is that those in the game are just smirking at us all. They bring in a bigger footy records so they can milk us more on gameday, before we even reach the gates. Then the bags are scrutinised for contraband Fanta & Chips on the way in, just to elevate the hackles a little bit more. Just when you get into the ground, your favourite seat is unavailable, because they've reserved the grandstand to others, but it remains empty...Then we can't sit where we want. The AFL are sectioning off areas into exclusivity, why, so they can charge us more. ... finally settled somewhere,, your hungry, you must be by now, or in need of comfort food & you don't have much thats apertising to counter the stressful procedures just getting to your seat. hot food to calm the nerves, but I didn't bring bank manager with me to cover the Loan required, to eat @ the 'G'. Does anyone see the fleecing being dished out to one & all of us? Is the game worth all this, & do we want the game to be this all devouring monster?

Magner should be clever enough not to reply but it really isn't up to fans to start getting into these guys lives ,no matter what some of us think of them at the moment . I don't care what they do in private anymore.Crash cars ,have fights ,get drunk or whatever you want. Just turn up and play .

I went to the footy with my 10 y.o nephew yesterday who loves the Dees as much as me - and chose to support them even though his dad is a big Saints supporter and his grandpa played in the '66 Grand Final for St Kilda (Ian Synman). He was so upset yesterday he had to leave early in the last, the poor bugger knew he was going to be the butt of jokes again when he's back at school. I realised in 5 years of going, he's probably only seen us win 6-7 times. I wonder if he's ever going to go to a game expecting us to win. I wouldn't wish this team on anyone at the moment.

Exactly my thoughts while I was watching the game. At the end of the game I got up and muttered 'F@#k Geelong and F@#k Jared Rivers' purely out of jealousy. My girlfriend is worried about my mental state after what happened yesterday. I can see myself sitting in a straight jacket, rocking back and forth in a padded room one day talking about this football club.

Watching Hawks vs Geelong makes me more pi55ed off about the MFC. Both teams having a dip and playing their guts out. I would spit venom at anyone who hang sh!t on me and my club. I thought 2012 was the year of the cull. I thought this year was the beginning of the re birth. Nope. Wrong. Every year is the same. We seem to be a giant sh!tball rolling down a hill collecting more sh!t on the way.

Lucky we don't have a Demonland Swear Jar, you'd be broke!

What - and cruel the club's cash flows altogether?! Like most things being written here at the moment, that would be a deeply stupid and irrational thing to do. Get behind the club if you want it to remain viable. FFS.

It's made of concrete these days condemned.

We will lose both these games, and the carnage on here, in the media and by public opinion will be brutal. I am nonplussed by those who imagine the board have anything whatsoever to do with how the coaching staff manage the players, prepare for game day, and execute on the day. The truth is that there has been admin stability at the club since the fallout from 186. What we got yesterday is about FOOTBALL, not boards or committees. The players are totally uninspired, devoid of natural competitive instinct ( with precious few exceptions) and have the most woeful lack of confidence. Give it half a dozen games and Jack Viney and Matt Jones will have had all the desire and instinct sucked out of them too. It just HAS to be a coaching issue, and whether Royal is rubbish, or Craig or Rawlings, who knows, but Mark Neeld is the boss cookie, and he has shown ABSOLUTELY NOTHING as a legitimate coach to this point, other than the worst team approach and application to AFL/VFL football since I first saw the Dees in 1971. I remember the consensus on our list when John Northey came was that it was average at best, and what did he do with them? The opposite of Neeld. So it's not that our players are born unskilled, unsure, or timid, or that the board are somehow infecting them, it's the way they are COACHED!!!!!!!!

"We shall never go on to the end. We shall lose to anyone in France, we shall lose on the seas and oceans, we shall lose with growing incompetence and lack of strength in the air, we shall never defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall lose on the beaches, we shall lose on the landing grounds, we shall lose in the fields and in the streets, we shall lose in the hills; we shall always surrender."

Can't believe you (and everyone else it seems) has missed Dan Nicholson! Would rather have Joel McDonald any day, at least I know he will go at 100%, same could be said of Rohan Bail.

I seriously fail to comprehend how Royal still has a job. It is baffling, he should have been given the arse at the end of 2011. One of the best defences in 2010 under Wellman turned to absolute shite under his watch and then he is moved sideways to the midfield where he brings absolutely nothing. Wellman was a great coach for us we never should have let him walk on his contract, one of the key reasons for Frawleys 2010 AA form and subsequent decline.

The Club is weak. It filtered down to the grass yesterday. Regardless of a gameplan only 3 players had a crack yesterday. The Board rolled over & so did the players It is connected.

Totally agree DrDrake. I just had a verbal run in with a poster on 'Ology about this very subject. It's about the culture of the football club. A culture which saw our President roll over to the bullies at the AFL. How on earth can we expect the players to do anything otherwise on-field when our off-field leaders raise the white flag in such a pathetic manner? You are right. The token 500k fine we allowed ourselves to cop at the expense of our integrity as an organization is nothing compared to the millions we will be leaking as a result of the weak way the club is being run. Don McLardy needs to go ASAP.

Some posters have already come up with the answer that we lacked "effort" and that sums it up for me. Port Adelaide was primed both physically and emotionally for a big effort. They had a new coach, a new look team and a fallen comrade to honour. They did it with effort and commitment to each other and their coach and, to a man, they did not hold back. At one point when the game was already in its latter stages, the ball was delivered to a Melbourne player who was well in the clear but his Port Adelaide opponent made up 15 - 20 metres to get to the contest. He didn't make it on time but his presence close by ensured that the Melbourne player wasn't able to play on and move the ball quickly. That's what I call effort and it's that which was routinely missing from our team's play yesterday. If the coaching group is unable to rectify this, then there will be more repeats of yesterday's failures.

Ive been a big supporter of Neelds so far and used to tire of tonatopia etc bagging him. but i will admit ive been wrong. he is not a good coach. he was exposed warts and all yesterday. there is some good individual talent on this list but they just look like they are being stifled and are too busy trying to follow instructions instead of just manning up or going for the footy. its all too robotic. i dont buy in to all this stuff about players not trying etc. of course it appears like that but the fact is , any bloke who can make an Afl list is a competitive beast. if not they would never have got through the system. of course they try. yes some try harder than others but its ludicrous to think 12 out of 18 blokes werent trying. Its deeper than that. they are trying to robotically follow instructions that either they dont quite follow or which simply can not be extrapolated in to real game situations. the latter i feel is more the case. neelds game day philosophies and plans dont stand up to match day stresses. firing neeld now isnt the answer but the club must certainly be prepared for tough decisions if neeld cant turn this around.

Both Grimes and Watts were genuinely upset and unable to pinpoint what went wrong - "can't explain it, didn't see that coming..." So from all the things Neeld had been telling them, they imagined they were going really well. The facts of our NAB cup performance are different. Ergo, I say Neeld does get into their heads - as a coach should - but I don't have much respect fro the effect he's having on their thinking. Neeld gets it wrong - what he told them about their progress was wrong. And Neeld himself says he was taken by surprise yesterday afternoon, when reality hit. That is a worry. Asking reporters for suggestions! Neeld has no other ideas, apart from continuing to stress compliance. This is a guaranteed recipe for disaster. Compliance is the language of building regulations and safety - not of excellence. Compliance ensures the authorities do not order the building torn town and started again - it is nothing to do with the language of architecture awards. Small wonder we look so unimaginative and conservative, so negatively minded. Perhaps I'll be banned for suggesting this, but it nags away in my mind that Liam Jurrah came to Melbourne loving football and celebrated for the flair and instinct with which he graced the game. So exciting! When he left he was struggling to meet compliance standards related to skills other than his own. No longer so keen to get out on the park. And he was, so it would appear from what has come out of him ever since, becoming confused and angry. Would he have left and acted as he did if the game had continued to embrace him as it did in the beginning? I wonder about this, and don't feel good about it. For all his natural intelligence and instincts for the game, Watts looked confused and lost yesterday. Neither he nor Grimes could come up with any insights into what went wrong. All of us who watched the game would have no difficulty telling them a few things, for a start (e.g., "man up", "get it out of there!", "spread!!" etc). So - what's happening to our players' minds under the present "compliance" regime?

Actually, Tom Hafey lives around the corner from me, and one day I asked him; "How did you take the wooden spooners, Collingwood in 1976, to grandfinalists in 1977 without changing the list"? He said, Football is a simple game, you must be hungrier than your opponent to get the ball, once you have got the ball, if your under pressure, handball it to a free team-mate and kick it to a leading option. If he dosnt mark it, win the loose ball and kick it to the next leading option. Then if he dosnt mark it, pick up the crumbs and kick the goal. If the opposition have the ball, get on your opponent and wear him like a glove. I spose, the rest is motivating the players to be hungrier than their opponent. Hafey was good at this, so was Northey who had the us against them mentality. Sorry for all you believers, Neeld must go.

Definitely one of the most disheartening and demoralising games I've seen from the MFC. Worse than 186 for me and I was at Kardinia Park that day. At least that day we were playing one of AFL history's greatest teams at their own fortress and were nearing the end of a wretched season. I wasn't expecting miracles today and a loss wouldn't have been all that surprising, but to get absolutely thumped by an ordinary at best Port side at our home ground in Round 1 is about as bad as it gets. For me the biggest concern was just how easily Port moved the ball down the ground, chipping short passes to players on their own and basically moving the ball from one end to the other without us touching it. They sliced us wide open, it was hot knife through butter stuff and it was bloody embarrassing. You could maybe understand Hawthorn cutting open a side with their foot skills but Port? I've watched a fair bit of footy in Round 1 and what has stood out has been the pressure. In the first quarter of the Eagles Dockers game both sides were struggling to get a clear kick. Essendon mauled the Crows and worried them out of it. What do the MFC serve up? Not even a quarter, not even 5 minutes of intense pressure footy. Right from the opening bounce they got easy uncontested ball and it remained that way all day. There can only be two reasons for this. Either the players are lazy and put no defensive pressure on, which would add the word 'heartless' to a long list of adjectives that already describe them such as skilless and brainless. Or alternatively they are confused where to position themselves defensively, which comes down to game plan and is the coach's domain. I'm not sure what the answer is but it is one of the above. Either way it's bloody worrying. The other thing I just cannot fathom is the schoolboy errors. Nicholson fumbling uncontested ball and dropping marks, Sellar dropping chest marks and not punching deep in defence, Gillies missing the target so badly that he actually kicked a point for Port, Dunn failing to kill the contest in the first quarter and overrunning it...the list goes on. I helped coach an under 14s team a number of years ago and I didn't see errors like that. I just cannot understand it, these guys are AFL footballers! All I want to see is a team that can constantly pressure the opposition. I can cop kicking 8 goals if we get our defensive aspects right and only concede 11. I thought defence is what we are supposed to be focusing on. We have too many skilless and brainless players masquerading as senior footballers. We have a terrible midfield, currently the worst in the league. Worst of all we can't even do the most basic thing in footy, put pressure on and make it difficult for your opponent. We don't defend. We don't even know how to. If Port slice us open what are Hawthorn, Collingwood, West Coast and co. going to do? We are in a huge hole and only time and astute drafting can get us out of this mess. This is about as low as I've ever felt as a Melbourne supporter. 79 point loss to Port at home. 24 less scoring shots. Hang your heads in shame MFC.

it wouldnt have happened if bloody pederson kicked it correctly to clark and hit him up, he had his oppenent left for dead and anything that was remotely near him he would have marked and kicked the goal

Titan I reckon if you asked anyone about Port's list that Ken Hinkley inherited they'd say it was awful, in fact there were a number of media expert who described Port's list as the worst in football when they were searching for a coach late last year. In the same way Brendan McCartney inherited an ageing list that plenty of people thought was in really bad shape too. I bring up those two not because both teams won substantially in Round 1 but because one is 1 game in to a regeneration of a Club and the other is 23 games in, the same amount of time Neeld is. What we can clearly see at Port and at the Dogs is the direction their clubs are taking. They focus on winning contested ball and moving the ball quickly forward. They are holes in their list that are being plugged by young developing players for the most part, but they are both clearly moving in the right direction. Can we say the same about us? Neeld has said our game plan will take "3-4 years" to learn. Those clubs are showing that within 6 months in Port's case and 18 months in the Dogs case, they've clearly picked up significant amounts of what their Coaches are teaching them. I'd argue both inherited significantly worse lists than ours - Neeld inherited a team that was in the Top 8 halfway through the 2011 season, while Port were second bottom of the ladder and the Dogs were at the end of an era and in the bottom 6. So what is so complicated about our game plan? We move the ball around the boundary or we switch the ball to the other side of the ground and do the same. Defensively we play man on man and if a spare opposition player gets out into space then we let him go because our players are being told to stop their man at all costs. It was this attitude that was evident in Brent Moloney's play last year, when he went from being one of the best Clearance players in the AFL to having one of the worst years of his career, spending every stoppage standing next to his man and not trying to win the ball. Time and again today we saw our players stay with their man instead of covering a teammates man when needed. That's not natural instinct, that's clearly coming from instruction. I'm by no means an expert when it comes to footy but these things seem pretty clear cut - and what it means is that we have a very very big problem with our choice of Coach.