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Paul Roos playing the shy little prospective girlfriend is irritating me immensely. I now want him to be strapped into a room and forced to watch replays of Cale Morton whipping Adam Goodes and our thrashing of the Swannies at the MCG on his worst day as coach until he cries .

I thoroughly disagree with the notion that the Roos/Lyon style of coaching is dull or boring. Its winning football at its most structured, disciplined and strategic. Like feasting on prime steak instead of junk food.

Christ, I hope ASADA/WADA don't get a hold of this!

I find the reporting and commentary by supposed journalist so amusing. 1/ there is a coach in place with under half a season to run 2/ other potential coaches are still under contract 3/ the committee has just been formed 4/ the board and admin has not been finalised The calls for Roos to make a decision..then to move on...to talk to others is premature in the extreme. The timetable is so set in concrete that calls for decisions now lack all semblence of reason and logic. It will happen seasons end - roos or no roos. The only thing that may happen before is Roos may categorically rules himself out. so be it.

Unlike some others I have no idea what Roos will do. But nothing has changed. I watched last night and reckon people are trying to read into things that aren't there. The simple facts are that when asked last year whether he'd coach Carlton in 2013 he said "no". When asked if he could categorically rule it out he said "yes". End of story. When asked the same question about Melbourne he now won't make "closed ended statements, but nothing has changed". He's just as likely to coach next year as he was before. Or not. If I had to guess I'd say he wants to, and is a strong chance to, but will baulk when asked until the end of the year, or close to it. Or not.

Just watched a recording of OTC. I noticed that the first thing that Paul Roos said was that he had a chat with Peter Jackson and discussed SOME ISSUES. I would be interested in knowing what these ISSUES might be and whether they needed to be addressed before he would consider the job. Who knows, maybe we're all clutching at straws.

C'mon Hardtack, that last thing he is going to do is admit the conditions he has. He's stated that things need to change for him to become interested, some of those will be to do with the club and the others will be personal. If he was genuinely not interested HE WOULD'VE SAID SO BY NOW! So, I conclude, he's still interested.

She's not interested in dating the nerd... At this stage

I reckon we should go for Williams. Hard. The discussion about Roos coaching us next year seems similar to a nerdy teenage boy wondering whether the hottest teenage girl in the class likes him based on the odd flick of an eyelid, despite her actually expressly stating that she's not interested in dating the nerd ...

Following Melbourne has never felt like a choice to me. It's just something I've always done. I've moved beyond questioning my passion to simply accepting it's part of who I am. I no longer question what the gaps are in my life that the MFC helps paper over. I know it consumes too much of my time and thoughts and emotional energy but the flipside has been an incredibly enjoyable association and unlike a weekly lotto participant or a gambling addict I feel like I have a legitimate chance of seeing my team enjoy the ultimate success. The fact we haven't won a premiership in my lifetime isn't something I look at as a sad cross to bare anymore. I don't see my support of this team as a character flaw. In fact quite the opposite. I refuse to develop a loser mentality. How often in life do you commit to something as much and for as long as we commit to this club? How many supporters can claim our level of unrewarded passion? I've openly considered life after a MFC premiership. Would our lives lose a little meaning? It's ridiculous. I genuinely believe, however, that a John Northey-like 'character' has been forged in each of us by following this football club day in day out - the kind of character you wouldn't see in a Hawthorn or Essendon supporter. Coaching and getting involved at a club, community and school level has also been healthy because I've been able to enjoy the game at a time when enjoying watching the Dees has been close to impossible. It's helped fill a gap in the gap filler until we become competitive again.

I think it is all very clear. He will not Coach us unless he does. To put it another way, he will coach us unless he doesn't. Clearly doesn't want to undermine the present Coach.

Oh I know, he is such a co...ach tease!

Yes, thanks mjt, I am aware Garry is not helping pick the coach. In fact, he has nothing to do with the club, maybe that's the point...

Congratulations! Haha! In all seriousness, I'd take Roos comments, along with Rumsfeld's, with a grain of salt. Nothing will be official until after the season when everything is under control at board level, and the season has played out. It's not very common over the past 20 years for a caretaker coach to coach out the season, with a successor already announced during that season. The players will know they are on notice, the assistant coaches will know they are on notice, and until the season has finished, structures are in place and afl financial handouts are formal, we won't be hearing Roos confirm or deny. Or for that matter, Craig, Eade or Williams!

An interesting point from OTC a few weeks ago which no one had picked up. Just after Gerard Healy stated that Paul Roos was not going to be the next Melbourne coach he threw to Roos a seemingly benign but tricky question about Melbourne or the Bulldogs deserving a priority pick. Roos stumbled and mumbled for a while as he sensed a trap. He had little to say about the Bulldogs and talked mostly about us. He chose his words carefully so as not to seem prejudical to Melbourne's case for a priority pick. This confirmed to me he is definetly interested in coaching us and that negotiations are nearing an advanced stage.

I think your eyes might be deceiving you because none of Duncan, Motlop, Murdoch or Smedts are particularly solid. Caddy and Horlin-Smith are much more solid than either of those others but that has more to do with their body-type than anything else. For comparative purposes here are the heights and weights of those you have mentioned who I think actually have slender build. Duncan - 187cm and 86kgs Motlop - 183cm and 76kgs Murdoch - 190cm and 85kgs Smedts - 189cm and 83kgs Now for our guys who you have listed: Trengove - 185cms and 85 kgs (heavier than two of the Cats players you have listed who are taller than him but over an inch) Nicholson - 183cms and 80kgs (same height as motlop yet 4kgs heavier) Grimes - 187cms and 85kgs (see comments re trengove - around the same height and weight as Duncan) Watts - 196cms and 91kgs (I recall some saying that he was intentionally trained to get lighter so he could spend more time working through the middle, but regardless, he is noticeably stronger this year - just for comparison, Tom Lonergan is 1cm taller than Jack and just 2kgs heavier but is 7 years older). Blease - 184cms and 77kgs (similar in height and weight to Motlop) I think the reasons the Geelong guys may look bigger, or are perceived to have more AFL ready bodies because of who they are surrounded by. But looking at the height and weight of those guys listed compared to those at Geelong, it's quite apparent that in terms of height and weight, our boys are either bigger or at the same mark as the Geelong players you have mentioned. I think it has more to do with body type, and the type of strength training the club is doing, and in particularly the areas of the bodies they are trying to build.

I find the antics on OTC interesting. I understand they are trying to inform the viewer , who is not in the know, but here are some interesting things to think about when the go through the same charade on the coming Monday. Roos knows the question is coming and has his pre rehearsed answer ready. Gerard and Mike already know the answer before they ask the question.(Gerard's brother is on the MFC board therfore he would know exactly what the situation is without having to ask Roos) All this pantomime stuff is for the viewers. The interesting thing to me is that Roos hasn't categorically ruled it out therfore there may be some sticking point he is waiting to be clarified before he makes a decision one way or the other. I think they should give up asking him on OTC until there is a change in the situation that comes to hand.

WYL making the most sense. All those saying that we should 'move on' to the next candidate - we can't interview 'The Next Candidate' because Eade and Williams are under contract to teams that will be playing in September. The media want a resolution because they are nothing more than a group of hyperventalating Zombies that have a talking-point to run into the ground. We don't need to rush. We have no competition and we have an interim coach that is right up there with the secondary candidates. There is no need to move on from Roos, there is no need to rush to appoint anyone.

Roos is not going to give a definitive answer now for 2 reasons 1 The New Board has not been finalized 2 The Current interim coach is also a candidate... The coach's club are a pretty tight bunch, they all know how stressful it is. A decision will not be made till seasons end IMO No one has been ruled out yet...The Media just want the story....

NFI Maybe some day some one will discover the demon gene mutation Its certainly not darwin's survival of the fittest and natural selection

Not a bad summary. Pretty much on board with that except for the bolded part. There's no eveidence to support this. If there was , point 1 wouldn't have arisen.

Hope, I just watch every week hoping to see something or someone to get excited about. I hope Jack Watts finally kicks his bag of 6-8 goals, I hope that Toumpas has a massive break out game 25 touches and a couple of goals, the Hope that one day Col Sylvia can play he best footy week in week out, still to this day his match against Hawthorn a few years ago IMO was the best game I have seen any MFC player play. The hope Trengove becomes a good AFL midfielder, the hope that comes with Jack Viney and Jesse Hogan, the hope that one day this year we see Clark, Dawes, Watts and Howe in the same forward line. The hope that one year it all clicks.

Roos OTC: "You’ve got to be careful making closed statements. I can’t tell you what I’ll be doing next year or the year after. All I can tell you is Peter Jackson and I had a good discussion (3-4 weeks ago) he mentioned it on the radio. At the moment I said to him there’s no interest in me coaching a football club. I think the Melbourne Football Club is an attractive, silly as it sounds, it’s a reasonably attractive proposition if you wanted to coach." Door's open.

Do you want to get the right man or do you want to have something to discuss on Demonland? We can't talk to Eade, Williams or Ratten until the season is finished anyway. We've just announced the construction of a selection panel. Buckle up. We've got a couple of months of this ahead.

You just do it. It's not a choice, it's who we are. Honestly, the thought of jumping off has never occurred to me, which all things considered is a bizarre thing in itself. If you really love the club then it tests your resolve to its limits, but you keep going because in the back of your mind is that vision of success, and you have to stick through the bad times to truly savour, and indeed lay claim to the good times.

I'm not sure what it is but we demon supporters must have something going for us to stick like we do. There is a lot of infighting and bitching on demonland but at heart we all hope for the same thing. We must be total lunatics.

Our last two coaches have been guilty of the same thing. Bailey tried to get us playing a free-flowing, uncontested game a la Geelong of 2007-2009, but the Colingwood press of 2010 and then Sydney's higher pressure game meant Bailey's plan was made to look pathetic. Then Neeld came in and tried to get us to play Collingwood's pressing, pressure game, with contested marking and boundary-based movement, and was left to watch the competition speed up and pass us by. Truth be told, trends in football come and go every year. The good clubs and good coaches are able to adapt and mould their playing group to fit the bill. Neither Bailey nor Neeld were able to do that, not even close.

Is this a serious question? "Why aren't our 21 year olds the same size as those other clubs 27 year olds?"

...is that they drive the modern game: a product of fitness, power running, and high footy IQ. And also belief, confidence, and trust - in yourself as a player and your teammates. Jnrmac (the poster) mentioned in the Sylvia thread the importance of said KPI and I love KPIs so I had a little look at what has happened with that stat recently. I found that we went from -12 Uncontested Possessions compared to our opponent in 2011 to -39 in 2012, to -76 up to the point Neeld was moved on. Thoroughly ridiculous and dire numbers for a thoroughly ridiculous and dire situation under Neeld. The juicy morcel that I must mention (that almost makes me want to waste a couple days retroactively looking at 2013) is that since Craig has come in we have an Uncontested Possession count compared to our opposition of -3. An improvement of 73... ! Leaving aside the low numbers from the slopfest down at Mordor (Geel 148 Melb 129), our UP numbers have increased by 47 a game to 228 in the other 3 Craig-led games with opposition UP dropping 31 a game to 226. It does not mean you win, or even look like being close (the Sydney game) but it does mean you are running hard and trusting your teammates to get you the footy, and when you are being aggressive offensively it takes away time for the opposition to attack - attack is the best defence. While Paul Roos would be a fantastic option for the MFC over the next few years with excitement and hope renewed immediately, Craig has shown to be the catalyst for improvement in his short time at the helm, even with an unwanted record of impotence in getting the ball forward arriving last week. Hopefully the improvement will continue over the following 7 weeks.

If Trengove can no longer run fast, I suggest they bulk him up with another 6 KG of muscle and get him bullocking out of the clearances to help out Jones.

Best use of an exclamation mark, ever. Yes Craig is clearly in the driver's seat for the coaching role, and he has proven he has the players on-side. If the Roos dream falls through I will be happy with Papa Craig.

ADC - you are the king of the conspiracy theory - for once I dont mind where your conspiracy is headed !

I think i could handle a few dull boring wins ( like 300 of them)

Each year around October/November the membership renewals for me and three of my kids arrive in the mail. There is no conversation, discussion or discernment - we are Melbourne people through and through so we renew. I was born 6 months after our last premiership and have not wavered one day in my support. I will say that this year almost got to me. After seeing the West Coast and Essendon games early in the season I had to stop watching games, going to games and even visiting Demonland - it was seriously the lowest point of my Dees supporting life. That is including the horrible mid-1970's period when we were poor. What gets me through? Addiction - possibly. The greatest game on earth - yes. Love for the club - yes. Love for the jumper - probably more than anything else. I'm Melbourne, through and through, and no dysfunctional administration or administrator, pathetic coach, skinny player, or loud-mouth Collingwood/Hawthorn/Carlton/Essendon tossbag will move me away from the Dees. And when we DO hold up the cup - don't come near me if you are not a Dees supporter - I will give all of you the biggest spray ever and love every minute of it. Melbourne - through and through.

why would you take a job and not know who the board and president are, of course he wont say yes until thats in place

Perception is such a weak reason for doing something. I don't care how others see the MFC - just because they see us in a certain light does not mean we should alter how we go about doing what is best for our club. We should try and win as many games as footy as this limited group can win. We should go cap in hand to the AFL to fund the pay-outs of employees. We should ask the Commission for draft assistance to allow us to compete sooner than we otherwise could. We should explore every avenue to get better.

It's only football. A long time ago I realised that it wasn't a good idea to abdicate my own happiness to a bunch of dumb arse footballers. Once you let go of the idea of allowing winning or losing to overly affect your state of mind the process of supporting your club becomes much more enjoyable. These days I sit at the Gee in an almost Karmic state as I watch our lads butcher another kick or handball to the stationary guy with three beefy defenders surrounding him. When things get tough i simply mutter my own little mantra to help me get through the game. "Ohm Hot jam donuts, hot jam donuts, hot jam donuts". Works every time.

Bon and bred Demon, couldn't support any other team and wouldn't even contemplate it. Love the Demons and will till the day l die.

Vanilla slice

Roos simply cannot say anything other than "I don't know if I'm interested in coaching Melbourne next year." What if he said "coaching the MFC is something that really appeals to me." The place would go into overdrive, the media berserk, he'd have cameras so far up his nose and journos annoying the absolute sht out of him at every move. Things need to change for him to become interested. Whatever they are, Jackson is working on. People on here are demanding the best possible candidate going around but are all too quick to dismiss Roos because he has a few conditions and won't fully commit?. Eade and Williams are top line coaches but lets exhaust all avenues available to get Roos before we go there. Hang tight!

It's hard to believe that a few years ago we had Jimmy and the debt demoltion, matching it with good sides and smashing others, with a stable of fresh high draft picks, Jurrah etc coming through the ranks.. things were looking rosy there for a minute

My being delusional and almost senile.

I think it would be a pretty weak person who takes the highs of the 80's and 2000 and then can't stick it out when we have some lows. We can all see pretty clearly when it all went wrong, and I think we can all tell that the damage to the club from that decision is going to take time to fix, but it is fixable and we are beginning to see some sign of things turning around. I know many of you can't see anything good from Mark Neeld, but the fact is that he did manage to bring in training structures and practices that will continue to benefit the club regardless of who is coaching. We now have a fitter list and a number of talented young players coming in through an improved system that should (I devoutly hope) allow them to reach their potential as AFL players. We have all the talls we need to challenge for a flag and are only lacking the midfield depth to control the game. To me that says we are closer than many think and if we manage to pull a good quality mid from another club and top up with a couple more talented youngsters we could well challenge for finals next year. Basically, I may be a deluded optimist, but I will happily continue to support the club and tell the world that we are just around the corner and things are looking up.

yes you do. You choose not too. None of us can really . Its who we are, its what we are........stubborn bastards !! Lol

Id actually like soneone else to publicly put there hand up. All this dancing around ...im over it .

He actually said at one point tonight, "I think Melbourne, as funny as it sounds, is an attractive prospect for an aspiring coach". It was the equivalent of, "it's not you, it's me".

I don't know how my post - that was warning of the dangers of 'getting rid' of everyone who 'just needs to go' - illustrates that mentality. Ok, so here you are betraying your footy IQ. Trengove, Viney, and Toumpas are all great talents who simply need time and injury free pre-seasons. Gawn is developing incredibly well for a 208cm bohemoth, Clisby has the making of a very neat and capable backman, Kent has shown more than a great number of teenagers have in his first few games, and Garland is, right now, in the top 100 players in the game and finally getting the positive attention he has long deserved. The fact that you dismissed all these players instead of walking back your self-indulgent comment about our terrible list, tells me that you don't care to have a serious argument, you only care to inflame and [censored] off people. You can do that, but don't expect any desire from us to engage with you when you get over whatever issues you have and what to have an honest conversation about the Dees.

its as easy to understand as........

Have said it before... I have an addictive personality. I'm and addict. I can't help it, I want it to stop but I just need another hit.

I disagree. I think he's shown some new life this year for the most part. At least more than what I expected.