Leaderboard

I'm really annoyed about this negative game style Craig is employing. Flooding the backline, refusing to play Watts up forward, always with just one or two or no forwards. Who cares if we lose by 88 or 130 points? I'd rather play to be competitive when we finally get the ball. We had some good ball movement today that resulted in nothing because there was nobody to kick to. It saps the confidence from the players and is completely pointless. Craig is doing himself no favors with this rubbish.

I like him simply because he admits we are a soft club.

Hogan instgrammed a photo of his phone showing alarms set for icing at 1.30am, 3am, 4.30am etc. He's spitting chips about missing out on Saturday night activities haha He also says in the comments it's not worst case, landed on his knee badly and scans suggest bruised bone and lightly scarred/stretched ligament. Might be able to make finals in 2 weeks.

Forget the results. I want the scans up there so we can make our own diagnoses and debate who has the better credentials to assess the damage and come up with an entirely unrealistic timeframe for his rehabilitation.

Why did Viney stand out so much from his teammates today? Because he ran at 100% for 100% of the game. Either to get to a contest or provide an option. It was actually embarrassing how much harder he was running than any of his teammates. That was an atrocious game. We allowed them to go from end to end like it's a training drill at times. At best, we stalled them by getting some numbers back but then we simply allow them to stroll around kicking and handballing to each other under no pressure whatsoever. We were lucky it was windy so they missed some targets and allowed us to get our hands on the ball. We miss tackles because we aren't running hard enough and are usually flat footed trying to tackle opponents going at 100%. We don't create spaces and options for our teammates because we don't run hard enough. Our opponents get 10 metre spacing on us pretty much every time they lead for the ball because we don't run hard enough. There is an opponent loose every time the other team comes out of defense because we don't run hard enough. We contest our one on ones meekly because we are not running hard enough. We can't break away from stoppages when we actually do get our hands on the ball because no-one is prepared to run hard enough to provide the option. For those who can see positives with this club I have great admiration. I will keep going but I've pretty much given up (reckon I lasted 5 or so years longer than the players who have represented the club). Our problem is not the talent as much as the fact they simply refuse to give the minimum levels of effort required. I am embarrassed to be affiliated with a group of people that seem to care so little about something that has provided so many of them with such a special opportunity.

that was awful.. only slight positives: -nobody ever mentions the fact that we are missing our FB, ruck, CHF and FF. Obviously that is significant. -we have Toumpas, Hogan and yet another top 5 pick to come in next year -today we were down to 20 men before half time -we actually outplayed them in the 2nd qtr -after qtr time it was 34 inside 50s to 45, at least we were getting it in there a decent amount -Viney: 28 touches in his 11th game, in a 95 point loss is a really great effort. it has to be said though that Viney was the only bloke who won his position today, not a good sign at all. Joggin' Jack Watts can go F himself, you'd think that after putting himself under the burner during the week you might come out play a bit less limp-wristed and lazy than that.

PLayers come and go but our club has been here for 150+yrs.This present bunch of players though is doing their best to kill our club. I am sick of hearing about how hard it is to play for a club like melbourne when we are so bad. Sick of hearing players like Watts say " I wish we had leaders like Joel Selwood". Sick of the media laughing at us like they did on two radio stations I heard today Jack Viney showed the rest of them today how to run and how to attack a contest. A first year player. There were a few others and Nate Jones gives his all every week but I am so over this pathetic bunch of soft pea hearts. Port adelaide have done an amazing job of dragging themselves off the canvas when no-one wanted to coach them, no players wanted to get drafted by them. Same as the Bulldogs. Looked pathetic for a year and a half but now playing with passion and fire. And us? Well frankly our club will be lucky to be here in 3yrs time. Our players have escaped so much scrutiny its a joke. 'Oh we don't like cameron Schwab, oh we don't like Chris Connolly, oh we don't like Mark Neeld. If only we had some leaders, if only this if only that. My kids are done. Melbourne suck. I know of at least 3 other families where the kids have abandoned our club. And why wouldn't they? Where is the hope?Where is the spirit? Where is the passion? I couldn't care less if we dropped 20 players from our list at season end. Just find me some more like Viney who has a go week in week out. Some hard asses who play with passion and hardness. If we don't we will fold.

Been a Watts supporter since day one. Have been in countless arguments with friends and opposition supporters over the years backing him when they would get into him. His consistent lack of effort, and "i'm not really interested" attitude really throws all the support i have given him back in my face. It breaks my football heart to finally say that he needs to go, as we will never build a winning culture with him in our team. He couldn't care less about AFL football, the people who support him and more importantly Jack Watts couldn't care less for the Melbourne Football Club.

Dees owned the last ten minutes. If they can bring that effort to next half plus bring on Wonnaemirri, could be a lot closer than some think.

Who else was dead certain Shannon Byrnes would miss that goal?

I'm looking forward to the majority of Barry P's picks being gone from the club soon. Luke Tapscott looked disinterested most of the game. Actually, the team looked disinterested most of the game. JW floated around having 0 impact. Horrified at how genuinely weak, hesitant and poorly skilled we are. JV threw himself in; Jordie too. They played with urgency at least. So many others just don't.

Watts- weak as [censored] and finally lost me Viney- a reason to keep going

How can they conceivably evaluate the efficacy of a program without keeping records? I don't think delusional does it justice. I half expect them to say that they did keep records, but the dog ate them.

Yes, let's not reward performance.

I gave up drinking over 10 years ago. When I was asked if I was giving up for good I said I would have a celebratory drink when Melbourne won the flag. So yes, I've given up for good.

Yes but you don't need to mention it 100 times per day.

Glad to hear. JoelMac was never the best player going around but I preferred him playing over other blokes because I knew he had an appetite for the contest.

I thought Strauss was looking great before injured... frustrating for the kid!

Silvia's intent and body language was excellent today. He cares about how the team is performing. I think he will stay.

Ah Watts' a matta you, hey Gotta no respect, Watta you think you do Why you play so bad? Watching you makes me mad, you donta use your pace Ah, bugga off this place

I'm only watching off and on, that push in the back against Blease was a disgrace.

How about we don't curse the young fella yet.

Calling it right now - Jack Viney will never be 'Melbourned'. Kid is a gun. His attack on the ball is Selwood-like.

You can say what you like about our lack of polish but anyone who has played at any level can see the boys are having a dip today and lazy is referring to the whole list as pea hearts. Nate Jones, Viney, Trengove, Garland, Mckenzie, Kent, Macdonald, Spencer, Terlich, Matt Jones & Fitzy all play with heart and that's just out of todays list. Be realistic FFS that is why you cop it on this site for continuously posting ridiculous comments

If he is fit he should play and hopefully enjoy some success with the likes of Max, Fitz, Taggert, Toump and other with whom he may play for the next decade.

And of course it will be Dank's dog, not theirs.

Actually I think they will be proven to be drug cheats. They willingly and knowingly pushed the limit and allegedly went over the line. Yes that is mildly different to someone who intentionally seeks to go over the line but still guilt. If I am robbing a bank and carrying a gun to menace people and the gun goes off and kills someone then i still 'dunnit'. I can argue it wasn't intentional but not that I am not guilty of a crime. Nor jurisdictional boundaries or lack of procedure or the fact that me and my three accomplices are great blokes who didn't mean to kill anyone. Let's just say for a minute that one of the Essendrug players died - we don't what WTF we injected into him but we are not guilty. According to ziggy it was a pharmacological experiment. This is where they are delusional. And they harder the fight, the bigger the sledgehammer will be when they get squashed. As for their supporters wearing sombreros to the footy they are delusional as well. Its all a great joke. FMD what morons.

I didn't so much want to give the players a spray, but I wanted mental toughness from them. I guess I naively believed that Neeld's approach would get that, but I also probably didn't even have an accurate insight into what his actual approach was. The perils of assuming you have any true insight when viewing from the outer. I still put a lot of the blame on a petulant playing group that resisted change. There were a number of cancers that needed to be cut out, and the new coach coming in wont have to be the bad guy by making his first moves negative ones.

My wishlist for the prima donna is pretty much David Swallow or Taylor Adams. There have been reports that Swallow is interested in a move to Victoria to be closer to his Brother and Adams has put contract talks with GWS on hold. Why would they want to come to the Dees ? That's the hard part. Tip Toes won't land either by himself, so what is the sweetener ? Blease is probably worth a packet of chips and Tip Toes around pick 20. TT and pick 19 for Adams ? TT and pick 2 for Swallow and pick 20 something ? Whatever we do we need to land a young strong classy mid that has had a few years at AFL level.

I understand what you are saying. However, I think he is a great short term fix for a deficient area in our team at the moment; but NOT necessarily a long term prospect. Our only other alternative is to recruit some young 'potential' and through them to the wolves......again. Give him two years. I believe he and Magner have the right work ethic on and off the field to be outstanding role models if nothing else......and both will contribute and compete week in week out more than any first year prospect....making the whole team more competitive, and the club a better place to be as a result.

Lol... If you think the possibility of Ling being an assistant next year is no big deal then good for you, personally I think it's bloody fantastic, and the fact he's talking about it himself on TV means things have been ramped up and he's seriously thinking about it.

This argument is raised all the time. It's utter crap. You can do your knee at training. You can roll your ankle running in the park. Essentially, you can get injured at any time, it's often nothing but luck. I'd rather Hogan continue to build confidence and understanding at Casey.

Great News I Remember him playing for the Royals (East Perth) Just hope the club made sure that it was approved by Jack Watts first

Watts -"You look at the good teams like Geelong and Hawthorn and Fremantle and those kind of things. You've got guys like Selwood, Joel Corey, Stevie Johnson, Sam Mitchell and Jordan Lewis - they stand up and they don't accept that (losing) for their club". Viney - "Ive just become 100 per cent committed to wanting to do things to improve. The contrast in attitudes couldn't be more pronounced.

It is a 1 hour drive and then a 20 minute walk. Plus a bit of pre game fortification is always required.

5 goal performance by Tags but not in the bests so unsure if deserved of a senior match. However if he is expected to be there next year I can see value in giving a game in one of the last two. I can also see value in letting Toump play out the year at VFL level and build on the confidence I would think 30 possession games would give him going into his first full preseason. I dont care whether Magner is in our future plans if we lose well today as expected you MUST reward a player who gets 50 touches.

This is probably one of the few times in recent memory that we've actually had young players really preforming at VFL level and banging on the door for selection.... But at the same time they have a chance to play finals... IMO Taggert should debut round 23 against the dogs. It would do him the world of good and the players will have some confidence going in, due to beating them earlier this year. The way Gawn has been playing, Spencer would be worrying about his spot... How many times have Melbourne players had to worry about their spot in the team?? The wheels are slowly starting to turn, we are seeing some players develop, some players (Viney) show their passion.... Toumpas is showing why he was so highly rated, all he needs is time and 1 or 2 pre seasons until he has an impact on games on a regular basis.... There are some very bright prospects at Melbourne... the future is there, as supporters all we need to do is hang in there and soon enough, we will reap the rewards for our patience.

WJ, eloquence of the written word aside, I'm not sure that's all that different to what BH is suggesting (no doubt he will correct me if I'm wrong here). I certainly interpreted "hate" to mean "found him very difficult to work with" even if that's not what the dictionary says it means.

Ben, I beg to differ on both counts.On Mark Neeld I've spoken with a sample of the players about him and I would suggest that it wasn't so much hatred which is far too strong a word but rather, that in the end, it was Neeld's failure to garner respect from the playing group. They found him too inflexible and unable to convince them of his methods and the style of play he wanted from them. From my perspective, he never really demonstrated an ability to change a game or turn it around to avoid the massive confidence sapping losses that were a feature of his 33 game coaching tenure. We are now left with a shell-shocked group that's struggling and desperately in need of an end to the season and a new start under a new coach. The changes under Neil Craig have helped a little but these were offset by injuries to so many key on field personnel. In short, we need a new start with fresh faces at the helm. But my view is that the players didn't hate Neeld - he simply wasn't up to it as an AFL coach. On Schwab, I don't think his attendance or otherwise at training sessions or his style would define his role as CEO. He did a lot of good things in his role but in the end, it was the failure of the team to improve that brought him and others undone and for which he rightly took ultimate responsibility. The reality is that it took more than Schwab and Neeld to produce the train wreck which was the result of a several year build up of poor coaching, recruiting, list management and player development. This is the culmination of a decade or more of poor leadership at the club and can't be sheeted home against one person or one board. I just hope it's behind us now and wish those who are picking up the pieces good luck. I don't know enough about Glen Bartlett and some of the other new faces (or PJ for that matter) to say I have full confidence in them yet but, like most of us, I'm hoping. PS How did we get into this discussion on the Casey thread?

I'd love Ling, Simpson, or Hayes to join the club. If I was them I'd be very reticent to join the Melbourne Football Club. I'd understand if they erred on the side of caution.

I don't rate Magner as an AFL player and haven't been bothered by his non-selection to date, but you'd have to pick him next week on principle. 51 touches is a stunning effort, poor opposition notwithstanding.

I can't imagine how getting Ling as an assistant would be a negative. He comes from a very successful club that knows what it takes to win and he is one of the hardest working players I've ever seen. I would be stoked if we got him.

How does a guy like Magner who gets ball poisoning every week, but cant get a senior game.

WOW SERIOUSLY WOW possibly the worst post I've read on demonland all year. That has to be a joke post.

All who are calling for Taggert, Toumpas and Magner to get a senior game, I ask "why now"? I watch Casey week in week out and you can see Toumpas developing at this level and Taggert has come on in leaps and bounds as well. Granted, they couldn't do any worse than our current "firsts"! Casey are trying to secure second spot on the ladder ! Leave them there to get some consistency in playing together and to gain some confidence from playing finals. Some maybe unaware but in previous years the MFC have screwed Casey by playing guys in the last couple of rounds and making them ineligible to play at Casey in their finals campaign. Let's have these guys play finals and hopefully go all they way for Casey ! I think that experience and development will far out weigh debuting Taggert and co. Rant end.

Blood in his stool? I think he should get that checked out.

No. He is saying he wants to be part of a huge turnaround. From losing to an expansion side, to winning a premiership. I see where he is coming from. There would be a huge amount of satisfaction from taking a bottom side to the finals and beyond, than being recruited by someone like Geelong and playing in a premiership in your first or second year.

It was only a few weeks ago we were singing his praises at taking that clutch mark against the Dogs in the final minute of the game. That right there shows you that he has got that footy nous as well as sublime skills. It's easy to compare him to the likes of Jack Darling and Hurley etc but everyone's different and clubs develop players in different ways too. Let's all remember that the club has not developed any real stars at all for the last 10 years. Jacks consistency to compete is relative to many others on our lists lack of consistency such as effort, tackling, hitting targets etc.. The whole list is in dire need of a new FD structure and decent coach and just when we're about to get them many here say Jack can GAGF because he was a little vocal on a stupid TV show. Personally, I'll be [censored] off if Watts is traded. The coaches available for hire right now would love to mould Watts into the star he is capable of becoming. Just like many of the other clubs that are waiting for the trade period thinking they'll get Watts cheap. If he was to go, like others, I would hope for a hard midfielder. Swallow would be an amazing trade but highly unlikely.

Personally, my extreme distaste for Robinson as a human being clouds my ability to objectively assess him as a footballer.