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Yes it sucked but I am pretty amazed at how much grown adults are having a sook about it. It's not like we are going to miss out on finals now. Our first year KPF kicked 5, could have been 7 or 8 - he is the biggest asset in the comp and he is ours. Toumpas, Watts and Grimes were all good. We already know Brayshaw, Kent and Salem will be good. Next year we get Petracca, Trengove and another high draft pick or import from another club. We have a huge injury list and a very hard draw so far. I still reckon we will win 5 more. Things are so much better than 2 years ago. Chill out everyone.

Probably the only one here but the loss didn't overly bother me. Normally I would say we had too many passengers but in this case it was a few passengers and a couple of not quite ready's.. We have had a dearth of leadership that has meant we bought some in but they will never replace your home grown leaders like Reiwoldt and Montagna. Our club is coming from further back than any other in the competition and is the only one I think (with exception of the expansion teams) to not play finals during this football life cycle. With young leaders like Viney and Brayshaw coming through we are well set moving forward but it will still take time. I'm a bit more comfortable than most, the future looks bright to me. More development into Brayshaw, Viney, Tommy Mc, Hogan, Toumpas and co...add a couple more good kids for next year, get Salem, Kent, Petracca and Frost back on the park and off we go. I thought we would have been lucky to pinch the win yesterday.

I really really really HATE this post! Maybe I'm over sensitive, but I find it abhorrent that people choose to use that word as an insult. And yes, I was gutted by the loss as well.

I am making it my personal mission to defend Grimesy of late, as I feel everyone is stuck in the mindset of just writing him off unfairly. He had 24 disposals at 96% efficiency. Didn't put a foot wrong defensively or offensively, and no way in hell he should get the chop.

Ok been a long time critic and so even though this is one of the worst loses I can remember I must make mention of his effort today! I thought he was terrific today, won outside and more importantly for me, inside ball and made mostly some good decisions! I hope he can go on from here because if what he provided today can be continued, then his place in the draft and promise to be lived up to will be vindicated. 1 great game in three years ! Lets see what he offers next week! And before you start gloating Dazzle man, get stuffed!!

One thing I find intolerable now is the match day threads reading other supporters bagging out toumpas and the vitriol they harp on about. Shameful stuff. Then when others can see he turns his game around a quarter later and plays very well they cannot bring themselves to say something positive. Makes me more infuriated than our fluctuating fortunes. P1ssweak supporters, keyboard heroes who don't have it in them to support a guy trying his best. He deserves recognition when he plays well. Where are these so called supporters now?

MFC leading goalkicker in 2014: Chris Dawes (20 goals) Hogan has already surpassed that and hasn't even played half a season. And it's his FIRST season! Very special talent.

lol at your stupidity.

Don't worry mate I've been self-medicating for years It is so frustrating just watching them continually make the same errors. It is on the verge of insanity. How many times did Dunn take too long from the kick-in after a Saints behind, chip to himself, run to the right hand side and kick to the flank 60 metres out only to see a Saints player mark it or a Melbourne player drop the mark and the Saints pick up the crumb and send it back inside 50? How many times do we just bomb long into the forward 50? Sometimes we did it when our forwards were leading up the ground for the pass and the only player back was a Saints player. It's like they look up, see the Saints player by himself but in their minds they've already made the decision they are going to bomb long to do it anyway and kick it straight to the opposition.\ When we do bomb it in why do we rarely kick it to the advantage of our forwards? Ok if you're going to bomb it in to a pack fine, but at least kick it to the side our players are standing on to give them the best chance to at least compete for the mark and lock the ball in or create crumbing opportunities. How many times do we handball to a player within a metre of the player with the ball who is being worn like a glove? How many times do we handball in circles putting ourselves under pressure instead of trying to get a chip kick in to take a mark and steady ourselves? How many times does a player run past for a handball instead of laying a shepherd to clear the way for his teammate to take a clear possession? How many times does that player then receive the handball only to run straight into an opposition player and quickly hand off again to another player under pressure until they turn it over or get tackled for a ball up? How many times do our players compete with each other for the mark only to spoil each other or drop it only to see the opposition with a player or two down waiting for the crumbs to clear it away? It happened continually against the Pies and again yesterday against the Saints. A couple of times we had 3 or 4 players going up with only 1 or 2 Saints and the other 2 or 3 Saints players just waiting down for an easy ball. It is utter stupidity. Gawn is almost 7 feet tall, why can't he mark? Hogan was on fire, all they had to do was kick it to him one out and he would've kicked 10 yesterday. Even after Delaney went off we couldn't get it down there for about 15 minutes in the last quarter. I was furious with the last 41 seconds but the entire game to that point had been so bloody frustrating, same as the week before because of the repeated idiotic decision making. Skill errors are bad but I can handle them more than making the wrong bloody decision again and again and again ad infinitum.

I would cancel my membership!

Depends what you consider to be a big name, signing dangerfield would be a foolish mistake in my opinion, we will continue to add younger players i reckon.

26 touches, 8 tackles and 2 goals is a bare minimum? For a player who was in his first year' a couple of years ago'? You are a [censored].

Drove up yesterday,it's now 2 1/2 hours with the geelong bypass. Noticed we now have some maturity in the ranks. But still have players from the old regime,they will be gone in the next 2 years. Watching on telly,i always think we dont pump the footy into the forwards quick enough{fear of the turnover},its also happened at the ground yesterday. Watching on telly,it looks like we dont go for the quick exit when the oppo scores a point{yep it happens at the match live also}. The youth list that everybody worried about for the past decade,seems to have been fixed and looks absolutely bright for the future.{dont panic,things are falling into place}. Watching live,I appreciated the will to win and the hatred of losing a contest from certain players. Spots in the team are not easy to get and will be tougher by years end,any bludgers look to be getting whittled out of the squad and trade time this year should see the list go to the next step. The spine whilst not perfect,has the look of a top 8 team, The mids need a bit more work and that will eventuate over the Pre and next draft. All in all,very impressed with the team considering where we come from and what the coaching panel started with. Pizza at Kardinia cafe on the way home 7/10{didnt get to wear the beanie} No 31 is getting back to playing the footy we expect from him.

Don't have a clue about delistings ( really couldn't care) but rather than misuse money on Dangerfield that could be better used elsewhere , how about we immediately tie up Hogan for the next 6 years making him the first $10million dollar man, then get fair dinkum about building a team around him Brayshaw, Tyson, Viney , McDonald, Pretracca , Salem, Toumpas and the other quality kids on our list. The depression Melbourne supporters have had to deal with for the past 50 years will be nothing compared to the loss of Hogan IMO. The biggest shot in the arm Melbourne supporters could get would be having young Jessie done and dusted for a long period. After that I couldn't give a stuff what happens for the remainder as the course would be set.

I didn't want to check this any earlier - it's now 12.30pm Monday - because the venting is, as expected totally over the top. I expected to lose to the Saints since they have been travelling well, better than us, and they had zero injuries. We have, what, six of our best 22 out? Kent, Vanders, Salem are all walk ups, Pederson/Dawes - one has to play and neither did in the second half, then you can start thinking about prospects like Petracca. After yesterday I am much more optimistic about the rest of the year. The most worrying thing for me is that the players weren't smart enough to get two forwards behind the ball for the final bounce. To that point only one goal had been scored in the quarter - OURS! so there was not going to be much on the clock. They should not have needed to be told. That aside, Watts continued his revival, the Toump has arrived after so many on here - including me - doubted him, Gawn dominated, Viney was incredibly strong at stoppages and even when they were in front we were dominating around the ball - we just did not use it well enough. Some really dumb umpiring decisions hurt us in the third term when we had a run on but I actually rate us as a chance at Geelong...and we have Carlton, Brisbane, the Saints and Dogs again - there's four winnable. I also count the return bout with the Pies as winnable if we can get a few players back - Cloke ain't going seven zip again. And there's the Bombers. Make that six winnable. So cheer up. We have showed quite a bit these last couple of weeks and one or two lucky breaks and you'd have been singing last night. We will again.

Are your eyes painted on?Did you not see Jones lace Hogan twice?? You should do your home before having a go at a 3 time bnf winner.. Muppet!! He also hit up Howe to put us infront.. And collectly a lowly 34 touches!!!! Also laid 6 tackles and had 12 inside 50s.. Really needs to learn how to counter a tag.. And then maybe he could get 68 possesions and kick 8 every week!!

Wunders, hed cost a fortune and we'd be bettrr served building from within and savimg that money for hogan

Educational psychologists talk a lot about a quality called subconscious competence - this is where as the result of good instruction, role modelling and repetition, repetition, repetition students instinctively make good decisions and take effective action. This is where our poor development in the past is now biting us in the arse. our older players default position is one of subconscious INcompetence and in the heat of battle all goes pear shaped. So Paul Roos is right that some of our older players probably are victims of our past and are now incapable of change. The good news is, our current development program is top class and the younger players will be fine, but it all takes time. McCartney, Goodwin and Plapp have only been in place since the beginning of the year and more time is needed to bring about change but the signs are good that our future will be much better than our past and that this is a side in transition.

You know you're a Melbourne supporter when instead of celebrating kicking what should be a match-winning goal with 40 seconds left, you are panicking inside as you know only Melbourne could lose the game from there. But even with this pessimism that is ingrained in every true Melbourne fan, I still could not in my wildest dreams believe what was about to happen. If you lose a game from a centre bounce with 40 seconds left, it should only happen one way. A hacked mongrel kick out of the centre following a pub brawl at ground level, which is then followed by one of the best contested marks you would ever see amongst a pack of 20 players. Any football team, professional or not, would at least force the opposition to perform such a freakish play to win the game. What do we do? We let them walk the ball out of the centre clearance. Yes, WALK IT OUT. No defensive sweeper. No ground level pressure. No one diving on the ball. Once Steven kicked it forward I expected to see a wall of white players clogging up space. Astonishingly, it's man on man. Yes, MAN ON MAN. Would an under 9s team let that happen? I doubt it. Then, after another kick towards the goal square, we have no one dive on the ball or force it out. We let the ball bounce towards goal. And then, to top it all off, we leave the goal square unattended and wide open, allowing Montagna to stroll in ON HIS OWN to kick the open goal. Yes, an OPEN GOAL with 20 seconds left! There are many other things to discuss about this game. Some positive individual performances from younger players and, more negatively, the fact that St Kilda looked the better and more organised side for larger chunks of the game. But I simply cannot comprehend that last 40 seconds and the way we allowed them to kick that goal. Not just that we gave up the goal - we've seen Melbourne lose in the last minute many times - but the way they kicked the goal, completely open and uncontested right from the centre bounce. Astonishing. As for whose fault it was, it all depends on whether the players knew there was 40 seconds left. As it was a short quarter, they may have thought there were 2-3 minutes left. If so, then it's clearly a coaching staff error. They should have ensured that the players knew there were only a few minutes left so that if we got a late goal (which we did), we could then flood the backline. In this day and age it would be a monumental coaching staff error not to ensure players knew how long was left in a tight game. If the players did know there were 40 seconds left, which I find hard to believe, then they are incredibly stupid and it's their fault. Roos cannot expect to get a message across in such a short space of time. The onus is on the leaders need to ensure the team is set up.

he was good. his composure with the ball was more assured, his ability to create was better, and he started to find space in traffic - which was really exciting to watch, because once he's created his own space he, like watts, tends not to waste possession. unfortunately, his direct opponent - with a decade and around 200 games greater experience - sealed the match for the opposition. that'll happen. if he models his game on montagna we'll be happy.

Irrespective of the scoreboard over the past 7 days, I just reckon we are finally seeing some Sydney-like in-close quick hands ala mid 2000s. The chain of handballs that I have witnessed against Collingwood, and now St.Kilda, have been as good as I have seen in the game....period. We still need speed by foot, and courage to take them on (read later) and maturing bodies; but I if the past week is anything to go by, our handball in heavy traffic is potentially A-grade. If we can sustain it, it will be elite. The other thing is.... If we as Melbourne supporters want to encourage our players to be more daring and brave (to take them on and break lines), we need to expect the odd holding the ball. Lumumba, McDonald, Watts and Co. just have to keep taking them on.

I honestly dont understand how anyone cannot see the genuine potential that Melbournes list has for the near future. I don't think we have ever had a list in the last 5-8 years where if we had 10 or so injuries to players who would no doubt be starting or pushing for spots and still be competitive in every facet of the game. Our midfield won, our forward line arguably performed better but we struggled to run it out of the backline. In one bit of play where everything that could go the way of the Saints did and that is why it went from one end to the other but we will learn. I am gutted with the loss, but the transition our list has gone through whilst Roos and Taylor have been on board is phenomenal. We will claim a scalp this year I can see it coming

It's usually where it starts...

Would you say no to a Montagna type? I know with a pick 4 we expect a cream of the crop, but history shows that even with top 10 draft picks, the average-good players and outright lemons far outweigh the stars. If Toumpas became a 200 game average-good player, that would be an adequate result for mine.

This is something that Watt's is starting to do more of, and both he and Jimmy look so much better for it. I might have read in one of the training threads that Goodwin took these two aside to work on tackling/physical work. Looks like it's paying off for both players.

As disappointed as the last 40 sec were yesterday I noted the following points 9 players in our side have played less than 50 games 4 of those are in their first year. St Kilda are the best side for pressure on opposition (Ranked 1st in the league)and we matched them in pressure acts Last year and the one before when we were 4 goals down in the 2nd quarter that would have been the game and a loss by 6 or more Last year and the one before we would not have hit the front in the last after struggling all quarter. Tyson has played 42 games and coming back from injury (Get off his back) I don't think you could fault the players desire which we have in the past Yep....Players made mistakes as ALL players do.....Yep it's frustrating watching from an elevated position when you can see loose players but the players at ground level can't. It's not all doom and gloom....I think it is starting to come together. Any player that pulls on our jumper does not deserve to be called a spud, please find another name to prove your superiority. Anyway just my view on things as they stand.

He's completely turned around our ability to score from stoppages. Been a huge jump in the two weeks since he's been in the side!

Shocked people are calling for Gawn to be dropped!!!?? 16 possessions (including 3 Goal Assists) and 39 hitouts I would say is a pretty effective game!!

Toumpas still has only played 30 games - he's a novice and will make mistakes. The good news is his game is improving rapidly, as is his confidence.

Just shows how much we're missing Salem, Kent, Trengove and Vandenberg. That really tests our next to non-existent depth.

We've got at least two midfielders every week who are not up to scratch, and we're back to seeing the usual revolving door policy that we've seen in the past as a result. Riley, Newton, Michie, Bail and Matt Jones all belong in this category. I think it's pretty hard to have two of those guys in as well as ANB and Stretch who are just babies (that said - Stretch took a big step forward last night), and Toumpas who slowly starting to reach some form. Sometimes one of these guys steps up and plays well (e.g. Michie vs Richmond), but by and large they are unreliable and too prone to contributing absolutely nothing. Our core midfield group is still way too small. It's frustrating when the only changes you've got available to you are swapping players of this class in and out of the side, and Dawes who was in poor form prior to injury. it's why I feel like vomiting every time I hear people refer to our "depth" - you've got good depth when you've got genuine AFL grade players being held out of the 22, not when you've got 5 nearly good enough midfielders bouncing in and out of the team.

He would've kicked 10 yesterday if we were able to get it down to him with some kind of efficiency without handballing in circles a million times and turning it over consistently. He had to roam up to half back to get the ball on a few occasions because our inept defence/mids couldn't clear the bloody thing.

Dont rule out a bigger name joining us, our imagine within the industry is far different to those outside, i can only speak for my sources but they rate our young list highly, and we are and i quote " a pain to play against" they know it's going to be a slog

Looking forward to seeing Salem, Toumpas and Petracca all lining up together fit and healthy.

Grimes wasn't anywhere near as bad as some of our other players today. He doesn't deserve to be dropped. And Terlich hasn't earned a recall.

I think this will mean a lot to jimmy, he will now believe he's an AFL standard player

fair crack of the whip, he has had 66 touches in the last 2 weeks. Vince has had 72, these guys are not the problem.

We dont want dangerfield, even if he were open to the idea it'd be a huge mistake

If he can start hanging on to those he'll make a huge leap forward in terms of ruckman quality. Thought his tapping has been excellent since coming in to the side and he gets involved around the ground. Clunk those marks and his value increases drastically.

You can blame the last 40 seconds, but it felt like the saints had about 20 more inside 50s in that last quarter. Therein lies the problem. We just couldn't work out their press. We were very lucky to snatch the lead.

I don't think anywhere near enough Demonlanders appreciate the improvement that Petracca will make to our midfield next year. Why trade away the best forward in the League ( plus our first draft pick) when we may already have the best midfielder already on our list?

I won't be around by the next time we make finals unfortunately.I'm in my 30s.

I didn't think I could get more angry with this loss, turns out I can. After hearing that Vince thought there was more time I am now absolutely fuming. 1: there had only been one, count it one, goal scored for the quarter. A player of his experience should able to work out the rough time. 2: the coaches have a timeclock available to them, how are there not updates ever 2-3min after the 10min mark in a close game? 3: you have a runner that should be relaying this info. 4: we had a set shot with 40sec left, as I said earlier he should have been going to every player telling them how long left. 5: there are that many rotations surely someone should have some rough info on it. This has been one of the biggest, dumbest, most pathetically amature stuff ups we have ever done. Not only off the pace in players but off the field as well, fan-bloody-tastic. Not going to be sleeping any time soon.

ANB showed what he did in his first couple in the VFL, a little off the pace and bit 2 touch. Then he got the run of it. Probably came up too early but now he's here and no one is knocking the door down we might as well leave him in and let him get used to the pace of the game at this level. Jetta hasn't come up this year and the concussion must be a concern. I think Bail was a better player before being knocked around and it must have an effect. I hope Nev can run back into touch, we need him at the top of his game.

Watched the game and the Toump was close to our best. He has moved ahead of other players on our list this season, and finds himself in some good form. Time to give him his props and a well deserved break from the bagging. He was great today.

Doesn't have any glaring defeciencies If he just gets more composed with the footy, he'll be a good player. He just needs to calm down and realise that no matter how many mistakes he makes, we've all seen worse. Better to try and stuff up, than be too scared to try.

If he plays like this every week (and he won't, but you know what I mean) then it's huge for the club going forward. We drafted him for his elite footskills and creativity, today we saw it on display. He had been building towards a breakout game but today we finally got it. Well done Jimmy and well done picket fence for giving him his due credit.

Watts? Out of all people today...you pick wats....

I don't understand posts like these. Did we draft him to become the next Glenn Archer? He goes when it's his turn to go (see the lead up to Viney's goal), he laid 8 tackles and his foot skills were on show for all to see. 2 excellent goals. I guess you're just a glass half-empty kind of guy.

Can't understand the Grimes comment - thought he played a very good game