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Our anger & frustration should be aimed at the pathetic performance by the MFC! Destiny was in their hands & they blew it!

We cannot sugarcoat it, 2017 just missed the mark. A pass was to play one finals game, anything above that was a great year, anything below was a failure. In all of the doom and gloom of the past 48 hours, thanks is due to a few of the Melbourne family for some excellent achievements thus far; First of all, to the members/supporters, thank you. We broke our membership record this year, and also our games attendance record. That is a massive achievement, to step up and support such a frustrating team is no easy task. Thank you for showing up and supporting your guts out. Watching the MCC side of the G erupt due to a goal or a bad umpiring call is showing the rest of the league how passionate our supporter base are. Secondly, to PJ and GB, thank you. Both of you were instrumental in getting our off and on field structure/foundations right. You have dragged a hopeless team out of the gutter and made us relevant again. You said you would do it, and you delivered. Thank you. Thirdly, Paul Roos, thank you. The easiest thing PR could have done was to stay in the media. He would have made enough of a salary, and kept this coaching record up there with the greats. He took a risk with Melbourne, poured his heart and soul into the club, and lived up to his word by making our club 'competitive' again. You have build the foundations to allow our football department to be very successful. Going from 4 wins to 12 in a mighty improvement. Michael Hibberd and Jake Melksham; thank you. Watching both of you play for our club this year has been a pleasure. You have both thrown your bodies on the line, on numerous occasions and have completely bought into making this club successful again. Thank you for choosing us, and thank you for working your buts off. (If there is any doubt on Melksham, talk to any bombers supporters about how much he has surprised them this year, he has been massive) Jesse Hogan, thank you. No one would have challenged you, or complained, if you wrote off this year after your fathers death, your cancer scares, your shoulder, or anything else this shocking year has thrown at you. Thank you for working your butt off to get back into the team, and winning games for us. Without you last week, we wouldn't have even been able to dare to dream this weekend just gone. Thank you for not giving up. Clayton Oliver, thank you. Second year players normally go through second year blues, and are always forgiven for it. However, you didn't allow this to happen. You stepped up when you were challenged on field, off field, through a fence, and put your name into superstar status. You showed 43 other players on the list what consistent football is, even when being heavily tagged. Thank you for showing us supporters you have a lions heart. There are more players who deserve a thank you, including Jayden Hunt, Jordan Lewis, Nathan Jones, Jeff Garlett, Cam Pedersen, Christian Petracca, but I'll leave it at that. Onwards to 2018.

No idea how anyone can fault Jones for this. Damned if he does and damned if he doesn't. He fronted up, and didn't point any fingers. This bloke has given everything to this club every second since he was drafted, and has got dick all in return. If we had a few more with his attitude driving the team on the park, we would've won 16 games this year.

I really hope you're joking.

Well, there is one difference. The supporters care about winning ...

Basically this. It isn't Collingwood's fault, nor Adelaide's, nor West Coast's that we ended up here. This entire outcome rests squarely at the feet of two groups: the MFC coaches and the MFC players who threw the season in the bin. Direct your angst and frustration at them. It's not the responsibility of other clubs to clean up a mess of our own creation.

Demonland, I can tell you that the MFC media managers were literally assaulted with emails that were clearly written by disaffected members and supporters. I spoke with one who was deeply upset with the vitriol and nature of emails that came across her desk. The office and off field staff are hurting, the whole club is hurting. All staff were briefed this morning by PJ and Goodwin in anticipation of this. The email rsponse sent out as mentioned early in this thread was obviously in response to this. The club captain had a presser and told us all straight that they are hurting, they realise that they let a chance slip. What else do we want, a public flogging For what it is worth I ran into the mother of one of our prominent players this morning and she is gutted and her son is disconolate and shattered. He wants to get out of town and be alone. He feels just as bad as we do, he is hurting and has the added burden of all the media telling him how bad the club are. MOVE ON

Jones - always the warrior ( 8 ) Viney - injuries cruelled year ( 6 ) Hogan - year from hell ( 3 ) Salem - only occasional glimpses ( 5 ) Watts - impressive first half ( 6 ) Petracca - teased and underperformed ( 5 ) Lewis - performed as expected ( 7.5 ) Trengove - cannot be retained ( 3 ) Brayshaw - understandably limited output ( 4 ) Gawn - disappointing and underwhelming ( 5 ) Tyson - lacking basic skills ( 5 ) Oliver - talented and consistent ( 8.5 ) Hibberd - decade-best recruit ( 8.5 ) Stretch - has gone backwards ( 3 ) Kent - little to commend ( 3 ) Frost - fine first half ( 6.5 ) Melksham - a surprise packet ( 6.5) Hannan - made an impression ( 6 ) Pedersen - rough but capable ( 7 ) Vince - slowing and mistakeridden ( 5 ) Kennedy-Harris - not Goodwin's favourite ( 3 ) T.McDonald - highs and lows ( 6.5 ) Weideman - far from ready ( 3 ) O.McDonald - coming of age ( 7.5 ) Hunt - exciting but tired ( 7 ) Neal-Bullen - break out year ( 6 ) Bugg - tried but limited ( 5 ) Spencer - little to assess ( 3 ) Garlett - exciting but restricted ( 6.5 ) Jetta - slow but cunning ( 7 ) White - didn't show enough ( 3 ) Wagner - rarely imbued confidence ( 4 ) Harmes - occasionally stood out ( 5.5 )

I hope he started by paying respects to the traditional owners of Ninth Spot, the Richmond people.

That's all I needed to hear. That's it. close the door. Focus on the progress we did make this year, in what was a challenging year. We had some horrible luck this year and created some equally horrible luck for ourselves. We are all hurting. They are hurting. We don't need apologies....are we all three years old and can't move on unless we hear "sorry" .

I have never contemplated not joining up. I've been a member since I was 7 years old in 1989. If I decided to not buy a membership I'd decide to stop following the Demons altogether. Which will never happen.

Obviously the overriding feeling is extreme disappointment. Just when you think Melbourne have finally found a way to deliver something back to the fans who have stuck with them through what has been one of the darkest periods in the history of the club, they go and do that and find a new way to break our hearts. It's difficult to be rational in times like this but if I try my hardest I think this season needs to broken down into two components - 1) getting into the position where we could make finals and 2) what we did once in that position. In relation to the first, I must say I have been impressed by our ability to stick it at with what we had to go through. I reckon I thought it was "season over" (from a finals perspective) on a number of occasions - when Gawn went down in Round 3, when we lost our back up ruckman in Round 5 (after dropping winnable games v Dockers and Tigers), when we lost to North in Round 9, when Hogan was out for an extended time, after the Sydney game when we lost Viney on top of our other injuries, etc. But we kept finding a way to win games and stay in the hunt to the point where were strong favourites to make the finals. This shows some resilience and spirit in the group and needs to be acknowledged. But then there's the second point, having got into the position we did. Make no mistake - this was a choke of absolutely monumental proportions. Having the bottom side on the ropes at home, 5 goals ahead with valuable percentage up for grabs, we choked. Even retaining that 5 goal lead would have seen us play finals. But we let them back in and fell over the line. Then we choked again on the weekend. Playing a side with nothing to play for and with about 8 players out and we find ourselves 6 goals to 1 down at quarter time. Some say we didn't come to play or we just expected it to happen. I cannot believe that to be the case - the players knew finals was up for grabs. For mine, it was a choke - we got nervous, froze and didn't know what to do. The signs were there - Garlett's rushed snap, Hibberd's rushed snap and skill errors - skilled players who normally do better but froze in the moment. 3 tackles in 20 minutes. Outnumbered around the ball. You can't say our players didn't care as players clearly want to play in finals. But it was symptomatic of a nervous team that lost their heads and panicked. While we recovered somewhat and were reasonable after that - we won the rest of the game by 3 goals - the damage was done in that first quarter. And that brings up another point. What on earth is going on against bottom sides? We had a 7-5 record against the top 11 and a 5-5 record against the bottom 7. Even in the games we won against the bottom 7, it was a struggle and we were usually behind at some point. 5 goals down against Gold Coast and Pies on QB, trailing Carlton during the 3rd quarter in Round 2 and 4th quarter in Round 16 (albeit with a depleted side), and falling over the line against the Lions. Not once did we easily account for a bottom 7 side. Can this simply be put down to attitude? That we don't show up against the lower sides? I don't think this is the only reason. It can't be - it can't possibly be that our blokes are so dumb that it's groundhog day every time we go into a match as favourites. For mine, it's more to do with personnel. We are an effort and intensity based team - our best performances for the year have been when we were underdogs and were able to summon up an intensity and defensive work rate that overwhelmed the opposition. We were the hunters on each occasion. But it is unrealistic to expect this every week. It's only natural that your intensity fluctuates and that against lower teams you are going to be the hunted rather than the hunter. To win these games you need to stay in the game and limit the damage when the opposition are on top (particularly early in games) and then you need your class to come to the fore. And on these two aspects we have failed miserably. The Hawthorn, North (in Round 9) and Collingwood losses saw the opposition 5 goals up at quarter time - an absolute failure to stay in the game. If you can hold firm and go into the break say 2 goals down, you give yourself the chance to settle down and then kick away after half time. I've got no doubt if we were only 2 goals down at quarter time on the weekend we would've won that game. But if you give a lower side a big early lead, they get confidence and a sniff and then you are pushing the proverbial uphill the rest of the game. And the second aspect is class. Class should allow you to get over an inferior opponent when you're not at your best. Perfect example is the way GWS have won games this year with lots of players and out and playing well below their best. I understand their list is stacked with quality, but I also feel we have built a side high on aggression and competitiveness but currently low on class. We make too many basic skill errors and poor decisions. In fact, we have probably been outclassed by both Brisbane and Collingwood in the last two weeks. So essentially what happens when an inferior side hunts us and matches (or betters) our intensity is that we don't have the quality to fall back on to get over the line. We come back, which shows we have resilience and competitiveness, but we make basic errors and fail to capitalise on our control of the ball, which makes it very hard to kick away from a team. Unfortunately while there were many positives in the season, the overriding taste of the season is sour and what will be remembered is that we completely bottled it when it mattered. This team must accept that they are currently seen as bottlers, a tag no sportsman wants to be associated with. It will be up to them to summon up the mental strength required to overcome this - and the only way to do it is to perform when it counts.

Here's a few reasons Hogan surely would be blessed with a clear year. Brayshaw back on a permanent basis. Gawn fit and firing. Oliver will learn to kick and not handball back into trouble. Trac into midfield mix more and impose himself. Weideman will be in the gym all summer. No retirements planned. The hurt from 2017 will remain.

Of course there isn't, it's not a fact. I wrote in the match selection thread that we'd be pack raped by maggots as soon as I saw Pannell's name in the ump list. He made the big error last week and his penance was? More of the same please. I also went on to say that the AFL believe that 90% of AFL fans are dumb as dog's you know what, and this is the line that keeps coming up. It's total rubbish, almost as factual as a ruck rule stating no straight arm fend offs. After our reaming against Carlton in R22 last year, where the same line was pumped out about 2nd to the contest blah, blah, blah to explain why we were only worth 5 free kicks for the entire game (yep, 5), I did my own analysis. Of all the 'basic' stats the AFL provides, the one with the most correlation to victories is guess what? Free [censored] kicks! Not possessions, not even contested possessions. Not tackles, not clearances. Free [censored] kicks! Last year the AFL wanted a dogs premiership. They got a favourable draw, they had the umps in the back pocket (pats on bum included) and they duly saluted. Next challenge, orchestrate the make up of the final 8. Surely not, too difficult. Nup, 4 out of the 5 states represented, even came down to the last quarter of the last game of the year. Couldn't have planned it better if they'd tried. Or did they? It's pretty obvious from here. Who do they want to win? GWS. They'll win, and I'll go out on a limb and say GWS/Essendon grand final. Now wouldn't that be great for the game. As others have said, it has very little to do with the frees that are paid, it's all about the ones that are missed. Early first quarter yesterday, inside 50 to Pedo for a grab. 2 hands firmly in the back, big push out. Play on. You can tell when the maggots are cheating, there'll be an obvious free kick and they yell out 'play on'. Why are they saying that if there's nothing wrong? Play on from nothing doesn't need to be called. That leads me to my next point. Does anyone know how to get data on frees for inside 50? We just don't get them. The non-free to Tom Mac on 3 quarter time is just another example of an obvious error, but won't be discussed as it wasn't paid as a free. It essentially never happened. We get crucified inside 50 week in week out and I'd guarantee we receive the least i50 frees across the league. Left nut on the line! Have a look at the replay and tell me which umpire was camped out in our forward 50 most of the game. I'll give you a guess. Call me crazy, I don't care. If you're a conformer I don't mind (not referring to you Deev), all I can hope for is to slowly raise awareness of these things. They're happening, it's real. The climate is changing!

Good on him for getting on the front foot and addressing it. No doubt they all woke up very, very flat this morning and the last thing you want to do is talk to the media about it - but he did it, and now it's done. Onwards and upwards.

Trengove could be captain at Casey. It seems his AFL days are numbered. However we need people like him around our development players @casey. . Too good a clubman and football brain to let go . Sad, that injury slaughtered any chance he had of showing his natural skills. Besides he does not desreve to be treated like *&%$ by some posters. These young men ARE Humans

Clarry: 2nd most contested possessions 4th most tackles 4th most clearances 5th most disposals The AFL are an absolute joke.

The AA selectors are on drugs.

Absurd beyond belief that Oliver isn't there. For mine, he's the most deserving of any dees players.

That probably sums it up as to the position we were in. Granted we had a difficult year with a fairly tough fixture, 4 games in 18 days with interstate trips a prime example, a poor injury run, the worst suspension games loss in the AFL, an unbelievably shocking personal year for our ff and some narrow defeats and yet it came down to our last game. Let's examine that. Aside from our co-captain, we had our strongest side in for the year, against a side missing 8 of their best players and playing for nothing but pride. Playing on the G on a nice day, we needed to come with the strongest intensity we could muster, to show the Pies this game was ours. We all know we are not a highly skilled side, actually ranked 16th for disposal efficiency in the AFL. Our big weapon has been our desire and effort as we don't have the skill to dominate sides generally. So what happens, in the first quarter we don't turn up. No tackles for 11 minutes and only 2 in the first 20. A lack of run to create space. One armed, half hearted attempts to tackle. A complete absence of pressure on the opposition. Then combine that with wilting disposal under pressure, which will always happen to a side that is poor in disposal in the first place and you have a flying start to the opposition, a 5 goal deficit and a real belief in the opposition that they have us. We did the same in the Hawthorn game. What did we learn, absolutely nothing. I don't want to hear that is a learning experience, as only idiots make the same mistakes more than once. To hear a player say we didn't apply pressure, in a do or die game, is just mind boggling. They are meant to be professional sportsmen, what is professional about that? As P-Man said above, there is absolutely no excuse for that lack of effort in the first quarter. Forget the year, our finals were there for the taking against an undermanned, no incentive, youthful and inexperienced Pies side. I repeat there was no excuse for that, it just shouldn't have happened. The players and to a lesser extent Coaches must share blame for allowing this to happen. NO EXCUSES. we were playing for our first finals in 11 years. It tells me one thing for certain, some of the personnel must go. Train harder, learn to tackle, get fitter, change the game plan, stop the handball at all costs game, whatever, but accept that some of those involved should not have another chance, they have lost the right. We need to accept that we aren't good enough and the list must be changed to improve. We have turnover experts who get possessions but kill us every week. The hard decisions must be made, these guys won't change. We have non tacklers and guys who refuse to apply pressure. This can't be tolerated if we expect to improve. I hope missing the finals burns in the players guts, like it burns in ours.

Hannan is only popping in for a minute .

At the end of the day it doesn't matter who fronts the media or who says what. All that matters is that every single person involved in the failure to achieve finals, when it was all in front of us, is being reviewed. Goodwin has done good things, but fundamentally he has been poor in getting the team up each week and even in quarters. I rather this club stopped apologising for letting the supporters down, and start not letting us down. End of story.

I had the same 3 but in a different order: 1. Oscar McDonald 2. Oscar McDonald 3. Oscar McDonald

I was listening to the Ox on SEN talk about our lack of a hard edge against Collingwood. In particular he talked about Bugg as a player who would have added some intensity to the Collingwood clash. It led me to a theory on our psyche over the season. I feel like we started the year with a fairly hard edge. Things weren't always going perfectly but we were winning contested ball and were hammering the opposition when we got the opportunity. Impressively this hard edge continued throughout the mid point of the season despite a difficult fixture and injuries to key players. Skills weren't always perfect but we were defined by our work at the contest. We were a tough team to play against. I feel like the Sydney game saw a significant shift in our psyche which in the short term adversely affected our attack on the footy and the man and in the long term meant we lost our way. Now I don't blame Bugg. I've been around footy long enough to know that several of those look away punches are thrown every week and the fact his landed square on the jaw with devastating impact was pretty unlucky. But I think that brutal strike, the resulting six week suspension combined with earlier suspensions to Hogan, Lewis and Vince meant everyone at the Club including Goodwin felt suddenly compelled to defend the team as fair sports. I think in turn players felt subconsciously obliged to show that they were decent people on the field. All of a sudden they lost what had defined and galvanised them as a team. The hard edge, the mongrel, the intensity. I don't imagine this doubt lased more than a couple of weeks, but it seemed to lead to a mental shift from which the group couldn't recover. I'd be interested to hear what others think of my theory. Obviously it could be a load of cheap pop psychology but having a way of explaining what I saw over the last 3rd of the season has helped me pick myself up this arvo.

Couldn't agree more, Earnest. Something I appreciated about Roos was that he always took the heat. He would say we (ie coaches) brought x back too early from injury, we made mistakes at the selection table, we need to revisit our defence/attack etc. He never left the players out on a limb. Not once this year have I heard Goodwin saysomething similar. His narrative has been we (ie players) didn't execute our game plan, we didn't play the way we would like, we didn't have numbers around the ball, we were beaten around the contest etc etc. That may be true but it sounds like it has nothing to do with the coaches! Hello, it is the coaches job to ensure players are in the right mind; it is their job to understand how weather conditions affect the standard game plan on different ovals etc. It would seriously worry me if the coach(es) can't see their own deficiencies when supporters can. Unfortunately, the email the club sent today has not alleviated my concern. It said: With regard to the Collingwood game on Saturday, the effort in the first quarter clearly wasn’t there. Simon Goodwin has said throughout the year that we must respect the competition and that didn’t happen with our effort or intensity. That makes me a bit cross to put it all on the players. As you say, Goodwin should have been with Jones. It would have acknowledged the season performance and Saturday were a joint responsibility and joint failing. Hate to say it but leaving Jones out there on his own had Neeld overtones about it. I hope Goodwin is able to look at himself and see his own deficiencies or we are in strife. He needs to lift his game and it wouldn't hurt for him to eat a bit of humble pie sometimes.

Would have preferred the coach or at least the coach alongside Jonesy. The buck stops with the coach and given the performance and the season outcome it would have been sensible and fair to have Goodwin alongside Jones. To leave it all to Jones is rough.

Speak for yourself. Wallowing in self-pity isn't really my thing, but more to the point, achieves nothing. As a some of the more even-keeled posters have pointed out already, what we want/need is a systematic, methodical review of the whole season (not just one game), where, why and how we came up short, and what we're going to do to address it. This from the players through the medical/conditioning staff and boot-studders to the coaches, FD and Board. Which I'm sure is happening. As it would have in any case.

I think the core are: Hogan, Jones, Petracca, Viney, Brayshaw, Gawn, Oliver, Hibberd, Melksham, TMac, Hunt, Garlett, Jetta. Delists: Lumumba, Trengove, Garland (contract pay out, staff job), Hulett, Spencer (UFA), Kennedy, White (R) Rookie elevation candidates: Keilty, J.Smith, Maynard (but only if we have to). Looks like we're going to retain T.Smith, Filipovic. There's other players I'd persist with who are still developing (e.g. Hannan, JKH, Weideman, OMac, ANB, King, Johnstone, Harmes, Wagner), have limitations but are depth (e.g. Pedersen, Bugg), have been injured (e.g. VDB, McKenna) or are experienced and have some limited footy left (e.g. Lewis, Vince) Needs: We need quality, not more role players - Inside/Outside mid (like Gaff, Zaharakis, I.Smith), Lever. I don't think another ruckman is vital - we can provide cover with King, TMac, Pedersen - maybe rookie a journeyman. Tradeable: we'll need to give something with potential value - pick 10, 2018 1st, Tyson, Stretch, Kent, Frost I'd like to retain Salem and Watts - despite their limitations they are just about the only players on our list (apart from Hibberd and possibly Weideman) who can kick the ball consistently well, but if it took trading them to close the deal on a real need then I'd do it.

Jones: We'll address those inconsistences and get it right . It can be frustrating and dissapointing but we'll get there. This kind of comment irks me big time. It has been a common theme all year we are heading in the right direction , we will get threre , we are a developing team. We are on the right track , we have elite training habits, the group/club is confident in the direct etc. It feels from my perspective that the club thinks that it will just happen. We have always been a club that gets to a certain level then expects it to naturally happen.

I actually can't stay of Demonland... It gives me some form of comfort to read other people's thoughts & problems and realise your not the only one...

I banned myself from posting in this thread for two days to see if my anger and disappointment would subside, but if anything it has increased after WC's win yesterday. The playing group should be utterly ashamed by their efforts and performance on Saturday, and I hope the missed opportunity haunts them all for the rest of their lives. Clearly Goodwin wants to be everybody's mate, but I hope he absolutely tore into them at quarter time and after the game. I thought we collectively looked scared witless on Saturday. The only players who took the game on at any point were Petracca & Hunt, possibly Watts & Melksham as well. The rest couldn't wait to pass the responsibility on to someone else. Our leaders and experienced players were collectively awful, from the captain down. It is truly sad when our best players were all second years. Max Gawn's novelty buffoon act was endearing initially, and tolerable when he was performing well. With his form plummeting he is now just embarrassing himself. Sydney got into his head in round 16, he capitulated on that night and hasn't been the same since. He is clearly unfit and mentally he checked out weeks ago. He needs to decide whether he wants to be a footballer or a clown. He has had one good year in eight, and I will lose all respect if he holds the club to ransom when signing a new contract next year. Tom McDonald is another who pretends to be a leader and senior player but his double act of sooking to umpires and mouthing off at opponents was pathetic. He hasn't had a kick for weeks (at least one that didn't hit an opponent on the chest) and was the single biggest reason why we lost on the weekend. Again he'd better not crap on about making finals and seeing the direction of the club next year, when he is so responsible for our current predicament. Jones, Tyson & Oliver - I see the effort of all three, but just kick the fricking ball occasionally. Oliver is young and will win the B&F by miles but he will be a much more effective player when he kicks 50% of the time. Jones is supposed to be a leader, but he sets the tone for the team by taking the easy option all the time. Tyson has not progressed as a player over the past three years. Harmes, Hannan & Vince - One decent quarter a month and 15 disappearing acts is not nearly enough for Harmes & Hannan. Our ability to replace these two with consistent performers will determine whether we progress next year. Vince has lost the plot this year and should not be given a new contract. The coach - was at his best when he was forced to improvise in the absence of key players. When he reverted to safe mode in the last month or so he was found sadly lacking. He desperately needs a plan B & C, and to be able to get the players switched on from the outset. Unfortunately these shortcomings are what you get when you hire a coach who has never coached at any level - hopefully they come in time. I feel, and have felt for some time, that we are two decent midfielders off being a strong side. Hopefully we can find one with pick 10, and we will probably need to trade for the other. Maybe Salem can be used as trade bait. Our forward and back lines will improve immeasurably when they receive decent support from the midfield.

Notice that every team that need to win in Round 23, did win.... except Melbourne, the perennial laughingstock of the AFL. Port needed a huge win to give them best chance of top 4 - DONE Sydney needed a huge win to give them best chance of top 4 - DONE Richmond needed to win to stay top 4 -DONE Geelong needed to win at home to finish 2nd and a home final - DONE West Coast needed to win by 20+ to play finals - DONE Melbourne needed to beat lowly Collingwood to play their first finals in 11 years - FAIL

A couple of our players spotted rocking up to a well known pub

Good point which is worth looking at. I would also like to see us create a position on the coaching panel of either a current senior umpire( so head hunt them)or a recently retired senior umpire. Their role would be to watch and provide feedback to players and other coaches during match simulation so that next year we reduce by a min of 15% the number of free we give away. Given we missed this years finals by the % of two goals, this would all add to our ability to get into the eight and maybe top four next year. I don't have the stats but I would say we give the opposition at least three goal a game from free kicks. Also having one if their own white maggots on our side might give us a better chance of getting more 50/50 decisions our way?

Please pass on my best regards to Moe and Curly.

"Jones: The blame falls on our shoulders" You're [censored] right it does.

Calls for an 'apology' from the club? "The club apologises for winning 12 games this season, being two more games than last year, which in turn was three more wins than the year prior, etc. We sincerely apologise for such progression from just two wins for the season only a few years back..."

Thanks for your insipid performance on Sunday allowing the Weagles to pinch our spot in the top 8 by a measley .5%.You could have made it just a little less obvious that you were not really trying. 'Resting' two stars was indicative of your intentions. May you go out in straight sets in finals. Also hope Weagles get thrashed in elimination final. Ah!! that feels better getting that off my chest. i wonder how many Demon fans would concur with my rantings?

Definitely need to take midfielder with this pick. One who kicks more than handballs would be a bonus.

No Oliver is a [censored] joke.

2013 is ancient history. It was our abyss. Anything would look better than 2013 so really clutching at straws using it as a base for comparison. In 2017 when it really counted we lost to Collingwood by 16 points because the coaches and players collectively dropped the ball. Our opportunity to give the finals a shake, to get some experience into our youth and to give supporters something to hang on to went up in smoke because they dropped the ball. On Saturday we lost a lot more than a football game!

We have the best supporters in the league, after all we have been through we turn out in record numbers to games and with memberships.

Turnover king. Won't kick the ball. Keeps giving the ball to others who are in a worse position. Can't hit a target.

24 disposals, 14 kicks at 91% DE. His weight disgusts me, lose some fat fatty Salem.

There's simply no upside in missing the finals this year. Its just a massive opportunity lost. Simple. For the first time this year, our list is in alright shape. We have proven we can match it with the best. Lewis and Vince are a year older next year. Pedo is in sensational form at the moment. In short, there are some key ingredients that are present right now, which you can't take for granted in any given year. Despite the Pies loss, I really think we could've done some damage this finals series. I reckon Goodwin and the boys knew/felt that too. But we didn't get there. I'm absolutely gutted.

Petracca - Should improve immensely with another pre-season under his best. Should be an elite midfielder next year. Needs to drop weight and should come back with an improved tank. Oliver - Given his rate of improvement since we drafted him. I think Oliver becomes a top 5 midfielder in the game. Currently he is a top 15 midfielder in the game (and is underrated). Gawn - Providing Gawn can stay on the park. He should be the leagues best ruck man. Another pre-season working with our midfield should hopefully see us use Gawn to our advantage. Hogan - Clearly had a bad year, and much of it not his fault. At the very least he will be better next year. Hopefully Weideman comes on and can make Hogan's job a little easier. Viney - Should be ready. It is Jack's time now. He is at that age where he should be dominating. He should pass Jones and become the benchmark as what players have to pass in order to become elite. If any midfielder passes Viney they will be a top 5 mid. Petracca and Oliver will surpass Viney. And that will be no disgrace to Viney. Hunt - Needs to continue to improve. He had another fantastic year. So impressed with this kid. If he can improve further, then he can take our game to another level. All in all, I think we have the makings of a very good football side. I believe we have a dynasty side, and we will rule the league for years to come. It will all start in 2018. As supporters we are very blessed to support such a talented list. The key for the football department now is to ensure that talent is developed and utilized. If so we should see many flags ahead. We should finish top 4 next year.

Who needs finals when we have another TOP 10 PICK! Bring on the draft!

I hate everything about the football right now.. I literally cannot think of any positives.

To be honest, I don't even care. I just feel broken at the moment. I keep telling myself that we would've been thrashed by port adelaide in the first week anyway. Even if we were, it feels like I've been robbed of the opportunity to lose in the first week. Life goes on, this will not be the be all and end all. But, at the moment, I'm not sure I can watch a football game for a while.

I want the club to make an apology for their failure. They publicly stated finals was the aim for 2016. They failed. They publicly stated finals was the aim for 2017. They failed. The club owes the supporters an apology. It's us who pay for the club to keep going. They [censored] owe us.