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Looked to me like he played another solid game of footy on the weekend at half back, his second in a row in that role since they made a change post the bye. 23 disposals, 5 rebound 50's, only 2 clangers, 5 score involvements, 362 metres gained. As of right now he's our 2nd best distributor at half back alongside Salem and the next best on our list is???? Maybe Fritsch if we don't use him on a wing? Maybe Hibberd if we keep Hore and Jetta in the team. Or May and Lever provide more rebound so we don't need another ball user from half back. More than happy for Jones to go on next year to be set to compete for a half back spot, knowing that he can still be used in the midfield if desperately needed.

None of us know for sure what May was talking about with Frost. It could well have been a specific thing discussed before or during the game which Frost messed up and May found disappointing. I rarely agree with anything Leigh Matthews says but I agreed with his comment that, if anything, May might have gone on about it too long, but it's impossible to know given we couldn't hear what was being said. I'll say one thing though: at three quarter time, neither Viney nor Jones looked like they wanted anything to do with it. Whether you agree with May or not, I find it unforgivably poor that neither captain got involved even in the slightest.

Nick Riewoldt was one of the best tall forward of his generation. He was also an athlete with great endurance. If I was Goody I would put in a call to Nick and give him a role with Weed and TMac. We have an enormous investment in those two and they both have a lot to learn about getting on their bike and leading to the flanks and wing. We accept both had poor games on the weekend. Imagine them being able to have a chat to Nick today to iron out a few little problems with their game style. Done properly it does not have to be at odds with the forward coaches plans.

Stupid post. 1. There's no way he's still earning a fortune, and if he is that's on our list management. He wouldn't be offered a big contract for next year anyway so it's irrelevant. In fact if he has made a fortune he'll probably play on for less. 2. He epitomises everything about why we still have a football club. He stayed loyal when it would've been so easy to jump off. This year has been a down year for many but plenty are acting like we're still in the Neeld years. 3. Who's the next hopeful he's keeping out? Have a look at the Casey team and find a good player ready to play. There just isn't any. He's currently keeping out Josh Wagner - who's had a stack of chances - and Lewis. If we recruit well and get guys back to fitness then they'll get games ahead of him.

will play half-back for us, as he has done very well for the last fortnight by far and away better with the ball than anyone in the side bar salem, which says a lot about how deplorable our disposal is

Tom MacDonald is a neocon who goes to Jordan Peterson conferences and does podcasts with the Institute Of Public Affairs. This is something I was willing to overlook when he was a half-decent footy player, but I can’t actually stand looking at the guy now that he sucks harder than a flagship-model Hoover.

No, no, this is good! Maintain the insignificance so we get Sunday arvo games on Mother’s Day against GCS Yep, I love no queues at the gate or at the beer counters, sleepy security staff paying more attention to the one - legged seagull than the bag they’re checking The rostering of footy commentators that lament getting Dees’ games, knowing full well they’ve got to trump up the excitement through their calling for the 25 people watching at home No, a loss against Carlton wouldn’t matter....why would anyone want to disrupt this serene, idyllic picture of mediocrity?

Garry was pretty honest on On the Couch, when he said, we were the worst disposing team in the AFL and why would the game plan stay the same when it is clearly not working. He had a go at the Coaching for not adapting to what was happening.

Rest him. Play Preuss for a few weeks and then play them together as a trial for 2020 ffs. Season is gone, time to experiment a bit. Reward players like JKH, drop any senior player who is not pulling their weight. Goodwin needs a rocket himself.

Could you tell me our equivalent of Zorko Neale Andrews Robinson Cameron who are not playing.

What would Alistair Clarkson do?

It looked like a team rules thing. May lives by them, Frost cant remember them. May says “punch to the boundary”, Frost says “what’s a boundary? - see ball go fast get doggo treat”. May wonders for a moment why he wanted in at Melbourne, and remembers the preseason pasture. Loses bottle for a moment, then realises that Frost wont notice that May has emptied his minibar at the hotel, so lets it all go and plays nice. Even gives him a low 5 after the next contest, to which Frost thinks “Who is that guy, does he have any doggo treats?”

He didn't bother yelling at the forwards. Just ran down there and showed them how to kick a big goal! Loved it!!

I’m all for players giving instructions and leading. But May needs to take the heat of the game out of it. There’s a time and a place. Frost makes plenty of mistakes. He is a high risk high reward player. May yelling at him isn’t going to change that. May played another excellent game and I’m very happy with his inclusion. His leadership is obvious, but good leaders also need to know when to speak up and how.

For once a sensible decision from those toss pots.

People are worrying too much. We will finish 14th this year, ergo, we must beat Carlton. How do I I know we will finish 14th? History! 1998 - 4th, winning two finals. 1999 - 14th 2002 - 6th, winning one final, 2003 - 14th 2006 - 7th, winning one final, 2007 - 14th On only one occasion in 25 seasons (including 2019) will the Melbourne Demons have won a final and then not finished 14th the season after. That would be 2000, where we finished 3rd, made the grand final, and the next year finished... 11th. But that hardly defeats the theory. Win a final. Finish 14th. It is the Melbourne way.

I agree Jones hasn't been at his best this season. He has been unusually inconsistent. In some matches he has played some very good quarters but then disappeared. His last couple of weeks have been much better. He has not been so poor as to deserve dropping and we don't have ready replacements pressuring him. He is experienced, versatile and always busts his guts for the team. He will and should play on next year.

Surely we have learnt from 'retiring' our previous captain, Junior McDonald. Jones is our captain and is playing well enough to have another year. I reckon he can do well off a HB flank, and if not playing well he can play at casey Viney sole captain in 2020

The Steven May suggestion up forward is an interesting one. I remember i watched his under 18s game live for Northen Territory back in 2009 at Marvel Stadium. He was playing as a full forward and he was charging out and splitting packs in the same way as our very own David Neitz. I walked away thinking i just witnessed a future superstar power forward in the making.

Not enoufh appreciation for Nathan Jones. I thought with him and Salem were our best ball user off half back. If he keeps this form up i can see him turning into a Jarred McVeigh type for us off half back.

They didn’t just beat us, they smashed us in contested ball by 27. Probably one of the biggest differentials we’ve seen against us recently. I do agree with Goody’s comments about us staying in the game with counter attacking goals and that being an ‘unhealthy’ way to play but how does he learn from it? We can’t rely on the hope of winning contested ball each game and the rest sorting itself out. Inside 50 forward tackles were 7-6 their way. They didn’t generate scores from forward pressure, the lack of accountability up the field was a killer. 33 shots from 63 inside 50s compared to our 20 from 59. Our defence worked hard to clear the ball but our lack of poise moving the ball forward (Salem and Jones excused) was evident all day. Another frustrating game to watch, especially watching the Lions clear their defensive 50 with ease and watching two to three of their players sitting in the centre square alone for their counters. How often have we seen that this year?

You lost me at IPA. Trade.

Cal Twomey is one of the most respect journos when looking at the draft. He had Sparrow going in the 30s with a bunch of clubs keen on him. Source The kid broke through for a few games in his first year before injury and has strengths we definitely need. Seems strange to be bagging this pick based on phantom drafts rather than actual outcome.

Sometimes a situation is too nuanced and complicated for some to be able to 'chew' it properly and digest it, and so they just throw up straight away. Looks like it's 'Hyperbole Round' on Demonland this week. Gee these theme rounds are getting very specific now hey?

I do actually think it's a personnel mix as well. I love them both and what they bring, but Viney thrives on intensity to push the ball forward and Oliver is a play-maker who hardly ever ends up at the bottom of a pack with the pill still in hand. Not a knock, but their strengths aren't exactly in holding up the ball. Brayshaw meanwhile has always unnecessarily released the ball in tackles - without the benefits of Clarry - and is currently our worst offender for banging it blindly on the boot (and with air). Harmes, who would have guessed it from his early days, is possibly now our most composed mid in this regard. An extra Salem would be mighty handy. The disposal has been [censored] but watch the first fifteen minutes v Fremantle again. We're not inherently capable of clean disposal - but by playing on at all costs the ball carrier puts himself under additional pressure and the intended receiver has less time to be in place/react. It equals poor disposal, and skill errors - dropped marks, poor defensive trapping etc. - at the next step. Yesterday's game wasn't an ordinary game of football, but something more along the lines of prison basketball. We just needed someone who could hold it up on occasion and control the tempo and I think we would have won.

It's not the playing on part that's the issue per se, it's what happens after we play on, i.e. the disposal. So many disposals just don't make their target, so then ... turnover, and it's off to the races. Weideman has his shortcomings, sure, but watch how many times he works to position, only to see the ball sail over his head or land 10m in front.

Why do some posters on here attack others for expressing their frustrations. We are a rabble. It is fact. We have won 4 and lost 10. Stuff the club at the minute. They deserve every bit of criticism they get. It's the way it works. Everyone complicates things. It's not [censored] complicated. It's about winning. When they lose like today, I and others like me, will always give them a spray. Of course there are legitimate reasons as to why we are not as successful as last year but I am just tired of supporting them and don't wish to hear any more excuses. It has always been fruitless. Always. It's heartbreaking. And here is another simple truth: we are a laughing stock in the AFL. We are pitied. Facts facts facts. So to all the do-gooding, bright side of life, positivity finding, excuse peddlers that respond to my post in a patronising way please just spare me. Keep your delusions to yourselves. I am not deluded. Our list is bottom 2, our position next year will be bottom 2. The club is in strife. Big strife.

Probably our only effective forward... You really know your football 'Matsuo'.

Not wrong but May's frustration highlights how poorly our coaching team is developing these players. Frost flies into packs and just randomly punches it. Zero strategy. Just chaos. 2-3 times a game it goes direct to an opponent. Today May lost his [censored] and held him to account. Make the opponent feel it, and get the ball to a position for your rovers to win it. Or hit the boundry/behinds. Frost does neither. And today appears to be the first time ever that Frost has been told not to punch the ball to nothinginess like an under13s player. Frost is a smart footballer that plays dumb. May is exactly the time of teammate he needs.

I didn't like the way he got right in his face, like they were about to come to blows. Has history of these kinds of things, I remember him and Tom Lynch with a similar incident. There are better ways to get your point across.

Well, if he’s going to start yelling at his Melbourne teammates, he’s going to be pretty bloody hoarse by the time he gets through all the insipid forwards, starting with Weideman, Hannan, Tim Smith & MacDonald.

We dont need a rebuild. We need to add quality and experience onto our list. Brisbane showed this year that with good trading it can work if you bring in the right quality in. They added Neale and McCarthy as trades then hit a bargain with a delisted free agent in Jarryd Lyons. They've all made significant impact this year with a tinkering of their game plan. Richmond did te same at the end of 2016 when they brough in Prestia, Caddy and Nankervis. All 3 played a huge role in that premiership year in 2017. They too tinkered their game. Start first by adding someone like Ed Langdon and along with a top 5 pick and maybe another decent trade in. It can change quite quickly.

Just doesn't seem worth going around in circles with other Dees fans on the internet after today, so started thinking about this instead. OUT: T.Smith, Weid, Petty IN: Lewis, JKH, Preuss Time to tip the balance away from so many talls IMO. Still find it strange Goody is seemingly so obsessed with 3 talls at each end when we struggle so much for run, pressure and ground balls.

it doesn't matter it's no different to our recent history under northey is the only time we were a consistently good side, and even then it was only for five seasons we've been a routinely appalling side for coming up six decades; it's hardly inconsistent

it all depends on how gawn comes up, but like everyone i'd like see preuss get a go again either way, probably at the expense of tim smith baker has had a good run of afl footy in a row but looked stuffed today; jkh in to play that defensive hard-running wingman role lever in for petty seems a given, pending fitness in some respects i'd like to see someone come in for hannan, but i don't know if bedford is ready / there's anyone else actually available; i get the impression that we're again beset by so many injuries that there's not much in reserve to call upon IN: Lever, Preuss, JKH OUT: Gawn / Tim Smith, Baker, Petty

Seriously, I'm embarrassed to be a Melbourne supporter if there are posters that think this is a bad look. Good God.

Has Goodwin moved Petty off Hipwood yet?