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Finally Roosy's put on his veil of negativity.

Martin Flanagan is a superb writer and demon tragic. I wold never mss his regular articles in the Age. Met him at Robbie Flowers service and thanked him for the brilliant story he wrote about Tulip. His writing reflects his connection with footy especially at local levels and grass roots footy all of which came through in this interview. Rob Murphy was a perfect foil for him. He finished off when they asked about the culture atMFC and he started by stating that they are the world longest established club at senior level. He likened them to a tragedy & a comedy. He thought that Barassi moving to Carlton, modernised both them and the modern game, turning it into the running game we know now. Sadly MFC has been slow to adapt. He then said the best thing MFC could do now moving forward was make Max captain and detailed why. Well worth listening to. I agree! Note Martin said Max should be club captain and that captaining the club is different to just captaining the team on match day. It is his off field presence and personality as well as his fierce desire to perform on field and ability to lift players around him. He certainly has the current co-captains covered with his media savvy and appeal to club supporters IMO

Brand, brand. Doesn't really mean anything. Yeah we had a brand under Roos - it was defending by flooding numbers back and keeping games low scoring on the hope we'd fluke a win. Roos did nothing about the escalating Misson problem, put it in the too hard basket. Didn't do much about developing the next wave of small forwards and outside runners, they weren't his priority. Where was the foresight that Jones, Garlett, Hibberd would all slow down at the same time and why was the focus then on adding Lewis to that mix? What about coaches, did he have the right assistants in place to support Goodwin? Brand, brand, brand. Load of junk.

We knew what we were getting when we financed the car: a three year lease. It is grossly unfair to blame Roos AT ALL for this. He made it crystal clear what his goal was and how long he was committed for. His and PJ's roles were to right the ship and set the foundations. We cannot pass accountability away from the current administration and coaching team. What Roos has said is a fundamental criticism of Goodwin's coaching. What we are seeing this year is on par with the trash we saw in 2014 when Roos took over: we battle it out for three quarters and then lay down in the last with deplorable skills. But you know what? Roos quickly stamped that out and set us up. Goodwin was gifted a finals-caliber list that he has slowly gutted with losses of Hogan, Kent, Dunn, Watts and others. Yes it was probably right to move them on but instead of filling those roles he has stacked our backline, effectively putting a barrier at the end of the rail tracks but letting the steam train just chog along at high speed until it crashes on the last line of defense. It's been a shockingly one dimensional approach to list management and has set us back 2-3 years. Unless we recruit line breakers, a KPF, pace, and grow some balls and dump the perennial losers on the list we will just jog along in neutral. It's been a [censored] pathetic season. Goodwin and his crew get a firm F. Maybe a D- because of the injuries. But that's a big maybe. Our engine room has stayed intact but our transitional defense is deplorable and absolutely nothing has been done in his three years at the helm to stem the flow of goals after a turnover. Forget about training and educating the players. Goodwin needs a [censored] crash course in defensive accountability, because it's been lacking from the team's structure since he arrived. Remember back to 2017, it was the same issue. We were scoring so it was diluted but the same issue was there. as it was this year. I hope he turns it around. If he does then we're contending again. If he doesn't then we're down the bottom. Unfortunately there is no in between. He needs to quickly rebuild our core right through the middle otherwise his coaching career is finished.

Can someone correct me on this.. Wasn't Roos only wanting to coach for 3 years so he could move to Hawaii to be closer to Tami's family?? Yet last I looked he's still happily living in Australia and now doing full time media commitments?? And then reports come out saying he could be potentially a coaching director for Carlton all of a sudden!? Interesting when we were winning the finals it was all about how Roosy set us up and the chants that were going on in front of him.. loved it didn't he? now that we are losing its all about Goodwin and how he hasn't got a brand For this footy club. Spare me..

Why didn't you stay to finish the job, Roosy???

I'm not so sure about this position. I often see Jackson on the train home from the game with his Melbourne gear on, and Roos has repeatedly stated that he is a Melbourne man even this year. Roos' comments are out of frustration of the fall from what he put into place, not because it's all about him. Yes, both were heavily influenced by the AFL to take the jobs, but that does not preclude them becoming part of the Club. What actually needs to be addressed IMO is this belief that it's their fault because they didn't stick around 'to finish the job'. Both put Melbourne in the best position it has been in since the 50s, and at some point the Club needs to take responsibility for itself and drop the continual finger-pointing and/or hoping for a rescue. Unfortunately, the way things have panned out since both left it seems the Club has broken with their work in two ways: 1) Jackson's replacement: This is not to suggest that Pert hasn't been doing a good job, or that he wont be a fantastic appointment in the long term, but I remember some talk about Jackson being ignored/excluded in discussions to his successor. Considering the job he did, which we must all agree was phenomenal given what he started with, surely the Club should have allowed him to hand-pick the next CEO to ensure the trajectory continued in the same way. I could be wrong about this, but that's the way I remember it. Having said that, the Club still seems to be going fine off-field (next year will prove to be a challenge considering a likely large drop in membership). 2) Goodwin's appointment: As opposed to the new CEO, the choice of next coach was the choice of Roos, and regardless of whether Goodwin was his first choice or not, the platform was set for Goodwin to be mentored and eased into the position. I am a big supporter of this approach, and, importantly, the narrative coming from the Club throughout this time was that Goodwin has the same approach to football that Roos has, and so the transition would be smooth and build off what Roos did. However, and has most have highlighted, the coaching approach since Roos left has seemingly broken with the platform that was put in place, in favour of all out manic attack on the ball and an ultra-aggressive press designed to hold territory but proven to be lacking against composed, clean, and speedy opposition. Gone is any sort of balance that can come with a sure and reliable defence. Roos is right about a lack of 'brand'. When he was there, it was clear what the team was trying to do even if it wasn't quite capable to carrying it out. However, what now? We have a coach saying that we need to do a better job of playing the Melbourne way; players talking about how they lack fundamentals and are without answers as to what's going on; and what seems to be an all-round lack of confidence in an approach that has failed but is also being pushed as the way out of it. To me, that's absolute nothingness - a lack of direction in attempting to rectify what has gone wrong. I am perfectly fine if I can see what they are trying to do, but are simply incapable of doing it because of a lack of fitness and injuries due to a horror offseason, or if we are a couple of players short of the combination required to do what they're trying to do. However, the things that the team tries to do are also the things that still remain its strengths. This season, these things have been countered by opposition coaches without response. The plan for next year seems to be more of the same, but doing a better job of it. That's not a plan, that's madness. I have no idea of what they are trying to do, and am very worried.

That camp was at the end of 2017... how does that effect whats happening in today's result? When we were beating the cats and hawks and on our way to the prelim there was absolutely no talk of a "pre season camp".. I think we focus whats happened last pre season when we are putting 15 players to surgery or half our list unable to get on the training track until February.

Deplorable?! Unacceptable?! Is that what I read? He's just a wrist-slasher if you ask me..

Says Gawn should be Captain! Agree 100%

I called for Jones to not be captain last preseason and no one agreed. Do not doubt Jack Viney. He should be our sole Captain. he came back while injured and was inspirational in the finals' wins last year. he still has to grow but he is a natural leader. Gawn is perfect in the LG. don't need to put that pressure on him, let him stay his affable self and dominating the middle no one comes out of 2019 looking good but Viney is our man and I will back him to the hilt.

And while we’re at it, can we go back to a Captain and Vice-Captain setup? Or just a Captain and no Vice or Co. Co-Captains has never made sense to me.

186? Pffft, that's nothing. I was there for 190 in 1979 vs Fitzroy at Waverley.

Yes he did. But he also had a huge emphasis on contested ball and as result focused on getting contested ball winners to the club. I think Roos did a fantastic job for the dees and i have nothing but respect for what he did for us. But i reckon he has deflected responsibility for our current situation. I am rapt the club isn't falling into crisis mode and making crazy public statements. I'm over arguing the impact of a rubbish preseason (and therefore no fitness base) and injuries. To me it is obvious. As Webber noted the correlation between these two interconnected issues and ladder position is an irrefutable fact. Believe it or not believe it. But of course that's not to say we don't have issues that need to b addressed if we are to win flag in the next 5 years. And as i have pointed our for a long time, including during the Roos era, my belief is that the number one issue for the MFC is the lack of kicking skills in our team. This issue was evident last year but has been laid bare this year with so many of best 22 not available, exposing our second stringers, who of course have even less skill. Roos chose not to address this issue, focusing instead on meat and potato ball winners. And Roos bangs on every week on On the Couch about the low standard of foot skills across the AFL (they should train more!). Well why on earth didn't he recruit some elite ball users, like the best coach of the modern era, Clarkson, has been doing for a decade. Under Roos the one player who came to the club with elite foot skills, Salem, came at the cost of missing out on Josh Kelly, arguably the best kick in the game and some would say the added cost of getting Tyson who regularly butchered the ball for us. And after Roos, Goodwin, who shares the Roos love of contested ball winners, doubled down and went after more contested ball winners and then traded out our best kick in Watts (yes, yes i know why) and traded in a poor kick in Lever, which cost us access to first round draft picks which they could have used to target foot skills, not to mention valuable salary cap space they could of used to target an elite ball user. On Watts i'll bet London to a brick many of the posters bemoaning our terrible foot skills were all for getting rid of him and disagreed with my comments at the time about the folly of trading out one of only two elite kicks in our team when it was so evident that kicking skills (and composure) was a massive problem for us (and by the please don't bring up Fritter - we could have kept Watts and still trade in Fritter and so have both. And besides Fritter has shown that he is nowhere near as reliable a kck as Watts).

Don't under estimate the FFF (Forwardline Flop Factor) in this year's demise Praha. It's been immense IMO and we would be knocking on the door of the final eight had we fired a shot here. One of Goody's (with assistance from Macca) greatest fails was to see Hogan walk without a 'genuine' KF coming in to replace (a la Lynch) while placing way too much emphasis on the ability of Weid to fill the void. Jeffy hasn't quite been up to his 2018 standards in terms of overall ability to impact up forward (yes still hitting the scoreboard and putting tackles on inside 50 which is great but outside of that) hasn't helped either. Partially due to the shoulder issue? No other quality smalls to assist Jeffy other than a medium small in Hunt popping up at times. Melk, our best ball user coming inside 50 and probably most mobile impact forward. One of our most accurate goal kickers also (not many of those either) has barely been on the park. The biggest fall IMO T-Mac. Firing on all cylinders once in 17 attempts! Then we have three keys mids who havent been anywhere near their 2018 form in Jones, Gus and Viney except on rare occasions and usually not together. Hibb's massive dropp off from his 2018 form. Apart from the Clarry, Big m, Harmes, Salem, the improvement of the Frostmeister and a bit of May brutality & attack on the ball it's been another season from hell really.

Roos' situation changed. That happens in life mate. His family were able to stay in Australia due to a massive amount of work put it in by his wife that saw her business really flourish. Worth finding things out before having an uninformed crack at someone. Part of the reason he's looking at getting back involved is how the performance of the MFC has impacted what he considers his legacy. Sure, he has a healthy ego, but you need that to survive in the footy industry where random people you've never met try to pull you down all the time (hint hint). Some people think of that as competitiveness, so not surprising some Demons fans don't recognize it. As for fans chanting his name, please, is that a serious point? Did he initiate that? But again, another Demonald poster potting the person rather than recognizing the comments.

If we're offering big money to Keath we might as well just pack up shop and be done with it

Goody is too safe? The coach who: - experimented with a 4 man "diamond defense" and an 8 man back line with 4 runners into the square; - went after the best intercept defender in the comp as part of an attacking zone game plan; - was willing to trade out a troubled but star key forward for a gun lock down defender in response to 666 changes; - was willing to back in a young KPF and a rookie instead of sticking wih the safe journeyman; and - was willing to reinvent players in different positions such as Frost to the back line, TMac forward and Lewis forward; is too safe?

Yeah, nice post. Jones is a club legend. He deserves a new contract, and I hope and expect he will sign a new one.

Saw on Instagram that Maxy is a player sponsor for Corey Wagner. So he’s basically using his personal finances to sponsor a fellow player ?

Stay well and truly clear of this guy.

I'm sure i'm in the minority here but i'd be considering him on an absolute basement contract one year. just because if he does get himself fit he's super talented.

The brand criticism is BS. What is a club’s brand? Wins/losses however is fact. Ladder position is fact.

I couldn't care less if he stuck with us through tough times or whatever. He was always just a good B grade player (which is fine), but in his age he is naturally going to fall off a bit in certain areas. Again, that's fine. What's not fine is him getting paid any more than that offer, because frankly he isn't worth more than that. I don't subscribe to the notion that because he's been around the club a long while that his salary should be measured any differently to the next player. Sentiment should have ZERO bearing when considering contractual and financial matters. Not happy with that Nate? So long then. Thanks for your service, you've earned a life membership. I'd rather give the money to some younger blokes coming through anyway, because Nate will NOT be the difference in us tasting any sort of success next year (as far fetched as that seems right now).

I think Melbourne supporters don’t ring talk back radio because they are busy working and having a life, not collecting dole or scamming cigarettes at train stations. They don’t feel the need to waste their time talking to other idiots on the radio, as if they will miraculously fix our problems. Our supporters are the most resilient and loyal there are. We have the highest supporter to member conversation rate. We aren’t the problem.

What a Princess - should line up this week

i wonder how much of this [censored] goes back to the pre-season camp the players vetoed always did raise a red flag for me whether you blame coach or players for this fiasco camp, did it create a dis-connect between players and footy dept that remained unresolved? can't help but think that there is something deeper going on here that's not being vocalised

Most sensible post I’ve seen on demonland in 12 months. For all the “experts” on this site that are slamming the game plan, to me it looks like almost every team plays a similar game plan in wanting to win contested possession and clearances, get it forward and then score. Pretty simple. Richmond seem to be the exception in that they concede they are battlers in the ruck and so don’t mind losing contested possession and clearances as long as they pressure like mad and intercept. It can come undone spectacularly though as it did in the prelim last year. The second part of a game plan is how to lock it in and there are only minor differences between teams but it makes a huge difference. Geelong and Richmond are the best at it. They always have a full back and almost never get scored against out the back. We give up way too many easy goals out the back. Frustrates me no end when we turn it over in our forward 50, it is obvious we are caught out and everyone runs forward to stop the first kick to an open player and it pops over the top all the way to a goal. What’s wrong with conceding one or two easy kicks to the wing but ensuring there are no easy kicks forward of centre like Geelong and Richmond do, and definitely making sure we always have Jake Lever or similar goal side to stop the easy out the back. Forward half turnovers are the major score source for all teams, so I suspect our coaching group are so obsessed with creating turnovers in our forward half that they can’t see the woods for the trees. The other part of a game plan is what teams do when the ball goes into your defensive 50 and you intercept or kick in from a point. Two distinct game plans are control it carefully to get it down the other end again, or move it quickly to get it out and score on the counter. All teams mix it up but the balance changes. We prefer the quick movement, but last week it was obvious we were trying the control method as first preference and it was our worst performance in 2 years. We made 50 defensive 50 intercepts which was the highest we have had in 2 years, and did not score a single point from them, our worst performance in 2 years. Last year and through a part of this year we were 1st or 2nd for goals from defensive 50 intercepts. Against the saints we failed to score, and gave up 13.4 by coughing it up. Bad skills yes. But it looked like we were trying something new. I would much rather Goodwin stick to his guns and attack hard after the intercept when the opposition are out of position. It suits our list. But probably doesn’t suit our current fitness levels. The other part is our stoppages and forward line. The last 2 weeks we have been down on clearances. Once again it looks like we are trying something new. The mids who have been drilled to hunt the ball look like they are trying to keep better structure and get cleaner exits which is fine. But we gave up too many the other way so didn’t get it right. It may take time. However, when we did get clearances the quality was much better. As a result, we scored a season high from stoppages against the saints and eagles, but at the expense of only 39 and 41 inside 50s the last 2 weeks. Our season average i50 was 57. However, the last 2 weeks, we have scored from over 50% of inside 50’s against a season average of just over 30%. Stoppages helped, as did using more of the i50 space. That’s something new and we need to keep at it, not revert. I don’t buy the we don’t have the cattle rubbish. You can always improve a list, but we have the list to be pushing for top 4. It just seems that poor fitness, some poor structures, drop in confidence and now a bit of confusion over new structures is combining for an annus horribillus. It’s stating the obvious but it will be a huge preseason to sort these issues out and get fit. My view is we are 2 or 3% off in each of fitness, stoppage structures, and defensive structures. Adding some good outside speed and skills is another 1or 2%. All adds up to being 10% off. The comp is so close that just being 3% off makes all the difference and the combination of all the above is why we are 17th.

I don't get this 'brand' thing. When you are missing targets, handballing to the opponent and kicking randomly, then how can any brand (whatever that is) be apparent to the observer? The fundamental problem is not lack of brand. It is lack of skills and confidence (and dare I say it, lack of uninjured players doesn't help either).

Standard Demonland response. Attack the person making the comment rather than admit the problem.

Oh Ffs, if you believe the footy department didn't review the Prelim then don't be late sending your letter to Santa.

I think our brand is Black and Gold or maybe Home Brand

He'd offer more to us running around with half a calf than most of our list at the minute. He hits targets and kicks goals. I'd absolutely throw him a 1 year contract.

Doesn't deserve a big paycheck. We are not a superannuation fund. He really should retire.

Agree WJ. He appeared to bask in the success of last year and now appears to be distancing himself from any blame, if there is any. As to the different forward line last year, you can add Melksham missing at least 10 games so far and a complete loss of form and then injury to Jeffy. If he just said we have been terrible this year it would be undeniable, but brand is BS. Have the Pies lost their brand in the last 6 weeks, or is their brand protected by injuries?

I hope he does become our Selwood.

I don’t believe that injuries alone explain the team’s fall from grace this year but I recall last year’s two home finals against Geelong and Hawthorn when we had Tom McDonald and Sam Weideman fit, firing and available. I don’t think we had a problem with “brand” back then - why is that an issue this year when we are bereft of key forwards. I think Roos’ comments are fairly superficial and quite frankly, dumb.

Tasmanian author and respected Sports Journalist retired a couple of years ago, used to write great articles in The Age. Embedded into the Melbourne Football club during their recent rebuild. Caught Andy Maher and Bob Murphy discussing this on SEN as I was on my way home, would love to hear the audio

To whack Roos for expressing an opinion with his media hat on is off the mark. In my view he is 100% correct. His and PJ's jobs were to stabilise the MFC's business and footy culture which was so damaged by the previous administration. To a large extent, they got that done. But I have to wonder, despite what they said when their tenures were apparently over, did they really want to leave when they did? I have a sneaking suspicion that over the last 18 months or so, there have been a few 'captain's' calls made, which have not gone down that well with many inside the club. ..... And I don't mean the captains on the playing field.

I hate when he hits our players and breaks their jaw. What a d@&k!

Fake news. "Kick rating takes into account the difficulty of a player's kick and attributes an expected percentage for any player to successfully hit a target in various scenarios. A zero per cent rating means the footballer is performing as expected. The Demons' best performers on this system with a minimum of 100 kicks this year are Nathan Jones (+5.1%), Christian Salem (+3.2%), Bayley Fritsch (+2.6%) and Harmes (+1.3%)." Source

Roos doesn't mean 'Brand' like Nike or Coca Cola. He means approach to the game; the way the team tries to win; its point of difference; its philosophy. When he originally talked about 'brand' at Melbourne, he meant that we would be a contested ball winning team with a sound defence,. The idea was that by winning the ball and being hard to score against, the team would be in a position to win in all games. Last year, the 'brand' was winning the ball and to then claim and hold territory to generate scoring opportunities. That's why there are inside midfielders playing small forward and linking roles in the forward half of the ground. Originally it was found wanting and so they relaxed the territory focus around mid-year that offered more space to work in in the front half, 1:1 forward contests, easy over-the-top goals, and a decent chance of defending turnovers. This year, there has been a revision to last year's early approach, an addition of lightyear speed, a subsequent doubling-down of it when things have gone wrong/been found out, and lack of change. The 'brand' hasn't worked, and what is left is a lack of ability, confidence, and, ultimately, direction. Roos is saying that when he watched Melbourne, there doesn't seem to be a clear method by which they approach the game that works and/or offers a way to win. I agree - I have no idea how they are trying to win games when the opposition is more than happy for them to do what they want in the knowledge that the team's inefficiency is insurmountable.

When the Club performs the way it has, it deserves to be whacked hard.

Too many on this site accept mediocrity. A lot like our players and probably a majority at the club. Roosy is entitled to his opinion which I agree with 100%. He is also paid to give informed opinion. He knows and we know!! What he says is 100% correct. We are 17th.... pathetic!! So dont talk Brand Load of junk. We have no brand at present and not looking that we will have anytime soon. Blowtorch should be on EVERYONE. From President, Coach, players, right down to the bootstuder. We would want to improve big time from practice games start next year. If we do not, stand by for the fallout!

Rubbish. Every team has injuries but Melbourne is the only one in the league that appears to be consistantly destroyed by them to such a degree that they drop down to the bottom 4. It doesn't happen to any other club as often as it does Melbourne. What does that tell you? Daniher was a good-average coach who really should have been let go after 2003. Keeping him on for another 4 years badly hindered our recruitment. He fluffed the Molan pick, and brought in a bunch of no hopers like Armstrong, Bate, Miller etc. to form a "core" of average footballers. No wonder we fell so hard after Neitz, Robbo, Yze and co left. Daniher was both a saviour and catalyst of the club's problems. Not his fault entirely but injuries were far from his biggest issue. After 2003 he said we were in "rebuild" mode after falling in the Semi in 2002 but that was just an excuse that we all fell for. 2003: disgraceful season 2004: 1st after 18 rounds, lost last 4, then choked against 8th-placed Essendon in the Elim 2005: Lost 7 in a row mid-way through the season and if not for Robbo's heroics vs Geelong we would have missed finals. Lost by 11 goals in Elim. 2006: Started season 0-3, lost to Carlton twice (they won 3 games for the year), then gifted Freo their first ever finals win. Daniher was a great man and a club stalwart. But he wasn't that good a coach.

How can you tweak the plan when you don't do in depth full reviews of Prelim final We have a coaching staff that has spent the entire season in denial No wonder they look like stunned mullets in the coaching box when, at last, the reality of their incompetence finally hits home.

It's funny that most fans on this board will see we have too many of the same kind of players in the middle of the park, but the club will probably draft in 2-3 more inside mids this season. Seriously, make a bold call. Show some balls and stop talking. If it's saying goodbye to Jones/Garlett/Lewis this year then so be it. If it's trading one of Brayshaw/Harmes/Viney and going in for an outside player or a key forward then so be it. Sitting still is going to cost us, we don't even win around the contest as much as we used to so whats the point of hoarding inside players. Edit: Also my shout for captain is Lever. Gawn, Oliver, Trac and Brayshaw don't scream captain or have the personality of a captain in my eyes. Viney and Jones both have similar attitudes which made them at the time stand out for the role. I think Jake has the combination of a mature head and talent to back it up.

Not sure what the issue is, he wouldn’t have gotten close to the money he has gotten from MFC at any other club. His been a B grader mid on A grade money. Now is the time we need him to take a sacrifice to help get our list back in order. Will be interesting to now see how really loyal he is.

My son's under 9s team plays a lot like Melbourne does. Numbers around the football, blind kicks forward, heaps of entries into the forward line. Only difference is those kids would rather lose a limb than give up a shot at goal, whereas Melbourne players prefer to pass off from anywhere outside the goal square. Probably why the kids have won 8 of 11 and Melbourne has won 5 of 18.