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Reasons why this is a terrible story. 1: Kossie Pickett. 2: Heavily compromised 2020 draft. 3: Free second and third round picks. 4: Kossie Pickett.

The most obviously damning thing that comes out of the analysis is the way our mids move the ball. The footage of Viney at the first bounce in the fourth quarter picking it up, haring off, failing to see Hannan free at the 50, kicking it up high and being intercepted by Richmond, is as demonstrative of our problems as any 5 second piece of footage you can find. Yet half this thread turns into another Frost/Lever/May fight.

It's just completely and utterly off the mark. Full of cliches that don't even apply to our situation. Not being "hard enough" and "not playing for the jumper"? This is not an issue at all - we have plenty of hard nuts who put their body on the line week in week out for this team. He says "players only come for the coin" - does he have evidence of this or is just another inaccurate cliched emotive call? He also says people go to Hawthorn because they want to go there but they go to Melbourne because they have nowhere else. What absolute trash. Did Jake Lever have nowhere else? Steven May? Michael Hibberd? Why have a number of young players re-signed if the MFC is as bad as he says it is when they could easily go somewhere else. There is no analysis whatsoever about what is really the issue at the moment which is our inside 50 efficiency through a combination of our decision making / execution forward of centre and our struggling forward line. It has nothing to do with anything Schwarz has claimed in his scorched earth policy. After reading it you'd think we had just lost to Geelong by 186 points. I love the Ox but that article has about as much sense as the inane ramblings of a disgruntled fan 5 minutes after the game after he has had one too many. At least Lyon provided a considered opinion as to what he thinks the problems are.

Don't understand why folks are complaining about the distance to travel to a full AFL sized oval just once per week. There aren't many AFL sized ovals in Sydney, especially in popular residential areas like Manly. I reckon the players prefer to stay in Manly and travel once per week than stay in/around Blacktown. They can swim, surf, golf in very nice surroundings. Hardly a hardship posting.

Frost at his best is borderline AFL standard and at his worst is calamitous The revisionist history of his playing career is laughable To give him a three year deal would’ve been foolish

Went down and peered through the cyclone wire fence on Punt Road. Got there early in 2nd quarter. I’m not a training reporter like the more storied contributors here, but in the absence of other reports I guess it’s better than nothing. It was a relatively free flowing affair, not with the same level of contested-ness as you would see in a game for points. However, individual contests for a contested ball were still fought keenly. They seemed to have a “time out” in the middle of each quarter for a quick huddle with coaches. Richmond had Soldo, Pickett, Stack and Bolton going through the midfield, which is a high quality outfit at VFL level, and is worth bearing in mind when assessing the form of our mids. Harley was in another postcode in terms of class as he roamed the field getting possessions at will, having loads of time and using the ball well. A pleasure to watch. When I got there LJ was doing the rucking, and Preuss was forward with Weid; Preuss didn’t play after half time, and Oscar came on. Brown was playing in the backline early, then went forward after half time. Bradtke was in the ruck in the 2nd half. The best bit was that while Soldo and co pretty much monstered our rucks, our mids were excellent. JJ was in great form - good in the contest, working hard on the spread and smart and precise in delivery; went to half back later in the game. Dunkley also very good, with similar comments to the ones on JJ. Oskar Baker seemed to work his way into the game well after being quiet when I first arrived. Tom Sparrow was busy, and Corey Wagner was useful, including a purple patch where he was finding it, linking and breaking lines - several score assists. Nev was Nev and Nibbler was NIbbler, both being good contributors; Spargo was quiet from what I could see. Bradtke was at a disadvantage strength-wise against Soldo but he is good at ground level. Brown and Weid kicked a few each as I recall. Neither was dominant, but Weid was useful and provided a mobile target in an open game; there were intermittent showers, so the ball was not ideal for marking forwards. LJ was also a forward target in 2nd half, and was good at ground level on the occasions he was in the play. As I said, best bits were Harley and the mids in general, especially the young ones. And their head to head performance against more experienced opponents was excellent.

First game of 2019. I turn up at the G, ready for a good competitive year. Max gets the hit out from the opening bounce. Jones gets the ball and bombs it forward. Intercept mark, and transition to the other end. As the great man sings: "Same as it ever was" You know, the content of these discussion is interesting and informative --- but the reason for the discussions is a sad sad reality. We are failing again. All of us on DL can see it. Except for Northey, Daniher (at least we were around the mark most of the time), and 2018, we have been a failure of a club. I'm old enough to have been there in '64. Northey provided me with some years of pride, as did Daniher. For the remainder of the more than 50 years since then, we have been a failure. We've had different reasons for failure, but we have failed. I'm deeply unimpressed with the Chairman of the Board and the corporate bullsh$t. How could a club make a movie like To Hell and Back, and then serve up this crap. Stop talking the talk - NEVER talk the talk. Just walk the walk. I think the biggest loss is personnel is Peter Jackson. Hard as nails, smart and took no prisoners. Pert has been brought in by the board to get Club facilities sorted out - important, but right now, irrelevant. If we don't win, we are dead.

Not sure if King has done his full research on world sport. Liverpool spent 140 million euros on Van Dijk (centre back) and Alisson (keeper) in the last two years and just won their first league title in 30 years.

I watched some of the second half through the fence, was difficult to see what was going on at times but saw Weid kick at least two, one from a smart lead and nice hit up by ANB and the other from a well judged contested mark. Harley Bennell looked a level above and looked as though he was barely trying. Skills and running patterns were elite. The other stand out for me was Kyle Dunkley who looked really good in the middle and in the clinches around the ground. Can't offer much more than that unfortunately, except that I stood in dog [censored] as I was walking back to my car.

He COULD be a star

A lot of us said "NO WAY" about Bennell as well.

It's another case of a journalist trying to stay relevant and creating a story out of nothing. We lack scoring, and have issues forward so they'll tie any big forward to us all year round. Nothing in the article actually says we're going after him, all just hypothetical. Melbourne is expected to make enquirers (meaning the journalist expects Melbourne too), we might but in the current environment it's still pure speculation. " It means Melbourne is expected to make enquiries about Essendon free agent Joe Daniher to see if he would be interested in making a move across town at season’s end. The athletic Daniher looms as the perfect fit for the Demons to bolster their forward line if he can overcome his debilitating groin injuries."

Spot on. If we can just get some poise and composure in the way we move the ball forward it would not only lead to 3-4 extra goals per week but also stop the resulting turnover and the opposition then being able to rebound the ball. When you are matching or beating the opposition in most other areas of the game, this can be the difference between winning and losing.

To be accurate, Bartlett's time at the club is volunteered.

And it all started with Viney at that first center bounce. Either cant see / assess what's around him, even when in the clear or doesn't want to pull the trigger on 45s even though he may be seeing these options. Instead he panics, reverses his initial instinctive move to go forward into space and pull the trigger, goes backwards and handballs (the responsibility) off to a team mate a few meters behind who then cops immediate heat resulting in a turnover and possibly the Tigers first easy goal. These blokes arent struggling to win a contest. i believe we are presently 3rd in the league for contested differentials? We are bereft of poise (ability to stop / prop and asses and/or slow down a cog and do same) and the disposal skills (confidence) to pull the trigger on angled kicks and deliver to guys in the clear (who in that vision are clearly presenting and providing those opportunities). So after 3 seasons (and a bit) under SG what do we have? A great contested brand, which was already there under Roos, but not much else. And, this is SG's list now. So he's had the chance to add layers of finesse / skill and poise to all those under him, but has failed to do so...big time. So either he has chosen very poorly and / or his ability to coach is very limited. There is no other plausible explanation. The buck stops with SG.

Weid has to become a footballer. Now. He's old enough and big enough. Now or never. The rest of the team needs to kick the ball to the player in the best position. Bizarre that something so obvious needs to be recognized.

Goodwin won 2018 on the back of having a player coming off the back of the square. Once 6-6-6 was introduced his one playbook move was done and he has been lost ever since. Our gamestyle does not suit our players. Simple.

Watching the game yesterday I felt it was all on the players. Against the Cats that was on Goodwin, but yesterday we had enough of the ball, our intensity and attack on the footy was good. We just keep shooting ourselves in the foot with our turnovers and poor decision making. Late in the first quarter we had dominated, Richmond had barely had it forward except for the first minute or two. But we had only kicked 2 goals. Richmond kicked their first goal off an idiotic Viney turnover, and from memory they then kicked two goals to finish the quarter off our errors as well. We kicked one back on the siren to basically level it up at quarter time when we should've been 3 or 4 goals ahead. So we are getting enough of the footy. The players came into the game with the right mindset. But the turnovers are crucifying us. Is it because the players just aren't up to it? Are they being coached out of taking the best/right options? Can they turn things around with a fraction more composure? Having said that Goodwin and the coaches do not get off the hook. It is up to them to make gameday moves to try and get the fire started, try and fix these things during the game so that we can actually give ourselves a chance of winning instead of accepting defeat and going back to the drawing board during the week. Goodwin absolutely has ultimate responsibility for failing to make any moves on match day or rectifying things at half time to try and get the players focused on how to turn it around. But I can also see why he would want to persist when if it weren't for some pretty basic errors resulting in turnovers and goals we would be on top. It's a bit of a catch 22 - you can see that what you are doing is working to an extent so do you persist and try and reinforce the gameplan you want played and trust the players to start executing better? Or do you move things around to try and get the short term win on match day but sacrificing your long term gameplan/structures etc This is what I would do this week to try and address some of these issues; 1 An extra key forward into the side - whether that is Weid or Brown or even Jackson we need another big body down there to at least compete if not take the mark. I would go with Weid bur we have the option of playing both Weid and Brown, moving TMac to defense and dropping Smith 2 following on from 1, Joel Smith should be dropped. Simply not good enough especially in a key defensive post. Maybe as a 3rd tall but we already have Lever in that role. Smith should be injury insurance for Lever and nothing more. We can either move TMac into defense if we bring in 2 key forwards or drop Smith for OMac if we bring in only 1 key forward. 3 Bring in Bennell. I don't care if he's underdone or if he needs to work on his defensive efforts. Other small forwards get games with continual poor defensive efforts without offering anywhere near the upside Bennell brings. Whether he comes in for Hunt, VDB or Melksham, take your pick. I'd bring him in for Hunt at this stage, he did nothing the last 2 games 4 bring in Jones - for all his faults Jones does have some composure and is a relatively decent kick. He can come in for one of VDB or Melksham. Melksham has been rubbish so far but he offers more upside than VDB as he has the capacity to kick 3 or 4 goals. Therefore I'd being in Jones for VDB 5 start Harmes in the middle. He was unsighted on Sunday until moving into the middle in the last where he was one of the reasons we got going. Viney can make way for him at the moment. Petracca is currently our best player and Oliver for all his faults can actually win the ball. Oliver is on thin ice too but he is preferred over Viney at this stage who has hit a wall 6 bring Jetta in - Harmes to the middle makes way for Jetta in defence. Similar to Jones he offers composure and a relatively decent kick coming out of defense. He doesn't have a laser kick by any means but he often makes the sensible choice which is why he has such a high DE% 7 - Brayshaw more time in the middle - i haven't noticed Brayshaw much this year which could be a good or bad thing depending on your perspective. I think he deserves an opportunity to at least show what he has, I think he's the type of player who thrives on the responsibility Another consideration is ANB in for Lockhart. I'm not wedded to this one though but if we are going to play Lockhart it needs to be forward of centre. I guess that means my squad would look like this FB Jetta May Lever CHB Salem TMac/OMac Hibberd C Tomlinson Petracca Langdon CHF Jones Brown/TMac Hannan FF Pickett Weideman Fritsch Foll Gawn Harmes Oliver I/C Melksham Bennell Brayshaw Rivers In: Jetta Jones Weideman Bennell OMac/Brown Out: Viney Smith Lockhart Vandenberg Hunt

We're 17th on the ladder We avg 11pts a qtr (excluding 1 qtr against Carlton) 11POINTS!!! Last 28 games, 2 wins by more than a goal We have our very best 22 on the park Epstein didn't kill himself & Goodwin can't coach

all comes down the mids they let oppo waltz thru the centre no questions asked

I can’t see the article, but Kozzie aint the problem We need some wins

Can only laugh at some of the early comments in this thread. Provided he was even remotely fit, which is still a big if to be fair, he’d be our best forward by a mile.

Am I mistaken - the trade was 2019 picks 26 and 50, plus 2020 first rounder, for pick 8 (which eventually became Pickett) The trade was sensible at the time and the 2020 draft is a total pot-luck mess. Also, we're just a few rounds in to the weirdest season ever. Yep, it's kick the Demons week, that's all to this story.

Under-rated post

100% agree. WTF is this club doing with it's forward coaching? I am so disappointed in the club as a whole, not just Goodwin. Mahoney and the board need to take more responsibility for this mess.

Oddly enough, our fitness department is the one aspect of our club that I currently have faith in. We'd be crazy not to inquire. Every other club will be. There aren't too many forwards capable of kicking 60 goals a year - Daniher is about as close to an instant forwardline fix as you can get. Massive question marks over his fitness, but that's what medicals are for. If we can get Bennell back on the park, anything is possible.

You guys overreact too much. Ofcourse the club will ask about him, doesnt mean they are deadset on making a bold play. Its a business and he offers what we need, common sense please.

Anyone remember this from King in early 2019: “The backline of Melbourne will be a talking point during the week,” King said on Fox Footy. “Frost and McDonald — they just can’t get the job done. It’s almost premiership kryptonite with those two. “You need someone who’s a bit more trustworthy and steady across that halfback line in particular. “They don’t seem to take intercept marks, nor can they defend as you’d expect.”

Either that or play to your players strengths. I get the Fritsch move to the backline last season out of necessity, but Goody for the sake of his head coaching career needs to stop trying to fit square pegs in round holes. Lever is a zoning off interceptor so play him as one and don't have Max floating back behind every ball as the intercept Harmes has been very damaging through the middle play him there and make Viney your principal tagger. Play Gawn, Harmes, Trac, Brayshaw as your starting centreline. Rotate Clarrie through there whilst also consider sending him forward to play Vanders role. Play forwards who will lead hard up the ground and free up space inside forward 50 to create channels for the others to lead into and if they want to play a loose defender sitting in the hole don't play on hit little 20m passes on the 45 to work into space until someone finds space. It's up to him and the players as a collective to work this out

It is entirely illogical to suggest that the AFL is somehow punishing Melbourne. The AFL needs Melbourne not just to survive, but to thrive. The alternatives for the AFL are much, much worse. I know that there is a view that the AFL wants to find a way to introduce a team in Tasmania, but Melbourne disappearing is far more harmful to the AFL than the addition of a new team in Tassie. (On the other hand, if I were a North Melbourne supporter, I'd continue to be very nervous about my team's future in Victoria.)

One of the best players we have ever had, and a crying shame his knees robbed him of the lasting greatness he was headed for. I love that he is still so passionate about the club. Is he a tiny bit OTT? Maybe, but he has earned the right to be as critical as he wants. Thank Christ the heat is finally being turn up on this sorry [censored] excuse for a club.

We miss Frosty, he had a serious crack

The worst part is that our key players were young and inexperienced in 2018 and should be a lot BETTER now, not worse. they are hitting the 100+ game, mid-twenties sweet spot. Only Petracca is getting better Skills cannot have gotten worse for this group, I just don't bloody get it

It's a HUN article, so I'll dot point the main parts: Says the Dees are irrelevant, as per the headline. We need a 'harder edge' - used Luke Beveridge's comments where he said things weren't good enough in a press conference, and they have responded, as the Bont did against GWS. Who will stand up and do that for us? Says not enough players 'play for the jumper' That some players only came for the coin - they should want to come to Melbourne, and uses Jake Lever as an example of this (as in he came out and said he wanted to be part of something special). Says heads will roll, especially at board level, if this keeps up. Then adds the pressure should well and truly be on the club at all levels. It's not too dissimilar to what Lyon and others have spoken about today, but it's still pretty relevant to how we're tracking right at this minute.

Pert and Bartlett need to have a media presence right now. Bartlett did SEN last week and good on him but it needs to be more frequent, especially now when the supporters are ready to burn the place down. They may think they are being smart by not making media appearances unless they have a reason to spruik something but it is extremely poor leadership. Supporters need encouragement and to know that the club is in good hands, they need to know that the President and CEO have options and will make moves if things don't turnaround. Supporters are fuming at the moment and it will cost us another 5-10k memberships next year. Nevermind trying to raise another $700k this year

As I have said. We are the silliest side in the AFL. Chasing Daniher ? Off to the loony bin fellas.

'expected'. Yep. Hun journos have no players to hang around so it is now worse than the off-season.

Given there are so many potting the club on absolutely everything at the moment, even something as trivial as this has got the ire raised. 50 k on a bus is better than in a car - some ability to move around etc.

Just watched "All of the Melbourne Goals" on the club's site. At least six goals were the direct result of Petracca's play. Three from direct passes to Hannan, TMac (on a good lead where he doubled back and led towards Tracca) and to Fritta. Three from indirect play through Fritta to Melksham, through Pickett to Fritta and through Brayshaw to Hannan Quick choice of best option and good delivery. Six possessions like that are worth more than a haul of crappy possessions. Let Tracca coach Clarrie on how to get to the right spots and pick the right option. If taught well, Clarrie could do the same standing on his head. He is that good also.

Misguided really. I worked in the building profession for 10 years before moving to design work. I know lots of young blokes with good intent but lacked the tool skills. I also had blokes with talent but were lazy. Who is easier to fix? It was often the ones who had the attitude issue that I developed. I think many of our blokes already have effort and intensity. They do play and compete. But a lot of our players haven’t got the core skills. It will take real coaching and development because it’s been ignored for years. Viney and Oliver and even Brayshaw don’t value their possessions. They give it away too easily. I’d invest in intense skill training for the whole club.

We need to Bring Salem into the play as mid-half forward to improve inside-50 delivery. With Bennell and Kozzie - assuming Harley stays fit - we would have serious ground level potency. Probably need to play one of Weideman or Brown for more marking targets as well.

The sad part is players are actually running to the the right spots but the decision making is deplorable, it’s no wonder we get scored against on turnovers! https://www.foxsports.com.au/video/afl/on-the-couch/red-mist-exposes-dees!778764

This is taking the [censored] now. Goodwin was stubborn and arrogant is not willingly let Frost stay at the club. He put all his eggs in the Lever and May basket and that's now looking like a blunder and a half. Meanwhile we have 700k defender who doesn't even actually defend and rather skirt packs and point the finger at someone else for his own [censored] up (see On The Couch vision) One of the greatest coach in the modern era saw something in Frosty and took him on board. That says something and that's enough for me. I'll take Clarko's opinion on Frost over yours.

I just threw up in my mouth reading those stats. wtf has Goodwin done to this team?

My take is that training is all about structures and should concentrate far more on skills. Basic skills. Our basics. Kicking, Handballing, Marking, Goal Kicking have dropped off. I can’t see any other answer if the effort is still evident.

All the Frost haters would have found Nick Riewoldt’s comment interesting about him being surprised they let Frost go because he thinks he’s a good defender. He also mentioned they could’ve had King with the Draft Pick they gave for May

I think it was Gawn who once said something along the lines of if the supporters are hurting, the players are hurting ten times more. There are times I really struggle to believe that.

They were spot on with everything they said...essentially it boils down to the fact that Goodwin’s gameplan does not work. Time to stop being a loser club...hard decisions need to be made and now!

Riewoldt said that “not playing for the jumper” is too simplistic and I agree. Effort is not the issue (with maybe a couple of exceptions). Skill is far and away the main issue.

Look at this... Viney with the ball kicking inside 50. Left to right he has Hunt running to space, McDonald on his own with no one near him and Langdon on his own with no one near him. Where does it go? Long bomb to Fritsch in a 1v3 That not a problem with the forward structure. It's just taking the wrong option when going inside 50. Much as I like Viney, he is one of the worst offenders.