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Demonland logic: Tomlinson has played a couple of bad games, therefore there is no hope for redemption and the entire 4 years of contract is a waste. ?

First off no departing CEO appoints their replacement, it is and always should be a Board decision. A good CEO grooms potential internal successors and for Jackson it was Mahoney. There was an erroneous assumption Mahoney for CEO was a certainty amongst the in clique that included Jackson and Mahoney, and then the Board did what they should and appointed who they thought was best to carry out the Board’s vision and strategy - Pert. Whether Pert has been able to do that is neither here nor there for the purpose of this story, it is the Board’s role to make the appointment which is key. Jackson’s nose was out of joint due to his plan being scuttled, hence any damning response. In any organisation it’s highly dangerous, and likely toxic, to keep an unsuccessful CEO candidate around, irrespective of their abilities in their role. It takes a very mature person to accept they missed out, and then wholly support the person they missed out to. Any organisation has cliques, it’s whether the cliques are healthy or toxic, and those on the inside of toxic cliques always see their clique as healthy if it’s working well for them. A toxic clique can get in the way of decisions that most benefit the organisation as loyalty to the people in the clique can override. A toxic clique can put good people on the outer if that clique holds power. In my career in corporates I have exposure to high profile CEOs and other C-suite execs who you would see frequently in the press if you read business sections of newspapers or the AFR, and the public persona and image can be quite different to the reality. I was a direct report briefly to a current CEO of a major company, and he talked the talk but didn’t walk it by his actions. I still get a chuckle when I see some of the stuff he comes out with publicly given some of the things I know and have experienced first hand with him. From discussions I had with someone formerly at the club, MFC was not miles off my corporate experiences.

Question paraphrased: Can the issues be fixed and can they be fixed quickly? Jennings answer: It's a 30 second fix. That's just pure strategy and match day coaching. Pretty damning assessment of Goodwin right there!

Melksham has to be on his last chance this week. His game was pathetic against the Tigers and worse against the Cats, where he cost us several goals. He is in on reputation and not form.

Long suffering/supporting Demon whose heart beats red and blue. I reckon I been reading this forum pretty avidly for last five to six years, was certainly overdue to subscribe! I watch every Melbourne match twice. Somewhat glutton for punishment, but I find I see quite a bit more second time around without the vested emotion of win or a loss on the line. It actually baffles me as to why our coaching collective can't find a solution to ignite this team. There is a fairly simple solution that I can see that would change the whole vibe of the way we play. Our transition since 6-6-6 has been fairly abysmal, our fall since then or maybe that Prelim vs West Coast has been on a downward trajectory. Short of Petracca there does not seem to be much individual improvement. Our team looks great on paper this year. Our game style, not so much..... Until we fix what we seem to have seemingly forgotten what made us a revelation in 2018. In all the analysis I have seen of Melbourne lately I am gobsmacked they do not offer any real solutions. Our disposal as a team has always been hit and miss. 2018 chaosball when we scored highly, and played an inspiring style of football should have been the new standards. The messaging must be confused. We try to play a zone, which all teams must do to a degree, our team is one of the best at keeping a structure in the back half. As a team trying to play a zone though, what are we actually doing? We run frantically back towards the opposition goal once the opposition have possession, trying not to give up easy goals, and by doing this we actually give up pretty easy goals ironically. Time, and time and time again. Solution?? Pressure the ball carrier. It is basic football, and we are the worst team at it. In 2018 we had waves of players attacking the ball carrier, why have we as a collective stopped doing this? Nowadays we are so busy running backwards to guard grass. Opposition gets the ball and you are within 5-30m of that ball, get proactive Demons, attack that ball carrier, there are so many positive flow on effects from doing this. Don't turn your back to on player who has ball to run and guard grass. Hands up on mark. Simon this IS the problem. We don't attack the ball carrier. We allow other teams to display exquisite skills either by hand or foot, yet ours looks so bad because hey no one is ever pressuring the ball carrier or even has their hands up on the mark. Chinese checkers is an easy game to play for most AFL teams. Geelong played something far worse against us. Chip checkers i'll call it. We got beaten by a garbage tactic which should have been easy to punish but all day we ran to guard grass. Please Simon for the love of God go back to instilling into this team to attack the ball carrier. Your job Is to get the best out of these guys. They, mostly...are fit. We have close to a full list. Picket our newest recruit get it. He scampers to pressure the ball carrier, Hannan is another who also has laid some crunching tackles, and runs as fast as he can to pressure the ball carrier. Our whole team needs to start getting inspired by their teammates actions of creating pressure/turnovers. Start pressuring the ball carrier as a collective and we will improve overnight. Scrap this zone BS. No one is responsible for anything currently. Hunt the ball barrier, handball or kick forward a lot more often. Sense your teammate is going to win the ball and you don't need to be that second man in to pressure? RUN. Create an easy option for your teammate who just did a great job. Get involved. There needs to be more shepherds. Now I am confusing the messaging. Adding layers to this team we seem to have forgotten the basics. Kicking and handballing skills are dependent on the pressure being applied. The best teams, the best players all succumb to pressure occasionally. We need to start applying it as a collective when we don't have the ball. That includes pressuring the ball carrier at all times. If you are not pressuring the ball carrier you should be trying to shut down their next option. Get on a man or close enough to intercept should there be turnover. Help your teammates. Shepherd. Give them that split second more to dispose of the ball better. Create options. Create pressure. Create chaos. Play on when you have options streaming forward, don't be afraid to take the first option, reward your teammate running past if he has momentum and running into space. Don't be afraid to take the game on. So our attack starts from the contest. Attack it, hunt the ball carrier, shepherd your mates, run and create options when we got the ball. Hunt the ball carrier when we don't. The skills will then be able to be seen from our list. Currently this zone thingy is a disgrace and has never quite functioned right, it has flow on effect where nobody is responsible. Scrap it Goody, your back 6 can keep the shape but have to go when required is their turn, that part just requires a tinker. The rest of the team need to be hunting the ball or creating options, the rest really would look after itself. Sorry for the long winded first post and emphasis on this whole hunt the ball carrier thing we did for parts of 2018. Our skills and personnel are much better now . It's been driving me madder than isolation that this is not where our game plan starts. Add or take layers but we need to start being uncompromising again. Currently we are the opposite. Pressure!! PS. Still get a forwards coach next year.

I think we are jumping the gun on this so far. Yes we are 1 and 3 and have not been consistent but there has been some good passages. Also, we have only played 4 games (1 less than the majority of the comp) and the 3 we lost to have been 3 of the best performing teams of the last 3+ years. Further if it wasnt for 1 bad quarter in each game we will have had 2 wins, a much better % and games against Richmond and WC would be much closer. No doubt commentary would be much different. I see Port starting to cop it today after they lost to Brisbane and the pressure is on if the lose to GWS. Lets remember they have beaten Adelaide, Freo, Eagles (not the R1 team in Perth) and the Suns (R1). How fickle it all is. As a 40+ year supporter and member I too am as frustrated as anyone on the club, players and coach and hope the 2019 year was an aberration, however the next 4-5 weeks will tell where we sit (starting with this week) so I am trying to cool my heels a liitle on determining where we are until we have a better body of work to determine it. Go Dees!

Can confirm. Got the shock of my life when I picked up the phone. Rational, thoughtful.

The first 15 mins or so of this is great listening if you are interested in hearing a dissection of how our game plan (or lack of) is falling apart. Edit: starts at about 2:30 mark

Listened to this analysis for the first time tonight. He seems fairly bitter and there is evidence that he has bad blood with Goody. while I agree with the disconnect argument and that each line is out of sink, he made a few observations that seemed more relevant to last season that this year. The ‘bees to a honeypot’ problem has not been an issue this year for mine. We have stopped committing too many at the ball in the midfield. I think he was way off with that point. we have found ourselves out in plenty of space, with run, but continually choose the wrong option and/or poorly execute the final kick inside 50.

Goody adopted a training-wheels philosophy from Roos - drilling a single game philosophy into the players rather than concentrating on the opposition or being reactive. Go back to the threads during his tenure and everyone would complain that Roos was a poor game-day coach and never made in-game changes. It's a difficult environment for an opposition strategist. The head coach has other priorities. Jennings was lauded for helping to devise our strategy in 2017/18 - but we leaked something chronic and tweaks to the super high-press had to made mid-season before we went on our run. Who knows who instigated what at the time - but judging by the footage of the narrow Crows win Jennings was unhappy he wasn't getting his way and was behaving far from what would be expected from a team player. This interview in my mind is rather unsavory. He was shown the door for likely the above attitude and his first dig is at the team coached by one his replacements. He states that St. Kilda were easy to counter - yet they were next to North the biggest thorn in our side during Jennings time at the club. I still blame our 2018 loss to them as the reason we didn't get a genuine tilt at the flag. Who knows if that was his doing or if he was being ignored. Any boss will receive often conflicting advice from numerous employees, and can't act on it all. It seems telling to me that Jennings didn't land at another club, despite being considered some master strategist in the media. What he said in the SEN interview seems about right - but we'll never know what he was responsible for at the MFC. From an unflattering channel 7 report at the time of his dismissal: "Jennings sought to promote himself, advised by a well-known PR agent. His public self-promotion campaign culminated in a profile piece in Virgin’s in-flight magazine. The club supported his efforts to raise his profile, but this column believes the Demons were uncomfortable with aspects of the extent to which he was generating publicity."

He hasn't come on as much as we would like but he still had 26 touches, 16 of them contested last week. I know it's only numbers but he's an important cog around the ball. He needs smarter players feeding off him, it's why I prefer Brayshaw and Trac around him rather than Viney who is more likely trying to go for the same contest. Bennell will feed off him if he gets up the ground a bit. Maybe it's also time to swing Salem up the ground a bit.

https://www.9now.com.au/footy-classified/2020/clip-ckce1kpwd00380hmq9dfeetd8 (no paywall, need to register) - not technical - they are good kicks - not getting the tempo right - easy to fix we play on ~50% of the time, the 4 top teams are about 20%. a good listen, and for mine, a bloody good job interview (I know there are ... ahem... mixed views ... of Lyon here on DL)

17 of the players selected this weeks team played in the 2018 Preliminary finals series. Very - Interesting.

No question he went half hearted a couple of times but the fondly remembered Pedo did a lot worse & managed to redeem himself. So I'm kinda happy he's receiving a message but not thrilled he's dumped. Wing play has changed from the days of Stanley Alves, Robbie, Stinger & Matty Febey. Brisbane's Mitch Robinson wrote an excellent article on the subject and the stuff you do without the ball is nearly as important as what you do with it. Admittedly we're all limited because we can only see what the TV screen displays but I think Tomlinson has improved us structurally and is being underutilised, especially on kick-ins. Was disappointed that he was moved from the wing last weekend to ruck & play forward. At the same time I was heartened thinking that Goodwin had finally conceded that his one-tall forward structure doesn't bloody work. His defensive positioning and work rate was been really good. We can all recall how often we've been scored against by a switch to the fat side followed by a kick over the back of our defence in recent years. I'm of the view that the positioning & work rate of both Tomlinson & Langdon has reduced that pressure on our backline. He's also been burnt several times by May on kick-ins. He's made good position to May's right but Steven appears to have eyes only for the long kick to his left to Max (usually outnumbered), or a cheap dump off to Salem in the pocket. Finally, that exhilarating bit of play against Carlton where Rivers streamed through the middle & hit the leading Hunt lace out for a goal. Doesn't happen last year. Any our makeshift 2019 wingers would have been sucked towards the contest. Tomlinson had the discipline & awareness to hold his position & be the outlet which put Rivers into space. He's no Stanley Alves, Robbie, Stinger or Matty Febey. Nor a Brad Hill or Isaac Smith. But I think he's the second best winger we've got. Hope he learns his lesson & fights back into the side.

Anyone that thinks Tomlinson is stiff, just rewatch last weeks game. One poor game can be excused for sure but not putting your body on the line for the team, you are cut. well done Goodwin

Bit harsh on AVB guys. Deserves a few games to find some touch after what he has endured. Adds some much needed physicality when on song. He will have more than a few oppo players looking over their shoulder.

For lovers of palindromes. Genius

He has taken a lot of public heat this week so I hope he plays a blinder on Saturday. Its like the media is blaming him for all our midfield woes. Totally unfair. That aside, I feel the club has let him down. Other than a few words from Goodwin post game (great fella, very valuable player) no-one has come out and stood up for him after the media bashing started. Its been a busy week so I can forgive the club a little. But he is only 22, still relatively 'junior' in football and worldly experience and shouldn't have to wear the media bashing. At 22 that stuff could really do someone's head in. In his B&F speech last year he thanked Macca for (among other things) "always having my back". Thought it was odd that he felt he needed to say it and wondered if it related to internal stuff. I hope someone at the club has taken on Macca's 'protector' role not only for Oliver but for others who valued that about Macca.. Would really like to see someone come out and stand up for him.

Won the lottery, going to the game.

Sometimes I think I'm watching a different game to other people - Smith was terrible against the Tigers, just rubbish. He was not the reason we lost by any means but he didn't help. His positioning was terrible, his judgement was terrible (when to go for the spoil, when to not even attempt one), his turnovers killed us. I would have been absolutely shocked if he was not dropped. I get the angst with Melksham, he was rubbish last week as well and not much better against the Cats. But at least Melksham has runs on the board and he is one of the few players we know is capable of kicking 4 goals. He is on thin ice but I get why he has been given another chance.

He kicks to Max and it is nearly always to the members side of the ground (or the left when at other grounds). Very, very predictable. Haven't seen our kick-in players take a run out of the goal square this year - they may have forgotten the rule changes allow it.

I'd love to know what our kick out stats have been like this year. I've found May's kicking out to often be very underwhelming. He kicks to contests far too often.

As much as his comments are great for fans like us, I agree they do come across as a little unsavory. And as much as an interview like this is good for his profile he may have burnt his bridges at AFL level as a result. I also find his comments about StKilda strange given that when he was at Melbourne we could never beat Saints and their simplistic gamestyle.

Couldn't agree more 'Skuit'... ...and I think he's done his chances at another AFL gig a lot of harm. His judgement seems a bit out.

I have been in similar roles, albeit in a media advisory role. My experience is that CEOs are often merely "faces" for organisations and don't often have as much pull as people think they do. My guess is that Jackson came in as CEO when the club actually needed a CEO to make the calls, and he was grooming someone in his shadow. Whereas Pert had the media exposure and experience and could probably be pulled alongside the board. Ultimately most company decisions that have broad impact on the entire organisation are the decisions signed off by a CEO but most decisions are signed off and incorporated by those around and below them. So your CEO experience probably isn't uncommon in the modern corporate world especially if the company is a subsidiary of an overseas company. CEOs bear the most responsibility because their KPIs would be 100% weighted on company KPIs, so there is far greater responsibility bestowed upon them, but really much of the time all they are, is media experts and spin merchants. That said I think Pert and co have done wonders for the club given the circusmatnces. Minimising debt is key atm and so I suspect much of the focus atm is on ensuring financial stability before prioritising on field performance. Hard to swallow but ultimately the reality given current circumstances. Yes on field performance impacts the bottom line but this year is very different.

Well well well, Wise Guy is finally realizing how important winning is. Good Clubs win far more than they lose. Good Clubs turn over much larger portions of Finance. Who knows what is going on inside The MFC. Sponsors are still being signed, so i don’t think it is dire, but it’s not right either. We took a knockout punch from Meth Coke on Preliminary Final day 2018 and we are still picking ourselves of the canvas nearly 2 years later We need to toughen up as a Club, otherwise raising $1 mill by Christmas ? is a waste of time. It is on the Football Department

He'd be tall forward providing ruck backup. Essentially Weidemans role if Weid leaves or doesn't perform. As I said, I don't think he's the right player and would only take him if he cost us bugger all. Ideally, we go get a strong performing tall forward who actually kicks goals. Throw the kitchen sink at a Jeremy Cameron type. We should always have two tall forward targets. We'll finally have that structure this week for the first time this year and I'd wager we'll perform better as a result.

The Wright-Preuss combo would be a salivating prospect for Casey next year.

That was a memorable match for multiple reasons. Nicholson was rubbish that day. Travis stepped up in finals as usual. It had my favorite price of play ever - Whelan bump laying out golden boy Hird and then Travis kicking a goal from boundary line 50 on the run. Beautiful few moments of football. Umpiring cost us that match at the end! As for this weekend, I think it’ll be a close match but still have little hope we’ll find form and win. Gold Coast are competent ball winners and cleaner users. Will depend on if our mids can be smarter for once! Hopefully Weid in provides us better structure. Definitely the right In structurally at least.

Agree, really rate Rawlings as a coach

It’s damning footage. I suspect Goody is a football nerd and he’s trying too hard, i.e. he’s overworking everything. Much like Brendan Bolton before Teague took the reins. I actually think we have the players but: - the game plan doesn’t suit them - it’s too hard for them to consistently execute for 4 quarters, and there’s far too much margin for error in it; and - Goodwin is too robotic and rehearsed in his preparations for each game, and is no good in broken water and is therefore easily out-coached on game day when the opposition box starts shifting the pieces eg, round 2 v Carlton. There’s no excuse for our current ladder position, and also for the look and feel of our performances to date. We’ve had only one good quarter thus far this year. I reckon Brett Ratten would’ve been ideal for us.

We'll punch the living suitcases out of Gold Coast this week and win by four goals. We couldn't do that against Geelong or Richmond because they were much more experienced as well as you need skill and brute force to beat teams like that. Night game, slippery ball , coach under pressure, we'll be fine. The question is can we continue that type of footy in the ensuing weeks? The changes are spot on. AvB wasn't bad last week. Third game in a row and he will make an impact. The Weed coming back only needs to compete in the air and pluck a few. Much better structure. Fritta, Hannan, Kozzie and Melksham need to hit contest at speed. Backline is slower but it won't matter this week. Midfield will dominate for first time this year. Carn the f'ckn Dees!

As you know l am not a fan of Joel Smith However l want him to play well when he is picked but he is frustrating to watch. Little boy lost. Give me one good game or being worthy of his position over the time he has being here? He is no near to being in our best 22. We have a healthy list and he gets a game ? Well what can l say. It is a well balanced side this week and they can turn it around. I would have kept Rivers but will bounce back as he has the time in front of him.

But you don't want Tommy Mac playing back do you mate? My heart couldn't handle it.

Agree with this in a big way. Watched the game on replay today on FOX and there was a contest inside 50, after he had been swung forward, and he pulled out of the contest and didn’t make body contact. It was pathetic. For a bloke his size, he does not use his strength and crack in. Looks like Tarzan plays like...

The Clarry bashing wouldn't happen at many other clubs.

To my mind this is a dumb move... We tried it a few times last year, probably Jennings idea. It didn't work... Clarrie is not a forward, he's a pure mid. Viney should be the pressure forward if anyone, he doesn't offer enough around the ball. Clarrie out of the midfield gives the oppo one less thing to worry about. I don't mind Harmes in as a tagger but only when there is a suitable job. Clarrie played one on one with Cripps and did him over in the first game, they had to move him forward to get some value. ...by the way, how is Cripps, Danger, Neale, Martin etc. etc. defensive game. Clarrie just needs more time midfield and learn to hurt the oppo more with his possessions, then it won't matter as they will always be watching him. There lies the problem at the moment.

No. Because of the type of player that he is. A fit and firing AVB is a weapon and we don’t have many.

Jetta and Oscar completely change our defensive set-up, releasing May and Lever to be much more counter-attacking and in particular it should benefit Lever who can now be the smart interceptor and third-man up he is best at, without crapping his shorts all day about what hole is opening up behind him. In Jetta's case, I think his presence as a proper responsible adult will help things enormously. Weideman in will help T Mac operate with at least a little less than a 100% blanket on him, and doubles the chance of a tall person being under the fall of the ball from one of our random kicks forward. Bennell in is just an obvious one, even before what apparently was a very busy and effective scratch match effort. As far as I can see it, all four changes improve out structure and the outs, while being a little tough on a couple, are not diminishing our structure at all. I approve of these decisions, now I wait...

I posted in the changes thread that Tomlinson jibbed a few contests and was weak in his tackles and the FD wouldn’t like it. He will be back, but hopefully harder and more committed.

Hunt: Was woeful against the Tiges and barely gave a yelp. Had to go. Too much of a gap between his best and worst right now and far too often it's the latter. Appears to be at the crossroads. Smith: wiithout any Casey to gauge his form / improvement from i can't see how he returns to this line up this year unless we get to the last few rounds of another wasted season and wish to experiment with him up forward prior to delisting. Tomo: He aint no wingman sorry. I would be looking to re-engineer as a CHF (if Weid and Brown flop) or CHB to allow May to go forward (if Weid and Brown flop). Fritschkreig & Bennell have his measure on the opposite wing to Langdon. Potential bust looming if he cant make it as a CHB or CHF imo. Rivers: Unlucky. Thought Lockhart may have gone before Rivers. Probably being managed though and might be better for the rest in the medium term. As for the Ins: not bad but would have replaced Melk with Brown, Jackson or Bedford (a scarecrow might do a better job at this point). Unless we are switching say Clarry or Harmes into a mainly forward role in this match he really needs to be asked to step up and contribute out of the middle. Perform this week in this role or sayonara baby. How he maintains his spot after the last few weeks AND plays forward (assuming he does) is a bit spooky really. Has a few mates but hardly given a yelp so far. Speaking of mates...what the hec has happened to Salem? Needs a major rocket / tap on the shoulder. I'd be bringing in ANB for Salem asap. Bloke has dropped off a cliff the last 8 matches or so. A shadow of what he showed in glimpses a season or two back. Don't mind the Ins / Outs aside from Rivers but plenty of room for improvement and a few bog ordinary others lucky to have escaped unscathed.

are we going for a training ground in Beijing? Could be an easier get than the MCG precinct There's always a bright side...Kochie's China plans aren't looking good

Man, you really don’t like Lockhart! I reckon we should give him another week and take it from there. I can't help but feel he'll come good.

Players playing out of position? Please. Their position is where they are selected. I"m sure Robby preffered being a wing man but still gave his all and was a star at hb under barrassi. If they dont like that they shouldn't be playing a team sport. But leaving that aside some of the names listed above are lucky they are playing. Most would not get a game at one of the top clubs. Tmac? Was close to being dropped as a defender. Made frost look a good kick. Yet still went for glory kicks. Brayshaw? Defensively gut run week, in week out and then worry about being a full time mid. Salem? not sure he is out of position but has stagnated and gives us little. Hunt? Like tmac kicking is too poor to be a defender and couldn't adapt to zones and having no space to run and carry into. Given a chance to save his career up forward and hasn't taken it. If out of contract will be cut at seasons end and won't be picked up by another club. Jones? What is his best position these days? In any case the issue of players being played in spots tbey are not suited to is a function of poor list management. And I blame roos and Goodwin for that. I mean how many inside bulls with average foot skills do you need? There are only 3 mids starting at each centre bounce at any one time.

I disagree, either there are problems and the supporters have a right to know or there aren't and it doesn't matter anyway. I don't really see the harm with people posting things they've heard - no-one will name names as it will betray confidences and everyone should take anything they read with a grain of salt if they're smart enough. Most of the time these things have an element of truth though, I remember when the message from the club was everything is rosy and Schwab accused people of taking pot shots from the cheap seats. Well it turns out it was worse than insinuated and the place was rotten to the core. It is frustrating when we don't see the CEO or President have some kind of media presence when supporters are on the verge of insurrection. You can't have it both ways, asking supporters to dig deep with one hand then treating them with contempt with the other. The communication from the club needs to be both direct and broad, they always ask questions in surveys about communication from the club, how connected you feel to the club as a supporter etc. Well personally when I fail to hear from either of the clubs leaders to give me some confidence they have things under control it makes me feel disconnected.

"Goodwin is too stubborn" "I can't believe Goodwin is giving up on the Smith-down-back / Mid-size-forward-line / Tomlinson-trade / insert-other-tactical-option plan already!"

I heard him say something like he was amazed at the lack of positional changes from the coaches box when we played Richmond. Hope this doesnt continue but on the evidence to date it doesn’t look good.

i don't think simon is introspective enough to know where he went wrong....just like chairman dan

You clearly have little onfield football knowledge if you don’t understand the value of impact players. Further, a committee selects the team of which the coach has a single vote. “Coach’s favourites”? What did he do to become a favourite? Give the coach his four ‘n twenty on pie night? It’s not Lang Lang 2’s.

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.