TeamPlayedFine39

I don't think this is the solution to our issues; we'd be trading an immensely talented player and getting his lowest return. He'd net a top five-ten pick every other year of his career to date; this would be selling our stock at its lowest value. I would rather see the players and coaches put a rocket up him like the Geelong group did with Ablett Jr at the end of 2006. He has enough talent to tear the game apart, but he is not working hard enough to reach that potential. He needs to commit 100% to football, the club and himself. With that said... would I trade him for a pick? No. Would I trade him for a player? Possibly. But again, we're not going to be trading him for a great, in-form player (Whitfield, etc.). The best we could hope for in a trade is a similarly talented player who is not reaching his potential, a good player with only a couple of years of top football left in them, or a solid role-player type, who won't win matches of their own boot but can play consistent football through the year.

He still has the potential to be a very good footballer. He has struggled for for continuity in recent years, which can make any player look average.

Huge loss, big fan; but it's not enough.

Agreed - there is definitely something NQR about the place at the moment. I have never seen so many very good, good and capable players so desperately out of form and confidence at the same time. There will definitely be an end of season review and, in my opinion anyway, I hope it's led by someone from outside of the club. When these reviews take place, there's rarely mass sackings as the outcome, but it usually comes down to communication and role definitions within the club as a whole. Last year was not a one-off or a fluke as some have been spruiking; it was the gradual progression that has been building since 2014. We have gone from: 2014: 4 wins 2015: 7 wins 2016: 10 wins 2017: 12 wins 2018: 14 wins (+ 2 finals) To then go 1 and 5 says that something significant has occurred behind the scenes that we haven't got wind of yet.

Jesse Hogan decided.

You mean where Essendon found All Australian Michael Hibberd, before taking him in the pre-season draft..?

Tomlinson is a free agent this year. Versatile with excellent disposal. Would play Fritsch’s current role much better and would only cost us cap space.

Something is rotten at the club.

That’s been the standout for me tonight. There have been countless times where a Melbourne player has worked to primes position only to be spoilt by a teammate crashing the pack at the last second.

If I’d been offered 8 points down at half time 90 minutes ago, I would have taken it in a heartbeat. We’re starting to play a more familiar style of football and applying pressure that has been absent so far this year. We’re in the game. Now gotta win the game.

Without being a killjoy, I’d say with the ten thousand things the umpires are looking for on the field, some blood on jumper was probably accidentally missed. In fact, as was the case with Gawn last year, it often takes opposition players to point it out to the umpire so that player has to leave the ground. As they are both important players to their team, perhaps no one wanted to draw the umpires attention to it.

Melbourne by 18.

Anyone know how the draft order for the mid-season draft is set?

We drafted Oliver that year. He is significantly better than all three of those players.

How did he break Mitch Clark’s navicular and give him depression? If anything, Clark returned to football after his foot injury, it was his mental health that led to his retirement.

Just out of curiosity... who are the 'multiple players careers' he has wrecked? Is there a club in the AFL that has not had players retire due to injury? What should the players do when they turn up to training on Monday..? Should everyone who is planning on leaving the end of a year (Roos, Jackson, etc.) resign immediately? (people are really struggling with who to blame now that Oscar has been dropped)

It’s a reasonable list of questions, but I don’t think any of them will be answered until someone writes their memoirs.

I would hope that the search for Misson’s replacement would have started a long time ago and that any suitable replacement would already been contracted and employed by someone else.

Interesting suggestion... Has Freeman managed to keep his pace after all his hamstring injuries? Was a jet in his draft year...

Good to see the comments thus far are not too extreme. There is still plenty we can do this year to prepare for the future; and of course I’m not completely dismissing playing finals, but it is now looking unlikely (I was believer up until yesterday). We need to look to Geelong 2006-07 and Richmond 2016-17. Both teams came off finals years and were expected to feature in September again. Both teams fell in a hole due to disfunction in the football department, player attitudes and expectations, injuries and some rotten luck along the way. Both teams underwent a significant review and made structural changes in the off-season. Both teams went on to win a flag. I believe the list, for the most part, is very capable. I believe the senior coach is very capable. I also believe there has to be serious questions asked and answered as to how we are being run and led as a whole. There appears to be a level of disfunction in the club as we appear uncertain, unhappy and frustrated. Even when we were not playing well last year there was always an air or confidence, even arrogance about the place. That joy and attitude seems to be lost and we seem meek and lacking in spark and confidence.

Disappointed to to see Light-Beer and Mid-Strength Beer getting a run when Moonshine and Rocket-Fuel are wasting away in the twos.

Hunt and T. McDonald to the backline for starters. We need Hunt’s pace to defend the opposition rebound and TMac needs to freshen up and find his form again. Hunt if not a forward. Jeffy gets a run in the forward line and must be demanded to tackle everything that moves. Give Jones a defensive forward role in the pocket and tell him to make every ground ball a contest. Hopefully snag a couple too. Lockhart back in. I like him; things seems to ‘happen’ when the ball is in his hands. Weideman and Preuss stay as the talls up forward; not expecting a big bag from either, but hopefully a contest supported by Jeffy, Jones and Lockhart, will see a better outcome than today. Um... don’t really know after that.

Sydney must be a very ordinary team...

Zero confidence. He needs a break in the 2s. No shame in that; he’s young and inexperienced, but he’s struggling this year.

There is nothing complicated about Preuss’s game. See ball, mark ball, kick ball, kick goal.