Bang Bang Bang

It's was pleasing to see JKH and Blease back. They make us look much more threatening than the vanilla duo of Matt Jones and Terlich. Good selections this week.

[censored] off Grimes. [censored] off umpires. [censored] off ugly Westhoff.

My guess is that it will be Ling. Roos will coach for another two years, then move into the "Director of Coaching" or whatever it's called for another 3. Somewhat similar to Eddie's original succession plan with Bucks/Mick, except this time it will work.

I think he's too slow, and lacks footy smarts (at least the ability to win the footy) to make it at AFL level.

Why is that? He's a number one pick, a tall forward which they have in abundance, can't get a game, and is disgruntled. Pick 4 isn't much of a downgrade and would certainly tempt them. It would be a different story if he had taken the competition by storm a la Cameron, but that hasn't happened.

Lose Frawley. Gain ~pick 4. Trade ~pick 4 for Boyd. Net result: James Frawley for Boyd? We'd be laughing.

To be fair that's probably not Neeld's fault, list manager at the time (Harrington?) should get the bulk of the blame.

Are you basing this on one (scripted) television performance many years ago, or something else? If we need Roos there just to translate messages than Kirk is the wrong man.

Tyson, all he needs to do is get some consistency back in his kicking (which he did have for a while, before it dropped off again recently) and he'll get there. Heck, he's played 20-odd games and is already nearly there.

I personally think 'poor coaching and development' is a cop-out. It's not the coaches fault that Sylvia was lazy, McLean was slow, Morton was soft and Scully couldn't kick. All those players have played under at least 2 coaches and none of them have done any better outside the MFC, in fact I'd argue they have been worse. I think the facts are they just weren't that good. You can say bad drafting but at the time they were considered good picks, which is sort of what I was getting at. A top 5 pick should get you a gun but often it doesn't. Roos has almost a 100% track record with trades over many years in footy so I'd back him to turn one of the picks into a golden trade once more.

Because as Peter Jackson has said, too often this club has appointed the best "Melbourne-person" for the job, and not the best person. Remember Connolly?

We weren't exactly flying at the time, yet that didn't stop Trengove signing on long-term. It's all good and well to jump at $1M (not like he would have earnt peanuts by staying), but to publicly pot the club and infer it's incompetence was the reason for leaving... well the guy's a scumbag. Anyway he's turned out to be an average footballer and this thread should be about Hogan so I won't say anymore. But it's great to see loyalty still exists.

1997. I still rate that night as the worst umpiring performance (and decision) I've ever seen. Pretty sure the maggot in question was never seen at AFL level again.

Now here's a kid who gets it. The club invests high draft picks + countless hours and medical expenses - and he sees fit to repay the faith. Even with the lure of going home and/or more money elsewhere. Kudos to you Jesse. Compare it to $cully who was in a similar position - remember the 'bung' knee? - and jumped at extra bucks the first chance he got, then had the audacity to pot the club as incompetent afterwards. Worlds apart in character. Can't wait to see Hogan in action now. I reckon this kid plus a few other signings (hopefully) will push us a lot further next year than most expect.

I'm not a Toumpas hater, in fact I want to see the kid succeed more than anyone! But his progress has to be a concern. Will he go on to become a dependable 100+ gamer? I say yes. Will he go on to become an 'elite' player or even a rung or two below that (the level you expect from a top 5 pick)? Well..... he's coming from a long way back.

I think we should trade at least one pick away. Petracca and Brayshaw are 'elite' prospects? They may well be but so were Sylvia, McLean, Morton, Scully, Trengove and Toumpas once upon a time. Keep one pick and trade one away.

The umpiring was horrendous but the Bail deliberate was definitely there, IMO. Just stupid from Bail, a ridiculous lack of composure.

I don't think Toumpas reads the play that well, he just can't get the footy. I actually would like to see him trialled at half back before the year is out. We are crying out for a 'distributor' in that position.

I don't think the Spoon would be that bad a result. Paul Roos has said on public records many times that "an 18 team competition will always have an 18th placed team". If it's us, then so be it. I think we have showed enough improvement this year not to be alarmed. Pick 1 + 2 (Frawley) would be a nice little leg-up too, with Hogan to come in too. With a tough run home it's looking more and more likely the Port defeat (even though it was a defeat) was the pinnacle of our season. It's all been downhill since then.

Agree with the sentiment - BUT - we said that about Sylvia, McLean and Bate. We then said it about Morton, Watts, Scully and Trengove. The future is always 'bright' if you want it to be, but if your team drops one of the very few winnable games it had left in the season, and lost it due to sheer stupidity, I don't blame supporters for feeling a little anger. Toumpas is looking like a bad pick and it gets worse with every passing week, but he's not the reason we lost today.

We set high-standards for Tyson - so he really needs to fix up his disposal by foot if he wants to reach that elite level in the future. His left-foot has a bit of bite in it but he does not hit targets often enough. It's not a lack of skill, maybe laziness or fatigue.

We could have snatched that late. The umpires were absolutely deplorable in the dying minutes, simply put they were too afraid of making a mistake. Having said that, we didn't deserve to win. Frawley, honestly don't care if he stays or goes, just a dumb and disinterested footballer at present.

What a putrid first half. Lucky to be 4 goals down. Dawes, I love his effort but if he can't clunk a mark he's virtually useless out there.

Wow! You don't miss a trick! thanks

I don't think you can categorically say we should win this. It will come down to who takes their chances - last time the Dogs did exactly that and beat us. It certainly looks a fairly even contest on paper. BTW who the hell is Fletcher Roberts?