hemingway

Really, revenge etc. it's what we are doing at season end and finals that matter. Taking revenge on Collingwood means nothing if we flunk the end of season test.

Undergoing intense therapy, self medicating!

Unfortunately, this is Garletts track record, consistently Inconsistent. It's a problem because he is such a dangerous player and adds the X factor to our forward structure. You can see players respond when he does goal but his inconsistency is a problem. And the bigger issue is that I doubt this will change.

Accept your comments Dr G, and yes I have let emotion get in the way of reason the last few days.

After the last few days, I will be dampening my expectations. I will have hopes and dreams but not expectations. Self-protection against my mood state since the weekend. This will take a long time to overcome. The reality check is that there are 18 teams all expecting to do better and make the 8. All have a spread of young talent courtesy of the draft. Watching Brisbane a few weeks ago was enough to tell me that they have a lot of upside. Likewise Collingwood. The competition is very even as we know and every side needs good form, injury free players, a few star players and lots of luck. The Dogs had it last year and the Tigers this year. Matches will continue to be tight and go either way. What I do know is if we don't improve as a team and reduce our skill errors, turnovers and passages of dumb footy we will struggle. No sides will gift us games. We will need a year free of serious injury to top players and we need most of our young players to step up. We also need the coach and coaching staff to step up. Team selection, team balance, game plan, game day tactics and injury/ fitness management will need to improve. We were injury depleted and physically and mentally stuffed by R.16. Looking back over the year, I wonder if Roos would have been better. I worry about Goodwin. I agree with others who feel he needs a Roos like mentor. Like others I will go to matches next near but will be keeping my powder dry until the last game of the year. I do not wish to have my expectations smashed on the rocks of despair again.

Would have preferred the coach or at least the coach alongside Jonesy. The buck stops with the coach and given the performance and the season outcome it would have been sensible and fair to have Goodwin alongside Jones. To leave it all to Jones is rough.

There needs to be anger. Not oh well we have had an improved season and we can look forward to finals next year. Look at our great young list. We need the failure of not making finals to drive this club forward. I want to see anger, desperation and a refusal to accept failure. I want to see a club from President down that will not accept near enough is good enough.

Next year is not a given based on the second half of this season. We still have players with poor skill, players who are not quite tall enough or fast enough. We still overuse the ball and turn it over. We are still too slow and indirect going forward. Hogan and other forwards are swamped by the time the ball goes forward. We have not established a settled forward line, settled defence or dominant midfield. We have a major problem relying on Gawn all season. We need to make some tough decisions on existing players and draft in some top-line players. We need to go after the best. You can see the difference that stars make to a team. Franklin, Dangerfield, Selwood, Martin. You can understand why North are going so hard on Martin. We need to be desperate in going after the best otherwise success is going to be difficult to achieve.

Agree, completely shattered. You can provide reasons and analysis. At the end of the season, we missed what we needed so badly as a footy club. Even if we had gone out after the first round, we would have gained some respect. It would have been symbolic of an improved season and provided hope and passion for next season. It would have sold memberships and created a picture of a club going places. As it is we finished the season with barely a whimper. The football world saying "poor old Melbourne." I felt completely numb on Saturday watching a group of players with so much to play for be completely out classed by a young Collingwood side. So many Melbourne fans turned up to support and celebrate their season and instead watched a funeral march. No intensity, no tackles, no run, poor hand and foot skills, slow, uncertain and a game plan that the players seem oblivious to. So many experienced players still skill deficient and doing dumb things. I am not sure about Goodwin. I'm really not. I'm not sure about his game plan. I want to see some evidence that there is a coherent game plan that the players can execute. I have seen bursts of great football at times but for most part, a team going in circles with over use and dumb handball and turnover after turnover. It appears at times they simply don't know what to do. I want to see a coach with passion. I am disappointed, sad and angry. So much to gain and now lost. And no guarantees for next season. Half a dozen sides that are clearly better and another half a dozen sides that are on a par with Melbourne. Even Brisbane gave more promise at times than Melbourne. Just shattered.

Agree with your last para. Definitely a few players short. And no match winners. Every top team has the few stars. We don't ......yet.

Incredibly loose all over the ground, just don't get it.

We had 22 players that failed to impact the contest. Petracca was better than most.

Reality was that Collingwood came to play. They ran with numbers, used handball effectively around the ball, ran into space all over the ground and took contested marks when it counted. They simply outplayed us all day. And you would have to think that Buckley outcoached Goodwin. Same old bad habits by Melbourne. For me, the game pretty much depicted where MFC is at. All the warning signs were present in the Brisbane match.

Every Demons game is close irrespective of the first 3q. Pies will be into us early, just hope we can keep focus on the contest. Defensive pressure, contested footy, outside run and multiple goal kickers required. We don't want to be Hogan centric. And please please let's not over possess the footy by over use of handball when a direct kick will get the ball moving quickly. And let's hope the umpires..............you know what I mean!

Interesting. Despite his record, there are players who have done well under his reign. Howe and Dunn are two examples. Both are playing better footy with the Pies than they did with the Demons. The feeling I have is that the Collingwood hierarchy would dispense with Buckles if there was a better option. The fact is that there is not anyone out there with a proven track record who is available. Excluding Paul Roos.

Sounds like there will be no more bananas on fire at that particular establishment.

Welcome Deeby. You have established your cred by hating the Hawks and brainwashing your kids. My wife has never forgiven me for reneging on the deal that our second son support her team, the Magpies. I decided that marrying a Collingwood supporter was a big enough sacrifice. Given that despite her intelligence and beauty, when it comes to football, she is as feral as her footy brethren. And, we never attend Melbourne-Collingwood matches together.

I had the unfortunate experience of living in SA for a period. Sorry Croweaters, it is a beautiful state and has a lot of redeeming features particularly it's festivals, beaches and wine. But for a football lover that craves football news, you may as well be on the moon. The only footy news consists of training reports and match reports of the Crows and Port. It's the AFL but you may as well be listening to reports on the SANFL. Living in Canberra is like living in a fog where anti-depressants and a weekly exit to a living place is the only solace. Living in SA is like living in White Australia in the 1950s where there is no news outside the State. It's a strange feeling to be living in the middle of the country yet feel so isolated. However, my best wishes to all those Norwood fans and mighty South Aussies that support the Demons and other Victorian clubs. There are plenty but I don't know how they do it!

Just be so happy. Win on Sat and the after match song will be sung loud and proud. And share the joy with our tribe. I want to see the joy on the faces of all the older fans, the mums and dads, any mainly, the kids who have suffered over recent years. I want to share the joy with my two sons who have grown up only knowing defeat and disappointment and who have endured the rubbishing from mates. To see their hope and enthusiasm this year has been like a blood transfusion. They feel proud of their team for the first time. Rejoice after all the years of negativity and the disappointment of not playing finals. To look forward with hope and optimism to 2018 and the years ahead.

Very nervous about this one more so than the Saints. Their midfield can play and they have a spread of goal kickers, just look at the stats from the last game. Hardly a player that did not get on the scoreboard. Shows players and a team in great form. We need to nullify Martin and apply pressure across the board. We do not want to get into a shootout otherwise they will outscore us. We have so much to play for but this will be a hell of a match and another game that will go down to the wire.

Kevin Skeeter Coghlan was an ex Collingwood and Hawk who also appeared on World of Sport footy panel for a few years.

For me the only genuine speedster is Hunt. He regularly uses his speed to run away from his opponents. Garlett turns his speed on and off in short bursts to gain advantage.

It was a shocker worse than any Moreton Bay Bug you have ever seen. And one did wonder about the origins of the hair or its host body part. Harry was a character and a product of his time. When you think about the big H and the media coverage of the day it was such a completely different era. Unrecognisable compared to today.

It's a bit like the farce of the voluntary postal plebiscite. It will not make any difference. Although some take their responsibilities more seriously than I do. Which may be a good thing. However, it will not make an iota of difference to the big picture.

Just about sums it up Dr. I suspect your diagnosis is correct. From what I have observed I will not be seeking a second opinion.