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Poor Roosy. Wish I could apologise on the players' behalf for today's performance.

How disappointing. I don’t understand where the intensity and drive to win that we have brought to the past four matches disappeared to? Did we get too cocky? Did we underestimate our opponent? Or were we simply just flat? Who knows, but it certainly was not the team we have been watching the last month. Having watched the post-match chats with both Viney and Hunt, you can see the disappointment and frustration is written all over their faces too. The issue for Melbourne this season has been both consistency and the gap between our best and worst. Consistency comes down to age and inexperience (sometimes also lack of leadership) so it is something we will improve as we see our players develop and age. The enormous gap in our performance ability though I believe is mainly mental and lack of preparation. When we play our best footy, we are a top eight, even a top four team. We have proven that on numerous occasions this year when encountering teams like Hawthorn, Adelaide, West Coast, etc. Yet our worst is insipid and leaves us vulnerable to [censored] teams like Essendon or Carlton. It’s almost as if we expected Carlton would let us win yesterday. Carlton had lost nine in a row coming into this match and even more undignifying, lost to Brisbane – they were hungry for a win. We too had so much to play for; we were playing for a spot in the finals. However, they came in hungrier and wanted the game more. Melbourne never stepped it up and never aroused the same ferocity and eagerness to win. Consequently, we fell 20 points short and dashed our dreams for finals. Carlton played well thanks to Cripps and Gibbs, but the team itself did not play superbly. We have encountered teams playing far better than they were and managed to beat them – the issue was that we played crap. Viney said it in the post-match, they didn’t play how they had prepped all week and so they lost. But where is the plan B? How do you adjust the game if the opponent’s set up does not work in harmony with yours? Melbourne quite simply cannot handle the heat when things aren’t going their way. I do want to acknowledge Neville Jetta though yesterday, he prevented the game from going catastrophic. Disappointment and frustration aside, I’m still hopeful for 2017. Oliver is going to be a star and isn’t so different from Cripps himself in the way he plays. Petracca will be a gun that will give us that edginess to our game. Viney is a machine and will have more of a leadership role next year that will be extremely valuable to the team. Watts will only improve, as will the McDonald brothers and Frosty. Hogan will amend his goal-kicking in preseason and Weideman will bulk up. If we can land Hibberd, he will be a very valuable inclusion and I believe Melksham will be too. Brayshaw and Hunty are also exciting prospects. Don’t also forget Gawn. There is a lot to be content and excited about, Melbourne just need to work on preparation, consistency and leadership. Jonesy and Vince cop a lot on here, but they have been instrumental to a number of our wins, don’t discredit them of that. I do agree, however, that Vince isn’t leadership material but I think he would think that too. He has only been awarded it based on the fact he is one of the few elder players we have in an extremely young team. Hopefully we finish off next week, not necessarily with a win, but at least a good contest like we have done so with many of our other matches of the year.

I understand the rationale to rest Hoges, but it comes across as a risky decision because though he has off days, when he is on, he is on. I just have a feeling he is going to have a cracker next week and make up for the past couple of games. That being said, it is tough trying to see how we change the team. On another note, can we just acknowledge how far Oscar McDonald has come? It really is all starting to pay off...

Sure am. You’re right about luck re winning a premiership. I mean look at the Bulldogs, they would no doubt have been contenders for the flag this year, but their injuries are holding them back unfortunately. 2017 might be their chance. This young team is incredibly exciting and we could do anything this weekend, including lose. We are young and so vulnerable to inconsistency, but when players like Petracca, Oliver, Stretch, Weideman, Hogan etc. add some experience and build on their talent, we are going to be close to unstoppable. The MFC is an exciting prospect for the entire AFL community because as teams like Hawthorn, North, West Coast and so forth are starting to age for the worse, we are starting to age for the better. The AFL is starting to see a new top 8 generating over the next few years and everybody can’t wait to see it.

Regardless of whether or not GNF’s post is legitimate or not, I think the case for his signature at the Dees is only getting stronger. Jesse watched the Hawthorn game from the stands on Saturday and would have been kicking himself that he wasn’t out there on the field. However, the game was a sweet, sweet glimpse into the Dees’ bright future and the club is really creating something special. No doubt Melbourne is building a premiership-bound team and when they do snag a flag, it will mean a lot more than any other premiership that has been won in AFL history. Melbourne have risen from what was an incredibly dark and woeful period for the club and I really doubt Jesse will want to miss out on the success and glory the club is now destined for.

If this happens, I genuinely think we could make finals. Momentum can be an incredible thing...

I was critical of OMac earlier in the year, but am now starting to understand the decision to play him since it is paying off. Oscar's last two games have been impressive and though he makes the occasional mistakes, he has been important. He is incredibly young and virtually a first year player, which I often forget and overlook. As he continues to bulk up and improve, I think he will be a very good defender and may even surpass his brother.

did it seem like Hogan would be more likely or less likely to play this weekend?

hopefully Dawes out instead

some clue to its reliability too...

Just because the players love Goodwin at the moment, does not necessarily mean they don't respect him. Since he isn't the boss at the moment and doesn't make the final decisions etc., there would be a more friendly relationship. However, I'm sure next year when he needs to make those tough calls, Goodwin will make them. He'll earn the respect when he fills the position.

He wore a black armband at a similar time last year too... I think it may have be in honour of a friend.

We could contend if we had a player like him

This is probably the most frustrating game we've had this year as compared to the other close games we've had (North, Hawthorn and Adelaide), we truly deserved to win this one. The other matches, it was a 50/50 match where both teams deserved to win at the end of the day, but there is no doubt today's match was ours to win, not theirs. We dominated in basically all stats except in our efficiency inside 50. They robbed us of what would have been an inspiring upset. In my opinion, it was yet again our defence and obviously efficiency inside 50 that cost us this game. Our midfielders and ability to get the ball inside 50 were outstanding, but we just couldn't exploit it and convert them into goals. Yet West Coast's ability to get a quick goal in the very few times they entered inside 50 was ridiculous - what sometimes took us a whole 15 minutes to get a [censored] goal took them 2 minutes. Umpiring didn't help either, but was not what ultimately cost us the game (though it did feel like it in the last quarter). We also shouldn't be too critical of players like Hogan, who are generally really important for us...had a quiet game, but so did Jones last week and many of our other stars in previous weeks. Once the frustration wears off, I think as Melbourne supporters we should be proud of what a terrific effort we showed today and should not be too critical. We aren't competing for finals and these are all games that will just make us stronger for next year and a more competitive side. I know a lot of you hate the 'experience' excuse, but it definitely needs to be taken into account. Even the commentators were commenting on how Stretch, a 19-year-old, is considered to be one of Melbourne's more experienced players having played 22 games now - that is astounding. I'm very excited for 2017 and the years to come once all our players have grown and developed even further and finally know, with their experience, how to win these close games.

Exactly. He does one good spoil or takes one good mark and then will somehow find a way to turn it over...needs to fix this ASAP.

What an excellent player! He and Jetta were our only defenders to show up today - both McDonalds cost us too much today.

Just frustrated probably. When you feel a game - that you should rightfully win - slipping through your hands, it gets pretty [censored] frustrating.

When we show up with our best 22 playing their best footy, I’d argue we are a shot at beating any of the teams (except St. Kilda at Etihad – I don’t know what is, but they’re just too good there and we just play [censored]). The problem for Melbourne this year is consistency and that is likely a result of youth and so inexperience. I think we will finish off with 9, possibly 10 wins this season and though this does not seem like an extraordinary improvement from the previous year, we have unquestionably made significant progress this year. Look at how we played against Adelaide, who in my opinion should be on top of the ladder right now had they not been robbed of their win against Hawthorn earlier in the year. Give us another 1-2 years and we will have hopefully acquired the consistency we need to build a campaign for finals. On top of that, if we recruit a strong defender before next season, we will definitely see an even better side than the one this year and it will allow us to let players like Oscar McDonald develop in the VFL and eventually reach the same potential his brother Tom has reached. No doubt we are a team to look out for over the next few years, but our main priority should be ensuring we sign on our big players like Watts, Hogan and T. Mac because if we start losing players like them, that is when we might see some hindrance in our progress. Yesterday was disappointing, but does not truly reflect our ability and progress this season.

That is a solid handful of some of their best players you have given there and whilst I know they still have a lot of other talent left in their team, you have to wonder if the appeal to go to Hawthorn would still be there once all those players are gone. However, Hawthorn evidently have an excellent coaching team and will no doubt continue to produce more stars for their future e.g. James Sicily. I do hope and think Hogan will stay. Following the Freo match at the end of the team song, you see Hogan give a little fist pump in the end – obviously very happy and proud of the club.

Have a funny feeling we might just get up and beat the Swans - or at least play competitively - this weekend now that they have Tippett out and we have big Maxy Gawn. However, they will want to bounce back after their match against GWS. I don't have any expectations that we will make finals this year, but I don't think anyone could write Melbourne off yet, or even a team like Port. To make the finals we would need to secure at least two big wins against either Sydney, Geelong, Adelaide, West Coast or the Hawks and I think if we bring our A grade footy we can. In addition, we need to hope that some of the current top 8 sides might start to slip in form and such teams could be West Coast or even North Melbourne (especially given North's hard fixture for the rest of the year, but still this is pushing it). It is also important that we don't have any dodgy games and lose to sides that we really should beat (e.g. Essendon round 2). Ultimately, I think our inexperience and therefore inconsistency will hinder us from reaching finals this year, but I see us being a strong force to make finals in 2017!

Word on the street is that Adelaide isn't too happy with Geelong's offer and are encouraging Dangerfield to pursue Melbourne. He's suppose to be considering this option very heavily as it's in his best interest to do what is best for the Adelaide footy club.