Maybe next year

Was ND coach yesterday? The game plan seemed identical. Chipping from one pocket to another pocket in the backline. Moving up along the wings. No wonder they were exhausted by 3/4 time. Play up the corridor and conserve energy. Run in packs. Do something different. If Robert Flower was still playing then maybe I would allow you to play the wings. But he isn't - so don't. Oh and Newton, if you want to play FF, you have to be able to kick goals from 30m out dead in front. Neitz has an excuse - he is 7o yrs of age (tongue in cheek). Neiter why would you put yourself through this again?

Prior to the bounce yesterday Carroll spent a few minutes trying (and I mean trying) to rough up Buddy Franklin. All it seemed to do was fire up Franklin more. Now this is meant as no disrespect to Carroll who I think tried his best yesterday, but he is a head shorter than Buddy. Franklin is a good player and with the delivery he was receiving would have kicked a bag full anyway. I do not see the point angering him to make him more determined. Interested in others' thoughts. Ps. DB, please do not play Bell at Full back again. He is are only player who can run the ball out of the backline. There is no point replacing a midget with another midget. If you wanted to try something, plug the space in front of him with Bell. Just my thoughts.

I couldn't have said it better myself. I do think people on here are a little harsh on Bruce and Green although everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I think these guys do try their hardest and are suffering the effects of years of being put in one position one week and another position the following week. Green would be a fantastic half forward. Bruce could have been anything if left to master one position. Just my humble opinion.

I am positive Melbourne are hopeless this year but as a true supporter I will continue to watch them week by week and consider that there will always be next year.

I took my son this morning to his first super Aus kick clinic where Melbourne players were in attendance. It was held at the Sandringham Oval. by far the majority of players who I spoke to were an absolute delight. The ones who stood out were: Daniel Bell, Isaac Weetra, Cam Bruce, Jeff White, Brad Miller, Robbo, James McDonald and Colin Garland. I was especially wrapped in Daniel Bell who went down on his knees often to speak to the kids at their level. Apparently they all had a good night last night and had few injuries. I was a little disappointed with some of the players who I felt did not go out of the way to make the kids feel very special - in particular Aaron Davey, Adem Yze and Brock McClean. I did see them later on with other kids so I probably just caught them at a bad time with my kid. Afterall, I suppose they do not have to be engaged with them all the time. Anyway, a big thanks to the club because my child has not taken the smile of his face. Much of the conversation with the players involved the following: (1) Glad to have a win. They had a good night last night seeing there is a bit of a long break between games (a bit of alcohol was drunk) (2) Davey's knee is bruised but should be ok (had a little limp). Some players didn't even know he hurt himself. (3) J-McDonald had a good laugh with me over the interchange discussion with Godfrey in the last quarter. (4) Colin Garland is playing at CHB and will be tried in a few positions (5) Will not be long before Newton gets a game (from several players) Anyway - go dees.

Anyone know what the story with Davey's injury is? Also how did Pickett go in the VFL. Saw he was among the best players.

I hear we have a new tactic next time we are nearly 8 goals up at the start of the last quarter. We rush it in for a behind. Then when rge umpir ecalls play on we run around the goal line and when we are about to be tackled we tush it in again (hopefully taking up about 45 secs). We do that for the whole quarter meaning that we win by one point. Sorry to be sarcastic but the last quarter was pretty crappy. We looked tired I agree but we had more men on the bench and I am sure I read a few threads ago that we always run out games which is why we need to support our fitness coach. In my humble opinion we have a better chance of defending if it is in our forward line then in our backline. To finish positively, we done Melbourne today. A well deserved victory. To the guy sitting behind me who continually bagged Bruce, Green and Danners. I hope you are choking on your words.

6. Green 5. Bell 4. Bruce 3. Wheatley 2. Carroll 1. Johnson P (last 1/4 efort outstanding)

When sitting in my seat at the MCG watching the umpires continue to give the Demons a hard time, I became amused when a person yelled - bring back Darren Goldspink. Well, this fan has his wish. According to SEN, he is back and will be officiating the Melbourne vs Adelaide game. Let's just hope he gives us a fair go. Good luck Darren and welcome back.

Could not agree more. Surely someone did a reference check like you would in any other business. Perhaps if they were 400m athletes they would be the fittest they could ever be. Pity this is AFL. I remember Neiter saying that the team was at 100% fitness - ready to win the premiership. I had a feeling then, that something was not quite right. Oh well.

Holland is GONE. Interesting that we played well when he was off teh ground in the last quater. Unfortunately he is too slow now. Maybe he is ok on the big FFs (ie. Gehrig, Lynch. etc). Out: Holland, Ward, Brown, Frawley (not ready), Miller (needs confidence) In: Whelan, Rivers, Sylvia (if fit) , Bate, Yze/Newton

6 - Bizzell 5 - J MCDonald 4 - A Davey (for his chases and commitment) 3- N Jones 2 - N Carroll 1 - C Bruce Neitz does not deserve a vote for 1 qtr of football. Robbo played a better game. The defence deserves much of the credit for today.

I would like to recruit Archer as our Backline Coach. Him and Voss would be fantastic. We may even be able to sneak in Hird as our forward coach. Aaaahhh - to dream. Go demons and go Byron.

We have potential superstars - McClean (if he stays injury free), Bruce (when he is given a set position), Rivers (when he has support and is injury free) and Davey (when he applies himself consistently). We need to play more as a super team rather than have a superstar. PTA won a premiership without a genuine superstar. Same with the Swans (perhaps Goodes or Hall are superstars). If Neitz would remain injury free he could probably be like Hall. Rather than need a superstar, we need a good medical team and perhaps more imprtantly a fitness coach who knows about football rather than athletics.

(1) My team as follows: Backs - Whelan Carrol Bell HB - Wheatley Rivers Petterd (Bartram when fit) C - Green McClean Johnstone HF - Bate Miller Davey (instructed to push back) F - Neitz Sylvia Robertson Ruck - White McDonald Bruce Int - Yze P. Johnson Jones Godfrey (Moloney if fit) When Pickett serves his suspension, he comes in and Wheatley goes out. Green moves to HB and Pickett to wing. I would give Miller 3 weeks to show what he can do. If he stuffs up I give the role to Dunn for the rest of the year. Any injuries and I just play the young guys - Frawley, Newton, Garland, Buckey. (2) I would have 2 players on each wing. One goes in to help the centre players and one goes wide ready for the kick out of the square. I place David Neitz and Robertson in the pockets so that if any team wants to flood they do it away from the corridor. SHould the ball go down there, I know Sylvia will mark and goal. It also allows Neitz and Robbo to lead towards the centre corridor rather than always to the pockets where conversion is unlikely. McClean stands with the best onballer at the hitout because White usually loses it. Once the ball is out of the centre, McDonald moves on to the best on-baller and runs with him. (3) No kicking backwards. I would love to see Melbourne players run in packs. Bate is the primary HF target because he holds his marks. When we have possession in the HB line, Davey follows Miller everyewhere until he gets the confidence to hold a mark. If he drops it I know Davey is there. If he marks it, well we know he handballs it anyway. I believe in the kick long strategy. If they put two on Neitz I tell Neiter to stay at the pocket. Same for Robbo. If they have the loose man down there I tell them to avoid that area. (4) The biggest improvement must come from the kick-ins. Play on immediately when you get the ball. I try and look for Wheatley as much as I can with Rivers next. I go long down the wing where Aaron Davey is playing. I like the huddle at the CHB position with players running in set shots. I believe in attacking. We have te forward line to win games - extra emphasis on set shots at training. (5) I sack my assistant coaches. They have let me down. I recruit Voss as the midfield coach. I recruit Ben Hart as my backline coach. I recruit Paul Hudson as my Fwd coach and to teach the players how to kick accurately. My ruck coach is Jim Stynes because he is good withthe players and he often played shorter than others. He would teach Jeff White how to run around the ground. I ask Neale to hang around as player welfare officer - if he refuses I go with Stephen Febey or Guy Rigoni. I look for a ruckman and full back in the draft offering picks and money for Rutten at Adelaide or Glass at WCE. More so than Chris Judd.

After such a game I was trying to think of some positives. My mum always said if you have nothing good to say then don't say anything. Therefore, I will not comment on the game. Instead I would like to congratulate and thank the Bentleigh Club. I along with my family ventured to watch the game at the Bentleigh Club thinking we had an outside chance. It was apparent after 10 mins we had no chance. The Bentleigh club kindly provided finger food for all the supporters there at half time. It was a lovely touch and the only positive to come out of the game. Maybe it was to stop us supporters from throwing things at the big screen. In any case, thanks Bentleigh Club.

Hi All, I have been impressed with the players over teh last couple of weeks. They have shown great endeavour and commitment. As they have said themselves, a 10-15 min patch has cost them the games. I think it is not realistic to say we will make the finals and I think th eplayers themselves may admit that. That is why I think they may win this week. It would be great if Melbourne could be the first team to beat the Eagles at their home ground for some time. It will be a great launching pad for next year and a tremedous boost for the young boys. We will also have players coming back (although I would rather rest them if not 100% - especially Rivers who apparently has a bad back - no point him sitting on a plane for 4 hrs or so). I have heard a couple of players already say this is an opportunity to show what the team can do. Sure they are instructed to say this but I just have a feeling they may do it. May be worth a bet this week. GO DEMONS PS. For what its worth, Bell v Judd, Godfrey v Kerr ( will really annoy Kerr). PPS. If Cox misses I will be really excited but our luck this year is shocking so I expect him to return. PPPS. Expect Miller to be out injured and Holland to play CHF (not sure if I am happy about it but I think this is what is going to happen).

I very rarely complain about Danners but today I blame him for the loss. Sure he did some good moves (particularly the way he used Aarton Davey and Dunn on the wing). However, the runner should have been out to flood teh backline. Not only was there no flood, he left it more open than usual. Where were the runners? So disappointed today but I do feel a win is around the corner.

Anders is right! The David Neitz was there althought it was very technical. We can blame oursleves for losing this to the same level as blaming the umpires. We turned the ball over far too much especially in the 1st quarter. You can always blame umpires but that would be taking the easy option. There were mistakes and yes it probably cost us some goals. We have to stop putting ourselves in a position where the umpires have an opportunity to "cost us". As for Dee-viator who implied that Bruce did not try his guts out. I say he is just about the only one who has the entire the year to date. He played with a calf injury today and I am sure tried his guts out all day. Sure he turned the ball over a few times but he was not Robinson Crusoe. There is so much player bashing here. I am 110% sure every player tries his best every week.

I know I will be abused for this but I have to say that I find some supporters in our crowd very confusing. People a few rows back seem to abuse every Melbourne player for a variety of things, including but not limited to no effort, poor dosposal, no chasing, etc. This went on throughout the game. Players like Miller, Bruce, McDonald, Neitz all the target. What confused me - no frustrated the hell out of me was the same people giving the playes a standing ovation like I have never heard after the game. It may have been the disappointment of losing, the frustration of the umpire but I turned to my the people I was with (yes who I was with) and said what are they clapping for. They obviously heard and started to abuse me like the players before hand telling me not to come and not needing supported like me. Maybe it is supporters like them that keep some people away. I hate people who just abuse our players. Perhaps it is just me. If you are going to encourage the team at the end of the game, then do it also during the game. On saying all this, I would prefer to see the standing ovation for games we put in 4 quarters. We are getting close and hopefully next week. I have just had enough of giving standing ovations worthy of a final win when we lose. I did that all through the 80s when we win one game and by one point. I was probably harsh and I am ready to receive the abuse from everyone here also. It was a good effort by the boys and I recognise this. I look forward to giving them a standing ovation and jumping up and down when we win next week.

I understand what u r saying. However, when the kids leave the game and see their team lose they are very sad. Later, when they get teased because Melbourne is hopless they will be frustrated. FOr that I apologise. On saying that, it makes the wins more enjoyable.

My first post. I had to sign up to publically apologise to my children who are 8 and 6. I continued the family tradition and encouraged them to be Melbourne supporters. From the moment they were born I was singing them the Melbourne theme song and I am proud to say they could say the word "acqaintance" before they could say "Mummy". They are now die hard supporters (as much as they can be at that age) and join me (and my parents) every week to enjoy (I mean suffer) Melbourne play. I am 38 and am beginning to give up seeing a premiership in my life time. At least I saw two grand finals - shame they were both thrashings. I hope that one day they will get to see a premiership. Anyway.......... MY APOLOGIES KIDS - IT IS MY FATHER"S FAULT Ps. Can anyone suggest how I can explain to these kids what a "Demon" is and how this compares to the "SAINT" who their mother supports.