Dante

So you want the player stood down before he's been offered the chance to defend himself and before the charges are, or if they are sustained? What sort of society would deem someone guilty before the facts are established, maybe you live in one but I surely don't. I suppose you'd prefer he was incarcerated and, if found innocent, after trial, offered an apology.

We will never be a chance to win a flag as long as our skills (lack of) remain the same. We were outplayed and outrun yesterday but it was our own lack of skill that cost us any chance of winning this game, even when we got close we still managed to turn the ball over when under no pressure. We simply have too many players that lack the basic skills to play the game at the highest level and not enough on field leaders to lead the way, its like you go through a deskilling process when you join Melbourne. After yesterday I can't see how we can play Tommy in the backline any more, he just turns it over too much and is too poor below the knees, he also lacks core strength and is often pushed aside by much smaller players. If he plays forward he is a much better chance to mark than to spoil and would be of greater value, he is just too unreliable as a defender. I like the way Hunt goes about it but his disposal is killing us, Oscar does an ok job spoiling but I have to turn away when he's got the ball, Nev and Hibberd are trying to cover up for the others and its taking a toll. Lever in, Tom up forward should help. God knows where the ball will go when Bern is kicking in. Our midfield is lacking in pace and we need some outside speed, Kelly anyone, to offset this we can get the ball but it just goes round in a circle when we do until there is another stoppage. Our midfield clearances are always messy and we have to fight to clear the ball and then mostly hack it forward or to a player in por position. There was all this talk early in the year about it being impossible to force you way in to the midfield because of the number of in and under we have, well anyone that shows a bit of class should be able to walk in. Our delivery to the forward line is atrocious and it's no wonder that Jesse spends so much up the field rather that sit back and wait for the ball to be bombed on his head. We won games because of our unrelenting style of pressure football but that doesn't last, you need to have skill as well, we simply don't have it and until we do games like yesterday will continue to happen. Lesser clubs know how to play us and they do it so well, they exploit our weaknesses, which are plentiful and in some cases beat us at our own game, Norf are a classic at that, they play hard at the ball football and seem to be harder at it that we are and exploit our defence to score enough to pip us. Collingwood and the Lions out ran us but the Lions feel a little bit short. Freo beat us because the had Sandi and we didn't have Max, Hawthorn beat us because they always do, same with Sydney. We need players that can hit targets, preferably our own, not players that turn it over due to simple skill errors, then we might develop some consistency, and we need players with a bit of outside pace, until then we will still be Melbourne.

We can still make the finals and should, whether we do or not is another thing. We have had lots of players out injured, and it shows by the way Max played on the weekend, that players need a bit of time back before they regain full playing form, that was his best game back by far. During the middle of the season we showed that we could beat any side in the comp, but while other sides have moved on, we've gone backwards. Young bodies, players out and coming back from injury, all reasons, but at the end of the day we should be able to replace injured players, if we can't then we just don't have depth. Disappointing that we lost to Norf twice, that is the lowlight of the year, we seem to struggle against mediocre teams and should have put them and Carlton away by a lot more, particularly the way we were playing early on in the year. We were also a bit stiff that we played Sydney when they were flying and not when they were struggling, same with Hawthorn, they started to play better about the time we played them. I wonder if we should be resting players on some sort of rotation basis and if we have a player that's knocking on the door, play him and give someone a rest. Surely we could have given Trenners, BenKen and a few others a run in games where we had a full side, not when we had a heap of injuries. All we can do is hope we win a couple more, at least improve on 2016, it really is depressing missing out year after year and seeing different players make the same mistakes we always seem to make.

Scott said last week that Norf had a strategy kicking in to the wind and I guess that's because they play down in Tassie where it's always windy, we didn't learn a thing from last week and didn't have a strategy kicking in to the wind or kicking with it. GWS crowded our forward line in the second and third quarters, but we allowed their forwards to have an easy go at it, one out, or in some cases two out. We played like an under 12 side in the first quarter with everyone on the ball and as soon as they got the ball over the top they ran away from us, they were gaining in confidence with every easy goal they got. How did we allow it to happen, why didn't we drop a few in to their forward line and stop the easy uncontested goals. We got smashed in the clearances, outclassed around the ground, and we were comprehensively out coached, this week and last week.

The game was lost in the first half.

One of the most gutless and insipid halves of football I've seen, some of the players are just useless, in fact most of them are. Are they frightened of the wind? Can't be bothered watching the last half, I bet Goodwin would go home if he could.

I understand what you say about early draft picks and the possibility of having a gap of quality young players coming through, but realistically you can get some good players later in the draft. We learnt a lesson when we tanked that you may get the number one pick, but not necessarily the best player, $cully/Trengove, Martin. Hawthorn haven't had an early pick for a long while now but are rebuilding their side with older players and some later picks. Carlton have got some talented young players as have Brisbane but they are last and second last. We've got the basis of a good side and plenty of talented kids, now we have to top up with some specific players to fill specific gaps we have, if Lever is it then the club will know how much to pay for him. I'm not suggesting paying old rope for silk, but we may have a player or two who suits their needs and a first round draft pick and/or a second for next year, instead of a player.

Not sure why there are so many in this thread suggesting we trade ANB, I'd say he would be one of the first picked every week. The coach seems to have a really high regard for him and seems to think he does his job effectively most weeks, but here on Land, he's the first one to go. I'd be happy to get Lever but we have to balance it up with what we are prepared to pay and let's not rob Peter to pay Paul.

There seems to be a real bond between the players and the players and coach. Well done Corey.

P/Weak Melbourne

The thing that amazed me was he seemed to be at every game I went to, perhaps there were clones. The peanuts were good too, no such thing as peanut allergies then. After a game you could buy the sugar coated, jam filled donuts, 6 for $1.99 now they are $2.50 each.

41,954

Give it up Ash, you seem like a nice enough guy, but you are poking the bear here and you're not going to change opinions on this site. Being a supporter can be tough, the club does something wrong and sometimes, the supporters bear the consequences, in Essendon's case it just reinforces long held opinions. I've copped heaps of abuse from Bombers supporters over the years, I'd have to say they are pretty feral, them and Collingwood and Saints supporters probably the worst. One of my friends was a staunch Bombers supporter and when this happened he took all his stuff down to the Salvo's depot and joined the Dee's, he's been to a few games with us and he'd never change back, he was appalled at what happened. I never spoke to him about he just did it off his own back, he's also joined his wife and kids. Different folks have different views.

Probably Nathan and JV.

Nice storey Ash but I think you are talking to the wrong crowd, as Biggestred said, there has never been any acceptance of responsibility from those concerned at the club. Instead what did we get, denial, cover up and shifting of blame. The Club were responsible for what happened, period. full stop and the dust hasn't even settled yet but you expect everyone to just move on and forget it. I think before this happened, most on here hated Essendon, all this has done is increase that hatred. Not sure what you're trying to achieve here, you're not going to convince anyone.

I think that's just because most supporters on here hate Essendon, the drug cheating is just another reason for the hate. If I recall correctly Essendon were done for salary cap breaches as well, Melbourne were also done, thanks Cam Schwab. The AFL try to portray Essendon as everyone's second team, that couldn't be further from the truth.

They throw us a crumb as some sort of magnanimous gesture, to show they want to even things up, but as soon as we start to get on our feet, they show just how hollow their gesture is. They don't want it too even.

Oh! God, I hope Old Dee doesn't read this post, can you white out Weideman's name.

I mentioned this to someone at the game the other night, there were so many times when in the back should have been paid but wasn't. When you see some of the twiggy touchwood frees paid for incidental contact to the shoulder, yet someone is driven in to the ground, face first and nothing. What is the point of having a rule if it's never going to be enforced.

Interestingly, if you look at the initial part of the play, Gray has his arm around Nev's waist and if the positions were reversed and Gray was in front he would have been paid a free. It's amazing how forwards, especially high profile ones, are protected and backmen get nothing.

It's common knowledge that Tim Watson is a moron and his son is a drug cheat. Or were you referring to another comment

I went to the old Victoria Park oval one particular day, after a few frothies, with a couple of other Dees supporters and stood in front of the stand surrounded by Pies supporters and gave it too them all day, foolish move and on reflection I was lucky to have left with my teeth intact. We won and I was even worse after that. Went to Linton street with a few guys, one of which was a Saints member, we had had a belly full of beer and I made a complete prat of myself singing the Melbourne song in the social club rooms after we beat them, It was a stupid and ungracious thing to do and I apologised to my friend a few day later.

We have to agree to disagree Old, I'm going all positive over the Dees now, no more negative, I've had enough of that. We are finally in good hands and I'm going to trust the ones in charge to get it right, who knows they may get us that elusive flag before we leave this World. They have shown great faith in the players they've selected and I think they are right this time.

I have a sick wife and my son looked after her whilst I was at the footy, I had to race off as soon as the siren sounded so I could let him get home and so I could cook dinner. Otherwise I would have been there for all the renditions of the song, I would have loved to stay and cheer the boys off People have various reasons for staying, or going early.

I have a contrary view to that, I think playing him at the highest level shows Weed what's needed of him to enable him to succeed. This is not the old MFC Old, we have given him a look and we can now drop him back to the lower level and let him develop, he doesn't have to be the saviour as many before him have.