titan_uranus

https://twitter.com/FoxFootyAnalyst/status/335392320335781888

Here are the options: We come out and play football the likes of which we haven't seen us play in years. Just as we did against Essendon last year, we pull a blinder out of nowhere, it stuns Richmond, and we record a famous win. We come out and we play decent effort football, but, similarly to the Carlton game two weeks ago, we just aren't good enough. Tigers win by 30-50 points simply because they're better than us, but positives do come out of the game We come out and we play absolute rubbish. Similarly to last week, we're flat, lazy, disinterested, insipid, and embarrassing. Richmond by 60 at half time and 100 by the end. Take your pick of which one.

Just watched the last two minutes of the game on the AFL website. The high tackle to Selwood was a disgrace. The in the back to Shuey was just as bad.

I'm not trying to disprove your overall point that Sellar is crap (he is), but trying to argue Dunn and McKenzie were better than him is like trying to argue life is better in North Korea than Afghanistan. None of Sellar, Dunn or McKenzie were any good last week, and they're all lucky to still be playing this week.

Michaelangelo Rucci has written an article saying Demetriou and the AFL are preparing to look at changes to the AFL season, including: No more NAB Cup - there will be two pre-season games (essentially just for warming up) instead Starting the season 3 weeks earlier (there's no mention of how this is going to happen, what with the cricket grounds being in use etc.) Making the season 26 weeks long, instead of the current 24 (24 games + two byes) Change the finals to five weeks - week one gives the top 6 a bye whilst 7 v 10 and 8 v 9 play wildcard games; in week 2, it reverts to the current finals system Rucci's been quite humorous and slid in two MFC gags in the article, which is here: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/afl-premiership/the-afl-is-reportedly-prepared-to-extend-the-season-and-finals-while-introducing-a-top-10/story-e6frf3e3-1226645046985#.UZWOqSv88i5 I'm not a fan of a top 10 rather than top 8, but other than that, I would be in favour of all these changes. The NAB Cup is pointless, it shouldn't exist. If it's possible to start earlier and run the season a bit longer, I'd like that too.

It's rubbish. Does anyone need an article to tell them that Richmond is better than us? Of course not, everyone knows that. This article is just Connolly enjoying making fun of how bad we are, making fun of those like Voss and Lyon who said good things about our future in 2010, and pumping up Richmond (I assume in the hope that they crash again this year, providing more things to say).

Oops. Well, even so, at least since the game, we've seemingly made more of an effort to own up to our failings, as opposed to simply not seeing it coming.

Videos I've stumbled across over the years: - this was the first of three games which we needed to win to make finals, having lost 7 in a row. - this was the second of those three games we needed to win.

There are a few interesting things to note in all of this. The first is that what Dawes said is entirely correct. Effort shouldn't need to be coached. Neeld shouldn't need to teach how to put in an effort, and the fact that many are baying for his head because he can't get an effort out of the players speaks volumes of many people's lack of understanding of that point. However, it's clearly one thing to say what Dawes, in effect, is saying, which is 'if we put in the effort, we'll get there'. That is easy to say, but, from the body language and mentality being shown weekly by the players, it's much harder for this group to actually do it. The more we keep saying it, the more we keep focusing on it, the more we will keep failing to do it. I'm a big fan of Dawes, both for what he brings to us on the field, and off it. I'm also in favour of this article, and I agree that, whilst Neeld is really struggling in game day coaching, it shouldn't be completely up to him and the coaches to get the players to do some of the basics. I also like that we have players being honest in the media. Some have whinged about the 'we didn't see it coming' rhetoric, but we haven't heard that this week. Garland and Dawes have spoken honestly. Note the lack of an apology - Dawes doesn't say 'I'm sorry' or 'we're sorry'. He simply acknowledges that the players aren't trying hard enough, and that that is a pathetic state of affairs reflecting poorly on the players more than the coaches. That's a fair assessment.

I don't dislike Wilson because I think what she says is incorrect. Of course, some of what she has said has been proven, in fact, to be incorrect (e.g. the whole 'Schwab will be sacked' stuff about the tanking). That just adds to it. What I don't like is her overall negative 'journalism'. I can't even remember the last time she wrote anything positive. I'm not talking just about Melbourne here, just in general. To fill paper space she seems to just write negative stuff about clubs. She is sensationalist at times, making things sound far worse than they are (she is guilty of doing this with our tanking inquiry, our 'relationship' with Dank, and the Essendon drugs stuff). Her opinions often revolve around people needing to stand down or resign or be sacked (think Schwab, McLardy, Evans, Hird, Brayshaw). She often takes one piece of 'evidence' (sometimes she talks about something in the public domain, but many others she refers to what she's 'heard' or 'learnt') and runs a massive piece on it. She very regularly writes the same thing two or more times, just using different words, but the same overall theme. She is a waste of space and I don't enjoy reading anything she writes, whether it's on Melbourne or any other issue. That's not because she's saying things I don't necessarily believe, or even want to believe. Melbourne's crap, she's not wrong about that. But it's the way she writes her tripe that I just can't stand anymore.

Would have to be up there with Nathan Jones in the B&F.

Right. 'Yet'. That's like a player going down with an ACL in their first game and then saying 'I haven't seen anything good from him yet'. Of course you haven't. Toumpas has played four games. Any negative comment about him after four games is nothing short of ridiculous.

Is this meant to be a positive or negative comment? I don't understand the repeated use of the +.

That's not what CB said, though. He said that he's seen nothing from Toumpas to suggest he'll be better than Wines. Whatever he's seen, that conclusion can't be drawn at this time. That has nothing to do with our previous drafting history and everything to do with MFCSS/myopia/stupidity.

That doesn't mean he won't be better than Wines. This kind of myopic, MFCSS view doesn't help anyone.

It's too simplistic to say it's the players' fault. It's also too simplistic to say it's not the players' fault but the FD's/coach's/CEO's. There is absolutely no way you can apportion 0% of the blame, for want of a better word, on the playing group. There have been so many instances this year of players not doing the small things which are doable whether you're 100 points up or down. Clearly the state of the club off the field has hurt the players and has created an environment in which it is difficult/impossible to be elite. That is why our draft picks have continually floundered over the last few years, and as such, until we fix it, no new players are going to make us any better. But as we begin to attempt to fix the off-field stuff, we can, and should, still expect our players to put in more of an effort than has appeared to be the case in about 4 games so far this year.

Caro's article today says nothing. Read it. Then stop and think, what have I learnt? You've learnt nothing. Nothing at all.

I agree with your general point, but not with the players you've listed. Of yesterday's 22, mine would read: Dunn Nicholson Spencer McKenzie Strauss Sellar I rate Bail, though I seem to be one of few. Evans I think has been far from our worst, and it's too early to call Kent out. Byrnes I thought showed quite a bit against GWS and Brisbane to get him out of this group. Dunn is pathetic, his 'job' on Judd last week was Judd's doing, not his. Nicholson has speed and nothing else. Spencer has gone nowhere in the 6 or however many years we've given him. McKenzie is a hopelessly one-dimensional footballer who can't even do the one thing he's asked to do, which is tag. Strauss is VFL grade at best, brings absolutely nothing to the MFC side. Sellar isn't even VFL standard. Then there are those who didn't play on the weekend: Rodan Blease Pedersen Gillies MacDonald Fitzpatrick Really, none of these players should be playing AFL football. Blease is about the only one with any upside, but he's just continually not getting there, not even for Casey. With this number of players for whom it's difficult to see an AFL future, too much is left to too few, too often. Then you add in Trengove and Watts not playing to their best, Clark, Dawes and Grimes being injured, Viney, M. Jones, Terlich all being first year players, Toumpas clearly not being ready to play this year, and we're down to even fewer.

I think it's somewhat unfair to call Howcroft out on his perceived lack of football knowledge. I'm sure there are many board members at other clubs whose experience is not in AFL, and I'm sure Howcroft does bring other things to the table. Having said that, if his response to criticism is 'you can always just vote me out', I do not respect him as a board member. That is a terrible attitude to hold, totally disrespectful of the position. Change at the board level is imminent, and I'm sure will bring positive change to the club. It is but one of a myriad number of steps that need to be taken, and, in essence, is one of the minor ones with regards to improving our on field position.

Inaccuracy doesn't help. 4 behinds in 4 minutes?!

I'm not watching or listening, but just looking at the stats: We're up in the clearances 18-17. However, contested possessions are 66-48 their way. Inside 50s are a terrible 27-18 their way. The worst, though, is that they're winning disposals 184-123 but also winning tackles 29-14. Improvement in clearances, clearly, but without any improvement anywhere else.

I think Judd's lack of form lulled everyone into thinking Dunn did something last week. Judd's not even close to his best. Ablett is, and Dunn is being shown to be the insipid footballer he really is. Moreover, if we play Dunn as a tagger, we now have no role for McKenzie. How he gets a game is beyond me, if he's not tagging. When you look at our list and you read Dunn, McKenzie, Sellar, Strauss, Nicholson and Spencer, it really shouldn't be hard to see why we're crap. That doesn't excuse being 40 points down to the Gold Coast at the MCG, though.

Interesting article in The Age today: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/the-contest-is-up-20130506-2j3p2.html. Michael Gleeson looks at the figures for contested possession differential and clearance differential. He notes that only two top 8 clubs are in the top 8 for clearance differential (Fremantle and Carlton). Rather unsurprisingly, Melbourne is 18th in both categories. However, more surprisingly, Geelong is 17th in clearance differential, Collingwood is 16th, Essendon is 14th. Meanwhile, GWS is 4th, the Bulldogs are 3rd. For contested possession differential, Geelong is 14th, Fremantle is 15th, whilst Gold Cost is 4th and the Bulldogs are 5th. We all also know that we were leading in both these categories at half time on Sunday but were losing the match. Anyway, I'm not sure I'm drawing many conclusions from this, I just found it interesting.

It's sad, but I feel the captaincy is stopping us from dropping him. From what I've seen this year, he's not best 22. Whether it's an injury, external pressure, something mental, or just poor form right now, I feel he's only playing because he's captain. He should have been dropped by now.

I've only seen 5-10 minutes of game time, but it's heartening to see Garland, Tapscott and M. Jones getting amongst the votes. Frawley too.