Yencks

I for one would think it an absolute disgrace if Jeff Kennett came anywhere near our club. Jeff is absolutely delusional if he thinks he will have the support from our members, considering how disrespectful he has been toward Melbourne over the last 5 years (don't even get me started on the merger suggestions after everything we have all learnt about mergers). His words this year about Clarkson were completely inappropriate and extremely destructive. He runs around screaming and runs over everyone on the way through. Hawthorns success can be credited to a lot of people other than Kennett (Dicker, Clarkson, Fagan, Fox etc). "Hawthorn have a mental edge over Geelong" - he is a loud mouth dictator who puts his foot in it. He is a divisive and abrasive person and that is exactly what we don't need at Melbourne right now. We can't afford to have someone come in and offend the employees and players. I don't care what he did as Premier or at Hawthorn. Hawthorn was in a completely different position than Melbourne at the time of his presidency. It would be an unmitigated disaster.

Pederson???

See title

http://bit.ly/b0sM1X Does anyone reckon it has a bit of a Brian Dixon look to it?

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/105887/default.aspx

Really really good. Both of them. It will be interesting to see how the collar goes for fans that wear a t-shirt or shirt under the jumper at the footy. Might look a bit funny. Not an issue though. The only thing I am not completely sure about is having the emblem on the jumper. I think it gets a tiny bit complicated on the front for what is a very simple jumper but I will give it a go and see how it looks throughout the year. Well done Schwabby! A+

Very sad news. Club bigger than the player. Time to move on. We'll be alright.

I am lucky enough to own a jumper that James McDonald played in. I was the first and only bidder on his jumper. I'm pretty sure it was the Round 1 game against Carlton in 2006 that we actually lost. Don't know why they were auctioning off jumpers after that game. Anyway, turns out that it was an absolute bargain. Fast forward a couple of years and he is finally recognised as the legend that he is with two Blueys and is a well respected club captain. There is no way that a jumper of his would only have 1 bidder these days. Shame it doesn't fit me anymore.

What do you mean "after all this time"? 2 and a half years isn't a lot of time. Especially because 2 of the players out there today were in their first season and another handful were in their second season. Just because a team loses does not mean a coach "cannot communicate with his players" or "the message is too hard". Geelong lost on Friday night. They didn't score a goal in the second half. I wouldn't dare suggest that Bomber Thompson "cannot communicate with his players". Last night, Paul Roos, who some consider to be one of the best coaches, was absolutely annimated at quarter time and admitted that it was because the message was to "go long at the kick-ins" and twice in the first quarter, they went short and completely ignored orders. And before you jump down my gun and suggest that those two coaches have had succesful tenures, look at the first few years of Mark Thompson's coaching career and the list changes that he made. If you look at the change that has occurred over the past two years at Melbourne you can see that it is going to take "all this time" and a lot more for us to build a strong, goal scoring, competitive and consistent team. We have seen glimpses almost every week of the good ball movement and the good teamwork, however, young players like Scully, Watts, Garlan, Mckenzie and even Trengove are getting pushed off the ball against bigger bodies. I would blame the poor start today, from an observational point of view, more on the senior players than anything. Not that I have the right to blame anyone, but Moloney's influeunce was down early (only the 3 disposals in the first quarter), Miller was not particularly influential, Warnock was not having his strongest day and even Jamar wasn't being his usual dominant self early on. I believe that we are in no right to judge the coach yet. He has made some decisions, more often than not, in terms of a list management point of view, that I agree with. I think we won out of the Johnstone trade and McLean trade. I think it was caragrous to drop Jeff White, Adem Yze and Russell Robertson and cut them at seasons end. I think that he has revolutionised Aaron Davey and developed Warnock, Jamar, Garland, Frawley, Grimes and many others into promising players. He has changed our game plan. If you look at us in 2006, we made the finals playing a more defensive game, with less playing on and a more traditional structure. During 2007, it was believed that Neale Daniher tried to change our game plan over the pre-season to compete with the West Coasts and the Sydneys. Unfortunately for him, we had a horror run with injuries and simply did not have the cattle to execute ending in our horrid fall to the bottom. Bailey inherited an aging list, not suited to the modern game and had what some described as "the most difficult job in football". He has put us, even without a lot of wins, in a position to give us the best possible chance of winning a premiership (in my opinion). Most experts rate our young list as the most promising in the country. And that is what we have, a young promising list. It is not going to come togethor every week. My stance on this does not change after every result, each round. If there is not improvement in terms of results and on an individual level year by year however, then it is worth looking at. Being young is by no means an excuse for lack of effort, but I don't think that was the case. It is, however, a reason for inexperiance in difficult situations, being easily pushed off the ball, lacking condidence and struggling with the pace of the game. If your Greens, Moloneys, Millers and Rivers can't put it togethor early on (four members of the leadership team) and your captain is on the sidelines, it is still a big ask for the young players to pull out a competitive start even against Adelaide. That is why it is good to look at the big picture. Communication works both ways and if the players don't do what they are a told, the coach is not neccisarily the man to blame.

Stop jumping the gun. There are no excuses for losing games like this one against the Crows. However, take some time and look at the bigger picture. It is too easy to just blame the coach after every loss. One week, we did fairly well (draw against Pies) and everyone is full of optimism, one week (...techinically 2 weeks) later and we have a bad loss and everyone blames the coach again... Without being in the inner sanctum of the club, none of us can really justiy whether or not he has been a good coach because it is difficult to judge off the win/loss record. At the end of the day, our first quarters have been poor but it is not neccesarily an inability of a coach to emphasise this. I have a feeling that they would know this. The torch also has to go on the players.

Maloney? Travis Johnson?

I'm not sure if this will give away too much so don't answer if it will: Is there anything to do with the demon in the new emblem?

Sorry to prove you wrong Jaded, but these design are not just a Melbourne initiative, they are being universally used at every club. http://www.carltonfc.com.au/portals/51/carlton_shop.htm

I'm yet to be convinced he is "soft". He had a limited year last year and is this year playing a full season against men for the first time in his life. This type of physicality doesn't come as easily to some as it does for others. I think it a bit harsh to lable him as soft, at this age. People do the same for Cale Morton. There is a difference between getting outmuscled in the contest or not believing that you have the strength to compete in a particular way so trying to influence the contest from a different angle. A lot of this just comes with learning. I think it is probably best to give it a couple of years before making these type of judgement calls. "Strauss: he's soft. Great kick, but he won't make it."

Firstly, he wasn't captain of Scotch but that is irrelevant. Struass has performed will this year in the VFL. Everybody has bad games. He has been known to work extremely hard, is very fit and has great repeat sprints. Not to mention that he is up there with the best kicks in the club. Not suggesting that you are doing it, but after so many fans, inlcuding myself, have being proven wrong with Frawley, Warnock, Jamar and many others, it surprises me that people have such great expectations from players at a young age. He needs time, strength, practise and confindence just like any other young player. Being perceived as "soft" now does not neccarily equate to that trait in the future.