heartbeatstrue

What marquee players would we get in return for those players you've offered?

The only way we will get a player of any value (which I do agree with you we at least need to explore the option of trying to get a key fwd through trade) is to offer one of our draft picks from this year before the Gold Coast and West Sydney rape the draft process.

Barry Hall might be available... (which is about the most ridiculous I can dream up) :D

We cannot (and I trust will not) let go of picks 1 & 2 and the next one (assuming we have them as it now seems).

Seriously, Morton might be worth offering as a sacrificial lamb, but who would you want in return??

What would you propose doing with the forwardline, Hannabal? Do you think our forwardline (let's say: Watts, Aussie, Jurrah, Maric, Bate, Sylvia etc) will be good enough? Or are you thinking, we'll use a later round pick to bolster the forwardline and use our first 3 picks to build this elite midfield?

With Scully and Trengrove or Morabito + best available at 3rd pick, a vastly improved mid-field, many of the current forwardline problems go away.

Done. After all, it's a team effort

A gentleman! thx. And I agree, impressive team effort by demonlanders...

Add Grimes to our best. Replace Morton if you like.

What do Demonlanders think? I'm enjoying them.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/demon...5961405002.html

As well as all the other emotions, I actually found it funny when Ablett goaled against us in the first 10 seconds. I think if I didn't see humour in following Melb through football-life's fortunes and (mainly) misfortunes, I would be very twisted by now. Character building is what I tell my kids, who got inflicted with my Demon passion. I think it's gotten in the genes or something.

I remember my first grand final where Melb won. It was 1970 and our reserves were unbeatable. I was very young and queued beside a Salvation Army lady with a tin to get a standing room ticket. Fully satisfied after watching us win, I stayed and was even more satisfied to see Barassi's Carrrrlton overun the Pies in the big one. Jezza's mark is indelibly imprinted in my brain.

I've had great times following Melb. And great pain. But it's worth it, and I live in hope. Probably for my kids, the way it's going (wry grin). Flanagan seems to capture some of the essence of life that only us Melb supporters truly know. And seeing the funny side is a very necessary part of it (it even seems funny now being chased through the back streets of Abbotsford after a particularly ugly game at Victoria Park one Saturday afternoon) :D

We didn't earn any by tonight's effort, either.

Herald-Sun:

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...6-19742,00.html

Lions obliterate Demons

AN AFL draftee put in a standout performance tonight - unfortunately for Demon fans it wasn't No.1 pick Jack Watts.

I'm thoroughly sick of the scorn being put on MFC & us supporters.

Please drop these players:

Brad Miller

Russell Robertson

Ricky Petterd

In:

Maric

Strauss

Barts

Add McLean and PJ

we're the junk qtr specialists.

Is there any chance we could get the ball and kick it to one of our own players?

We don't have those skills..!

Bring back Maric.

Bad to worse. Can't kick for goal, can't pass the ball 15 metres. Jones continuously getting caught holding the ball. PJ can't kick, no midfield. Nothing.

This is just as bad as anything we have ever put up, our skill is not even up to VFL level.

We have turned the ball over almost every time we get it we have no midfield and no forward line.

Our game plan is non existent and reminds me of rounds one and two from last year, we are dreadful and it must raise questions about the coach we cannot continue to put in these insipid performances. We don't gut run, we don't tackle hard enough and we don't show any desperation. We seem happy to let time go by and watch the opposition score at will.

Spot on!

P.S.- STOP GIVING IT TO DAVEY!!!

If Bailey doesn't wake up that this is not working, then something's very wrong in coaching land.

Davey could be such a useful, damaging attacking player. Brisbane don't give a stuff how many possessions he gets under the current game plan. It's useless, such a waste of Davey.

Frawley and Davey our best so far.

Add Grimes to that.

Disgraceful 2nd qtr, makes a change from disgraceful 3rd qtrs. Hate to think what's coming next..

Woeful skills, turnovers.

Watts should forget Robbo, do it yourself man!

Sam's just a clown. His knowledge of modern football is two dimensional.

Chris Connolly is fantastic, love his passion and he speaks authoritatively about football and MFC. He'll be hurting as much as we all are.

And yeah, I remember the nightmare of that '88 GF. Only good thing is we lost the record we didn't want when Geelong beat Port by 119 in 2007.

Since the day Norm got the sack, we lost our Mojo & respect.

We had it in spades during the '87 finals series, right up until the final siren at Waverley. It disappeared with Robbie.

we've lost a lot, the last two weeks. And it hurts, we all feel it. Every Monday morning. What you read about our footy club in the papers. The disparaging remarks on the Footy Show last night.

I was starting to hold my head up, despite following passionately the bottom side. Queen's Birthday ruined all that (doesn't help, all the Collingwood supporters at work).

Here's a summary of what I wrote after last Friday's game, it's still relevant and it's still hurting.

We disgraced ourselves Queen's Birthday, in front of a big national audience. It's horrible being a supporter after that miserable 'effort', you just want the next game to hurry along to redeem us all - players, coaches, supporters alike.

Well, here it was. So, how was it?

Overall very poor. Third quarter was pathetic. Again in front of a national audience. It's still too raw, but here are a few major gripes.

1. Overall, no pressure. Where is the intensity? Too many players hanging back, soft.

2. Poor coaching, what were the setups? The plan? How were goals to be scored, other than simply by pot luck? It looked awful. If it wan't poor coaching, then the players deserve a rocket for not executing whatever was meant to be happening.

3. Skills overall are woeful. Kicking was bad, decision-making just doesn't improve.

This from the Age on the missing game plan is typical. Sad thing is, we deserve this criticism.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/rfnews/insip...5522784150.html

The question is whether Melbourne was actually playing to this game plan in recent weeks, or if, because of the shocking skill level displayed, it is fair to even presume the Demons know what their game plan is.

Coach Dean Bailey and the Demons should be condemned for the insipid third quarter on Friday night when players were dispatched behind the ball to no avail. If this was an instruction, then it was a poor one. If it wasn't, then why were they there and who was leading on the field?

There are positives and I'll stay alive dreaming on them. But hopefully coaches and players appreciate the importance for us all, and the team culture especially, of earning some respect from this season.

24,000

And they'll all be going, salivating at the prospect of a thumping win by Brisbane.

If he maintains those skills plus gains a greater awareness of where to run and how to operate at this level then we will have a player who is special.

Delicious, even!!

(sorry, couldn't help it... one Friday night game and I've heard too much from the little fella :D )

Now that Richmond and North have lost their coaches, Bailey will come under the microscope a lot more. And after tonight's effort on the heels of the Queen's Birthday debacle, there's probably some justice in that.

Laid a fierce tackle in the last, which really impressed me. He has really good intensity, and is constantly finding space.

Edit: I never thought anything at a game of football could surpass Melbourne's crapness. Well done McLaren you tool.

I liked Watts' ability to find space, and he's a lovely accurate kick. Think his tackles will be better when he's bulked up and stronger. Not sure how quick he is, though.

McLaren was ably supported by his two cronies. They loved the Friday night national stage, it was all about them and they made sure every opportunity that they were central, getting noticed. And they kept the Essendon crowd happy, mostly.

If there was any justice, not one of them would umpire next week. Our game deserves far more professional umpiring than the self indulgent crap we suffered tonight. But then, they're not accountable for such pathetic performances.

Does anyone else think we look for Davey to much?

He is a great kick and should set up play but at times it's as if they (the players) stop and look for him then pass it to him, some players just need to stand up and create play for themselves.

Morton was VERY VERY poor tonight.

Watts look very raw. Cant expect much more though, we need to keep playing him. If he gets around 10 - 13 touches and a goal a game he deserves to stay in.

Yeah agree, there's quite a few who instinctively look for Davey now and give it to him even if he's in no better or even a worse position. It looks like big lack of confidence in their own skills and decision making. At least Green has a go himself. We need many more ball carriers out of defence.

Morton doesn't deserve a game next week after tonight's 'effort'.

Watts needs some leadership around him up forward, someone to fly the flag and instil some toughness in him. I'm worried all he's going to get by way of example is soft players who won't apply defensive pressure. It's as contagious as swine flu.

We disgraced ourselves Queen's Birthday, in front of a big national audience. It's horrible being a supporter after that miserable 'effort', you just want the next game to hurry along to redeem us all - players, coaches, supporters alike.

Well, here it was. So, how was it?

Overall very poor. Third quarter was pathetic. Again in front of a national audience. It's still too raw, but here are a few major gripes.

1. Overall, no pressure. Where is the intensity? Too many players hanging back, soft.

2. Poor coaching, what were the setups? The plan? How were goals to be scored, other than simply by pot luck? It looked awful. If it wan't poor coaching, then the players deserve a rocket for not executing whatever was meant to be happening. Except in the last qtr when they started to use the corridor.

3. Skills overall are woeful. Kicking was bad, decision-making (eg. Paul Johnson giving away a mindless 50 metres and goal) just doesn't improve. Obviously skills are being worked on, so why aren't they improving? Players reached their limit of ability, or coaches not getting through? We supporters have a lot more suffering ahead.

4. Shocking umpiring. Most Melbourne tackles were paid as in-the-back frees to Essendon. Blatantly one-sided, if it was chance then it was a remarkable lesson in statistics. It will be interesting to see the overall free kick ratio. At one stage it was 11 to 4. At the very least, the umpires were far too quick with the whistle, that alone ruins a game.

Positives? Loved watching Jurrah, he's exciting, anything can happen and it's usually good. Should have had at least another goal if someone had used their brain and shepherded the ball through. Again, big question mark over decision-making. Loved Watts' first goal, and seeing the second go right through the middle. Please, don't let Jack catch the 'soft' disease. Grimes is good. Bate did well. Not enough from the seniors in the side.

Sadly another week for hanging the heads.

For Many people QB was the first time we had been seen this year & a lot of those would have turned off by Half time. So ch 10 would not have been pleased either. The QB telecast is worth a lot of money for the Broadcaster so a blow out was the nightmare the MFC did not want.

There can be no excuse otherwise we may as well not bother.

We'll be on TV on Friday night too, so I hope that Bailey's got them battle-hardened and fired up for a much better start than any of the soft starts so far. Otherwise, if in front of a national audience we disgrace ourselves a second time in a row, the damage to the club and to Bailey and to some of our players will be considerable.

Not to mention us damaged supporters...

I've refrained from joining this convo because I thought a couple of days relection was needed. Yes we were very bad on Monday but this is the same team that made Geelong, Hawthorn, StKilda and Footscray earn their possessions. Yes we were very bad on Monday but Collingwood has done the same thing to us both times this year. Yes we were very bad on Monday but the game was horribly over-hyped and I'm sure this is part of everybodies reaction. I could go on but people need to remember that, despite us playing kids and messing around with the team structure to see what will work next year and beyond, we are moving forward. Between our top 3 draft picks last year they have 1 game. We have no forward line. We have (at my count) 4 players from Mondays team that will not be on the list next year. Bailey is doing a damn fine job under very difficult conditions. The people here that want instant success would be better off following Geelong but those that want to see a very good team come 2012 will understand that patience is required.

Good post, agree totally. One qualification for anybody tempted to run off to Geelong. What will be the average age of their list in 2012? I actually suspect that this is their last year of such dominance.

The biggest worry for us I feel is your comment "no forward line". We aren't going to be able to recruit a whole new one. We need better from both the current forwards and especially from the forward coaches (and Bailey in this area). From all I've seen this year, we could innovate better with what we've got. We need the forwards coaches to be creative and think outside the box.

To not be too pessimistic, remember we've got Wona, Jetta and Jurrah waiting in the wings. And Maric gaining experience and confidence every game...

Plus we already have these sorts of players.

Morton and Newton (when he gets a game)

......

Miller too, especially when he's playing with confidence.

(someone built like Dew would go a long way)