beelzebub

1 minute ago, bluey said:

One point, we are not in crisis yet, 4/5 wins to finish and we will appear like a team on the way up.

Counterpoint

4/5 losses and we appear like a team whose time's up.

I think many are confusing or conflating two issues.

Will Goody coach next year ??

Should Goody coach next year ??

Yes he will

No he shouldn't

Thats the actual point.

And if he is .. I'll find a great deal of pleasure in other interests and pastimes.

Much time saved not worrying about Dland.

Not a fan of season re-runs.

The happy clappers may rejoice...

The off season might prove curious.

Wish my knees were up to skiing.

36 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I don't agree that we are a "useless bloody joke of a club" Beelz. We are all frustrated because the players, through their inept performances, are letting this Club, and our great supporters, down. Sure, the coach has to take some of the responsibility for that. What is so frustrating is that we have shown this year that we can match it with any side when we want to. Unfortunately, we have also shown that we can lose to any of the other 17 clubs if we are not switched on. All that aside, where has the incoming CEO backed Goody for '26? That was what i was after. I highly doubt that any CEO, before they have even officially started, would make that sort of comment. I think that is all D'Land BS. I do however recall someone saying that Goody was the man for '25 - cannot recall who that was though. As i said in another thread, I'm sure there is plenty going on behind the scenes that we are not, rightfully, privy too. The time for in-house action, i believe, is at the end of the season, not now. Who's to say we are not already doing research on any number of Club positions and possible players as we speak?

1 minute ago, Ollie fan said:

FFS can you and other people quoting my post please read it first?? The main point was about the mindless repetition of the same thing! Which continues in the replies to what I said!

So why read any of it ?? 🤔

24 minutes ago, Neil Crompton said:

I may have missed it, but who and when was it stated that Goody will be coaching us next year?

It hasn't.

The equation:

He's contracted through 26

Currently no one in position to actually do a thing about it. Current President won't. The incoming CEO has backed Goody for 26 ( apparently ) .

Even if Smith was of a mind... be too late .

So I don't see what machination can occur that will oust him ( just yet)

Goody survives become were a useless bloody joke of a club.

What an indictment.

11 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Yeah, I should’ve known better than to try to appeal to certain posters, especially at this point in time. Not ashamed to say my youngest son is struggling with long-term mental health issues and it’s currently at a very challenging level to say the least.

Sadly though, it just occurred to me that this is the probably the very reason I reared up against the relentless and repetitious negativity right now: because Demonland was one of my escapes from the harsh reality of my home life right now and I guess I need it now more than usual.

GW out. For now anyways.

Take care. Hope your lad's situation betters.

2 minutes ago, old dee said:

I think there is a big chance we have seen our last win for 2025. We simply cannot kick a winning score. It stands out what will happen between now and Mid 2026. We will lose most games for the rest of this season. We will go into next season with with a lame duck coach and FD who are being retained because we cannot afford to pay them out. More of this year's results will continue in 2026 why will they change? From April the questions will start like they have about Voss at Carlton. After a heavy loss in the KB game. The club will announce that Goodwin has been sacked. And another year will go down as failure.

Don't have Sat lotto #s there Old..

Your crystal ball gazing is likely spot on.

Bad enough we endure the current but knowing it's going to perpetuate... just b.s.

21 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

Right?!!! I swear to god I’d 86 Demonland in a [censored] heartbeat, I really would, if not for a group of genuinely awesome people on here. The negativity is one thing and I can handle that to a degree but the relentless repetition is suffocating and it’s clearly getting worse.

Unfortunately there’s nothing the admins can do about it (trust me, I’ve asked) since overwhelming and repetitious pessimism and just being a [censored] in general isn’t a breach of DL rules.

Reality check.

This forum is for all supporters to discuss Melbourne. The good the bad.

I'm fully aware you see things in way different to me, and others. There are those more akin to your ways. All in all that's a good thing. Promotes healthy debate and amicable banter.

It would prefer we were in more successful times. I really do. Much nicer to wax lyrical about success than it is to discuss our shortcomings.

You derisively vomit as to the idea of not liking losing. Are we supposed to like it ...and just say nothing ? Seriously I'm interested.

Many here, and indeed out in the real world are fed up with losing, the mediocrity and lame duck oversight and management.

Ghosty... it's very easy to not be disappointed by such talk.

Don't read it.

Me ...I get disappointed by reading about soccer balls. But I still enjoy yours and other's reports.

Go Dees

48 minutes ago, Ollie fan said:

I love this thread. 175 Pages of endless variety: Goody is hopeless, he's got to go, he's got to go, Goody is hopeless, Goody is hopeless, he's got to go.....

It's so positive and uplifting! Real true supporters!

You like losing ?

I don't

53 minutes ago, SadDee said:

Another bottom 4 finish for 26….

Book it in Dano

I'd buy him a beer, two even. Yep thanks , to you, the other coaches and team. Yep...no probs.

That was then, this is now.

It's anything but personal. It's actually just a matter of fact.

We're going nowhere. There's no indication we're going.... anywhere.

It's time. Simply that

All Good wins come to an end.

It does dismay me somewhat that apparently Guerra has backed Goody for 26.

The greater likelihood is that Simon will maintain the reigns for the time being but it would have done the incoming CEO no harm than to have stfu on such matters til at least he's been here 5 mins.

7 minutes ago, DeeZone said:

It’s pretty sad when you want your team to lose to get your own way, me I hope we win every game we play, I ride every win and loss with our team and hope fervently that we can arise again with most of our team intact and that we only trade in to cover immediate needs. ie a Back a Fwd and a Mid of some quality. I trust our coaches more than I do some of our supporters.

I'd concur save I'd trust the supporters more than the coaches.

Ours is a life long commitment. There's, well...essentially mercenary in some respects.

5 minutes ago, jackaub said:

We will run Carlton and Saints into form North and west coast know they can beat us

Thats actually my fear. Unfortunately we have a track record for doing just this.

It's sad to think that the team that has had the greatest run at beating Melbourne....

Is....

Melbourne !!

We've lost more games than we've won.

( some may need a moment to properly digest that )

1 minute ago, jackaub said:

Great action Plan Exactly who is going to drive it

Self interested introspective board members acting president Acting CEO who has zero football business experience

One thing that resonated with me is the incredible situation where we ignore the facts that we have serious problems. Smith and Guerra are insane to come on board if they continue to listen to the BS coming out of the club and don't accept reality

Who is going to drive it .... indeed 🤷‍♂️

No one currently has the moxy. Few seem to understand/admit the problem. No one seeing the Elephants and no one's feeling the urgency.

I don't mind in a fashion that the CEO has no footy resume. That might actually work in our favour as he can possibly work outside of the 'accepted' norms of the industry. No need to worry about " oh you can't do that, that's not how it's done " .

It's a business. The problem is it's run as a Club, nudge nudge, wink wink 😉

Melbourne's Brain's Trust

12 minutes ago, SadDee said:

Whats their plan?

5-22 in our previous games… surely something has to give…

When would you shake it up?

I'd shake it up NOW... but by now I would be referring to the instigating of change.

The first would be putting everyone on notice. A mini review. Not the waste of time review earlier. ( that's had wonderful results )... no, a better than cursory look at who's doing sfa to benefit the playing group. You'd run your eyes across the F.D. across coaching .. across the lot.

Who's essential, who's not. Who's f'ing up who's not.

Start negotiating with Simon. Everything IS negotiable. If you think it's not.... you've not negotiated 😉

Start short list of coaches available... up and comers, seasoned etc. Look to get fresh eyes , fresh ideas.. An aspirant together with experience mentor for mine is the ideal.

F off all the FD cloggers.

Inform the List Managers to sharpen their quills... we getting seriously jiggy jiggy ar the trade table.

In conjunction with that get better understanding of who can go, who stays.. contract exposures etc etc.

Time to prune the Rose bush.... lest it dies.

The first step is admitting there's a problem.

Currently we don't

I'd also address the playing group. Inform them the current state of play is not good enough. There will be change , there will be improvements. They would be told they are either part of the solution...or part of the problem. Everyone needs to understand the status quo will change.

Get on board or get out the way.

4 minutes ago, picket fence said:

Believes his own spin is understating it. He is more delusional than Davros!

There's only one thing worse than Goody believing his own bs..

The club believing it !!

9 hours ago, Sir Why You Little said:

It will be far more disrespectful if we lose to those Teams…

Yeahhh... wouldn't want to be..... them !!!

3 minutes ago, Ghostwriter said:

For starters, how disrespectful he is to call those teams easybeats, or any team for that matter. Very unprofessional

As distasteful as you find it the ladder supports his view.

17 minutes ago, titan_uranus said:

Presumably a standard Jon Ralph word vomit article?

He's only repeating what many of us are saying.

I for one take none of those games for granted and hope the team doesn't.

Goodwin's no nong, he'll know the club is hamstrung and rudderless.

As much as I'd think it best for the club he signed off it'll be 26 that the torch is lit under him.

Of course if we continue to nose dive... the drums will get only louder.

24 minutes ago, 640MD said:

Winning Finals football is like Rabbit stew,

First of all catch the bloody rabbit,

No point in beating top 8 sides , or losing by a point or two, If you throw away games against the lower sides.

You need to be in the finals race. And if you are there, then the pressure is on the other side to lose 50 - 50.

Catch the Rabbit, make the final 8 . Wins can look after them selves if you are there in September, we will be on a well deserved break in Bali or somewhere sunny.

Been there , been the entre .

Waste of time unless you're capable.

Moot now anyway.

We're not playing finals

32 minutes ago, Jaded No More said:

Or even Petty Jeffo and Roo together.

Jeffo is more of a third tall than he is a key position forward. He’s a good user of the ball and quite agile. I can see him playing more of the Fritsch role.

I am dropping Fritsch this week, for his distinct lack of effort for the past god knows how many games, and bringing another tall and playing Jeffo as a third tall.

I am not sure he gives us less effort than Fritsch at the moment anyway.

On light of what Red spoke of elsewhere possibly the trio of Petty , Roo and Jeffo has the greatest possibility of getting up. I don't know that any combo will make much of a difference though unless we change how we play in the front arc.

I'd like to see Petty take the biggest defender. I don't care who the opposition put their gorilla on but I'd like to see Petty take him irrespectively causing the cascade effect. Neither Roo , nor especially Jeffo are geared for it. Fritsch isn't a tall anyway. You could leave him in or not. I prefer Milky to Fritta .. You know #18 will put in all day.

Reality is we're just mucking around and seeing what/ who might click. Thats about it .

Very important they keep separation when ball brought down. We make it far too easy for opposition to defend currently.

End of the day we're doing not much more than playing out the year.

Every game's a dead rubber here on in really.

1 minute ago, D Rev said:

To be fair, Jeffo did do a couple of nice things in the game and did put in a bit of an effort - he was generally out bodied and out positioned by a (more experienced) defender.

Giving him more time at the top flight will help him learn and develop. There is possibly a correlation between his presence and JVRs best game in ages too.

Honestly, I wouldnt mind Jeffo, JVR and Kentfield all in the team.

Let's try that.

I mean, why not.

25 is dead. We're practicing for 26 now

25 minutes ago, The Taciturn Demon said:

And mostly I can't stand this sentiment.

(I fundamentally disagree with the widely held belief that we should look at the Carlton semi-final as a "SO CLOSE!" moment. Collingwood were a very good team and there was no shame in losing to them in the qualifying final. Carlton were and remain a wholly inferior team. Fancy letting Blake Acres kick the winner against you in a game to make a prelim. I nealy vomited when Matt Owies kicked an important goal.)

The problem is, this sentiment is not always wrong.

I remember scoffing at people who told me that at the end of 2020 there were clear signs of strong, meaningful improvement. I saw nothing of the sort. I heard people talking about so many close losses and such a great percentage and "Ooh, only one win outside the eight" or "We won six of the last nine" - and thought they were dreaming. We played every team once for the first time in... what?... ever... and were found wanting. Simple.

And then we won the flag the next year.

Now we're back to that "just one more roll" mentality - but without a 23 year old Oliver, a 25 year old Petracca and Brayshaw, a 26 year old Salem, a 27 year old Viney, a 28 year old Gawn, Fritsch and Lever in WAY better form, Tom McDonald resurgent, without Luke Jackson, Hibberd, Harmes, ANB and Jordon.

In truth, for a long while I thought 2026 might be a one-last shot season. Then I thought it might be a good launching-pad year for a new era. Now I think neither is true. Even if most or all of my original hopes came true - Oliver returning to top fitness, May and Lever staying fit, JVR becoming a solid and dependable key forward, strong improvement from mid-agers like Rivers, Chandler and McVee - we just don't have anywhere near the depth to compete. We're 5 and 11 with a percentage of 86 and Jack Billings is still right on the cusp of selection.

Kozzie, Turner, Langford, Lindsay, Windsor, Bowey, Chandler and Petty give me hope. But hope that we don't become North circa 2018... or worse... St Kilda since 2012. Not the kind of hope Goodwin is hinting at in his press conferences.

We've talked much recently , as a group , of Windows opened or shut or somewhere moving in between.

No one talks about the door. If we don't do something soon we may well find the door closing behind us. Much of our game that we lament isn't new. It just shapeshifts a little. We've never really dealt with our dearth of skilled players, our kicking is problematic save for a handful. What is the obsession with pockets 🤔 🤷‍♂️. Do we need team excursions to SpecSavers as our vision is poor. These aren't overnight surprises. It's with no surprise I find myself thinking that those in charge must think , well one of two things, either they will correct themselves... with a few more games or even more worrisome that it's not our real problem. We still are terribly inefficient in the front arc. Ahh just one more season will sort that out... surely.

The 20/21 itself has a few lessons . Not all obvious. We played a game of hold and wait. Denying teams their want to over-run us then counter.. It worked then worked better. It was like watching tides. But even then that almost wasn't enough in 21. The Dogs had experienced this and knew how to deny us. Truth be told imo had it not been for 3 or 4 players executing a number of exceptional acts the game was lost. They did, adrenalin had kicked in and we played out of our skins for the remainder of the game. That only ever works is those 'no tomorrow' games where everything is on the line. They are rarified occasions. Week in week out home & away contests can never replicate this necessity. The bulk of the season needs teams that are equipped with a good complement of skills/abilities and schooled well in sound footy processes.

Waiting for that to fall into place.. .. might as well be waiting for Godot.

Mind the door !!