beelzebub

John...thanks for your insights. agree nothing ever in life is cut and dried is it..always some extenuating circumstance or influence. Your view im interested in on thsi matter..as might we all. Is it simply a case though that should you cross that white line... then all that happens as a result is up for scutiny without reserve to all of the above type conditions ? Most of us are monday morning experts.. with any or all of what football experience probably past and not of the level you played at ( I dont count my Richmond little league appearances of over 35 years ago as all that much !! lol )... so in that light are we over merciless ( translate passionate and blinkered ) or is it very much a case of you payz ya money ya get to make the call ?

the omen is we win the toss...lose the game !! lol aww..c'mon folk...we have to laugh...lol.. ( no more tears left..lol )

real scenario.... time taken to get over injury.. add time for getting match fitness and up to speed. A speedy recovery Robbo :-)

he's been around ten years...he's not effective

Sylvia seems to be flying under the radar at present.....they are keeping the wraps on this guy. Agree..Sore ?? what multitude of physical deficiencies is this meant to cover ? Is that like the guy who said...honeslty officer i tripped and fell...then stumbled into the door ?

what did you expect.. he was there mainly in the context of the coaches assoc. ..that...and what is he going to do...even if he did have any real surprises he's hardly likely to let anything out of the bag. just another affable display by the likeable coach ( effective NO...likeable yes )

to be realistic...they dont know how much damage really.. ( til the scope ). For: he does like to get back into it quickly Against : He does like to get back into it quickly ( and he might just rush things ) A serious hole in our armoury.. Try somethig different Neale.......please :-)

( just taking the mick ) coz it works well to build upon the foundation of sh!t !! :-))

there is no order to who has said any of this first...but we now have enough threads ( in a fashion ) to thatch together a reasonable image of what is wrong . For a man called the "rev" ....who espouses belief in his men, especially to pull themselves back from obscurity or from spinning endless into the abyss, he seems extremely reluctant to give real credence to the belief his club has in its youth, its draft picks etc...As pointed out here...Micky Mouse at wobbly land is onto the remedy, the same one Sheeds has known for ..well , it seems forever. Play the people whom youve shown enough interet in to draft etc. What do you do otherwise,keep them under lock and key forever til they grow tired of waiting ? These guys want to play. They have shown they can at a 'cetain' level. what do we lose by playing some?...oh gosh..w e migh lose. Neale, the word is we probably might anyway so playing them now is almost at no cost, or would you rather wait til everything is actually on the line ? As CB points... as a club we are way too conservative at the most inappropriate times. Now is not the time to retreat back into mediocrity but an occasion to treat adversity as opportunity. I too would love to see Juice in...also what has Dunn done ( sorry ) to deserve his incarceration at Coventry ? Hopefully Petterd might get a few minutes. Dappa ..youre not the broken record.. its our club :-( round and round we go, same ol' hurtful cries of "nearly there's" all accompanied to the jouous strains of " we played some dumb football".........."we played some dumb football '..." we played some dumb................ " Its now ten years of this brand of religion; the skies have opened all but too infrequently, with forecasts of sunshine but only delivery of rain. Apologies , i dont recall who said it here , but they were dead right, Danners seems incapable of originality only the poor copying of others ideas. And all i see coming is repeat failure. Something has to change.

ahhh League teams... the good ol days of Footy shows !! :-)) thanks OMR ...interesting insights.

10... oh hang on ..anticipation..... thought it was ANXIETY !! make that "0"

even worse...its got no ticker... its just simply stopped !!

as they seem capable of inflicting more damage... lets sign up 22 Sausage rolls to don the Red and Blue !!!

I think possibly the biggest lesson we have yet to learn is that some players whom we thought still had yards in them have actually peaked.. and are being overtaken. Some have surprised me...some just plain dissapoint

I for one dont underestmate Chapman for a moment...rate him well.. he does have some...strange days though. on same note..Belly is gaining game by game.. I rate him as up to the job. Chapman is good but succeptible.

well... the alarm has alreay gone off... Neale's hit the snooze button and he's been caught napping !! Going to have to start again !!

A reality check ? wholeheartedly agee About 15 players and a coach need one for sure !!

I like the cut of your jib !! exactly.. now the real answer must lay somewhere between tempering unbridled enthusiam for a youngen with the preparedness to try some of thses guys when they're warming up , and not necessarily a real red hot certainty. How many times has Sheeds pulled some kid out of the bag ?.. we are a tad too conservative in approach as a club, giving some players far too much lattitude on form ( Danners calls it unswerving belief...to others its just foolhardiness ) whilst at the same time requiring the young tearaways to jump through hoops doing somersaults whislt ol' yella snoozes in the pocket !! Melbourne must be the most frustrating club to be drafted to !!

At the risk of sounding heretic...im not that fussed ...( or rather blinkered ) to winning games at this point. Now I'll qualify that.. Given our dire circustances its not really a reasonable call to suggest we will win that many ( if any ) in the near future. Do we play the vets knowing that we will only ( any maybe ) get a so so result ? Or do you recast your lot and start seeing what some of the kids CAN do? We pretty well know what PJ can do... unfortunately not as much as we hoped. Dunn has shown some definite glimpses...lets build on that. Am all for Fergs playing at present. I would agree Garland is a bit of a ways off .. but personally would like to see Juice up the front at the moment. He does at least know how to play the sharp end. Frawley was viewed by some as a near "ready made".. ( but alas..even he's a casualty ) Sometimes cicumstances dictate opportunities. Again not suggesting all at same time.. but certainly my preference is to try some of them under fire instead of just giving an ol battler another week simply because he's been around longer. I respect the opinion of many that the season is far from over.. but short of the best comeback since Lazurus we really arent in the hunt for top 4 anymore ( if we were at all) ...My simple point is...do we bumble on...or treat this hurdle as an opportunity.

some semblance ( well quite a bit really..lol ) of truth.....spade calling if you will. We all run the risk at times of letting som eallegiances spoil our clarity of vision when assessing some players. yes folks...even the good ones can lose it..( the shine that is ) ..sometimes its gone overnight.. sometimes its just fading that inocuously that you dont really espy it . The image of the former champion is superimposed on the rosey glasses as you watch a game. We all expect a lot of very good players to keep on getting better.. but even they plateau out. Finks is right on the money here I reckon. maybe it is just a bad patch for Cam, but irregardless as he alludes th e opposition arent as preoccupied with him as they were a few seasons ago and lets face the truth he rivals Bennyfor kicking ability 10 m out. ( Id actually back Benny in preference!! ) Brad is waxing and waning. t o this punter he like other s ( about half the team at present ) all seem to need each other to be on song... they are like ten pins at present... one down all down. Only a few Brocky ..Bartram Neeta even will take it upon themselves to impact... Jones is even doing this. like our fav old lab...even ol' yella gets past it. We at MFC seem stuck in some mould of perseverance at all costs ( thats cut off nose to spite face for others ) .. The winning teams ( premierships ) are far quicker to be rational and cull those that arent quite firing on all cylinders any more. next time youre at the footy with ya mates.. listen to the ones who barrack for another team( and who carry a balanced outlook )....see who they rate at Deeland !! its really an eye opener...

qualify "earned it" ..seriously.. this is the whole point.. we can go down a long protracted path ..according to some rule of thumb..or if some of the kids have shown a little promise.. throw them in.. Sheeds would... Mathews does... they realise often timing is a cruel partner, but sometimes you just have to roll the dice. some of these guys arte playing Ok , possibly without setting any worlds on fire. When there's a fire you need water.. or do you wait for the firetruck ?.. you get it from wherever it might be. Personally im tired of waiting for all the tomorrows we have been promised. Some of thses kids are no longer 'kids' in footy trerms, they simply havent been given much of a chance because other supposed more mature, better equiped players have EANT their games.. like hell they have !! they are the ones letting the jumper down...give othres a chance to show something... worse case..we might lose...!! guess what...we probably will anyways for a few months. Time for something out of the box.....not the same ol same ol..

with all due respect Biz represents the past, we need to get some of the 'future' playing. play a kid or two.

well at least his flash thingy might relieve us of the pain of remembering !!

what IS !! what is.....is that its 2007 and we are heading into round 3 with , and lets be honest folks, not a lot of optimism. We have three very good players out for at least a month, a couple of players who wil need some good slight of hand to convince the selectors that they too arent afflicted and anywhere of up to a dozen players who seem to have awoken sans their afl-super powers !! Any of us have had a think about where we might be in a few months time and it sure aint pretty !! For me there are really two ways of playing this. First : continue along the path , the methodology, the style we are and plug the holes with like gifted ( sic ) players and continue on as best as can. or Lets get Jiggy !! Accept we arent goig to set the world on fire for a couple of months... and bring on some of the lads. ..each according to endeavour , enthusiasm and potential. Bring in Dunn , Newton, Buckley , Frawley...even have a look at Warnock and Neaves.. let the Fergunator have a run. You dont need , or indeed want to bring them all in and on at once.. but what are you waiting for sometimes in life... if but an opportunity to show what you can do...and often there's no time like the present or when the call goes out.."who's prepared to step up to the plate? " we often talk in footy about building for tomorrow..yet strangely all our games aare today !! The games are played in the present. How long do we wait for players to be 'ready"...what tell tale signs mark these supposed games whereby champions are born ? Are there special notation in the 'record' , today is the day for " fred ".. etc... No. There is only that mother of invention....necessity. There are never perfect days for improvisation, theyare just like others. yet the inspired and the brave will grasp these and make some sort of effort out of it. As a club , a team you either start assuming the victim's mentality and despair...oh woe is us. OR you get a little proactive, seize not only the day but each moment; throw a little caution to the wind and become daring. i mean ..what are the choices... play who we know and how we know...and know the outcome..or give some guys a red hot go. who knows..we might just discover something...or we might lose a few games.. Simlar results but diametrically different attitudes.. And this club could certainly use some attitude are you game MFC ? can you be innovative Neale ?

twas when good coaching was the norm !!