dees_rule_4eva

A good ruckman for a number of seasons?! Get your hand off it. He's had ONE good season, which he duly was rewarded with AA selection. One good season a ruckman does not make. He was embarrassingly bad on the weekend, to the point where we may as well have been a man down. He cannot get to a contest around the ground, and his pathetic body work in marking contests makes Paul Johnson look like a superstar. Jamar got out marked at one stage in our defensive 50 by CHRIS MASTEN. Masten is a quality player, but he is NOT a marking threat against a ruckman in a one-on-one situation. It was deplorable. Gawn in, Jamar out - ASAP.

Old Dee, WJ is one of the rare breed on this forum who have copious amounts of common sense.I completely agree with him that in times like these, the kids who are physically ready to play AFL should be exposed to the game. That is to say, players like Gawn, Tapscott, Kent, Strauss, Jetta - even Davis. Why keep playing the players who have proved time after time that they cannot compete to AFL standard? Sylvia is a prime example. Taking up a spot in the team when he does not deserve it. For the record, the only point at which I personally would call for the sacking of senior officials would be once they've had a chance to see their plans through. In the case of our senior coach, that would involve him coaching more than 24 AFL games.

Unbelievable selection for me. Toumpas is not ready, that was painfully obvious. Nicholson was horrible. Rodan actually gave us something in the first half unlike others. Bizarre. I'm happy with the in's, not with the out's though.

Jamar is a problem, and has been for a while. Is massively ineffectual in the ruck, and is a dinosaur around the ground. Has had one good season in a decade long career. I'd prefer sticking Fitzpatrick in the ruck and finding out what he's made of. Or Spencer. When Gawn is right to go, he becomes number one ruck. It's not going to solve our multitude of problems but it'll make me happy.

I for one will be stoked, and will celebrate. The fact that it will be another win provoked by a gutless performance the week before will make it a little less enjoyable, but enjoyable none-the-less. It's the 20 weeks afterwards that will show where we're at.

I am not kidding myself RR - I completely agree that there is a massive culture problem. I don't believe I used the term "knee-jerk" in my post either, so I'm not sure how I've insulted you. Change or die you say? Change everything now, after Round 1, and I guarantee the Club will go further and further backwards until the end of the season. At the end of the season, or even after a good chunk of the season, if things haven't improved and we are still a laughing stock, then make changes. Mass firings at this point in the season will only kill our Club. Which I don't want to see, no matter how angry I am.

Yep, appreciate all of that IWS. I certainly want the Club to do something to fix what happened on Sunday, I'm just not a fan of the old "sack them" mentality, as if that will really solve anything. Completely agree with your point that if you can't "get up" for the first game of a new season, and your best player in every regard was a debutant, then we have serious problems. I'm with you. There was a point in the game less than 10 minutes in, where James Frawley just jogged along while his opponent in Westhoff, sprinted to get the ball and dish off a handball to Hartlett, who goaled from 55. Why did this happen? I don't want to single out Chip, as there were plenty of others in the same boat, but its Round 1. If you aren't motivated to work hard and stop your opponent 10 minutes into the game, will you ever be? The whole thing was bizarre.

I am reading post after post of "sack Neeld, McLardy, Schwab, the Board, everyone". Do the people posting this stuff actually love our club? I assume you all do, because you are spending time venting your frustration here. What some people are failing to recognise is that by sacking all these people, our Club won't exist. Do you actually want that? I know I don't. I appreciate we are at one of the lowest points in memory, but I still love our Club, and I still want to go to the footy next week. I'm as frustrated as anyone on here, and Sunday was downright pathetic, disgusting, unacceptable, and all of the other words that have been used. But the answer is not to sack everyone. It doesn't achieve anything - the last 7 years should have taught you that. Sacking Daniher got us nowhere. Sacking Bailey got us nowhere. Sacking Neeld won't help either. Neither will sacking McLardy. Now more than ever the Club needs unity and stability on the inside. Sacking people will only make it worse (and yes, it can get worse). I can tell you exactly what happened on Sunday. An attitude problem. The entire Club was guilty of believing their own crap. "We've had a fantastic pre-season". "We're setting elite standards on the track". "The training & rehab programs are unrecognisable to last year". "The wheel turns quickly". Etc. Etc. That may all be so, but what all the players and coaching staff seemed to forget was that you still have to work hard and play the game to get a result. It seemed as if everyone rocked up to the ground thinking "We're so much better than last year, we'll cruise to a win today". I am hoping that it was just a massive reality check for them all. Just because you set high standards in training, and you train really well, doesn't mean everything will "just click" on game day. Work hard on game day, and maybe you will see some results. Don't turn up and expect things to happen, because as we saw on Sunday, thats crap. There may be many problems after Round 1, but sacking people is not going to fix the attitude problem that we saw on Sunday. I'm rambling now - my two cents worth anyway. Agree with me or don't!

I've noticed a couple of people mentioning that they can't wait for the season to start 2pm Sunday. I for one, want to see as many Dees fans at the G' as possible on Sunday, so I thought I'd make sure you all know ... It is 1.10pm bounce on Sunday!! Not 2 or 2.30pm! 1.10pm!! BE THERE!!

B: Garland, Frawley, Dunn HB: Watts, Gillies, Grimes C: Jetta, Jones, Howe HF: Blease, Dawes, Sylvia F: Davey, Clark, Byrnes FOLL: Jamar, Rodan, McKenzie INT: Viney, Toumpas, Sellar SUB: Terlich EMERG: Strauss, Tapscott, Macdonald I'm assuming that Clark and Dawes will play, while Trengove and McDonald will miss. M. Jones a bit unlucky, but has time. Pederson to come in if one of Dawes/Clark don't play. With the pre-season that Sellar has had, he gets a spot ahead of Pedo. It's not a terrible team on paper. Plenty of goal-kicking power up forward, and the backs look solid enough. Mid is still our problem, with the exception of Nathan Jones.

For starters Davey, Dunn, Gysberts & Cook have not all left as yet. Davey will stay, as stated by Neeld yesterday on SEN. I'd say Dunn will also stay, no indication from the Club that he is in danger of being moved on. That leaves Gysberts & Cook, who have not been mentioned formally by the Club as yet - but are both the topic of conversation on the rumour mill. So your mass exodus theory is a little flawed at this stage (although it may well prove to be the case). Gysberts, while showing potential, has not really proved anything at this stage and I wouldn't be heartbroken if he was moved on. I think he has alot of talent but needs to put on some serious size before he can mix it with the big boys on a consistent basis. As for Cook, I really don't think we're losing anything here (apart from wasting a #12 draft pick).

That sums it up really. I don't want any player in our team who doesn't put in 100%, no matter the circumstance. The fact that some of our players recently kicked in $30,000 of their own money to help the Club build a better playing list - that says to me that there are some genuine believers in this Neeld system. Moloney does not fit this game style, as he is far too one-dimensional. At another Club, probably will do well but as Jaded said, not going to help us win more games.

Spot on Billy. If there are players who don't want to do the work required, then they can leave - I have no issues with that. There are players out there who would bust their balls to get an opportunity to play AFL. If Moloney doesn't like what Neeld is preaching, I have no problem with him leaving. Ahhhhhh .... if only we had 22 players like Nathan Jones & Mitch Clark!!

Classy player with pace - he would have been a good pickup. Has the traits that most of our players don't.

Brilliant, am now wishing I never bought tickets haha. More looking forward to Perth in general, as I hear its really quite a nice city. Thanks for the info mate, maybe we'll see you there! Cheers

Ah ok great, at least there will be a few other people for us to whinge with! First time to Perth, so really looking forward to it, despite the inevitable pasting that we'll get. One more question - is it undercover? Forecast says showers so wondering if a poncho or something will be needed! Cheers

G'day all, first post for a while for me! I'm heading to Perth this weekend with a couple of mates (glutton for punishment I know). I organised our tickets through the Club, and I'm just wondering if anyone knows - does this mean we will be sitting with other Melbourne people? We're in Block 340, wherever that is! I'd be pretty disappointed if tickets that were arranged through the Club resulted in us sitting with no other Dees supporters. Any info would be great! Thanks.

Good riddance. Injury prone and to be perfectly honest, in my opinion an undersized and not particularly skilful player. Turns the ball over far too much by foot. We don't want players who are more interested in dollars than they are club loyalty. Enjoy playing for a farce of a Club Tom.

Who are Maloney and Trengrove? Those players don't play for Melbourne. Moloney and Trengove do.

Firstly, I want to make it clear that I think the right decision has been made. Dean Bailey is not the right man to coach this list going forward. I think Dean has done a very good job of re-building the list from scratch, to the point where the current group of players has the potential and the opportunity to embark on a prolonged period of success - under the right tutelage. What am I disappointed in however, is the way in which Dean has been relieved of his post. Hardly 24 hours after what was, admittedly, a horrendous on-field performance. The fact that 'crisis talks' were called so soon after the event disappoints me. Emotions are still charged, Melbourne people have fresh anger, and business decisions should never made when such emotion is involved. Look at the Adelaide situation. They played Friday night, had a shocking result, and mid-week the media were alerted to the change. The Board should have waited a couple of days for the hysteria to die down, let themselves calm down, take a deep breath and speak about the current situation with clear heads. That is basic business principles, and lets not kid ourselves, this is a business. I would expect better from a group of highly educated figureheads. While I think the right decision has been made, I am disappointed in the way in which it was done. Needless to say, there are aspects of this club that I am disillusioned with at the moment. Finally - thank you Dean Bailey for 4 years of tireless effort. While others might not appreciate what you did, I do. I hope you get another crack at coaching down the track somewhere.

Ultra important player to our structure. Having a down few weeks, but will get back into form before long. Imperative that we sign him up for the rest of his playing days.

Not sure many around here will want to talk about Marc Murphy mate. FWIW, I think he's a star. But lets back onto Demon players, I could name two in particular who take short steps. Anyone want to hazard a guess?!

I think the key for Maric is that he just doesn't perform consistently enough at AFL level when given the chance. He floats in and out of games, and you just can't afford to have passengers in the team in this day and age. Doesn't work hard enough, I agree with most of the comments here. If you look at Petterd's pressure over the past few weeks, that is what we need to see from Maric. I know he does it at Casey, I've seen him do it. I'm not sure what it is, but at AFL level he has never really looked at home. I think he's a good depth player to have, but like Bate, Dunn, Warnock and co., just isn't a best 22 player.

Petterd's kicking has always been a concern. His technique is very ordinary, as he drops the ball from quite a height. It's almost Cameron Bruce-esque. Because the ball is dropped from such a height, it has more time to rotate to a bad angle upon impact on the boot. This is why he kicks mongrels from further out. As you try to kick it further, naturally you enhance the flaws in your technique, so Ricky drops it from an even higher point when he goes for those long shots. I'm sure he knows about these flaws and is working on them. I'm just glad to see him in the side kicking goals, and more importantly, providing forward pressure.

6 - Watts 5 - McKenzie 4 - Martin 3 - Green 2 - Howe 1 - Scully (too many shoddy disposals)