Lord Travis

So that’s nearly it then. Most realistic way to make it now is for us to beat Essendon and Dogs to lose to Freo.

Hogan kicked 4 today. Wish we had someone capable of doing that for us!

West Coasts on-field leadership got them over the line last night. Half their team out injured, down with 7 minutes to go, top 4 on the line. Naitanui, Gaff, Hurn, Sheperd, Darling, Kennedy all stood up in key moments and dragged them to victory. Good clubs have leadership all across the ground, and you look at those names it's leaders on each line. It's exactly what we're missing - leadership across the club. Board, coaches, players. We brought Lever and May across for their leadership as much as their playing ability, but on-field leadership outside the backline is seriously lacking. The forward line lacks decent players, let alone leaders capable of standing up, inspiring, and directing others. Until we fix our leadership issues, it's irrelevant if we make finals or not.

No excuses or whinging. We’re our own worst enemy. We’ve had a dream run with injury this year, nearly the least games lost to injury of any club. Credit to the fitness staff. We’ve also had some very favorable runs with the umpires in matches this year too. Just two weeks ago we lost to 2nd last Sydney who were missing Buddy, Rampe, Heeney, Mills off the top of my head. We have a history of losing to extremely weak opposition. I’ll never forget when we lost to an Essendon replacement team.

Technically possible, but it's doubtful considering our pathetic recent efforts against bottom clubs. We'd have to win both matches and rely on others losing. We had the chance to cement a finals spot and we blew it by repeatedly losing to bottom teams. We don't deserve to play finals, and even we miraculously make it we're not a contender and will likely get thumped by whoever finishes 5th (likely West Coast in Perth). We need to focus on 2021 and turning overhauling our midfield, forward line, and game style.

Then what the [censored] is our excuse?!

Ditching 10 players and keeping 6 is an overhaul. I agree I think an overhaul is needed and mostly agree with the players you've suggested to keep. Not sure Bedford is much chop though, and Harmes would be rotational only, not a pure forward option. The tall marking and goal kicking forward is our most obvious weakness. Weid is the only bonafide tall forward there, and he can't be relied on alone to carry that load. Jackson should be part-time forward only and also still have question marks about his intensity at the contests and aerial marking ability.

It's the team I'd pick from what's available, but I don't think it's a team that would be successful. Our midfield and forward line both need a complete overhaul. I can't see success with our current crop. It's middle of the road at best.

If Cerra wants to come back to Melbourne, a Cerra for Brayshaw straight swap is a fairly even trade. Brayshaw is clearly better than what he's showing at the moment. He'd suit them as an inside mid to help take pressure off Fyfe, win ball and feed his brother and other runners. He's a proven gun in 2018 when playing an inside midfield role. Cerra is younger and far less proven, but as a more outside leaning player he'd suit us. The trade only works if Cerra wants to come home though. I have no doubt Gus would be happy moving to WA to play with his brother and be with the rest of his family again.

Below is the team I'd run with assuming no big trades occur and we have our current list. I expect the club to be quite pro-active and move a few players on, potentially trading Brayshaw and making a few surprise delistings. I've heard from a source that Bennell likely won't be around next year. Body still not up to the rigours of AFL and he doesn't offer enough offensively to compensate for serious defensive shortcomings. There's a vacant wing that we need to bring someone in the play. I'd love a rounded midfielder like Shai Bolton or Zak Butters to help fill that spot and as a midfield/forward rotation. We also need another quality tall forward who hits the scoreboard. Not sure who's available or who we could land, but TMac has struggled and Weid can't carry the load on his own if he gets double and triple teamed. I still see Jackson as more of a ruck and follower than a forward, though he could help with our tall forward problem in the short term. TEAM B: Lockhart May Lever HB: Rivers Petty Salem C : Langdon Brayshaw ??? HF: Harmes TMac Melksham F: Pickett Weideman Fritsch F: Gawn, Oliver, Petracca I: Jackson Viney Hibberd Tomlinson

It is ridiculously low. We are the oldest football club in the world, yet we have only ever had 1 player reach the 300 game milestone. Let that sink in. Compare that to Hawthorn as an example, a club 40-50 years younger than us. They've had 8 players top 300 games and around 40 top 200 games. Compare it to West Coast, who have only been around for 3 decades. They've had 21 players top 200 games and have Hurn closing in on 300. 3 decades and they've nearly caught what we've done in over 150 years! We've had poor development forever as a club. As a result we've lacked star players compared to other clubs. Flower was a very special player, but the fact we still talk about him as a measuring stick shows just how lean the past few decades have been. When you compare us to other clubs we truly are an abysmal failure outside the 50s-60s.

Development. We are poor at it. Fin.

As grumpy and annoying as Garry can be, he is 100% right with his comments about the MFC. He is a frustrated Melbourne supporter like the rest of us. The difference is he has a platform to voice his frustrations. At this point blind Freddie can point out what the club has been unable to fix for longer than I've been alive. Everyone but the coaches are seemingly aware of our issues. We have good players on paper who don't play well together due to poor coaching, systems and development. We still lack leadership at every level, from board to coaches to players. There is no success or premiership in the foreseeable future for the club until we address the leadership issue that have plagued us for decades.

Love to get another Spargo and Sparrow in to rocket us up the ladder ? It's looking bleak in the short term.

Supporters often still say "we're a young side". We're not. We're ranked 9th for age. IMO Rivers is the only 22 and under player who has shown he'll definitely be a long term player. Jackson we haven't seen enough yet, Pickett is a worry to be honest. Petty showed a bit, but jury is still out and with injury now he might even get cut if lists shrink. There's no others under 22 worth noting. Teams like Brisbane, Richmond and Port Adelaide are all younger. Brisbane are muuuch younger, yet are still producing better football than we have for 15 years. Our core of Oliver, Petracca, Viney, Gawn, Lever, May are mostly mid 20s, some later. Our core is a good age profile. However, we traded away our chances at young talent to get some of them in, so if we don't capitalise in the short term then we're in for a world of pain in a few years as there is a gap of young talent coming through. We loaded up for a flag tilt and it's not happening. We as a club lack leadership throughout. The coaches are obviously clueless. The players are clueless and lack onfield leadership. The board etc don't know how to turn the place around. The only time the club improved this decade was when we had Roos as coach and PJ as CEO. When they left the leadership and direction evaporated. We need to get some strong leadership in at all levels.

Was happy when we landed him in the late 20s and reckon he'll be a ripper. He's already showing poise, toughness, skill and a bit of dash. Unlike some of his team mates, he looked like he was giving it his all last night even when he was clearly in pain from a big hit. Respect to the kid. Please stick with us and don't go back to WA!

Sh*thouse.

Unless we took Serong with pick 3 then he was beyond our grasp. That said Serong has been very good this season and looks like he’ll be a good long term mid forward. Pickett has been pretty poor thus far. I was vocal that he was the wrong choice at our draft pick and I stand by it. What we are seeing from him is pretty much his whole underage career in a nutshell - barely touches the ball, barely kicks a goal, barely relays a tackle, but he looks exciting running around quickly and flying for unreality marking attempts.

We’re ready for another rebuild. Midfield needs a complete overhaul. Forward line needs a complete overhaul. Coach needs to change. Enough of this [censored]!

Rubbish half of football. Freo controlling this game. Goodwin outcoached again. This club is going nowhere with the current playing group and coaches. Even if we miraculously make finals, we’re not doing any damage. What a [censored] waste of time.

Thanks for posting the interview. Wasn't too hard hitting, but nice to see Trenners talk about his career that was cut short. He was terribly unlucky with how his career panned out. Being made captain of the worst club ever at 20 years old and the foot injury... dealt a very poor card. People forget how good Trengove was. He reminded me a lot of James Hird with some of his smarts and the way he bobbed up at the right moment. He also was very versatile and a great mark for his size, very similar to Jimmy Bartel. He was a super talent. An old mate of mine who used to be in recruitment for a big Victorian club still rates Trengove as one of the best underage talents this century. Skills, smarts, toughness, leadership, flexibility, he was the perfect young talent. I'd argue he had a better first few years than any current demon bar Oliver. Trengove and Dustin Martin went 2 and 3 in that draft and both were neck and neck in terms of stats and impact for the first few years of their careers. Trengove shone more as he had leadership ontop of the brilliant footballing ability and output. He then suffered the foot injury and Dusty stayed injury free and kept improving. I truly believe Trengove would've been an All Australian midfielder if he'd got over the foot injury and not lost his pace or kicking ability. Very unlucky how it panned out. I'll always have a soft spot for Trenners and admire his positivity and constant desire to keep pushing and trying when others more fortunate couldn't be bothered.

He handed Goodwin a finals ready list that Goodwin himself helped shape and get a head start with. In a few weeks times Goodwin will either be 1/4 or 2/4 for making finals. It's not good enough. We've failed to adapt to 6-6-6 and failed to adapt to everything else as quickly as most clubs. 4 years on and we still don't really know if Goodwin can coach. He still doesn't know how to get the players performing consistently either. It's not good. The chaotic unplanned nature of 2020 will buy everyone a pass. 2021 is huge for the club. Deep finals run or bust IMO.

Your calculations are pretty accurate. We need to win all 3 remaining matches to make it. If we lose one, it means we've dropped a game to a direct competitor and we miss out. 2020 is done. Even if we miraculously make finals, we won't be challenging and will likely be straight out. Time to start planning for 2021. Midfield needs to be overhauled. Coach needs to change. Game style need to change. Selection committee needs to change. We're a ways off being a legitimate contender.

Excuse seeks to justify failure and avoids accountability and change. Reason seeks to acknowledge and accept a fault, the first step to positive change. The club can beat its chest and make all the excuses it wants. The reality is this club has been a failure for over 50 years and it doesn’t appear like we’re making great strides to changing the weak mentality that’s plagued us. Some people are pointing to 3 states in 5 days or whatever as an excuse. We’re not the only club to have done this. Others have done it and still won. It’s not a valid excuse, and the club and it’s supporters need to demand more if we ever want to become successful again.

Good clubs don’t make excuses. We continue to make excuses and remain a loser club.