Choko

Well let me tell you, this was a dead rubber against a side with more at stake. We were always going to lose. It's just so Melbourne. Personally, I don't care that we lost today, for two reasons. Firstly, it does mean a better series of draft picks. Secondly, there is no way we can wallpaper over the gaping cracks that exist. Also, any fantasy that TV would be coach is gone.

You guys seriously have some warped, paranoid, ignorant or all of the above views on this fellow and on the legal system..... Let's put it this way, the guy didn't just have a football in his face. He sustained quite serious injuries, including his glasses shattering in his eyes and having to be taken in an ambulance to hospital. So instead of having a go at a guy who got injured in the workplace and dared to exercise his statutory right (not against Melbourne in any event), maybe stop being such keyboard heroes.

I don't know if I'm allowed to say, but you're not that far off!!!

Yes, let's push live betting on the scoreboard, on TV (with more live games to come), on the radio stations, and everywhere else, then come down like a tonne of bricks when integrity is breached. So AFL. But the thing I actually find most offensive about it is that it actually is making a family friendly game more M rated due to how pervasive the gambling messages are.

Well, I do sometimes think I don't live on Earth.

I support you 100%. Even the NRL has intervened because of pervasive betting. The AFL is driven by the almighty muller, and this is a rod they have created for their own back.

He is actually sore. I will repeat this every tenth post. It will be ignored by those that see what they want to see. He may stay or he may go. Doesn't change the fact he was going to play, but is too sore. FWIW, I think he'll stay.

Fitzy is going to play and has been told so.

Hehehe. 100%. He actually does have knee soreness.

I agree that this was a good debut, but I would be interested from those who have watched him more at Casey, whether he is a good kick and decision maker. A big negative that stood out to me was that his kicking was sub-par, but maybe that's a bit unfair on the kid.

Let me think about it. No.

This keep the seat warm argument keeps getting trotted out by the media. It is a really misconceived concept. Let's just think it through and people should consider how likely each of these steps is: - Viney gets the job - Viney agrees that he will be in the job for only one year, no matter how well he performs OR we don't tell Viney that he is a lame duck - Club keeps is s*it together with a coach who is coaching with no ambition OR a coach who has ambition but is a lame duck - Malthouse gets appointed now for 2013 OR Malthouse isn't appointed now and we have a temporary coach warming the seat in the hope that malthouse would come to us later - Malthouse happily watches the club he will be coaching in 2013 being coached by a guy with no ambition to coach beyond the year There is so much wrong with this I don't know where to start. Firstly, Malthouse is not the messiah. He should not get to determine the how and when he comes to the club, and MFC should not wait for him to honour some contract at Collingwood. If he wants to come in 2012, welcome. If not, he's just another Collingwood scumbag! Secondly, if Malthouse were to be signed up now for 2013, as if Collingwood would let him stay there for 2012. Given that he would be kicked out of Collingwood for breach of contract, he would be available in 2012. As if, in that case, he would wait whilst Viney wasted a year. So, in short, the temporary coach is not going to happen.

Todd is zero chance of getting the job, whether he wants it or not. Literally zero. GWS is more liekly to win 20 games next year than Viney being appointed head coach.

And yet, it was his best game!!! I totally disagree with anyone who thinks Scully had a good game. His ball bandling was shocking, his commitment to the tackle, gut running, was terrible. IMO he looks like he is a bloke pre-occupied, or already emotionally vacant. This year needs to end. Fast.

I may have posted the occasional angry post at half time from my Android!!!

Highly possible - it has that whiff.

I heard James Frawley on the radio talking about winning our last three games and possibly making the finals. Wonna in today's Age talks about maybe sneaking in. There might have been others too. I really find it embarrassing. We have lost 4 in a row, and our losing margin over that period is 91 points. Yet we are already banking on 3 wins? If we are seriously thinking that way, then we have paid too little respect to Richmond in particular, by thinking beyond this week. If that's the case, we will get smacked. Less talk, more walk.

I will go, but it is easily my least favourite ground in Australia, and I have been to almost all. It's got nothing to do with the location itself, although as a driver it is an annoying stadium. The problem with Etihad is how sterile it is, lacking in atmosphere, and what it represents. To me, it is the epitome of elitist, "television friendly", corporatised rubbish that we have come to expect from the AFL. I know, let's make a stadium that is 25K too small, so we can sell it out to Essendon, Carlton and St Kilda season ticket holders and extract maximum coin, then go live against the gate. So I will be there, the same as I go to the dentist annually, just don't ask me to enjoy the experience.

18,945

Hahaha. The turning point in a game lost by 76 points...

Like Bailey, you mean?

Agree - but stakeholder engagement is not a strong suit of the MFC.

I was replying to RR.... but OK! But while you're at it, I actually can't understand what you are saying, or trying to say. I have a headache because I really do try to work out what you're saying!

There is plenty to be critical of about our player group, but posters here are living with the fairies. First thing to remembers is that they are almost all kids. Spend some time with them - you will see that most footballers are upstanding people, but not exactly worldly. (Obviously a generalisation) Firstly, Cale Morton taking a photo of a pre-game prank is totally unacceptable? Get a life! Secondly, senior players airing grievances is not necessarily senior players meddling in politics. It might be senior players having serious concerns and misgivings from their perspective (and it's only one perspective, but an important one!), and feeling obliged and passionate enough about the club that they feel they ought to air their grievances to nip them in the bud. I will put a slab on that being the motive - not to get X sacked or Y re-deployed. When Junior went to the Board and gave a blunt assessment of problems in the FD, that was leadership. When other players do it, they get criticised for being soft. If I were on the Board, and my senior leaders held honest beliefs about the club and its direction, I would rather be told. It doesn't mean I will agree or do what they want, but it does mean future decisions made would be better informed.

Honestly? I would probably have appointed DB for one more. I say that because I think it's going to be hard this year to pick up a seasoned legend coach. We asked DB to coach for tomorrow, not today, and tomorrow starts next year (in terms of realistically playing finals). If he succeeded in getting us into the finals in 2012, and lets say won a final, then he would deserve 2 more years. If not, then get a new coach. Also, I think our only chance of getting MM is after he honours one year at Collingwood. If we appoint a new coach now, which will will be doing, we have done ourselves out of MM. But even if we were going to get rid of DB, we should definitely have waited until the end of the year to make the decision. There are clear downsides to having made the decision now. The only reason to do it immediately IMO was if we thought DB was to blame for Geelong. But I think what happened at Geelong was a reflection of a whole lot of things, but very little to do with Bailey. It was too extreme to have been Dean's fault. So I wouldn't have let the one result change the course, and I put it to you that all strong clubs would have done likewise.