Je Roos Salem

Am I alone in thinking Nicholson deserves a spot in the team? Wouldn't mind seeing a bench of Davey, Kent, Blease and Rodan. Give Davey a final chance (full game, not sub), see what Rodan can do I guess so I can judge whether I want him around or not next year

I don't completely disagree with you, however, I think the argument about players not being good because of the personnel around them is just a petty excuse you could make for any of our players who should be stepping up and taking the game by their hold. If it's a cultural/developmental issue that none of these players can play a great game with the personnel we have, who says a couple of new recruits will fix that? We already lack teamwork, I doubt it'll be fixed instantly. Only 17 actually, it's quite a big difference. 17 possessions of little quality. He averaged over 20 in 2011, and his clearances and inside 50s have gone down since then too. He's simply not giving enough for the team and has lost plenty of speed/effort and impact over this year and last.

Howe only seems to step up when the team's playing well, as a forward anyway (He got a lot of the ball when we played Essendon and Freo in defence and did ok). Needs to assert his authority on the game a lot more especially when playing good sides. He was in our best 2-3 players in the first half of the season but not so sure now. He kicked 3.3 against Gold Coast and 4.1 against GWS (the first time), he needs to do that against better teams

I wonder if Freo will come in to the game with a mindset to keep us scoreless. They could probably achieve it. A 0 to 30 loss is only a 30 point loss

These are the general admission areas: http://www.mcg.org.au/Events/Upcoming%20Events/Event%20Details.aspx?eid=4cc85cce-ec8a-4200-8b99-7ac4c719cb18 (Basically everywhere in level 1 is general admission except a few bays in the Olympic stand where melbourne members sit, AFL members and MCC members)

First Spencer gets 3 for literally turning his body to protect himself from an oncoming player (and we don't challenge), then Clisby gets 3 weeks for a freak accident? Time for the club to stop accepting this BS in the way a club who isn't accepting AFL support would. Joke.

Easily the worst, it's scary to think how many more upsides there were in 07-09 or maybe even last year compared to now. There is little that's right about the club and i'm extremely let down by how Mark Neeld ran it. Just because Neeld said player X was bad and wasn't AFL standard, was it really true at all?

Little evidence that they work well together yet though. I'd more optimistic about them being among the best first rucks in the comp. Would love to see it happen though, although I could imagine Gawn would get more time inside 50

Surely, though if he gets 20 possessions next week they'll give it to him then, they do reward consistency. I still think his best game was his first though, and he was very stiff not to get it for it

I forgot to mention this before, but our treatment of Ablett tonight was a step in the right direction. Mckenzie, with the help of others did a fantastic job. Actually having a plan before a game and implementing it correctly is bonus, in fact. (Almost) None of it was rightly paid a free kick against (even though the Fox commentators wouldn't shut up about the fact it should've been) and a great amount of aggression and care was shown. It'd be easy to accept Ablett for who he is and the skill he has, but nagging a player and keeping at them can really annoy them and put their mind off the game.

6. N Jones 5. Mckenzie 4. Viney 3. Garland 2. Watts 1. Kent Pretty hard to order those top 4

I just felt sorry for Watts tonight. Stayed as a loose man in defence even when the game was up for grabs and we had to bite the bullet. That was just typical Melbourne hopelessness. The result just wasn't good enough, considering how they were playing, our chances and the disposal count. Byrnes' 1.5 was disappointing, but also easy misses from Kent, Grimes and especially Fitzpatrick. Of course, we could've had a more composed kick in Watts down there. I was pretty impressed was Troy Davis' debut, probably should've happened earlier. Was unlucky not to get a goal and contested well. Grimes and Trengove were slightly better than usual, but both not good enough late in the game. We don't have enough players who care whether we win or lose. Players who wait for another player to pick up the ball and tackle them rather than get it themselves (Trengove did this tonight). While we played decent flowing footy (not as many facepalming backwards kicks or turnovers) the desperation was simply not there late in the game. We should've won.

Wait, who was he elevated for in Rounds 8+9 and why did he go back on to the rookie list? I'm a little confused. And why is Clark on the LTI list only now when he's had 16 weeks off? confused.

True, but I remember Trengove kicked 2 great set shots from 50 against West Coast. Also, Davey's kicking is an argument for putting him in defence again like we did a few years back (and got limited success from), his fitness for that is probably questionable though.

I don't think we have any good kicks, no one can kick well enough whether it's based on skill or decision making. Basically all of our players are too slow to dispose anyway and make terrible decisions. Trengove, for example is quite a good shot on goal but his field kicking is usually atrocious and stupid.

Ah that game! Takes the cake as the most depressing game i've ever been to.

We're no good because we've nudged James McDonald and Brad Green out the door prematurely (and our treatment to other senior players in the past probably could've been better) in order to give way to young players who are just no good/and show no leadership. Cornes and Cassisi are both 30+ for Port and are helping their revival. Giansiracusa, Murphy, Boyd and Cross are all 30+ and when they're gone in a couple of years it'll be perfect timing for the younger Dogs to lead the club. We just haven't had the experience to help our young group and, to mend this, Neeld recruited Rodan and Byrnes (two fringe players in their final year at their clubs) to try and fill the void which has been a complete failure and there's been no improvement in leadership and neither has played well enough. If James McDonald could play for GWS in 2012, he could definitely play for us then (oh and captain too) and maybe even this year. The Roos didn't nudge Brent Harvey out in 2011 so he could finish on a high and make way for a younger midfield. I'm not denying that Green's 2012 was disappointing (consider that he was stripped of the captaincy too), but we wouldn't be as bad if we had him playing this year. Trying a bit harder to retain senior players can go a long way

For such a crap team, we make very few changes. Hopefully it's a different story this week!

Down with the city of Casey, up with the city of Melbourne!!!! (Alignment with the CBD)

Hopefully he'll be back in a flash. We need him for our development. He can't focus on the negatives and some exposure this season could do him good.

We're lucky GWS exist, (well if i had it my way they wouldn't exist) and since we're playing far worse footy than we did during our consecutive spoons of 08&09, the concept of one this year doesn't really bother me. I don't think we're tanking, I don't think we know how to tank. The players also can't play together or for themselves

Regardless of what side he's in, he continually makes inexcusable errors that other players don't. If he was dangerous around goals (for the second week in a row, he made a terrible decision in front of them) he'd at least warrant a selection. But he simply doesn't have enough going on in any area of his game at the moment.

The amount of Melbourne merchandise at op shops.

Our players have NO bloody idea how to attack the ball. No one even throws their body at the ball!! We just watched the GWS players win clearances and stood there uncertain how to have a crack at it. Where the hell is instinct? I don't care if we concede frees for smashing into them or even get reported. Our softness is just beyond a joke

Grimes was pathetic in that last quarter. Trengove has been poor for a long time. 100% agree, in fact ahead of Grimes/Trengove i'd even have also Garland and Frawley as captain candidates. Compare the way Jones and Grimes played in the final term, huge difference in attitude. We HAVE to change the captain situation. We were confident enough to kick Brad Green out of it after one season, so why not do the same with Grimes and Trengove since it clearly hasn't worked?