jnrmac

Ha ha its Collingwood. I thnk the club has turned their backs on the players but Eddie is worried about the team sanction for having two players test positive..............

My bias is showing! I actually struggled to think of a player for us who does it week in week out. And frankly that is an indictment.

In the GC game we got out a 32pt lead by early 2nd quarter and then saw GC beat us for nearly 2 qrts before we pulled away. It was a good win but with solid lapses in our effort as noted by the coach. In the Richmond game we put in a good effort for most of the game. IN the game against GWS we left the ground just before half time and never returned. Against Adelaide our effort was good for the whole game I thought. Against Freo we gave effort for about half a game Against the Swans it was appalling. Ditto the Hawks. So yes we have seen glimpses of it but the Adelaide game is what I want to see more of. Solid 4 qtr effort and if we lose then we lose. But from what I have seen we still have a massively soft underbelly and too many senior players go missing when needed. That is mental and all about desire and intent. So I largely agree with your post but give them way less slack than you do because effort is something they can and should bring every minute of every week. Not when they feel like it. And if players like Brayshaw and Vineyt can do it week in week out that is a real indictment on our senior players.

This is the crux of it for me. Brayshaw has desire, intent and effort. He is putting some of his teammates to shame. And frankly they deserve to be highlighted for it. If we had a team of Brayshaws we would be saying 'at least they are having a crack'. The spotlight should be well and truly on the senior players like Howe who has had 8 kicks, 3 marks and 2 tackles in the past 2 weeks. Its appalling.

You are all missing the point. Its the basics. tackling running, effort, pressure etc etc. We fail miserably. That is not talent. Its intent effort and desire. We see it in glimpses but mostly we lack on field leadership. We also lack players who can get the pill 30 times a match. Haven't had one this year. Last one to do it consistently was Junior. That's the thing with players like Barlow - they know how toget he pill.

Team bonding at Casey Fields

I wonder how much of the dog's success is based on their tiny injury list..... Just sayin....

Gold coast have it worse than us. 10 of their best I reckon including Gazza.

Obviously they know that Tird likes travelling toEurope,,,

Jones is under an unbelievable amount of pressure every time gets the pill. There is no relief for him.

Let me make the writing big for you. It says it all really That you don't know why we got Dawes in the first place and then go and criticise why we got him.

Then I take it you think it was a good idea that we threw two young kids to the wolves as joint Captains? Name for me the leaders we had at our club at that point, Mr Revisionist, and then name for me the long list of big bodied premiership players that were queuing to join melbourne. Then we might see who is slow on the uptake.

I'd like to see some 30+ possessions at Senior AFL level!!!! We haven't had ONE this year. When was the last time we had someone that could rack up 30 stats with regularity? Junior? (its not the be all and end all but we are currently 18th in disposals). We need someone to get the pill.

You are kidding if you think that. They lost their Coach, Captain and CEO and the club was in turmoil. Everyone had them pencilled in for botton 2. Its a great comparison. Stop making excuses. What stands out for them is they have desire, attitude and passion. Its shameful that we don't have it.

This is pathetic. He is not above criticism. And as for every team making finals in 10 yrs that is a very low benchmark. Suggest you aim a bit higher.

Wow. Aren't we entitled to effort? That's the major point in this thread. Not where players are in their development but how can we after all this time go out and not put in, not do the basics? BASIC FOOTBALL. The basics take endeavour, desire, effort and intent. Tackling, shepherding, running to space, picking up your man, getting back to the goal line to kill a ball through the goals (this alone has cost us 3 goals in two weeks) Why don't we have these basics and why don't we have the desire, intent, effort etc. I get we don't hav eth skill of a lot of sides but what I am talking about isn't skill based. Its mental. And we are failing badly. Thats the only sense of entitlement I have. What are you talking about?

Why? Legitimate question asked in the OP.

Really?? The MFC is 18th for kicks, handballs, disposals. I don't see a lot of padding for stats there.

No-one had the Saints and the Dogs above the bottom two on the ladder in 2015. The dogs were in a world of pain losing their captain, CEO and Coach. The club was fractured. The Saints list was rogered. Ye the dogs and Saints both play with passion, pride, effort and persistence. Essendon throughout the whole drug saga have played unbelievably well. Other clubs don't fall in the abyss that we fall into. The effort rarely drops off to our standard and they all have players who get the pill 30 times a match. WHERE ARE OUR PLAYERS THAT DO THIS WEEK IN WEEK OUT???? We have not had one player, not one get 30 possessions so far this year. Why not? We are ranked; 18th for kicks 18th for handballs 18th for pts per game I don't have the stats for uncontested possessions but that is a fair indication of running. We don't run anywhere near hard enough, I watch closely when we don't have the ball and its easy to see who can't be arzzed to pick up an opponent or run to help out. We keep doing the same stuff and getting the same result. SOmething has to give,

Kent's was pretty much off the bone. I heard Salem was a 'regular' strain but not 100% sure.

If you read the OP its about how a rookie coach and his team created a plan to counteract possibly the best team in the comp, Freo. Yep we were playing the bset 3 teams in the comp and what did we do? There is no way the hawks were going to let us play 'our' game plan and it was clear after the 1st quarter we were under fire. At the risk of repeating the OP we have been beaten on the 11 previous occasions in the same style - thrashings. With the same players killing us. I ask you again what did we do? I think the answer is SFA. If you have a better one let us all know.

Really? Did you try really hard to think why we would want a big bodied premiership player when we had Grimes and Trengive as Captains. And once you have answered that question please list the other premiership players that were queuing to com eto melbourne during that period. There's a good boy now...

Yeah yeah talk to the hand.. I mean I get what you are saying but frankly we have heard it before. hey this was another line in the sand game. Dawsey told us. Fme we must have had at least 25 of those in the past 4 years. Words are meaningless and cheap. We deserve action on the field. Something that says 'there is a soul', ' there is a pulse'.

Ok this is not a thread to say we should have picked Beveridge over Roos but in light of the extraordinary tactics of the Bulldogs I think there are fair questions to ask of our coaching staff. For those that didn't see it the Bulldogs nearly pulled off an incredible victory over Freo by conceding the ruck dual. Freo won the hitouts 69 to 13. They used Goodes and others as a ruck and loaded their fwd line with talls and effectively played a loose man in defence. It was very unconventional thinking. And it nearly won them the game as they were level with a few minutes to go. Which brings me to Roos and the Melbourne coaching staff. Melbourne were never going to be able to play the way they wanted to against a team like Hawthorn. They are tough, well drilled and play a team zone game (‘Our back six are there to protect the goals’). We were well below our best 22 and coming off two bruising encounters with the Swans and Freo. We have been smashed by Hawthorn on the previous 11 occasions. Mitchell, Roughead and Hale in particular kill us (as do Lewis and Hodge when they rare playing). So what did we do that was different. How did we go about playing against a team that performs like this? What did we do to plan for what was predictable at the outset. Did we plan to smash Mitchell? Did we plan to double team Roughhead? Did we do any planning at all? Nup. What we got was same old same old. I could have written the script a month ago and been bang on. We must be the easiest team in the league to play against – even Carlton and GC are as inept as us. Not only do we do the same stuff week in week out but we have no leaders other than Jones and TMac who can stand up and win their position against their opponent. We don’t do the basics right - like have a tall on the back line to kill a ball that comes in for goal – or man up when the opposition has the ball, or hit targets from 20m away, or run and spread when we have the ball. How about we even stick a few tackles? FFs we are second to the ball often enough. Tackling is all about intent and desire. Yes there is technique but it’s largely the first two. Brayshaw has it in spades and he is a six gamer. Words can’t describe how disillusioned I am with this football club. They are spineless and heartless. My kids have given up (‘why would you want to follow that bunch of losers Dad’) and I don’t blame them. I would too if I could. But I don’t have to watch the crap they dish up every week and I won’t be for some time. They can come back to me when they have won two or heaven forbid three in a row and have some semblance of personal pride and our club isn’t the laughing stock of the competition. What would Luke Hodge do with Jack Watts? What would Joel Selwood do with Jeremy Howe? Why do our players think it is acceptable to play 5m away from their man when we don’t have the ball? Why can’t they ‘zone’ like every other team zones. There are so many questions because we are so inept. Basic questions that go to the heart of simple football. Keep the ball from the opposition and give it to one of your own players. Where is the simple pride in performance? Where is the desire to beat your opponent? Where is the desire to take frustrations out by driving your opponents head into the turf when you tackle him? So what re the coaching staff doing? Telling their players to 'forget it' and 'we won't learn anything from reviewing that'. Really?? Why is it that Luke Beveridge and even Alan Richardson can get their teams playing exciting inspiring football? Who picked that at teh start of the season?? Why can’t Melbourneplay like that? Is it because we as supporters don’t demand it? Is it because the administration of the club doesn’t demand it? Is it because of the lack of on-field leadership at the club? Is it because the coaches are stuck in a time warp. The coaching staff need a serious rocket up their collective backsides. They need to challenge each every play to do one task. Beat their man. They are being shown up by two rookie coaches. Big time. I don’t what the answers are but I know what I see every week. I can’t take this team stuffing up my weekends any more. I have better things to do in life. Things that are actually enjoyable.

Actually it was down to Ian Dicker.