praha

Absolutely no idea how we'll go. If I had one prediction to be honest I think it's that one of the heavy weights are going to have a poor season and will struggle to gain momentum. One of Collingwood GWS or Eagles.

while I'm in the "it wasn't an aberration" crowd, I don't think a win or loss would tell us either way. The only way we can truly determine whether or not it was an aberration is to look at the same sample size. Our performance across the year will tell us.

looking forward to Kent playing the best game of his career and tearing us up.

It was a Schwab initiative that involved colouring and whiteboards.

Losing Pike after 94 was massive. Very much our Dennis Rodman. Could read the play so well and always seemed to be in the right place at the right time. Pity he had such an affinity for the grog.

for players wishing to play position neutral.

You must have misheard. We are mid-range for pretty much every futures bet, including the flag, most (and least) wins, top 8, top 4 etc. Not even close to being "favourites" for the spoon at every major outlet I've seen, nor have they "firmed" in any market, let alone the wooden spoon.

Daniher should have been moved on after 2003. And definitely after our breakdown in 2004. In 2005 we lost 7 games in a row and barely made finals..In 2006 we lost our first 3 games and also lost to Carlton twice (won 3 games for the year) costing us a top 4 spot. In hindsigh it is rather astonishing that Daniher lasted as long as he did.

doubtful. too high a business risk. suspect it'll be operational/football staff let go.

It all went bad (and came good) at the worst times. A down period was to be expected after our glory years. Every team has gone through it. Hardly surprising. Longer than usual, but news of our struggles during that period is hardly known (or cared about) outside of Victoria. We bounce back in the late 80s and run into a brick wall powerhouse in the Hawks. We stay near the top for long enough and become complacent: at a time when football department spend was on the rise we stayed in amateur town, training at Junction Oval using Average Joes gym and recovery equipment. Whilst the rest of the league was becoming professional, we never quite transitioned until much later. We were in essence a team run like an amateaur football club until the late 90s (at the earliest). We fall a bit, survive multiple merger attempts, and start a new era. BOOM. Another brick wall in the Essendon powerhouse. We stick with a crop of good but not great players, and the "boys club" is formed, or at least cemented in the culture. We crash and burn, and at the start of the social media era, where information and news spreads faster than the Road Runner, we are known as that team always at the bottom of the ladder. Melbourne's population booms, neutral supporters latch onto your Hawthorns and Geelongs, and it's "uncool" to follow a team like Melbourne. Growth is difficult. EVERYONE knows how bad we are. There's no hiding from it. Meanwhile, we continue to tread water to stay afloat, struggling to win games and get people to our games. Thus, slow growth at a time when even modestly successful clubs can pump millions into their departments. We bounce back and have a strong season, only to crash down again due to shocking player management. All is good though, we have an urgency to redeem ourselves. And then a pandemic happens, stifling any legitimate attempt to reboot and regain momentum. There's no definitive time when it went wrong. It's just in our DNA.

Rumblings around the place this morning that Collingwood and Richmond will reopen the season. How boring. How good would a Fight MND game between Melbourne and Collingwood have been? Is that even still going to go ahead?

I suspect Schwab remained because replacing a CEO isn't quite like replacing a coach. Getting rid of both wasn't possible and sacking a CEO whilst keeping the coach would have just looked silly. But then again we'd just like by 186 so all bets were off. But yeah no way Bailey survived. Not surprising Schwab did survive but what was surprising was that he even lasted the summer. Let's also not forget who was president throughout this time.

Where is Paul Hopgood?

nah. we'd win. a distinctively Melbourne thing to happen would be we come back strong and sit atop the ladder at the end of the H&A. then a second outbreak occurs, the season is cancelled and we miss our chance. again. Getting strong Milwaukee Bucks vibes about this season. Best record in the league. Small club (relative). Strong chance for the championship, first in decades. And then BOOM. Pandemic.

Will never forget it. Was meant to drive down the highway for it. If I remember correctly we lost to Carlton the week before and Melbourne supporters were calling the radio after the match, all saying how something must be wrong at the club because of how dysfunctional it all seemed. 7 days later, we lose by 186 points. I was deathly ill so stayed home. Fell asleep shortly before the match. Woke up shortly before half time. Had a message from a mate that read, "wtf is wrong with your team?" Checked the scores and we were down by 100+. Later that evening, radio lines were filled with callers wanting to vent. One young guy in particular was yelling, filled with rage. Never heard or experienced anything like it when it comes to football. If you can find it and are a sucker for pain, the matchday thread on here is fascinating reading. A combination of jovial self-mockery, unprecedented anger, and bewilderment. The progression of the conversation would be entertaining if it weren't so depressing.

I know we could never in a million years have predicted this happening but we quite literally couldn't afford last year happening the way it did. Make finals and we have 50k members before January. Some here treated last year as an aberration. It may have been. But good clubs just don't let it happen. And now we are feeling it.

ahh good old Ilija Grgic. Was a solid player but always found another gear against us.

tried searching myself but couldn't find much. You could always look for high quality video footage from the 90s and take screencaps. Probably your best option af this stage.

So they are double our win tally for the year. Yay?

Suspect that when (if) things return to normal, people will flock to the football in record numbers.

Would be a PR disaster.

Brayshaw and Oliver have played the past 12 months like trade bait.

ANB. Brayshaw. Omac.

This isn't just the cattle. Structurally we are awful. Goodwin is a 90s footballer with a 90s gameplan. We peaked during a patch in 2018. He's lucky the season is postponed. Regardless of the season outcome he'll probably coach in 2021. But we see the same issues.

This is actually a quintessential Goodwin coached game. Still holding on for dear life to a 2018 gameplan. We don't know whether we're coming or going.