praha

We're tackling well. Seems they got the memo after last week.

It's not surprising that we as a club see this sort of drop off during times of turmoil when you consider the socio-economic demographic of the Melbourne fanbase. I definitely feel like Melbourne supporters are more likely to scrutinise the club through their wallets than any other club is. When you combine boring football with no scoring, off field issues, player turmoil, not to mention the off-season anxiety fueled by your best players threatening to leave, and it is absolutely no surprise we have seen a 7k dropoff. I can't remember who said it, it might have been Pert, and i think the news article has been scrubbed from Google, but I distinctively remember someone saying that the aim was turning Melbourne into the "NY Yankees" of Australia. There is no compelling reason at the moment to sign up. It's much harder to sell hope when you can't win games even with one of the best ruckman of all time, and a premiership winning midfield still playing together.

I went with a Hawks supporter. He said to me that he'd never seen a team try so hard and yet be so bad. I remember thinking the same thing and seeing how hard the Hawks players were running to space. They just got beat at every contest. Three months later and they were playing finals.

This is disappointing from Caroline. CEOs take a long time to find. Companies can take years in their search. Honestly it sounds like they are deep in the process.

The club will have a very rare opportunity this off season: they will have three proven coaches all available. Longmire Hinkley (yes - he has guided Port to multiple Prelims) Simpson I really love Goodwin for where he got us but the club really needs to think about whether he is right to do a mini-rebuild and get us back to contention. In my view we are two seasons away, with the right drafting and player additions, from playing finals again. Unless Goodwin magically changes how he has coached for the past nine seasons, he should move on. We definitely can't sack him. I don't think you can sack a Premiership coach. But hopefully he does the right thing for the club. Whether that is commit to changing what he does, or stepping aside.

I hope so. Sleeping the whole weekend can really ruin your week.

You could tell we were in rebuild mode with 6 debutants last week. As I've said multiple times, people need to keep their expectations in check for this season. But yesterday was shocking.

Like most of us, Goodwin could see it coming. I switched off halfway through the third. Watched the first 4 minutes of the 4th... North was looking for a scalp. Good on them. They weren't nearly as bad last year as their win:loss record shows. They turned a corner yesterday. I'm happy for their supporters. We all know what that was like. Yesterday for them was probably like our win against Hawthorn in 2016. That was our turning point as a club.

I can't quite put my finger on why, but this post gives me early-2007 vibes. We are right on the cusp of a capitulation as a club and have been since September 15 2023.

I genuinely feel for Goodwin. I just can't see it anymore. It was probably an opportunity for him to step aside at the end of last season. If he leaves during the season then it ruins the rest of the year. Things could well turn around. But just too much has gone wrong

This is...odd?

We didn't fluke it, no. But everything went right for us, as is often the case when winning the flag. It was a good year not to have injuries. Teams' football departments were decimated with half of staff let go for the season. Throw on top having to manage players, travel, and injuries while in and out of lockdowns and playing in bubbles, and everything clicked for us in that regard. Post-COVID and things back to normal... we went from being on a level playing field with the "big boys" to going back to be pretty typical "Melbourne", which is uninspiring and no plan b.

Goodwin has never transitioned out of development mode. We are always "learning".

I've seen enough.

Howes hasn't won a single contest.

Our pressure is really poor. So many players that stop when the possession is lost.

I really don't know what people expect. North is on the way up, we are lingering in neutral. You just knew that this was going to he a season of unknowns based on how the club spoke about the season. It was all pretty low-key, timid stuff. People need to temper their expectations.

Caleb Daniel is side stepping like a superstar.

Howes and McDonald bothing trying to outdo each other's ineptness.

This is a [censored] game. We just aren't fun to watch.

Having Spargo and Salem deliver the ball inside 50 helps. Doesn't happen enough at the MCG.

Jefferson gives me Weiderman vibes.

There's going to be a few upsets early in the season. I reckon the ladder at Round 10 is going to look very different to the ladder at the end of the season.

This might be a 100 point margin.

Essendon and Carlton are the biggest wannabe clubs. Carlton were only ever good because they had money. Essendon benefited from awesome zoning and a once-in-a-generation coach. They haven't won a final without Sheedy since 1968. Just horrific. It's somehow better to be a Saints support in 2025 if you were born this century.