praha

8.

There's zero chance we'll be within 10 goals. I just hope Hogan kicks a bag.

lol West Coast thinks it's Melbourne. How cute.

So you'd sell the house for a midfielder, of which there are many in the league and are far easier to develop and mould into stars, but you wouldn't for a once-in-a-generation forward that already has the awareness and competitiveness of a 10-year player?

How positive of you.

Freo will play in second gear and win hy 80-90 points.

You mean a style that dictates defensive accountability and two-way running? If it's "unsuited to his list", then the list is the problem, not Roos.

We'll win.

The response was that Roos brought it players and attracted people to the club. Granted the club wouldn't have been able to land the same sort of deals that Roos has in his time, but Neeld still brought in Clark and Dawes, for better or worse. He also landed Hogan. He saw a hole up forward and tried to plug it. He drafted midfielders (again, for better or worse). He tried to bring in experience for the lack that we had. That was my point in saying that what Neeld was trying to do is not all that different from what Roos is trying to do. Actually, they were/are trying to fix the exact some deficiencies in the squad.

You mean like Mitch Clark and Chris Dawes? You know, I don't think Neeld was a good coach, I just pointed out that what he was trying to do was not all that different to what Roos is trying to do, and that any progress we've up to this point is merely normalisation, not necessarily "improvement": with the list we've got, we'd probably be in the same situation irrespective of who is coaching us. That's not to say our curve of improvement from here out won't be better under Roos.

Georgiou was a filler. Who else are you going to get with a can of drink and a pack of ciggies as pay? Anyway, Roos and Neeld aren't all that dissimilar. Similar vision, similar intend to gut and change the team, similar defensive mindset, similar standards of accountability for the playing group. Roos just has the resume. I doubt that had Neeld remained as coach up until now we'd be any worse than where we sit. Dare I say that the stability might have seen us actually rise above where we are now.

Jones isn't a "really good" kick. He has a penetrating kick but he's no better than half the side when he comes to direct passing. If he's a "really good kick" then so was Moloney. I'd replace him with Salem if you needed to pick top 3.

How sad that he plays his 200th game at a stadium he's never won at.

True. Bail was actually a key part in all 4 of our wins last year especially against Adelaide. Hasn't had a great year but I'm thankful for his service. I'm far more critical of the boys club you mentioned.

Harmes provides a bit of spark and even though he sprays it at least his confidence doesn't wane throughout a match like Toumpas' does. Toumpas has needed extended VFL time to mature as a football. He has seriously looked like a 12-year-old playing a man's game at times. If Brayshaw and Harmes are going out, presumedly with H as well, then you'd expect Tyson, JKH and Fitzpatrick to come in. No point bringing Jamar in now.

Three records up to be toppled this weekend: Beat Fremantle - Last win: Round 13, 2011 (6-game losing streak) Beat a Ross Lyon-coached team - Last win: Never (12-game losing streak) Win in Perth - Last win: Round 1, 2004 (12-game losing streak) He has been in the league for nine seasons and has never lost a game to Melbourne. So yes. We need to beat a Ross Lyon-coached team, because, evidently, Lyon-coached teams tend to be the hardest to beat.

If we beat Freo I will... ...be actually the most shocked I have ever been. No player on our list who has only ever played for Melbourne has *ever* won in Perth. Can you believe that? That means that of our entire list, only H, Vince and Cross (maybe Pederson?) have won there.

We don't really...

He's simply making an observation. He is not saying the fans are not within their right to drive to a game thinking the team will lose. He's saying the small group of players need to man the [censored] up and not worry about it. "That's just something the players have to get over". You're trying to look for something that just isn't there. 1. He wasn't blaming us directly in any way. 2. It wasn't having "a go" at us. The club merely pointed to the negativity coming from the fanbase, which exists. No one at the club has said it isn't justified. There has been a correlation made between the negativity and how a certain group within the playing group performs, but Roos said the players "need to get over it". He didn't say fans need to stop being negative.

At our absolute best, they're still a 4-5 goal better side. At our worst...dear me..

The thing is that lowering your expectations give you a greater field of error. Schwab and co. went around promising that we'd be the next best thing. We all followed mindlessly while the club got rid of its best leaders from arguably the club's best period since the '60s (Daniher years). When it all came crumbling down, that exodus was the core piece of what led to such a colossal failure. Ultimately, fans had been let down because such erratic changes had led to such erratic failure. Roos and Jackson and co. tell us to keep our expectations in check. Neeld did the same thing. I don't think it's a conscious direction as a way to avoid mistakes of past years. I think they're just looking at what happened then and are saying what they say -- like winning 7 games as a pass -- as a means to keep expectations in check, because you don't know what can happen. There's nothing wrong with having a minimum KPI with the expectation of using it as a means to grow and build off of it. Saying that finals was a KPI would have been unrealistic and ultimately false advertising. Schwab and co damaged our business relations by promising a golden era, and we had sponsors throwing money at us based on hope and nothing else. We need a tangible product and still don't have it but at least we can go to sponsors and say, "Look, this is where we're at, we're not sugar coating it, but we're setting long-term goals as means to build upon". Gardner is a hack. Somehow he couldn't even get a consistently finals-bound club over a 10-year period to build a fanbase and a war chest of funds. When he left we were massively in debt with zero prospects, no money, and no members. Jackson has done more with the club being an absolute basket case than what Gardner did with the club looking like a legitimate flag threat.

Selective counting is the sign of desperation.

They've actually made a film about Melbourne supporters.

I don't think Roos is playing the fans, or blaming anyone. I think he's just making an observation that is very obvious and, unfortunately, very true. I have said multiple times on here that there is a stigma attached to playing for Melbourne. When you're growing up, and out in public, hearing people talk, neutral fans know Melbourne is bad. That sort of narrative is interchangeable with Melbourne fans because Melbourne fans are equally as negative about the club. I don't think he is blaming fans any more than he's blaming the players. It must truly be tough playing for the Demons, knowing so few people respect you. This creates distance, individualism, as a means of trying to show the world that, "Okay, so at least I'm okay." This is why I'm critical of Nathan Jones: I don't think he's particularly inspiring, and I think he goes through the motions to stand out amongst the crap. That doesn't make him a good leader. It makes him a "loser" in the true sense of the word, not someone that is particularly driven to win. He just does what *he* can do. Make a good leader, that does not. The scary thing is I see this weep through our younger players already. Brayshaw, Viney, Watts, VB, Hogan. They go through periods of ineptness and "ME ME ME" as a means to look decent in a bad loss. Roos has mentioned this after loses where the players play a game as individuals, not as a team. This all correlates into what he's saying. And I have said it once and I'll say it again: until older players from the Bailey and Daniher years are gone, that veil among the playing group will remain. A new generation now needs to set the tone, not "leaders" who were part and parcel of the club's worst ever years. It's astonishing how some can't see the correlation between how bad we play, and how bad the likes of Dunn, Watts, Jones, Garland, Grimes can be.

"We didn't see it coming."