praha

Actually, no, he was booed relentlessly all season across the country. And there were plenty of racially-motivated attacks on the way he left Cleveland, suggesting that the way he did it was "totes black". He responded with two championships.

Are you kidding? This is a competitive sport. Goodes has it easy.

I think that's what clear out of all of this, is that irrespective of your thoughts or Goodes, the people booing, the commentators, the AFL, whatever, the football community is now divided. It's ugly. This is not what football is about. And you know what's funny? The most engaged people in this debate are...white. From the white rednecks who tell him to "harden up", to the condescending self-hating white people that speak like as if they know what's best for the indigenous. Both sides are white. It's comical. White people debating the feelings of...a black man. I am so sick and tired of hearing people say "Australia is racist", and I'm sick of people pretending like they're not offended by Goodes' past comments. And seriously, please spare the rest of us your guilt-riddled self-hating trash about how ANYONE -- white, black, pink, yellow -- is EVER justified in dividing by race. I don't give a [censored] what you have been through: racism is antagonism as much as it is discrimination, and if you even attempt to paint me as morally inferior because of the colour of my skin, I will shout you down like the hypocritical moron that you are. I am not responsible for another person's plight. I judge a person on their character and their actions. Spare me the "white people can't be victims of racism" crap. You're just justifying a barbaric, vile narrative that fuels the fire. That said, everyone, please, shut up, get over it, and get back to feeling miserable about Melbourne Football Club. Trust me, you'll all feel better for it. At least then we can (mostly) agree on something and get along. Go Dees.

Sorry, I should have used my words better. What I meant was that he just seems to go through the motions, play like someone that's already defeated. He doesn't "hate" the club. Bad choice of words.

My point being that I would rather establish consistency with the team when there aren't any injuries. I think there is a clear issue in player's breaking down in knowing their role, and dropping players all the time for this team in particular could be detrimental to the club's plan of winning games and getting people to games. Consistency is the next turning point for this club and it just can't turn the corner. Establishing a team and putting faith in players might actually help them play like a team, as opposed to playing like they hate one another.

I agree with your post, but this would be a futile exercise. On game day you can see that this is not a football department issue. It's just a bunch of blokes with the wrong mindset. We have a different team off-field now. How can the team be just as bad? It might be time to start looking at the players who have been at the club for more than five years, because they seem to set the tone: when they have a down day, it's like a virus that slowly moves through the rest of the team. I don't think any amount of investigating or million-dollar coaches is going to teach a bunch of losers how to be winners. It might just be a matter of moving on the likes of Dunn, Garland, Jamar, even Jones, and build around a new core. I don't accept that a "rebuild" has fully taken place until those from the club's worst ever period have been moved on. I just can't fathom how our worst performers on a bad day are those with 8, 9, 10 years experience. Since the Neeld years I have been saying that all of those part of the 186 point loss -- "the protest" match -- must be moved on. If they held contempt for the club then, I can't imagine that they all of a sudden have fall back in love with the environment. It must play on the mind. The rebuild hasn't truly begun yet. Harsh reality but without the pieces in place, it's hard to move on lockeroom cancers. I'm sure Dunn and Garland are great, but they epitomise what was the worst period in the club's history. These days in this current media climate, you can't shake that off. There is a stigma associated with pulling on the jumper, and so long as the virus remains, anyone who pulls it on will be smothered by it.

Irrespective of the changes we make, there isn't one player that can be brought in nor one player than can be dropped that would change the way the team plays. Sure, there are players of lesser skill, and players of better skill, but no one player is going to make us a better "team" at this point. I have no confidence in this game, or any game for the remainder of the season. Collingwood would lap up our center clangers and win by 5-6 goals again. Unless there is a major change to the team dynamic, no one change will have a direct influence on the outcome.

Goodes, earning a million a year playing for one of the league's best teams, is having a cry about being booed. Meanwhile, I'm here drowning in a pool of my own despair after watching yet another Melbourne loss. CRY ME A RIVER!

That article was posted a few days ago. Not sure why the date says 27th.

Give us a break, Ron. We're all in a glass case of emotion!

Jones has always been like this. He's having an off season now without anywhere near as much influence on a match, and it's showing more so now. It's his worst season since 2010. He should have gone to another level now. Jones isn't selfish, he's just not a particularly smart player. He is held up as a club great but he can hardly crack the top 100 players in the league. Works his arse off and I love him for it but so long as he is in the top pillar of our best players, we will be down the bottom.

It is not unreasonable to expect the club to be better than bottom 4 at this stage.

Team dynamics or lack thereof have killed the team all year. On paper we have a mid-range squad of talent. But we are probably the worst *team* in the league. Brisbane simply doesn't have the cattle. But at least they play as one.

Been saying this for years and get absolutely blasted every time I have. He's an introvert. Sets a good example but that does not make a good leader. Good leaders EMPOWER, and INSPIRE. He just kind of sets a standard but he doesn't demand that everyone follow him. He has better cattle around him now and he should have gone to another level this year. One of our most disappointing this year but he'll still [censored] in the B&F.

They will smash us on current form. 10+ goals.

We are at the very least a 6-win better side on paper compared to that 2013 Neeld team. Without a doubt. That would out us at 8 wins for 2015. That is still my pass mark. I don't expect us to be great. I don't expect us to win a flag. I expect a little hope to last for more than 7 days. Have you ever seen a team of such losers since the Fitzroy years? Even Richmond in their crapness managed 8-10 win years in the 00s. They play like they hate one another. Like they have contempt for the jumper. How can you not see it? Like I said, I didn't expect a team of champions, or even a champion team. But I expect something that resembles a team. We have too much talent to be where we are. Does anyone really rate the Bulldogs as a highly talented group? They're not. But they're a wonderful *team*. It's still, STILL, a cultural issue. It boggles the mind.

What else can he really do though?Roos was a last resort. We all knew that. Nothing he has said is wrong. You can even tell through the club's media department that a loss is treated like the sky is falling. There's no trust in one another, no trust in the plan, the end goal. I get that when the club wins it's happy happy times, but fans are treated with contempt. It's understandable: you can't really spin losses anymore after 10 years. We always seem to come out of the doldrums, pick o ourselves up momentarily, but then crumble and break down again. Roos is a pro, a person that has expectations. When you enter a toxic environment, sometimes it can't be saved. He is a change manager: nothing more. He is assisting the club into the next phase. Of course he isn't fully invested. But he's as lost as we are that we can still be this bad. I don't think he expected it. How can you go one week playing like champions, to being so utterly, utterly inept? I would not want to work at Melbourne Football Club. It's a career killer. If this were the corporate world, there'd have been a merger or acquisition long away. The club has plenty of assets but unfortunately I fear it is beyond saving. I'm quite gobsmacked to be honest. I think we've been witnessing this club's death for the past 4 years. It's been slow, painful. Meh. I'm here for the ride. Don't cry for me: I'm already dead.

I don't see anything wrong with this.

Dear God. I get that perspective in this case is that we're not as bad. But we're still horrible. Like Roos, you're trying to polish a turd by referring to a dog's breakfast from three years ago. Anything in comparison to the Neeld years is going to look like Miranda Kerr in a thong. But "perspective" also allows us to compare to similarly placed teams who, without anywhere near as much access to the talent on the field and in the coaching department, and without anywhere near the amount of league support, have leapfrogged us. It is diabolical that with all of the talent and resources available to this squad, that they still play like a bunch of spoilt little brats. Does anyone else get the feeling that Nathan Jones hates the club now? Dunn? Garland? Grimes was the only long-term Melbourne player who genuinely seemed to want to play for the jumper on Sunday. He wasn't great but he gave a god damn try for the jumper. This group plays like they hate one another, and like they hate coming to work. Then, once a month, maybe after a bonding session or a trip to Spearmint Rhino, they decide to turn it on and play like a finals side. Seven days later, they turn back into what comes out of my body after a night on the [censored].

I had an ex that could do that.

I'll tell you the threads already: "This team will turn into something special!" "How good was Grimes?" "Hogan will be a star!" "Wow, Jamar!"

This year can still be saved. We are at 5 wins with five rounds remaining. My pass mark of 8 wins is still within reach, with games against WB, GWS, North, and Collingwood all incredibly winnable for this squad. For this "team", probably not. If the team languishes, stays in neutral and remains on 5 wins, it'll be very difficult for the club to spin hope for supporters. Jackson said last year that it will take until round 6 or 7 to see improvement. We saw improvement but the last 10 weeks were deplorable. This year has been worse, because we had higher expectations than last year. To see us still lose games in the same manner is incredibly frustrating. Roos said pre-season that he didn't want to hear Melbourne people say, "Here we go again", that he hated it when he heard that. But how can we not say that? Because the reality is, HERE WE GO AGAIN! It's been a miracle that we have 35,000, and credit where it's due for the off-field team. But selling 5 wins to neutral and/or casual fans would be very, very tough. If we can't push 8 wins this year, I think we'll see an even larger drop-off fans long-term fans, probably bigger than we've ever seen. My dad already stopped renewing last year. I have a few years left in me. But he's 45 years into this. He actually had to tell the club to stop calling. It's tough, but he's retired and why should he spend his money on it? He's just tired of it. He's more of a neutral football fan these days. I totally sympathise with anyone that isn't prepared to pay up for a membership anymore. I know that it doesn't help the club, that it hurts the club, but a boycott was to be expected at this stage.

It's not Hogans fault, though. Do you see what happens? We aren't direct, so he leads up to the ball and he's ignored. At this point, the opposition gets players behind the ball, and Hogan is stuck in the hole. The problem is not our forwards. It's our breakdown out of defense, our [censored] stoppage work, and our shocking delivery. Also, a distinctive lack of trust, urgency and confidence going forward.

Real Madrid manager said it was a shame that such a great stadium in a great city had such a bad pitch.

FF Kent Hogan Kent HF Garlett Hogan Garlett C Watts Jones Watts HB Salem McDonald Salem FB Jetta Dunn Jetta Foll Jones VB Gawn I/C Vince Vince Viney Viney Kill me.