praha

Many positives from this with Brayshaw, Hogan, Vince, Jones' response, McDonald continuing good form, but unfortunately we are still a very, very average team. Going to be another long year.

This is incredibly winnable. We are in a prime position. They look spooked. Rough 'em up! Bully them!

Sorry for the bump but I was breezing through old footy videos and this was a "recommended video" next to our comeback game against Freo in 2008.

cocaine is a helluva drug,

It's an interesting sentiment, but it makes the assertion that Ablett is neither a/as good a leader as Jones, nor someone that is able to lift GC off the bottom half of the ladder. Now, a good "leader" is not necessarily one that leads from the front and is the best player. A leader "empowers" those around them to get the most out of themselves. Is Jones good at that? I think that objectively this is certainly up for debate: in the training of Melbourne that I've watched, he's far from the most vocal and directive, although that hardly dismisses his leadership capabilities. Does he lead from the front? He does, but I'm not sure he's at a level where people are necessarily empowered to over-perform in the same way they do under an Ablett or a Selwood. We've seen how Melbourne has been the last 2-3 years. We've hit rock bottom. What has Jones done for the team as a whole apart from being its only consistent, respected player? Jones is a *very* hard midfielder, but you have to question where the Suns would be if they had him as opposed to Ablett. Would they have won so many games in the first half of 2014? Would they have been considered (and maybe still are) a finals contender? Overall, would Jones have been better overall for the Suns? I'm not sure. I love Jones, I really do, but he's a "go through the motions" kind of guy. His best is good, rarely great. He'd be an asset to ANY team but, even as Roos said last year, he needs to go to the next level. Let's say Tyson, Viney, Brayshaw and Petracca all end up AA midfielders and top 50 AFL players: does Jones still get a game? Again, I'm not dismissing Jones' skill or leadership capabilities. But in a way I feel that Jones kind of epitomises this club: when this club is good, it's good, never great. It never goes to the next level. Last week really disappointed me, but evidently it appears as though Jones was sick/injured. He needs to reach another level and unless he does, we'll have to wait for the likes of Tyson, Brayshaw etc to build their experience and skill up to lead the club. Because atm, Jones' best isn't doing much in the way of empowering the players to play for one another. So I disagree. Ablett might not be the *best* leader, but there's no price on playing under the likes of Ablett. I know a Suns midfielder who reckons he's just a great guy, easy to talk to. He's a bit of a loner but at the same time, he sets such a high standard that you can't help but be inspired. This is really a deep discussion that could go either way. I don't think you can put a price on having young players play under a once-in-a-generation type player like Ablett. Jones is just what you have to expect from a midfielder. He's far from exceptional. That said, Melbourne is *VERY* lucky to have him. The last 2-3 years would have been a lot darker.

Going to be a great player for a long time. Not sure he'll make that transition into greatness but he's the kind of player that will average 90-100 SC points his whole career. He's the second coming of Nathan Jones. Exactly what we needed. What a colossal [censored] up.

We were up for 50 and almost lost. 5 minutes into the last, my girlfriend asked if we were safe. "Yeah it's game over." Nek minnit...

Since 1980: 59 games, 14 wins, 45 losses vs Hawthorn

Added "Score 100 points". Before Round 1, we went 31 matches without scoring 100 points. Forgot that one! Added.

Viney now with a stress fracture on his fibula. I had a similar injury about a decade ago, you can get it any number of ways, including walking/running on hard surfaces. At first it'll just feel like a tight muscle but when it doesn't improve it's just a continuous tightness sensation in the lower leg. With all the players cramping up during the game in round 1 and lack of legs last week, completely viable that the ground was too hard in Round 1.

I had a small fracture on my left fibula. Best way to treat it is to simply let it heal and put as little stress on it as possible. I imagine he won't be doing any running and limited walking. Can't be good for fitness. 2 weeks in the VFL when he returns I bet. And now our depth is to be tested. Who comes in? Toumpas? JK? Grimes? Jones?

Added Adelaide.

Added a few more.

I actually hated writing it. I'm not joking. I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Having won in Round 1 this year, we broke a decade-long record of having not won in the first week of the season. What other records are in dire need of being broken? Win in Round 1 - BROKEN Round 1, 2015 - Last win: Round 1, 2005 (9-year losing streak) Win in Adelaide - BROKEN Round 7, 2014 - Last win: Round 2, 2001 (16-game losing streak) - Since 1991: 32 games, 6 wins, 26 losses Home game losing streak - BROKEN Round 1, 2015 - Last home game win: Round 14, 2013 (15-game losing streak) Score 100 points - BROKEN Round 1, 2015 - Last 100-point game: Round 14, 2013 (31 matches) Win on a Friday night - BROKEN Round 4, 2015 - Last win: Round 11, 2011 vs Essendon Beat Geelong - BROKEN Round 12, 2015 - Last win: Round 6, 2006 (12 games, 11 losses, 1 draw) - Since 1994: 7 wins, 26 losses, 1 draw Win in Geelong - BROKEN Round 12, 2015 - Last win: Round 20, 2005 (7 games, 6 losses, 1 draw) - Since 1988: 2 wins, 17 losses, 1 draw Beat Brisbane - BROKEN Round 16, 2015 - Last win: Round 3, 2011 (4-game losing streaking) Win at Etihad BROKEN Round 23, 2015 Last win: Round 19, 2007 (22-game losing streak) Beat Collingwood - BROKEN Round 18, 2015 - Last win: Round 11, 2007 (10 games, 9 losses, 1 draw) Beat Fremantle - BROKEN Round 16, 2016 - Last win: Round 13, 2011 (6-game losing streak) Win two games in a row - BROKEN Rounds 4-5, 2016 - Last time: Rounds 13 and 14, 2011 (20 game losing streak) Beat a Ross Lyon-coached team - BROKEN Round 16, 2016 - Last win: Never (12-game losing streak) Beat Hawthorn - BROKEN Round 20, 2016 - Last win: Round 8, 2006 (11-game losing streak) - Since 1980: 59 games, 14 wins, 45 losses Beat Port Adelaide in Adelaide - BROKEN Round 21, 2016 - Last win: Round 8, 2000 (11-game losing streak) Win 3 in a row - BROKEN Rounds 19-21, 2016 Beat St Kilda - BROKEN Round 1, 2017 - Last win: Elimination Final, 2006 (14-game losing streak) Win in Perth - BROKEN Round 14, 2017 - Last win: Round 1, 2004 (12-game losing streak) Beat North Melbourne - BROKEN Round 3, 2018 - Last win: Round 5, 2006 (14-game losing streak) Play a final - BROKEN 2018 - Last time: Second Semi-Final vs Fremantle, 2006 (8-year drought) Win a final - BROKEN 2018 - Last win: Elimination Final v St Kilda, 2006 (8-year drought) Win the minor premiership - Last time: 1964 (50 years and counting) Win a final outside of Victoria - Last win: Never (2 games, 2 losses)

There is absolutely no way to predict this game. We beat them there last year but this is a VERY different Crows team he way they're playing. Evidently, this is a very different Melbourne team. Do we have a better team than the one we bought over last year? On paper, we do: it's clear we have more talent. But do we objectively have a better team? After last week's second half, I'm not so sure.

I think we're too harsh on him. Ultimately he was drafted as a 2nd forward next to Clark. Clark and Dawes in the forward line would have been like Dawes and Cloak: Dawes could have presented further up the ground, created a contest, and allowed us to win more contested and stoppage footy around the ground. Ultimately that never eventuated and for 90% of Dawes' career at the club, he has been the No.1 target. Even with Hogan now who is still learning the game, Dawes is still often the No.1 target. He is an important player simply because of his work effort and capacity to get to and demand the contest. The delivery is not great, and our stoppage work is horrendous. Expecting him to kick bags is futile. He is at best a 2nd forward, but he is mostly there as a big body and nothing more.

"1500 lapsed members from back in 2013, plus 1000 kids still not renewed from 2014." Depressing statistics. Especially the kids. This club is at a crossroad. Must start performing. Thanks for your contribution.

Will be totally awks if the side lacks effort and loses by 10+ goals.

You know you support a bad team when statistics and counting as desperate as that are used to find "improvement". fmd.

In retrospect, Gold Coast are stocked up with talent in exactly the area of the field where we have least, the midfield, so... GWS has lacked exactly what Melbourne lacked through 2010-2013: leadership. Griffin and Shaw add a lot but they don't set the world on fire, nor are they stand-out leaders. Somehow GWS suddenly look the goods but Melbourne's excuse was that we threw the young kids to the wolves. I can't hide the fact that Melbourne has a stigma attached to it. When a young 18-year-old puts on the jumper after going through his adolescence having watched how bad a club Melbourne is, it surely must play on such a young, inexperienced mind. The club isn't just cursed: it's toxic.

Yeah but let's be honest, the homework ain't that challenging these days

It could just be normalisation, though. And we haven't actually played 6 good quarters. The first quarter in the Gold Coast game was very average. If we played a top side it would have been a 5-6 goal deficit in their favour. The second quarter we dominated them. In the third and fourth we traded goals, including three patches where the Suns went on 2-4 goal runs. Against GWS, we played one good quarter. They smashed us in the second but simply couldn't capitalise. We were efficient going forward but were ultimately smashed around the ground. That equates to three good quarters of football, even though we've won 6 of 8, and I'd argue that the two quarters on Saturday almost completely devalue the progress made in the preceding 6 quarters, I don't care what Roos says. It was as terrible a lack of effort as I've ever seen, matched only 2 or 3 times in my 25 years watching this club. I can handle tough losses. The Saints had a tough loss against the Giants last week. The Bombers had a tough loss against the Swans. Port a tough loss to Freo. But our problem is that we either buckle monumentally at crucial stages, or simply give up too soon to make any chance of a comeback impossible. It's like there's a certain point where I'm just certain that the team will lose. Whether that's in the first quarter or with 5 minutes left in a close game. There's just something to is so damn evident that the team will lose. The Brisbane game at Etihad last year was an example. Once they kicked the first goal to get cut our lead to a goal, I just knew we'd lose. You could smell it a mile away. That's no way to watch football! I *hope* we will bounce back this week with a good performance. I am so sick of *hoping* for a good performance. I want to be *CONFIDENT* that I'll see a good performance. But I'm not confident. I'm confident I'll be let down. But I'm hopeful I won't be. That's no way to support football. This club is an indictment on this great game sometimes, and it has been for many years.

I actually watch a lot of football. The Friday night game, one Saturday arvo game, one Saturday night game, and two Sunday games (and wherever Melbourne fits into that). I've certainly noticed that the pressure and stakes are a lot higher, and this is leading to more skill errors and bigger fadeouts. I suspect we might see some smashings this year like what we've seen from Brisbane, Carlton, and Melbourne's second half (which was a belting, let's be honest). Melbourne players could certainly get a lot out of watching teams like Freo and Hawthorn, particularly the former. Two-way running, hard work, communication. I strongly disagree that we don't have the cattle. It's an urgency thing that is most frustrating. It has a lot to do with simply learning the game what it takes to win. That was an issue last year in 10 games where we led in the last: closing the game out and taking hold of the match. Roos made a comment last year after the GWS game that missing targets, missing handballs, that it wasn't a skill thing, because if they couldn't hit a target with a handball they wouldn't have been drafted. It's all about EFFORT. It was also evident in Round 2 against West Coast last year. Who remembers that game? There were skill errors, but only because the players were playing in second gear. It's eerie how similar our performance was in that game to the 2nd half on the weekend. And then of course there was *that* game in 2011, but no one needs to see that again. It's truly gobsmacking how far below AFL standards of urgency and effort the team gets in games. That's not a skill thing. It's a mental thing. And the biggest culprits are the ones that should be leading and have been at the club for years: Jones, Dunn, Garland, Jamar. You need to have someone to look up to, to drive you to be the best. Sometimes that's your peers. Sometimes it's your enemy.

I'm actually fearful that will never happen. I mean, in the 90s, even during parts of the 00s, there was always light at the end of the tunnel for poor teams. These days, it's much harder. This club hasn't just needed to rebuild a *team*, it's needed to change the entire fabric of the club. A new organisation may as well have been started! Last Saturday reminded me that maybe, just maybe, the wooden spoon is still a very real possibility this year. The only change I'd consider is Dawes for JK.