praha

We may have sneaked into finals contention, but we'd have lost Scully, might not have had Clark (would Bailey have been able to woo him?).

I'd say anything that isn't finals footy is "pain", and this club isn't playing finals until 2015 at the earliest. So we might have only two more years of absolute garbage, but as far as "pain" goes, the wound has a while to heal yet. Buckle up, folks. This ain't a finals side.

This thread is sad. Time to move on, folks.

When you have a [censored] midfield that allows the ball to get bombarded into the backline so much, your backline is going to make mistakes. Hardly Frawley's fault. He was smashed today and many times this season but so was the rest of the team. IMO I think the backline held up well throughout the year considering how much pressure it's constantly been under. The ease at which opposition gets it out of our forward line, through the middle and into the backline is going to put any backline in pressure.

I read your whole post but felt it necessary to only quote this. Dean Bailey epitomised unaccountable football. Daniher had his favourites but he still held even his mates accountable for not performing. Bailey essentially let players get away with murder because they were young and inexperience. 2012 was indicative of a group with no real direction. When you come in and tell a puppy how to act like a dog, you're never going to get a mature hound right from the get-go. That's the reality. This year was awful. It was essentially our insight into just how bad this group was managed and trained: once someone came in from a working system, the players lost the plot and suddenly didn't have the capacity -- physically and mentally -- to play top-level AFL footy. If ever we needed an insight as to how far away this club was, it was to see it get plummeted by a top-4 side, two weeks out of finals.

Cloke has 50 goals for the year though...

You wouldn't be "commenting on", you'd just be repeating the rumours... There's nothing wrong with that. Why wouldn't that be appropriate?

WUT! Talk about premature. This club is a rabble I tells ya!

Same. Stopped listening after round 2, when it was clear that he was dropping the realistic, hardline approach he offered in round 1 for a more optimistic outlook, which is understandably more for the playing group than it is for the fans and media. He's just keeping it positive. No problem with that but I have no interest in what he has to say atm. I can make my own judgements about the game and what's wrong and what's right, and when the team starts winning consistently I'll know that he's addressing the bleedingly obvious.

Well, they won 2 flags in the 90s and still have plenty of pride and a strong culture as a club. Whenever things get tough, people make noise and demand change. Difference at Melbourne is that everyone points the finger and expects big changes without actual contribution or acknowledgement of problems.

Yes, dump another experienced player that bleeds red and blue in favour of young "talent" that's played a handful of great games. Such a direction has worked wonders for the club since 2011...

Might go round for another year, but probably gone.

IMO the club has drafted fine...it was ditching players like McDonald, Yze, White so early on that ultimately hurt the team going forward. An extra year for those players and the younger players would have had valuable guidance. There's also the overrating of the team by Melbourne fans and media alike. Everyone expected Melbourne to follow the Hawthorn model, even though it managed to draft superstars in the 2001 and 2004 drafts: Melbourne never had the likes of a Franklin, Hodge, or even Crawford in the team. Dees have a great group of young players. Every team has made mistakes, but Melbourne's are magnified because it's had so many top draft picks. This team will eventually be better than Richmond, North. I have no doubt about that.

Agree. It was all Saints for the first 10 minutes, for a 10-minute burst in the third, but beyond that I'd go as far to say we dominated them in great patches... unfortunately, as a far more experienced team, their "domination" of the Dees was far more damaging, and the team dug itself too big a hole. But there was a lot of great things to come out of that match. It was actually enjoyable to watch.

It would be completely unacceptable and an indictment on the fans if the club didn't sign him. There are simply no excuses. Get it down. Losing both Scully and Blease would simply be unacceptable. It would be the same at any club.

I'll ask again... Who?

I'd love if the Dees got him.

This should free up some cap space. I wonder if Melbourne's talk of having plenty of room under the cap factored in this inevitable retirement? Either way, there is no excuse for the club not to nab more stars (beyond Clark). At least one this off-season. Do it.

I love that he isn't afraid to take the game on, and has a nice dash out of defense.

Schwab is grossly, unfairly underrated. He managed to get two new sponsors after the season had started and after a very negative media response as to the club's issues. He has done very well in arguably one of the club's worst years in its history. Also remember that when he came here Melbourne "had no brand". Crowds are up - 18,000 against the Suns isn't great but 2-3,000 up on what we would have gotten 2-3 years ago against a small-drawing team - and he has set Melbourne up to have a strong presence IF it gets up and running on the field. There have been some great fan initiatives since he arrived, and the creation of the Melbourne Business Community is going to help us snag some high profile free agents. He acknowledged the high income earning support base and took advantage, something the club should have done decades ago. It's not his fault entirely that the club sucks on field. He has a vision and for the most part it has worked: he was part of a group that saved this club from its off-field issues. More than deserving of a new contract.

I don't see media scrutiny as a bad thing. The media hounds on about Melbourne more than other clubs because many people want to see Melbourne succeed. Malthouse, even Kennett have voiced disappointment at how inept Melbourne has been over the years, considering it is a foundation club and the true home club of the MCG. The club used to be a powerhouse and isn't, and believe it or not, people want to see Melbourne become successful, more than they do the Doggies, or Saints, or Roos. Melbourne was uninspiring after quarter time. The Suns had a deplorable lineup, and their full forward was limping all day and yet still was a target on a number of occasions, which isn't good enough on Melbourne's behalf. They also lost Prestia early and were 2 men down for the whole match. The most disappointing aspect was the obvious complacency, which the TV commentators brought up a few times. The Suns also smashed Melbourne in clearances and inside 50s, which is very, very disheartening. A win is a win, but you can't hinge the future of the club on wins like that. We wold have smashed them either way, no matter what the ins and outs were for the team, but Melbourne is a long, long way off. Acknowledging that doesn't make you a bad supporter.

While I think it's possible, I don't think Neeld, or the team, would put up with losing to GC at the MCG tomorrow. If we needed to win any game this year, it's tomorrow. They simply cannot lose. BTW, Port will probably come back.

I guess just a lack of players at the selection table for Cook's position and he was a last resort. I don't think he'd have been the first player in the first 22 to not be fit enough for AFL level.

tl;dr No seriously that was funny. Sharing this.

Yes. Email is classified as publishing and the OP is well within their right to publish it publicly, unless asked not to. This was "on record". Anyway, not a fan of Gardiner, but... "Regardless of my feelings for the club I support and worked pro-bono for nearly seven years, it is wrong to enter any game without the intention of winning." I agree. I mean, I get that we should support the club, but I just don't see how in any case losing is beneficial, even if draft picks are involved.