Melb16

So out of interest, what is the career killing factor if not recurrence? I got the impression they were being so careful to prevent it happening again.Good news that it is now completely behind him!

Was going to ask the same question. I'm assuming the people on this board do watch us play, but sometimes comments reflect otherwise. We are shocking and just lost 3 of our oldest players. Should we instead be drafting someone with pick 79 and delist them 2 years later? We need some older players with bigger bodies, a bit of pace, and a can kick goals. If he doesn’t work out who cares, what has he cost us? You can’t just play an under 24 side every week.

Realistically this is a pretty simple one. If we do not rate JV in our top 4 players in the draft then we do not take him. It would be embarrassing and unprofessional to be bullied into picking him higher than we rate him. People will get on here and say that he’s good enough we should just take him because he’s quality. But if we do that when we believe him to be rated lower than others, then we actually LOSE an even more highly rated player. The AFL isn’t a ‘oh it’s just about good enough so we’ll take it’ type of business. It’s easier to not worry about it when the draft pick doesn’t haven’t a name or face, but remember Chris Judd was pick 3. Imagine the hysteria if we lost a player of somewhere near that caliber. We take the best player at pick 3, simple as that.

I’m sorry, am I missing something here? It’s always good to see people defending the club, but people can’t be potting Mike for saying we were his lowlight. Blokes get on here and harp on our how bad our culture is and how it needs to change (and they are correct) and then we have people trying to sugarcoat our on field performance this year. We were disgusting. People can offer up all the reasons they want, and they may very well be true, but bottom line is….we were disgusting and it’s not good enough. The AFL isn’t a sympathy league. In saying that, I think Neeld is on the right way to changing our culture and list and way we play. If we get a midfield I think we can improve quicker than people may think.

I'm almost more worried that some of our supporters thought he was subbed in the 2nd quarter without being injured. Surely we are smarter than that...

Bartel doesnt have pace. People become obsessed with writing someone off if they arent lightening quick. He's quick enough.

All good points but these 2 are great points! In a contest of 4v4 we will have all 4 of ours commit to the ball whilst 1-2 opposition players commit, leaving the rest to gather the ball when it spills and run off. It happens so often and it shows a complete lack of understanding what is around you. Its the junior footy 'see ball, get ball' mentality and we've done it for a few years now. Kicking it to the pocket is also dumb. Even if some does mark it, they are highly unlikely to kick the goal! Can't remember 1 time when we used space inside 50m and kicked it to the 'fat side' on Saturday. The Jamar point someone has made is also frustrating. Everyone at the ground, including the opposition players, knows he's going to handball to a player standing still next to him without even looking. We are so bloody predictable.

I agree with strongly all of your points, but this one is something doesn't get mentioned a lot. And my frustration goes even a step further than the ball carrier. So often when the ball is in dispute we'll have 3 players go at it, the opposition will have only 1 of their 3 players go at it, their player wins it and gets it out to the 2 free players to run off. It's stupid. Players have got to have a better awareness of whats going on around the ball.

Lyon is at Melbourne airport as we speak about to board a flight to Perth. He's a Docker. Amazing stuff. Seems like his manager didn't know and Lyon did the deal himself...

Was Tony Jones, not Jack Trengove.

Because they have to. They can only trade them they dont actually have them on their list.

The Collingwood example is one example. There are examples from basically all clubs, bar maybe a Sydney, in which teams intensity fluctuates. You've come to a conclusion from the outside that the players don't respect the coach based on what many people would consider nothing. We are a young inexperienced group, you cant just decide to cut that part of the argument out. Collingwood's elite players have been in the system 6-10 years. we dont have any elite players. Our potential ones have been in the system 2-5 years. If we played with ferocious intensity 100% of the time, with clean crisp ball movement, and perfect structures wouldn't we win the flag? We aren't there yet and it will take time. Some seem to think that we've gone backwards this after 4 rounds. Calm down.

There really are some gaping holes in your argument. So your evidence that Richmond respect Hardwick and the Roos respect Scott more is that they were more fired up to play us? So therefore the fact that we ran last year’s Premiers to a point, and then drew with them the next time around (when they had the chance to learn from the first time) means that our players respect Bailey more than Collingwood players respect Malthouse. You’re making some pretty big assumptions for someone not in the inner sanctum of the club. Yes our intensity certainly hasn’t been up to scratch this year. We likely thought we had it won against Brisbane and almost paid a massive price. You do realise that every club does that? Do Melbourne supporters believe our current coach will lead us to a premiership you ask. Did Hawthorn supporters believe Al Clarkson would lead them to a premiership? Did Geelong supporters believe Mark Thompson would lead them to a premiership? There is a reason that supporters don’t make decisions for footy clubs. If we let our supporters make decisions based on the informed opinions they think they have from sitting on their lounge chair at home yelling at the TV we would have had 8 coaches since 2007. Football is such a complicated game. It isn’t easy. It takes time to build a team good enough to win a flag. There is no set course. Some teams have some luck and do it quicker than expected (Hawthorn), some teams take a long time (Collingwood). Some teams do almost everything right and just don’t have enough luck (St Kilda). We aren’t playing overly well at the moment. It is frustrating and if we play like this all year then there will be some questions asked. But some of you need to calm down and stop blowing up after 4 rounds.

Channel 7 is ajoke. It's 2011! Everyone knows the score, time to show live footy.

Reeally good OP. I pretty much agree with everything you've said. Sometimes it's like we implement what we do at training, but forget their is opposition and pressure. The players come across as robots rather than thinking through the situation. How many times do you sit there are scream 'NOOO' when they kick backwards to a Warnock ot Bartram! Sometimes they don't even glance forward. I watched a bit of the Sydney v Collingwood match and the Swans were doing what we did, but they then had a next option once they switched so it worked. I think we almost just do it for the sake of it and try an deal with the problem (everyone is matched up and we are further back than were we started) once it arises. Maybe it was just workrate, inexperience, or rustiness, but it has indeed been happening for a long time. Our kickouts still looked horrible, and our zone for their kickouts was weak. We seem not to be able to get out of the 50, yet we almost let them get to the wing! It baffles me.

Obviously not Bartel. But I don't think it's a given that Ling and Corey are great players. They were surrounded by elite midfielders which made them better. Also not certain that they were going much better then Jones at age 22-23. You always look slow when you lose. Davey was chased down by Slattery! I cant really remember any of our midfielders burst away, yet theirs did often! One thing I think we struggle at is spreading at stoppages. We all attack the ball, get caught, and then the opposition have outriders for the spillage and can run it out. This makes us look slow. I believe once you get a Scully in there and we up our pressure and spread more things turn around a bit. Smart ball movement makes you quick and doesnt necasarily require leg speed. Poor setups and spreading at contests make you look slow! I think that is more of an issue for us.

Bad call. People go a bit over the top in regards to pace. Did Ling, Bartel and Corey play in the same midfield?

Horrible post. The bombers reaction? The team that went ape droppings after drawing a round 1 NAB cup match? Horrible, horrible post.

Will be intersting to see if he gets votes from the coaches. Seeing as they will vote Sewell, Burgoyne and probably Franklin, if Bruce does get votes it means the coaches thought he was in our 2-3 best players. He was clearly in our best 6 yesterday, I think you have a bias against him. If he does vote does that mean the coaches don't have a clue and dont watch the game?

A very good post, spot on. The abuse he cops is often from those who don't actually understand the game. They fall for perception and watch the game with blinkers on. Instead of looking at what he can do, they look at what he can't do. So the theory that these people have is because he isn't as fast as Aaron Davey, he is slow and should never play again. He is a very efficient player and a lot of his work goes unoticed because it isnt flashy and he isnt a smooth mover like a Sylvia or Davey. He is a very important part of our future and when this is proven the negative nancys here will line up to apologise.

No, sorry I didn't mean it like that. I stated a few posts later that I was only basing that on the rumours, nothing substantial. But I will be very surpirsed if he plays again this season. That is the 3rd time its popped out so far that we know of.

Yeah he sort of does. I'm only basing this on rumour and nothing substancial. That he has supposedly told us not to talk contracts until the end of the season is a worry. But I guess we'll find out.

I know a little about these shoulder injuries and to me it looked like he popped it out last week and not hurt his AC joint like some have suggested. He will require a reco now. Whether the club wants to try nurse him through like Adelaide did with Porplyzia or send him straight for surgey is the question. I suspect that is his season done, and even possibly his career with the MFC.

You've really embarrassed yourself here. The old overly emotional post is closely linked with those without a clue.

Correct. Although it isn't a theory, it was what I was told. I have a life, so making a statement and hoping its right to bignote myself on an internet forum isn't on my list of things to do. It's no revelation we are taking those 2, but there are people debating who should go first (not that it really matters), and I was wondering myself. So when it was confirmed to me I just thought i would share it.