Dr. Gonzo

It was both

Yes and once those members are lost don't presume they will just automatically come back. They may be lost for good.

You could dissect the entire last quarter let alone that final 30-60 seconds. But just look at that, if Viney actually goes and stands next to Caminiti he would've easily covered the space Nas worked into. Then you have our mids standing around the circle instead of at the back of the square. Its mindblowing how inept that play was.

Walking back to the station he said "I'm going for Geelong now" (his mum's team) but we both know it's an empty threat. He's saddled with this curse now just like I was. He's at the age where he loves his footy, watches any game, watches YouTube vids on all the different clubs etc, starting to love the history of the game. Some weeks he's more interested in attending a neutral game instead of watching Melbourne play. It sucks because it impacts their enjoyment of the sport as a whole, I told him we'll use our AFL memberships to go watch the finals in Vic this year and either barrack for GC/GWS or against the Pies (depending on who is playing).

Careful or you'll be reported to the AFL Integrity unit

Me too, pointed it out a couple of time to my son to try and teach him what not to do in that situation. Not sure he was listening, was too upset with what was going on on the ground.

Good managers aren't loved, they're respected

Richo too

There's a difference between wanting success and doing the hard work required to achieve it.

Soooo.... what happened in that last quarter? For a coach that is constantly talking about learnings why do we never seem to learn anything? PS feel bad for you Andy (and George and binman), we are all in the same boat. There's only so much we can take as supporters. You give vent to our frustrations, it can be cathartic listening to the podcast so hope you do go ahead but completely understand if there is a hiatus. It is emotionally exhausting following this club.

Boycott won't be necessary, we'll struggle to crack 10k anyway. I'll go if either of my kids are keen otherwise I'll stay home with them. My parents, brother, sister, uncle and cousins have all checked out. I dragged a couple of them along last week against Carlton, this week none of them came there's no chance they'll come next week after today.

It's the same reason we turn up and play like [censored] against Carlton, Essendon and other also rans. It's between the ears, despite what Goodwin banged on about a few years back they don't respect the game or the opposition. They think they are better than their opponents, think the game is won so mentally switch off. Same thing happened at 3/4 time today, thought the game was won and they could have an easy last quarter. Then when things don't go their way they start panicking because they are low IQ footy players and aren't well drilled or don't trust the system. In 2021 we rarely panicked because we trusted the system now no one knows what hell anyone is meant to be doing. Bizarre considering there were 14 premiership players on the field today (Jackson, Hibberd, Brown, Harmes, Brayshaw, ANB, Jordon*, Lever and May missing)

We were up by 46 points with one quarter to go. We had leaders across every line. We were playing the Saints. To lose in those circumstances was a complete failure from our coaches and senior players.

Let freedom ring with a shotgun blast!

Which is what frustrates the most because this regime told the supporters that that would not happen. We were told that Melbourne supporters would be able to have trust in the team and players. We were told that Melbourne supporters would be able to see a defined brand of footy that the team played. We were told they were building towards a culture of excellence/consistent high performance. No you won't win flags every year but yes you will be in the thick of it at the pointy end to give yourself a chance more often than not. We had one great year, two pretty good years with poor finishes and now back to where we were. A brief three year period, not the 10-20 years of sustained performance (with slight blips) we were sold. There must be accountability for this, we were setup for success by Jackson and Roos and have completely butchered it due to typical Melbourne hubris. Maybe it comes from our supporter base historically coming from the top end of town and having a "born to rule" mentality that seeps through the club so they think they have a birthright to success without having to do what needs to be done to make it happen.

Not defending Goodwin but Gawn just isn't a great onfield leader. He leads by example sure, his efforts today for 3/4 were nothing short of herculean. I'm sure he's a very good off field leader too culture wise but when it comes to big games or big moments in games we have failed again and again under his leadership. Maybe it's the blokes he's stuck with I dunno, and yes one man can only do so much. Again, not faulting his efforts whatsoever but he should be settling the team halfway through that last quarter, slowing things down, creating stoppages to take time off the clock, telling his teammates to hold possession for a while to burn some minutes. Instead he's belting the ball into space and grabbing the ball out of the ruck to just back it forward. Look at what Collingwood do in those types of games, at a ballup the ruckman taps the ball to his feet to allow the mods to clog things up, allow a secondary ballup in the centre so other players can crowd the contest. Nope not us, we keep playing helter skelter footy straight into the hands of our opponents. I could not believe it was happening but all I could do was laugh. At this stage of the season it's a dead rubber so really I wanted to see how the team would react and they just fell all to pieces.

"Bring your shin guards to training boys"

My son wanted to leave I said no, we have to ride it out and see what happens. He was getting upset at the end couldn't watch the final kick after the siren as we were walking out. I'm at the stage where I go to the footy if my kids want to. Last week they were both keen. This week the youngest (10) wasn't interested. I doubt either will want to go next week although before 3/4 time my oldest was talking about next week's game. We shall see, I think we'll struggle to crack 10k next week surely that sends a message to the club.

If I didn't have an AFL membership I definitely would do this too. I've been a member for 37 years (since I was a 7yo kid) so wouldn't want to break the streak either but [censored] me they make it hard. If I wouldn't lose my spot as a full AFL member I'd definitely cancel.

I know you're not necessarily blaming them but pointing out the foibles of some of our less experienced/younger players when this loss was caused by a total absence of leadership across the board (both on and off field) is remarkable.

At 3/4 time I told my son about that game. Now he has his own trauma that will haunt him for the rest of his life as a Melbourne supporter just like I do. This club really brings families together 😂

Garry Lyon spoke well a few weeks back, loved Northey, loved Balme, loved Danners in fact wished he had played a bit longer under Daniher. I'm sure he would've been shattered to see Balme go but we went from the depths of despair in 97 to a Prelim in 98. Yes it was a generation ago but shows that unless the next coach coming in is a disaster like Neeld the players will love him too.

Beat me to it 😅