Dr. Gonzo

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 😅

On one hand what else can he say? On the other hand his comments in the press conference were the comments of a coach with a young team trying to instill good habits. Not the coach of an experienced side that won a flag 4 years ago (14 premiership players). If he hasn't instilled those habits into them by now after 10 years as coach then it ain't gonna happen. The level of regression we have seen with this side is inexcusable. The place needs to be cleared out from top to bottom. We are a club with a proud history so I would never say we are a joke of a club but we have plenty of clowns in senior positions running the place into the ground.

Gawn was an absolute monster in that first 3 quarters, smashed Marshall from pillar to post and led by example with his defensive efforts including two fantastic smothers in D50. But his lack of leadership/poor decision making in that last quarter was abysmal.

Careful mate, you'll be accused of being too negative 🤣🤣🤣

100% with you on that, it was a real team effort to [censored] that up 🤦

They already have 15k lost in 2 years

Our onfield leadership is a joke. Gawn, Viney, Petracca, Oliver, TMac, Petty, Melksham, Salem etc "leaders" across every line and you let that happen? When your opponent has kicked 3 or 4 in a row and they need another 4 with 10 minutes left you don't play quick, you don't hit the ball into space; you slow it down you look for repeat contests, you take time off the clock. Ball up in the middle and Gawn belts it out of there it goes through Oliver's hands and into space for the Saints players to run onto. Just a complete lack of leadership across the club from top to bottom.

If it was an either/or, yeah I'd take Clarkson over Goodwin. We only pulled away from them in the final quarter a couple of weeks back and that was with us having basically a full list to choose from and them having a few first 22 players out. They also trounced us in round 2 when their younger players hadn't run out of legs late in the season. North will probably finish ahead of us next year. Clarkson may not be the coach he was but neither is Goodwin.

Putting any financial implications to the side, do you think he should be coach from a purely footy perspective. Because that is what we should be concerned about, the dollars will work themselves out.

I never got the appeal of the snow. It's cold, it's wet and it hurts when you fall. Give me the beach any day 😎

In previous years I believe some of our mid year performances were impacted by heavy training blocks, it's fair to assume other teams at the top of the ladder have similar midyear programs. Yes we played well in those games, doesn't take away from the fact our opponents weren't at their best. If we played Brisbane or Sydney today what do you think the result would be? Let's see how we go against Collingwood in the final round. We came out of the blocks against the Crows but from midway through the 2nd it was basically one way traffic with them kicking 8 of 9 goals. After that they held us at arms length for the rest of the match. I wouldn't be hanging my hat on that performance. We only lost to the Suns by 19 as well, doesn't make it a good performance.

Goodwin and Clarkson have different lists at different stages of their development. We also lost to the Cats by 100 points in 2016, was that because Roos/Goodwin were poor coaches?

Which is when you end up like West Coast.

I dunno, I see this point to a degree but in footy close can be deceiving (ie so close yet so far). Pies and Lions were likely in heavy training blocks when we played them so we got them at a good time. Swans we beat at our home ground, not theirs and also got them at their lowest point ie also at a good time. Play them this week and I think we lose. Crows started poorly then ran all over us and we could not stop them. Same as the Suns game, whenever we threatened they put the foot down and we couldn't keep up. The worst thing a club can do is incorrectly evaluate their list/where they are at. Thinking we are just one or two players away is I think foolish and will see us end up like West Coast in another year or two.

1st para - no-one should be a "lock". That's the problem 2nd para - different rules for different players, Petty is a lock but Jefferson is dropped for not performing. That's the problem. 3rd para - there's always an excuse

Maybe not but he needs to have a block of games so we can make a call. Do you think Jefferson will be cut this offseason? If not then we may as well keep playing him to see if he improves, I feel like his intensity has improved slightly (it was shocking in his first few appearances) and he is getting to the footy. He needs to start sticking marks and kicking goals both of which will come with confidence.