DirtyDees DDC

To the tune of 'Tom Dooley'.

"Hang down your head Tom $cully,

Hang down your head and Lie.

Hang down your head Tom $cully,

Go take your cash and fly".

I'm glad he's signed - great news for the club.

Now can he finally have a proper pre-season and not park himself in the 'modified training program' group like last year.

Endurance is his biggest problem.

He is totally playing without any confidence at the moment. That missed goal in the first quarter - he was on his right foot and should have buried it. He was trying to think his way through instead of trusting his instincts.

Then within 60 seconds of missing that goal, he leans back on a 50/50 contest, then fails to chase the defender. 3 awful errors in a minute and they didn't drag him!

+What happens at Melbourne in the next 8 weeks is a big factor, in that it might show how close they are to a premiership

Until recently i thought that Tom would stay. I believed his best chance of winning a premiership medal in the next 5 years was with the Dees rather than GWS.

Sadly our recent performance on and off the field has been so poor, so unprofessional, that we don't deserve him at the moment. How on earth did Cameron Schwab save his position at the club? He was gone on the Sunday following the Geelong debacle.

It's not done and dusted. The article confirms that he hasn't made a decision. Sounds like all the rumours have come from GWS - stirring the pot. Even Ox recently admitted that he had not spoken to anyone from Melbourne when he said he was 98% sure Scully would leave.

We might be able to save him if we get the right coaching panel, and we fix our administration, and we win the last 3 games, but that's unlikely. We are so down on confidence that we could lose all 3. If that happens, say goodbye to Tom, Colin, Cale and anyone else out of contract.

I'm starting to get annoyed at all the comments that his family are not happy with this and that. Have heard them all season. Sounds like they may be like those stage/tennis mums and dads who meddle too much.

Really?!!! Is that so? When this story broke in Feb this year, my sources said the parents were stunned by the the rumours and hadn't heard anything till the news broke on 3AW rumour file.

Once again, i ask....what proof have you got that Scully is leaving? Or do you just have a 'gut feeling' that he's gone?.

I recall an atricle on Jamar that indicated he has a history of foot soreness. They have to nurse him thru each pre-season. He has certainly struggled since returning from injury.

so 1st in tackles

1st in score involvements

1st inside 50

2nd contested posessions

3rd in goals

3rd in Disposals

I think he has been one of the most consistent all year need to keep

Another important stat. At the end of next year he will become an 8 year player for the club. The new rules for free agency will apply and we will be struggling to keep him at the club if he thinks his chances of a flag with the Dees are poor.

Free agency will allow rich successful clubs to recruit very good players and maintain their high positions on the ladder, because 8 year out-of-contract footballers want to win a premiership medal. Those players will come from poorer less successful clubs with little chance of winning a flag.

We are complaining about GC and GWS pinching players. We ain't seen nuthin' yet.

If players are throwing games because they have issues with the administration then this is an extremely serious issue that needs action. Fruitless to sweep it under the carpet.

I can't see how honest feedback given off the field can mean that we threw the game against Geelong. I'll grant that our attitude was poor (especially our work effort off the ball), but so were our lack of size, lack of skill, and poor tactics.

I dont agree.

The players should suck it up and worry about playign good football, not about weather they like Schwab

The club asked for feedback last year from Miller and McDonald, and also last week from the leadership group, and they got it. They might not like it but they can't ignore it. Every successful organisation has 360 degree feedback. Melbourne shouldn't be any different.

They play footy. Schwab doesnt. I see no reason why the players have to be mates with their CEO

The players have indicated there is friction between themselves and their CEO. That friction needs to be addressed for the club to move forward.

Don Mclardy was on 3AW. They kept asking him why Schwab was out on Friday and was kept on for another year on Sunday. He declined to comment, or to dispute that the story was incorrect.

If the players are unhappy with Schwab, how can this work out?

Interesting when Bailey was asked about what support he had from CEO & administration he referred back to feeling he had total support from players and coaches.

mmm. And interesting that Bailey - who was selected as coach prior to Jimmy and the Boys' rise to power - has departed , while CS and CC remain and have the full support of the board.

This isn't over. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a resignation or two before the end of year.

I'd love to know what Cameron Schwab has done wrong? Since when does a team get flogged and they get rid of the CEO. Bizzare. If they flick him, he'll have the dubious honour of being sacked by the club twice.

Many years ago when he was CEO with West Coast, Brian Cook said there should be a clear 'separation of powers' between the different arms of the football club. It appears that Schwab crossed that line at various times and the players and others have taken exception.

There will have to be a lot of fence mending at the club if he continues as CEO.

Just listening to Dean Bailey's press conference. He is a much better media performer than four years ago. Said he was glad the club took the direction they did (blooding new players) even if it cost him his job. He's a nice bloke. He just couldn't get the players to hit targets and execute his game plan.

It certainly would have been better if we'd handled his removal with the same smoothness that Adelaide did with Craig, but I suspect that Craig offered his resignation and Bailey thought he still had something to offer. It makes a big difference.

Clarkson.

Jim and Garry should sit down with him and tell him we won't take no for an answer. Give him everything he needs and carte blanche to bring in everyone he wants.

Mmmmm. Be a good move if we could get him. Absolutely, however I have heard he has a handshake agreement with the Hawks and is going nowhere. But you are right. Let's find out while he is out of contract.

In the interim we have to pick temporary coach. We do have an experienced AFL coach in Connolly but his own position seems in doubt at the moment.

I think the CEO job is as important for us as the coach. Imagine if we said to Clarkson or Williams or Eade 'come to us and work with Brian Cook'. They would jump at the chance.

Patrick says we are rotten from top to bottom. Crap. We have paid our way out of debt; we have record membership, and much better facilities and assets than 2-4 years ago.

What we do need is a clear definition of roles between the 3 different components of a football club - admin, management, and the footy department. We need experienced operators in the CEO and coaching role to come in and show us the way.

The board has indicated they want an experienced coach. With the exception of Barassi, since 1968 we have consistently picked 1st time coaches without success.

If we are looking for a grand final winning coach who has the motivation and capacity to take over the Dees, then there's not many out there. And they aren't available. Matthews doesn't have the desire; same with Thompson; Williams is the de-facto coach of GWS; Malthouse is tied up by a contract with Eddie and Paul Roos wont leave Sydney for a couple of years.

So that leaves experienced coaches that don't have a premiership to their name such as Eade and Laidley, and there's no guarantee we can outbid Adelaide for their services.

There is one person I'd love to see at Melbourne - Geelongs' Brian Cook as CEO. He is the best in the business. Get him, and we'll attract a top coach.

So for the third time in a row we have disposed of our coach mid-season.

It's never a good move and it's possibly the second worst move a club can make.

However the worst is losing by 186 points, and having the biggest losing margin record in the league this year.

Perhaps our 2 saddest losses were against mid-tier clubs such as North and the Bulldogs. We got towelled by to teams that won't make the 8!

We are not competitive at the moment.

Bailey seemed to be caught out tactically with few inspired positional moves, and we have made strategic errors with our list management. He admits the way they handled junior was a mistake. We took 3 experienced players out of our list in 2010 (Junior, Bruce and Miller) but we didn't have anyone to step up as leaders to take their place.

What is scary is the players saying they were fully behind the coach. Crikey!!! What would have happened if he'd lost their support!!!

Media reports from Caroline Wilson and others suggest that Cameron Schwab will be sacked asap.

I find it very hard to believe after yesterdays sickening performance they would get rid of the CEO before they get rid of the coach.

Schwab is not responsible for the day-to-day management of the players or the tactics on game day. He may have caused problems within the club (and i'm not privy to any any gossip) but our problems are not with our profit and loss statement, or the balance of our accounts, or the new training facilities or the purchase of the Bentleigh Club.

Our problems are with our on-field performances this year and the development of our list by the football department, all managed by Bailey and his team.

It would be laughable if we make Schwab the first scapegoat of yesterdays debacle.

I was going to start this topic by going through all the list and selecting the players that are deficient in at least one of these facets.

No. Let's make it easy. Let's pick the players on our list who DO NOT have these flaws.

I did not find a single player on our list. I am welcome to hear arguments in favour of Frawley and Sylvia. Maybe they do have all round skills and are physically strong, but they were two of the biggest culprits today with their lack of leadership.

We are a team of boys, massively underdone, and the fault lies with everyone at the club; the players who don't work on their weaknesses, the recruiters who picked underdeveloped kids, and the coaching staff who fail to prepare them for AFL football.

Todays despicable effort was due to a series of poor decisions, both short term and over several years, that gave the club it's darkest day. That includes the woeful effort by Casey Scorpions.

But wait - there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Jack Viney will toughen us up. All 178 cms and 77 kilos of him. That will make those skinny guys at Geelong and Collingwood shudder!!!!

Give me a break.

I think Richmond and Melbourne had an agreement to play 2 games each in 3 years against Port up in Darwin. If that's correct then we won't play in Darwin next year. Can anyone confirm this?

The fact that last night was our 4th game since the QB(18 days) was also a telling factor on the young bodies. IMO even older sides would have struggled with that kind of scheduling.

I also think it was no surprise that Melbourne and Richmond got thrashed this round. Our clash last weekend produced over 160 tackles, tons of contested possession in the second half, and a match that was in the balance deep into the last quarter. That was a tough match between two young sides and both teams really struggled to get up for this weekend.

We are still a bit light compared to other clubs. The average weight for an ALF footballer is about 87-88kg. Our median average is 85kgs. No wonder we went for 4 talls in the 2010 draft.

I also think the guys at Footscray that hurt us last night will not be there in 2 years time - Giansiracusa, Murphy, Boyd, Morris, Hall, Gilbee and Ward.

The guys that stood up last night - Trengove, Petterd, and Watts - they will be better players for us in 2013/4.

The problem i have with this match is, i could pick the result before the first bounce. with the small amount of vision we got of the warm-ups, i could tell the motivation wasn't there. when is this horror year going to end?

We lost that match before the game started, for 2 reasons.

Jack Watts made a comment in a news report earlier this week stating we need to pick a side that is suited to the smaller ground at Etihad. Instead, we swap a new outside player like Blease for a hard nut like Macdonald, and we pick more outsiders like Bennell and Morton.

We looked stuffed. This was our fourth game in eighteen days and we were coming off a very tough encounter with Richmond. A report on the club website this week said the conditioning staff were working overtime to get the players ready for each match. Every club is battling fatigue this year. Even Collingwood, the fittest team in the league, is resting players.

We also had a very young side which included our top 7 draft picks from 2008 and 2009. Isn't that what we want to see each week - the club developing the players? The will struggle with consistency but I prefer to see them get game time ahead of Warnock and Dunn atm.

I'm still disappointed, but not surprised. The saddest part was another poor performance in front of a big TV audience. We should save those games for Foxtel.

A quick observation regarding GRUBBY Allen and Damien Barrett's performance last night. Tom and his management team have denied any 'official' contact with GWS.

So if you were GRUBBY Allen and you wanted to get a message to Tom and his management, why not use a set-up interview with Damien Barrett. He agrees to do an interview with Barrett on the condition that Barrett deliberately leaks the rumour that they have offered Scully $7mil for 6 years.

There is absolutely no guarantee that the rumour is true, But GRUBBY is clever. The rumour doesn't come from his lips; it puts the figure of $7mil out in the open, and it waves a flag to players at all AFL clubs - 'if Scully knocks that back, then there's plenty to go around'.

He's a [censored] stirrer. He did this during the Buckley saga at Brisbane, and he's the source of the Scully rumours. Message to Tom - beware - if you lie down with dogs you wake up with fleas.

Whatever happened to the theory that Scully had signed with GWS, but had changed his mind and wanted to get out of the deal? We had a long forum on the legal merits of a 'heads of agreement' contract verses a binding agreement.

They asked Lynch about this rumour on SEN this morning. He said he hadn't heard the rumour and he firmly denied it. End of story.

13 tackles on the forward line? Looks like his shoulder is OK.

He seemed rusty on Saturday and had trouble getting clean possession of the ball.

So he changed his game and became a top defensive forward. Smart footballer.