bing181

Not entirely true, we were given the right to upgrade a rookie. (Yes, I know ...)

Every player we want to trade in will be seen as a spud by someone here.. Every player we want to trade out will be seen as a (potential) star by someone here. Sometimes even the same person. Off-season.

Is Salem eligible?

Not by himself he didn't. Even on the coaching team, what the f was Neil Craig doing, yet alone others in the FD, the Board, the Admin? If there's one thing Roos has shown (us) is that it's not just the coach, it's the people around him, and the whole club, from the President down. Kicking Neeld like this misses the point. Also, it's not Neeld's fault he was appointed to a position that was (probably) beyond him in the first place. I've hired people who weren't up to it, but have never blamed them but looked at what I did wrong to let that happen. Anyway, agree with much of the above, this is water well under the bridge now, and thankfully we have people at the club who know what they're doing (especially PJ).

We can only speculate, but would be a great get. Hope PJ can work some of his magic.

How did that go the week before? We have two players that were dropped when we lost to lowly Carlton, but somehow they're potential saviours against the team that will probably play-off for the premiership? We HAD players that we'd brought in from Casey: Matt Jones and Harmes? What difference did they make??? We had 2 players who did well, both of whom had missed a large chunk of footy through injury/illness, Salem and Brayshaw. Coincidence?

You missed Salem. Only injury/illness has held him back, but we saw on the weekend what we've been missing. Essential going forward.

That's not leadership, that's being a show poney and winning Brownlow Votes. If what you're saying is true, the Collingwood captain through the Malthouse years wouldn't have been Nick Maxwell, it would have been Dane Swan. Leadership is doing the [censored] work: making sure players get into position, making sure players stick to the game plan and play their roles, encouraging (younger) players who've just given away a goal through a stupid turnover, reinforcing the coaches' message, sticking up for the other players on the field, adjusting positioning on the field in response to what's going on, sacrificing your own game in the interest of the team, helping (younger) players focus, leading by example in always trying to do what the team is supposed to be doing etc. etc. But much of what a captain does is off-field: how they prepare before a game, how they train, how they approach being a professional footballer, how they play the part of role model, and in particular how they work as a conduit between the coaches and the players etc. etc. Happy to take Roos' opinions on Jones in this regard. He'd know.

Leadership goes a lot further than what happens for the few hours each week when the players are on the field. Jones is no Luke Hodge, that's for sure, but we don't really know what he'd doing/saying off-field, or even on-field for that matter. He's no AA star, but he does give his all most of the time, and takes responsibility for what he does. Will be interesting to see the leadership group next year. Probably too early for Brayshaw to be included, but he's another who seems to have what it takes.

When Roos first took over, we eventually started to look decent in patches, eventually that grew to a quarter here, a quarter there. Further along, we started to be able to put it together for longer periods, even close to whole games. Putting it together game after game, week after week, is the next step. Currently, I'd suggest it's a step too far for a young team. I think we'll find that when a lot of these players (from Stretch to Viney, Petracca etc.) have 7 or 8 solid pre-seasons under their belt, those tail-off losses, whether it's within games (where we can't quite bring it home, even though we're in it at 3/4 time), or across games (the last 2 weeks, especially the Carlton game) won't happen so much (or at all). I know that for many years we've been a victim of the "just give them time" approach. But now, we have both the players and more importantly, the coaches (Goodwin, McCarthy, 3 years of Roos under their belts) to make sure that it's more than just an empty expression. Just to hear Roos hammering on about the importance of these next 8-10 weeks when the players are "off" is a big change from anything we've heard in the past.

Keep coming back to the skills. All those turnovers just kill us, kill our confidence, and kill any hope of getting a roll on.

Seriously?? Brayshaw was Melbourne's highest-ranked player today, and had his best game for the club (especially under the circumstances). Stretch was decent and fulfilled his role, especially in the second half. He generally manages to get the ball to another Melbourne player, which puts him ahead of most of his teammates.

Only 22, plays a draining, physically demanding, bullocking game. Needs another couple of pre-seasons (at least) to get his body where it needs to be to consistently perform at this level. (not alone on that score though).

Jones isn't in the class of any of those you mentioned.

Maybe he wants to play VFL finals as well.

Amongst the dross, a few positives - Brayshaw's best game for the year, Stretch wasn't the worse, and Salem showed why we need him. We were just steamrolled, and never managed to even get close to getting going - though as above, the constant turnovers didn't help.

Got to get some players into the team who can kick and dispose of the ball efficiently. Not the only reason we lost, but we're never going to go far if we can't stop these turnovers, they're just killing us, and killing any momentum.

Skills and turnovers kill us yet again, not able to string together 2 or 3 possessions and keep control.

Geelong very good, look better than Hawthorn for mine. Could go close if they can produce this kind of footy across the finals. Dangerfield could just about beat Brisbane all by himself. Remarkable.

Geelong: Top 4 team, building into the finals, determined to get the jump on us Melbourne: Not a Top 4 team. Game a reflection of where they are and where we are. Getting Hibberd and Melksham will be one thing, but we need mids and more mids.

Boys look turned on, which is a relief, but the story of the day will happen is already there: Dangerfield in another class, and we have no-one like that, and b) poor skills and turnovers will kill us against a top 4 side. (Nev Jetta ...)

That's the problem with most of what you post right there.

Perhaps also a decision made in consultation with Oliver himself. I thought the same might also have been true of Brayshaw, and if so, wonder if he was offered the option.

Missed these last 2 games, presumably injured, or been told to go away and start getting his body right for next season. Or, just been told to go away.

Perhaps, but: a) Dawes seems to be injured (again), didn't play at Casey last week and not named this week b) Pedersen has been specifically mentioned in terms of "not being able to finish off his work and hit the scoreboard" in the Casey reports. Don't mind it. Reminds me a bit of the O McDonald scenario, and we can see how that's working out. If playing Weideman for these couple of games advances the time when he'll be our first-call FF, then all for it. If Dawes, Hulett or Pedersen had been knocking the door down, perhaps another story.