bing181

Beg to disagree. Knowing how to do something is one thing. Knowing how to repeatedly do it under all circumstances and with consistency takes time. Otherwise known as experience.

I was going to add "me neither", but on reflection, given some of what's been written over the last few days, it's hard to be surprised any more. Jonesy is good value, both on and off the field, and I'm another that enjoys his tweets. And just to add, some of what he's done, for example in opening himself up in writing about Auzzie's dad's funeral .... Respect.

FFS people. If you don't like the way the player reviews are written, don't read them. This constant trashing of everything the club does by some here is just pointless and tiresome. The reviews are a good initiative, generate web-site traffic (the main aim I imagine), and are an interesting if fairly innocuous read. Praise in public, criticise in private.

Sure, but it's a FD/club decision, not just DB's. The problems at the moment go right across the club. Sure, the buck stops with DB, but it doesn't mean that he's all alone in this. A few of the senior players taking responsibility wouldn't hurt.

.. and they've lost Tambling it seems. Good for Tappy to get another crack. He was travelling well.

Thank god someone said it! Quite how a player doing nothing better than "OK" at Casey is being touted at the second messiah is a bit beyond me. Even his own tweet after the Casey game said he was flat. Seems to me people are clutching at straws, looking for simple solutions. We didn't get walked on last week because Petterd wasn't in the team. The problem with "Fan Selections" this week, is that most of the team was subpar, so hard to pick out just one or two names from that train wreck. Not to mention, we need to weigh up who could actually come in and actually bring something that we're not getting at the moment. I don't see anyone running round at Casey who's better than Davey and/or Green. Bate, maybe Newton have surely earned a call-up. But not sure that Jetta for Bennel or Wonna is doing much more than rotating the deck chairs. I would have thought that Warnock or Joel Mac, both older and more experienced, might have a strong(er) case. Interesting to see how the selectors/FD react though. Do they slash and burn, or do they up the ante by making minimal changes and demanding that everyone steps up to the plate?

Don't know that we'll need to wait till later in the year to be out of finals contention ... Interesting reports, almost seems that the Rookies are closer than the drafted/listed players, especially Evans and Nicholson. Good to see Howe starting to find the pace - could be a smokey selection for the next week or two - though not sure where he'd play. But also some good/interesting news overall, e.g. Fitzpatrick BOG in the reserves.

Blease has yet to play a game! I know it's hard in the current climate of slash and burn in regards to all things MFC, but let's just give him a season or two before we ask him to stand against the wall along with everyone else. No problem with BP from me, or with not picking Darling. Drafting is informed crystal-ball-gazing, there'll always be wins and losses, and it's a much easier job than it looks with the benefit of hindsight.

..... in about about 10 minutes of footy. Was then mediocre against the Hawks (admittedly, along with more than a few others), and has had games described as "Flakey" and "OK" at Casey. Not really guaranteed, walk-up, first 22 performances. I was even surprised to hear that they'd taken him to Perth to be honest.

Re Bailey, there are not just the two arguments that you've given - he's soft/get rid of him, or developing list/give him time. The other one that has been put more than once here, is that at this comparatively early stage to the season, we just don't have enough information to be making that kind of a call.

Contradiction?

Anyone know who's in the team/travelling .... Newton, Petterd, Maric etc.? Or I guess more to the point, not travelling?

Well, that didn't take long. I was just reading down this thread, wondering how long someone would manage to see a problem for Melbourne in all this. We have, as you put it, issues, as it is, whether we beat Port or not. When we stop having "issues", we'll be premiers ... multiple times over. Well done Dees, nice 90 point win over GC.

21 disposals, 6 marks. What a waste of time - luckily we're not cutting down any trees for this drivel.

I've never said we're heading in the right direction, and just because I don't want to stick the boots into Bailey, doesn't mean I accept mediocrity. I just don't see that with a bunch of kids running round, learning the ropes etc., and that without established stars and game-changers amongst our senior players, that we can at this stage be expecting miracles. You clearly prefer to see things in black and white - well, actually, you clearly prefer to see things in black, not much white there at all - but that seems to me a limited, one-dimensional view of a more multi-layered situation. We have 3 or 4 of last year's top 10 players out or coming back from injury, we've lost our captain and a couple of other experienced players (a commodity in short supply at Melbourne), not to mention our best tackler and our respected backs coach - that would be a massive blow to any team. Yet here (and elsewhere) there seems little acknowledgement of that. How many years did it take Dane Swan to become the player he is?

Would be interesting if you could elaborate on this. Which learned scribes and which clubs?

Nah. Hard to see how some of the impatient, shoot-from-the-hip propositions we increasingly see around here would even have the boat slightly listing, yet alone rocking.

???? Maybe when they all get 50 - 100 games under their belts. A long way to go yet to being a "great" list. Going backwards? We could well be in the short term. Take Junior, Bruce, McKenzie and Scully out of last year's side, not to mention Morton and Frawley who are just getting up to speed after missing games/injuries .... that's a huge slab of talent and experience to cover, much of it through the mids. Once again, I am just at a loss as to what people are/were expecting. There's a LOT of looking back on 2010 with rose-coloured glasses. We won a few good games ... but people are just kidding themselves, we weren't that good overall. Given that we lost the last 2 winnable games, to have won the first 2 winnable games this year, especially given the above, is already an improvement.

Sweeping generalisation, and entirely subjective. For me, his media conferences are smart, and the more I see of him, the more I like him. As for not being inspiring ... all the reports I've read of people who've spoken to him are to the contrary of that. But heh, you (and others) have it in for him because a bunch of kids aren't playing like Collingwood every week. (Though by the way, Collingwood got belted for a quarter by a bottom-4 team last week ... sack Malthouse??). The bye couldn't have come at a worst time. Another week of this mindless conjecture and, as someone put it earlier, masturbation (though it's closer to self-flagellation and masochism). Which is only going to get worse once we lose against WC (side on the up, playing at home, and with more than a couple of useful players).

Yes, we still are, and still will be for quite a while yet, at least in patches. We're also capable of delivering some impressive footy. But on both counts, not consistently.

Which part of last year would that be? The thrashing by Hawthorn? The loss to the wooden spooners (WC) ... at home. The two losses to North? The losses of the last 3 games in a row when he had a chance at the 8? Short memories.

Go for it ... well done!

You were expecting us to? Maybe in 2013 we'll start to "arrive", but until then, there are going to be lots of ups. And downs.

You're right! Here, a little snap to take our minds off all that is wrong with the world .

You mean Richmond and North who have yet to win a game, that Richmond and North?