hardtack

This will probably get me bagged, but what the hell... I really can't understand the venom that gets spat in the direction of the umpires on these forums (particularly in the game day threads). They have one of the toughest jobs going in the sport, constantly have to make snap decisions in a pressure cooker situation, are frequently unsighted due to the nature of the play, do not have the benefit of the replay system before making a call and are not particularly highly paid when compared to the mid to top range players. In other words, it's a thankless task... they are doomed to criticism no matter what they do - yet the game would not/could not go ahead without them. This guy made a mistake yes, but it was perfectly obvious that it would not make it to the MRP and as there was no 50m penalty, it amounted to nothing more than a free kick... and we won that count quite easily on the day. I wonder how many of the "critics" on here would be willing to take on the job, and if any did, how many would not make similar bad calls under pressure from time to time.

I suppose you developed this dislike for "private school boys" as a result of your living in that notoriously working class suburb of Balwyn North? Just give me guys who can play skillful hard at it football regardless of their education, body decoration or anything else you may care to list.

I like Cooney when he's flying, but I would always be more than a little concerned about his knee preventing him from playing his best football; after all, it is a degenerative knee problem, so is unlikely to improve, but quite likely to fail him again (just a matter of when). Also, I would hope the Dogs can keep him rather than weakening their list even further... I feel a little sorry for them as they are the one club that has been in the wilderness even longer than us. Let's raid GWS or GCS or let's go for FAs at clubs who have at least tasted success.

Well, I do recall one poster on these forums saying that they hope Carlton thrash us by a very large margin (140 points?) so that Neeld would be sacked; so it could be correct to say that there are some on here who don't support the club in it's current form. Of course, I assuming that AoB is using the word "fail" to describe our game day performance and not our viability as a club to continue to exist; and I'm pretty certain that was what he meant.

What an absolute load of rubbish... Jones is a reasonably bright person who carries himself quite well in interviews - he certainly does not fall behind when it comes to IQ levels. In the past my only issue was that he seemed a little introverted, but that is certainly no longer the case; his confidence in himself as a person and a leader has grown with his confidence in his footballing abilities.

Gee, I knew we were in bad shape, but having these kids paying to play is going way beyond the pale!! Neeld should be stripped of the coaching position immediately!!

That's a reasonable gut feel as if I recall correctly, the club stated that he was being brought in purely as a forward and NOT with ruck duties in mind (or am I getting that mixed up with what they said about Clark?).

I know this will sound a bit sad, but I do get a little excited when we win those games... must be conditioning I suppose. Hate to think what my reaction will be if we do manage to beat a top tier team.

Pointless win? I wouldn't have thought there was such a thing as a pointless win... football is partly a confidence game and the more "pointless" wins we can get, the more positive experience it is getting into our younger less experienced players - they need that winning feeling, regardless of who it is against. Of course we must start winning games against tougher opponents, that goes without saying, but to describe any win as pointless is, in my opinion, well... pointless.

Agreed, and that is why I am rather surprised at how few here are suggesting Fitzpatrick get a call-up. He has done the "hard yards" at Casey and more importantly has been scoring goals... something we were sorely lacking yesterday against Carlton. Bringing both Fitz and Dawes into the side will both reward Fitz for his efforts and will take a lot of pressure off Dawes in his first game for the club... with both Fitz and Gawn up forward, Dawes would not be the only target. Magner should be elevated and placed in the midfield asap if Grimes is going to be out for a minimum of eight weeks as expected (and hopefully he will then be the promoted rookie come mid-season - they still do that don't they?), Jetta should come directly back into the side (not as a sub - imo, that should be Nicholson, TD) - it might also be worth considering bringing Toumpas back in for this game so he can build some confidence before the Richmond game the following week...plus the fact that he could not get a better education in the game than by playing against one G. Ablett Jnr.

I was waiting for that.

I take it you didn't see Grimes leaving the MCG in the back on an ambulance?

That's a no-brainer really... up until today's game, we were, I think, number three for inside 50 conversions. If we can play full games with the intensity they displayed in that second quarter, we quite possibly could become that "toughest side to play" that Neeld claimed we would become.

One of the best I've seen Jones play for a while as well... if the rest could follow the lead of Jones, Viney, Tappy and Garland, we would be much better placed.

I don't care if I'm accused of being overly PC, but please stop using this as a put-down!!

Funny how we don't see any positive comments about Terlich's effort

A void

Ok, I'll nominate Range Rover and his minions for the board, just so that we can start a whole new raft of threads just like this, calling for their sacking and calling for nominations for their potential replacements.

This whole replace the president, replace the CEO, replace the coach, replace the <insert target>, thing has become an absolute YAWN fest! All we see is countless repetition of the same arguments on both sides of the fence and the same agenda driven destabilisation proponents! Mods, I beg you, please shut this thread down!

Sometimes on these forums, I feel like I am already on that tour.

Just tweeted by MFC... Ins: Dunn, Strauss, Spencer, Viney, Kent, Nicholson. Out: Davey, Jamar, Rodan, Blease, Watts, Pedersen.

What, you want Col to let them kick more goals??!!??

Thanks for that... appreciated.

Ok, you win... lets abolish the role of captain and vice captain as they are obviously superfluous to what goes on on the field anyway, and simply give the two Jacks the new titles of MR and VMR (Media Rep and Vice Media Rep).

Yes, I understand all of that, but I started this thread in the hope of getting insight into whether there really is a disconnect between the coach and the players... there are plenty of other topics on this board if people want to vent about the club and supporters.