Webber

And we've got plenty more digging to do.......a certain 20 goal plus thrashing this weekend is just going to sharpen the knives of every media idiot out there. We are at serious risk of becoming a footnote in history.

The media driven events of the last 2 months in relation to the MFC have effectively cast us as public relations poison, and a poison that doesn't just make you ill, it f***ing kills you. Cam Schwab somehow needs to make this sponsorship stick and have us come out from it ok, because NO potential sponsor would even want to be seen in the same room as the MFC. This is the perceived public image of our club. We all know it's peripheral rubbish, but the power of the media to kill or anoint is absolute, and they are killing this club.

Wow......where to start! Beginning with the mandatory 4 goal umpiring/crowd advantage when playing in Perth/Adelaide, then add the fact that WCE are 3 times better than the Lions, add another 21 goals, then a lazy 6 goals because of all the extraneous [censored] that has gone on around the club this week, makes the grand total 31 goal victory to the Eagles.........oh dear.

The reason Grant Thomas is involved is because he has 'narcissistic personality disorder', the same kind that Jason Akermanis has. Call it the 'look at me' syndrome, or the 'my worth is greater than anybody I know' pathology. They have an unrepentant need to create attention for themselves, and thus lose a rational perspective as to the value of their opinions. They are also unable to see the truth behind the fact that nobody wants to work with them, believing that their brilliance is just misunderstood. Of course, their self obsessive rantings retain great controversy value, which is why garbage media will always give them a voice. In a perfect world they would be ignored, but we know a perfect world would've seen the dees deliver a 10 goal thumping on Saturday.

There is nothing to look forward to about the west coast game. We are going to be opened up and gutted like a fish. My prediction is It will be the biggest thumping of the year for any team

What do we need? A miracle, because the next however many years of bottom 4 dwelling as evidenced by yesterday is going to see the end of the Melbourne Football Club. Yes, the signs are that bad. While we're not going to lose supporters, cos we're obviously a resilient bunch, what kid or new arrival to Melbourne would possibly want to support the club? As the media was previously been so keen to tell the world, before the great Jimmy performed his own miracle, we will become irrelevant faster than we might be prepared to admit.........

Beautiful, and completely accurate. In summary, play the MOST predictable game ever to hit the paddock, in turn becoming the easiest team in the AFL to play against........didn't we hear something to the polar opposite uttered by Mr. Neeld when he took the job. This gameplan CANNOT make us harder to play against.

Can somebody explain to me the NON holding the ball decision in the last quarter from Jeremy Howe's chase down tackle on whoever it was?

Who stays? Jones, Magner, Watts, Trengove........hmmmmmmmm...............can I go with 18 outs?

The game plan can absolutely be blamed, because the Brisbane players knew exactly what was going to happen.......so they set up numbers for the contested spill from the long bomb, or the boundary line hug, shot the ball out to space, connected possessions and goal after goal resulted. Watch a replay if you can bear it, because it became woefully hilarious how obviously they were able to do that every time.

Agreed. I want to personally ask Mark Neeld if he really now imagines this spectacularly predictable game plan will make us competitive. We are going to get split open and gutted every week if this is the garbage style of football he wants to champion. I have NEVER in my football watching life known so accurately what our players are going to do with the ball. And if I know then I can only imagine how easy it will be for the opposition. We are simply going to get flogged.....week.........after week.......after week........after week. Somehow this is so much more depressing than 186.

That has been my refrain for the past 5 years, but this start today seems somehow vastly different. I said after the hawthorn pre-season game that we are the lowest skilled team in the AFL. This is unequivocal I believe. When you couple poor skills with a resolutely predictable game plan that relies on winning contested ball, or maintaining possession around the boundary to eventually create scoring opportunities, this is the result you get. If Mark Neeld is going to stick to this method, we will get split wide open week after week after week. I have great fears now for our football club, because this will be beyond damaging.

Yep, take them with a grain of salt, cos they are COMPLETELY, UTTERLY AND TOTALLY IRRELEVANT, and as other posters have said, it is just a waste of posts to comment on the team based on their named positions. Stop doing it.......NOW!

Impossible to imagine a greater legacy than that which this great and loyal humanist has left............thankyou Jim for your true and pure influence for good, from the club we love to the community you fostered.

Sorry for the delayed reply......these bony extensions are largely held 'non-displaced' by the massive ligaments attaching to them. There is no singular force pulling them this way or that....it's multidirectional, thus they stay in place. In answer to another query, if his pain subsides well, and he is able to move completely freely and with full force, he COULD be back sooner, but the fractures won't be united. Thus, if he were to get another impact/s in that area, it would perpetuate the non-union, and that's a problem. They'll be conservative I would think, given the season's start, and keep him out minimum 6 weeks from the injury date, which would mean round 5 return.

15th......at a push. Horrible season ahead. Or maybe that's 'opposite world' !

Ignorant rubbish........a minor spinal fracture means either the transverse processes either side of the vertebrae to which ligaments and muscles are attached, or the spinous process, which are the bony bits you feel along your back. Likewise muscles and ligaments attach. Neither are involved with the intervertebral joint movement. As long as pain reduces as expected, he will be 6 weeks maximum. This depends on the fractures showing 'union' i.e knitting, which is usually a given with these sort of fractures. Nathan Jones had the same thing at the end of the year 2010 I think, and had an uninterrupted recovery. Sylvia will be able to perform a lot of non-weightbearing exercise even in the short term......bike etc.

Hawthorn DID NOT have their full strength team in......notably minus the best player in the AFL, Sam Mitchell, and Shaun Burgoyne, who would have had a picnic last night. Any suggestion the Nab cup is not meaningful is just desperate thinking to cover disappointment. We are light years from the standard required to be a top 8 side, and it is inconceivable to imagine us being remotely competitive against a top 4 side. A frank absence of skill, and the ability to protect the ball getter/carrier the greatest disappointments. Hawthorn's use of the shepherd is just beautiful to watch, and their physicality to create opportunity for the runners, coupled with their sharp disposal and vastly superior marking ability is inspiring. It will be interesting to see how our team develops this year, but at the moment, and as far into the future as can be seen with this list, I'm afraid we may as well be playing in a different league. Far from taking consolation in the 'just the NAB cup' refrain, I think last night's game was the most revealing for this club since the Geelong game last year.

Martin Flanagan is the most insightful, thoughtful and lyrical voice in Football writing. Would that his pieces reached the broader public. His essays on Liam Jurrah and the complexity of his situation, which will sadly escape the kneejerk opinionating, will be the ones to read. If the understanding and empathy inherent in their deeper considerations could translate to LJ's woes then there may be hope of a 'best possible' outcome, but the reality is as we all know the likely end of a football career, and that is indeed a tragedy. So far, the MFC has handled the situation with admirable sensitivity and direct action, and Cameron Schwab again shows his worth. He and I believe the club are showing that this is less a matter that will impact on our football reputation, but one that will underline the ethos of a club.

Agreed, and Mark Neeld echoed my thoughts on Melbfc website today.......he is just one of those players who doesn't have to do much to impact the game. He will settle soon and be indispensable.

Total agreement........if you win it, they will come! Apologies to Field of Dreams.

As long as his form isn't just static

Excellent post gidon. Your summation of the way Green, Moloney, Davey, and Rivers have had to perform in the mess of the recent past is very well argued. I think the recruiting strategy for this year though has been much more focussed on immediate needs in a 'Moneyball' way, and it may just come off. Bringing in Mitch Clark to sharpen the scoring strategy is a no-brainer I guess, but it immediately allows for the appropriate use of Green (who I think will be grateful to be free of the captaincy). What may be the mature age coup of the year in James Magner, and the reinvention of Matthew Bate, create a much less jerrybuilt look to the midfield, and will allow Aaron Davey to be used where he is best, as well as taking the pressure off Brent Moloney, which is ESSENTIAL to our midfield success this year. I believe an ably supported Moloney will allow him to show he is one of the most damaging midfielders in the AFL. Not the fastest, or the most skilled, but one of the best.....watch this space. Recruiting and reinventing James Sellar as a tall defender also allows Jared Rivers to be at his best for similar reasons. As this thread has drummed, we may not have the most talented senior list in the competition, but what is even more certain, is that they haven't had the environment to maximise their abilities. As our 2 and 3 year players come into their 3rd and 4th years, and with this year's recruiting successes and a more uncomprising coaching strategy, our potential for this year I believe is top 6, barring injury cruelling. Conversely, we make not even make the 8, but either way, the planning strategy at the club on display so far is very impressive, and a big part of that seems to be aimed allowing our senior players to perform at their best.

Watched all 3 games last night, and can honestly say I've NEVER seen (because of conditions, format rules, and player rotations) more meaningless football in terms of what it tells us for the season. The most revealing thing to be seen is that none of our new boys are afraid to go hard and want the ball. For all those hand-wringers and doomsdayers out there, I've think you've got SERIOUS problems with perception and perspective..........WOW!.

Woah there, I live in said suburb, and given it takes me 25 minutes to walk to the MCG, 30 to walk to the city, 20 minutes on the tram to Etihad, and 10 minutes on the bike to AAMI park/Gosch's paddock, you'd want to live somewhere pretty f***ing special to make me move there......