Deetective Sgt. Taggert

More riddles please. This is getting boring...

So sick of [censored] hawthorn

How can Suckling be allowed to fun off his mark after the siren?

Over umpired except when it counts.

Bloody disgrace.

Glad i wasnt the only one thinking that. Buddy franklin has gifted everyone with that right now it seems...

WOW where was the holding the ball? What the [censored]?

Yeah, 2 goal turnaround. Brutal

After that effort I'm tipping a West Coast and Hawthorn Grand Final.

Yep, and I'd be confidently backing West Coast against anyone else other than Hawthorn (only because they will lose the home ground factor and hawks have the experience)

sydneys effort and determination is everything i want at melbourne.

Isn't that why we got Mr Roos?

Fantastic effort by both Bernie and Viney. I think its the best result. Durability is an important part of the game and I want Viney to be hungry enough to go one better next year!

50. Points up at 3/4 time.... Hard to see Hawks winning flag from here

Didnt they beat freo at home last time? I feel for Richmond. They would be wishing they were facing the hawks next week...

It really shitzs me how quickly the weagles have gone up the ladder and we are still warming the bottom end of the ladder.

No. I see it as inspiration for what can happen when a team clicks. Hope our boys think the same.

But yes, great man and great career. Really hope to see a few people get down to send him off. Like what Roos said about transcending clubs and how Boy and Murphs would love ot be playing along with him. I wish they could too!

Disappointed for him that he is stranded on 249 games...

If only we'd made the finals!

After today I think we need to give serious consideration to making Cross captain for a year , Brayshaw VC and possibly Jesse Hogan DVC

Chunky Jones Might appreciate concentrating on becoming a better footballer without the Captaincy hanging around his neck.

Thoughts??

Hilarious. Jones was injured so he loses the captaincy? We are lucky to have had Cross but we will be luckier still to get another 22 games out of him next year. No point putting our young kids under the pump and make the same mistake we did with Trengove....

[censored] it, Go Dees!

Well said!

Wow. Suddenly the premiership race seems much more open

Its worse than i was expecting, but i aint slitting my wrists just yet. At the point in time the past counts for nothing. We are coming up against a finals bound team on a roll and brimming with confidence. In contrast we have been inconsistent all year and have been vulnerable to teams with quick ball movement. But i expect us to show a lot more in the second half is Roos is worth his said pay package.

Wow. You'd think we were playing hawthorn

My mail is the same as Chook's. Howe is really disappointed that Roos was basically trying to pack his bags for him throughout trade-week last year. When the special offer did come from GWS and the Dees tried to get it done on the final day, Howe was disappointed and almost offended that he had 3-4 hours to consider his football career.

Let's just hope there is plenty of interest and we can play a few clubs off for a good pick.

Fair enough if true. We still took a punt on him at pick 33, although from memory Collingwood was also interested at the time forcing us to take him higher that we might otherwise have. Would be a shame to lose a home-grown talent, but based on his last couple of years we can survive without him and have enough young talents to get people through the gates methinks. Hate the thought of him at the filth though!

Your prediction was in the back of my mind heading into Saturdays game WJ. Glad you got it right!

How the hell did we beat Richmond (and Geelong and Fottascray for that matter) yet succumbed to the Druggies and Saints

I take some consolation in this fact. I think it shows our gameplan stands up against some final contenders, the problem is sustaining it for 4 quarters (and learning how to kick straight!)

An unbelievable leader.

He can also teach them a thing or two about grit and determination to give one's all.

The club should consider doing altitude training there at least, would be far cheaper than arizona! Although if my experience is anything to go by, the players might shed a few too many kilos thanks to regular bouts of food poisoning...

Ascobar you have missed all the real excitement you could have stayed in Addis to see Obama's visit!

Probably a good thing as i might have been stuck in my house from all the road blocks with nothing to do but read demonland...

The angst is understandable, same issues we've seen for so long. Roos has gone from hero to zero in the space of half a season because expectations were for more. More, wins, more effort, more hope that we're heading towards PremiershipNirvana only to be left constantly disappointed. Trying to be rational and logical about why we should continue to invest our emotional capital into the club is hard to do because perception is reality and the process of kudos transference means we all feel diminished by such performances and perhaps slightly soiled by the last ten years.

Rather than throw the baby out with the metaphorical bathwater though it's important to put some perspective around where we're at.*

- Regardless what we think of the game plan or the list he inherited at the Swans from Eade or the merit of the premiership win - Roos arrival at Melbourne has managed to buy the club a state of grace in terms of rebuilding that his successor would not necessarily have had from the media or supporters. Whether another coach could have achieved more is both speculative and irrelevant.

- The fact that the same issues are recurring at an unsuccessful club (old dogs, new tricks) and we point to clubs that have gone past us with successful cultures (Port and Saints -maybe not premierships, but sustained time at the top and minimal time at the bottom in the last ten years ) should not be surprising (Why aren't supporters comparing us to Essendon or Carlton?). Changing culture is both difficult and lengthy - we've started (again) to address the issue but we've still got a lot further to go regardless of how impatient we are as supporters. Did we really know what we were celebrating when Jordan McMahon kicked 'that' goal? (Anyone that thinks yelling and screaming at the players and talking tough will fix the issue, clearly hasn't a clue)

- Irregardless of whether we think Roos is the right coach or not and regardless of win loss ratios the succession plan is already in place that will if nothing else ensure continuity in terms of the familiarity and processes with the list and the work that needs to be done.

- Both our player development and our recruitment are now light years ahead of where we've come from and perhaps atm that's more perception than reality, but judging by comments on the benefit of playing first year players like Brayshaw, Hogan, Stretch, ANB, vandenBerg and Harmes compared to the whipping boys that DL consensus doesn't want to ever see in Melbourne colours again, most would concur. Hardly a surprise that when the first year players are drop off in the second half of the year - similar to last year - so does the team.

*I don't think this makes me a Pollyanna, but clearly some supporters won't want to hear anything except fire and brimstone, plague and famine.

I reckon you've made two really good points here grazman. If we recall what Roos said when he first accepted the job, that the worse is sounded the more interested he became in the job, then its worth recalling how bad things really were at that point in time and he should be commended for taking on the job at all. I agree that a untried coach would be under immense pressure similar to Neeld if they didn't achieve rapid improvements, which may have resulted in short-term efforts to improve the win-loss ratio. But agree its irrelevant what another coach might have achieved, and I think you are right about Roos being afforded more time and leniency, which was necessary given how far back we were coming from. IF Roos can at least instill the basics of modern football into the club (e.g. defensive pressure and two-way running) then that gives Goodwin a foundation to work with, which hopefully he can then add more attacking flair. Echoes of the Barassi and Northey years here...

I also agree we would be better served comparing ourselves to Essendon and Carlton, as both have faced some similar issues in recent years to us. Essendon has shown the same type of inconsistent form as us, with the coaching changes and supplement scandal no doubt affecting the 'culture' of the playing group in terms of their trust in the club hierarchy and the mental toll of having their immediate playing future in doubt. Carlton provides another interest comparison given their obvious 'list management' efforts to gain higher draft picks and the more recent experiment to bring in a highly credential coach which failed miserably. So as it stands, I argue we are in a much better position than those two clubs are at present (depsite our recent loss to Essendon).

Harmes needs to keep getting AFL match experience. He needs to get used to the pressure and on Sunday there was a lot of that.

The best part of his game is his ability to get his hands free when being tackled. I think he is creative and uses the ball well. Needs more opportunities.

I think

IN: Salem if fit, ANB, Newton (both had great games for Casey)

OUT: Stretch, Michie (this was a hard game to come into as a sub, probably does need the full game to get his head into it) Vandeberg (clearly suffering later in the season because of no preseason/AFL match fitness)

I agree. He looks as good as any of the 1-2 year midfielders (barring Brayshaw) and has some smarts about him. Worth persisting with to see if he can be a bit more composed and clean with his disposal.

Historically the centre of civilisation.

Now not so great.

Change teams and countries Ascobar.

I was hopeful earlier this year that i would come back to watch an improved footy side on the rise. Now im pondering whether i do need to start following another code and moving overseas again as soon as possible!