Fork 'em

That's a debatable subject.

The club yes. We've got a long list of destroyed careers. Both coaching and playing. Truth hurts.

Would've been a shame to wreck his career after footy. Poisoned chalice this joint.

Went to rubbish as soon as they started letting C & D grade "celebrities and comedians" have a run around.

Most of the problems stem regardless to who was on the ground was our inability to execute basic skills. This has been an issue for longer that just this year and won't be magically fixed during the off season.

Yeah I was gutted too. Was sure we were headed for the prelim at 3/4 time as we looked unstoppable. I remember an interview with Trapper Johnson after the match. Never have you seen a bloke more pleased after losing a final. He'd played a blinder for 2qrs and stated he had nothing left in the last ...... Typical.

Hearing you man. The 2nd and 3rd qrs was some of the best football I've seen us play. The 1st and last were garbage. That game was typical MFC in a nutshell.

This 1 sticks with me at 14:10 from the boundary during a rampaging comeback during the 2002 semi final. Had me redlining bigtime.

Barrett comes out with these half arzed cryptic statements and tries to make a story from nothing hoping every-one makes up their own dots to fill in. He's a folg.

Yes it would have been a risk but it was around the same time that Pederson had his nose spread over his face late by Merrett and not 1 Melbourne player remonstrated. I knew a bloke like Robinson wouldn't have stood for that. And I've watched us get physically beaten up for as long as I remember so probably would have taken him over Jeffy for that reason alone. But anyhow ..... He certainly has exceeded what i thought he would have produced football wise though. The move up north was obviously the wake up call he needed.

Well there you go. Seems Robinson might be more intelligent than he looks. And for the record .... I would've taken him when Carlton unloaded. Has the c#*t in him that we needed.

I can't believe they went with the headline earlier in the year on the eve of the Essendon game "Footy's biggest cover up" and then it was about us tanking. Not the "Darkest day in sport" being Essendons drug cheating cover-up. Not only is the AFL corrupt but 'Slobbo' Robinson the Herald sun chief football writer and Essendon supporter is too.

I voted but he won't get near Ryans on Gawn.

Well he's been stinking up the joint.

Robbie Flower retired after 278 games in 1987 after kicking 5 goals (including a towering speccy) in the Elimination final and another 4 the following week in the Semi. Let that sink in.

The others are probably 5 of the 6 richest clubs in the AFL. And we hardly have 2 brass razoos to rub together and we fork the 250k.

Collingwood played in the 2002 and 2003 GF only to tank and lose their last 11 games to scoop up Thomas and Pendlbury at pick 2 and 5 in the 2005 draft. Hawthorn tanked in 2004 to get both Roughead and Franklin at pick 2&5. Richmond also tanked in 2004 with Wallace admitting as much to pick up Deledio at 1 and Tambling at 4 Carlton tanked to win both the "Krueser and Gibbs cups" with assistant coach Libratore again admitting as much but warned to keep his mouth shut by the AFL. Eagles tanked in 2008 to get Nic Nat at pick 2 after playing in both the 2005 & '06 Grand Finals. And we were absolutely garbage for multiple years and yet were the only club that got stung for tanking. What a hatchet job.

There'd be some shonky sheet going down for sure.

Thanks for the post Drunkn. All the best to Dec in the future. Any parting insider dirt? Like WTF is really going on down there? Do they think the game plan is crap, is there a player split etc... etc?

Wouldn't trust Sheedy. He'd play to his favourites and holds his grudges. There's a reason he went after Scully so hard. It was payback for overlooking him for the coaching position. And he was prepared to pay a kings ransom to get it.

Who did his best under trying circumstances.

And I was just as disgusted then. Even in the good years we'd get on a roll, win 4-5 games and look unstoppable. Then lose the next 4-5 and look like spuds. Often we'd solidify a spot in the finals 3-4 games out, then get lazy and lose the rest going in with no momentum. One year being on top rd18 and losing to bottom placed Carlton for the 2nd time that year. Unacceptable then, unacceptable now.

We've got or held records for worst of just about everything. High achievers at low achieving.

Another failure to make finals punctuated with a trademark choke in rd23.

17. MELBOURNE (5-17, 78.6%) Three word analysis Unacceptably, unbelievably abhorrent What went right Very little. Max Gawn had a good year, while Christian Petracca can hold his head up high. If there is a bounce-back in 2020, this season will be reflected upon as a great learning experience. If not, it will be the beginning of the end for the senior coach. The narrative over the summer will predictably revolve around learning from mistakes, the need to take one step back to move two steps forward and all of that jazz. But none of this cuts the mustard. Words are cheap. No club will be more harshly judged in 2020 than the Dees. And trying to decipher what went right in 2019 is like finding a needle in a haystack. What went wrong Pretty much everything went wrong — and that’s putting it politely. In chronological order, Melbourne had 15 off-season surgeries – one-third of the list – which put the club on the back foot from the outset. Then star recruit Steve May turned up to pre-season running unfit. Then they neglected team defence for offence and ball movement across the summer. Then Port Adelaide and Geelong embarrassed the Demons in the first two rounds. Then May was caught drinking while injured. Then former player Shaun Smith publicly critiqued the club’s handling of his son Joel’s injury. Then Gary Pert and Josh Mahoney flipped the football department on its head when it became apparent the structure underneath Simon Goodwin wasn’t working. It made no difference in the wins and losses column, but at least it was proactive. Then Tom McDonald, Mitch Hannan, Jeff Garlett, Kade Kolodjashnij and several other suffered season-ending injuries. May was also one of these players, limping off the field with a recurrence of a hamstring strain in Round 21. Players who were influential in 2019 such as Clayton Oliver, Angus Brayshaw, Jack Viney and Jayden Hunt struggled for consistency, while veterans Nathan Jones and Jordan Lewis appeared to show their respective ages. And then, precisely when a winnable game presented itself against 15th placed Sydney at the MCG, just 23,000 fans turned up on a Friday night. Those who missed it wouldn’t have regretted it as the Demons booted just five goals in a Round 22 encounter that epitomised the club’s sorry plight. If you’re not out of breath yet, here’s more: Simon Goodwin’s public messaging became tired as he desperately searched for answers, former coach Paul Roos declared the team he helped build had no identity, and captain Jones’ contract stand-off frustrated player, club, management and fans, all for different reasons. From third in 2019 after finals to second last in 2020, Melbourne endured a horrid season. Even the club’s most cynical fans would not have foreseen this campaign in their nightmares. If not for last-ditch wins over the Blues and Suns, it could have been even worse. When players returned for training in late 2018 Melbourne decided not to review its preliminary final loss to West Coast. It was a conscious call from the coaches, who believed the performance was so rare - and such an anomaly - that they’d be best to forget it and move on. But when players report for duty in late 2019, an extensive and brutal review of this five-win season is absolutely necessary. What they need A fit list, a fresh approach from new assistants (including Alan Richardson) and highly rated fitness chief Darren Burgess, and a plan to bring the administration and football wings of the club under the one roof. From a recruiting perspective, the Demons should poach any outside runners that are available. Fremantle’s Ed Langdon could help, while Brad Hill is more likely to end up at St Kilda but would be an ideal fit in the red and blue. For most of the season Melbourne’s players were like bees to a honey pot. As soon as the Sherrin was released free, they appeared slow, cumbersome and frankly second rate. A couple of wingers who have pace would assist in fixing this problem. Another forward to partner Tom McDonald and Sam Weideman in the Josh Jenkins mould would be a smart acquisition. But Jenkins’ asking price might be too hefty, in which case they will need to look elsewhere. Above all else, they need to get some confidence and belief back. And the only way to create this dynamic in an organic rather than manufactured way is to win games of footy. What time is it on the premiership clock 9 o’clock — It may sound crazy after this season, but there’s still time to get it right. The talent that propelled them to a preliminary final last year can’t be all gone. Season grade F