Pates

I have been a Bailey backer but this is the end for him, I would be my preference that he stand down like Neal Craig but this does not seem likely. If he does end up leaving before the end of the year i'd like to see Viney as our caretaker, but it sounds like he's not in the coaching staff so again it doesn't sound like that'll happen. As for 2012 and beyond, I think the club needs a real hard ass, someone that is uncompromising and demands respect when he walks into a place. The obvious candidate is Malthouse, but I think he will honour at least the first year of his post-coaching contract at the Pies. So where does that leave us? I think at this stage we need an experienced coach, and the only one that I can think of apart from Malthouse that may have an interest is Mark Williams. That guy somehow managed to get a fractured club and team to a flag against one of the greatest powerhouse sides ever, and at the moment he's just going to be Sheedy's right hand man at GWS.

I don't know where we can go from here. This is the most soul destroying, pathetic performance I have ever seen. I was actually up for giving Bailey an extension into 2012, but I don't know how I can cop him being our coach after this week let alone next year. The fact is this performance is a reflection on him, the players have no pride for themselves, the club, and the coach, otherwise they would've shown some fight. Jordie Mac and Jonesy are the ONLY ones out there that are actually trying to have a go. No one is running, no one is trying to tackle, and for gods sake is anyone going to try to pick up a man? I was happy to see Watts get fired up and show a bit of anger, at least it shows he's hurting. I'm not going to watch the second half, I can't stomach it, I will find out what the final score is tomorrow in the paper. I'm half expecting a press conference on Monday with the club saying it was some kind of elaborate prank, because i just can't believe it's got this bad.

I'm just in shock. I know we have been bad, I know we're young, but this is disgraceful. I have never seen such a pathetic effort from a Melbourne team, there is absolutely no leadership out there.

Is a 100 point deficit out of the question at half time?

Is there any danger of us putting pressure on the ball carriers?

Praise the lord!

It's funny, we had about a 3-4min period where we were in control of the ball and every time we put it in there it was terrible delivery, then it goes straight up their end and they score a goal with little worry. From there it was an avalanche, this is the worst display i have every seen under Bailey.

IS ANYONE MANNING UP!!!!!!!!!!!! THIS IS COMPLETE AND UTTER CRAP!!!

Last week at least we had a crack to certain extent, this week there doesn't seem to be much intensity at all.

Skills that kills, except it's our own skills that are killing us not the cats.

Maric was very lucky we didn't get a goal against after taking 20sec to get a kick away in the center of the ground.

Bartel gets a soft free kick to kick the first goal of the game.

I'm not exactly dribbling over the idea of us trying to get him back, and if you looked at my post you would see I recognised there probably isn't a place for him. But if he WANTED to come back, and we weren't going to use the PSD on anything else all i said was i wouldn't say no. Who knows, he could be our Trent Croad. (Probably though with his lack of pace) If he got his body right i think he could cement his place at another club, but he will never go anywhere at Carlton.

I tell ya what, if he was delisted and available to us is the PSD I wouldn't say no to getting him back. That said, there probably isn't a place for him in our team with the likes of Gys, Jordie, Skulls (fingers crossed!), Moloney, and Jones. Hell I could throw Tapscott into that list as well. GWS could be a pretty good fit for him.

I think we've made progress, but it might be progress that isn't necessarily going to be "seen" for a while. The very fact were getting more and more games into younger players will continue to develop what is still a VERY young list. Look at Watts, his progress has been fantastic to watch, he's yet to dominate but yes a consistent contributed and that's the progress we've made. On the topic of Bailey, I see absolutely no reason to give him the flick unless we've got an experienced, PROVEN coach waiting in the wings, an untried coach will only set us back imo. I would have no issue with him continuing on next year if we won 10 or more this year but I would put the finals as a must next year to retain a contract beyond 2012.

So was Shaun Smiths, not saying Walkers is even close to as good as that, but i don't think taking it on the chest or out in front makes a huge difference. It's all about the elevation. If people are saying best in 40 years then they're dreaming, Smith's still smashes Walkers. It probably will win MOTY though.

Even if we don't win one of them we have to be competitive for as long as possible, that was what won us so much respect last year was the fact we took the pies right to the edge, should've beaten the dogs but were screwed by the umps, and push the hawks in our second encounter. I'd love to get a win, but if we can hold ours heads up high and know that gave it our all I'll be proud of them. FWIW I think the Carlton game is our best chance followed by the WC game, it'd be nice to get a win at that [censored]-poor excuse for a stadium.

Bail's recovery does appear to be much slower than expected. Looking forward to him coming back, I reckon he's a very important cog in our push up the ladder.

Easily one of my favourite players, a fantastic leader who never takes a backward step. I can definitely see him becoming our next captain.

I can see Chip being named in the squad but because he's missed so much of the year he'll miss out of the final cut. I reckon he's starting to play well enough to be in the final 22 but as i said because he's missed so much of the year it's unlikely the selectors will see enough to get him in there. Beamer could make the squad, but he's competing against some really top notch players.

I really feel I try to give Morton a go, but it's getting harder and harder. But when you see so many younger players have thirst for the contest and dispose of the ball just as well as, if not better than him, and how are you meant to be left feeling. He has these "moments" where he'll do something quite intelligent, and I think that's great work but then 2 minutes later he butchers a kick and costs us a goal. I'm quickly losing patience with him, and much like it was for Sylvia last year, it's time Cale brought his A game to the table. I would probably happily take a trade at the end of the year, just so I can stop have heart palpitations every time he has the ball!

I thought it was worth noting that despite the fact we've had short breaks and a trip to Darwin there have been very few concerns and injuries. Perhaps this is smart conditioning, maybe it was just luck, but earlier in the year when we had a horror injury run (one which i felt was mainly impact injuries that were unavoidable) the medical and conditioning staff seemed to cop a bit from fans. But if there was ever going to be a period where we were vulnerable to soft tissue injuries, surely that was it and the staff seem to have done extremely well.

I'd imagine they anticipate it due to there being more interstate clubs and more matches, I agree it is disturbing but i reckon if the AFL was fair (which they sure as hell aren't) they would recognise how much crap it is that they're sending us away from our ground against our will for home games, and compensate us accordingly due to the lower crowd numbers. And as a side point, I actually got exactly the same response from my email. Certainly tells me there has been enough angry responses to this farce.

This makes a lot more sense now. I also sent an email to the club expressing my displeasure of being forced to pay extra for to have a reserved seat, but the fact that level 3 will be closed off does mean that we'll have access to areas around the ground on level 1 for GA. I hope the club petitions hard for us not to play a home game away from our home, unless we get good compensation for it.