Pates

I would like for us to go for a new guy, not a tried and true coach. I said i was happy with the process that the club has gone through, but if we end up with Connolly i won't be. I really don't ant him as our head coach. We need someone who isn't going to try and be the players best friends, but rather wants them to respect him and want to play for him. I think Sheedy already has that going for him, as anyone who's been around football in the last 25 years would know his accomplishments, but this seems like a very safe option and i want to know that this process has provided someone who is from left field and can work his team into respecting him. Apparently everyone in SA really rates Bailey, and his audition, i mean interview was from outside reports, outstanding. Perhaps this match simulation plan will uncover who's got what it takes, to be the Melbourne Football club's next head coach. (God i sound like someone from Australian idol or something!)

I seem to remember that their reasoning for giving Moloney 2 weeks was that although it's probable that he didn't make contact to Bartel, they believed Moloneys actions were the cause of his injuries. A load of crapola that everyone is used to from the tribunal.

It seems pretty fair, it was exactly the sort of hit that the AFL are trying to outlaw and they need to be harsh on it before another person gets there career ended (or worse) by front on bump. I think the big thing that got Johnson was that it wasn't just a bump that hit the shoulder, he actually crunched the head, sever impact was the only possible result. I'm glad he felt sick after what happened, he should, and it shows that he has remorse. I'm still filthy for what he did, but he probably just had the hard-at-it mindset, and i'm sure that the last thing on his mind was to knock Bell unconcious.

Love it! Maybe we'll have so many players out that we won't have a team to field, that'd give us a good excuse. We could also play Chopper as our ruckman/FF and Brown as our fullback. Rielly could just say he was experimenting!

It's a shame but i think this is good because it gives us a new beginning within our footy department.

OK look, i didn't mean for it to get out of hand like this, i probably shouldn't have posted this as i was probably a bit emotional from Neita's 300th. Pies have done well to get into the finals this year, Sam Newman made the point a few weeks back, when you guys were winning that the pies were playing above themselves, i pretty much always expected them to fall down at this time of the year (something a pies mate of mine refused to believe). You've got a good young list, but i can't see you improving much on this year, you may go up another place on the ladder but i think you'll pretty much stay smack bang where you are now. A question to you Old Xaverian, and this is a serious question, not one intended to [censored] you off or antagonise: Does it frustrate you to see your team not really figure on the contenders map come finals? Because i remember when we bowed out of the finals two years in a row in the first week, it [censored] the hell out of me, and going on the recent performances to cellar dwellers do you think it's a good chance it'll happen again? That was the main point of my post, which was more of a bagging of collingwood i know, that although it's been a great effort to make it this far, i foresee a royal arse wooping from a real finals player. And because i'm a Melbourne supporter, and thus hate everything to do with Collingwood, i will take that one smile since my own team won't be able to deliver it to me personally. I'm sorry if i [censored] you off, i'd probably feel the same if i saw a similar comment about Melbourne of another supporter's website.

I did suggest on a an earlier thread like this that we have Neitz and Brock as Co-captains, so that we're sort on weening Chooka into a full captain but i think that sort of depends on how we come out of this year injury wise. Neitz is getting on and i know he said he'd like to have a year without being captain, so it's all dependent on what the new coach is looking for in 2008.

Thought i'd better follow it up with a serious post. At the start of the year, like many of you, i would've said Brock in a heartbeat. To me he still embodies exactly what we need at this club. Hard at it, uncompromising, and no excuses football. The only thing that has changed is that this has been an extremely trying year for him, both injuries and poor form due to getting the first tagger. So i think we'll need to have someone play a interem role of captain over the next 1-2 years to let Brocky get mature and learn how to shake the tag. I'd be looking to either Green and Jmac, Green has shown he steps up when given the captaincy role, and Jmac is a goer who never stops going. I'd be leaning towards Green, pruely because of age. We don't know how much Juniors age will affect him in his twilight years, and i don't want to be stuck with a captain who looks tired. The only downside to Green is that he's not damaging enough for a captain, he plays more of a steady the ship role, not so much leading by example but controlling the way his team is playing at that time. There isn't really anyone else who could step up into the role, Robbo comes to mind but small forwards are electric but unpredictable. He could kick 7 goals one week and get 2 kicks the next, and i think we need to have a captain in the midfield for a while.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! You had to bloody well say it YM!!!! (Put's hands over ears)La la la la la la, i am not li-st-en-ing! Don't give the "future captain" jinx to Chunk! He could be such a great player, don't say it! Ward 4 captain! Ward 4 captain! Ward 4 captain! Ward 4 captain! Ward 4 captain!

Ah the curse of the "future captain of the MFC". It hit Miller and it's hitting Brocky, look out Jones, someone might've given you the curse. Let's all just say Ward the next captain, then he'll get cursed, and Brocky or Green can step up as VC!

Wheatley huge, accurate kicks, but it doesn't make a difference if his teammates don't make good enough runs. Too often our players were just standing around waiting for him to kick it to him, this is an area i've never had confidence in at Melbourne and i hope with a new coach will come a new plan for our kick-ins.

There are only two players i believe on our list that haven't been used this year, and one of them has been injured for 50% of it. And if you'd actually read my post you'd notice that i see you've had a young team all year, however i doubt you've had anywhere near the injury problems we've had to endure. Can i ask you, were you happy with that performance? Do you feel confident going into this finals campaign? Or are looking also looking forward to another embarrassing early exit to this years finals? You won, well done, but you guys have been given the luxury of a kind draw and a good injury run (yes i know you've been without Buckley, but you'd better get used to it), hence you guys are probably going to be slaughtered by a team that is good enough to be there, and i will enjoy watching it. I'm sorry if this comes off as being a bad sport, but i suppose my dislike of the Pies gets my hand typing! Couldn't agree more, we handed the game to them and it was a disgusting first half effort.

Believe me, i agree with you and that's the most annoying thing about the loss. But annalysing Collinwoods performance, they allowed a side who is down on confidence, down on man power, and had nothing left in the tank back into the game. If they were serious finals players, then they should been able to thump us by at least 50+ points (of course i'm glad they didn't). Two weeks ago they beat Carlton by 10 points, last week they loss to the Tigers, and this week they beat us by 11 points when we had basically no bench. They've got a pretty good crop of young players, but i always knew that they would fall over towards the end of the season and i will at least be able to smile when they are thumped out of the finals.

I would just like to congratulate Collingwood on thier Victory Friday night. They managed to beat a team that's 14th on the ladder, and had 1 player on the bench and two out there playing on 1 leg each. And they managed to win by a whopping 11 points! Call this sour grape if you want, but Collingwood are the biggest bunch of finals pretenders and they will be slaughtered in the first week of the finals. That will be the highlight of a time that we, sadly, won't be a part of.

There wasn't anyone around me that was particurly bad, but after the game the Filth cheer squad was doing their usual congregation around the filthiest of the lot (Joffa) and i was about to wisper something to my dad, when i came face to face with the golden boy, and then i wispered to my dad, "there is a good reason why they are called 'the filth', isn't there!". Booing Neitz was the ultimate insult, though. We all expect them to be foul-mouthed and idiots, but you at least hope they have some kind of repsect for champions of other clubs. Can you imagine the uproar if the Melbourne supporters booed Buckley if he was playing in his 300th. It was pathetic, nothing more, and that tiny morsole of respect and dignity i had for them is gone. I hope they enjoy getting thumped in the first week of the finals again.

He's had a poor year, injuries have contributed, and you'd naive to ignore that, but he still young and as Jaded has so gracefully put the point across, he seems to be carrying the hopes of long-suffering Melbourne supporters everywhere who are desperate for a superstar. Last year was a great year for him, but look at the differences. He has only played 12 games this year, he has been in and out of the side, and to because a lot of "star players" like Bruce and Green have been equally injured, he has been taking the no. 1 tagger. Last year i believe he missed about 3-4 games, and he was just starting to be recognised. While that St Kilda final was fantastic to watch, it probably made his job twice as harder for this year because he announced himself on a Friday night final. I sort of agree with you RR, in that next year he should be producing better than this year, but you've got to give him some friggen leeway. One final point, i think a lot of people see him as our Chris Judd, but remember that Judd has been in a side with Kerr and Cousines. It's a hell of a choice as to who you tag!

Would always have Whelan infront of Wheatley when fit. Maybe Yze instead of Petterd, but depends on how Yze goes in the pre-season. Apart from that it looks about right.

Very well put, Fan. BTW the player that we missed in the second half of round 1 was Bartram. About a week ago when Melbourne were the wipping boys and the "basket case" topic a caller rang into SEN to say, "oh Melbournes season hasn't been cause by injuries, but they're just a crap team". He then said, that what reason did we have for losing in round 1, we had all our player in. But i think he kind of forgot the fact that we were down to one player on the bench at 3 quarter time and were playing people that needed to rest. I'll admit that we played crap that night, but sometimes the footy gods aren't smiling on you. Maybe the fact that we've had it all year will mean we get all the good stuff next year!

Congrats Col, let's hope you can get yourself injury free and realise your potential! Good luck in you 50th.

Classic! Me and my dad chatted to him after the Port game where we were robbed and he seemed like one of the most passionate guys i've ever met so it didn't surprise me to hear him get fired up, hell i'd get [censored] too!

We have a chance but again were behind the 8 ball due us being out of form, low on confidence, and don't have a settled side. That said, we have good record V Doggies and maybe mighty Whitey's 250th will give them a lift, there are also some good ins so who knows what could happen! Good luck to Bode aswell

You know what, i'm actually retracting my statement. I have been to 12 out of 18 games this year, including one interstate, i think i was being too hard on myself (or maybe i've blocked most of the matches out from memory!). I still think i would care more about changing commitments this week if we were doing well but i've gone to basically every single game i could this year. I have been though bad times at Melbourne, and always stuck by them, maybe you do think i'm lumped in with the others but i think i've given the MFC amazing support under the circumstances. So am i, and i think most people here are too. (Though i think that's been established in this thread already)

I'm gonna speak honestly, i haven't been to anywhere near as many as i would normally. I combination of each week as getting thumped and a heavier workload has has made me miss a fair amount of Melbourne (played) games. I'm also the first to admit that if we were going stronger this year, i would try everything in my power to get out of work this week and miss a 21st (which i'm coming to late because of work). I'm just not motivated by this year and it actually saddens me to see me write these words, cause usually i'm one of the most passionate supporters in my area. I will be there next week for Neitas 300th, that is a game i would not miss for the world, but beyond that i'll be taking it one week at a time as to whether i'll go. (PS i am a member, will be next year, and the year after that etc)

There would have to be one hell of a player or a top 5 pick to even interest me. He's exciting, when he gets the bell, even if it's 100 meters from the goal the melbourne crowd are on the edge of the seat because they know with one dashing burst or one chase down he can lift us all. We're not going to trade him.

I think one thing we've got to remember is to have balance when playing the kids. Take a look at Carlton and their development, they have almost played nothing but kids in the last 2-3 years and look at where they are, the same place they were last year and the year before that and the year before that. I think the best development comes from have experienced players to look at and emulate. I'm not advocating the selections committees decision to have Ward, Brown, Holland, and Fergs (all players that i can't see being at the club next year), but to pack the team full of young players will just cause them to be brutalised and demolished......more so. Last week i would've had Dunn instead of Browndog because Brown is basically being used as a run with role on the damaging rebounding defenders, Dunn did this on Cornes V Port earlier this year, why not do it again? I would've had CJ in for Ward, i'm not convinced that CJ's as good as everyone thinks he is but he isn't being given a chance to prove himself, Ward shouldn't be here next year so what's the point. Maybe i would bring in Garland for Fergs but this is where i think it goes too far, also i'm still not sure as to what Garland is. PS. Good post Jaded