deejammin'

A little ironic to talk about supporters "respecting the jumper" in the same thread as someone is suggesting tanking and on the same board as someone suggesting boycotting games?

Just when you think we've hit rock bottom MFC finds a jack hammer........

I thought there was a chance, but on recent form, no chance

Pitmaster I have a habit of seeing the first 15 minutes in this light as well, I think it boils down to it being the only point in each game we are not being flogged on the scoreboard. However after having gone back and watched in the knowledge we lose by 100 pts, we were still terrible for the first 15 mins against the swans and those two shots would have made little difference. And for the 100th time Howe will be useless up forward til he works on his set shot kicking! Terrible, just terrible.....

LMFAO!!!!! Tanking is underperforming in order to lose games.... we are currently performing our best "seeing improvement every week" and can't get to within 100 points of an injury depleted team that was just flogged by Richmond. I don't think we could tank if we tried! What score nothing in the first quarter instead of 4 points? The only tanking recently has been the Eagles and the Blues, we were really that bad, people like Bailey and the supporters just can't accept it!

Football is no longer an amateur sport it is a highly competitive commercial enterprise. A large part of modern football is image as every club is struggling to bring in enough new members to enable them to compete. Having players laughing while the brand is being destroyed and supporters are distraught is not the way to encourage future members or to encourage supporters that we are all in it together and hang tough. No one is arguing that players haven't the right to be friends with opposition or to enjoy life and a joke. However when you are in a Melbourne suit in the stands as a high profile Melbourne player you are representing the club and should be careful to act accordingly. The same goes for when you are onfield following a game where you have been slaughtered in a dissapointing season. The MFC is under pressure from every quarter right now and the players need to be careful what attitude they appear to have towards our current plight.. I said earlier that no performance organisation would think this is a good look and I stand by this, we all enjoy a joke and have mates on the other side of the fence, but there is a time and place for that out of the limelight without tarnishing your organisations image. Edit: spelling

Hey Macca, we still could get 4 wins (ba-doom chish!), it seems you are looking into the future afterall........

I think Davey showed signs of improving form against the Hawks, there were at least two times I counted where he had made space and was streaming through the fifty into an open goal only to be ignored by several midfielders who kicked it to an outnumbered Mitch Clark in the pocket. I also thought he managed some good passes off halfback and showed some improvement in his tackling. Perhaps he really is getting his fitness back up and Neeld will keep him in as he expects his form to continue to improve. Btw, players must stop crucifying him by kicking the ball over his head so he has to back up into a contested situation rather than kicking into the space he is leading into. We have done this so often over the last 3 weeks! Edit: stupid errors.......

Depends which Sydney shows up, but they would have to play so far below their standard this year for us to even have a crack, I have a bad feeling......

+2 Can you think of any other performance organisation in the world where laughing and having a good time whilst your organisation flounders is a good look?

Essendon is a case Melbourne FC should be looking at, many have noted how much pressure Neeld is under, I would say Hird had the same amount of pressure coming in and also had what many considered to be a terrible list and a team that only knew how to play an attacking gameplan. They basically learned a defensive gameplan in one preseason, made the final of the NAB cup and they have been competitive for long stretches ever since and now look like they can beat anyone....... it makes me sick and makes me wonder about our current plight

Weird huh? Maybe he is better as an assistant, maybe Adelaide has a better list, maybe he has no input in recruiting, greater sceme game plan and player psyche and that helps Adelaide? Or maybe our club just sucks the life out of everything it touches.

Happy to agree to disagree, however, Adelaide were a bizarre team last year, they started the season flogging Hawthorn, had a few great wins and also some bad losses, the form of Tippett and Walker and injuries to key players held them back far more than Craig I would think

Weren't the Crows reknowned as the fittest team in the league under Craig? I find it hard to believe that before the NAB cup, in the space of almost 2 months a bad team was miraculously changed into a good one by only the change of coach, they have a mature, fit list that was underperforming and with a bit of luck injury wise has turned the corner, I certainly don't think Craig was 'holding them back'..

Hey, where did I say we should get excited? I am just as gutted as everyone else, but I don't think the ladder means much, if there were 6 clubs winless and we were sitting in 12th spot I wouldn't be any happier than I am now, we are very ordinary, we haven't won a game, there is little to no improvement in sight. That a soulless franchise which is part of the reason we are winless (having stolen a player who wouldn't have left otherwise) has won a game against another apparently more soulless franchise doesn't change my feeling about our football club.

Not so sure about that, we got close to the Bulldogs, GWS were flogged, apart from that they have had a far easier draw, yet have not been close to a win in any game, we were close against the Saints as well. we'll wait and see and we may well get beaten, but as I said, until we play them it means nothing.

Don't get too excited, yes we have been pathetic, yes we are last, but it all means nothing until we play GWS and Gold Coast. With our draw GWS would be last, with their draw we may well be 3rd last ... we are still shocking, but GWS beating Gold Coast is hardly the thing that proves it, watching us play is

Not quite impressive enough today, would've been nice to see Jurrah run the game out a bit stronger, Watts hit a few more targets, Dunn play a bit smarter and Martin get a bit more of it. The opposition wasn't flash, the pressure wasn't intense, not sure there's enough to really know what will happen if these guys get brought back to the AFL side. I wouldn't be totally sure we would improve on Friday night, which is sad

I would say the way the stats look thus far the Saints and Bulldogs games are looking more like the outliers.... very sad state of affairs

Maybe Craig built them to this point and Sanderson and co. are reaping the benefits whilst Craig and Neeld at Melbourne are suffering under the pathetic efforts of their forebears

I would maintain that this was one of the more blatant instances of tanking in the modern era that has gone largely overlooked due to their being in Perth.

They lost to Sydney there last year and could easily have been beaten down there by Richmond this season, your point is good and well taken but get your facts straight

Well here we are, 2012. I've held off posting so far this year, partly due to dissappointment and having nothing to say but also as I thought I should wait and see what Neeld seemed to be doing to change a dissappointing Bailey rebuild. Here's my assessment thus far, until this week we had done just as Neeld said we would, we had improved from the week before, while Brisbane and Richmond were incredibly bad performances (far below an acceptable standard for an afl club) the performances have improved every week in terms of structure and effort. Today was the first time we took a step backwards, while I am aware Geelong is a quality unit there was very little spark in the team today, we never really looked in the contest as we had in the weeks before and never looked like winning. Ultimately we are a very bad side (no suprises there) Every time we looked like getting back into the game we would make critical errors going forward and our ability to cover Geelong's run, spread and marks inside the forward line (shameful) and realistically, had Selwood, Lonergan, Bartel all played full matches, and Geelong not looked like it was doing a training run 100 points would not have been out of the question. Very dissapointing. Also Howe needs to learn to kick from a set shot, he has now missed relatively simple set shots in every game the last 3 weeks. And while Cale has shown alot the last two weeks he did create two bad turnovers at pivotal moments, also Tom Mcdonald, while showing improvement has moments where he is a liability in traffic. Obviously Neeld will need far more than 6 weeks and I am patient, but to this point of the season I preferred the rollercoaster, at least there were ups!

Damn this week has made the above post seem outdated, anyway, BUMP!!!!!!!! Finish it rpfc

Only Sydney people think there is a 'rivalry' Melbourne people know that there is no competition.