La Dee-vina Comedia

"Mental fitness" is important but it's not the only thing that counts. Otherwise we could play Stephen Hawking at CHF. I can understand that players pre-Neeld might have thought they were fit because the benchmarks being set might have been lower. Getting to that higher level will take time. I just wish that fitness was our only problem. I appreciate, though, that skills can diminish when legs are tired.

Sorry, I thought it was self-explanatory. Of the four teams which are yet to win a game, only Melbourne scored more in each quarter of Round 3's game than it did in the respective quarters of its Round 2 game. That is we scored 25 points in the first quarter of Round 3 compared with 13 points in the first quarter Round 2, etc). None of the other three teams on 0-3 did that. And we also had an increase in our percentage (which is in itself amazing for a team beaten by 94 points). Just like a joke, if you have to explain what you've written on social media, you probably shouldn't have attempted the initial post in the first place. My apologies for wasting your time.

I think Jamar would be a lot better with proper backup and a better midfield. So I'd play Gawn as well. They should be rested for significant periods up forward to allow the mids more opportunities to rotate through the bench and to stretch the GWS backline. Notwithstanding the above, I think we are too top heavy and therefore slow. So I'd send both Sellar and Pedersen back to Casey. While I think Jack Watts should have played with Casey on the weekend, the lack of a game does not rule him out for this week. If the issue with Jack is his mental toughness, that can be worked on during the other 166 hours in the week, not just the two hours of game time. So, I'd bring him back in. If McKenzie is fit he should come in. I suspect if Dunn is fit, he'll come in although I'd rather play Strauss. For the other outs, Toumpas clearly isn't ready. he plays like a deer in the headlights. There's no shame in that for a youngster and in time he'll pick up the pace of the game. Jetta did little on the weekend. While I appreciate he may lack confidence because of the revolving door of opportunities, he was tried, forward, back and middle and didn't seem to know what to do in any of those positions. If Neeld decides to send Frawley a message with a ticket to the twos, I won't object and Jetta stays. So, Ins: Gawn, Watts, McKenzie and Dunn (or preferably Strauss) Outs: Sellar, Pedersen, Toumpas and Jetta.

Of course we should be. We're the only one of the four teams yet to win a game which had an increase in percentage and scored more in each quarter than we had in each quarter the previous week. That's got to mean something.

Comparing the merits of two players after three games each is ridiculous. In the long run, Wines might be better than Toumpas, Toumpas might be better than Wines and pick 53* might be better than everyone. *Picked at random. I have no idea who was pick 53

Have always loved Bail's effort and persistence. Thought he was one of the best on Saturday. Disappointed for him that he had to be checked for concussion during the game, but really pleased (1) that the club took the cautious approach and (2) with the new substitute rule which gave the club time to check before having to activate a permanent substitution which would have been unnecessary in this instance. One small change is needed - the player being tested for concussion should be wearing a different colour bib on the bench (yellow, for example) so everyone can understand what's going on.

I need to say this carefully. I wonder whether Frawley is struggling to understand Mark Neeld's gameplan and instructions. I have no idea if Neeld has a complex plan or whether he speaks in a complicated way. But Frawley doesn't strike me as being the quickest to appreciate complexities.

I thought Sylvia was so far ahead of everyone else yet I see some didn't have him in their best. Amazing how we see things differently 6. Sylvia 5. N Jones 4. M Jones [big gap] 3. McDonald 2. Bail 1. Trengove Many errors from Terlich, but given it was only his second game, shows great potential. And Frawley played perhaps the worst game I've seen him play since his first year.

If he's not going to play at all, I'd like to see him sitting in the coach's box so he gets a better understanding of what's expected.

I must admit I was concerned about this. Imagine if after all this effort only a few people had showed up. It would have lead to more media ridicule about how after all that effort so few Demons turned up. Well, that the turn up was large is a great testament to the spirit of the supporters. Well done to all who went and to those who promoted it. Now it's the players' turn.

Now that shows character.

Assume for the moment that the players actually read the banner before they run through it. What would you like to see the banner say? I'd go with either "Fire Up!" or "100% effort for 100% of the game". I think the former is better because of its brevity. What would you like to see?

Beautifully written WJ. Essendon is probably helped by having top notch on-field leadership, particularly their captain. With more experience, hopefully we'll have top-notch leaders too.

John O'Neill is Chairman of Echo Entertainment, owners of The Star casino in Sydney. I think he'd be too busy fighting off James Packer at the moment.

Who thinks we can beat WCE? I do!* *Just not sure whether it will be this decade or next. But certain it won't be in Round 3, 2013

I stand corrected. Talking of which, I believe the first song they played at Festival Hall was "I Saw Her Standing There".

It maybe just coincidence (and if so, what a beauty) but I'd suggest H_T was pointing out that Pete Best was drummer for the early part of The Beatles Australian tour, subsequently replaced by Ringo after the latter got over his 4-6 week injury (broken hand, maybe?)

Do you mean Sheedy for CEO? Wouldn't it be better to employ someone who the employees of the club will actually understand?

Was this already booked in or a hasty decision post-Schwab's departure? Getting the team (players and coaches) together out of Melbourne is a very good idea right now as if they stay in Melbourne TV cameras and media microphones are likely to follow them everywhere. That would not only be a distraction, but any comment would be interpreted and re-interpreted to mean something it probably didn't and could start a new round of speculation. (Sort of like the hashtag #nowthatchersdead which was meant to be about Margaret Thatcher but worried some people that Cher had died). Also, I have no doubt this type of activity improves trust among the team (although I don't believe alcohol is necessarily a key ingredient).

I think there's a bit of confusion in these posts. Culture and coaching are both being discussed almost if they are interchangeable. I have no idea what culture the players of the 2000's might bring to the club, but sadly, they didn't get the chance to experience a winning culture when they played for us. Certainly, they saw some success and a damn lot more than we're seeing at the moment, but I don't think we should expect them to fully understand what a winning culture is. Make them welcome at the club, by all means. Those that have shown success as assistant coaches should be looked at when coaching positions need filling. I expect the ex-players named in various posts above are decent people and some were more than handy players. But let's not allow ourselves to overstate their skills and experiences.

I hope the process will be thorough and include at least one non-MFC person on the selection panel to ensure a level of dispassionate involvement. The new CEO doesn't necessarily have to be someone with AFL experience, although I would have thought some experience would be preferable. I'd be looking at someone with good commercial, people management and negotiation skills before I worried about their AFL knowledge. I'd also be engaging a professional executive search firm to assist. And I don't want this decision rushed. reason for edit: clarifying ambiguity

The fact that you jumped ship should be enough for us to not take you seriously. But when you said in the same post that "the club should have awarded the coaching position to a Demon" and then alluded to the need for someone from a "winning culture", who exactly did you have in mind? A player from the 1964 Grand Final? I've never seen the need to place a poster on "Ignore". You may well become the first.

Really? I thought the general consensus was that list management is now OK having been poor previously.

Query: Since 1964, have we had more coaches or CEOs? Anyone know?

But we all know it's not the recruitment but the development. He'll probably give them to a trainer who will make them less fit and run the wrong way around the track.