Jaded No More

According to Pro Stats: Garland: 191cm, 85kg Frawley: 193cm, 88kp Frawley also has a tiny bit more experience.

I'm sorry but I had to bring that photo up again. OH MY GOD Get that girl on the phone, she's playing CHB this weekend!

Bate and Dunn both can, which is why I want one of the two to play CHF.

So the same doesn't apply to Garland? P.S.- Miller sucks bla bla bla

5 He'll come good That's nothing! In my younger years, I decided that Michael Clark was my favourite player (and you thought Dutchy was bad!)... that was until I saw him at a function with both arms in a cast. When I asked him how he did it, his answer was "on the toilet". Still to this day it is one of the most disturbing player memories I have.

Currently being crushed by various clueless Melbourne supporters who think he is either a mistake, a disappointment, or just plain crap. He'll come good. He has a lot of elements to his game that we desperately need, pace being one of them. I too am a bit confused as to why he isn't getting a game. But given his height and given that he was drafted as a key defender, I think he still has a bit of time on his side. Perhaps Bailey has a plan in mind? And can people please stop confusing a strange kicking action with an inability to kick? Frawley can kick and can hit targets, we just goes about it in a very strange way.

Replace Green with Bruce and you're just about right. From what I'm hearing, there are going to be enormous changes happening at the end of this season. A lot of our favourites won't make it to 2009. Oh and if we get a half-drunk bottle of coke for Warnock, it would be the biggest steal of the century. Warnock is very much in the delist pile along with Weetra and CJ if they fail to show anything.

Garland stays in because I don't tend to give up on tall, athletic players after 3 outings.

People are kidding themselves if they think Yze is going to play and Miller won't. Yze is done. Time to let go. In: Rivers, Bate, Petterd/Frawley Out: Davey, Bode, Weetra

When on form, Davey would replace Byrnes, who is a very ordinary footballer playing for a very extraordinary team.

Thanks, you just saved me two minutes of explaining. Honestly, lets just never do anything to really change. Lets instead sit back and year after year and do nothing. If that won't fix our problems, nothing will

Water off a duck's back. I wouldn't even justify his [censored] with a response. He knows nothing, he can't even get basic membership numbers right. Some of our supporters are a joke, and they are a big reason why we're struggling off the field. However if KB feels the need to lump all of us into the same group of passionless, spineless supporters than he is not worth the oxygen he breathes. Last year BT, another waste of space, got stuck into Melbourne supporters as being weak and not caring. I wrote a big thread about his comments, because at the time I was so upset listening to him I was actually tearing up. But the best thing we can do as a supporter group, is to prove the media wrong. Buy a membership, go to the match even if you think we'll lose, and support the club in any way you can. If you think attacking KB on the radio is the way to go, do that too! At the end of the day nobody knows what is happening at Melbourne better than Melbourne supporters who have loved and supported this club all their life. We know that we're two years away from having state of the art facilities, we know that we're on the right track with a new CEO and football department. If the media clowns want to jump up and down and compare us to Fitzroy, they can please themselves. What they say will not change our future, only us supporters can impact on the future of this great club of ours.

And if we lose you can burn down the city... it's not like anyone is going to miss Geelong

Yes and he will retire with a lot of respect, because unlike the rest of our senior citizen group (Neita aside), he actually plays for the team and not for himself. Age is not on his side, neither is pace. But that does not take away the years of wonderful, selfless, passionate performances that he's given us. The same unfortunately cannot be said for some other players who will be forced into retirement sooner rather than later.

So you don't think it's going to be easier for us to get members on board, and sponsors on board if we win a flag? Of course you have to have the off-field stability first, but I firmly believe that we are on the right track off the field. We are stable, we are getting our finances in order and we have a new CEO, unfortunately the crap that's been going on on the field, is letting everyone down. If we were winning by 100 points, the media would print stories about how well we've managed to restructure our club, how wonderful it is that we're finally going to have a state-of-the-art home etc etc.. It's because we're losing so badly that they are writing negative, often made-up stuff about our club as a whole. We cannot just keep floating around making minimal on field impact in the hope that one day 15 teams will decide to let us win a flag. For many years now Daniher tried compensating for our lack of stars, and unsuccessfully copied successful models of previous premiership teams. Bailey doesn't want to do that. He wants to get to the bottom of our problems, strip away the years of poor discipline and attitude, and finally get us on the right path. I am behind him 100% and will support any of his decisions in the short term at least. Anyone who thinks that we're going to get better by simply letting our senior players play their own natural style, is deluding themselves. The fact is that our senior players will NEVER win us a premiership, and most will be gone by 2010. The only chance of survival, for senior and inexperienced players alike, is to start following the new football model that Bailey has set up.

The main role of the coach involves: - Getting the best from his players - Managing his players on and off the field - Creating a winning game plan - Enforcing team rules If Dean Bailey thinks that his players need a harsh reality check in order for him to achieve his role, than he is entitled to give them one whenever he pleases. Having been at the club for 4 months, he has clearly given our players the benefit of the doubt. He's given them ownership of team rules, let them choose their leadership group, and has given all of our senior players an opportunity to shine during the pre-season and in Round 1. He has given them enough leniency. Given that they have failed miserably to adhere to any of his rules, he should now start handing out punishment. If players don't like it, they have nobody to blame but themselves. And as I said, we cannot remain a mildly competitive, highly mediocre club just because we're too scared to bite the bullet and go through a proper rebuild. How many years will we survive without a premiership? Another 40? I doubt it. If our club can't survive 2 years of poor performances and significant on-field change, then there is really no point in even trying to get better. We might as well just give up, and close our doors. It is the club's main objective to be successful on the field. On field success breeds off field success, so no matter how hard we have to fight to achieve it, we are better off struggling for a short period in order to achieve the ultimate success that we desperately need. One year is a very short time in 150 years of history.

I am not driving. My ride shall remain sober, or he can pay for my taxi home Has anyone thought of maybe wrapping their TV in bubble-wrap to avoid serious damage when, in the heat of the moment, you decide to throw a shoe at the screen in protest? By the way, the last time I saw a Melbourne vs. Geelong game on TV was the day we won by just one point after the siren. Could this be an omen?

So basically we should forever be a mildly competitive, highly mediocre club which bends backwards to please its under performing players. Dean Bailey has every right to tell his players what he thinks of their pathetic, lifeless performances. These players are part of a super competitive, cut-throat industry. Criticism is a big part of their job, and if they can't handle the heat they need to reconsider their career options. I don't care if Bailey alienates some of our players, because frankly any player who is worth anything will not let some discipline get in the way of their commitment to the club. For too long our players have been given the benefit of the doubt, and have done nothing but disappoint us. Every week it's the same old "we need to work harder for each other", "we need to remain positive". Yuck! Clearly what has been done in the past hasn't worked. I welcome a new approach, which may see us struggle for a while, but which has a better chance of fixing our fundemental problems with attitude and discipline. As for the club not being able to survive a few years of bad on-field performances, that is entirely up to our supporter base. If you stick with the program, if you turn up to games, if you continue to buy your membership, and if above all you don't stop supporting the new direction of the club, then we WILL survive and we'll be better for it. Screw the media, the hype, the over- dramatization. I'll be damned if I let slime like Hutchison bring my club down.

Have to attend a wedding in the morning, which is almost going to be as bad as the game itself. Will take full advantage of the open bar before racing home to watch the 'Geelong Massacre'. The way I see it, the more I drink before the game, the more amusing the result will be.

You have to focus on the end result, not the process. We might be losing by 100 points now, but at least we are taking drastic steps to change the attitude and structure of our football club. I don't know how much truth is in the original post, but I am certain that Bailey has had words with many of the players and that many of them probably didn't like it a whole lot. It's because they can't take criticism and because they are struggling to change that we're getting belted at the moment. The beauty of it is that they have until Round 6. After that, they can start packing their bags as far as I'm concerned. Short term pain for long term gain.

The reality is that while Miller is not the greatest player to ever pull on a Melbourne jumper, his attitude and personality represents the values that Bailey holds close to his heart. It is for that reason alone that Miller will continue to get a game, in the short-term anyways. At least he is selfless, and team oriented and 100% committed. When everyone is playing badly, it is those who try hardest that get rewarded. Besides, he is kicking the ball now and he actually hits a target more often than not, so please show him some love! :D

Please, I signed up both my cousins the day they were born, despite my uncle being a Hawks supporter. It is my duty, as their favourite cousin, to brainwash them so that they never follow the Hawks... ever! <_<

To be honest I'm a bit surprised that Garland is getting a game ahead of Frawley. I hope we see Little Spud in the side soon, because we have got to start developing another key defender ASAP. He can also play on the wing if all else fails, which gives us a bit of versatility. Great news about Rivers, and agree wholeheartedly that, should he stay fit, he deserves a place in the leadership group.

Indeed. White has been tried up forward. At best he can float in and out and take some marks and kick the odd goal, but he is not a permanent forward. The sooner we recognise that his career is just about done, the better. Just because he has been a very good ruckman and player for us for many years (and nobody will argue that), does not mean we now need to carry him every week if he isn't pulling his weight. I don't have a problem with him doing some rucking, but he needs to start contributing around the ground more, otherwise he can finish his career down at Sandy.

Spot on. It will take a season or two before Dean Bailey is able to get the list and game plan that he wants. At the moment he is working with what he's been given, which unfortunately is not a whole lot. Big losses are demoralising and I hope like hell that we don't keep getting belted, however it is important to keep our focus on the destination rather than the journey. The worst thing we can do is not stay united on all fronts. We need everyone at the club working together to help Bailey, not hinder his plans by overreacting and making rash decisions based on weekly losing margins. Besides, if you don't finish 1st in the AFL, it pays to finish last. At this rate, we're a shoe-in for another bunch of good draft picks :D