Jaded No More

Losing the match would have been a bigger positive than winning it was. However nobody was going to lose to Carlton that day. To send off one of our best servants in Nathan Brown (and Biz) by losing on purpose to the tanking cheats from Carlton, is a pathetic thing to do. I'm sure we weren't trying overly hard to win the match, and all injured parties were rested. However, at the end of the day players were still going for the ball and doing their best to kick straight in front of goal. If their instincts told them otherwise we would be in a shitload of trouble. I don't want players at Melbourne who are not instinctively hungry and desperate to win. For Carlton losing comes naturally. Thank god we haven't reached that stage yet.

*Happy Dance* Take him off the field now, wrap him in warm cotton wool and unleash his awesomeness next week at Geelong (so that we may lose by less than 278 points). Edit: I knew both Moloney and Petterd must have been dropped due to injury, as neither of them deserved to be punished for the disgusting display against the Hawks. Hopefully both are fit for next week. Beamer usually has a good game against his old side.

Cover your eyes and just hum happy songs for 2.5 hours... this too shall pass...

At half time I think we were winning the clearances something like 20 to 7. Still, I'm surprised you couldn't pick up my obvious sarcasm. And I don't make excuses when there are no excuses to be made. He wasn't injured like he has been in previous bad games. He just had a bad game. He can join the rest of his teammates in the naughty corner.

Don't worry, he'll go the same way most of our 'potential stars' have gone... down the toilet. How good was his kick to Green (was it Green on the lead??). It was like he wasn't even playing for Melbourne the way he hit a target. Definite shinning light so far.

Why don't you just stick a knife in our guts and be done with it? <_< Hey, at least for 3 quarters we were smashing them in the clearances and winning the hardball gets.... woo.....

It's simply terrible. Even our best players are not AFL standard at the moment. What the hell is going on?

Ummm... I'm going Jones and Morton.... too early? I can't believe people are blaming the coach. We haven't been a decent side for over a year now. How come the new guy gets all the blame? What about the people who were in charge for 10 years and gave us the list we have today? Leigh Matthews couldn't get a win out of us at the moment.

Much better today when given a set task to perform. A world of difference when compared to last week's game, so credit where it is due Y_M! Maybe he needs a defensive role each week in order to force accountability and get him really involved in the match? If only he was our only problem...

Sack the coach, go on. It is clearly his fault that of the 44 players he inherited, 42 are crap. Give me a break, this is the downfall we had to have. We could have kept covering up the cracks for 2-3 years with Daniher, but then what? We NEVER would have won a flag, and we would have continued to be a mediocre side that achieves nothing more than one finals appearance each season. Short term pain for long term gain.

Pretty spot on today I think. Morton was the only thing that made me smile today. He can KICK.... someone at Melbourne can HIT A TARGET. Praise the friggin football gods!!! By the way, Buckley needs to stop playing like he's got 100 games experience under his belt. It's great to take them on, but don't try and overdo it. He nearly cost us 2 goals (was 1.1 in the end) because twice he turned it over trying to take on the whole Bulldogs outfit. I love that he has pace and belief in himself, but son, you can't run through brick walls.

The trainer massaging his groin got more stats than he did :D

Rhino, all you're doing is trying to pick a fight with me, when in fact you probably agree with what I'm saying. Bailey got rid of all the players who were out of contract that he felt were not needed (sadly our under performing 'stars' were contracted for 2008). Robbo was out of contract and he kept him. It was his decision, and I support him. If Robbo was traded, I wouldn't have disagreed with Bailey's decision either. I might be a fan of Robbo's but at least I don't ignore his achievements out of spite like you. Robbo helped us make finals as much as Bruce and Green ever did. I also never talked about direct swap, as these hardly ever occur these days. TJ is trouble, and in your own words rarely delivers on his talent. At 28 he is very much past his peak, as is Robbo, as is Bruce, as is Yze. Which only validates my point that we should have traded them while they still had some currency. But go ahead, climb on that horse of yours and dismiss my argument through picking a pointless argument.

At least Robbo has achieved something concrete recently (B&F's, All Australian representation, leading goal kicker, helping us make the finals). What have the other 3 done? Besides, I wasn't against trading Robbo last season. For a good price almost anyone is disposable. 3-4 years ago Green could have got us a top 15 pick (maybe not a straight swap, but one involving Green and a draft pick, or Green and another fringe player). West Coast, given their lack of forward power, could have used someone like Green in their forward rotation, so could the Bulldogs, just to name a few. We managed to get pick 14 for a troubled, over-the-hill TJ.

List management is more of an issue than drafting IMO. Every club has hits and misses. It is impossible to get every selection right, and it was even more so 10 years ago. Technology and bigger recruiting teams are making the science of drafting more exact, but still, how can you predict with 100% accuracy what a 17 year old player is going to be like at 27? However, once on the list, it generally doesn't take too many seasons to identify the weaknesses of your recruits (nobody is perfect, no matter if your name is Godfrey or Judd). What we haven't done well under Daniher and CAC is identify the disposable players, and dispose of them quickly and efficiently. We waited too long in the hope every player will come good, and most of them didn't. I am more hopeful that Bailey won't wait around forever to get rid of under-performing players.

Absolutely. We've had numerous golden opportunities to get rid of Yze, Bruce and Green. Had we acted on time, we could have probably got a top 10-15 pick for each of them. Who knows what those picks could have got us. We held onto senior players in the hope they'll come good, and they never did. Trading Woewodin was the bravest thing we did in 10 years, and it worked out so well for us. We should have ignored the noise and just gone and done it. Now we're stuck with senior players who have done little in well over 2 seasons, are worth nothing to other clubs and who are draining us of millions of dollars each year. It sure does make you want to cry!

Well there you have it. I knew he must have injured himself if he's missing the game on Saturday. No way in hell would he have been dropped, slow midfield or not. Thank god it's only a corkie and not a flare-up of the groin!!!

Millions of people spend a fair bit of time in transit to and from work everyday. Most of them don't receive a 6 figure salary in return. Not only will this ensure a less hectic pre-season schedule, it's a brilliant opportunity to gain more members. Fantastic job to get this going fairly quickly.

I know for a fact that he is based in Melbourne, but he does travel a lot for work. It seems very likely that PG will step down at the end of the year, due to family and work commitments. PG has done a great job for the MFC, and has put in so much of his own time and money into this club. Anyone who replaces him will have some big shoes to fill in terms of dedication to the cause.

As Gary Lyon just said on the Footy Show, forget all the nonsense about mergers and relocations, Melbourne is not going anywhere. It doesn't matter how much money they throw at us, you do not sell your soul to the devil, and the AFL is most definitely the devil.

Disagree. But then maybe they dropped him because he is still struggling with his fitness a bit, which would make sense. Either way, players who deserve to be punished for the horrible display on Sunday (you know, the ones responsible for leading our team) are still getting a game. At least Yze is gone. Yeah, because the rest of the team was out there demonstrating their elite fitness Besides, give me a half-done Moloney who at least tries his guts out, over a fully fit player who stands around waiting for the action to come to them. Unless he has pulled up sore, he should be playing. The best way to gain match fitness is to play some games. IMO he must not be 100%, because there really is no justification for dropping him... but hey, if everyone else agrees, than surely they must all be wrong.

We'll see if he plays for Sandy this week or not. I can't believe they would have dropped him. He was probably one of our best out there. Absolute stupidity to drop two young players in Moloney and Petterd, who both had reasonable games, and leave in a whole host of senior players who are not pulling their weight (for a change ).

I don't think Moloney would have been dropped... which can only mean one thing.... injury. ARGH!!! Where the hell is Rivers?

Well said. Hopefully the first two statements don't put a premature end to what is likely to be a stellar career. (I agree with Yze_Magic that he'll never reach the heights of Jonathan Brown though)

And gets punched in the face by Jaded's father