Jaded No More

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I'll donate $50 to the cause (I'd donate more, but car service comes first)! I'm doing it more so we can see the reaction of the papers than anything else. "Melbourne supporters desperate for hope- pay money to see the Messiah" :D

You can't compare Daniher to Thomas. The Saints made the finals the year they sacked him, and he wasn't at the Saints nearly as long as Daniher has been at Melbourne. His sacking had as much to do with his friendship with Butterss, as it did with is coaching ability. So you say Daniher shouldn't be blamed, as he is just an easy target. But then we can't blame senior players either like Bruce or Yze because they are fantastic footballers. Tell me, if change is so destabilising, what does continuous failure do?

I'm sure he'll enjoy being dropped after his side got panted by Richmond, and the entire senior playing group did nothing. They are the ones who need a reality check! <_< The reason he's been running around aimlessly, is because he hasn't been given a proper job yet. Daniher needs to bite the bullet and give him a job on a big name player, where all he is required to do is stop his man from kicking goals. He played as a decoy forward on Friday FFS, how is he meant to get into a game when playing so hopelessly out of position? Our season is gone, finished, done... if he is going to run around like a headless chook, better do it now, and be ready to step up next season.

Come on Mick, suck it up! As if you'll miss Newton's debut

No problem at all. Just trying to make you accountable for what you say. Clearly you think that nobody is at fault and that it is pure bad luck that we've won 2 games, are currently 15th and just lost to the worse team in the competition. Being optimistic is great... until it turns you delusional.

Dropping Frawley is madness. The idea now is to play anyone and everyone who is developing and who will be part of our future. Frawley is a huge part of that. Play him on Lucas, if he gets smashed, play him on someone else. That is what development is all about. You can't leave Holland in the side (who will he play on anyways?), and drop Frawley, it is seriously crazy! In: Newton, CJ, Buckley, Wheels, Dunn/Miller Out: Yze, Pickett (still not fit), Holland, Ward, Godfrey (I love him, but his disposal is unacceptable) It is a lot of changes, but we just lost to Richmond and heads need to roll. I'd love to see Daniher drop a big name player for a week, just to send a really strong message, but he won't. Newton better play, is all I'm going to say!

I'll be there... Going with a couple of Essendon supporters too, so unless Juice gets a game and Brock is carving them up, I'll have nothing to rave about. Even if we're winning, they'll continue to remind me that we lost to Richmond last week. Oh the shame!

Yes, exactly, awesome. Let's sit on our hands, close our eyes, wish really really hard and then we'll win a premiership. Let's not change anything. We might as well re-sign Daniher for another 10 years, because you know, like in 10 years maybe not winning a flag will still not be his fault. And of course we can't trade any of our really cool players, because it's not like it's their fault that we're losing either. Change is un-stabilising (it's destabilising btw) for who exactly? For our supporters who have been along for the ride, season after season? Maybe for David Neitz who will retire without a premiership? Oh I know, it's un-stabilising for some of our down-hill skiers who get an easy ride as long as Daniher is there, because he keeps playing them even when they don't perform. You came back to tell us that we shouldn't do anything but ride out yet another disappointing season? Totally awesome!

Just a friendly reminder to all: You can post your opinion and disagree with one another, without getting personal and calling people 'morons'.

To be fair, it was originally done in 5 parts and I did review every single player! Man I had so much time back then...

I'm still trying to work out what this has to do with the topic? When did Bell come into discussion? Why are we talking about stats? What the hell is going? I hate this season, can we just forget it ever happened and start a new season on Friday! We shall name it "2007 and a half- the year of the youngsters"

DappaDan would be shattered! BB, good for you for loving all of our players despite their obvious downfalls (being a true supporter means loving the team despite their flaws), but your obsession with me and my opinions is starting to make me nervous.

"Neale's been fantastic at the Melbourne footy club, he's been fantastic with me," he said. Hmmm... I won't say a bad word about our captain, as he is a champion of the MFC and has never put in less than 100%. But you know where I'm going with this one...

I don't remember Neita coming out and saying "I want Daniher at the club next year". He may have come out and expressed the opinion of his teammates because he is their leader. I would think that Neita only wants one thing now, a premiership. If he doesn't think that a new coach can bring success immidately, then he might hesitate on changing the coach.

I don't think it matters whether they publicly announce Daniher's future now. I can guarantee you that he knows that he's under review, and that's enough. What we do need to do, is let players know in no uncertain terms that they now have a number of weeks to prove that they are worthy of wearing red & blue next year. Give everyone on our list who isn't injured and is standing on shakey ground, the opportunity to play and show us what they've got. This includes all youngsters and SENIOR players who consistently don't put in (not ordinary depth players who we know get us nowhere). It will make the job for our next coach much easier, and show us who truly bleeds for the jumper. The hardest thing for the players now, knowing that they won't make the finals, is to play with the same passion and aggression and hardness as they would in Round 1 or in a final. Time they prove they care, or they can pack their bags and leave with Daniher.

*bows down* Brilliantly put. I wonder how many people will read this and it will go right over their head

I'll just throw up some names here: Rivers Frawley Dunn Newton Bate Garland Not saying they'll all make it into the spine, or make it at all actually, but to say we haven't got a spine is not correct. We haven't had a lot of success recruiting KP players, especially after the Molan/Smith/Rogers/Breese/*insert dud name* disasters. Over the last few years however, we have recruited a number of big players who have played as key forwards/defenders in their junior years. I'm interested to see how Garland will develop as a defender at Sandringham. Dunn may become stronger over head and claim the CHF position, if not, I'm very happy for Bate to stay there. He isn't the most traditional CHF, but that is more to do with his size than his capabilities. I like him there, and I think he will grow into the role. Let's not forget, CHF is the most difficult position on the ground, and it takes years for players to truly dominate games from there. I've seen more than enough to show me that Bate will, at the very least, be a good option there. If all goes according to plan, Frawley will be our next FB. The kid is already fairly massive, but again, that position takes time. How many dud games did Carroll have before he cemented a spot there? And with all due respect, Frawley is a fair bit more talented. As for Rivers, he is and will be our CHB for the next 10 years. It is rubbish to say that he's too light, and only plays as a third tall. He is, without a doubt, the most talented defender we've had on our list in years, and I'm certain that he'll continue to develop when he finally gets back on the field. As for Newton... well... clearly he will be the next Gary Ablett. You just wait and see!

Yeah, I love that we have higher expectations from Brock McLean, than we do from Cameron Bruce. Who expected Brock to lead us to victory on Friday? (I did!) Who remembers Friday was his 51st AFL game? Was anyone more disappointed by Bruce's bad game than Brock's? I know I wasn't, because I have come to expect consistency and hardness from McLean. Silly really, because I don't know another 50-game player in the AFL who is expected to perform and win games every week, and take over in the absence of his captain. We expect that from him, because he is just that good. I've stopped expecting miracles from Bruce a long time ago.

Read my signature and pipe down. Brock McLean is one of the most influential players in the AFL, and he has only played 50 games. I find it laughable that you can compare a 27 year old with 150+ games experience to a 21 year old who has played 51. Goes to show you how much of a quality player McLean already is.

Best news I've heard all weekend! Would you like to give us an exact run-down of everything he did today? I'm interested in things like goals, marks, work off the ball, body language... anything at all that you think all of us Newton-obsessed kids might enjoy hearing.

If they rested Newton in the last, then he is almost a certainty to play this week you would think. Would happily play all of Miller, Dunn, CJ and Buckley against Essendon. There are half a dozen players currently playing seniors would need to be dropped, and another half a dozen who should be dropped just to make a statement. Any word on Wheels?

Apperantly the game is now over and Newton didn't do anything more in the second half. Damn, this could have been his chance to get a senior game, although a 5 day break makes it unlikely. Dunn and Miller were good as well. I'd like to play Miller on Lucas next week, and Dunn up forward. CJ to replace Yze.

Top priority now is for the board to get their act together off the field and start interviewing potential coaching candidates. I'm certain the process will now go into full swing. On field, the number one priority is to start looking at our list and weeding out the old and the ordinary. This includes: -Giving anyone under the age of 23 plenty of game time. -In the absence of Neita, letting Brock McLean captain again -Trying new positions for players who haven't found their spot yet (i.e.-CJ) -Creating a young leadership group (I believe this has been done before), and putting some of the responsibility back on them to see how they stack up -Resting anyone who is not 110% fit. This is especially true for Rivers, Moloney, Bartram and to a certain extent Neita. Basically, the rest of this year is all about losing with purpose. I'm sure we'll win next week and everyone will be back on the bandwagon, singing our praises, but we need to stay focused on the big picture. We need to look at the players who are coming out of contract. Sign up those who we definitely want to keep and start sniffing around other clubs who might be in a similar position to us (i.e.- St.Kilda, Brisbane). The only positive from this year, is that we now have an extra 3 months of pre-season. We can prepare for 2008 calmly and rationally, knowing that we're only playing for pride this year. Oh, and anyone who doesn't go out there on the weekend and shows some pride and urgency in the jumper, gets dropped immidately and can spend the rest of they year winning games at Sandy for all I care.

McLean is 21. Bruce is 27. When McLean is 26, Bruce might not even be playing anymore.