Jaded No More

I just can’t see us winning this. I hope I’m wrong but I’m going in with minimal expectations to avoid disappointment.

I'm not sure how or why, but I have lost a lot of interest in this season following last week's loss. Maybe it's because I know for sure that no matter what happens in the last two matches, we are no real threat of winning anything of importance this year. My interest will probably be restored if we win this week, but I still went and booked a work trip for the day after the GF because I know the only hangover I'll be suffering will be from watching yet another grand final without Melbourne in it.

Dude, check out the date of when those posts were made

The only player currently in our team who has proven to be a match winner in the past, is Tom McDonald. Nobody in our team fills me with any confidence that they can stand up and pull us over the line in big games, least of all our older leaders. However I see Oliver as a potential match winner going forward, especially with his ability to play out of the goal square and kick goals, Dusty style. I also think that Lever will be one who will change matches as he matures and stays (hopefully!) injury free.

Completely agree. The jury is very much still out, and IMHO Goodwin has until the middle of next season to prove that he can coach and improve on the issues we have seen repeatedly for two years now. Not to mention make finals. If he doesn't, I can't see how they can extend his contract. He has all the talent and support at his disposal, and unlike years ago, there would be coaches falling over themselves to coach us and take our list to a premiership, which is very very possible in the current AFL environment.

Nothing would be more Melbourne than, after missing finals last year by the narrowest margin in the history of the competition, missing finals this year with the biggest margin in the history of the competition. I mean you just can't write this [censored]. How have they not made a TV movie special on us yet, I will never know.

Balls will still be flying over every forwards head on a repeat basis. Worry not.

Bit rich considering he has also spent a bit of time on the injury list, and was about 12kgs wet when he got to Melbourne. Having said that, it is his time now to show us that he is worth the early pick we invested in him. Needs to stand up and deliver, and they should play him from now until the season ends, whenever that may be. Regardless of how he performs. Nothing to lose, as literally we are cooked.

Agreed. It was a ridiculous match up, literally the last person you should put on Aliir is a bulky mid sized dude with no athleticism. I would bring in Weids and tell him his sole job this weekend is to make McGovern accountable, and nullify aerial contests to bring the ball to ground. Great learning experience, and at least Weids has the height and athleticism to compete with McGovern in the air.

For 2 years now I've forked over $700 for a membership that comes with guaranteed finals tickets access. Smart move that was.

With Vince seemingly gone and Lewis and Jones on their last legs (I hope Lewis gets very little game time next year), I think we need to import some 'wise heads' and leadership. We desperately lack maturity in our side, and unfortunately our mature players are not very good. This is why the OP makes a lot of sense. We know he's a fantastic leader, and we could use more of those.

Can we agree now that we are cursed tho?

Sounds about right with Melbourne team selections this year

We train virtually next door to Collingwood, who have probably the worst injury list in the AFL. There is no doubt we need to look into and investigate the hardness/density/whatever I don't know enough about soil of the ground in the area where we train. Impact injuries are unavoidable, but we've had a lot more soft tissue and foot injuries in recent years, which are a serious worry, and injuries which didn't appear to happen in games, but develop outside of matches or following matches or at training.

We have to give Weids a go. He has been on our list for a long time now, and is developing well at Casey. He isn't getting games because it is hard to break into the team with Hogan and TMac. Now that Hogan has gone down, we need to give Weids an opportunity to see what he brings. Plus as you said, he is as good a relief ruck as Pedo. There is no point having these kids on the list for years and then when their direct competition in the side goes down, running scared. Realistically our season is cooked. Maybe we limp across the line to finals, maybe we don't. But Pedo is certainly not going to win us a final, but for Weids getting the experience is invaluable. I would be very annoyed if they don't play him for the rest of the year.

Why is he on our list if we don't play him when Hogan is injured? Pederson is not good enough to play AFL.

Weids for Hogan Hibbo for Hunt Pederson for Melksham Apart from Hogan that makes a very nice upgrade to last week.

It is extremely depressing and mentally exhausting supporting this club. Not to mention financially draining. Sigh.

Well, this season is done. Not like we were gonna win a flag anyway. But injuries have destroyed us.

I wasn't having a go at you, but your original post sounded different in the context of what he actually said, and since I am not in Perth I have no idea what was reported. It sounded like you were validating the original poster by saying this was reported in Perth, which it clearly was not.

That's very different to saying his seasons is over with a very serious injury. He could make an educated guess that his season is over, or may have heard that he is in serious doubt, but that's not the same as declaring his injury without proof.

Sorry but Jesse said yesterday on TV that he was meeting his doctor today, so how the [censored] does Basil 'big nose' Zempilas know the results before a doctor has even met with the patient? Does he have friends at the MRI clinic? Is he a doctor? It just seems either fabricated, or worst, a break of doctor patient confidentiality, to have this stuff out in the public.

As I've said before, winning is the only thing that matters. The MFC is a professional sporting organisation with one goal, to win premierships. We have been a failure, by this standard of measure for such a long time, which explains why we take small statistical victories. It's all we have. But like you @Redleg I am sick to death of stats. I want wins, I want to play finals and I want to see premierships. Nothing else matters.

I want proof before I lose my [censored].

I don't deal in Ifs and Buts. What if Betts kicked that goal 3 weeks ago? The facts are, we have lost too many close games and have not learnt from those. We also lost to St Kilda who are rubbish and we haven't won a single high-pressure game. We have improved significantly, no doubt, but not making finals in 2018 is a big big failure.