Jaded No More

Clearly a sucker for punishment I am. So many better things to do tonight, yet here we are, heading to the footy. This better be a vast improvement. I don't expect a win but FFS, some competitive spirit would be lovely.

My message to Jack Watts... if you are reading this, don't.

Probably because Frawley > Alistair Nicholson > Ben Holland > Cameron Pedersen ? Lets get real, Frawley was crap last week, but he is still in our top 5 best players (top 2 in his time). We can't drop him if we actually want to get close to not losing.

I'm disappointed not to see Jetta or Strauss but Nicholson is retained. Honestly there are no big tough calls, which could work for those trying to redeem themselves but is also letting some off too easy. If we serve the same slop this week, I would want to see big names dropped, not just shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. Thank god we get some quality back with Trenners and McDonald.

Here is a radical idea, our midfield is pure and utter rubbish. Jack Watts can kick a footy. Jack Watts does not like man on man defensive pressure. Jack Watts should play on a wing. FFS just do something different. How much worse can we get?

Sack the coach, don't sack the coach, replace the CEO, replace the list, fire darts into the players' behinds, it doesn't matter. If things don't change drastically and quickly, this club will not survive. We are not financially or culturally sustainable, and we will evaporate into thin air if we continue to carry on like the spineless, loser, hopeless organisation that we've become. And neither Neeld, nor many of our players seem to give two sh*ts about the fact that 30,000 odd people who love this club desperately, are going to lose an important part of their life.

If you knew your workplace was going bankrupt and you had an opportunity to go somewhere else, would you? Yes footy is not a normal job, but to these players, it is their job, their livelihood, and they all want to be successful. Some are crap players and should be so lucky to play for a crap team where they can get a game, but some, like Frawley, would walk into any side and win games. Maybe premierships. Human nature suggests that when you have no hope where you are, you look to get out, go somewhere better. Do you blame Rivers for leaving? I don't. Would I blame Frawley for leaving? Not if he went to a successful club in search of a premiership (leaving for money is a different story). Bottom line is, good players who have regressed under Neeld will want to leave. It makes sense, and it's frightening.

Imagine spending 10 minutes not feeling utterly embarrassed at being a Melbourne supporter. Big rich clubs, even when they are having a down patch, can feel safe in the knowledge that they have supporters, money and power to help pull them up the ladder. We are dirt poor, have a small supporter base on the verge of a well-deserved nervous breakdown, and are constantly treated like crap by the AFL. We need every bit of help we can get, and yet we continue to stuff up draft picks, coaching selections and game plans. We can't even help ourselves, so how on earth do we expect to ever become the sort of powerhouse we are all so damn jealous of? All we seem to hear from our club is "stick with us", "we need to become an elite club", "the performance/ coach/ draft was unacceptable, but we are working on it". And all I want to hear from our club is our song, at the end of a match, against a decent team, more than once in 2 years.

My free time and my money is very important. I work bloody hard for both. And I choose to spend it on this club, year after miserable year. You wanna call me a fair weather supporter, and I want to punch you in the face. Deal? I've gone to games sick, on crutches, during exams, I've missed birthdays, family events and many other things to make time to go and watch us play. I spend hundreds each year on a membership without fail, even when I barely have the money. So if I wanna boo a team that plays like absolute shite with complete and utter disregard for the fans or the jumper, than I friggin well will and who the hell are you to tell me otherwise. I deserve better for my time and money. We all do. And the players and coaches should know that what they have dished up for 6 years now is unacceptable.

He also turned up an hour early for recovery this morning. Like I said in another thread, I want to apologize to him because he deserves better. It's not his fault his dad played for us and now he's stuck in this shite too. What a pathetic state of play.

Can someone explain Neeld's game plan? I think I'm fairly knowledgable, and I watch a lot of footy, and I have no idea what it is Neeld is trying to do with our team. With Bailey it was all attack no defence. With Neeld it's no attack, no defence, no nothing. The one time he made a real move on the field, by putting Garland at FF, we won. We actually won a game. And yet he hasn't taken a risk, or made a single move or change to his unexplainable game plan since. Players always have to be accountable for what happens on the field, but after two full pre-seasons, so does the coach. He can't sit at a post match conference and cry me a river and tell me he never saw this coming. If he hasn't seen this coming, it says that he also has no idea how to fix it. Now that's a worry!

Not sure if anyone else saw how filthy he was with himself after he came off for the first time. He was being rotated having just fumbled the ball. He came off and he swore at himself. He was livid at making a mistake, in what was probably his first possession at AFL level. Show me a single senior player in our team who cares this much and I'll be happy. Maybe we wouldn't be so effing terrible if we had more players who demanded perfection from themselves. So lets cut him some slack FFS. He will be fine.

Good to see some people are focusing on the real problems being faced by this club right now. Up there with the trumpeter drama this is. Poor kid had one game, and his team lose by 79 points. I think I'll give him two more before I scrap him. Also LOL at the Hogan comment. He is already better than the spuds that are Sellar, Pederson and Gilles and has the potential to be much better than Dawes and even Clark himself.

Dear Jack Viney, I am very sorry.

There was a lot to make you feel sick today, but Clark going down was seriously the moment I wanted to just give it all up, walk out and never come back. Great to see him come back on, but he could hardly walk and I'm sick of so few trying so hard and killing themselves in the process. Bring Dawes in, underdone or otherwise, we have to help this poor man before he does irreparable damage, because god knows he's trying.

If Tom McDonald and Neville Jetta are not in our backline next week I'm not going. A half done McDonald would have been better than Gilles. Seriously WTF was he doing in the VFL? Couldn't have been more underdone than Clark. Speaking of which, if I see the great man barely able to walk next week I will spew. He is far too important to risk. If he isn't fit, do not [censored] with him because he is the type to push himself to his death. How did they even let him go back out there? Also Pederson is terrible. North must be pissing themselves.

He was crap. What I don't get though is why Neeld makes no positional moves during matches. The guy is having a stinker, we are getting destroyed, push him up the wing, let him get some ball. If there is one thing you can't say against Watts is his use of the footy is damn good. And this goes for everyone. Neeld does nothing during games. Be bold, make moves. If we are gonna lose anyway, maybe you can learn something in the meantime?

Because the man CANNOT TAKE A MARK. At least Ben Holland had dukes and knew how to use them. I miss the days when Holland was my biggest issue with this team. Bring him back.

Why did Nicholson get a game ahead of Jetta? I have a lot of time for Jetta. He may not be as quick as Nicho, but he is tough and a much better user of the ball. Sellar is the worst decoy going around. FFS we spend so much energy trying to get spuds in to help Clark, yet he is still two out in the square injuring himself. I know Dawes is injured, but WTF is Pederson doing?! He has no idea. Monfries was great for Port today. Why didn't we get him instead of bringing in D grade spuds or players on their last legs from other clubs? I want to face palm this club.

You want perspective, here is some perspective for you. We've won ONE meaningful game of footy in over 12 months. If it wasn't for GC and GWS, we'd be set for a third wooden spoon in a row this year (and it wouldn't surprise me if we win it this year). Mark Neeld can't hide behind excuses anymore, and neither can our players. When a first gamer is your best player, you have some serious issues. Not even our experienced players in their prime are any good, in fact, they are going backwards. This is unacceptable. To be booing your club in round one of a brand new season, after so many previous years of rubbish, because they kicked just one goal in a half of footy, after so many goalless quarters in years before, is just a sad state of affairs. There is actually nothing to take away from this match, other than same old shite. Perspective? I got nothing.

He has cleaned the list and had two pre seasons now and yet we are still running around like headless chickens. It's not all his fault but he has to take a lot of accountability.

He was an All Australian in a garbage team two years ago. Neeld came in and took away his natural game and his natural instincts. It's not as if the ball was coming down the backline less under Bailey. I wouldn't blame him for wanting out. He is a wasted talent and he could be winning flags with Hawthorn or Collingwood or Carlton. If we lost Frawley, make no mistake about it, it would be up there in terms of disasters than it we lost Clark.

To me, the clearest indication that he is struggling is James Frawley. He got handed a star on a silver platter and now the guy is a shadow of his former self. He doesn't attack the footy and he rarely wins defensively. If you can't even coach someone as talented and as ready made to explode as Frawley, then you got no friggin idea. Now watch Frawley have 17 clubs roll out the red carpet for him when his contract is up, and give me one reason why he'd choose to stay? I'm worried that even whatever good we do have, it is quickly being ruined.

Grow a pair of balls and throw big dollars at Paul Roos. Stop [censored] farting around with untried coaches who have no friggin idea. Get a proven premiership coach and get serious. We can't afford to continue this downward spiral or we won't survive.

I am so sorry Jack Viney. I really am.