Jaded No More

As Neeld said, we had to grab him when he was available, because talented tall 24 year olds are never available unless they are injury prone or crackheads. If the best we get from him is help in the ruck and a goal square decoy, we've lost nothing. We got room in the cap, and lots more draft picks to waste.

I know we all love a tough talker because it's a rarity coming from Melbourne, but what is a common thread at this club for years now, is people coming out in the media, talking a whole lot of sh*t and then delivering pathetic, limp, disgraceful performances. I'm not a Neeld fan, but that's not to say I won't be. Right now is the time to recognise that we've talked a lot of talk, but our actions have left a lot to be desired. In all this mess, very few people have actually turned around and said to Neeld "you talk tough, and you seem angry, but you couldn't get your players to do the same". I was [censored] that he was pleased with our first half, which to me was poor against an average opposition who kept us in the game due to their poor conversation in front of goal. I am still [censored] that he wasn't surprised that we got smashed, yet made no significant moves on the day. Nothing annoys me more than people who talk up big, arrogantly and confidently, and deliver nothing. I hope like hell that Neeld can deliver, because if he can, he'll deliver big, but until then, I hope nobody follows blindly his tough approach. I'll buy it when I see it translated on the field. But for as long as we have numerous players not putting their head over the ball, and giving up when it's hot/we're behind/they have a paper cut, then it all means little. I don't even care about winning anymore for now, just about changing this pathetic on field attitude that seems to continuously plague us.

[censored] it. So over this crap.

Sheedy would have never acted in our best interests, only his own. He wouldn't list manage and we wouldn't have had all those early picks. That we stuffed up some of them, is irrelevant. We would be 6 years behind if Sheedy took over, with an aging list of has beens and an outdated game plan. Bailey, regardless of his win-loss record, acted in the best interests of our club, to take full advantage of the draft system, as he should have. He also developed guys like Martin, Garland, Petterd and Jurrah. He did the best he could under horrible circumstances of disunity at board level coupled with a garbage list. He was never going to be the long term premiership coach, but he did his best to ensure we were half way there. Neeld may not have inherited gold from Bailey, but he would have inherited a lot worse from Sheedy.

Leigh Matthews doesn't rate anything to do with the MFC. He clearly enjoys sh*t kicking us. I rate Mitch Clark as better than Chris Dawes and Tom Hawkins, and just as I am entitled to my opinion, he is entitled to his.

That is the only comment that bothers me. I hope Neeld has more sense than to disrespect our indigenous players, especially given one of them is going through such a tough time at the moment and is a vital part of our team going forward. The rest of the comments are just the opinion of one man who failed miserably as a coach. If our players are having a sook because somebody is being mean to them, they should come work in my industry for a day and feel what it's like being sh*t kicked while getting paid very little. They can suck it up or they can ship out.

PORT FRIGGIN ADELAIDE FFS!

Give us one of your top 10 picks and you are welcomed to him Sheeds.

Port friggin Adelaide are 4 goals up against the Saints. Somebody please kill me.

On reflection, this is the lowest I have ever felt as a Melbourne supporter, and reading this thread goes to show that I'm not alone. The crap this club keeps on dishing out, is killing it. After all the hard work of people like Jim, to reunite and define and make us viable again, the players are doing their absolute best to destroy it all with pissweak garbage, soulless performances. If they felt how we feel about this club, if they were as proud of the jumper as we are, they would never perform with such utter disrespect to everything this club used to stand for. They have destroyed the optimism, the pride, the joy I used to get from going to the footy. Maybe it's just a bunch of cliches, bleeding for the jumper and all that, but I've long stopped hoping for real success. All I want is to see a bunch of players who actually care, and to stop feeling so utterly hopeless and so incredibly ashamed to be a Melbourne supporter. The last time I felt proud leaving a match, was when we came back to beat Brisbane and Aussie kicked the sealer. Ironically, the same opponent today ripped us to shreds and made me think that maybe I'll never feel this way again.

Correct, he has as much to answer for as anyone. At the end of the day he is the coach and he has to live and die by his choices both pre-game and on match day. He made some glaringly obvious mistakes at selection (and to think that he nearly left Watts out of the team, one of our best today!), with match ups and he couldn't rally the team at half time or 3/4 time. He needs to get his sh*t together before talking his players down, because our midfield was never as bad last year as it was today, despite the make up being largely the same. He's been around 2 minutes, and they've been pretty woeful. He has plenty of time, but I hope he isn't the type who is too proud and too stubborn to make changes. Today I sat at the G and saw a grand total of zero moves being made in 2 hours. Not a good start.

Watts can be our Pendelbury. God knows we need a bloody good midfielder.

Alistair Clarkson had bucket loads of talent to work with. He was blessed with a club that bottomed out and lucked out in the draft. Hodge, Franklin, Roughead, Rioli. Did you watch Hawthorn last night? even their 22nd player can hit a target FFS! We bottomed out and got Morton, Watts, Scumbucket Scully and Trengove. One is rotting in the VFL, one is still not sure what position he should play, one is a deadset [censored] who left for more cash, and one is a 20 year old trying to be a captain. Good luck to Neeld. I hope he succeeds in instilling some toughness into this club, because he can't rely on talent alone.

I thought he was pretty good. Didn't panic under pressure and went hard. Maybe it's just me trying to find some silver lining. Also, he looks 5 years old and weighs about 8kgs wet.

Next year. Signed for 4 years in 2009 http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/aaron-davey-signs-new-four-year-deal-with-melbourne/story-e6frg7mf-1225781210716

FFS, PLAY T. MCDONALD! He had a great pre- season and got sh*t all game time in the NAB Cup. Why? Has spent about 2 minutes learning to be a forward, and kicked 3 today. He is strong and tough, and he needs the experience.

He had a disgraceful season last year, crapping his pants often at the sight of a contest. Today he had to make amends, and he didn't. If it's good enough for Tynan, Magner and McKenzie to throw themselves head first at a contest, it's good enough for Davey. If it's not, he needs to go away and fast. And it's a real shame, because he is one of the very few players on our list with actual talent.

Neeld has done a lot of talking, a lot of tough talking, but today has was responsible for leading 22 players and in his own words, 18 failed miserably. He has a lot to do before I give a crap about his tough press conferences. The easiest thing to do is talk tough. I want to see whether that actually translates to tough on field performances this century. I'm glad he won't put blind faith in players, but unfortunately for him, he doesn't have an unlimited selection of good players. He has a short list of proven capable players, a longer list of unknowns, and a very long list of crap players who are past their use by date, or who were never any bloody good. If he thinks that dropping Davey and bringing Dunn in is going to solve our problems, he's delusional, but he claims that he's a realist, so who knows. He might want to find some magical talent elves this week, or we will get bent over hard by West Coast.

He'll sort the crud out with what? He has nothing to work with.

If Watts becomes a gun midfielder, it would be a better long term result than if he becomes a good forward. Teams have won premierships with ordinary forwards, nobody has ever gotten close to finals, let alone a flag, with the sort of garbage midfield we currently boast. Of anyone running through the middle today, Watts was far and away the silkiest. He can hit a target for once. That's a really refreshing change from a bunch of dumb footballers bombing the ball to the boundary.

Champion. What a senior player should be like.

6- Magner 5- Martin 4- Trengove 3- Watts 2- Bail 1- Jones Davey, Green and Moloney should be ashamed of themselves. If ever they wonder why they were demoted from the leadership group, this is why. Because a 24 year old battler from the VFL and a first gamer, put in a harder effort than they did today. Pathetic.

Cam Mooney just summed it up

I don't think anyone here is blind to our obvious and enormous flaws. We are a bottom 4 team with our current midfield, and it's incredibly depressing to know that years of list management has netted us a garbage midfield. However, there is a big difference between not being good enough, and not putting in enough effort. Today I saw a bunch of self-indulgent players put in a half-arsed token effort and get cleaned up and humiliated. Today was the day our players had every reason to stand up and take some pride in the jumper, and frankly, it's embarrassing that this is how 22 players chose to perform for Jimmy Stynes, but more importantly, that that's how they chose to perform for themselves, in round 1, with everything to play for. When are we ever going to see an improvement in attitude? Forget skills, forget game plans, when can we genuinely not feel embarrassed to be a Melbourne supporter?

It doesn't matter how each individual performs, when as a team we are a soft, weak unit with no skills and very little intestinal fortitude. Good luck to Mark Neeld if he wants us to be a tough team to beat. Right now we are the easiest team to destroy. GWS showed more pride in their performance than we did in ours today.