Jaded No More

Great news and well deserved after all his injury setbacks. This kid is gonna be a star!

We could definitely do worse than Jetta as a depth player. He can play a few roles too, which make him a pretty handy asset to have on your list. I just wish Jetta had Bennell's pace and disposal, because FFS Bennell annoys the crap out of me. So much talent, but no guts.

No, really? A kid in his first game is way off our best 22? GTFO! I think McDonald will comfortably overtake Rivers in a couple of years, and he is a completely different player to both Garland and Frawley, which as pointed out earlier, can play on smaller opponents. The less actual defending Frawley has to do the better, because we can utilise him quite well in that very attaching half back flanker role which he is so good at. Same goes for Garland. Our backline is quite honestly the only part of our structure I don't want to blow up and start again.

Somebody has their grumpy pants on while riding their very high horse

Exactly. Besides, you can never have too many good tall defenders. McDonland played a hell of a lot better than Frawley and Garland did in their first seasons. It was an excellent debut, and I was particularly impressed with how cool and calm he was under pressure. Great signs for the future!

It was a very very poor performance. A lot of showboating, a lot of lazy efforts, plenty of players who looked almost disinterested being out there. It hurts to think that we suffered for years to try and gather some good young kids, and today a club in its first season showed us how quickly we will be overtaken if we don't rapidly improve. Potential is no excuse for poor efforts, and ours have been consistently poor. Our midfield is a damn disgrace. Couldn't win a contested possession to save itself.

Good chance of me burning my eyeballs before the game is over. Wtf, how do we manage to find new ways to fail? Woeful. If you are that bored being out there, maybe you should reevaluate your career choice, Melbourne players. Ugh!

I'm so bored. Blease is awesome. Umpires are shizen. Bring on 2012!

Me and the other 3 people at the ground are predicting a deadly silent afternoon.

Malthouse won't sit out the year. When you are out of footy you quickly become irrelevant and outdated. He won't do it to himself. I also think that a big part of Collingwood wants him gone, to wipe the slate clean to avoid issues with Buckley and instability within the footy department. It would not surprise me if Malthouse is at Melbourne next year. He wants to coach and he should be allowed to coach. It was Collingwood's choice to let him go, so he should be able to move on and coach elsewhere.

But he looks great, and that is all that matters B)

If only.... I'd give him 7, I'd give him 10. I would also give him my left arm if he came to coach us. Sadly, won't happen. You don't leave a jet plane for a leaky boat.

$2mil a year for 3 years. EPIC! Well done to all involved, that is absolutely brilliant. From grovelling to small time sponsors 3 years ago to this, that is incredible. Thanks Energy Watch, whoever the hell you are, I am now a deep passionate supporter of all your work

14,500. Pathetic, like always. I wish the only thing I got embarrassed about at games as our team's performance, but sadly no, the lack of supporters is just as bad.

Good quality player we could do without, which means if we can replace Ricky with something we are more desperate for, like a big bodied clearance player, or a tall forward, or a lightening quick small defender, I'd absolutely consider it.

Something to actually get excited about. Well done to the two Macs. From the little I've seen from Tom MacDonald I have high hopes for him. If we lose this game I will cry.

Am going, and thankfully going to drink afterwards. Fantastic. Bring on 2012. I hate this season!

Coach: Malthouse Co- Captain: Trengove & Moloney Leadership group: Watts, Frawley, Grimes, Jones & McKenzie Traded out: Bate, Dunn, Maric Traded in: Joel Selwood mid-aged strongly built midfielder Scully to stay. All assistant coaches to go.

I guess it depends which company you work for. Many people get walked out when they resign, especially people in high powered jobs. Happens in my industry all the time. I can also understand where people are coming from, in that if Schwab is not going to see out the length of the coach's tenure, then perhaps he shouldn't be making the selection. Then again I'm not happy with the panel of selectors anyway, so this is just a side issue. If Schwab is going to leave, he should do so at the end of our season, leaving a clean slate for us to start building the footy department again.

THIS CLUB NEEDS TO WIN GAMES OF FOOTBALL. Beggars can't be choosers, and even though we may not all love the super defensive game plan of St Kilda, it got them to three more grand final appearances than our super free flowing 'get your arse kicked weekly' game plan has. I'm getting old. I want success and I don't care if it's Ross Lyon or Diana Ross at the helm.

I'm nervous putting so much pressure on such a young kid, but god Trengove is just the sort of player I know will be a long term leader and will lead by example. However, if it burdens him in any way or distracts him from getting better (and he does need to get better like every kid his age does) then I think we'll be kicking ourselves. With that in mind, I really would like to see a duel-captaincy. I'd have Moloney and Trengove as duel leaders, and if Trengove proves capable he can have the role all to himself in 2013. As for the rest of the leadership group, I think Jones get a pass mark, Grimes obviously is fine to continue on if the players support him, but everyone else need to take a long walk off a short leadership pier. I want Frawley, I want Watts, I want McKenzie and I want Scully (but not if he's gonna lead from Western Sydney thanks ). Davey, Green, Rivers, Sylvia, Jamar, all senior players who need to work their sh*t out or [censored] off, and the last thing they deserve is to be rewarded with leadership roles. The one brave thing this club has done in my time was to tank for draft picks. I hope the next brave thing they do is to appoint a truly worthy leader regardless of age or experience. Edit: it is a damn shame that Grimes has been injured this season (yet again), because this was his role to lose in 2012 I think.

What the... I don't even... just no

Aussie has had a woeful run of bad luck. Poor kid

The Saints defense is very average in terms of player talent, which could explain the super defensive style of play. With so many good defenders on our list, especially Frawley, Garland and runners like Blease, Bennell and Strauss, Lyon may adopt a more free flowing game style. I'm not his biggest fan, and I hate the way the Saints play, but right now I will take any form of winning and success. Be it pretty or ugly, nothing can be uglier than getting your arse kicked every single week.

Agreed. It achieves nothing. Just don't play him. It was really humiliating for him and I personally felt really uncomfortable about it, and that is despite my thoughts on his very poor leadership this year. This club seems hell bent on burning people and going about things in a very public and unnecessarily shambolic manner.