Jaded No More

Why? Because the boys are all mates and former players of the club? Connolly, Viney and Stynes haven't delivered us onfield success (not that it's Jim's job though!) yet, and Lyon still won't commit to anything long term. Let's be honest, he's only stepping in because he feels guilty and wants to help his friend (which is great and noble). It has nothing to do with the club. If he was that passionate and that concerned about our club he'd put his balls on the line and commit to us long term. He doesn't want to get his hands dirty, he doesn't want to go home and worry about the politics of the club, and that is totally his choice, but lets stop building him up as someone who is going to save our club.

It's sickening and worrying that once again this club seems to be falling apart at the seams. When will all this pathetic infighting end?

Lyon is not, never has been, and never will be our saviour. He isn't keen and it's pathetic to grovel. Move on.

Pathetic. If you can't support us, just shut the hell up. Kicking the club while it's down is about as brave as most of his football acts on the field in the twilight of his career.

There is no doubt that Bailey's time was up, however that thing that keeps coming back to me is that our entire leadership group, with the exception of Grimes, will now be operating under a third coach in as many season. It's always the coach that suffers and ultimately falls on his sword after terrible performances, but the leadership group is pretty much the one constant this club has had in over 5 seasons. Worrying, isn't it?

Doesn't strike me as that sort of guy. He has always gone about his job with the utmost dignity and humility, even in the face of staunch criticism.

I completely agree with you on the last point, and I'm not in any way pointing the fingers at Green alone. He was one of many many players yesterday who were utter crap and disgraced themselves. I'm a big Green fan, and I supported him in becoming a captain but he has been terrible this year, as has the rest of the leadership group, and as you said, his post game reaction in the media has been pathetic. At least Rivers seemed sincere in his hurt, as did Trengove.

Agreed. A man with two young kids is out of a job tonight and has been humiliated because of how our players went about their job yesterday. It is a sad day for the club. I don't think Bailey deserved this sort of ending, although I agree that he had to go. He deserved to leave at the end of the year, with some respect. Regardless of whether or not he is a good coach, he did a lot right for us and was willing to put his own ego and coaching record for the good of our list. Thanks for all of your hard work Dean and good luck in the future. You leave our list in a far far better state than you found it, that's for sure!

Agreed. There are bigger issues here than just the coach. I feel sorry for Bailey who put his balls on the line and his career progression on hold to develop our list (and tank games). He always had the club's best interest at heart and put our list development ahead of his own coaching record. The players have let him down badly, and even though he is ultimately responsible for motivating and directing them, he was put in a horrible position yesterday when about 18 of his players decided not to turn up.

Rubbish. He would have been well prepared for the media attention today. He was asked if he thought the players let Bailey down and he said "yeah a bit I suppose". A bit? Mate you lost by 31 goals! It made my eyes bleed and it should make your heart bleed too!

Glad it wasn't just me who wanted to puke at the TV. WTF is wrong with Green? He seems to not give a flying f*$% about this club, or what transpired yesterday. It's embarrassing. At least Rivers seems sincerely shattered in his media conference full of fluff and company lines.

I love that everytime we're in crisis, somehow supporters think that Garry Lyon will save us all. WTF?!

I honestly can't stand watching Brad Green at the moment. I don't know if it's fair and maybe I'm just looking for a scapegoat because I'm disgusted and angry, but even watching him being interviewed on Ch. 9 tonight, he seems so apathetic, so unattached, even his responses were half-hearted. Why does Jared Rivers have to face the media, when Green is the captain? It's embarrassing. If the rot starts from the head and we are going to remove the senior members of our footy department, than certainly we should remove the senior members of our footy team.

Yeah but not the president, and especially a president who is a bit busy with other stuff, like his charity organisation and you know, cancer.

I don't want to particularly get stuck into you, but WTF sort of message are those changes going to give the players? Bate fine, but Nicholson and Maric are inexperienced kids. They are not to blame for what happened yesterday. Every single player in the leadership group who played yesterday should get the boot this week, especially Brad Green. You cannot lose by 186 points and drop one fringe player and two kids and leave Green (1 disposal til half time), Moloney (0 disposals then subbed), Jamar (injured or not, he was poor), Rivers (talk is cheap) etc etc all in the team. You can argue that they need to redeem themselves, but I'd argue that I rather see us lose next week with a bunch of kids who actually want to play for this club, than win because these half hearted senior players are feeling the pressure to perform for a week. They embarrassed our club and the jumper, so they should be embarrassed by having to run around in the VFL for a week or two. When was the last time we showed some balls and dropped under performing senior players? It's like we are back in the days of Yze and Bruce getting easy games because the coach was too scared to drop them.

Absolutely. There is no doubt that he needs to go, but no coach can be solely blamed for a 186 point defeat. Even the worst coach with the worst match ups and tactics is not responsible for such a massive defeat. The players are 99% to blame for what happened yesterday.

It would have been better for Rivers to go with the 'no comment' option, because quite frankly I am sick of hearing the same old shite from our players after every poor performance. All I'm waiting for is Jones to Tweet about how many lessons they learnt from yesterday's defeat and how they can't wait to turn it around next week They all just need to shut the hell up and perform.

OK, but I think many of those things were also the result of our board working hard. Certainly it was them who drove the debt removal. I would think that the only reason our players would be unhappy is if they looked around at other clubs and saw the spend on the footy department was vastly different. Have a look at the imbalance of staff numbers between the footy department and the operations department and tell me why we need so many people working in operations when our main aim in life is to win games of footy. We should be spending big on the footy department, and if the players are seeing a bigger investment being made in off field matters, than of course they are unhappy. That of course does not justify performing like a pack of heartless gutless wimps, but it does explain why they would be unhappy and why Stynes and Co. want to remove Schwab. They probably feel that he has been spending our money in the wrong areas.

I'm a bit taken aback by all the support for Schwab. Unless you're involved with the club or are in the inner sanctum, how do you know if he's any good? It does worry me that our operations department is bigger than our footy department, that after being so vocal and proactive, both he and Connolly have gone quiet. Jim Stynes wouldn't have taken over as head of the footy department if something wasn't wrong. It's unheard of, and frankly pathetic, that a president has to get involved in the running of the footy department. I don't care that he's a former player with footy knowledge, it's not his job. He appointed these guys to look after the daily running of these departments and they have obviously failed him. Does this have a lot to do with the disgusting performance yesterday? I don't know, maybe not, but in times of crisis everyone gets found out and there is nowhere to hide. Bailey may well go, and the players may well be put on notice, but if there are bigger issues at play here, then I for one am glad they are being dealt with. Better than the usual trick of sweeping sh*t under the carpet, in the grand old tradition of this club.

I'm not surprised. I've heard this a while ago. He is gone for all money.

That image breaks my heart and it's the first thing I actually felt other than numbness and disgust since yesterday. It makes me want to cry when I think how hard this kid works only for his teammates to get destroyed.

Worst.Day.Ever. Wine shall be my salvation tonight!

When was the last time a captain led his team to a 186 point defeat, with 1 handball in the first half, topped off by yelling at a kid and smirking through his press conference. [censored] off, I don't care if it's never been done before, it has to start now. I already said it at half time, but if Bailey and Green are both at the G next week, I won't be. And that will be the first time in 13 years that I am going to deliberately miss a game of footy in Melbourne.

Out: Green In: Bartram

Absolutely pushed me over the edge that. Thank god for friends and alcohol. I need to step away from this right now