Demon Dynasty

OD have you been in direct contact with P.R. lately? I am detecting a marginaly positive bias here

Dr im not sure many of our players get the concept of "back to the basics" ... theyve had a few years to get it now and still go missing against some very ordinary teams

Have no qualms or argument that the list is far from AFL competitive dieter. Nor was I stating that I expect instant results. I predicted 4 - 6 wins this season so hardly had high expectations. What I do expexct from a top line coach is to at the very least see a hard nosed, never say die competitive outfit run out and give it their all for100 minutes every match win lose or draw. The fact that they still dont after two pre seasons under Roos is a huge worry. You can cover some ugly traits like horrible turnovers and poor skills if the players are willing to die for the cause. But to do so they have to come out all guns blazing from the get go as a bare minimum. Persistence in football will sometimes get you over the line in some matches provided every player commits. This is more about the players attitude and commitment than their skills/talent. Members will accept skill v talent equation and that it takes time to improve the list/skills with drafts etc and takes You can have all the talent in the world but if you aren't going to fully commit you will more than likely be beaten by a more committed opponent, even if that opponent is the worst team in the competition, as Carlton were up until they met us on Sunday. The members don't run out onto the ground and kick the footy etc. To pot the members is just rediculous and smacks of a man who is unwilling or unable to see the forest for the trees. The No.1 bare minimum a coach should be able to extract from a team is a committed agressive one that never quits at any point in a match. We still have far too many players who are "deciding" when they wish to go or not. No other club would/does tolerate this for long even though it does go on (eg, Carlton against the Hawks a few weeks before us). This is about the players and the coach's ability to motivate them or assist them in motivating themselves. They are all getting paid handsomely and have no excuses. We certainly shouldn't be used to deflect. Roos & the players need to win when expected to win like Sunday and stop looking outside for reasons as to why they didn't.

Agreed, one should never judge a book by its cover

Not sure about fairy land. More like an angry unkept garden gnome. Maybe a Brothers Grimm 'Fairy' tale ..Rumplestiltskin ?

I heard the stereotype about lawyers/doctors. Is this Roos carrying through a stereotype grudge/image of the silvertail rep we may have had up till our split from the MCC in the 80s during his playing days? Was one of my all time favorites/idols as a Roy Boy when I was a youngster as my first team was the Lions until about 6 and always my 2nd team thereafter. I would even give the "Roos" call at any Fitzroy games when we played agaInst them. However, he has lost me on this. Sorry but I cant forgive a coach that pots his own supporters. Like the players... he obviously doesnt give a crap about the supporters. So I wont be giving a crap or another red cent to them either. Live by the sword....

If we actually had a bricks and mortar "club" that was open to everyday fans and criticsm/praise where the fans actually (on accasions) ran into the Coach/players/officials in the Cafe' or as they walked around their facilities, aka Whiten Oval, Simmonds Stadium, Waverly Park etc.... then Roos/Players/Some officials would actually be seeing the emotions like ellation when we win (eg., Geelong/Collingwood) as well as the depression/anger felt after matches like Saturday against the slowest, least skillfull, most demotivated, laconical team in the comp (until Saturday). The fact that the club doesn't have this (a bricks and mortar club where supporters mix with the Coach/FD/PLayers/Officials occasionaly) is one of the key reasons we will never be anything other than a bottom dweller dead cat bouncing throughout the anals of AFL history. Roos should consider himself privileged that some members are concerned enough over such an ugly affair such as Saturday that they would take the time/trouble to write in and vent their concerns/anger for that is about the only method a Demon fan has of expressing these emotions and asking questions of such a "hidden/veiled" club that has no direct bricks and mortar connection with its fans. IF we did have the players/FD might be a little more motivated to get off their ass and win simple matches of footy that should have been won comfortably....like Saturday. But nah....let's take the easy way out and just say "the players appear to have switched into end of season already". Oh....but you supporters don't switch off will you....keep sending in your hard earned so our boys can play like a bunch of girls...oh wait...FM the girls are better! Sorry girls! It's your job to motivate them Roos not give them an out and hope they turn up on game day. THe team you coached lost by almost 100 points the week before and you turn up the week after and give us this BS against the worst team in the comp! WTF. Weak as [censored] Roos.... weak as [censored] players....weak as [censored] the whole fricken club. That includes any supporters who are [censored] weak enough to make excuses for Saturday's disgrace. What would he prefer....we all just roll over/shut the hell up/play dead/go away, and hope for the best for the next 8 years or something? Oh ,wait.... P.S. In case you didn't get it Roos (if reading) i'm fuckin [censored] off mate... suck it up princess!!

The opportunity for us to make a stand was there the last 2 weeks UH. Yet again we lost by a massive margin, yet again the coaches/playing group were expected to respond...and failed YET AGAIN...miserably against the worst team in the comp (prior to today). The coach, players and the Club have failed us, yet again and continue to treat it's supporters with contempt. I've had anough myelf and won't be renewing for the first time in over a decade next year. They aren't getting another $ from me untill i see a real AFL footy team playing out there again....whenever that might be. This is not solely the MFC's fault but also the AFL's to some degree for allowing solid players to be freely traded from the weaker clubs to those who don't need them (ie., the top clubs) under free agency which is a complete joke. Get your [censored] act together MFC or get the FARK outta the AFL

Any chance of another Women's match?

Dee with regard to No.2 you are spot on brother. Unfortunately that's how we started the match also. Giving the worst team in the comp plenty of space to run freely and find their next hit up target by hand and foot. They were abe to share the ball around the back with little or no pressure, bringing many of their players into the game, giving them touch and boosting their confidence to run, carry and share the ball as they waltzed through our defence. Our coaching crew allowed our players to play the worst team in the comp as if they were playing the best (Hawks/Coasters/Freeo etc), paying them way too much respect and basically gifting them the game from the get go. Horrible horrible coaching. Geelong in their hey day (and i have heard first hand ex players from this era state this on media on a number of occasions) that they always shared the ball around amongst as many players as they could as early as they could, giving as many players as possible an early touch, getting most of their boys involved and boosting their confidence/disposal as well as instilling quick movement of ball out of congestion and quickly forward of play on the overlap (where possible). Making most of the team feel as if they were in the game from the get go....and they were (as we all witnessed far too often). Couldn't have started and continued with a worse strategy versus an equally inept insipid club (until today). Giving a team on such a low ebb so much space and respect was always a recipe for disastor and we do this far too often against mediocre clubs. We often hear our supporters state (when Melbourne plays an out of form club) ... "we played them into form". Today is a classic example of how the MFC (FD & players) allow this to happen to them time and time again against even the worst out of form Clubs at their lowest ebb during a season.

SWY with respect this group of players would kill anyone's career although for mine you can have a horrible team which we do, but you can still get them to give a rats ass on gameday. PR hasn't and doesn't appear to be capable of getting them to do that. He has failed in the first basic principle of a AFL coach, which is to get his players to turn up mentally and fight the game out from the first bounce on match day. And then there's the match day itself Seems to get beaten too easily on basic issues on match day this season eg., the "loose man" issue on multiple occasions (cost us the game or at least a close finish on QB), failing to "flood" (or drill the flood procedure into the team) when in front with only a few minutes to go, failing to instill the early/quick kick into a one on one when Hulk is clearly one out, failing to produce an effective forward structure that sees players seperating from their opponents/leading into space/clearing out of space for Hulk/Dawes/Jeffy to run into or double back into, failing to see players regularly get front and square of KPF in the marking contests up forward, failing to halt an opponent when they begin getting a run on, failing to instill or implement an effective forward press that lasts more than 10 minutes or so for the odd quarter here and there, inability to maintain possession when moving the ball up the field resulting in constant turnovers gifting the opposition easy goals like we saw all day today etc.

Sums up the Paul Roos appointment to a T. Never had his heart in it and i guess the players never really did either. Acted like a consultant from day one. There is no Demon in most of this lot and most have simply turned up their toes when it suited them. We do not resemble a bunch of Demons on the field in any way whatsoever and should be renamed the Melbourne "Pretenders". Even the Roy Boys gave a yelp more often than this lot with virtually no funds behind them. I was hoping beyond hell that Roos would offer something better, but we are simply the worst club in the league by a country mile....again.

6. Daisie Pearce 5. Emma Swanson 4. Sabrina Frederick-Traub 3. Chelsea Randall 2. Dana Hooker 1. Hayley Miller

Personally I would be very surprised if he stays on. He has aged considerably since joining and looks completely spent. Coaching the MFC seems to have that effect on most and Roos has been in the kitchen for a while now off and on. He might be involved in some capacity but if at all it would most probably be in a very minor background role.

Pretty much somes things up about our "losing" attitude/culture. It's also very difficult for a coach to cover players who just arent able to cut it at AFL level either from an intensity or skills/talent viewpoint. The MFC has been littered with the scraps, flotsam, getsam, also-ran and "past it" players that have managed to fall into the club not so much because they were stand out talents but mostly because we've just had to recruit them to get the numbers together to make up a list. Pretty much why we've never produced a premiership or any club champions (other than Flower) since 64. We have become the rubbish dump of the AFL and are now totally irrelevant. We do have a few solid players in the mix at the moment but unfortunately a few does not make 30 or so needed to compete at AFL level. Good luck to anyone who takes charge of this club from here including Goodwin, who ever follows after him, and the next, and the next. I dont envy any of them but wish them all the best in their careers and hope the black hole of horror that is the MFC finally turns into a bright star at some point somewhere in time.

Soft as butter I think is the term often used to describe a completely inept amd insipid outfit. "Bruise free footy" in latter years courtesy of some ex Blues players. That's a scary thought given we play them for the only time this year on Sunday. I have no confidence at all that we can beat anyone at this point. That would include the top 2 or 3 at VFL level also. No backbone whatsoever. I'm afraid to say Old Dee was correct when he said 6 months or so ago that we have probably gotten so low there is no coming back. I'm sitting in the Barkers Cafe at the Whitten odly enough on a work assignment watching how vibrant and "together" this place feels ... our old boy Lukey Beveridge standing around happily chatting to some eager patrons/supporters hanging off his every word. I often wondered why we never had a place for our supporters to truly hang out together with clubmen and players just floating around. I guess thats because we've never been a truly "local" club that ppl can associate with and just "hang out" together with officials and players alike...as one. Im not saying by any means this is the answer to all our woes either. And the Doggies hardly have a proud record to bark about. But gee I'd kill for a place like this that actually feels like a real footy club. A place where ppl can come and "belong" and feel a part of. Oh well. Maybe in my next lifetime eh

This wasnt the same Collingwood we played on QB but it was still a win and a win that showed we are finally "getting" bits/pieces/parts of what the modern game is all about (and has been for a decade or so now). Decent pressure when the ball hits the ground inside 50 Multiple targets on the lead (in diff spread patterns) coming i50 Hitting up some of those targets more often from just outside the paint A KPF playing higher up the ground at times, occasionally 2, leaving space behind for the deep smalls or KPF to lead into or run onto when it gets over the back Creating a solid def wall/press when the ball was in our 50 Playing on and running together in waves/moving the ball quickly when opportunities arose, especially off HB and just outside HF to get the ball into one on ones more often inside 50 and allow time/space to hit up leads. Capitalising on overlap opportunities as a result of the above. Can't recall the last time we kicked so many goals by doing this in the one match. Have seen it on the odd occasion in the past few years but this match was a turning point for me. We are still learning how to score given we hardly have in recent past but seemed to be "getting it" in this match. Of course there was last week so who knows what we'll deliver next week but I remain hopeful amd fairly optimistic that we will finally crack it for back to back wins for first time in a long time (2011 I think) Fingers crossed. Most pleasing four quarter "effort/commitment/team" game I've seen so far under Roos that actually had us putting a solid score on board against a reasonable (albeit somewhat undermanned) opponent. Other than Michie who was a tad too quiet, we had contributors allover the ground. Lets hope we can keep up with the total team defence/attack method this week for a long overdue 2 in a row

Most players in the team aren't FOOTballers and it's a stretch to call them such as they can't kick to a target or kick straight in front of goals. They might want to try hockey or basketball or anything that doesn't involve "Kicking a football with reasonable accuracy". There's plenty of others in the league who also suffer from this curse but we have so many of them that we will never catch anyone above us on the ladder with this present list. We are ball DEEstroyers by foot!

I suspect you'll have plenty of company here Red

4 goals in a match against the worst "form" team in the comp! The only club in the league that can't win basic "winnable" games of footy when they're well in front on the form guide and expected to win against horrible teams. This was the match that we needed to get some traction after 18+ months under Roos and what do we get? Another insipid pathetic effort. Game gets blown open and only AFTER it gets well and truly blown open do we put a plus one behind the goal!!?? WFT coaching staff!?? Kicking by foot STILL horrendous! This is FOOTball ffs! Why do we continue to recruit/play guys who cant hit the side of a barn door (consistently) by FOOT!!?? As far as i'm concerned the club hasn't improved one iota. Anyone who believes we have are kidding themselves. We aren't even close to fielding a competitive unit yet that are capable of winning more than the odd game here or there against the worst of the worst and it's been like this for 4 seasons now and longer if you want to include the "no success" factor of finals (ie., 2006). Geelong was obviously our once in a season aberration.

I cant recall the last time we were favourites in a match and actually went on to win one of them. No exception here. Just a horrible football club if you cant beat these flogs with no mid field

Think we are a season or so and a good 4 to 5 additional quality mid fielders away from competing with the likes of those in the top 4 to 6 personally. They had 4 more players with over 100 games and the balance of ours lower down were sub 50 gamers (10 v 4). The stats show that if you carry 8 or more 50 gamers into any match you have a very strong likelihood that you will lose more than you win (from memory it's around 70% or more loss rate). We have 3 quality mids in Mr. Vince, the Jones boy and Viney but after that we drop away quickly down to the likes of Tyson and Crossy. Crossy a great trier and never say die player but not quite up to par with some other quality mid field line ups and a fair bit off the likes of the former 3 in terms of quality ball use & output. Rarely scores a goal either. We need more mids coming in who can hit the scoreboard and lead up targets more often and worry the opposition more so they don't just run off their man forward of the ball playing unaccountable football, with the confidence of knowing we are probably not going to hurt them going the other way should they turn it over. Our forward line is still a mile off the top clubs as well. Again part of the solution here is to find some quality mids who can lower their eyes more often and hit targets like the Hulk. The Hulk should and will be a future game changer and wrecker of opponents, but only IF we find these players pronto! Brayshaw, Salem, Patracca and a few others (Vanders/Kent with JKH as an outsider for a small forward role) might already be knocking on the door in this regard. Let's hope so anyway. But the fruits of the Roos era and draft selections (including those still to come) are still another pre season or 2 away (yes we always seem to say this i realise but i can actually see something developing here unlike previous years). In the end our ability to move up the ladder will come down to our capability of finding/developing the half a dozen or so players needed to provide the quality ball use and delivery coming inside 50 in order to hit up the likes of the Hulk, Jeffy, ANB and others as well as the scoreboard. Making our opponents more accountable and less likely to play and get away with the style of play we saw from the Eagles last night. Part of the solution is effort such as tackling in general and pressure inside 50 etc. But in the end it will come down to the quality of our mid field and who we find/develop to fill the gaps in the next 2 years or so.

But OD I thought the AFL said all clubs would benefit from free trade?

Wyl you seriously think the AFL cares about what goes on? As long as their "market base" for AFL is (according to them) expanding along with the base revenue then i really dont think the AFL care about much as long as they field a half decent competitve team. Oh wait, they arent are they! Ok the AFL would probably be a bit worried now. P.S. are u angrier about this than normal?

I think that's the least that should happen BD. Not sure how or whether that's contractually possible. Most likely Gill will have another pressser 2 days running.