poita

There's plenty of people at AFL clubs in senior positions who don't deserve them, and plenty of horrible decisions have been made by people who are otherwise accomplished at their roles. Many of those poor decisions have been made by people at this club over the past three years, and we are entitled to question them.

Good to get the win on Saturday, but St Kilda showed the gaping chasm between the top and bottom halves of the ladder. We were good in parts, and average in others, but will need to be much better overall to beat Adelaide. It was good to see Stinear mix a few things up this week. We'll need to play a stronger defence next week, which probably needs to include Scott, and hopefully Downie. The Zanker midfield experiment should continue, as should Daisy up forward. We need to keep giving as many minutes as possible to Bannan and McNamara.

Congratulations Oscar, very well deserved. Sure, Frost & McDonald have their weaknesses, but both have played more finals for the MFC than May, Lever & Tomlinson have, and we didn't pay $2M a year for the privilege of their services.

The biggest tragedy of that 2000 side was that it was so young. With some good recruiting and development over the next 3-4 years to bolster the list, we should have genuinely been contending for premierships for years to come.

I think this is the case as well, but it really shouldn't be this way having paid finals once in 14 years. We all know that our top players are taking up a significant portion of our salary cap, but 3/4 of our current list should be on far less than the AFL average. We really need to bite the bullet at year end and offload the likes of Vandenberg, Jetta, Jones, Hibberd and Hunt (I know he just signed for two years), whose output is well below their current salary.

Slow, small, indecisive with ball in hand, can't hold a tackle and always in the wrong position. And I'm pretty sure I saw another set shot at goal from 40m that failed to make the distance.

Jordon and Sparrow are both bog average players without a single AFL standard trait between them. Keep one as deep depth, the other can go at year end. Who knows whether Nietschke can play or not, but he was a speculative, left field selection who has not played a full game at any level in three years in the club. He shouldn't have been on the list this year. There are 15 players drafted after Sparrow who have 10+ games to their name - any one of these would have been an improvement on what we have.

I thought our effort was generally okay, but we looked miles off the Bulldogs' standard for the most part. If not for May and Lever, the dogs win that game by 12 goals plus. The big concern is the phenomenal number of times that we were in clear position to make a tackle and force a stoppage, and they would just break free and offload to the guy running past on the outside. They were too big, too strong, too quick and too well drilled. Obviously that changes a bit when Oliver, Brayshaw, Viney and Salem return, but it is hardly surprising when we've spent the past four years recruiting slow midgets. We're in a world of trouble if we are relying on any of Spargo, Bedford, Bowey, Vandenberg, Jordon, Hunt, Sparrow, Baker, Chandler, Jetta or Lockhart this year. Too small, too slow and / or poorly skilled. The Good: May and Lever excellent, Petracca looks set for another big year, Langdon's workrate is elite, Fritsch made the most of his opportunities, Harmes is much better in the midfield and Neal-Bullen showed a bit. The Bad: Jackson was smashed when in the ruck and struggled as a leading forward; McDonald kept asking for the high ball instead of leading at the ball carrier; Gawn's ruck work was poor; we lack quality small defenders; and we lack midfield depth. The Ugly: Our forward line was completely dysfunctional, other than Fritsch; our game plan is flawed and we don't have the personnel to implement it; our players are slow and reactionary; our inexperienced third and fourth year players are miles off AFL standard. We're a bottom six side on that performance with or without returning players.

Our performance against St Kilda last year was every bit as bad as what we've delivered over the past two weeks. We are going to need to play significantly better to win this week. If we don't, we'll be playing for draft picks over the final three rounds. Sadly, other than Downie, there really isn't any talent to come back into the team.

None of those teams are unbeatable. If we are serious about wanting to be a top team, we need to play against and beat the best in the competition. Meandering half heartedly through games against the likes of Gold Coast and Richmond does nothing for us. Time for our senior players to stand up and for Stinear to throw things around.

I'd much rather take a punt on a tall than yet another dwarf-sized forward.

I'm a bit confused by this. Can members get in for free or not? I don't recall receiving anything from the club about this. How would I find a code if I don't have the email?

Stinear should have been moved on after the third year when we inexplicably missed finals again with the best list in the competition. He hasn't improved the playing group in his time and the game plan is still a dud. I was all for moving on O'Dea at the time, and probably Newman as well. The reality is that we hadn't turned over the list enough in the first four seasons, and had very little younger talent coming through. It is a real concern that we have not been able to attract established talent to the club (other than Birch, who we arguably overpaid for), but have lost decent players such as Cordner on the way through. Is it coach? Is it location? Is it profile? Is it money? At some point Richmond and Geelong will get their act together with the resources at their disposal, and we will find ourselves at the absolute bottom of the pack at a time at which the remaining clubs are seeking entry into the competition.

I feel for the kid, but the sad reality is that some players don't have the bodies to play football at the highest level. I get that we wanted to do the right thing by Aaron and give him another chance, but it was a poor decision at the time and in hindsight. At best we should have allowed him to be a train on player and have a look at him through the pre season. I wish Aaron all the best for his recovery and the next phase of his life.

A truly woeful performance by a team that is completely bereft of skills and confidence. If we get a favourable draw from here, and other results go our way, we could slip into sixth spot, but what would be the point? We are miles off the top four sides and would get flogged in the finals. I said last week that we had too many players lacking confidence in their skills and seemingly unwilling to win possession. This week I thought that our senior players had lost confidence in their teammates, and were second guessing themselves, which allowed Collingwood to put us under huge pressure when in possession. Stinear simply has to go. I'm sure he is a nice bloke, but he is a terrible match day coach. I don't recall a single move in his time at the club that has changed the course of a game. Collingwood are sitting clear top of the table 18 months after changing coaches, and I don't believe their list is significantly better than ours. They do have a game plan that suits their list though. My plan for the next four weeks: 1. Our forward line is top heavy and slow, our backline is undersized. Zanker and Scott move into defence; Lampard and Heath into the forward line. Zanker has been at all sea this year, but she has four weeks running in straight lines at CHB to regain confidence. Scott always should have been in defence this year with her attack on the ball and our other forward options. We need a couple of speedy types in the forward line to provide defensive pressure, and their disposal issues will be less costly. Cunningham is a deadweight whose only role should be to contest high balls in the goalsquare - I think she's finished. Give Hore & Parry the run of the forward 50, with Heath and Lampard at their feet. Hopefully Downie is ready to return to strengthen the defense. 2. No switching the play inside defensive 50. Most of our players are poor kicks, lacking accuracy and penetration. I lost count of the times we turned the ball over in that part of the ground. I'm happy kicking down the line to contests and then switching in the middle of the ground. 3. No handballs to the player running past the mark. Most of our players can't handball, and certainly don't have the distance to clear the player manning the mark. Part of the issue is also players like Paxman and Mithen demanding the ball when under pressure. In general this play on at all costs game plan only works when you have quick, skillful players, and we have neither. 4. Bannan and McNamara are being wasted at the moment, and Bannan in particular looks low on confidence. These players are our future and need to be played regardless for the next four weeks. Put both permanently on the wing, with Bannan having the licence to push forward and trying to create mismatches. If there are any other promising kids on the list, give them a run. 5. Daisy Pearce has clearly been a great player, but she reminds me of Jordan Lewis at the moment, ie she is playing with a healthy degree of self preservation in mind. We also haven't been able to get her match ups right such that she can zone off and direct traffic. She needs to be playing across half back, and not get dragged back to the goal square.

This club cannot afford to have a coach who does nothing to market the club. An underachieving football team, a small membership and a coach with the personality of a lettuce leaf is going to ensure we remain largely invisible for the foreseeable future.

Probably because we have a $700K a season CHB who won't play on a man.

I can't see a single benefit to the proposed structure in normal times, and even less so in the current climate. Expect to see an exodus of players to local comps after this season.

The communication with members has been woeful in recent years. If that was his brief, then a change was long overdue.

Another year gone and another year wasted by a board that is asleep at the wheel. Last year's lockdown has allowed them to cover up a multitude of issues, particularly in respect of a dwindling and disgruntled membership base, and declining non-football revenues. Having a training / members' facility in the MCG precinct is not going to happen, and I'm not convinced that is what our fan base wants either. We should be looking at areas within 5-10 kms of the arc from Cheltenham to Glen Waverley, which covers off the population centre of Melbourne and the majority of our fan base. I've said it before, but Moorabbin would have been perfect. Casey is hardly going to be an attractive proposition for the playing group long term and, as attractive as it would be to entrench ourselves in the local community, I simply don't believe that a significant portion of the local population cares about an AFL club (particularly not one that requires an hour long trip to see play). If we were prepared to play half our home games there at a remodelled, boutique stadium, then that is a different proposition entirely. This whole situation feels like it either it has been put in the too hard basket (again) or it is a convenient excuse for the club to hang on to when justifying ongoing on and off field under-performance.

Very well deserved honour for two wonderful club men, and hopefully there are many more games and accolades to come for both.

That plan would work if (a) Max could kick and (b) we had another ruckman on our list.

Maybe they would sell more merchandise if they didn't plaster sponsor logos all over the polos and jackets. Football jumpers I understand, but that's it. I get that these companies pay us plenty of money, but who wants to walk around with Zurich and Jaguar logos on a polo?

I thought this group had found a bit more resilience this year, but that performance was as bad as any we have seen in the past four and a bit years. Yet again we suffer a completely inexplicable loss against a below average side that will cost us dearly at year end. Bad kicking is bad football, but they also kept kicking to contests on the flanks inside of attacking the goals. As soon as Cunningham starts getting beaten, our entire forward line collapses around her. The game plan was all wrong and the coach doesn't do nearly enough to change things up when they are not working. Kate Hore was a massive loss, as one of the few players in the team with both skills and football nous. Hopefully she is right for this week. Our bottom 5 players are still a real concern, not just with the lack of ball winning ability, but especially the lack of confidence in executing basic skills.

It continues to amaze me that the club doesn't recognise the asset that it has in Demonland and use this forum to communicate directly with members and supporters. The club website is abysmal, not everyone has facebook or twitter, and email communications are mainly ads. All you need is one staffer to have an account and post factual information such as training times on a regular basis.