poita

Lumumba must be a miserable, bitter individual. Four years out of the game and six years after leaving Collingwood, he is still bleating about the injustices of a society that has provided him with more money and opportunities than most people could ever dream of. I note that he has never commented on the injustices of accepting a multi million dollar contract to play at Melbourne and then cruising around at about 25% intensity for two years before pulling the pin mid-contract (whilst expecting to be paid for the last two years). The sad thing is that he has the profile and the resources to actually make a difference on significant issues if he put his mind to it, instead of pulling out the old "woe is me" card when it suits.

Don't disagree with this, but how does it fit in with Goodwin's contract extension last year? Surely we didn't give him three more years to rebuild a side that came off a preliminary final. If so, the board have a lot to answer for.

I'm not surprised that Rivers is in - I reckon Hibberd is done, and we need to get games into his replacement. I think Jetta might be just about done as well, but he will hold his spot for a while longer. Surely Jackson only plays if he is playing forward / second ruck, which is exactly what we were told at the start of the year he wouldn't be doing. I don't understand this one, but perhaps the selectors have finally lost confidence in Weideman. Congratulations to both boys and to Bennell - I'm really looking forward to see what Harley can bring to this group. A relatively quiet game for him will still be miles above what Spargo or Bedford would bring.

It was hardly a dead rubber. Both sides were playing for the win and the four points, all of which are pretty handy if you want to play finals. One team built a match winning lead in the first quarter and sat back. The other team never left the starting blocks.

So this year's induction consists of four modern day players, three of whom played with interstate teams; two SANFL players, and a commentator from WA. I know we are a national sport, but they couldn't find one person from the first 140 years of football in Victoria who was worthy of inclusion in the Hall of Fame this year? It seems like the Hall of Fame is following the lead of the All Australian Team whereby SA & WA interests are over represented. Melbourne's golden era remains massively under represented in the Hall of Fame relative to certain other clubs.

I think he genuinely believes he is the smartest bloke in the room, and therefore he wastes all his time and effort on low percentage tactical gambles, instead of finding a game plan that suits the players he has at his disposal.

How many of the people whining and moaning about our draw and our perilous financial position: a) are currently paid up members of the club; and b) attended all three of our three end of season "blockbuster" games in 2019 when the club basically begged you all to do so? There would have been lucky to have been 10K of Melbourne supporters at each of those games, so I am comfortable in saying that less than 20% of our members turned up to support the club at those games. We lose all rights to demand prime time TV coverage and blockbuster fixtures when our own supporters don't even turn up. How can we expect the AFL and channel 7 to fight for us, when we won't fight for ourselves? The AFL won't let us go under, at least not while they have bigger problems to deal with, but another wasted decade will ensure our demise. We have a golden opportunity with the revised schedule to win games on FTA television from rounds 2-5. If we do so, hopefully we can build some momentum to capitalise upon when games are opened to fans later in the season. However, if we turn 1-4 or worse, we are in for a world of hurt. We have to find sources of revenue that are are not reliant on our onfield performance. Yes, poker machines would not help us at the moment, but they do have value in normal times and it was a mistake to get rid of them without a backup plan. Other clubs have property or financial investments - we are far too reliant on the 1 in 10 years we play finals. The club has been very slow to communicate to members throughout this process, far slower than other clubs. We haven't been pursuing lapsed members and we haven't been engaging those who have signed. Hopefully the action is more frenetic behind the scenes, but really we are own biggest enemy.

If the AFL get their way and reduce lists to 35 next year, which presumably needs to be 32 before the draft, then most of our OOC players are in a world of trouble. Maybe 10 out of 23 survive, which will clearly include Viney, Petracca, Fritsch, Petty & Sparrow. I'd keep McDonald and Lockhart, and probably Bennell if he gets on the field this year. That leaves very few spots for the rest to fight over.

I was at Chadstone SC on Saturday, and it was absolute bedlam. The individual shops were following protocol, but the centre as a whole was absolutely packed as people milled around or queued to get into shops. To think that this can happen in an enclosed environment, but you can't sit in the open air to watch a football match beggars belief. I'd be amazed if the NRL don't get crowds in to some degree in July as they wish, with the AFL to follow shortly after.

The decision to play Spargo and Bedford against West Coast was just appalling. Neither provides any defensive pressure, neither wins their own football and West Coast would not have a wasted a second of time thinking about them. We were at least one key forward short in that game, as well as someone to make Hurn and co accountable. Our inside 50 entries are often poor and the midfield need to work on this, but the structure of our forward line is simply unacceptable. We were the highest scoring team in the competition in 2018, now we struggle to kick a goal more than 10% of the time we go inside forward 50. How many times do our players bring the ball forward and have nobody to kick to because they are all clustered together. Finding a big bodied forward who can make a contest is our number one priority, and sadly Weideman is not the answer.

West Coast put the cue in the rack at quarter time. We never got within 20 points after that point and never looked like doing so.

Let's be realistic about our success on this one. We could have taken Fritsch at pick 29, kept Watts and still be better off than where we are now with Spargo and his phenomenal ability to generate clangers from uncontested possessions.

Pretty much where I sit with this club too. 2019 was easily the most disappointing season I have sat through in 34 years of membership. If the first six weeks of the new season don't show significant signs of improvement, I fear we are back to where we were in 2007 - 2008.

The criticism of McLean regarding the tanking issue is just absurd. Similar to the Tayla Harris "useless" fiasco, I don't know why we assume that everyone who has a camera stuck in their face is going to eloquently respond to whatever question is thrown at them. They are not media professionals, they are sportspeople. I don't believe Brock set out to dump the club in the [censored], but clearly he had lingering resentment around his time there, which came out under pressure. Fair enough too - it was bad enough to watch our performances in that time, let alone be part of it. Thankfully that was one of the catalysts to bring in the likes of Roos and Jackson who started to bring us back towards being relevant again. The way Brock squandered his talent and ultimately his career was a major disappointment, and something that will stay with him for a long time. I rate him as arguably the biggest talent alongside Jones and Thompson that we drafted in that decade, but clearly he didn't have the commitment of the other two. I hope he can continue to bring his issues under control and make something of his life outside football. As an aside, who would people rather we drafted than Sylvia and McLean out of that appalling draft crop? Other than Cooney who probably came with his own set of issues, only David Mundy at 19 could be considered an elite player from the top 20.

Whilst I feel sorry for the individuals who have lost their jobs and their places on the gravy train, this could be the best thing ever to happen to the game. Dozens of assistant coaches, line coaches and every other fad the AFL community can concoct, and the players execute the basic skills worse than they did 30 years ago. So much time is spent on structures and tactics that do nothing but complicate what should be a simple game and detract from the spectacle. These people have created the illusion that they are essential, when they are anything but. I look at a player like Petracca who has all the talent in the world, but his natural instincts have been beaten out of him with a sledgehammer and he now does things like kick 40 metres side ways to a teammate on a worse angle, instead of having a shot at goal. There is no way he would have done that before reaching the AFL.

Because teams such as Melbourne request home games against Richmond (and Collingwood) to boost gate receipts. The only way to have Richmond playing away from the MCG is for Melbourne to be happy to host the likes of Gold Coast and Fremantle.

It is amazing that AFL clubs have more coaches on the books than ever before, and most of these can travel under the radar for years without the general public knowing exactly what they contribute to their club's performance, yet the scrutiny and pressure imposed on senior coaches is greater than ever. It is a broken system and hopefully this will be the catalyst for change.

In the interests of balance, note also: 11 - Brent Grgic (had some talent, but never had an AFL body) 22 - Alistair Nicholson (underrated on this site) 30 - Hayden Lamaro 45 - Clayton Gardiner 59 - Anthony McDonald (very good player) 68 - Russell Robertson (delisted, and re-drafted in rookie draft) plus some other late picks than amounted to nothing.

I was sure that Neitz or Stynes would be number 1, but I fully agree with having Lyon at the top. He is clearly the best MFC player I have seen, and played better in the big games than either Neitz or Stynes. Stynes is a tough one for me - he did a lot of things really well and it is a great story, but did he actually win games of football for the team? I'd have Viney, Yze, White and Schwarz ahead of Gawn at this point - Max has still only played three full seasons of football and a few that have been interrupted by injury. For sheer talent Schwarz would be number 1 and his 1994 season was the best I have seen by a MFC player. Neitz and Stynes only get him for longevity and consistency. S.Febey and J.McDonald should both clearly be on that list. Febey for sustained excellence over a long period as the only player on the list that was part of the Northey, Balme and Daniher eras. McDonald for two B&F victories and for being one of our two All Australian midfielders in the past 20 years.

Another game where we gave ourselves no chance of winning from the outset with poor team selection and by playing underdone players. It took Goodwin just six months to take us from 4th to 17th, but he has clearly spent the past 12 months ensuring we will stay there for years to come. Our forward structure, our two-way midfield running and defensive accountability are non-existent. Our effort is generally okay, but we undo this with skills and decision making of the highest ineptitude. Viney was excellent and Pickett showed plenty of promise. May and O.McDonald beat their direct opponents convincingly, but West Coast played around them for the most part. The rest were utter tripe. Worst on ground by a mile was Spargo. I knew we would be bad when I saw he was in the team, but that was next level stuff. 3 effective disposals, 0 scores, 0 tackles and 3 mind boggling turnovers kicking sideways or backwards into the middle of the ground. There is not a single aspect of his game that is AFL standard. Gawn was beaten by Hickey and flogged mercilessly by Naitanui in all significant respects - he is clearly not fit. Oliver was lazy and disinterested. Ditto Brayshaw. Petracca continues to tease and deliver little. Tomlinson was unsighted. Langdon worked his backside off and undid it all with terrible disposal. And Harmes, our best defensive midfielder, ran around the half back line like a headless chook. T.McDonald continued his descent towards being a VFL player. Melksham continues to strut around and avoid the contest. Bedford is miles off this level and Brown, who I have time for, made a bucket load of school boy errors. Jetta is two years past being an AFL player and should retire. Ditto Hibberd. Lever continues to save his best work for directing traffic whilst ignoring his opponent and making elementary skill errors. All in all the type of performance that makes me wonder exactly what we have been doing for six months and makes me glad that I don't have to see them play again for another 2 months.

AFLW teams are 23 players, not 21, but the point remains that we need to find at least 3 players to field a full team this week.

That's a great result really - I'd certainly rather have GWS than Brisbane, and presumably we'd get North the following week if we win.

Really? Players earning an average of $350K plus a year need words of encouragement from mums and dads who are worrying about their jobs and putting food on the table. It would be more appropriate for the players to be offering support to the people who pay their wages. And sorry, but there are countless community sporting and other groups that will be feeling the pinch much more than the AFL clubs. Is the AFL going to step in and help out the junior clubs that provide their players, or just let them all fold?

Sure, but are they actually going to have any games to show?

The AFLPA once again show that they are living on a completely different planet from the rest of us. I'd argue that player (and coach) salaries should be capped at $200K per annum until this situation resolves itself. Given that membership and sponsorship dollars pay for a significant portion of player wages and both will be hugely impacted over the next few years, I can't see how clubs can survive unless they can massively reduce wages. In an environment in which there will be massive job losses, surely the players can't continue to hold out their hands for their massive pay packets.