poita

I thought we were a much better chance to beat Essendon than we were to beat Brisbane. I just don't think we match up well against the Lions, notwithstanding their lack of key position players. I would play Spencer over Dawes - at least he will make a contest and crash some packs. Grimes surely has to play, most likely ahead of Stretch. I'd be happy to drop Lumumba too. I'm sick of him trailing his opponent in by 5 metres, and sending out wild hospital handpasses every time he gets the ball. I would bring in Fitzpatrick to play on McStay, which would free McDonald up to do what he wants. Harmes would need to do much better to survive another week.

They need to decide whether they want to be a Geelong team or a Melbourne team. You can't have half your home games in Geelong and expect Melbourne based fans to attend, and vice versa. I'm not surprised that people are dropping back to lower levels of memberships when it is likely that they will only attend 5-6 games a year.

If we lose to Essendon this week it will be the lowest point in my 30+ years of being a member of this club, lower than the 2000 GF, lower than the final in which we gave up an 8 goal lead at 3/4 time, and lower than the 150 point flogging we copped two years ago. Please don't let me down. PS. I don't see the point to Michie or Newton coming back in when they have done nothing in the VFL to suggest their recent dreadful AFL form is behind them. Are Bail and Jones any better? Perhaps not, but at least they performed in the VFL so have some form to speak of.

2015 draft: Phantom form guide There is an article on the AFL site listing the top 20 prospects after the carnival. 2 of the top 5, and 5 of the top 15 have ties to an academy - so much for a fair and transparent national draft.

Yep, I have been to all our home games this year, and have not once seen the team on free to air telly. We have six weeks of away games and no free to air coverage in that time.

Our membership numbers are incredible given how pathetic we have been for a decade. What is a concern is how few junior supporters we have. Go to any school or Auskick session and you would be lucky to have in 1 in 100 following us. Hawthorn were dominant in the 1980s but it took another 20 years before the kids of that era started having families and taking their kids to the footy each week, and their membership numbers soared. It is going to take a sustained period of success, and then a further generation before our numbers start to rise significantly. Even if that happens, by then we will have lost the large chunk of our membership that jumped on through the 1950s and 1960s through natural attrition.

I don't see why people are so adverse to the idea of going hard at Dangerfield. We pay $1m a year combined for Lumumba & Dawes to do sweet FA. Much better to throw that money at a genuine star like Dangerfield and bring in a hungry rookie in the vandenBerg mould to top up the list. Add the almost certain departures of Jamar and McKenzie at year end, and possibly Howe as well, and we have oodles of salary cap space.

I'd love to see the club justify why Fitzpatrick has not been selected in the absence of Pedersen and now Hogan. Either he is fit enough to play this week or he isn't. I can't see the value to playing him at Casey when he provides the tall forward / backup ruck we desperately need. What do we do when Gawn runs out of puff in the third quarter - put McDonald in the ruck? If we get within 15 goals this week it will be a miracle.

We will always be cellar dwellers until we learn to win any time, anywhere. If we want to be a decent team we need to play to our full potential at Geelong, interstate and most particularly at Etihad. There is no point sooking about having no crowd support, or having to travel, or the shape and size of various grounds. We just need to get on with the business of playing decent football and winning football matches. Teams like Hawthorn used to play at Geelong regularly, but since they started playing good football and drawing big crowds, they haven't been back. We will be in the same position if we start performing.

I'm not sure why some people think that certain players should be gifted games "just cos". Michie was good for a half against Richmond, and was okay at best against Freo (no tackles in that game). His performance against Hawthorn was pathetic and it sounds like he carried on with that form against St Kilda. He'll probably be around next year because he has a contract, but I can't imagine why he would be given games if he doesn't perform. Until he learns to work hard defensively, he will never be a decent player. I think Fitzpatrick and Dawes will both play this week, with Pedersen and either Michie or Riley to miss. I don't think either Stretch or Neal-Bullen would be playing in an ideal world, but how many times can we keep cycling through the same old suspects?

It amazes me that so many of the people who make big declarations on Friday about how we are going to beat / smash a team, are back on Monday armed with a bunch of lame excuses for why we couldn't get the job done. Ultimately they played mediocre football for 99% of the game and were so startled to be in a winning position with a minute ago, that they collectively crapped themselves in the final minute. St Kilda are overall a younger and less experienced side, and we should have beaten them. There is no excusing or sugar coating any of that.

I said it on the other thread, but the security guards come in and circle the ground with five minutes to go. There is no excuse for the players not having some idea of how much time is remaining.

Everybody knows that the security guards come out and circle the boundary with five minutes to go. For the players and / or coaches to say that they didn't how much time was remaining is bullsiht, or a sad indictment on their collective lack of awareness. How we manage to so comprehensively lose the centre clearance when a 208cm ruckman is opposed to a 196cm forward is beyond me. Even if Gawn grabbed the ball out of the ruck and laid on top of it, we would have taken a decent amount of time off the clock. Instead he taps into open space, nowhere near our players. We are the most boring, predictable, defensive side in the competition; yet the one time we need to throw players into defence and force stoppages, our players are nowhere to be seen. Every time you start to think the club might be starting to turn things around and that there is a brighter future ahead, they manage to kick you in the nuts with a loss such as that.

I must be the only one on this board who likes Terlich as a player. I hope he plays, and plays well. It amazes me that so many paid up members of the Lumumba fan club are so anti-Terlich. Their strengths and weaknesses are very similar, the main difference is that Lumumba has played 200+ games and gets paid a fortune, whilst Terlich has played about 30 games and gets paid peanuts. I'm hoping for a bench of Grimes, Terlich, Neal-Bullen and Riley (sub).

Do we care? He has had a 14 year AFL career in which he has given 8 years of unfulfilled promise, 1 year of excellent service, and 5 years of diminishing returns. A stronger club would have made the call on Jamar at the end of 2012, instead of giving him a three year deal on big money - we owe him nothing at this point. Gawn needs to be given every chance to make his case over the next 12 games. If he needs a week off every now and then, so be it, but he is by far the most natural and talented ruckman on the list. He just needs to develop the confidence, concentration and tank required to make it at this level.

I can't believe how many people are still holding a grudge against Judd because he didn't come to Melbourne SEVEN YEARS ago. In case anybody has forgotten we were an absolute basket case on and off the field at the time, and couldn't attract players of any quality to the club, let alone (arguably) the best player in the game. We couldn't have afforded his salary either legitimately or illegitimately, and certainly couldn't have given West Coast appropriate compensation. No decent player in their right mind would have wanted to come to a club with third world facilities, a divided board and conflicted football department. He was never coming to us, and I never understood why people were getting their panties in a bunch at the prospect. I doubt we will ever see him have a meaningful role in the AFL, perhaps outside the AFL commission, as he has well and truly set himself up for life after football. That said, if he did express interest in a coaching / mentoring role, we would be stupid not to consider him for a position.

It's hard to believe that only 14 months ago we put out a side with Byrnes, Georgiou and Trengove in it. It feels like several years since Jack played, and the other two have been long banished from my memory. We should win this, but it all depends on whether we decide to play for four quarters or two.

Our forward line and defence have stood up pretty well so far this year, but both were well beaten yesterday. In contrast our midfield, which is usually weak point, was pretty impressive for the most part. We gave up some of the dumbest goals I have ever seen and our inability to defend Cloke was costly. He is too big to play from behind - you have to play the ball. Dunn & McDonald were both awfully out of sorts. Not manning up Oxley was unforgiveable and Roos needs to some take responsibility for this, instead of dribbling about our forwards not making a contest. I can only assume our extra man was on ball, but he certainly didn't have anything like Oxley's impact. Hogan looked a beaten man early, and Pedersen had little impact as well. Thankfully we got goals from the midfield this week. Grimes and Tyson should have played, and I simply refuse to believe that the likes of Newton, Riley & M.Jones could be considered better options in any scenario. Hopefully this is rectified for Sunday. I'm not sold on Gawn, mainly because he doesn't have a natural football brain. As soon as switches off for a half second you end up with the monumental skill errors such as his miskick on the HBF. I wouldn't be surprised if he doesn't back up this week, but hopefully he gets a chance against a team like Geelong without a recognised ruckman. And finally, how long are we going to put up with Lumumba running around in circles like a show pony and delivering miskicks and hospital handpasses? The guy needs a spell at Casey with his mate Dawes.

Not playing both Grimes and Tyson was a HUGE mistake by Roos. One day we will get our team selection right, but I doubt it will be this week. FItzy did a decent job on White, but should only be played when there is a matchup for him. Newton is not up to it and needs at least a month at Casey to practice chasing and tackling. Dropping him and then making him 23rd man is not good enough. I'm afraid Riley isn't up to it either. M.Jones was okay the last two weeks, but didn't give much yesterday. In: Tyson, Grimes, Neal-Bullen Out: Vandeberg, Fitzpatrick, Newton.

Watching him yesterday, I think his body works ten times quicker than his brain. He takes five steps and runs himself into trouble before his brain kicks in and he offloads to an unsuspecting teammate. Either that or he craps his dacks every time he takes possession.

We've been competitive in the three games we've won, and for a quarter or so in the three losses to Adelaide, Port & GWS, none of which is better than a middle of the ladder side at present. We were close enough to totally uncompetitive in the losses to the three elite sides, but for a few cheap goals late against Sydney. I don't see how anyone can justify what was served up for two and half quarters against GWS & Port, particularly given that we were well in front in both games. I agree with Stuie - any improvement has come from players we have bought into the club. There has been very little, if any, improvement from players who were here already. I'm yet to be convinced that Mark Neeld wouldn't have coached this team to a 7 - 24 record with the same players, and he was an epic failure.

I just don't understand our selections this year: Tyson misses two weeks and has to return through Casey. Viney misses six weeks and is fit enough to play AFL, but only fit enough to play as sub. Newton is dropped twice in a month and recalled the following week twice without playing a game at Casey. Michie and Riley come in and out of the team on a weekly basis without seemingly doing much wrong in the AFL or anything different at Casey. Fitzpatrick stays in the side even when there is no match up for him. Howe and Lumumba remain undroppable irrespective of lack of form and effort. I would hate to think that either sits higher in Roos' thinking than Grimes given recent performances. Given how ridiculous our sub choices have been this year, I predict that Spencer will be the sub and will be brought on in the third quarter to replace Gawn who doesn't have the fitness to ruck for a full game.

The quality of players inducted is declining each year. Akermanis is the only modern day player who comes close to being worthy. Bell & O'Loughlin were good, but hardly great, players. The number of players being inducted for longevity alone in recent years is ridiculous. I think they should look to induct 8 - 10 players every three years, instead of finding 5 - 6 every year. Neitz and Lyon are every bit as worthy as most of the inclusions from recent times.

A lot of talk that the next legend named tonight will be Tony Lockett, but Carey, Blight and Dunstall are amongst the other names that have been mentioned. Not sure if any Demons are in line to be admitted to the regular Hall of Fame, perhaps another of our premiership stars from the 50s & 60s?

Sounds to me like Roos is (once again) deflecting blame away from himself for an abysmal performance by both the players and coaches. I would have liked Roos to also come out and say that the coaches failed to react when the game turned ten minutes into the second quarter, even though we were sitting on a comfortable lead at the time. Instead they waited until we were two goals down before they changed anything. If we'd made it to half time with a lead, I suspect the second half would have been far more competitive. If Roos doesn't think that certain players are up to the task, then he needs to stop playing them and get games into other players. Howe is clearly one who has been terrible all season, but seems to be undroppable.