poita

Thanks all for the comp, especially Robbo. Sorry I haven't been as active on the message boards as I had hoped. In an even comp my team lost its way mid season and never recovered, although we did okay in the losers finals. Hopefully we can go around again next year.

I'm another who doesn't really mind if Howe goes or stays, but I certainly don't believe in showing talented players the door just to bring in pick 753 in a weak draft. If other clubs aren't willing to cough up decent players or picks, then we may as well keep him. Howe, like Lumumba and others, would benefit from a trip to Casey every now and then when he starts to look disinterested. Roos needs to start wielding a big stick with some of these players.

We seriously dropped Watts ahead of Newton? FMD, this club has no idea.

Until the past month I wouldn't have thought it possible for us to perform worse than we did against GWS in round 21 last year. Given the venue, and our recent performances, there is every chance of us plumbing even greater depths on Sunday.

About fricken time. The dope who proposed the sub rule should be banned from having any further say in the direction of the game.

Sad to hear that. He was fantastic in his first few games across half back, then got injured and re-emerged a couple of years later as a mid-sized forward. It was a career killer playing in that forward line in 2012, and even 2011 to some extent. I always wished Neeld put him back in defence for a few weeks, rather than just giving him the boot. He did play finals in the past two years though, which puts him ahead of any MFC players drafted from 2007 onwards.

I have managed to wipe most of that day from my memory, but I pretty clearly remember Neitz and Schwarz missing gettable goals late in the first quarter when we were still in the contest. Then we dropped our heads and were crapped on in every respect thereafter. Honestly though, we would have been the least deserving premiers in league history had we got up.

Congratulations Crossy on a wonderful career, and thank you for your contribution over the past two years. If there were 20 other players on the teamsheet each week who worked as hard as you and Nathan Jones do to get the best out of themselves, we wouldn't be in our current predicament. I wish you all the best for your future. Sadly, though, the game has passed you by and your lack of leg speed and dubious disposal have become a liability. Whilst some will look at possession stats and suggest that you were worthy of a new contract, the reality is that teams pay you no respect because they know you won't hurt them with ball in hand. Therefore you are allowed to pay loose in defence racking up the touches, whilst your opponent causes more damage with half the touches elsewhere. I said at the start of the year that if you were in our best 22 by season's end, it would be a fair sign that we had failed to progress as a club. Here we are six months later and you will probably finish top 5 in the B&F again, and the side is still uncompetitive most weeks. Once again, the onus is on our young midfielders to step over the pre season and become quality AFL players. If that doesn't happen, so help us Tom Cruise.

First rule should be to play in front, especially midfielders at a stoppage. We get smashed out of the middle because our players are always standing behind their opponents. Second rule is no handpassing to blokes (a) standing less than 2 metres away, (b) not facing you, © not moving, or (d) about to be tackled. Third rule is take a shot for goal inside forward 50 unless (a) you have a teammate ten metres in the clear and (b) you are capable of hitting him on the chest.

I'm no fan of Jamar, and we owe him nothing based on his dismal contributions over the past five seasons. That said, I suspect he will get a farewell game this week, probably at the expense of Spencer. The question is whether he gets a decent amount of time in the ruck, or if he just spends all day bludging in the forward pocket.

I didn't see a minute of the game and have no desire to do so but, if I am the highest paid coach in the competition and the team repeatedly finds itself ten goals down midway through the second quarter, I would seriously consider whether I am the best person for the job. Clearly Roos' message is not getting through, and / or the players are too dumb / too unskilled to follow it. Either way something has to change. Anybody patting the team on the back for "only" losing by nine goals is kidding themselves - Freo clearly had the game won by quarter time and went into cruise control thereafter. I would love to know why Roos thinks so poorly of Grimes. He was clearly in our best two players last week, and starts as sub this week. I notice his BFF Lumumba has never been dropped or started as sub, despite being completely useless in comparion to Grimes.

Good, now all we need is for the coach to give him the same opportunities that he has given Harmes, Neal-Bullen and others.

Some interesting comments in this thread about Bailey's game plan suiting the players at his disposal, and having a game plan that was ahead of its time. Contrast that to Roos who employs a game plan blatantly unsuited to his list, and one which seems to be from a bygone era. As others have said, our good days in 2010 were the best of any time in the past decade. They seem a long time ago now.

Vince no chance unless he has a massive finish to the year. Especially when a player like Dangerfield is not included.

Congratulations Jonesy on the milestone. If your teammates showed half as much guts and determination as you do, the club would have won far more games than it has over your career. I have loved watching you develop as a player and a leader over the past ten years, and hope that you fnally get some reward for all your hard work over the remainder of your career. Incidentally, Jones has only missed five games since his debut, and just one in the past six years. That is exceptional durability for a player that plays the way he does. Amazing that he played two finals in his first eight games, and none since. Hopefully he adds to that tally before his time is up.

Given that we've nursed Howe to 100 games, I hope he starts breeding soon. Otherwise I'm not sure why he has played every game this year.

What are we paying Dawes at the moment - $500K? Surely Sydney would have to pay part of Tippett's salary to move him on, so if we could move Dawes on and add Tippett for an extra $100K or so it would be a decent outcome. You certainly couldn't justify having both of them on the list though.

Resting Brayshaw in round 22? Only about six weeks too late for that one. Harmes? Meh, I can't really see why he has been given the extended run denied to Toumpas earlier in the year.

The problem is that a number of the players in the gun are players that Roos brought in two years ago (Riley, Michie, Cross, Hunt, etc). And we will be having the same conversation about Newton and Lumumba next year if they don't improve markedly.

Dear Mr Roos, you have been paid $1.5 million a year to coach this team, far more than any other coach in the competition, including the one who has won back-to-back premierships. You, on the other hand, have achieved absolutely nothing at this club other than getting people offside by taking pot shots at all and sundry. Given our long record of mediocrity, I believe that Melbourne supporters are the most loyal of any club, and your comments towards them are deeply offensive and totally unwarranted. I resent your inability to take responsibility for your failings, and your unwillingness to stand as one with the players and the club as a whole. Your record is actually quite abysmal given the resources at your disposal, as we rank 18th from your 42 games in charge. How about you start doing your job and let the media go elsewhere for a rent-a-quote. Give up your extra curricular activities and focus on coaching the Melbourne Football Club. Making the players accountable for their pissweak efforts would be a good start, followed by developing some basic football skills and then some semblance of a game plan and match day strategy. Nothing that is not expected of every AFL coach, but tasks that have so far eluded you. If you are unwilling, or unable to do this, please step aside and let Simon Goodwin or someone else take over. Yours negatively, poita.

Thank god you've pointed out that it's the supporters' fault that we're so [censored] because we love this club and give them money each year. Here I was thinking that the players and coaches might have something to do with it. Do you think we should all walk away and let the club fend for itself? Clearly Roos would prefer that the supporters don't care enough that they bother him with emails each week. Maybe everyone would be better off if the club had no supporters and they didn't have to worry about keeping anyone happy. Then the supporters could get on with their lives and the players and coaches can get paid a fortune to do sweet FA and live in peace.

Yep, I'm pretty sure that all of this club's problems are the fault of the supporter base. You know, those people who hand over their hard earned money each year to watch their club play football. The same club who happily takes said money each year and delivers nothing in return. As for the media, I don't think they have any relevance to anything.

I'll be there with my dad, probably sitting in the nose bleeds looking down at acres of empty seats on level 1. We'll be the ones telling the players exactly what we think of them and their pissweak performances.

Rest Jones, Brayshaw, Gawn, Hogan and anyone else who desperately needs a week off. The rest of the bludgers who dished up yesterday's tripe can lose three days of their lives flying to Perth, getting spanked, and coming home again. It's hard to include McDonald amongst those, but maybe the likes of Dawes and Garlett can bring him drinks and snacks on the flight over as penance. Bring in a few fringe dwellers and see how badly they want an AFL career. Casey have secured their finals spot so it won't matter too much to them to play with a weakened side for one week.

There is a big gap between Garland's best and worst, probably too big for someone of his experience. He was utterly woeful defensively and offensively on the weekend, but has been far better than that for most of the year. Others have already disagreed, but I think he will finish in or or around top 10 in the B&F this year. At his best Garland can play on any forward from Franklin to Rioli, and has done so successfully in the past. That type of player in good form is virtually irreplaceable. Talk of Frost or Lumumba being that player is frankly laughable. One is completely unproven at AFL level, and the other is on the fast track to football oblivion. Garland is not a leader, so you wouldn't break the bank to keep him, but I would be bitterly disappointed if he left and we got little or nothing in return.