poita

I had visions of us copping the 4.40pm Sunday timeslot. 1.10pm is a much better outcome, even if that is Father's Day. Even with the early start, playing the Giants at Etihad in round 23 on Fathers Day could still set a record low attendance. At least the weather won't be an excuse. Friday, September 4 Richmond v North Melbourne at Etihad Stadium, 7.50pm AEST (Channel 7) Saturday, September 5 Geelong v Adelaide at Simonds Stadium, 1.05pm AEST (Fox Sports) Brisbane Lions v Western Bulldogs at the Gabba, 1.45pm AEST (Channel 7) Port Adelaide v Fremantle at Adelaide Oval, 3.20pm ACST (Fox Sports) Hawthorn v Carlton at the MCG, 4.40pm AEST (Fox Sports) West Coast v St Kilda at Domain Stadium, 5.40pm AWST (Channel 7) Sydney Swans v Gold Coast at the SCG, 7.20pm AEST (Fox Sports) Sunday, September 6 Melbourne v GWS at Etihad Stadium, 1.10pm AEST (Fox Sports) Collingwood v Essendon at the MCG, 3.20pm AEST (Channel 7)

McKenzie, Bail, Riley, M.Jones, Michie, Barry, Jamar - no wonder we got flogged. It would be nice if Goldstein is feeling sore this week too.

Given that we have a report on the VFL players each week, it would be interesting to read the equivalent report on the AFL side. Perhaps one of the assistant coaches could clarify the contributions being made each week by Dawes and Lumumba that are clearly too subtle for the supporters to notice. I assume the team selection meeting went for about three seconds this week: Neal-Bullen in, Stretch out - that'll fix all our problems. See you next week.

I reckon it's more likely someone like Fasolo will kick 5. We'll probably put Howe on him and he'll spend the entire day playing 30 metres away from him.

How many times do you see a Melbourne player standing behind their opponent at a stoppage, particularly at a centre bounce? Probably 95 times out of 100. It doesn't really matter where Max hits the ball if our players won't play in front.

Surely Jamar & McKenzie are gone. Bail and Riley are in real trouble. Michie very lucky he has a contract for next year. I like Terlich more than most around here and with a contract for next year you would think he would be around in some form - maybe he will be offered a spot on the rookie list? That said, it would be stupid not to give him a couple of games before the end of the year to see what he can do. He couldn't be any worse than Lumumba on present form. I would retain King and White on the rookie list. I don't think Harmes is anything special, and certainly would not offer a position on the senior list until after the national draft. Hunt probably gets a one year contract if he remains injury free until the end of the year. We must keep Pedersen given Dawes' performances this year. I would keep Fitzpatrick as well given his improvement and our lack of key position depth. No way I would get rid of Toumpas unless something amazing is offered. Cross is the interesting one. His workrate and consistency is as good as anyone on the list, but his disposal is atrocious and he is awfully slow. Does he get a game next year with Salem, Petracca and some recruits in the team? Surely we have to sign Gawn before the end of the season. I'd have no issue making him one of our top 5 most highly paid players, as long as the deal is not too long.

The biggest problem Roos has (in my opinion) is that he has a game plan that is unsuited to his playing list. Asking unskilled footballers to play a high possession game is just plain dumb. What we should be doing at every opportunity is kicking long and quick to a marking target 50 metres down the line and, if we can't get a mark, force a stoppage. If Dawes is incapable of taking contested marks, or at least making a contest, then Spencer would be a better option. At least if we move the ball quickly Hogan and co can compete one out with their direct opponent, rather than one on five. And if there is greater certainty surrounding our first option, we won't need to have the likes of Dawes & Hogan chasing kicks on the half back line. Instead we play hot potato with 1 metre handpasses to stationery targets, or chip backwards and sideways to players under pressure. All that does is increase the likelihood of a turnover happening 50 metres closer to the opposition goal. Or it allows opposition players to flood back for the inevitable kick down the line a minute too late. If Roos is committed to the possession game he needs to stop recruiting the likes of Riley & Michie, and bring in some blokes who can kick and handpass.

Do you really think Hawthorn was in a better position than Melbourne at any time in the 1990s? Or in the first half of the 2000s for that matter? The reason they have won 3 premierships in the past seven years is because they have spent the past 12 years or so making consistently good decisions, whilst we have spent 12 years being totally inept in all aspects. Yes, after 9 years of mediocrity the AFL could probably do a bit more to help us out, but they are hardly the reason why we are in our current predicament. Having said that, why is that the NRL have a far more equal competition than the AFL without a draft?

The injury that hurts the most is Pedersen because he can actually take a mark and kick a goal. If Pedersen was there, Dawes would be at Casey where he belongs, and McDonald would be in defence where he belongs. I would say that Frost's ability to be a decent AFL footballer is still completely unproven, as is Kent's. Not to say that they both won't be, but they haven't shown it to date. But injuries are in no way an excuse for anything we have dished up in the past four weeks.

Judging by our attendances this year, it appears as though a large number of people have converted from 11 / 17 game memberships to 3 game memberships. Not pulling financial support completely, but certainly making it known to the club they are not happy. As such our membership numbers might not decrease, but our membership revenue certainly will. On a side issue, I note that the club is basically having a "bring a friend" day against North. They must be petrified of having a sub 20K crowd turn up.

My biggest concern about playing Dawes & Lumumba is how inept both were against Collingwood last time around. As soon as the booing started Lumumba commenced a 2 hour long panic attack, and Dawes didn't get near the ball all game. I would drop Stretch and Michie, with Harmes to play as the sub. Vandenberg is saved only by the lack of replacements. Any of Fitzpatrick, Neil-Bullen, Spencer, Terlich, Toumpas and M.Jones to come in is fine by me.

How about we leave football grounds for football, and play soccer and rugby elsewhere? Football pays the MCG's bills, and it is football that suffers the consequences of other codes destroying the surface.

Riewoldt is a super player, we all know that. But Roberton, Dempster and Schneider are experienced players that cost St Kilda very little to bring in. That's not to mention Bruce who was quiet yesterday, but has had a great year. Why do we pay massively over the odds for players like Dawes and Lumumba who give nothing, when there are so many decent players available if you look hard enough? It is highly debatable that our young players are better than St Kilda's. Hogan and Brayshaw probably are, but I would be happy with any of McCartin, Billings, Dunstan, and Goddard over the rest of our list.

My random thoughts on the game: We have kicked nine goals in our last seven quarters of football, against the 18th and 13th best teams on the ladder. Absolutely pathetic. Once again we were brought undone by the loose man in defence. Why is it that our opponents can consistently get the right bloke free in the right position, whilst our loose man (Cross) was consistently 20 metres out of position? Will Roos ever play man on man in this situation, or will he continue to let teams use this against us? The decision not to play McDonald on Riewoldt from the first bounce was spectacularly inept. Garland was incredibly poor on Riewoldt, and McDonald did nothing up forward. Yes, McDonald is out of form, but the best players in the competition would accept the challenge of taking the opposition's best player, not hide in a forward pocket. Other than move McDonald back after the game was lost, did Roos make a single move of substance yesterday? St Kilda basically went two kicks for every handball, we went less than one kick for every handball. Do we have any idea how to play the conditions? Or does the coach demand we play a certain way irrespective of opposition and conditions? Longer seemed to have the sole objective of negating Gawn's influence, and he did a pretty good job. Max was clearly frustrated and gave away too many free kicks. Of course he was still one of our better players, but he could have been far more influential. As bad as our disposal and decision making was at times, our biggest problem remains that players coming out of defence look up and have no forward line to kick to. Why are Hogan and Dawes playing in defence? It is hardly surprising that Hogan doesn't have the energy to contest in the forward line when he runs 10kms a game up and down the ground. I reckon Garlett would prefer to have some big blokes to bring the ball to ground for him as well. Harmes and Stretch are contributing nothing at present and both need to go back to Casey pronto. At this point I can't justify upgrading Harmes to the senior list at year end. Stretch will be a player in time, but he is averaging less than 10 touches a game. Brayshaw could probably do with a week off too, although he was (marginally) better this week. Once again if Jones doesn't have a major influence we struggle. Gee it would be nice if Tyson or Lumumba or Vandenberg could step up and do something significant. Michie is not an AFL footballer. Yes he had a few touches in the last quarter, but every disposal was backwards or sideways. There was no effort to take the game on and make something happen. Even though he has another year on his contract, he has been in the system five years, and I can't see that a sixth will make any difference. This is the first time I have mentioned the umpires this year, but they were dreadful yesterday. I'd rather see nothing paid, than have 54 free kicks paid in about 100 minutes of football. And the inconsistency is confounding. I doubt the result would have changed, but they certainly didn't help the cause.

We have improved (oh so marginally) for the sole reason that we have a stronger list than at any time in the past nine years. And that is because the stunning ineptitude of Neeld & co gave us an opportunity to improve the list through the draft. It has zero to do with coaching, tactics, player development or anything that Roos or any other of the peanuts at the club have contributed. Who on our list has improved from where they were when Roos walked through the door 20 months ago? Basically nobody. All that Roos has done is implement a game plan that is unwatchable to the fans, and which sucks every ounce of life out of the players.Sure it stacks up against the Brisbane's of the world who can only kick four goals a game, but we are roadkill to anyone half decent. I believe we are a better side than Carlton, but we are every chance to lose to them. Probably by about 8 goals to 5 going on recent performances.

Wests Tigers have won a premiership in the past ten years, so it is hard to feel too sorry for them. I've said it before - the NRL do equalisation far better than the AFL, even without a draft.

Hi all, just wondering what people's thoughts are on this. There's not much effort involved in following the club on facebook and twitter and liking posts, but what do people get out of it? I see there are people with 50,000 points, but other than entries into competitions and A5 sized player pictures, what do your points do for you? The front page has pictures of player badges and other merchandise - they would be of greater interest to most people than bits of paper, but don't seem to be available in the prize store. http://www.melbournerewards.com.au

The football played by Hawthorn and West Coast this season is as good as that played by any team in recent memory. Other teams have played decent football on occasion, even us once or twice. The problem is when teams such as us try to minimise losses and drag the opposition down to our level. The games are appalling spectacles. If the AFL decide that zones are too difficult to implement, the other option is to reduce the number of players on the field to 15-16 a side. The appalling TV coverage, both the games covered and the manner in which they are covered, has to be contributing to the declining interest. The other factor is the scheduling of games - the AFL will lose future generations if they can't watch games. My son is five, and there are only four of the nine time slots each week that I would consider bringing him to. And that doesn't allow for the fact that most finals are played at night now.

Can anyone confirm that our last home game against St Kilda was round 5 2012? So much for a balanced draw.

8 touches, 1 mark, 1 tackle. I'm glad that meets your expectations for a guy who is probably in the top three highest paid players at the club.

The sole reason Brisbane don't have any high draft picks on their list is because they traded them all away for experienced players. Beams is a great player, but overall their recruiting over the past 6 years makes Barry Prendergast seem like a genius in comparison. I don't blame them for asking the question, but there is zero justification for it at this point.

One of the things that Hawthorn are very good at is having multiple players capable of playing any one role, and each player capable of playing multiple roles. That allows them to play their best players (Hodge & Roughead in particular) wherever the need is greatest, safe in the knowledge that whoever steps in to their primary role will do a decent job. But, as others have stated, their skills and decision making are elite across the field and they come to play every week - they dont have the peaks and troughs that our better players seem to. Their recruiting and list management has been top notch for over a decade as well. Sure they have had some misses along the way, but more than enough success stories to make up for it. And players want to play for them because, aside from their success, their brand of football is so good. And Clarko is by a big margin the best coach in the business. His ability to stay ahead of the pack is phenomenal.

We got very little again from our bottom 5, most noticeably JKH, ANB & Stretch. Brayshaw was quiet too, and Lumumba is clearly weighed down by his exorbitant pay packet because he was atrocious yet again. I would play Grimes and Toumpas, and Fitzpatrick will be required if McDonald plays forward again. Any of those listed above could come out with little impact.

Deplorable game from start to finish, and clearly we would have lost to 16 other sides with that performance. Nevertheless an ugly win is better than an ugly loss, even against poor opposition. How much joy you take out of that game probably depends on your expectations of Roos as coach. If you believe that winning at any cost is the aim, then celebrate away. If you believe that Roos should be moving the club closer to finals and ultimately a premiership, then you have the right to feel pretty underwhelmed by the performance. Our game plan and style of football is a joke, and will never be successful against a good side. The best side in the competition averages 40 points more for and 20 points less against than us. That is 10 goals we need to make up to match it with the best. We certainly won't achieve that by having our CHF spending half his day inside defensive 50, and our FF on the wing. What really disappoints is that we had Brisbane on toast at quarter time yesterday. We hadn't played well, but were still 4 goals up. Every time we went forward long and direct in the first quarter we looked dangerous. We should have won that game by 15 goals, but we changed the way we played, particularly after half time. Our tackling and pressure was excellent, but our disposal and decision making remains putrid. Still, it is not surprising players second guess themselves when they look up and they have 17 teammates behind them. I'll be bitterly disappointed if we don't make fixing this a focus over the next seven weeks.

Roosy thinks Grimes needs more time at Casey after missing a few weeks, but he is happy to play Howe in round 1 without a game for six months. Clearly some players are more equal than others.