The heart beats true

Easy there. Would you like to play as a young outside mid for a team that gets smashed at stoppages? It's impossible. Jimmy will be a very good player in time. Wines was supported by much more experience and accountability than Jimmy was today. How many clubs wondered how they missed Gysberts after his first game? Time will tell.

http://m.afl.com.au/news/2013-03-31/melb-v-port-mark-neeld Go read that and tell me why it's important to be upset. Jack Viney is a Melbourne person. He remembers when the club stood for something and was proud. Members are the only long term custodians of this club. Everyone else is being paid to pass through. Putting the club under pressure anyway we can ensures it exists. Colin Sylvia will go play for someone else if we fold, but our members will never love the game without the MFC. We need to demand accountability to literally stay in the game.

Give me a f#*king break! Accepting the [censored] that was dished up today by our club is exactly what's wrong. It's not enough to be happy to go to the footy and see a team play - just ask South Melbourne and Fitzroy supporters. We can and should demand more from the team. They are terrible, and asking them to be better has now become the responsibility of the supporters because we have a long term view of both the club and the league. If we want to be around we need to be competitive. Today was a disgrace from a sponsorship and membership perspective and that's what allows us to exist. Don't be afraid to demand more.

Totally, this should be priority number 1. It will increase out kicking efficiency, workfare and intensity. Give me a f#*king break.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not suggesting for a second that everyone of us was not entitled to boo. I'm just saying that when things are this bad it's a very dark day for the club. I don't know where we go from here, not just as a team but as a club. How many 'on the fence' members will sign up after that? You look over the road and you see Collingwoods huge purpose built training facility and you realise we are just digging ourselves deeper into a hole. We started the year 500k down on every other club due to the fines and now we play like this?I'm really worried.

I've been going to the footy in Melbourne to watch us religiously since 1987. I've never seen our supporters stay until the end of the game just so they could boo their own players off.... Until today. This is a new low.

Maybe Jack Viney can take a mentoring role with Colin Sylvia. Teach him how to make a genuine effort and keep working.

Those of you that have been pessimistic about our 2013..... You were right.

Roos bias for the Swans is so boring it makes me want to fly to Sydney and kick him in the mullet.

Exactly, yet somehow every 'commentator' in the country wants to ignore this when they criticise us for having 7 new players in the side.

He's looked good in the 3rd.

Precisely.

Good point MH. We have 7 new, them 6 yet apparently we look desperate with so many changes? Makes no sense. I also think its good that Davey is an emergency and Trengove, Dawes and McDonald are still to come into our best 22. Puts some pressure on those in the side. Wish we had some midfielders to come in though.

Based on last year I'd have to agree, but I suspect he had injuries issues and clearly looked weighed down by the teams form and how he could improve it as the captain. I'm going to be watching him closely once he's back. He consistently struggles getting though a preseason which effects him a bit too. He's spoken about taking the game on more and being braver which sounds good to me. He needs to enjoy himself and the rest will come.

I want Jimmy Toumpas to be a genuine star too, and only for the effect that will have on Jack Viney. Jack will want to be the best and it will be great if they can feed off each other for hunger. I also want Trenners to get back to loving his footy (which obviously won't start this weekend). A happy Trenners is good for our club and starts to build a more optimistic playing group.

They over stated the 7 changes. The only player we've lost that we wanted is Rivers. Who would play instead of Viney, Toumpas, Jones and Byrnes? Cale Morton, Gysberts, Lazy Beamer and Ricky (can't get a game at Richmond) Pettard? I'll take the future over a proven failed passed.

Viney, Toumpas, Jones, Pederson, Rodan, Byrnes and Gillies. 7 new players. I would suggest that says an awful lot about how the football department rates our drafting and development prior to their arrival. No mention of Dawes so he didn't come up. I'm kind of looking forward to Sunday now. Young blood and some bigger bodies. Should at least be different.

I'd say he has about 12 weeks. If the season starts like it did in 2012 then things could get out of hand. The media is begging for us to fall apart. It's a lot if pressure working under those circumstances. I feel for them, but if they are up for the challenge they will rise. If not then, well, it's just like every other year for the better part of a decade.

Agreed biggestred. I'm sure the AFL sells member info to Foxtel for nothing if they agree to keep paying a billion for the TV rights. Having said that I qualify as a tragic. I go to all Victorian games and record every game on foxtel. It's surprising how much worse we looked the second time round in 2012.

I think it's time we accepted that Garry uses his relationship with the MFC to benefit his media career, not the other way round. He doesn't get paid to support us and he's honestly expressed frustration about being asked to do anything for the club. I think it's time we stopped asking for his help and instead acknowledge that the advice he has given hasn't been good. Having said that what he says about the club is all true, the problem is that it's really just making it harder for us at this point. We know we suck, the whole world knows we suck. Pointing it out is pointless. And, if Riv struggles in a much more ruthless environment then he won't be sleeping well, he'll be waking up for the early game like Cam Bruce before him.

NAB cup form on a regional ground in early March? When he does it on the 'G in June I'll be more convinced. He always looked like he's a battler to me.

Watched the replay of the Richmond game tonight and thought we looked better than when I watched at the ground. One thing that really worked against our game plan is the ridiculous last team over the boundary free kick. With less midfield runners on the ground and the Tigers fresh legs combined with the speed of the carpet at Docklands we got run over at times when Neelds game plan would usually see us competing for a 50/50 ball on the boundary. I noticed a few players kicking the ball more in the corridor than I'm sure they'd be allowed in regular season. I wish the NAB cup didn't have such stupid rules. Don't hold your breath for us to be much chop in this form of the game. It doesn't suit us, even with our best team on the park.

When I heard Jade Rawlings say that the club is treating Mitch's foot like a complete reconstruction, like an ACL, I took that to mean they will be very cautious with him. I'd be pleasantly surprised if he played in the first month of the regular season.

We have 3 problems. One, as you've noted is spread and run in the midfield, another is skill. If you don't run hard to create the next opportunity and your teammates can't hit a target when you do the hard work it doesn't exactly inspire you to keep working. I felt like in both games I watched opposition players wait out wide for us to make skill errors and then get a break away. It makes us look like we are not working hard enough when the opposite is often true. The running endeavor was right (positioning will come with experience for the younger guys) but if the skills aren't right then you can be the most elite runner in the game and still look lazy. The 3rd problem is that we have very little on field ability to shut the game down. once a team has a run on the siren has to go before we reset. That annoys the hell out of me.

At the ground. 3 things stick out: 1. Umpires have forgotten that its not about them. 2. Why is Jesse Hogan not allowed to play this year? It's not helping his, or our, development. 3. We have ZERO midfield. The team plan is get the ball to Jones. Opposition sides have already figured out that's what we have to do. Hoping the boys can make a more solid show, but this surface makes us look painfully slow.