Ricky P

4 hours ago, Lucifer's Hero said:

It may be seamless but can he actually coach?  Of course, we won't know for another 6-12 months. 

He has the best base possible for a 1st year coach: stable supportive club, mountains of talent, a well balanced team, a lot of his 'own picks' on the coaching staff, a seamless handover and a team poised to make a tilt for the top 8. 

Sorry to sound like a 'doubting Thomas' but I will wait till he has runs on the board before I jump on his bandwagon.  I hope for our sakes he shapes up.

No I think that's fair enough. As much as I'm confident we've done everything we can to pick the right bloke and give him the best possible preparation, it's still a relatively big 'if'.

49 minutes ago, america de cali said:

Where do think we would be if we beat sides like St Kilda And Port?

Not sure what your point is.

3 hours ago, america de cali said:

A many decades old problem for us. Pizz weak losing culture and player hubris  getting above themselves thinking they can mix it with the elites and shun the plebs.  We are the effing plebs.  So if we want  to rise we better learn to win the winnable games first before we tackle  the tough opponents. 

We've beaten every team below us except Essendon and Carlton (who we haven't played yet). We've only beaten one team above us.

4 hours ago, doc roet said:

What irrites me is that we seem to bring our best to games which we are really and knowingly up against it,

yet games against mediocre clubs,we fall away.Got me stumped.

Yeah, I hate it that we bring our best for the big games.

9 minutes ago, olisik said:

Jones always goes missing in the 4th. Need a leader who doesn't. 

Say it again mate.

Last week everyone said the good performance didn't matter, only the result. Now everyone is complaining about the performance. You guys need to get your story straight.

I assume everyone who said only the result mattered last week and that the performance was irrelevant will take the same attitude this week?

4 hours ago, praha said:

Well we beat GWS but yeah that doesn't count.

We should have won at least 6 in 2014.

Last year should have won at least 8.

We should be on 9 wins at this stage.

I like what Roos has brought to this club but ultimately, leadership has let us down during games we should be winning, and he and the coaching staff have all too often gone against their mantra during selection. I am still filthy about the Essendon loss and the Saints a few weeks ago. I can let the first Saints loss pass because it was a quick turnaround after the Sunday night game.

8 was my pass last year, and 10 is my pass this year. If we don't reach 10 this year (spoiler: we won't) then it'll be an asterix next to Roos tenure that would only be removed if the talent he has brought in leads us to finals in 2017.

I still think it's a between-the-ears issue. We should smash GC tomorrow but I suspect a close game. A loss would undoubtedly mark Roos' tenure as a failure on most supporters eyes. 

Really, we haven't made any more progress in three years than Bailey did in three. Granted we were coming from further back, and I still think Roos has been a better coach than Bailey, but we haven't "turned the corner". 

Roos and his team have two chances to do that. Vs Hawthorn, and vs Geelong. Tough ask, but we continue to struggle at Etihad, continue to struggle away from home, continue to struggle against Saints, North, Hawks, can't win in Perth, can't play consistently good football. So it's now down to two matches for Roos and his team to prove their worth, and it's two of the hardest tests in footy you could ask for.

A win against Hawthorn or Geelong and we're a top 6 side in 2017. Get smashed by both and nothing will change.

Haha you're such a drama queen. A loss tomorrow would be nothing worse than a bitterly disappointing loss for a middle of the road team. A win against Hawthorn would be nothing better than a bloody good win for a middle of the road team. Not everything that happens is epoch-defining.

I don't think Kennedy will win a brownlow but I think he can be a good little player for us.

40 minutes ago, mo64 said:

Then why did you write "after what had occurred"? They were your words, not Strauss'. They insinuate that there was more to it. 

Haha really not sure what ur problem is here 64. 

Just now, Satyriconhome said:

Just a thought after speaking to James Strauss the other week, playing amateurs, wasn't interested after what had occurred

What occurred? Just the disappointment of being delisted or something more?

7 minutes ago, Satyriconhome said:

Perfect...........I do hope getting back to topic that Terlich, if he is delisted, which we all seem to assume is a given, doesn't give footy away and plies his trade somewhere else

Doubt he'd give it away Saty - pretty good coin on offer in the bush/suburbs. Not bad for a part time job.

27 minutes ago, Clint Bizkit said:

Link here.

Cheers for the link.

1 hour ago, Wiseblood said:

This should go well...

Haha this will turn into such a shitfight. As if it really matters which old battle axe third forward we let hang on for another year while the kids come through.

6 hours ago, hemingway said:

Fair enough, everyone's opinion is  worthy. I understand your comments. I was trying to paint a broader picture of why he is what he is. Not defend his attitudes. He is what he is. 

Fair enough Ernie I always enjoy your posts.

7 minutes ago, Petraccattack said:

Hard to argue with them though

Not really.

19 minutes ago, special robert said:

'Melbourne will never go anywhere because they have no guts'......have I got that quote from him right? Dermott B makes a similar observation about us.

When has dermie ever said that?

4 hours ago, hemingway said:

Jacko is an interesting figure. Objectionable to some and clearly a person with a lot of grievances. However, the nature of his grievances are typical of an individual that has trouble fitting into a team or organization and has a distrust or hatred of authority. His family upbringing is important here. His father was State Secretary of the Slaters and Tilers Union (one of the many "trade" unions that were swallowed up by the Industry Unions), in this case, the union now known as the CFMEU. His father was a character much like his son, but had a deep distrust of employers which was both class based and had its core in a deep distrust of authority. I suspect Mark inherited this view and this rooted a deep distrust in his employer/club/coach etc.

Of course the class/union/employer divide is a whole belief system that often stays with people over their lifetime. Many of us support teams that our father supported. It is no different with our beliefs about society and class. 

Most employers and footy teams want harmony and a reality where all the workers/players fit into the cog or team and work for one another rather than against one another. Employees that work against this natural order usually don't last long and many end up drifting or working for themselves because they can't fit in.

Notwithstanding, Jacko was a talented footballer with a strong native intelligence. His views on his coaches, team mates, opponents, AFL, and journalists have an element of truth. Most people don't voice those views, or, if they do, voice them in a milder or less outspoken manner. However, Jacko voices those views. Some of those views may be exaggerated and pay no heed to political correctness. People who don't fit in are often labelled as ratbags, divisive and plain difficult. Also once labelled, more often than not, the labels stick and sometimes the myth, the truths and untruths stick. At the end of the day, footy is a team sport and cannot abide individuals who are not going to fit into that team ethos. The history of sport is littered with talented individuals whose talent is never fulfilled because they can't fit it. Our indigenous footballers are a case in point although coaches and clubs have now learnt how to manage and exploit those differences for the good of the team and the game.  However, life can be difficult for those individuals who are "different" and who don't conform. 

I think you're giving him a bit too much credit here Ernie. This is a guy who injured teammates at training because they had his spot in the team and got moved on from every club he played at. He belted Robbie, abused RDB and mocked Melbourne supporters. He said he hoped Mike Sheahan got cancer. He's not a precious, unique snowflake who couldn't fit in because he's an individual. He's just a [censored].

You mentioned Jason Taylor might leave. What's the story there? I reckon he's been great and want him to stay!

3 hours ago, Akum said:

First of all, great observations.

Second, it's just so great to hear that, even in such a good performance as last weekend, they're focussing on the areas we fell down in a bit. The ideal way to use training time.

Third, this matter of "inside-to-outside football", as you put it, is the absolute key to us moving up the ladder big time. We're such a good contested ball team (thanks to the likes of Gawn, Viney, Tyson, Jones et al) that if we can get the "inside-to-outside" right, we'll be really hard to play against.

 

Bit of the old in-out is crucial.

4 hours ago, pineapple dee said:

Am I mistaken in thinking that there was a goal kicking competition amongst the Melbourne players one year. Jacko and Gerrard Healy were close towards the end of the season and the players decided to kick the ball to Healy so Jacko wouldn't win.

I'm pretty sure that's right. Can someone confirm ? 

According to Jacko, Jacko wanted to belt Healy after the game for winning the goalkicking. I'm not sure about the rest of what you're talking about though.

18 minutes ago, fndee said:

Without being in possession of figures from the past 30 years I think most would imagine that set shot goal kicking has, at best, stagnated or gone backwards.

However the number of the 25m curling, miracle goals from the boundary has skyrocketed. 

My favourite goal is the long, long Malcolm Blight/Gary Lyon/Warren Dean bomb from outside 55 that sails through half post height.

 

Yeah good point, those goals from the boundary are more common.

My favourite goal is the running sealer. Stinga was a specialist. Bernie is pretty good at it these days.

3 minutes ago, Salems Lot said:

It is pure balderdash to suggest that practice does not improve technique..plain unadulterated balderdash.

(great word balderdash)

 

Agreed. Ripping word.

Goalkicking is worse these days because we ask all players to do more stuff: tackling, chasing, running up and down the field, playing different positions. Back in the day the full forward just had to mark it, whack people and kick straight. Therefore goalkicking was a specialist skill and goalkicking players could spend more time working on it.

21 minutes ago, johndemons said:

Jacko illustrating why retro round is confined to one week of the year and not 25.

People think he made some good points because the common narrative is to bag out the afl instead of showing gratitude. 

We have a thriving 18 club competition model that lifts up the poorest and keeps them from folding that has eliminated thuggery and developed a social conscience. The complexity of Equalisation aside, its about time people showed some appreciation to the AFL instead of acting like they're the big enemy. To simplify, It reminds me of how everyone hated high school, and yet high school is responsible for socialising you and helping you develop into further studies and employment. The AFL is responsible for taking the game national and creating a sustainable and thriving business model.

The VFL is still there for all the people like Jacko that want the "purist" form of footy, though you might have to start a brawl in the outer if you want to get the closest form.

Good riddance to people like him and as Gerard said on 360: I lasted about 8 minutes and decided I had something better to do than watch this.

I more or less agree with this in the sense that the game had to change, but let's not get too carried away with praising the AFL. How hard do u reckon it is to sell footy to aussies?