Lucifers Hero

No change for nearly two weeks?. Either staff are on holidays or prospective members saw the writing on the wall after the Port game... Just a few weeks till the cut off date. Its good to break last years record but oh, what might have been...

Maybe, with the exception of Max, why the leaders (and players) ignored the coach's quarter and half time 'anger and frustration' at the way they were playing and waited till the final quarter to respond...?

Hope that isn't a 'loaded' question... ...I respect your posts so will take it at face value and say I was against Watts going. ...not sure what Watts has to do with this thread...

Jeffy didn't get any love from Goodwin in his press conf yesterday when asked about possible ins next week. Can someone please remind me what he did wrong to get dropped? He was on track for a 45-50 goal season, had good tackle numbers and reasonable clearances numbers when asked to play midfield. And, last hear he was in the top 3 small forwards for forward pressure. He is our most dangerous small forward, has footy smarts and the experience to go with them. So I don't get the lack of love. Are our players with flair and talent who can impact a game being overlooked for the solid citizens? His possessions weren't high but a small forward is never going to get a lot of the ball (either at AFL or VFL) so if that is what everyone is waiting for, then he may never get back. As noted above his other 2016/17 stats and form showed he was tracking well, given that we lost most of the 2017 games he played in so he wasn't the only one down on form. I hope the coaches aren't trying to make him another vanilla hybrid-forward/mid.

Bringing back Jade won't help. The game plan is driven by the Goodwin/Jennings/McCartney. We had the same game plan (play in our fwd half and rely on converting a high level of i50) last year and it was no more successful than it has been this year. I rate Jade really highly but bringing him back won't help unless our game plan is amended.

I made that observation. It didn't look like it on the foxtel broadcast. Those at the ground would have a broader view. Will leave it to them to comment on the extent of support provided on the field.

Given that 'attitude' seems a perennial problem for our players and Goodwin is so strong on the 'right behaviours' I would have thought prompt feedback on these non-football matters would be critical to a player's development.

This might help http://www.afl.com.au/match-centre/2018/15/melb-v-stk scroll down to the stats section or this https://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=9637

Not sure what Vince has to do with my post. Nonetheless your points are all correct. My point was it is a leader's job to encourage and support youngsters especially in their early days.

He didn't get to Brayshaw for the first three rounds and only gave him feedback when Jones initiated a meeting - perhaps you didn't read the the article I posted.

But where were our leaders to give the kid a reassuring pat on the back, reinforce to just go for the next contest, reinforce stick to the basics, reinforce what he does well. I certainly didn't see anyone go to him. No wonder the kid was broken. His teammates and our leaders let him down today. Someone should have picked him up physically and euphemistically! Lets hope the scars aren't too deep.

From the horses mouth, the same happened to Brayshaw, early in the year. He said that Jones organised a meeting with Goodwin. In that meeting Goodwin told Gus what he had to do to get selected. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2018-05-29/i-wasnt-the-best-teammate-brayshaw No sooner does Goodwin tell him what he needs to do, he puts his head down, changes his behaviours and in no time is back in the team. At the time I was rather gobsmacked that Goodwin had not given Gus feedback but I didn't dwell on it. Now, your post makes me wonder if others (Garlett, Hunt (pre injury), Stretch, Frost) are being given the feedback they need to improve. Its a real worry if what you describe is more widespread.

There is some truth in that but if he really thinks that - he is in denial on how ineffective his game plan of 'playing in the forward half the ground' with flexible hybrid forward/mids is. He needs to do some serious soul searching especially when it comes to his game plan and tactics on the G.

Good call on this subject...you actually started the thread more than a year ago (May 2017) and sadly little has changed in more than a season of experience and learning!

Other journos have written the same stuff so not sure why folks here are gunning for Caro. I'll reserve judgement on the content. At least we know the 5th candidate: Sam Graham - the AFL's candidate it seems. Looks to have a decent CV. One thing in the article that makes me uneasy is if Bartlett is "...determined to take a more active and vocal role in running the club." On my experience that sure ain't a President's nor a Board's job. A Board's role is to set strategy and policies and to establish corporate governance processes to make sure strategies and policies happen and to know when they don't happen. But if a Board has the right people in place it should trust them (CEO etc) to run the organisation; that is their job. The President and the Board getting overly involved in management and football matters is exactly what went wrong at Collingwood. I really hope Caro has it wrong about Bartlett's intentions.

Interesting that you have GWS winning 8 of last 9 games which include games vs Hawks, Eagles, Tigers, Power, Crows, Swans, Demons. I find it hard to see GWS winning all bar one of those games. Tbh can't see GWS making the 8. I haven't done the ladder predictor but I would expect Hawks to be in the 8, @ EOHandA games. Who of the current top 8 will drop out...anybody's guess...hopefully North and not us.

Various organisations would be aware of options. Any one of them could have leaked it. You might have missed it CBD, Bartlett commented on the report in his interview last week. "...the Demons' plan to build a new training base and headquarters, with an area next to the MCG and Yarra Park being considered..."We're really keen and have been working with the AFL and state government to look at all options in that area," Bartlett said...We're working really hard behind the scenes … and making sure we set up the club for the next 30 to 50 years..."It's early days, but it's exciting as well." Hope that fills in the gaps. There are various options out there. My view is nothing will happen at least till after the next election so commentary by the club or others won't mean much.

Last week's shirt front last week really knocked him around, immediately coughed up blood and had bruised lungs. I would imagine that limits lung capacity a bit so his endurance may not be up to his normal lofty heights. It sounds like he is medically fit to play but any sort of knock could really do damage. He has a long flight to Darwin on Thursday or Friday and Freo worries me more than StK. So if there is any doubt on Tom's lungs (capacity or bruising) I would err on the side of caution and rest him this week.

Melbourne squad: round 15 B: Harry Petty, Oscar McDonald, Neville Jetta HB: Michael Hibberd, Joel Smith, Jordan Lewis ? Christian Petracca, Jack Viney, Angus Brayshaw HF: Christian Salem, Jesse Hogan, Clayton Oliver F: Alex Neal-Bullen, Mitch Hannan, Tom McDonald Foll: Max Gawn, Jake Melksham, Nathan Jones I/C (from): James Harmes, Charlie Spargo, Dom Tyson, Billy Stretch, Cameron Pedersen, Bernie Vince, Sam Weideman, Bayley Fritsch In: Petty, Spargo, Stretch, Pedersen, Weideman Out: T.Smith Unless we go in with an extra forward it seems likely that Bernie may not play as he is the only regular defender on the extended bench. While Tyson didn't have his best game last week hope he gets another go as not a fan of a player being dropped after one week when nearly the whole team was down.

Great to hear Petty has been learning from Lever and that he will back his 'footy smarts'. Has done everything right since arriving at the club and I reckon he will accredit himself really well. All the best, young man.

I do think Webster is a big out...that is why I suggested we rest Tom Mc...

Geary probably back in. Still leaves their defence down. With Webster out maybe we can rest Tom Mc to have more time to get his lung capacity back and rest up. Difficult run home coming up.

I hadn't picked on posts saying the lack of a Home Facility is the major reason we can't beat top sides. It looks like faulty logic... ...we all know there are lots of reasons we struggle to beat teams around us on the ladder.

Maybe, maybe not. I would propose that if we had had the facilities of some other clubs and the attractions of other clubs then there is every chance we would be in a better position on and off the field. At some stage we need to give our club a solid future foundation and a facility like Yarra Park/Jolimont rail is the way to go. Making it happen isn't distracting anyone from their day job.

Not at all, od. I hadn't even noticed you mention Petracca seemed a little overweight. I was reading Nasher's caution in response to someone else's comment that: "Trac doesnt seem like the kind of guy that would stick to a professional diet". Sorry if it sounded like my post was related to your gentle comment. More making the point about the role of social and mainstream media.