Lucifers Hero

The club should take Jesse off air for a while. And give a script to mfc people before interviews so they say the same stuff. eg Roos says Hoges looked tired, Vince says it was the poor delivery. It doesn't matter which, I would just like to hear a consistent voice from the club. Jesse keeps getting wheeled out, on his own, for no apparent or seemingly silly reasons and sometimes innocently triggers a headline eg vs the Ox. He doesn't need the attention and it creates more pressure. There is a sense of dejavu here. We overexposed an ill prepared Jack Watts on field too early creating untold pressure. We now seem to be overexposing Jesse off field in roles for which he seems equally ill prepared. And the external pressure on him is mounting. The club should protect him and get him off air because now that the gloss of winning the RS has worn off, the media standard questions are awful: contract, run-up, sooking. All negative and for which there are no real answers - a terrible media situation for him. Just let him play.

Oops! My bad. While both home games you are correct the saints game is at Ethad. Lets hope he doesn't debut there - the surface is so hard on the players that with Petracca's knee and foot injury history it may be best to keep him away from there early on.

Looks like we will be waiting a few more weeks. Round 5 Richmond or round 6 Saints look the likely dates. http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/afl-season-2016-christian-petracca-dominates-in-vfl-nears-melbourne-debut-20160405-gnz3di.html#ixzz44wqiRQnb Can't get to those game so will get in early and wish him a great start to his career with the Dees. Both are home games at the 'G' so should be quite an amazing experience for him. Especially the Richmond game which is Anzac Eve.

He may be only 21 but this is his 4th year with the club. Most of that time with Roos then Goodwin and Macca. So he has as much experience as Viney and a lot more than the likes of Vand, Brayshaw, Salem etc. So I don't think we can make excuses for him based on age or maturity. I can cut him some slack on Saturday for not doing the 1% because he had treatment at the end of the 1st qtr. But he does need to think very hard about his onfield antics and the affect on teammates. And I would like to see some of our leaders: Jones, Viney, or Gawn go up to him occasionally on field and pat him on the head and say 'don't worry about it mate' just keep it simple and go for the next ball. Which is exactly what the coaches are trying to tell him. Leaders need to keep an eye on the younger guys on the field to help them when frustration sets in.

Not any more Looks more like Popeye with those arms! He is being grossly underestimated on DL.

Whatever one thinks of Lloyd I think it is a good thing that the media stop treating Jesse like some sort of demigod and remind him he has a long way to go. Then maybe the primadonna antics will stop - if for no other reason that it is poor teamwork by Jesse. Its not as if the mids deliberately deny him perfect ball delivery. He has got ahead of himself and he also needs to do the 1% things all the time. Roos actually mentioned Hogan in his press conf as one of the young players who looked tired. Then went on to say that some young players may need a rest. I took this as Roos code to drop players who were out of form without embarrassing them. I doubt Roos & co will drop Jesse but he will be looked at.

Apparently Matthew Lloyd and Terry Wallace have criticised Jesse's poor body language on field. Bernie Vince has come to his defence saying the delivery was poor. Nonetheless, whatever one thinks of Lloyd and Wallace I think it is a good thing that the media stop treating Jesse like some sort of demigod and remind him he has a long way to go. Then maybe the primadonna antics will stop - if for no other reason that it is poor teamwork by Jesse.

This thread assumes Roos was in charge of the box yesterday. Maybe he said to Goodwin - go for it today, it is all yours. Not so silly, everyone expecting a win. If Roos did give it over to Goodwin he and Macca would give input but let Goodwin could make the final call on tactics. In the absence of knowing how the box was set up calling for anyone to step aside is premature. My view is the coaching box as a whole failed badly. They need to sort themselves out, fast.

An outstanding, considered review. Please send to Paul Roos. Seriously. For my 2 cents worth. While Roos, Macca and Goodwin develop the game plan and make selection decisions as a team my concern is what is happening in the box. It is inconceivable that: 2 free ess mids free all day, Daniher flying high unhindered and their repetitive 'switch' in play did not get noticed in our box. So what is happening in there? 3 blind mice? 3 (un) wise monkeys? They did not see? They certainly did not do. Could they not agree on a tactic so did nothing? Whatever it was we have a dysfunctional box and it needs fixing quickly. For players to react during quarters and for the leaders to drive on-field plays they need clear instructions from the coaching panel. If the latter give mixed messages or worse no messages, we see the team lack cohesion, direction and on-field leadership. I'm not ignoring the deplorable performance by the players but here I'm posting about the coaching. The lack of response in the box is the thing I'm struggling with the most. Hope they get their match day act together. Fast! Because if Roos thought there was a huge 'veil of negativity' among supporters last year, keep that performance going guys and you ain't seen nothing yet!

Can't find a good word for anyone. The only good thing about today is that Jack T put in a blinder at Casey. Delighted for him personally. Giant step in his recovery.

Same players that beat us last time: Goddard, Daniher, Baguley, Zacharakis! We learnt nothing! D-E-S-P-I-C-A-B-L-E!!

Will someone please get into Daniher. He thinks he can be a hero again like last year. Time to change his mindset!

All the more reason for us to play unsocial, bruising football early. As I said show them who is boss and who is boss of the MCG. Time to let Sheedy and all his cohorts know that the 2000 GF 'shoe is on the other foot' so to speak.

I would like to see Tom Mc (legally) push Daniher around a bit in the first 10 minutes. Firstly, for having the temerity to kick so well in the last game and secondly to show him who is boss for the next 10 years! And a little help from Tom's friends to accidently bump into him a few times early on, won't go astray! That is what the Hawks do - take no prisoners. Edit: Hope it rains on their silly 'parade'.

That is true. It will all be front page news again when Jobe hands back his Brownlow and some of their best players leave, hopefully as Delisted FA's so EFC get no comp picks for them. The AFL won't be impressed with an August/September Swiss Court decision - another finals season derailed! Jobe handing the Brownlow back may coincide perfectly with the 2016 one being issued. Sweet irony

The doomed appeal to Swiss Fed Court has hit another hurdle for the players: http://www.theage.com.au/afl/afl-news/essendon-saga-written-submissions-only-for-swiss-appeal-20160401-gnw7r6.html According to CAS it is unlikely to get a judgement before the end of August. The appeal of Australian sport's most highly charged doping case will be judged without an oral hearing following a Swiss court instruction that it will only consider written argument about 34 banned Essendon players...Legal counsel at the AFL Players' Association, which has guided the suspended footballers through a three-year ordeal but now entrusted the appeal execution to Swiss lawyers, had been unaware of the procedural mechanics. After 3 years of bumbling and poor advice to players AFLPA's legal eagles incompetency continues. How could they not know the most basic mechanics of the appeal process ie only written hearings.

This is my favourite part of the article (when speaking of Hogan): Kennedy said it was a special experience to play at the key forward's feet. "You don't get much crumbs because he marks everything..."He's a freak. I appreciate him more day to day when I see him now, than externally when I was at the Pies...' My second favourite part (when talking of last weeks 4th qtr): "To be honest, I knew we were going to come out and give it a red-hot crack. There was no way we were going to leave any stone unturned in that last quarter ..." Steely resolve right there! Also like that the kid has tremendous personal belief in his abilities and to make it in the AFL.

Leave the country! Seriously tho maybe it is time to change these threads to 'if we beat xxxx i will...' That we are so used to losing prompts the negative threads. It pampers to DL's MFCSS neurosis. I know it is early days but lets assume we will win the next game

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-03-31/jack-and-matt-earn-pat-on-the-back Quote: THE FORM of forward Jack Watts and utility Matt Jones has been praised by coach Paul Roos leading into round two Delighted for both much maligned players.

Suspense over: Brayshaw, Lumumba return for Melbourne http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2016-03-31/brayshaw-lumumba-return-for-melbourne B: Neville Jetta, Tom McDonald, Heritier Lumumba HB: Matt Jones, Colin Garland, Christian Salem C: Bernie Vince, Jack Viney, Aaron vandenBerg HF: Jack Watts, Cam Pedersen, James Harmes F: Dean Kent, Jesse Hogan, Jeff Garlett Foll: Max Gawn, Nathan Jones, Dom Tyson I/C: Angus Brayshaw, Clayton Oliver, Tom Bugg, Ben Kennedy Emg: Lynden Dunn, Billy Stretch, Sam Frost In: Lumumba, Brayshaw Out: Oscar McDonald (ankle), Sam Frost Doesn't bode well for Dunn in that he doesn't appear to be an 'automatic' for starting 22. Great to see Gus back.

Not sure where to put this but as it relates to last Sat this thread will do. http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/melbourne-demons-president-glen-bartlett-reflects-on-a-tumultuous-24-hours-leading-into-round-1/news-story/4268c29c3f4daaf6efab55ce51f8e52e Its a highly personal story that details the heart wrenching and heartwarming drama that our President and his family endured when his 19 year old son Josh went into cardiac arrest last Friday. After a harrowing week with his health, the next 24 hours were a parent's worst nightmare. Our President with Josh's permission attended the GWS game. Josh was having surgery when the ball was bounced. Shortly after the final siren Glen Bartlett received the call that his son had survived the surgery. It seems the medical team were in overdrive to save Josh. He now has a long road to recovery. Josh must be a quite incredible young man and obviously a Dees supporter. A quote from the article: " Following 35 hours in an induced coma, all he wanted to do was find out the footy score after he woke up." Very moving. It is an amazing story of hanging in there no matter how tough things are. It feels trite to say I wish him well as I don't know him. But I feel inspired by the story. And I hope he makes a full and speedy recovery. It was good to see Jack V in their with him this week. Hope Josh Barlett's experience inspires our team to give it everything they have.

Hope your boy was able to stay a Demon supporter!

At last Jack is getting some positive press: http://www.foxsports.com.au/afl/jack-watts-finally-finding-his-niche-in-melbournes-forward-line-emulating-adelaides-tom-lynch/news-story/37a7ec7d96bdaaa008bb8aba22340d49 An astute observation in the article: "Drafted as a deep full forward, played through the midfield and having had his best season across half back in 2012, Watts’s flexibility perhaps could have hurt his ability to develop into the footballer many had hoped he would become...But now, acting as Melbourne’s very own ‘Connector’, Watts finally has the ability to flourish". And flourish he will. No turning back now!

you mean the 1st round pick we traded away last year Re Hurley: How good would it be to get a freebie, first rate FA. Sick of them going to top clubs.

I wasn't talking about his performance on field (which I have never viewed negatively). I was talking about the way he has endured being at a club at its lowest ebb, the unbelievable personal media scrutiny, the fan booing. He was the public face of the club for most of his time. He has invested all of himself to the club and is no less a club man than others. I used 'Blood, Sweat and Tears' euphemistically to reflect all that and his loyalty. He could have walked to Carlton on huge coin a few years ago. He stayed. Having invested so much of himself I can't see him walking away now. And to put him in the category of contract year cruisers is simply unfair and not true.