Lucifers Hero

I'm back od but I stumbled onto the 'Radio and football racists' thread. It looked very dangerous in there so am seeking refuge back here with just the angst of my football team to deal with.

The coffee pot is on, od! Message to self: Do not log on to DL after a terrible loss for at least 3 days! Message to self: Get over Dawes incompetence

I haven't seen it on the MFC website where the AFL usually posts club/player articles. Do you have a link to where/when it was posted?

I'm still angry about how we lost to the Saints so I may be over reacting to this article on Jack Watts: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-07-27/was-criticism-necessary-asks-watts Jack's comments were clearly before the StK game (some were made months ago) but instead of writing the article last week, Guthrie waits till today after we lose to write another 'negative' article dredging up his past and our poor performances. The AFL should not allow articles like that to be published on their website. The AFL are there to help the game, supposedly! Jack deserves better. Rant over.

Agree. I'm still angry with Dawes. He lost the game off his own boot in the 1st quarter! What might have been if he got just one or two of those 4 bloopers right? We had to play catch up all day because of him and we never caught up.

With you 110% RB. Its easy for some on this thread to critcise Roos on 360. But 360 it is a 2 edged sword for him. On the one hand he gives us and our sponsors much needed exposure and gives supporters a bit more insight into the club. The flip side is he must dread going on week in and week out to explain the inexplicable - that his team were pathetic. Again! He can't say they are pathetic, that they are dumb ie lack footy IQ (except Watts), that the leaders go missing etc When referring to 'the past' he is saying the same stuff posters say on DL: the poor drafting, the dysfunctional club, lack of leadership etc I don't get why posters are happy to write this themselves but object to the coach saying it. What do those posters want - A public whipping followed by a public hanging! An important part of Roos job is to give Goodwin breathing space. Imagine if he handed over to Goodwin at the end of the year (as some want) and we continue playing like crap. It would be a Neeld like mauling frenzy by the media. No thank you!

The Bulldogs are doing what Port did in Hinkely's first year. Their talent was there ready to go. For various reasons, ours isn't It was interesting to read the table 'Song' put up. We are 10th for games played. But games by a handful of players: Lumumba, Cross, Jamar, Vince skews the picture. We are devoid of a 'generation' of players in the 23 to 26 age group (50 to 100 games). While I accept we have to be patient till we get that experience there is absolutely no excuse for our pitiful performances of late.

1) Lets face it he came to us because he was a mate of Neeld and Leigh Brown! 2) That he is 'much less a failure than Rodan and Byrnes' makes him a seriously, seriously bad recruit. Right up there with some of ourdisastrous high draft picks. What is more those guys did not cost pick #20, get a 4 year contract at 500k+ per annum! Dawes does not deserve to be on our list. On a value for money basis he should be the first to go, contract or no.

I heard on radio last week that soccer require cut grass to 10mm and aussie rules to 20mm. The 10mm gives the soccer ball a truer bounce and it 'skids' over the surface. The guy calling in (a sports ground curator) said 10mm is never going to happen on a field used for aussie rules.

The benefit of dropping someone and it making a statement. Grimes: "I do feel like it was a wake-up call and something I needed."... The club's coaching staff urged the 26-year-old to be more accountable on his opponent and not sag off looking for easy kicks. They also implored him to be more bold when in possession, and create the run and drive backline... http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-27/grimes-desperate-to-cement-his-place-after-earlyseason-wakeup-call?utm_medium=RSS Dawes is the first to dropped, then after next week drop Dunn. They are our senior leaders and are setting a terrible example to young guys. Bring them back only when they earn their spot. We lose with them we might as well lose without them.

Out: Dawes must go. He killed confidence and lost the game off his own boot in the first quarter. In: Fitzy to play either forward or back depending on where McDonald and Howe line up.

We had 52 midfield turnovers today! Says it all, really

Sadly, all the big clubs are monitoring Gus! Like you they are watching the other young stars we are developing. They are simply waiting to cherry pick them out of our list so that we can wallow at the bottom of the ladder forevermore. Hope died today.

Dawes' 2 terrible 1st qtr kicks to inside 50 and his missed goal were total morale killers. Must be totally demoralising for young players see a senior guy dribbling the ball to a free team mate and shortly after miss an unpressured goal from 20 mtrs out!! He gave up any chance of getting momentum back our way. We never recovered! So much for his leadership skills. Simply put, he must go. No need to trade him - just give him away, at least it will clear his massive salary from our cap! We can then use it to reward a younger play or fund Prestia/another player we trade in. We must get better value from the money we are spending on Dawes so sorry to repeat: He must go.

Swans are on a slippery slope: 52 pt loss to WC 89 pt loss to Hawks 21 pt ordinary win vs Lions 10 pt win vs Port 18 pt loss to Richmond Only 3 teams in race for premiership now and 4th spot on the ladder is now up for grabs.

Both coaches talked about the 52 midfield turnovers to the Saints. Yes, 52!! Lucky that wasn't a 15 goal loss!

Hird is such a bad loser and very poor sport. He said: "I thought Ryder was held for three quarters; I thought he was lucky," Hird might think it but it does not need to be said, even if it was true which it wasn't. I didn't think Hird could sink lower in my estimation. But 'playing the man' like that is disgraceful!

Just curious, which seats did you choose?

Have to agree with you LaD. In this case the legal process is yet to be played out on the question of 'guilt'. I prefer that process, the appeal, be heard rather than it be thrown out on a technicality.

It is inconceivable that the players may get off on a technicality: "...WADA can’t go to CAS on a matter that is still before the AFL appeals board. The key question, one being examined by lawyers on all sides of this dispute, is whether Dank, the 34 footballers and ASADA were parties to a single proceeding before the AFL tribunal or whether the case against the players and the case against Dank were separate proceedings heard together for practical reasons. Although the distinction appears prosaic, it could be the difference between doping allegations against the footballers being reheard this year, next year or not at all..." extract from LeGrand's http://www.theaustralian.com.au/sport/afl/asadas-re-run-of-dank-case-raises-doubts-on-wadas-pursuit/story-fnca0u4y-1227453100717 This sounds like the was-it/was-it-not a 'joint investigation' by AFL/ASADA all over again!! Its conceivable that 'testing' whether the two cases were 'separate proceedings' could be tied up in the courts for yonks. I wouldn't be surprised if Hird's legal entourage men were behind the Dank appeal...bog it down in the courts is their mantra! And EFC seem to have some influential monied people who helped before and may now support Dank. Le Grand has a history of writing pro Ess articles so lets hope this is a 'storm in a teacup' and that the 'separate proceedings' issue is just desperate people clutching at straws!

Looks like Jared Rivers will call it quits at the end of the year. http://www.afl.com.au/news/2015-07-21/rivers-runs-dry-as-cat-concedes-season-may-be-his-last- Extract: "He (Rivers) said he was aware he needed seven games to reach the 200-game milestone..."It’s a big thing for some people, and for me, who has had an up and down career with injuries and also playing at two different clubs, I’d love to try and get to 200," Rivers said. "It’s been a battle, but there’s still a chance to get there and it would be a proud moment for me." Jared was a great servant of our club, gave his all in the worst of circumstances. As the 200 games mean so much to him, I hope his injuries stay away so the Cats can get him those 7 games. Its a shame their last game isn't against us...we could give him an MCG farewell and beat the Cats, again!

There are many things the AFL can do to 'equalise'. But they seem to favour the bigger Vic clubs at every opportunity. This year the AFL introduced a lot more 'old fashioned' time slots (ie 2.10pm start). Well take a look at which teams got most of them, as their home games no less! Given that we (and) others have been banished from the lucrative Fri night here was was a golden opportunity for the AFL to give us a bit of a leg up with lot of 2.10pm times. They didn't. It would have cost them nothing. They just don't give a damn. Next year there will be a lot of stand-alone Thursday night games (as well as the Friday night ones). No prizes for guessing which teams will get those prime spots! Not good enough, AFL!

Here is the rnd 14 player reviews: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-07-22/vfl-player-review-round-14 Quite frank as always. Really valuable commentary to see how players are tracking in the coach's eyes. A few extracts on our younger players: Jayden Hunt: Jayden’s been a real find for us and he’s developed really quickly and he’s played three really solid games in the VFL now. His impact around the footy, particularly when he had some space was very, very exciting. Max King: Kingy had seven possessions and the one thing I really liked about his game was his ability to compete and bring the ball to ground. He was able to compete and create opportunities for our smaller forwards. I thought from a compliant point of view, he was good. Oscar McDonald: Every week he seems to get better in the areas we need him to focus on. Ben Newton: We wanted to challenge Ben with his work around the contest and his tackling...Ben’s playing his role, but we’ve got some things we’re really encouraging Ben to continue to improve on. Jimmy Toumpas: It was the second week in a row that he had high tackles. It’s an area of his game that we’re really encouraging Toump to improve in. These are selective extracts on my part. Its easy to see the parallels with how Roos is coaching the seniors eg Max King. I really like that each player is being given specific things to work on and assessed accordingly and not so much on stats. Real player development, at last!

At the end of 2013 they lost 5 players wanting to 'go home', including at least 2, 1st round draft picks. Mostly they got crap picks back from the home state clubs eg Docherty (Blues), Polac (Port), Yeo (Eagles)...have forgotten the others. I reckon they will base their case on this mass exodus (which was caused by their crap development and crap player welfare management). Their position is no different to us losing high draft picks (Cook, Blease, Morton, Gysbert etc) because of our crap development and crap player welfare management. Other similarities are AFL sent Swann in (Jackson for us), put money into the club (debt for them, Roos for us), supported a Board revamp. However, the AFL need Lions/Queensland to be 'successful' more than they need us to be. The similarities between the current Lions situation and ours will be conveniently forgotten. I reckon, they will get draft assistance...while its hard to see a contract for Leunberger being big enough for a high1st round compo pick, I can see the AFL using their 'discretion' to make it so. And no will give a damn what Melbourne supporters think!!

Perfect description of the issue: "So in a nutshell the AFL thinks this way; we will maximise attendances by matching up (large) teams to play certain (blockbuster) events and we will appease the ignored (small) clubs by other means. This may appear to end up as “roughly” the same end result financially but the greatest error in this judgement is there is zero consideration for ongoing brand development, marketing, sponsorship and advertising – let alone trying to attract generations to follow your team." No more to add, really!