Older demon

Well the website listed who was in the mix for this week and I reckon they named everybody in cairns bar Bradtke as a possible in. At least most of them will be fresh.

What about a bloke named Gawn! Do you mean vice-captain?

Ben has been brilliant. I was very disappointed with Max post match

The answer for this group of players is yes they are mentally soft. Downhill skiers who drink their own bathwater is not fair but they seem satisfied with minor achievements. Iy is irrelevant to look back over the last 50 years because ever era is different and the club has not been well managed over that time. This group is talented, have the best resources and are fitter than ever. Despite the criticism among his peers Goodwin is considered a good coach but I think on match day he is not a tactician or innovator. We don't tackle and our game falls away under intense pressure. I watch the lions with 2 down on the bench from half time guts out a win. Every player contributed. They went hard, harassed the opposition and to quote John Northey "had a red hot go". The same can be said for Richmond. As much as I dislike them, they have a system and everybody buys in and have a manic attack on the ball. If someone is injured another comes in and plays their role. I suspect Melbourne may have more talent, and these teams turn over the ball as much as we do, make mistakes and often do not kick straight but they never give away easy goals and every player is prepared to commit to the plan and contribute and persist. We do not! When we get into a good position we are unable to lift to that next level when teams come after us. I put that down to lack of leadership, attitude, commitment and being happy to play pretty football and be an AFL player which I define as mentally soft. The mental toughness needed first has to come from the coach who must be prepared to draw a line in the sand and insist on buy in and those who won't commit, move on. I do not want to hear him say that quarter was not AFL standard again it is an excuse I can no longer bear.

Refuses to chase or lay a tackle does someone have access to his season tackle count. Late in the last quarter last night in our forward pocket Allir gathered the ball and Fritsch ran past him rather than tackle him head on WAP effort

Ditto and can only remember the Grand Final floggings

Of a 4 day break a few need a rest or a chop out Out Oscar, Jones, Smith, ANB, Fritch who can stay out till he shows a desire to tackle In Hibberd, Picket, Pruess (Freo play 2 ruckmen and give Max some relief) Lockhart and Hannan

6 Langdon 5 May 4 Max 3 Tomlinson 2 Oliver ---------

Nothing ever changes!

Soundly beaten in all areas of the game, coaching, tactics endeavour and ball use. So typically Melbourne it just shows you cannot trust this team as they just don't have it. Freo outplayed Richmond last night but they managed to win ugly. If we aren';t on then that is it. There is no inner spirit or desire to turn it around. One passage of play summed us up. Late last quarter the ball spills from a pack and Allir runs and picks it up and Fritch runs past hime. Fritch refuses or is incapable of applying pressure or tackling and that is Melbourne. I believe we just don't want it enough. Sydney are well drilled, play to instruction and work bloody hard to get back and don't all hunt the ball. For goodness sake I saw Viney 3 times get in the way of a team mate in a better position because he was hunting the ball for himself. We are so far of being a tough, competitive regular finals team it makes me hurt.

Looked like a quad and that could be his season over. At 33 and reduced list that may well be the end. A former captain and warrior a true club champion.

Is it possible some changes are with the short turnaround time for the next game in Cairns?

Sparrow with a busted wing is out and we will be playing off a 5 day break so some may need to be rested given we front up for the next game 4 days later. The Saints have a 4 day break so maybe that will help us. My concern is that in the Dogs exploited us with the switch and fast transition and that the the Saints will murder us because that is their bread and butter game style.Lets hope the coaching staff are quick to come up with a solution to this. The backline is pretty settled except for Harmes who is out of sorts and probably out of position.. If not dropped he replaces Sparrow and Rivers comes in. Gawn in for Preuss and Mac is the backup ruckman and I doubt Jones will get up so soon with quad tightness. Look to the emergencies for who will come in. They were Mitch Brown, Mitch Hannan, Trent Rivers and Joel Smith. No real outside runners in this group Out Sparrow Preuss In Gawn, Rivers

6: may 5: lever 4: weideman 3: langdon 2: tomlinson 1. viney

I was worried at half time that Bevo at interview saw the need to make some change. They executed the plan brilliantly and we, as usual were slow to respond. Yes I know the coach had no idea and this happens to hime a lot but where are the onfield leaders as well.Lever is supposed to be the backline general, Viney may be hard at it but this footy smarts are non-existent. OK we had two shots at goal touched in transit, gave 2 50 meter penalties that resulted in goals and kicked 2 out on the full and Fritch missed two set shots. In a tight game these are coach killers. For the life of me I cannot work out why Fritch leads to the right hand side and puts himself on a horrible angle. Today we saw us get outreached, out played. We saw the level of skill execution required to get a clearance, have an outside runner waiting for the escape ball, kick long and accurately to someone in a good position. Once did Pruess direct the tap to Viney at the centre. He consistently got the tap and gave silver service to their mids. The ball in Bontempelli's hands is lethal and we have no one in the midfield to match that class. So much talent in our team squandered and wasted

6. Oliver 5. Langdon 4. Petracca 3. Brayshaw 2 Viney 1. May Apologies to Spargo, Salem, Hibberd and May

Terry must be running out of topics to talk about. He came from Hawthorn who pride themselves on not gifting players games and as late as this week Clarkson stated he doesn't like playing young undersized guys as they need a stronger body and bigger guys around them. Then there is Wallace the coach who at the doggies didn't have anyone over 6 footy tall which took them years to correct. He also forgets it took Hawkins 4 to 5 seasons before he had his breakout season. Key position forward is a tough gig and they take time Weid has had lots of injuries and is only now growing into his body. Sorry terry you dropped the ball on this one

6. Petracca 5. Oliver 4. Brayshaw 3. Lever 2. Weideman 1. Langdon

Easy to forget that May was one of the joint captains at GCS so he has some leadership background.

Follow up note. Tex got reported and copped a fine for hitting Max in the back of the head. Peanuts to someone on Walkers salary.

Swooper mentioned "Aside from that, he puts himself into positions where he does frequently get smashed into. There was a particularly crude effort last night where he was hit flush in the back of the head - no free, just play on! David King's old coach would regularly come out with the "just give Wayne a go" call, often around August in the lead up to finals." I will go one further Walker jumped into the pack with no intention of going for the mark and clocked Max in the back of the head with his forearm. Intentional, high contact and forceful but I bet no one will look at it. Max wears a lot. I also noted on more than one occasion May was in Walkers ear after Walker was throwing his weight around. Sadly that is all Tex can do these days as he cannot get near the footy. Goodies issue is when minions block max's run to the ruck contest as well as being pummelled

I think a lot can be learnt from the way Dangerfield plays in that he gets the ball and runs to clear the congestion. Clarrie gets the ball and credit to the coaches, they are asking him to run and gun with the ball rather than the quick handball off.I hope this is the next stage of his development and we see a new dynamic in our contested ball play. As noted earlier danger isn't a great kick especially set shots at goal. I wonder what Danger was like at the sane stage in his career?

6. Oliver 5. Viney 4. May 3. Petracca 2. Jackson 1. Weid

After that effort why should I care and bother. Port are on top of the ladder and we are so far off the mark it isn't funny. You could not train a team to be that inept, souls and lacking in skill. Beaten in every aspect of the game and humiliated by a team that is proud and has a go.

3 Gawn 2 Sparrow 1 Lockhart The rest were deplorable and again embarrased themselves the club and the few supporters that still watch them