Older demon

I think if nothing else, this year has shown that age doesn't matter. Choco started the last 2 years saying that selection isn't based on your birth certificate. It goes both ways be it young or old. If your form warrants it you will be rewarded. Taylor Walker at his age is an integral part of the Crows forward line, Howe at 34 for Collingwood holds the backline together, Max at 34 has never played better, Lachie Neal is 32, Zorko is 36, Pendlebury is 37, Danger is 35, Tom Stewart is 32 Blicavs is 34, Gunston 33 the list goes on. If you are good enough and your form warrants you to play. The hope that youth and potential win games and flags is a false dawn. It is different to the past, where a youngster may be gifted a game because they are young The club has identified that it needs more players in the 25-28 range, as we have gone for youth the last few years. Those with short memories have forgotten the hole in the list, clearing the old guys, including James McDonald and co. And what a brilliant idea it was to make Grimes & Trengove co-captains. Rebuilding is more difficult than it has ever been, just look at North and West Coast in the last 3 years. List building and recruiting isn't a year-to-year thing. Recruiters have been watching players from the age of 14, monitoring their development as part of a long-term plan. Whoever the new coach is, his input into recruitment will be sought, but will be minimal. Time and time again, coaches are quoted as saying they leave player recruitment to the experts I am delighted that TMac & mewlk are back on board for another season

6 - Max Gawn 5 - Christian Petracca 4 - Clayton Oliver just kept getting better 3 - Harvey Langford ⭐️ 2 - Christian Salem 1 - Jake Bowey

On a sobering note I wouldn't be too swift to swing the axe. We have little or no draft capital to trade with. Cal and Toby will be the new blood and the lab talks about getting in more 25-28 year olds. A stay of execution and allow a new coach 12 months before making wholesale changes. It would be nice to find some players that can kick, hit a target and handball who know how to ice a close game

Please accept my thanks to Ghostwriter, Harvey Wallbanger, Kev Martin and all posters

Agree, axed is too severe. At this time of year, many assistants will not have their contract renewed. It is an AFL rule that the assistants have to be notified of their future contract status before the end of August. I thank him for his service, but as the club has declared they feel the need for a new voice, it is difficult to see any of the current assistants lasting beyond their current contract.

You know that Kal is in the state athletics as a high jumper? He clears 2 metres, which isn't quite Olympic standard but pretty damm good. At a recent training, he was available to talk to and when the conversation came to his dad and his ability to leave, Kal casually mentioned he had his dad covered leap-wise. And in the recent Casey game in Brisbane, he went for a mark that was too early and leapt over the pack. It will be interesting to see if, as he develops some size if he still has that freakish leap.

With today's result, Casey gets next week off. Unless it cancels eligibility, there is no reason for a Casey boy not to play in the seniors next Friday indeed, it may be good prep for the following week. The extra week means Sestan should be right for the VFL elimination final.

The board are responsible for the operation and governance of the Melbourne Football Club. The men's senior team finishes up this week. Casey has at least another two weeks and maybe beyond. The women's team has a season that finishes in November, and hopefully has finals. The AGM is in December, and Steven Smith has stated all along that he would, with board approval, ascend to the post of president. I see no deviation in this other than Caro trying to make a mountain out of nothing. Just because the AFL team is finishing doesn't mean the club goes off on holidays. To think this is disrespectful to our AFLW team. The CEO will take over from the current incumbent CEO, David Chippindale, who has done a pretty good job up to now. Smith is a current board member and conferenced in on board meetings even while on a planned holiday to Europe. Not a bad way to spend your first year on the board and then stand for president at the AGM rather than jump in cold turkey. Meanwhile, Guerra, while not in the job, is well aware of all the operational stuff. The membership has no clue how they run day to day, and nor should we. Yet we believe a journo who writes more opinion pieces than investigative reports (I am led to believe that is her favourite line), and no one ever goes back to check the accuracy of her whispers. Even Deddy has been critical of the stuff she dishes up on the other channel.

I have watched the first 12 minutes and will turn it off. We have the most unskilled ball butchers in this club. They could not hit the side of a barn from 10 metres. It is the same suspects every week. Apologies, but Brown has no ball skills at all. Jed Adams tries a bullet pass and kicks it straight to the opposition. It is like watching the seniors yesterday. Mentha showing a bit is the only glimmer of hope. They could clear 10 players from the list with a new coach, but they wont

6: Gawn 5: Rivers 4: Salem 3: Petty 2: Trac 1: Van Rooyen

Yes, it seems hard to believe we won so much of the footy; however, consider this. Chaplin said that not much will change except for a few minor tweaks that have all been mentioned. We are still essentially playing to Goody's game plan. Just look at the number of times we kicked long to the left pocket. May still kicks out long to the same side where Max is (with 3 hanging off him), and when he does try to pass it short, he turns it over. Unlike last week, we rarely ran and played on preferring to revert to the safe mark, ponder, short kick, then turn it over. I lost count of the number of times a player led and was ignored. The teams that have caused us the most heartache are the ones that always have someone running past. Kick the ball to position and rarely turn it over. Some of the vision and bullet-like passes inside 50 show just how much we need to improve and change our style. Some Wag said Well, Goodwin is gone, we cannot blame him now, well, he lives on with the type of game we play, which is obsolete . THis is why the board is correct in that we need a new voice and a radical change of game style and assistant coaches.

Because if they can kick the ball and not turn it over, they will get a game every week.

There are times when I really don't like Caro, and this is one of them. She makes stuff up, and most of her columns are now highlighted with "Opinion piece" I know Steven Smith and had a chat at a Gosch's training session before he went to Italy. He stated that he wouldn't assume the role at least until the AGM, as it would be too disruptive to take over on his return from OS. He was at the President's lunch on Sunday, let it slip that Italy was really hot and that he video conferenced into board meetings while on his holiday. Caro I call BS. She cannot have it both ways, either. You cannot say there is a leadership vacuum due to the president being acting and the CEO absent, then say Green is being dictatorial and overreaching. The fact is he was appointed to be president and until the AGM and elections come up, which may well be in December, he is the president, end of story. As for Keith Thomas, the moment he put his foot in his mouth, he was never going to be selected. Or did she neglect to say that? Her history of bagging this club, whether it be tanking, Goodwin and bad behaviour, inuendo re Oliver or any other opportunity to badmouth our club, indicates to me the best thing is to ignore her.

I saw Ollie at the game yesterday, and his cheek is still swollen, and he believes he is 2 weeks from playing. He aims to be back for the first week of finals at Casey.

I do hope Melk and TMac get offered another year. On the list I think there are 6 delistings from this year and only 3 draft picks. 3 off the list is the minimum and maybe we can get 3, 24-28 y.o. good players to join for next to nothing.

I heard the same rumour. Actually was told that a board member had coffee with Buckley after the 0-5 and am sure it wasn;'t to ask if Simon was coaching well

Well, I didn't like losing, but if that is the way we plan to play, I am sure we will win more than we lose. I can't help feeling we lack a focusing presence up forward. Petty was good, but we got lucky a few times, kicking high and long to Melk & Fritch. Max marking in the goalsquare scares backmen. It is early days, but Kentfield at Casey could be the one. Big, strong, can take a pack mark and takes no prisoners. Culley has been a surprise, but sometimes it is harder playing in a lower team to get a kick. His 2 games have been impressive. Windsor has shown how bad a decision it was to play him down back. He is a mid and adds pace to the midfield, as does Kozzie. Just need to tidy up their disposal. My other take is that 10 disposal nothing games aren't contributing enough, especially if you don't kick goals. Yes I am talking about Chandler & Sparrow. They need to do more and get more involved. It is evident that Goody's game style that won a flag is outdated and you need pace, precise kicking, disciplined structure and run and gun play. P.S. Max is simply awesome.

Gawn Rivers 4. MCDonald 3. Salem 2. Oliver 1. Petty

What has been lost in all the talk of who the HEAD coach will be is that no one has considered who the appointee will have as assistants. Only one poster mentioned Bucks with Sanderson as his tactician. Goodwin and his team were all on the same page with regard to tactics, training, selection etc. Goody did not do all this alone. Yze, when he went to the Tigers, was asked about being the head coach for the first time. He responded that Goody was on the boundary and that he (Yze) was doing all the coaching from the box. With Goody gone, the same coaching team move in and they aren't changing much. The process of the new coach is as much about who the figurehead is as well as who his/her lieutenants will be. Goodwin had Radford, Jones (both relatively inexperienced AFL-level coaches), Bassett, who had been out of the game a while and Jamar as ruck coach. Only Troy Chaplin has been a constant there, and he was moved from the backline to the forward line coach. Include Richardson, the team manager and Griffith as fitness coach, and you have the real scope of the coaching replacement project Newly appointed coaches like to bring in their own team and have to manage (read as deal with)existing coaches bound by contracts. All assistants have to be notified by the end of August if they will be renewed next season. We know Richardson has a year to run. Chocco is out of contract, and I have no idea of the status of the other team members. The combination could be a rookie coach, say Skipworth or Enright, with a new experienced mentor as manager, say Adam Simpson.

Why can't we take the players on face value and see that, as professionals, they can move on quickly? They do it every week. Recovery and review day 1, and move on and plan the next game 2 days later, irrespective of whether we win or lose. They assess and move on. That is what they are trained to do. What we think they are really saying or judging how they feel is more a reflection of our own thoughts and feelings, not theirs. If Max says they have moved on I believe him. I believe that the interim coach, having declared he is not going to apply, has been as open and honest as possible. He isn't going to change much, as it is so late in the season. They may make a few tweeks and have selected a largely unchanged side. Casey played a belter yesterday up north with all of the MFC players showing up. Look at the vision of the players as they announce Adams impending debut. They really don't look like sad, maudlin, woe-is-me victims. 7 of our last 8 quarters have been some of the best football they have played this season. The one shocking quarter has affected us all. I hope they have a red hot go, play good attacking football and start gathering some momentum to take into the pre-season.

Moving on assistants or having them out of contract helps if there is a new coach coming in. The new coach will want to bring their own team of assistants in with them, with a common game plan. Appoint a new coach, let assistants go and bring in the new team. I think there is a deadline in August where assistant coaches must be told if they will be re-employed or if they are to be let go.

After watching bits of the Pies game last night, I made a sigh of relief that we didn't sell the farm for Houston. He must be close to getting dropped, his form is so bad. So glad we got Langford and Lindsay instead

True, but what it did show was if the opposition is off or cannot apply pressure, the kids and the new attacking game plan can be devastating. When was the last time we kicked 10 in a quarter or 21 goals for the game? The week before, for 3 quarters, we played the best footy I have seen all year. The last quarter was bad, but again yesterday they showed it is coming together. Find a tall marking presence up forward and watch where things go, look at how Hawkins, Cameron, Tilthorpe, Walker, Darcy can/could set up the forward structure.

6. Gawn 5. VIney 4. Fritch 3. Oliver 2. Trac 1. Pickett Special mention to Langford and return to form of Windsor, TMac & Turner

Well, Caro is being Caro. The article is titled an OPINION piece, take it for what it is her opinion. The title "The fractured football club behind Melbourne’s eight seconds of madness" is full of statements, not verifiable facts, none of which explain why we stuffed up in the last 8 seconds, which is what the title implied. That loss was poor coaching, poor on-field management and no composure under pressure, which has been there all year. Max admitted that we have lost 5 close games this year because we haven't managed the last 2 minutes. Why doesn't Caro mention that the midfield coach, Nathan Jones (who I don't like criticising), was appointed with no experience or coaching qualifications? Does anyone believe we have improved our midfield or adapted to a new game style? I think this is where a lot of the problems start In my work history, twice I was acting in a vacant, very senior role, as was my director. I resent the implication that temporary or caretaker roles don't get the job done. We achieved more as acting seniors and introduced change without fear of favour. To imply that Chippendale or Green are lame ducks unable to manage because they are temporary is both insulting and bulltish. It does help to know whose contracts are up for renewal, and on performance, I suspect some of those expiring contracts will not be renewed. Goodwin alone is not responsible for every malady this team has suffered. I would defy Caro on the morale bit. Anybody who has attended a player function or meet and greet would see the group are as tight as any team I have seen. They support each other and dare I say it, share the love. Again, a cheap shot from Caro with no supporting evidence. That Steve Smith goes to the trouble of video conferencing in from Europe is a positive in my view. Guerra may not be in the chair, but I bet he is fed in on everything occurring while he he contractually bound to his old post. Keith Thomas shot himself in the foot, posting, and again, there is no evidence that he would be the best fit for the job. Change is coming; that is inevitable. Do we stage the changes, see out contracts and manage the change over a 3-5 year period or throw all the toys out of the sand pit hoping we can change everything overnight? There is rarely ever a quick fix, especially sacking the coach.