Pirlo

We've just beaten the worst team since Melbourne 2013 to escape the bottom 4, and have won about 7 of our last 25 games despite having 15 Premiership players suit up every week. We also just lost a game we were winning by 46 points at 3QT to a team just as bad as us. In what world is this "knee [censored]"?

Every decision could be disastrous. Not making a decision, however, is unforgivable. The club has been festering in more ways than one since the flag, we need and deserve change. President, CEO, senior coach and presumably head of football next. That's a fair old sign of change.

And all the other papers who reported it at the same time?

Hope whoever takes the reigns this weekend has been tasked with giving the young/fringe guys a chance for the next coach to see. Goodwin may well have been sacked now rather than in three weeks so that he didn't run the same guys into the ground to improve our W/L.

Sick of this. It has been reported everywhere, the journalist was told by someone at the club. Journalists have always broken news.

Thrilled for the future but sad for the past. Thanks, Simon. Always an icon of this club. Just hope the power brokers get the next one right now.

Sorry to be horrible, but that Eagles game was always going to mean less than nothing. They were abysmal and totally incapable of bringing the game to us. I suspect Goodwin won't change much because he knows he needs a scalp to present to the board at the end of the season as evidence we're going okay. With that in mind, I suspect it'll just be Lindsay for Sharp and Culley to sub. What I'd do, given I support Melbourne and not the ambition of a group of coaches to keep their jobs by running older blokes into the ground, is as follows: McVee - Petty - Turner Lindsay - McDonald - Bowey Langford - Viney - Langdon Petracca - Jefferson - Chandler Melksham - JVR - Culley Gawn - Windsor - Rivers Campbell - Oliver - Salem - Howes Sub - Mentha Out: Melksham (managed), Sparrow (omitted), Sharp (omitted) In: Jefferson, Campbell, Mentha

The basketball injury from 10 years ago when he was a teenager? What an absolute joke to bring that up.

Why counter speed with speed when you have the best starting centre square combination in the league!* *Four years ago

I still respect Petracca's standards and ability, but watching him on Instagram it is pretty clear football is no longer his no1 priority. I don't really blame him. He trains hard and is in great condition + he saw how quickly he could lose it all last year + he has a contract until he's 34 so there's no real need to graft for a club he's no longer totally invested in. But that doesn't mean I respect it as an MFC supporter. Oliver is a shadow of himself and has been for years now. That final moment last week was emblematic. Whatever he once had seems to be gone. The club has bent over backwards to shield him from scrutiny after the tough love approach at the end of 23 didn't work. Say what you will about either of them, but it is the most MFC thing ever that our two best midfielders since Flower have gone from young superstars with AAs and BnFs coming out of their arses to contractual millstones when they should be at their prime.

It was terrific seeing him start at the centre bounce for the first few goals the other day. Finally a bit of faith in the kid. He wasn't a superstar in a position he rarely plays, and he was subbed for perhaps the least effectual sub on the list in Spargo. They are absolutely butchering his confidence in real time, and for what? These are dead rubbers, but Goody just has to get minutes into his old favourites come what may while talking rubbish about "being a team in transition".

Every time Langford is interviewed post game by the media team, he talks about "working on our defence". The groupthink is insane.

IMO we will thump them and Goody in his presser + Max on the socials/MMM will discuss how important it was to "respond", "get back on track", and "do something to make our supporters proud again". We've seen it before with easybeats, most recently the Roos. Thankfully WCE are so bad that the media is unlikely to give them the usual amounts of grace. To be clear, I love Max Gawn, but I was incredibly disappointed with the way he tried to palm off the last quarter on MMM by cracking jokes and talking about "momentum".

Lol no he didn't. "The game was there for the taking, we'll work to become more ruthless". He is a simpleton, to put it kindly

You want to rob Williams of his pension?? He is so funny to me. We've got absolute [censored], uncredentialled line coaches, and a flag-winning development coach who appears to do absolutely nothing useful in training or on game day. Just throws taped up footys at blokes.

We've already lost 15k since 2021. 70k down to 55k. The club did nothing about it. Why would they start now?

There is nobody in charge. The incoming President doesn't really want to do the job, and the CEO has never seen the inside of a football club.

Taken us from a flag and high standards to an absolutely insipid, low-performance environment within four years. I wanted a flag my whole life and now I hate the coach who led it.

Picking Petty as a forward is the definition of cowardice from the senior coach. He is absolutely desperate to pad out or win/loss record this season.

Hasn't Rayner always been insanely strong in the contest and a thumping kick? Is Kolt either of those things?

Still nothing, and Goodwin didn't sound anywhere near as certain last week as he has previously. Any ITK to soothe my fears? I thought Judd looked well off the boil in the first quarter, wasn't running or chasing, but he improved by the end.

McVee - Petty - Turner Bowey - McDonald - Salem Langford - Oliver - Langdon Chandler - Jefferson - Petracca Melksham - JVR - Fritsch Gawn - Pickett - Rivers Viney - Lindsay - Windsor - Mentha - (Sharp) Out: May (inj/sus), Tholstrup In: Petty, Mentha Petty should be in defence, he has no future as a forward. Mentha fills a need and this is the right time for a debut even if he didn't set it alight at Casey today. Lindsay has had his rest and can play the full game. Sharp is only good as sub.

No it doesn't. Tribunal means it didn't fit the matrix. Its a better result than Christian prejudicing it with a ruling.

Jordon always had two weapons and everyone knew about them. He could kick it 50 metres and he could run all day. That wasn't so valuable on the MCG when teams just set a man down the line on his wing, but is much more important at the SCG which has 10 fewer metres at each end. Sydney saw his attributes and decided he could be a contributor. That's what good scouting is. Bedford told us he wanted to leave, he had plenty of admirers at MFC. He was a victim of the 2022 "let's never, ever rotate a Premiership player, even if they can barely run they're so tired/injured" policy.

On balance he is still unlikely to make it, but key forwards really do take time and the best chance he has of setting himself up for a break out season next year is to stay in the side and learn from Melksham and what is looking like a rejuvenated Fritsch at last. I worry that confidence will always be an issue for him, but the best way to give him a monster pre-season is to have him in the side.