Pipefitter

Holland has no place in any football side in 2008.

Agree with the poor draft point. Id rather have Col then tenace, dunn or clarke. At least he has some scope for improvement. The others are either continually injured or reserves players at best.

Yeah hes a bit off a lot of the times, but hopefully when we start executing the gameplans properly our midfielders will have a bit more space to work with and will start looking more like rolls royces than corrollas.

I really dont mind them playing an open forward line like that. Theres no one else who can really kick the goals anyways. Force turnovers, quick kicks into f50 to one on one contests.

Hehehe there was a paddock of room in the mcc yesterday. Dont think it was blocking anything.

Pretty sad to see an unmanned melbourne fc membership table in the mcc yesterday. Would have done the dual signing if someone was actually sitting there. The club doesnt do themselves any favours eh?

You cant delist/trade everyone. Im thinking they prob have a 1-2 year clean out plan depending on form etc on certain players. Why would you cash in all your chips at once?

Catch ya green!

When did he say that?

I dont think he has past the kid maturity yet has he?

Im not saying this is all true, its just an opinion mate. Not many business's are entirely truthful and transparent are they? And in the dees situation its prob in their best interest to spin doctor a bit.

I went to the game, and it sucks to lose like we are but im not as upset as the rest of the mob here. Much like carlton not admitting to tanking, Melbourne are not admitting to the quite obvious rebuilding stage we are in. Financially we are in no position to come out and say we are writing the next few years off. But we are. Heres some of my thoughts. Those of you thinking the team didnt try or had no heart where looking at the scoreboard not the play. I think the efforts of MOST of the players was there, problem lying in the fact they are very much struggling with a new gameplan and dont have the cattle to execute it at the moment. Think about how quickly team tactics are brought in then thrown away in the modern game, and also how quickly teams can rise and fall. What i saw today and last week were teams that were in our position a few years back trying to get a grasp of a game plan (yet being made like 2nd rate fools in the process) actually blossoming within that gameplan after a few years travelling together in the same direction. I really dont think we played as bad as the scoreline indicates, they just were able to carry out a plan for 4 quarters and looking well drilled. This kind of movement of the ball didnt happen overnight, and teams like the hawks and bulldogs were smashed for a while before it clicked. Have a look at the team on the field today compared to your standard dees team of the last few years. Everyone cried out to remove "dead wood" such as ward, godfrey, ferguson, bizzell etc. Sometimes having these people in the team actually helped us win, not thru individual talent, but EXPERIENCE. Just knowing how to contribute etc. While keeping these players on our list the younger players like dunn, garland, buckley, newton, bode who everyone has been taking to with a blowtorch where left to play at sandy. Which raises another issue. With the continued success of our VFL affiliate with reliable KPP etc, these guys never got the proper chances to grow in confidence, play full games etc. Now with our dead wood depth players gone these kids have been thrown to the lions and for the bulk of you guys to attack them is riduculous and completely premature. This is going to be a horror year, this we can be certain of. Its something the club has put off for years with continual band aid solution to keep us competitive, occasionally exciting supporters with a finals appearance etc. Our new coaching staff came in knowing like most our senior players are not going to give us a premiership. Are players like bruce, green etc not as good as we hoped through just a general overrating of them, or where they poorly developed? Im leaning towards the latter as over the last 10 years we get glimmers of hope from draftees like them and the mcleans etc and then they just flatline. I think bailey is aware of this and his goal has always been to TEACH. Hopefully some old dogs can learn some new tricks, though its probably too late for them. Lets hope he gets onto mclean and sylvia before its too late to fully reach their untapped potential and for our under 21s to look up to leaders like them and form a new melbourne culture. Im rambling a bit, so ill sign off. I hope you guys can look at this and see a bigger picture.

Looks fit to me mate. He did a sprint to the bench that would have put some track stars to shame. Out of position? Who knows with this kid.

Was happy to see him dragged too. Who continually flies for screamers in the rain? He was struggling to hold the ball on a lead let alone the air. I was sorta happy to see his determined fist pumping after kicking a nice goal in the 2nd tho i think it was more self congratulation.

Rarely sighted yes tho i dont think he or anyone knew where he was playing. Tackled 3 players in a row in the 1st quarter while others stood around. Give him a position and more importantly time.

If Brad green isnt turned into a forward i cant see why we are keeping him. He is an absolute nothing player on the wing.

6 - Carroll 5 - McDonald 4 - Morton 3 - White 2 - Wheatley 1 - Miller

Terrible thread. Get a carlton membership mate. Im here to win.

Put in a stinker today. Looks like he was hungover or something. Was outmarked one on one constantly, poor awareness and leadership. The fire in the belly wasnt there. He didnt look too upset about his misfortunes. I guess its easy to get used to tho when we've one 5 games in the last year and a bit including pre season.

Do we even have a half forward line?

Morton - Like most of our draftees last few years is light, but that changes quickly. look at dunn now. Hes gonna be GOOD. Sylvias first quarter - work in close was top notch, but was then moved to the forward line? Puzzled. Carroll - He was on fire today.

Is Jamie Shanahan the answer to our problems?

Check the ins and outs thread for my 2 cents on this...

Guys, we gotta stop just blindly saying oh how could you drop moloney, why OH WHY, he tried so hard etc etc. I love the guy but he's direct opponent on the day was chance bateman, which most of you dont realise seeing he was NOWHERE near him at any stage of the day, and you might want to compare the stats. Bailey is sticking by playing FIT players. Rivers hasnt played for a year, let him have a few weeks to get up. Theres a difference between fitness and match fitness. He'll be back before we know it. Its not round 22, theres no need to be chucking in half fit players for no reason. One thing to remember guys is that although most have us and the media have thrown melbournes finals hopes in the bin, and rightly so, im pretty sure the dees havent consigned to this fact and will be continuing to follow "Baileys Master Plan" to be up and running in the 2nd half of the season, not out of the gates and falling in a heap. Chin up guys, lets see how the selected players respond this week!

Id give my left nut to have him in our colours.