Straight Sets Simon

Just putting it out there while his value is high, trade Tom McDonald for say Adam Treloar?

Exactly, it's not just Melbourne. All teams do it (again I don't believe it is always best) it's just most teams do it well. For me, Australian Rules football is unique in that you are able to have players forward of the ball without any restriction, yet coaches today nullify that advantage by moving all players so far back.

I'm talking before it even gets to this point, when the opposition have the ball all forwards push right up into the defensive half of the ground. However, most of the time the deep forwards (Hogan who I'm not personally blaming) rarely actually impact on the play so when Melbourne do win the ball back he has to run back to the forward line. If Hogan didn't push up the ground (and his opponent) did then yes, the opposition would have more players in the defensive half of the ground but we would have Hogan (maybe eve more forwards if we were so lucky) on his own at centre half forward. How many coaches would leave a player like Hogan on his own in the forward line?

I realise I'm worse than PF about Wines but I wrote this in 2011 which refers to another post in 2007. Basically not a lot has changed in eight years and whilst all teams tend to push their forwards up the ground, when we do it it just never seems to work.

The bane of my existence. What frustrates me the most is the forwards run up the ground, then run back again without having any impact on the play. However, when the ball does come down they are either knackered from running so far or running with the flight of the ball instead of at the ball carrier on the lead.

I'm only bringing this up because I'm sick of talking about Melbourne, but can we all please now accept that curtain raiser games will not and should not return. After a few soccer games and the State of Origin rugby league game in June I've not seen the MCG look so bad since before the Commonwealth Games.

I haven't been this flat after a Melbourne loss for as long as I can remember. I don't get upset anymore because in the scheme of things it's not life and death, but I am extremely flat today and my love for Melbourne and football is fading. I don't have anything else to add.

I wouldn't be upset if Tyson was dropped.

Brock McLean too.

Wrong thread.

With some of the decision making by our players, yes I would prefer that.

Like I said in another thread, he's talking about Sydney who are coming back against West Coast. That's the game he watched today.

I walked into that one.

Roos just said the low tackle count was the most disappointing part of the game. Which game was he watching?

I just want to see players forward of the ball so that when a Melbourne player with the ball looks up he sees forwards leading at him and not running away from him into space. We need to get our structures right before anything else and nothing that Roos has done tells me his structure is right.

I've never seen a coach less emotionally involved in a club like Roos is with Melbourne. The day he leaves Melbourne he'll put his Joey Kennedy poster back up on his wall and his Swans membership hat (they tend to wear a lot of hats, even at night games) back on.

Did St Kilda have a loose man in defence today? Hard to tell on TV.

Melbourne played exactly as they did last week. Poor skills, poor coaching and on top of that poor umpiring didn't help.

He's got the Swans game on the TV in the box.

He's got value, we need midfielders.

Now the umpires are just guessing.

I'd trade Tom McDonald.

How is that not in the back to Jetta?

Paul Roos' ideal forward line structure:

I would have put the house on Garlett missing that.