Melbourne GONE in 2012.....

[ThePuppetMaster]

Alternatively, they could just turn on Fox Footy right now.

Liberatore, Smith, Dahlhaus, Wallis, Roughead, Jones, Dickson, Wood, Markovic... Being young and inexperienced doesn't prevent you from having a dip, and the Dogs are doing just that.

The thing everyone is missing is the discrepancy in performance of senior players.

Davey, Moloney, Green, Rivers, Jamar.

 

[MaddAdam]

Another thing they need to do is get over their history. Yes, back in the era of pounds and shillings they were a big side.

But nobody at the club now or who has been there for the last 20 years had anything to with that.

Handing out blazers and all that, rabbiting on about how they are the oldest club, who gives a stuff.

That's why what Brad Scott did by talking about getting rid of the Shinboner Spirit was important - it tells the young players that are creating their own stuff, builds that group cohesion, that sense of purpose.

At Melbourne you get given a blzaer - a BLAZER - with a portrait of some old codger from the 40s staring down at you. Doesn't really inspire you spew blood for the team does it.

 

[Scotland]

The thing everyone is missing is the discrepancy in performance of senior players.

Davey, Moloney, Green, Rivers, Jamar.

The Dogs' senior players haven't really impacted today's game like we know they can (Cooney, Lake are clearly not at full match fitness yet) but the team is still up and about.

Moloney & Rivers were 1-2 in the B&F in 2011 - Melbourne sucked in 2011.

Jamar was AA & runner up to Green in the 2010 B&F - Melbourne sucked in 2010.

Davey was B&F in 2009 - Melbourne sucked in 2009...

Green, Clark, Davey etc. were dreadful yesterday but it's not like they've been dismal for years on end.

 

[westbrom]

I can take another mini-rebuild.

There's no doubt that at the end of this season more than a few players will be looking for a new club.

I don't think Melbourne will be rebuilding... They will continue to build, but it isn't a rebuild.

They have the youth, they just need them to age, much like Richmond really, though I am starting to think the Tiges might be a year closer at the moment.

 

[Jentleman Geff]

LOL you get given a blazer?

 

[ThePuppetMaster]

The Dogs' senior players haven't really impacted today's game like we know they can (Cooney, Lake are clearly not at full match fitness yet) but the team is still up and about.

Moloney & Rivers were 1-2 in the B&F in 2011 - Melbourne sucked in 2011.

Jamar was AA & runner up to Green in the 2010 B&F - Melbourne sucked in 2010.

Davey was B&F in 2009 - Melbourne sucked in 2009...

Green, Clark, Davey etc. were dreadful yesterday but it's not like they've been dismal for years on end.

You give us Green, Davey, Moloney, Jamar and Rivers all performing consistently (like 100+ game players SHOULD) and we would be a much better team.

 

[Samsara]

I haven't read through all 18 pages but most of what I did read here is spot on.

Shameful.

 

[Happy_Neale]

Also, there were not a lot of Lions fan at the game, 7k max. Your eyes are deceiving you.

Think there might have been more than that there mate.

 

[Forward Press]

<snip>

That was an incredible post, I have to applaud its honesty and sincerity.

The great thing with drafting mistakes is:

a) You can trade them away
b) You still have the next draft to look forward to

Melbourne will get there - maybe not in 2012 based on that Round 1 effort, but the cyclical nature of AFL means that each club has a turn at the top eventually.

 

[Woodson]

Melbourne & Richmond gone.

Collingwood on the slide.

A Carlton/Hawthorn grand final.

And the round's not even over!

rephrase.. Tiges are carrying dead wood with minimal hope of scrounging 12-14 wins at best. Looking @ their fixture, I counted 10 50/50 games and Four Locks as wins.

Dees are in rebuilding mode. Can't be expected to leapfrog 5 spots just yet. Have them for seven 50/50 games with FIVE Locks (wins). Wouldn't think they're a Top 8 contender even if they won this week.

Pies haven't skipped a beat. Should be right up there in Top 4 contention. Just a matter of peaking at the right time.

Carlton/ Hawthorn GF.. possible.

 

[MaddAdam]

LOL you get given a blazer?

You can't make this stuff up.

MELBOURNE has delved deep into its heritage to reintroduce a blazer, which will be presented to all 46 players at the club’s commencement dinner at Crown on March 14.

The navy blue with red trim blazer will be akin to the blazers worn by the Australian cricket team. In Melbourne’s case, once a listed player receives a blazer, they will keep it with them for the rest of their career. In the future, new players will receive a blazer, while the incumbent Demons will retain the one they were given previously.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/129850/default.aspx

Seriously, can you imagine what must be going through Jack Watts mind.

They tell him they want him to "impose" himself, to own his space.

Then they give him a blazer just like he used to wear at school.

 

[Lockie]

Agreed. Melbourne were just plain rubbish. Whether or not they do manage to beat the lions, I'll expect the tigers to beat them, especially at home. Most sides should hope/expect for the same.

Perhaps part of the problem was that Neeld and the coaching committee just expected that Melbourne would win. In The Age today he is quoted as saying:

"You can't tell me that due to the fact we had an emotional week that the Brisbane midfielders were better than our midfielders. No way I'm not copping that".

Well maybe he just didn't do his homework well enough. Is their midfield really that good? Perhaps he should have another look at Black, Rich and Beams who was great yesterday. Who in their midfield comes close to Black?

Throughout the summer Melbourne and Neeld have talked it up, going to be tougher with the new coach, paying heaps for Mitch Clark, paraded the team out and about in the new private school boy look Melbourne blazers. Yesterday its reported at the luncheon "Life after Jim Stynes begins today for our footy club. As I told the playing group, we need to talk the spirit of Jim and we need to start to create some history of our own"

Perhaps the whole place needs to stop talking the talk and do something about walking the walk.

 

[whelan=legend]

Jeeze, all these Bulldogs comparisons over the last two pages are looking idiotic. They played pretty much the exact same game as we did. In it at half time and a terrible third and fourth quarters.

 

[Bombermania]

That's why what Brad Scott did by talking about getting rid of the Shinboner Spirit was important - it tells the young players that are creating their own stuff, builds that group cohesion, that sense of purpose.

I don't see North Melbourne moving away from the spirit, you only need to look at the membership ad shown during last nights game.

Culturally there are three traditionally conservative football clubs in Victoria - Essendon, Hawthorn & Melbourne, some may argue that Geelong should be included

Both Essendon and Hawthorn are willing to be aggressive on and off the field and demand success, Melbourne on the other hand tend to be more passive aggressive in its approach.

I think we do need to remember that most teams will get smashed at least once a season and watching Melbourne yesterday was a bit like watching Essendon during the Knights era.

I also think Brisbane is underrated, they have a good mid-field, last season they lead at 3 quarter time on about 8 occasions only to win just two and J.Brown makes a big difference to that side.

 

[scarecrow2k1]

You can't make this stuff up.

MELBOURNE has delved deep into its heritage to reintroduce a blazer, which will be presented to all 46 players at the club’s commencement dinner at Crown on March 14.

The navy blue with red trim blazer will be akin to the blazers worn by the Australian cricket team. In Melbourne’s case, once a listed player receives a blazer, they will keep it with them for the rest of their career. In the future, new players will receive a blazer, while the incumbent Demons will retain the one they were given previously.

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/129850/default.aspx

Seriously, can you imagine what must be going through Jack Watts mind.

They tell him they want him to "impose" himself, to own his space.

Then they give him a blazer just like he used to wear at school.

I actually think it's a good idea, I just think Melbourne are trying so hard to create history and create a culture. These things can't be forced, they just are.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Jeeze, all these Bulldogs comparisons over the last two pages are looking idiotic. They played pretty much the exact same game as we did. In it at half time and a terrible third and fourth quarters.

The Dogs played nothing like the Dees. The Dogs would destroy the Dees if they played against eachother next week.

 

[Forward Press]

Jeeze, all these Bulldogs comparisons over the last two pages are looking idiotic. They played pretty much the exact same game as we did. In it at half time and a terrible third and fourth quarters.

Where did the Lions finish last year? What about the Eagles?

 

[Cudi_420]

Another thing they need to do is get over their history. Yes, back in the era of pounds and shillings they were a big side.

But nobody at the club now or who has been there for the last 20 years had anything to with that.

Handing out blazers and all that, rabbiting on about how they are the oldest club, who gives a stuff.

That's why what Brad Scott did by talking about getting rid of the Shinboner Spirit was important - it tells the young players that are creating their own stuff, builds that group cohesion, that sense of purpose.

At Melbourne you get given a blzaer - a BLAZER - with a portrait of some old codger from the 40s staring down at you. Doesn't really inspire you spew blood for the team does it.

Bang!

Totally agree. These MCC flogs and Toffs that keep running the whole "we are the MCG" and "we created the game" and "we had the best team ever n the 50s" is as much a chicken feed argument as I can recall coming across.

The club is as irrelevant now as it was relevant 50 years ago. Time to get over the past and acknowledge how truly pathetic the club is in most facets. It thinks it's better than what it is, especially it's supporters. These people telling me to "back off the boys" and still have the capacity to say "I'll stick b the dees" is anything but constructive. What, because I am critical it means I won't stick by them?

I'm a sucker and I still find myself at their games, but the club needs some truly inspirational CONTEMPORARY heroes to lead it, rather than the heroes of yesterday.

I am not confident of a revival anytime soon, and I sincerely think the club is one of the most culturally damaging sporting clubs in the league in reference to the affect it can have on promising talent. The culture is undeniably toxic, especially patronizing to change and sinistingly unadaptable.

Nothing will change.

Yeah, it's only round 1, but when as fans do we start saying, "Really? Another poor effort? In round 1? Again? Really? Please, Melbourne, tell me how you're such a progressive, improving club. I see you haven't done anything relevant in 50 years. Shall I wait until round 2? Wait, you say? Ok, but you're always telling me to wait..."

Seriously, expecting change over time is fine if you're a Hawthorn, or Collingwood, or, hell, a North supporter, but when it's a consistent theme from a club where the change doesn't actually equate to anything, I can't help but think, "how about you stop talking shit and get the job done already?"

"It's only round 1" could seriously be the title of a book chronicling the club over the past 50 years. It's a tragic, and truly sad term I've become all too accustomed to.

When do we stop saying, "it's round 1" and start saying "get the job done?"

 

[ManOfClay]

Jeeze, all these Bulldogs comparisons over the last two pages are looking idiotic. They played pretty much the exact same game as we did. In it at half time and a terrible third and fourth quarters.

The rebuilding Dogs were playing a top four team. Melbourne were playing a Brisbane side in the same stage of development as them.

You'll see in round four. I think we're building a tough culture and will easily account for Melbourne if we have a forward stand up. Demons just seem like a soft, white collar organisation, like a pack of schoolboys.

 

[whelan=legend]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

Love all the panic button pushing in this thread. It's round one. At the end of the day Melbourne are one of 9 teams on 0 points. How we respond over the next 21 rounds will say more about the club than Saturday did.

 

[ManOfClay]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

Is that your excuse? that Brisbane might be a top four side this year?

 

[Richo83]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

You really are clutching at straws. As much as Richmond can blame the fact that they played a top four side, simply put, they need to be playing better.

The reason why this isn't comparable is because Brisbane are not nearly as good a side as West Coast. West Coast struggled in 2010 because of key injuries to key players.

West Coast have the best ruck duo in the game. They have an elite KPP, they have some good crumbers, a very good midfield and some handy backs.

Ask me this, if Brisbane and West Coast were playing tomorrow, and lets say for this poster's sake, they're playing at Brisbane, who are we tipping? It's the eagles of course, and why is this?

 

[scomac]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

Love all the panic button pushing in this thread. It's round one. At the end of the day Melbourne are one of 9 teams on 0 points. How we respond over the next 21 rounds will say more about the club than Saturday did.

With respect why cant Melbourne do what Brisbane did,Im sure the vast majority of your members agree.

 

[policegetthatman]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

LOL

Any top 8 side would have beaten us yesterday. We weren't good, you guys are just shit house.

 

[Forward Press]

Who is to say Brisbane won't do what West Coast did last year?

More excuses.

Take a lot at your fellow supporters like Cudi and Demonic Ascent - they are the ones who have their fingers on the pulse.