Port Adelaide v Melbourne

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I remain fearful.

I'm hopeful.

I don't want to be hard on Bailey, but after the carp we got served up from Daniher, I'm now somewhat critical of coaches. Even if it isn't always justified.

The fact is, Bailey is developing the younger players extremely well. I just hope that it's just a case of not having the cattle (yet), and that Bailey proves me wrong.

[Mono 455]

The fact is, Bailey is developing the younger players extremely well.

And your evidence is?

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

And your evidence is?

Garland

Martin

Valenti

Maric

Miller

Jamar

PJ

Warnock

Wonaeamirri

CJ

The fact is, he had the courage to play them, consistently*.

*WTF was he doing dropping Valenti and Maric this week?

[Mono 455]

Garland

Martin

Valenti

Maric

Miller

Jamar

PJ

Warnock

Wonaeamirri

CJ

The fact is, he had the courage to play them, consistently*.

*WTF was he doing dropping Valenti and Maric this week?

You make my point. And Wonna has not been well managed. He has had a shocker 4/5 weeks. Taking him to Port served no purpose; should have been given a spell.

[Rogue 585]

*WTF was he doing dropping Valenti and Maric this week?

I don't know about Maric, but I think Valenti's pace (or lackthereof) may have had something to do with his demotion.

[beelzebub 23,390]

In this other ecalP where things might seem similar but are tnereffid I wonder if the alternate yeliaB naeD has formulated his nalP...And I wonder if this nalP is already in place. Without doubt the honeymmon is over..and really it ought to have been come round one. I suppose in this other place we came out on top as the alternative winners of teh yearly contest and I might proffer that in a way we have. Now having achieved that lofty depth we ought not squander it.

We probably as a team ought not have any right to be positive and optimistic about the future after a year of upheaval and being belted from pillar to post and yet when the dust settles later in the year and the first minions turn up to train at Casey we might indeed look forward to 2009....as 8002 wasnt a whole lot of fun !!

Lets hope that next year is the journey from frying pan into fire..but fires of our own creation, the fires that come from deep down

Yes WJ..this has all been a bit Alice through the ssalg gnikooL.

[H_T 3,049]

At least you have a match report - nothing in today's herald sun (that I can see anyway) -

Perhaps it wasn't considered news worthy.

Disappointing display of skills by the Dees. (Stating the obvious)

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I don't know about Maric, but I think Valenti's pace (or lackthereof) may have had something to do with his demotion.

If that is the reason, it's pathetic. If a player is dropped purely becuase he is perceived to be slow, while others who butcher the ball get a game; then their team selection process is all wrong.

Give me a team full of slow, smart and skilled players over one that is full of athletes who don't have the smarts and butcher the ball.

"Valenti is slow" is almost right up there with "A Ryan O'Keefe type player" and "He bleeds red and blue".

P.S. Valenti isn't that slow. He's no Simon Buckley, but he more than makes up for it with how quickly and precisely he uses the ball.

[Weedster 174]

Well said Clint.

Over coached .... maybe. Poorly coached ....... maybe. To poor to coach ..... maybe.

Whatever, I am fearful for 2009. From where I sit, little or no progress has been made this year - and this from starting with schoolboy like floggings in the pre-season. I was a huge critic of Bailey and his coaching team, early in the year, but pulled my head in. Nothing I have seen since gives me much confidence in the team or the coaching staff.

And spare me the 'young, rebuilding etc' stuff. All the other under-performing teams have at some stage (not just once) put their hands up to say 'no more, we will not be flogged without a yelp'. We may lose, but we will 'fly the flag'.

Not our team. They don't know how to. And I will not put the blame entirely with the players.

Next year will be interesting; I only wish I had the optimism of many on these boards.

I remain fearful.

I too wait to be convinced. Bailey has had a charmed run IMO - rebuilding..playing the kids..developing list..blah blah..the simple fact is we've been comprehensively flogged on too many occasions this year (including last Saturday's dismal performance). Next year must see some improvement in game plan and strategy

[Pipefitter 2,213]

Yeah. Nothing in mondays either. We are pretty much playing practise matches tho. Its a waste of paper for them.

[beelzebub 23,390]

cant find the report ??? go to the Sorbent section

[dzzz 0]

we are part sponsored by the Age, so its probably payback in their own small minded way

[deanox 10,045]

You make my point. And Wonna has not been well managed. He has had a shocker 4/5 weeks. Taking him to Port served no purpose; should have been given a spell.

who else could we have played? with half our best 22 out injured, and another 4-5 on the sidelines. should he have played yze for 5 weeks? or do you think wonna has learnt a valuable lesson about how hard it is to play afl footy? if we want him to be a good player he cant afford to sit out everytime he isnt feeling 100%.

I too wait to be convinced. Bailey has had a charmed run IMO - rebuilding..playing the kids..developing list..blah blah..the simple fact is we've been comprehensively flogged on too many occasions this year (including last Saturday's dismal performance). Next year must see some improvement in game plan and strategy

charmed run? i bet he'd disagree with that. he picked up arguably the worst list in the afl, and cut all the NQR depth players that could keep it competitive. then he lost his two key forwards, his no. 1 backman cant get on the park, and throughout the year most of the rest of the team has had to sit out, sometimes for extended periods.

he has had the guts and the foresight to play young players and teach them afl. these kids are developing quickly. they dont have the bodies required just yet. they dont have the consistancy just yet. they dont have the afl smarts just yet. but he is teaching them those things by letting them play afl. some of these players wont make it. but at least we will know shortly which ones. better them try afl and fail than wallow at sandringham until its too late.

next year will likely be worse than this year. we will have no white, yze, neitz, holland on the list at the start of the year, and in their place we will have 4 kids. if you thought our kids were struggling now, wait until they get injured next year and even rawer kids take thier place, without the luxery of bringing in white or yze as replacements.

these kids will get more consistant as they get more experienced. bailey is giving them that experience. he might not win a flag. hell probability suggests he wont win a flag. but at least he is giving out club the best shot at it by rebuilding the list appropriately.

[The Emblem 1]

Looking on the bright side...at least we've reduced our carbon footpint!

[heartbeatstrue 57]

I have looked through the Herald Sun Sunday Sport lift out and I cannot find any mention of the Dees V Power match. That seems bizarre or maybe I am blind. I know we were thumped but surely that is no reason to leave us out. I hope I am mistaken.

It was an act of mercy on their part...

[mo64 5,881]

.....

You're missing the point. We're more concerned about the game plan and team structure that Bailey's implemented. To say that he's playing kids, blah, blah, blah... is a cop out for the coach.

The fact of the matter is, that when we had the senior players in the team early in the year, we were equally as insipid as we were against Pt. Adelaide, a team that were also decimated with injuries, and playing kids. So stop making excuses.....

[heartbeatstrue 57]

Well said Clint.

Over coached .... maybe. Poorly coached ....... maybe. Too poor to coach ..... maybe.

Whatever, I am fearful for 2009. From where I sit, little or no progress has been made this year - and this from starting with schoolboy like floggings in the pre-season. I was a huge critic of Bailey and his coaching team, early in the year, but pulled my head in. Nothing I have seen since gives me much confidence in the team or the coaching staff.

And spare me the 'young, rebuilding etc' stuff. All the other under-performing teams have at some stage (not just once) put their hands up to say 'no more, we will not be flogged without a yelp'. We may lose, but we will 'fly the flag'.

Not our team. They don't know how to. And I will not put the blame entirely with the players.

Next year will be interesting; I only wish I had the optimism of many on these boards.

I remain fearful.

You have expressed the fears that all of us will have gnawing away in our brains over the coming summer.

Can Bailey coach? .... little evidence so far.

If so, can he coach this Melbourne side? .... who knows.

Can Bailey change the pathetic losing culture of MFC? .... dunno.

Does Bailey even know that our culture is shiouse? .... ????

In those gloomy early days, I was critical of the coaching because I couldn't see any evidence of anything resembling a game plan. Nothing beyond what in physics is called chaos theory. We moved into a phase of some honourable losses. Maybe (hopefully) there was the emergence of something like a game plan suitable for developing a winning culture in modern footy. Over the last few weeks, grounds for much optimism has vanished.

Maybe the best that can be said about this season is we've cleared out the list a bit. Getting some young talent on board. Hopefully in the process addressing the culture issues. But those nagging fears will remain through summer. Does Bailey have a game plan that will take us to a flag? Do the young players we've got and will get in the draft have the skills and brains to execute that plan? Time will tell but ....

Anyway a fighting win against the Tigers at the 'G on Sunday would go a long way to making my summer more pleasant ...

[heartbeatstrue 57]

The fact is, Bailey is developing the younger players extremely well. I just hope that it's just a case of not having the cattle (yet), and that Bailey proves me wrong.

Whatever Bailey is or isn't, he is definitely a teacher. He's a thinking coach, but how many of the MFC players are thinking players??

[Tigers Dayz 2]

Nice to get that little game out of the way. The result was relatively as expected. The result confirms my beliefs regarding WCE last week, and if I may be as disgraceful as some ex coaches, say that that game was tanked, and that John Worsfold is the biggest LSOB ever to coach a footy club.

Anyway positives were; Morton, Buckley, and Martin who while beaten, keeps showing improvement and will be exciting for the future.

I thought our best were JMac, Buckley, Morton, and with reasonable efforts from Wheatley, Bell, Whelan, Sylvia, and Bruce who probably cancelled out Cornes.

The scary part, and it was extremely evident apart from our best player JMac, is the lack of hard, skillful, strong experience and leadership on the ground. I'm not sure how our young players develop their games to the highest level given the absence of experienced examples moving into the future.

Now that we have the PSD in our pocket and 16th place we can look forward to the draft. I hope we pick well, a lot of football dept reputations hang on this.

From next week the MFC can freely attack the future by way of selection and game plan. Yes, now DB can begin rolling out the real deal. I'm not too fussed who is selected, as long as the aim is to win at all cost.

[H_T 3,049]

Anyway positives were; Morton, Buckley, and Martin who while beaten, keeps showing improvement and will be exciting for the future.

I thought our best were JMac, Buckley, Morton, and with reasonable efforts from Wheatley, Bell, Whelan, Sylvia, and Bruce who probably cancelled out Cornes.

The best was Colin Sylvia by a street. Honourable mentions to Bruce, Martin, Buckley and JMac. Wheatley racked up possessions down back switching and transferring play, whilst Bell was one of the most ineffective - 65%. With only three players more ineffective. Morton was average.

[Tigers Dayz 2]

The best was Colin Sylvia by a street. Honourable mentions to Bruce, Martin, Buckley and JMac. Wheatley racked up possessions down back switching and transferring play, whilst Bell was one of the most ineffective - 65%. With only three players more ineffective. Morton was average.

Statistically there wasn't a great gulf between Sylvia and Morton other than disposal effectiveness 76% v 69%. I would probably expect that due to Mortons rawness but he did plenty to excite me with regard to his potential, particluarly in the first half.

As you state, Bell was statistically ineffective but particularly in the first half he spotted up almost perfectly everytime, while negating Ebert. I think he was over powered pressure-wise particularly in the final qtr as support began to fade. That may have lowered his DE% but he looked better than the stat indicated.

[Chook 15,023]

I too wait to be convinced. Bailey has had a charmed run IMO - rebuilding..playing the kids..developing list..blah blah..the simple fact is we've been comprehensively flogged on too many occasions this year (including last Saturday's dismal performance). Next year must see some improvement in game plan and strategy

Although we've been flogged in many games, there are only a few that I can think of where we've been absolutely terrible all game. Of our bad losses, we were good for a quarter against the Dogs, we smashed Freo in the first quarter over there. Every other loss, barring Hawthorn in round 1, North Melbourne a few weeks later, Geelong in round 18 and our games at AAMI (where even our best teams of this decade have been ritualistically flogged), we've been - to use a Bailey-ism - competitive for periods.

Even in our 3 wins this year, the only thing Dean Bailey has been interested in is how long we've been "competitive" for. When it comes down to it, we've often been flogged, but we've also been able to stay level or better than our opponents for short periods within those games. This indicates to me that the problem is not with the game plan, but rather with the ability of the players to execute it for periods longer than a football microsecond. If our game plan was crap, we'd never have been competitive.

P.S. IMO LOL ROFLMAO At the end of the day, going forward, with your Mortons, your Grimeseses, your Valentis, your Wonaeamirris and your Garlands, not to mention your McLeans, your Riverses and your Millers, we will have the . . . ahem . . . "cattle" to get the results on the board, taking it one week at a time, of course.