THE GAME - PS1

[Jarka 767]

Hold on, I thought we were only playing NAB Cup today? Sounds like we just coughed up a Grand Final. We whinge about things never changing with some players, but things never change with Melbourne supporters. Simply content to come in and whinge and look at all the negatives... about a NAB Cup game... in February. Oh NOES!!!! Season over.

Get a grip. I'm hurting just like anyone other Melbourne supporter, but I think we have some real positives to look at. We have a good young group coming through and we saw that today. We still have others to come back into the side, and we already look further advanced than last year. We lost and that sucks, but I think we can look at the season ahead with a little more confidence than we could last year.

Wise, this year we're playing for something more important than a premiership, we're playing for our survival.

Everytime we play a game, whether it be a practice, Nab cup or a Home & away game we're being judged. By supporters who will decided whether to buy a membership and turn up the followign week, by potential sponsors and by the AFL

I'm not expecting to make the finals but we need to be competitve and fight out games

[e25 5]

One thing today has decided - Valenti's career (at MFC at least) would have to be over.

As soon as a chance comes to elevate a rookie, it'll definitely be Spencer, NOT Valenti.

His only hope is that an existing MFC player goes down with a season-ending injury, that way Spencer will take that player's place & Valenti will be elevated at the season's mid-point according with the new rule.

Shame cos Val could be a gun.

[joeboy 3,163]

One thing today has decided - Valenti's career (at MFC at least) would have to be over.

As soon as a chance comes to elevate a rookie, it'll definitely be Spencer, NOT Valenti.

His only hope is that an existing MFC player goes down with a season-ending injury, that way Spencer will take that player's place & Valenti will be elevated at the season's mid-point according with the new rule.

Shame cos Val could be a gun.

No he couldn't .

Undersized and slow - just a player with a good build

[e25 5]

No he couldn't .

Undersized and slow - just a player with a good build

COULD not WILL.

fwiw I don't think he will either.

But there's a lot of ppl who seem to see something you & I don't.

Either way, it signals the end for him

[Wiseblood 24,637]

Wise, this year we're playing for something more important than a premiership, we're playing for our survival.

Everytime we play a game, whether it be a practice, Nab cup or a Home & away game we're being judged. By supporters who will decided whether to buy a membership and turn up the followign week, by potential sponsors and by the AFL

I'm not expecting to make the finals but we need to be competitve and fight out games

I couldn't agree more, but the responses on here tonight are borderline laughable. I hate losing and I'm bitterly disappointed that we coughed up a lead.. but when you consider the season we just had, the way we played today was promising. Morton, Spencer, Grimes and Cheney giving us something, McLean making a very pleasing return from injury, Garland and Frawley impressing down back, Bate kicking 4 from FF... I think the club can take a lot from the game today and lets hope they are cut deeply by the loss and they learn from it. At the very least it does show that we can take even a small sliver of confidence into the year ahead. No-one should be put off by what they saw today, which was a young side being overwhelmed in the last after running and working hard all day. Nothing to be ashamed of.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Either way, it signals the end for him

No it doesn't.

Valenti will get his chance.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

I couldn't agree more, but the responses on here tonight are borderline laughable. I hate losing and I'm bitterly disappointed that we coughed up a lead.. but when you consider the season we just had, the way we played today was promising. Morton, Spencer, Grimes and Cheney giving us something, McLean making a very pleasing return from injury, Garland and Frawley impressing down back, Bate kicking 4 from FF... I think the club can take a lot from the game today and lets hope they are cut deeply by the loss and they learn from it. At the very least it does show that we can take even a small sliver of confidence into the year ahead. No-one should be put off by what they saw today, which was a young side being overwhelmed in the last after running and working hard all day. Nothing to be ashamed of.

Agreed Wiseblood, young sides have a tendency to choke and this will happen again. A few of our blokes mad poor decision under pressure. Other than that most players showed reasonable intensity, our skill level looked OK, some young players put there name forward and we were more than competitive. We coulda should won but we didn't.

We still have players who continue to disappoint and who fail to show the necessary maturity and intensity and with this I am disapponted.

[Eastie Boyz 0]

No it doesn't.

Valenti will get his chance.

You have to question why he wouldn't have got it today though.

[felixdacat 459]

It was the absolute worst thing that could have happened.

1. We have the Youth Summit tomorrow. I sincerely hope this performance doesn't turn people away, it well could.

And of course young MFC supporters are going to be just too distraught from the fact that we were beaten by the 2008 Premiers to attend the Summit, because young people are so fickle.

Wise, this year we're playing for something more important than a premiership, we're playing for our survival.

Everytime we play a game, whether it be a practice, Nab cup or a Home & away game we're being judged. By supporters who will decided whether to buy a membership and turn up the followign week, by potential sponsors and by the AFL

I'm not expecting to make the finals but we need to be competitve and fight out games

And the Oscar goes to....survival pfft its the first game of the season and already the AFL, prospective sponsors and supporters are all judging us. OMG what ever shall we do.

Boo Hoo, you ppl are really depressing!

1. It's the NAB Pre-season Cup

2. We were playing the 2008 Premiers

3. They were playing the 2008 Wooden Spooners

3. We are rebuilding our team from the ground up

Do you really think we were going to win?

You are all carrying on like it's the end of the world. I hate that we lost too but whinging and whining about the first game of the year is a bit overly dramatic.

Last years game we sucked for pretty much four quarters of every game. Our first game of 2009 and we did all right for three quarters.

I couldn't agree more, but the responses on here tonight are borderline laughable. I hate losing and I'm bitterly disappointed that we coughed up a lead.. but when you consider the season we just had, the way we played today was promising. Morton, Spencer, Grimes and Cheney giving us something, McLean making a very pleasing return from injury, Garland and Frawley impressing down back, Bate kicking 4 from FF... I think the club can take a lot from the game today and lets hope they are cut deeply by the loss and they learn from it. At the very least it does show that we can take even a small sliver of confidence into the year ahead. No-one should be put off by what they saw today, which was a young side being overwhelmed in the last after running and working hard all day. Nothing to be ashamed of.

It's good to see someone who is able to balance passion with reason over the first game of the year.

Now I want every one to take three deep breaths....

Breath in ..2.....3...and out ...2....3 and

Breath in ..2.....3...and out ...2....3 and one more time

Breath in ..2.....3...and out ...2....3.

FDD

[grazman 7,395]

Agreed Wiseblood, young sides have a tendency to choke and this will happen again.

Senior players couldn't seal the deal. Miller, Sylvia and PJ all missed regulation shots at goal. - Some can say we choked, but Hawthorn had the advantage of a strong breeze and we only ever had a five and a half goal buffer, it wasn't enough.

[mo64 5,851]

The tradition of the mentally weak MFC continues.

Got it in one Mick. I was still nervous at 3/4 time, and was tempted to take the $10 on offer for the Hawks.

[Jarka 767]

Boo Hoo, you ppl are really depressing!

Melbourne's reputation in the AFL is for apathetic supporters, congratulations for doing your work to keep up the image.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

What I wanted to see was a competitive outfit against the reigning premiers slug it out and show that they can mix it up. I also wanted to see a strong effective midfield and some run from the back throught the middle with some purpose. Regardless of the disappointing result we have a number of players who could develop into excellent footballers. We have also discovered a ruckman.

We have some perennial offenders who make poor decisions under pressure. We also have a couple of players who do not play with enough intensity and a number of young players waiting in the wings to take thier place.

We lack system and efficiency in the forward line and we are just not potent enough.

[felixdacat 459]

Melbourne's reputation in the AFL is for apathetic supporters, congratulations for doing your work to keep up the image.

Firstly, its not apathetic to not overreact to the first 4 quarters of football played this year by the club (in the pre-season cup).

Secondly, I don't believe that Melbourne's reputation in the AFL is for apathetic supporters at all. In fact that sounds like a lot of passive aggressive nonsense to me.

FDD

[52k2 0]

People saying we have whinging supporters etc, its been forever since we could really mix it with the big boys, and if all goes well it will be a few more.

Can you imagine how many people port would get to a game if they had such a barren period. The same goes for sydney, brisbane, carlton etc

the fact that we hurt so much after so long says alot for our members.

The fact the we had yesterdays game sown up [in players mind] and we blew it will I hope be a big learning curve for the young Demons.

DB has alot to work with after yesterday, some players just arnt up to scratch, they will be replaced by our next level of players, eg Watts for Newton.

All is not lost, some positives and others just confirmation of what we already knew.

If you dont have your membership yet buy up and get on board its going to be a great ride.

[Redleg 40,777]

DB has a lot to work with after yesterday, some players just arnt up to scratch, they will be replaced by our next level of players, eg Watts for Newton.

That sums it up.

[Jarka 767]

Firstly, its not apathetic to not overreact to the first 4 quarters of football played this year by the club (in the pre-season cup).

Secondly, I don't believe that Melbourne's reputation in the AFL is for apathetic supporters at all. In fact that sounds like a lot of passive aggressive nonsense to me.

FDD

Really? Where do you live, Vladivostok?

[drdrake 3,156]

Although not happy we lost, I'm not at the same state of dire disappointment that most posters are at. The NAB is about unearthing players and yesterday we saw many young players that look to be good footballers.

Grimes very clean skills seems to have time when he gets it, he will be a very good footballer for our club

Spencer Didn't see him lose many hit outs rucked very well, a pure ruckman that can ruck

Petterd/Bartram both looked to be moving freely and I thought showed that they can be back at there best

Bate 4 goals at full forward

Frawley/Garland can play small or tall in defense I has happy with both

Bail looked clean with his disposals when he got the footy

Cheney looks like he can develop into that hard smalll defender with good skills. We have a back up for Whelan.

We are 2 years into a complete rebuild of our list, we lacked a creative forward once Aussie went down and a bit of pace around the clearances but look at the draft last year all quick well skilled players and we will see a few of these next week.

If you are expecting us to win more games than we lose this year you are dreaming, but if you are expecting to see the future of the club improve and make us competitive you will have an enjoyable year watching the MFC.

[jnrmac 20,049]

If we improve through the year like we did from Round 22 2008 to Rd 1 Nab Cup 2009 then we will have had a fantastic year.

I was impressed with:

Our tackling - sticking tackles was a highlight

Our ball movement - none of the crud from last yr. Moved with purpose and mostly, poise. Poor finishing let us down and the fwd line is going to be vulnerable this yr.

Our back line - has been a weak spot for a decade. Add a fit Jared Rivers and we will start to look good back there for the 1st time in ages.

Our endeavour and effort - worked hard all day and never gave up. Didn't see that much last year

Individual players - Bate, Bartram, Spencer, Cheney, PJ, Green, Miller, Garland, Warnock, Whelan - a lot to like. Some disappointments (COlin and Newton you know who you are)

We got hammered in last quarter centre clearances. That was very dissapointing and shows that we are still a long way off the pace. Don't understand DBs plan at the centre bounce. Our set up is weird. Too few on defensive side of centre.

All in all I hate losing but was quite happy with yesterday's effort.

[mo64 5,851]

I must admit, I was livid last night. But in the cold light of day, I've tried to work out whether the promise showed by individual performances yesterday, and even last season, will ever translate into consistent team performances.

Let's not kid ourselves. Hawthorn were playing at half rat power for 3 quarters, but when they decided to pull the finger out, we went back to being an uncompetitive rabble. The level of intensity displayed by the Hawks in the last quarter is probably 60% of what we should expect from our opposition during the season proper.

Individual Performances - Positives

Spencer, Grimes, Cheney, Martin, and Frawley all showed promising signs. When you add Garland, Jones, Maric, Morton, Wona, Watts, Strauss, Blease and Jetta, we have a core group of players that could potentially become very good AFL players.

But if we rewind 3 seasons, we were saying the same thing about McLean, Sylvia, Rivers, Davey in addition to our larger group of established senior players.

Whether this potential amounts to onfield success, is questionable.

Individual Performances - Negatives

Miller, Bell and Warnock all fall into the try-hard, coach's pet category, but continue to make the same mistakes. It frustrates the hell out of me to watch them play.

Newton and Sylvia - Even more frustrating than the try-hard group. Newton is a lost cause, and Sylvia has about 10 weeks to show whether he's worthy of being on our list.

Team Performance

Very little to get excited about.

Despite having a dominant ruckman, we couldn't win the centre clearances when it mattered. Symptomatic of last year, and the responsibility lies with the coach.

Overuse of the ball through handball. Players under little pressure handballing to a stagnant target is senseless. Again, symptomatic of last season. If it isn't a coach's directive, then he isn't getting his message through to the offending players. Either way, the responsibility lies with the coach.

Usually at this time of the season I'm more interested in the promise shown by the kids. This season I'm more concerned about the team performance.

[stranga 328]

Worst players on our list are Miller, Sylvia, bell and Batram. Together they cost us the game today with their poor efforts, decision making and skills. I personally have had enough of watching these guys play and im desperate to see them replaced by the likes of grimes, Watts, strauss and bennel.

Dean Bailey spoke at the members info night about him wanting players who can cope with pressure situations and step up when it counts. Well these blokes showed today they do not fit in with the direction we are going.

[Redleg 40,777]

There is a clear upside to yesterday and other games like it. It allows us to see who are never going to make it and who might. Some players out there are just not good enough. Luckily we have a number of others who can be given a try.

It is up to the Coaches to keep trying out the list to determine who has a future with the club and who doesn't. Softly earned reputations should count for nothing. If you are not good enough you don't play, end of story. Of course I don't put a 17-18 year old recruit in that category as they need game time to show their wares and time to improve physically. I am really talking about the 3 year plus players.

In the last two weeks when I add previous performances I have just about written off Newton. He doesn't seem to have it. Sylvia is a few steps behind him. I am as guilty as everyone else in talking up players who don't perform and I am truly sick of posts labelling a Demon a champion after drafting or having played one fair game.

I feel our recruiting has been good the last two years and if it continues we will see a brand new team in a few years. The likes of Spencer, Grimes, Cheney, Aussie, Frawley, Martin, Garland, Bate and their fellow recent draftees will lead the way.

I can see exciting times ahead but only when we become fairly pragmatic with who stays and who goes.

[rpfc 28,239]

Bate was fantastic at FF. Should be played there for the whole year, or until Robbo is fit enough, if he ever is.

Jarka - Perspective is not apathy. They played an awful quarter of football, but it is an NAB cup game against a good team that must have been chastened after their awful third quarter.

The MFC looks an improved unit.

That is good enough for me at this stage.

[titan_uranus 24,963]

For the first three quarters, there was something to like about Melbourne. But that last quarter was a lapse into 2008 territory, and makes me feel as though the real Demons showed up in the 4th quarter.

Whilst Hawthorn's kicking for goal was good (if a bit fluky), ours was shocking at times. 9 scoring shots in the first quarter, only 4 goals. When you're a club like Melbourne, you cannot afford to miss your shots when you get it inside 50, especially when you're playing teams like Hawthorn. That is an area of our game that has to be attended to immediately.

I would love someone at the club to justify signing Newton for another 2 years. I cannot stand him. He is a hack, has never played a good game, doesn't have a second effort, tries too often to take a speccie, doesn't present himself properly, can't mark, can't kick for goal, doesn't impose himself on the game, goes missing for too long, and above all, just isn't skilled enough. Upon what basis did he get a new contract?

[Wiseblood 24,637]

For the first three quarters, there was something to like about Melbourne. But that last quarter was a lapse into 2008 territory, and makes me feel as though the real Demons showed up in the 4th quarter.

Whilst Hawthorn's kicking for goal was good (if a bit fluky), ours was shocking at times. 9 scoring shots in the first quarter, only 4 goals. When you're a club like Melbourne, you cannot afford to miss your shots when you get it inside 50, especially when you're playing teams like Hawthorn. That is an area of our game that has to be attended to immediately.

I would love someone at the club to justify signing Newton for another 2 years. I cannot stand him. He is a hack, has never played a good game, doesn't have a second effort, tries too often to take a speccie, doesn't present himself properly, can't mark, can't kick for goal, doesn't impose himself on the game, goes missing for too long, and above all, just isn't skilled enough. Upon what basis did he get a new contract?

We would be kidding ourselves as supporters to think that one pre-season will turn the club around COMPLETELY. The first 3 quarters showed the improvement, but the lapse is something that will take time to get rid of. It's not something that will vanish in a few months. I'll take 3 good quarters in the first hit out of the year any day of the week, especially after last year. We HAVE improved, but with a young list, consistency will still be a long way off. Be patient.

Your second paragraph is spot on though. We wasted too many chances in front of goal, and that is one area we need to work on. Against the good clubs you simply can't do it.