Frawley? I thought he was very impressive.

He was.

morton out

maric in

Buckley to the wing!!!!!!!!!!!

We have a pedestrian mid field, weak ruck division and no forward line.

Now that we all agree lets work out how we adapt to that scenario. If our key forwards are being beaten and outnumbered why do we not have a system where an unmanned loose forward gets on his own and we kick it to him instead of to Miller who has three opponents.

To my way of thinking it is dumb football not to create the loose man and look for him. Whether it is the Coach's fault or the players' fault it needs to be fixed, or we will end up with a repeat of last years night game against Geelong where Aussie was our only forward playing on Milburn, Scarlett and Harley all at once.

We need a forward structure that can adapt to the main targets being beaten with plan two. Aussie, Maric and Sylvia may help but it is the structure and game plan that needs fixing until we get better forwards.

That said I thought we were competitive today and if not for poor disposal would have finished much closer to the Roos.

morton out

maric in

Buckley to the wing!!!!!!!!!!!

I concurr.

Frawley was very good.

Raffle worst on ground between Bate, Bruce, Miller and Johnson.

get a life son, bruce will play and Martin should next week if fit.. looked proppy in last quarter sat

INS - Martin, Wonna, Sylvia

OUT - Bennell, Miller, Buckley

Martin to play FF, Sylvia beside him, Wonna and Jetta with Bate make up the rest of the forward line. Put Davey in the midfield for some much needed pace through there rotating him with either Jetta or Wonna for a rest. Leave the backline, our strongest area by a mile. The midfield were ok today, just far too one paced for me

In - Maric, Martin

Out - Jetta, Bennell

Why drop two new players who brought a bit of excitement to what is usually a very one dimensional team. Both showed they could cut it at AFL level and deserve to play again ahead of others who had little to no influence such as Bate, Bruce, Miller and Morton to name a few. Keep the kids in!

get a life son, bruce will play and Martin should next week if fit.. looked proppy in last quarter sat

Martin played in the Key forward posts @ Casey on saturday. The fact that they took him out of the squad, (with Rivers back in the mix) & played Martin as a forward tells me that when we lost Jamar, then we took PJ who was being groomed to be tall forward & 2nd ruck, into the main ruck division with Spencer. This has no doubt thrown a spanner in the pre season planning works, where a now seasoned Jamar would have taken the bulk of the heavy hauling, with PJ the tall in the pocket.

Young watts would be left to put on some strength & conditioning for at least the first half of the season, whilst adjusting at the club.

Bate & Robbo it seems will be the tandem goto forwards.

Robbo must only be 1 week away from some gametime @ Casey.

I doubt our structural issues with the forward line will be fixed next week or any time soon.

At this stage, I'd rather go a speed midget forward line of Maric, Davey, Wonna, Jetta, Petterd, Sylvia and tall timber (whoever that is - PJ/Martin aren't forwards) instead of having Miller/Bate in there. Harder to match up on.

The most depressing thing about our forward line is that gone are the days of Neitz/Robbo getting double teamed and giving the other guys room to move - our plodders like Miller can be beaten 1 on 1 by their direct opponent and the opposition coaches know it.

Wonna wont be ready, wish he was though.

Just wondering why you think people don't agree on dropping Bruce? You seen him play lately?

I have and I think you have a MAJOR eyesight problem! You will be wishing for the WHOLE SEASON for the dropping of Bruce mate.It aint gonna happen. Like it or lump it he's a class player.

Wonna wont be ready, wish he was though.

Just wondering why you think people don't agree on dropping Bruce? You seen him play lately?

I have and I think you have a MAJOR eyesight problem! You will be wishing for the WHOLE SEASON for the dropping of Bruce mate.It aint gonna happen. Like it or lump it he's a class player.

Why drop two new players who brought a bit of excitement to what is usually a very one dimensional team. Both showed they could cut it at AFL level and deserve to play again ahead of others who had little to no influence such as Bate, Bruce, Miller and Morton to name a few. Keep the kids in!

Clearly Jetta and Bennell will play next week maric aint fit and martin got a few knocks didnt do much after 3/4q at casey jurrah is weeks away and Wona cant be seriously cosidered needs a week at casey when ready in 2 weeks

ins Newton Sylvia

Outs raffle between Bruce, Miller,Bate and Johnson yes i agree with that man

Our forward line was the major concern so we won't drop miller surely....

I agree with yze_magic though bruce is getting frustrating, He and davey will need to lift and play like senior players or suffer the same fate as Yze...

Sylvia is a must...

Try dunn forward again i think!!!!

Bennell and frawley out for mine.. Frawley is still horrible when the ball is on the ground

In - Maric, Sylvia

Out - Jetta, Bennell

These players should play 10 games this season, but really should be playing at Casey to develop any deficiencies in their game and play 100% game time.

Especially Bennel. He looks promising, but clearly hasn't got a perfect game. He won't improve those deficiencies playing 40 mins in the seniors getting 10 possies. He needs 100% game time at Casey.

Considering how poor our forward line looks, Sylvia and Maric are two important additions that makes us much more dangerous

Agree with all of that, including the changes.

ins Newton Sylvia

Outs raffle between Bruce, Miller, Bate and Johnson yes i agree with that man

Absolutely NO chance Johnson will be dropped. I'd bet every $ i had on that.

Fancy giving Spencer lone-ruck duties in his 2nd game, or even worse... playing Meesen!!!! Ha!

intrested to know about wheatley, whelan, bell, sylvia and grimes (and their likelihood of playing)

Nugget Jones and for anyone else who cares, Bell is still a month away.

He's keeping up his fitness but obviously can't do too much strength work.

Wouldn't expect to see him anytime soon.

I have and I think you have a MAJOR eyesight problem! You will be wishing for the WHOLE SEASON for the dropping of Bruce mate.It aint gonna happen. Like it or lump it he's a class player.

Class players don't butcher the footy every single possession.

Absolutely NO chance Johnson will be dropped. I'd bet every $ i had on that.

Fancy giving Spencer lone-ruck duties in his 2nd game, or even worse... playing Meesen!!!! Ha!

Well Johnson pretty much did that today no wonder Spencer ran out of petrol as for Meesen go down to Scorps before you start on him you may be surprised how he has progressed

I've got the inside word that Bruce will actually be dropped, delisted, and fired far, far out into the stratosphere from a cannon for his disgusting performance today. For anyone who wasn't there: early in the first quarter he had the ball and tried to take Swallow on, but Swallow hit him with a brilliant tackle and the ump pinged Bruce for it, but Bruce actually REFUSED to give the ball to Swallow, he kept screaming "it's not fair!" and "I hate you!" to Swallow and the umpire, and ended up actually RUNNING OFF WITH THE BALL (I think he was crying) and was never seen again for the duration of the game. This is the incident YM is referring to; I know some of you will try to make excuses for it, or even outright deny that it happened, but that's only because Bruce is the golden boy around here and you all just blindly defend him no matter what he does. Fact is, these kinds of incidents are becoming all too common with Bruce, and I'm glad Bailey's going to finally make an example of him by omitting him from the Collingwood game and executing him in draconian fashion.

With that out of the way, I actually kind of agree with the rest of Yze Magics post (seriously). Jetta should definitely keep his place. I would probably give Bennell a run at Casey to make room for Maric if he's ready; he showed all the right signs, but I'd like to see him go back and hone his craft for a couple of weeks against lesser opposition. I'm happy enough for Sylvia to come back in if he played well at Casey (I've heard mixed reports about that), but I'm not sure who should go out, so he might be unlucky. Bate and PJ were poor today and I'd almost even be tempted to drop one of them, if not for the fact that their potential replacements are Newton and Meesen, so we're just going to have to hope they come good soon (I'm confident PJ will, wouldn't like to guess with Bate). Morton was quiet, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt for at least a couple more rounds. Everyone else played well enough to keep their spot for now.

So, for mine:

OUT: Bennell

IN: Maric

EDIT: Changed my mind. Sylvia to come in if Maric isn't ready.

i didnt think Bennell was too bad but going back to casey will be good for him.

In- Dunn ( PLAY him forward!!!)

Maric

Out- Bennell

Jetta

Outs raffle between Bruce, Miller,Bate and Johnson yes i agree with that man

I try not to personally bag players, but I found Bate's performance today pretty infuriating. He still has no idea about how to make a decent lead, despite reports that he's worked on that aspect during pre-season.

There is no way he is the answer at full-forward, because he can't take a contested mark.

In my eyes, there are two options:

1. Play Miller out of the square

2. Roll the dice and give Newton another go

I'm not suggesting Bate is not a valuable contributor to the team, but he needs to be utilised further up the ground IMO.

Why does everyone want to drop Bennell and Jetta? - two of the best players on the ground IMO - some sloppy finishing from Jetta but at least they had a crack and where impressive for first gamers.. this reminds me of after round 2 last year and everyone was screaming for Garland's blood!! If you want to drop someone then why not Miller or Bruce? - neither had any impact today whatsoever.

I was talking to Stef Martin today when I bought my membership. Asked him about his game yesterday at Casey, and why he played forward. He said that the coaching staff wanted him to have that flexability to play forward and back. He said he found it hard with the delivery he got from the midfield at Casey, but was confident he could do a job down forward for Melbourne where the delivery should be better at AFL level.

The way it came into the forward line today, I'm not sure if the delivery will be any better, but we definately needed a tall target down forward, and as I said last week in the discussion about the side to be selected for the Roos, I think Stef could be it.

having said all that,

In: Martin, Maric

Out: Jetta, Bennell

Is there any chance at all of this forward line?

Davey Miller/Bate Maric

Wonaeamirri Sylvia Jetta

Strict instructions not to bomb long, with Miller and Bate as roaming forwards. Keep the ball wide near the forward line and take advantage of monstrous forward pressure and frequent ball ups/throw ins. The purpose of having Miller and Bate as dual CHFs is to have them create marking contests at around the 70-30 meters from goal range. Keep the ball in contested situations at all times and maximize the ability of our in-and-under midfield to utilize their tackling and contested ball-winning skills.

This would be a unique and thoroughly disconcerting (for the opponent) attacking game-style that focuses on time spent inside 50, rather than number of entries or marks in that area.

Thoughts? Feel free to flame away, but it's something I'd love to see.

Don't think Bruce is as bad as YM makes him out to be, but don't think he is giving us the output we require. If you look at Bruce's best and compare it to what we have been getting, can you honestly tell me he is giving us his all?