Watching the MFC vs Filth replay now.

1st qtr:

Wow the ball movement is great, fast, direct and accurate. It was like circle work for both teams.

- Our defense dominating Pies forwards during whole qtr. Warnock, Martin and Rivers all taking marks over pies direct opponents. Stef in particular was good.

- Millar and Bate were both leading up really well. Millar around fwd 50 Bate up to the wings and centre.

- Our skills (dropping mark in centre sqr, turn overs) lead to Pies shots on goal. Needs to be a lot better from us.

- Spencer while not doing to much showed glimpses he can develop into a good ruckman. Has decent pace and will improve his skills.

- Sylvia had a decent 1st qtr was getting some of it in the middle then up fwd.

- Two easy misses to Millar and Sylvia should have been goals! Goes back to our skills needing to improve.

- We need a crumbing fwd ASAP.

2nd qtr:

Things are starting to turn around early. We still look good and are playing the same quick movement, accurate passing game but Pies are getting the ball more often and having shots on goal.

- Our 1st goal in 2nd, Morton had it 3 times and Bruce 3 times from fb to ff. Looked great.

- 1st 6 goals have come from marks in the fwd 50!!!

- Starting to bomb it long into fwd 50, not finding targets up fwd as we were in 1st qtr. Again missing the crumber.

- Cheney horrible kick out but can be forgiven.

- Bate good mark in centre, just a stupid handball to Green who was slammed in a tackle as soon as he had hold of it. Bate is playing really well still leading up to the wings and centre though.

- Davey great run down but leads to a turn over in fwd 50 gggrrr.

- Didaks goal 5 mins to go in half.... far out you could see it coming a mile away he was going to run around. Not one player positioned himself near enough to put pressure on him.

- Martin still dominating in the air. Pettard playing well.

End of the half, Our midfield was on top besides in the ruck. Bate and Bruce our best, with Davey, Martin, Morton and Millar all good.

Best half a footy we have played since I was at the Freo game last season. Winning the ball in tight, finding players by hand in close, lots of run with the ball, our fwds leading up really well just our goal kicking was the only real downer from that half. We should have 3 more goals on the board 2 from set shot and one from Jones out of bounds on the full in the last 30 seconds. Also how was Moloney not rewarded for the tackle on Swan with 40 seconds to go for Swan deliberately handballing out of bounds??

3rd qtr (not looking forward to this bit!):

-Bugger, goal in 1st minute to them... Pies already applying a lot more pressure espcially up fwd.

- Rivers crunched, great work by the man and he didn't break in half!

- Pies zone has tightened right up not allowing us the space we had in first half to run.

- Rivers giving PJ a spray for allowing Fraser to so easily slip away, mark and goal. No where near good enough from PJ, needs to improve his awareness if he is to play further in the ruck.

- Gtting mown down from behind now, not sure if it is the voice dropping or running out of gas 13 mins to go in 3rd.

- Anyone who says Bruce should be dropped has no idea about football. The bloke is all over the field, inside, outside, running past.. He does has shocking skill errors and that will not change but the amount of work he does is exceptional. He has 3 turn overs so far ,one from PJ allowing Fraser to out mark him. The other two resulted in shots on goal. As he just misses a shot on goal running into 50!

- Mclean is unsighted, Syliva has gone missing. Davey excellent out of the back half. Bate is killing them.

- 8 mins to go in 3rd, we are battling to stay in it but running out of legs. Martin is playing fantasticly well in the air down back. PJ plays on at left fwd 50... smothered... got to be better with it there.

- Inside 50's 14-5 pies way.

End of 3rd... Running all over us. Midfield has disappeared. Back line is holding back the tide. Fwds not getting enough ball and when they are it is being bombed in now instead of early when we were finding leading targets. Pies zone has much to do with that.

4th qtr...

- Not much to say so far bar we are playing very tired footy, turning the ball over by hand so easily.

- since qtr time 45 inside 50's to 12 with 6 mins to go.....

- Midfield has stopped unfortunately, Pies dominating around the ball.

- "McLean of of Melbs best you'd have to say". Not sure what game that commentator was watching.

Overall:

Our defense was really good again, holding back the tide really. As a group they defend the high ball so well.

Fwds were good when the ball was delivered quickly and on the lead. When we started to bomb it long a bit from the 2nd qtr onwards we were not able to mark it and had noone at there feet at all. They just didn't get enough of it after qtr time/half time at all. Can't fault them for that.

Mids died a slow death after half time, Pies got on top. We could not stop them and then ran out of gas completely.

Looked really good early but need to keep building on the first half and finishing in front of goals when we do get the chance as we will have less inside 50's than most teams this year.

I still can't figure out why they cancelled the game midway through the second, we looked so good too...

Fantastic analysis of the match mate.

I was at the ground and didn't manage to see any tv footage so it is nice to hear someone's thoughts....

Bruce was everywhere as you said and no-one can question his effort.... It is just those "kick around the body without looking" moments that [censored] me off.... Once our younger mids get a bit more game time and he can be released into the forward line he will be worth his weight in goals!!! Very smart footballer!!

As for McLean..... WTF is going on there??? All everyone keeps saying is how good he is and how he is our best player and how he is our next captain..... I am sorry, but what drugs have you all been taking??? The bloke has been telling us how fantastic his pre-season has been and how he is ready for a big year..... Brock McLean from what I witness (apart from 2 or 3 games) is a slow, unaware and unskilled bloke who should count himself very lucky to have been a Top 10 draft pick!! Prove me wrong.... Please!!

As for the positives I saw on Saturday :

Stef Martin = Very impressive.... Knows where to position himself in a contest and can take a grab

Miller = Hits it up like a charging bull.... Just needs someone closer to goal to kick it to

Petterd = Classy player who could be a very handy forward once he puts on a bit more size

Cheney = Looks to be a really honest, hard at it defender.... Will improve greatly with more matches under his belt ie. decision making

Bate = Needs to string a full season together and he will show us how valuable he will be forward of centre

Spencer = Loving what I am seeing from him.... Keep persisting with him DB.... He is gonna be a ripper!

Just a few of my thoughts..... Now I will sit back and wait for the abuse from Brock's legion of fans

Fantastic analysis of the match mate.

I was at the ground and didn't manage to see any tv footage so it is nice to hear someone's thoughts....

Bruce was everywhere as you said and no-one can question his effort.... It is just those "kick around the body without looking" moments that [censored] me off.... Once our younger mids get a bit more game time and he can be released into the forward line he will be worth his weight in goals!!! Very smart footballer!!

As for McLean..... WTF is going on there??? All everyone keeps saying is how good he is and how he is our best player and how he is our next captain..... I am sorry, but what drugs have you all been taking??? The bloke has been telling us how fantastic his pre-season has been and how he is ready for a big year..... Brock McLean from what I witness (apart from 2 or 3 games) is a slow, unaware and unskilled bloke who should count himself very lucky to have been a Top 10 draft pick!! Prove me wrong.... Please!!

As for the positives I saw on Saturday :

Stef Martin = Very impressive.... Knows where to position himself in a contest and can take a grab

Miller = Hits it up like a charging bull.... Just needs someone closer to goal to kick it to

Petterd = Classy player who could be a very handy forward once he puts on a bit more size

Cheney = Looks to be a really honest, hard at it defender.... Will improve greatly with more matches under his belt ie. decision making

Bate = Needs to string a full season together and he will show us how valuable he will be forward of centre

Spencer = Loving what I am seeing from him.... Keep persisting with him DB.... He is gonna be a ripper!

Just a few of my thoughts..... Now I will sit back and wait for the abuse from Brock's legion of fans

Yea bruce did a couple of those, what I hate is the long high floaters he kicks, puts undue pressure on the players upfield and we generally have few blokes to crumb the ball. When he is on the run he generally finds a target. Then again he had shocker in the 2nd were it looked like he stubbed his toe and the ball just rolled along the ground

Yea look McLean is that tyoe if footballer, he is not hugely skilled, he is slow but he works his tail off as well. He is a contest after contest type, problem is the game is moving so fast and there are fewer contests he struggles to get the number of situations he excelles at. It is only 2 games in so give him at least half the season to see how he goes too KJ.

Pettard will always be a 3rd forward and should play some decent games there until/ifhe builds up a bit more. He got monstered a numerous occasion when the ball was bombed long against Pies.

Bater I thought must have had a shocker but he was one of our best by far, was moving well up to the wing and centre, took some nice marks and generally hit a target with a pass. As RFPC said when the ball is moved well into our fwd line then they can grab some of it. BUT he was also leading a lot harder than from what I saw in rnd 1. He needs to keep that work rate up and he will be a better than ave player for us, if not his lack of pace and jump will hold him back.

Over all better than I thought from peoples postings, lots of improvment from rnd 1 and hopefully builds some confidence.

Yea bruce did a couple of those, what I hate is the long high floaters he kicks, puts undue pressure on the players upfield and we generally have few blokes to crumb the ball. When he is on the run he generally finds a target. Then again he had shocker in the 2nd were it looked like he stubbed his toe and the ball just rolled along the ground

You forgot to mention that 90% of his handballs end up at the feet of teammates under little or no pressure.

He puts in, runs his guts out, gets a lot of the ball, he knows what to do with it... if only he had the skills to execute.

McLean is not a dynamic midfielder in the mould of Judd, Ablett, or Cooney.

He is an honest goer that needs to accumulate possessions over the 120 minutes to have a great effect. His vision, ability around stoppages, and bullet like kicks can have a devastating effect over the course of a game.

But, unless he gets 5 clearances in a quarter, he is never going to break a game open like those three I mentioned above do.

And at the moment he is being nursed back into AFL; he played 80 mins on Saturday.

Bruce released into the forward line he will be worth his weight in goals!!! Very smart footballer!!

I was advocating this during pre season, and everyone put [censored] on the suggestion.

Although he's a shocking kick for goal, I still feel he'd be a viable target down there and be good for 2-3 goals a game.

McLean is not a dynamic midfielder in the mould of Judd, Ablett, or Cooney.

He is an honest goer that needs to accumulate possessions over the 120 minutes to have a great effect. His vision, ability around stoppages, and bullet like kicks can have a devastating effect over the course of a game.

But, unless he gets 5 clearances in a quarter, he is never going to break a game open like those three I mentioned above do.

And at the moment he is being nursed back into AFL; he played 80 mins on Saturday.

The reason he played only 80 minutes was because he was having a shocker.... Not because he is being nursed back into it....

The reason he played only 80 minutes was because he was having a shocker.... Not because he is being nursed back into it....

I would think 80 minutes is about par for the course for a midfielder with today's rotations.

Loving how quickly everyone is jumping off Mclean. Whose next Rivers? He has had two poor games. He did a full preseason but was quoted as saying how it will take him time to pick up the pace of the game after missing most of last year.

You forgot to mention that 90% of his handballs end up at the feet of teammates under little or no pressure.

He puts in, runs his guts out, gets a lot of the ball, he knows what to do with it... if only he had the skills to execute.

His skills are not great but he handballing was better than his kicking from watching the replay on the weekend.

I have been biting my tongue for some time now about McLean. If anyone still thinks he is the messiah then I am Peter Hudson. I live interstate and only get to the odd game live but as my family will attest, I have spent many years lovingly shouting at the TV whenever the Dees play. These days I spend most of my time shouting at McLean. I can see him sticking it out over the longer term as a hardworking midfielder and I hope for his sake that he succeeds but please, stop this McLean for future captain nonsense, the guy is just not very talented.

3rd qtr (not looking forward to this bit!):

- Anyone who says Bruce should be dropped has no idea about football. The bloke is all over the field, inside, outside, running past.. He does has shocking skill errors and that will not change but the amount of work he does is exceptional. He has 3 turn overs so far ,one from PJ allowing Fraser to out mark him. The other two resulted in shots on goal. As he just misses a shot on goal running into 50!

Is that supposed to be a positive report? If so I think you're clutching at straws. If you were reading that in a TAC player profile it would reek of 'do not draft'! And I think Bruce would be the first to agree the turnover on the wing was his doing not PJs, it was a very clear cut case of not moving the ball quickly enough and picking the wrong option.

I don't think he should be dropped but I do question his ability as an on-field leader who leads by example and as a player who can play to his strengths rather than his weaknesses. He holds his place in the team until more effecient hard runners come of age and in the meantime he will repeatedly cost his own team goals.

Good report though BTW!

I have been biting my tongue for some time now about McLean. If anyone still thinks he is the messiah then I am Peter Hudson. I live interstate and only get to the odd game live but as my family will attest, I have spent many years lovingly shouting at the TV whenever the Dees play. These days I spend most of my time shouting at McLean. I can see him sticking it out over the longer term as a hardworking midfielder and I hope for his sake that he succeeds but please, stop this McLean for future captain nonsense, the guy is just not very talented.

To say such a thing is fool hardy. I do also live interstate and therefore you never really get the full picture of a game from TV. But Mclean is a class player for our club and would be for any other club in the league. He doesn't have the speed of other top class midfielders but he has grunt and determination. He bleeds for this club and doesn't affect mediocracy, on or off the field and when I have heard him talk he doesn't beat around he bush. Not all captains are superstars and all lead in different ways. But he has the right mental attitude to be our captain. The only fear I have of him becoming captain is that we seem to have a captains curse in terms of injury.

Otherwise the match report was pretty much spot on. When the pies picked up the physical pressure the boys couldn't match it.

I have been biting my tongue for some time now about McLean. If anyone still thinks he is the messiah then I am Peter Hudson. I live interstate and only get to the odd game live but as my family will attest, I have spent many years lovingly shouting at the TV whenever the Dees play. These days I spend most of my time shouting at McLean. I can see him sticking it out over the longer term as a hardworking midfielder and I hope for his sake that he succeeds but please, stop this McLean for future captain nonsense, the guy is just not very talented.

Pleased to meet you Mr.Hudson!

I hope we post didn't send the wrong signal - I think McLean can be a great player.

But in the way that Lenny Hayes or Adam Simpson are great players. Unfortunately those clubs have Dal Santo and Harvey ahead of them so McLean is burdened as our best midfielder and asked to do things he can't do. He's not quick, he can't break the lines, and he can't make a dynamic play.

And he is getting used to playing AFL still after his injury. 88 mins and 80 minutes respectively this year are not the ideal amount of time our best midfielder should be on the ground.

You can compare it to Morton's average of 106 mins, McDonald - 96 mins, Moloney - 96 mins, Bruce - 106 mins, Batram 101 mins, Green - 112 mins, and Jones - 92 mins.

He should be pushing 100 mins at his fittest.

This is the most common sensical thread of a match review I've read on here in ages! Well done cards, some great measured observations there. No kids on here screaming to drop Bate, Bruce and co and bring in more teenagers and expect us to win next week.

It is always good, taking away the emotion of the day when watching a full replay of the game a few days later. Sure, you miss a lot of the periphary things that go on that the TV doesnt capture, but you also see a lot of the little things in the packs in close you cant see live. And I think rpfc's prognosis on McLean is fairly accurate, he may well become a very good player in the Hayes or Simpson or even Mitchell mode, but he'll never be a Dal Santo or the like. But clubs need great workers like that to succeed, now all we need is some polish.

As for Bruce, he's as good as he is frustrating. He's still one of our best 3 players as much as some of the ignoramuses on here would like to think otherwise. And yes he has many major flaws. But he also has an innate ability to find the footy and work really hard when he doesnt have it, something a lot of the supposed young saviours on our list could learn from. If they all had Bruce's endeavour and workrate we wouldnt be on the bottom of the ladder right now...

DD

For some time I've been concerned by Mclean. He's no better than he was 4 years ago and arguably worse due to the change in the style of game. He's just so sloooooow. He's also not nearly as tough as most supporters maintain or (myself included) once thought. When he's caught at a stoppage he usually coughs the ball up, or turns the next contest into a 50/50 - or worse. His skills under pressure are ordinary. When the best midfielders are caught, even under extreme pressure, they manage to get a clean handball away to a teammate, but McLean can't manage this effectively. Talk about slow twitch fibres.

He's underdone and I no longer expect a star, nor him to reach Selwood's level - which is extremely disappointing, but I know he's better than what he's currently giving.

I said preseason that he was a good/ordinary footballer. He hope he gets back to that level.

Absolutely spot on.

It's not just that he is slow, it is that in the early stages of a game when the pace is on, he arrives late and in his haste usually [censored] something up. Once the game slows down he starts getting the footy because he is an honest, hard worker and he also usually does something with it. This is why he is a useful member of the midfield group. All I'm saying is that he is nowhere near the class of the elite midfielders in the competition