People are being harsh on Maric.

He spent the majority of the game in an empty forwardline. The ball never got down there, and when it did, it was delivered much too high for someone his size, and the Pie always had too many numbers down back to allow him the crumb.

Yes he missed a couple he should have nailed, but I love that he is so smart with his ball use, and really the way we were outplayed today it is very hard to judge someone who is essentially playing in the most difficult position on the ground (in terms of being able to rack up the possessions and get involved).

I would have liked to see him play a bit more through the middle where he can get involved, get his hands on the ball and use his football brain and good skills (like he did against the Saints in the first half).

Fianlly someone backed him up. He is a fantastic player with great footy smarts and he can make decisions very fast with that ball.

Geez, enough with the Jones bashing! The guy was great today. He was one of the few players willing to take it up to the Pies. Twice he ran after the loose ball on the boundary, bumped his opponent into the fence and won the contested ball. This was a great game for him, showing his strengths and just how valuable he is to our team.

Grimes, taught a lesson? Are you joking?

Which of his opponents kicked goals on him? Didak? Kicked 2 on him, one from a dodgy handball that he kicked out of mid-air on the goal line, Grimes had more touches than him. Grimes played his position very well, was classy, cut off opposition attacks.

Was a very good player today, regardless of how many games he'd played

Bate - doesn't man up

Bell - doesn't man up

Bruce - doesn't man up

Cheney - doesn't man up

Davey - doesn't man up

Frawley - doesn't man up

Green - doesn't man up

Grimes - doesn't man up

Jamar - doesn't man up

Johnson - doesn't man up

Jones - doesn't man up

Maric - doesn't man up

McDonald - doesn't man up

McLean - doesn't man up

Moloney - doesn't man up

Morton - doesn't man up

Rivers - doesn't up

Robertson - doesn't man up

Sylvia - doesn't man up

Warnock - doesn't man up

Watts - doesn't man up

Whelan - doesn't man up

the whole team need to play basketball so they can understand how to man up properly.

who the hell was on swan, lockyer and dick in the first quarter? I could have done a better tagging job myself. Tagging is the easiest frickin job. keeping swan to under 15 touches is a pretty easy task and its a joke that he got over 20. Footy players in general just dont know how to play proper defence like basketballers.

Josh Fraser continually being loose killed me the most.

Cale Morton trapped in a back pocket was very frustrating.

Josh Fraser continually being loose killed me the most.

I know, i couldn't believe how much space he was getting, and he always put it to advantage when he got it. Frustrated the hell out of me.

Im pretty sure he got 18 touches. 2-3 below his average. Not that bad really.

Really? Wow. I thought it was more like 12 or 13. My mistake.

Im pretty sure he got 18 touches. 2-3 below his average. Not that bad really.

Really? Wow. I thought it was more like 12 or 13. My mistake.

People are being harsh on Maric.

He spent the majority of the game in an empty forwardline. The ball never got down there, and when it did, it was delivered much too high for someone his size, and the Pie always had too many numbers down back to allow him the crumb.

Yes he missed a couple he should have nailed, but I love that he is so smart with his ball use, and really the way we were outplayed today it is very hard to judge someone who is essentially playing in the most difficult position on the ground (in terms of being able to rack up the possessions and get involved).

I would have liked to see him play a bit more through the middle where he can get involved, get his hands on the ball and use his football brain and good skills (like he did against the Saints in the first half).

I didn't see much footage of the Saints game, and other than that, I've not really seen Maric use his 'football brain'. I'm sure it's there, but I'm yet to see him really look comfortable at AFL level.

Granted, he is a veteran of about 10 games, and there were plenty of more senior players who gave us nothing yesterday who could (and should) shoulder the blame.

Hoopla spot on assessment re: mclean.

Ill throw my two cents worth in - mclean is one paced, has poor skills, looks unfit, has average decision making, and lacks intensity (or the physical attributes to produce intensity).

I thought he was ATROCIOUS against collingwood, and has been thereabouts for most of the year. He looks like he's running backward half the time, he is so painfully slow..

At this stage Id have jones and moloney before him, on the basis that we could only have 2 of "those" type of midfielders in our best side down the track.

I didn't see much footage of the Saints game, and other than that, I've not really seen Maric use his 'football brain'. I'm sure it's there, but I'm yet to see him really look comfortable at AFL level.

Granted, he is a veteran of about 10 games, and there were plenty of more senior players who gave us nothing yesterday who could (and should) shoulder the blame.

He had his best game against the Saints, and IMO it was because he was given the freedom to lead up and play on the wing, where he could get involved. He did a couple of really great things, which showed he has brilliant recovery skills, ball handing skills and agility.

And we know his kicking is spot on (nerves are killing it at the moment, particularly in front of goal, where at under 18 level he was nailing them from everywhere, every week).

Playing in the Melbourne forwardline at the moment is tough, playing in that forwardline when you're small, with no experience, and relying on spillages (although he can take a good overhead mark, despite his size, but is rarely kicked to as a marking target), is virtually impossible. He played one out in the square for big chunks of the game. Often he and his opponent stood on the 50m line and spectated as 30 players pushed forward on the play.

In that situation I would rather Robbo one out and Maric pushing up, where he can use his speed, and his smarts to help deliver the ball, rather than being the target to deliver to.

Regardless, he has played just a handfull of games in what is traditionally a very difficult position, and has shown enough to suggest that he can be a good player for us. Dropping him, as you suggested in another thread, is going to do nothing for him at the moment. What he needs now more than anything is experience and game time at senior level.

The same thing applies to Watts, who I think (subject to fitness) should play out the year in the seniors. We knows he is too good for VFL level, and there is nothing in particular that he needs to work on right now other than his experience and strength, neither of which he can do at a lower level.

The more game time we pump into these kids now, the quicker we'll get off the bottom.

I didn't see much footage of the Saints game, and other than that, I've not really seen Maric use his 'football brain'. I'm sure it's there, but I'm yet to see him really look comfortable at AFL level.

Granted, he is a veteran of about 10 games, and there were plenty of more senior players who gave us nothing yesterday who could (and should) shoulder the blame.

Just as Joeboy has it in for Grimes it seems that you haved it in for Maric. His football brain gets him in to positions many times but we do not have the talent to get it to him quickly or accurately. He has proven that once he gets the ball he knows what to do with it and will take the right option and quickly. we need to use him.

And Joeboy Grimes had a good game and he too has played only a handful of games so what do you expect?

Yesterday the Demons were ordinary a fact that we have to accept and move on. Criticising the young blokes and stirring up hype is not the way to act. Look for the positives such as Jamar having a solid game, or Sylvia having a heap of it. To say negative things about the likes of Watts, a kid that has been made out to be a god by people on forums such as this and then bag him because he doen't kick ten goals and taking mark of the year whilst curing Victorians of Swine Flu and the world financial crisis, just adds to the negative.

Hows this for reality. WE ARE ON THE BOTTOM OF THE LADDER! We are there because we currently do not have the talent or experience to be anywhere else. Is that not enough negative for all of us? But there are plenty of positives coming week in week out. In recent weeks we have seen enough to say that in the not too distant future we will be in the mix and there are exciting times ahead.

We should all look at the positives rather than just bag the players week in week out. It may well be that some of them look at these forums and start believing what is being said.

Regardless, he has played just a handfull of games in what is traditionally a very difficult position, and has shown enough to suggest that he can be a good player for us. Dropping him, as you suggested in another thread, is going to do nothing for him at the moment. What he needs now more than anything is experience and game time at senior level.

I'm happy to admit I went OTT calling for him to be dropped. I guess I was just hoping for more from him by now. It's not harsh for me to say I've been disappointed by Maric though, because I have been. I thought he played just as well, if not better, last year. But I guess things can be attributed to the rest of the team too.

Geez, enough with the Jones bashing! The guy was great today. He was one of the few players willing to take it up to the Pies. Twice he ran after the loose ball on the boundary, bumped his opponent into the fence and won the contested ball. This was a great game for him, showing his strengths and just how valuable he is to our team.

After watching the replay I agree entirely. I thought he was Melbourne's second best player, [sylvia being easily the best though even he made a heap of errors} Interesting that I wouldn't have agreed about Jones merely on what I thought I saw at the game. One needs to see the replay. And the same applies to Mc Lean. You guys criticising him just have to see the replay to see how valuable he was.

As to Maric, I'm giving up on him for the time being. He MUST kick those goals, bearing in mind that he will never get the ball all that often. He's taken Jetta's place: now that he's kicked a few for the scorps it's time to give him another run, or even perhaps Bennell on the forward line, because I don't think Cheney [who was better than Grimes I reckon] should be dropped.

Yesterday was a great chance to put Dunn onto Swan to see how he went. Our captain is playing while injured, though he did subdue Swan a bit after 1/4 time.[No-one seemed to have that role in the first quarter}I'd play Dunn because he can kick the ball-a major fault in our team is that many are ordinary kicks.

Several other senior players WERE poor. Just about Green's worst game I thought, ditto Whelan. And I see no sense, unfortunately, in playing Bell.

Why the hell can't our midfield coach/ruck coach work out how we can benefit from ruck dominance like we had yesterday?. At the game I thought Jamar/Johnson were dominating--the replay confirmed it and now we see that we won the hitouts 55/17! And many of them were clearcut, but there was little variety in the taps, most of which were to Jones Mclean etc in close who were surrounded by opponents. A few decent punches to areas wide of the packs would have created uncertainty. And Johnson again stuffed up several handpasses including one absolute howler giving a goal away. What's wrong with telling him to kick it 60 metres every time he gets it? Even our guys may make position accordingly if they know he'll do that. His long kick to Sylvia[who goaled] in the last quarter produced a comment from the Pies supporter behind me--"why does that bloke handball when he can kick like that'

He's seriously gifted that boy.