Game Day: Melbourne v Essendon

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

little harsh on Bennell. He did some great things. Gave us some run out of defence, his hands below his feet were really clean and in the most part his disposal was good. Most of all he was prepared to take the game on which is great for a kid

Wins the ball well and has good speed but is allergic to body contact and I cannot recall him hitting a target all day.

Edited February 27, 2010 by big_red_fire_engine

[stranga 328]

I just got home from the match. Was much better than Last week in terms of pressure/contests around the clearances. We actually won a few clearances in the second and third quarters when Jamar was rucking (grimes in particular).Problem is for every good possession there are still 3-4 bad ones which often result in easy goals on the counter attack. The other thing is we always seem to kick too high to a contest, making hard for the leading player to mark.

Forward pressure is non existent. The bombers ran it "coast to coast" on numerous occasions.

There were some nice passages of play through the middle in the second and third quarters.

Some individual player observations and opinions:

Grimes was dominant. Used the ball well and was composed and hard. Our next skipper for sure.

Bennell had another shocker. I didnt count one effective kick from the boy. He moves well and finds space but panics on the kick.

Sylvia was solid most of the day, particularly first half. One of the only players with a physical presence out there.

Morton worked hard. Went off with a cork in the last. Limping pretty badly.

Scully played on a wing and had a few touches but kicking was a bit sloppy. Again showed his ability to get to second and third contests a few times.

Trengove was servicable i thought and his disposal was good. Didnt get too many touches but started in the centre at many bounces.

Strauss used the ball extremely well. His kicking is as good as its being hyped up to be. Just doesnt influence the game enough at this stage.

Miller was terrible for most of the game. Has no physical presence for a guy about 6'4. Shanked a shot from 30 metres. Prob only had about 5 possessions and a couple of easy marks.

Petterd was our best forward by a mile, took some nice marks and kicked well today. I reckon he kicked about 4.1

Jurrah got well beaten by Flethcher, although the ball wasnt coming in often or to his advantage. He was often flying from the back of a pack. When he moved up the ground in the second half he was ok, gathered some nice loose balls and used it well.

Mckenzie worked his butt off all day in and under. I like the kid.

Cheney was hard at it, i rekcon he may slot in to the back pocket in round 1.

Macdonald was not as good as last week, had a few clangers, but overall was solid and is essential to that back 6.

Guys like Moloney and Jones were ok but didnt see them do anything outstanding. Jones decision making is still a conern, ie switching through the middle of the ground to a two on one.

I had pretty much written off Bail after the first half but he worked his way into he game in the last quarter.

Bell and newton didnt get much of a run but didnt do anything when they were on.

Edited February 27, 2010 by stranga

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,294]

Aside from missing Hurley and Neagle the Bombers were at full strength (I am sure I have forgotten someone). Hille was serviceable but Jamar for mine was the most dominant big man. Essendons run of five goals in 10 minutes in the first qtr was when Martin was in the ruck. Grimes work in the middle was outstanding particularly in the 3rd qtr.

Yeah its a big ask for Martin! He`s barely played AFL let alone ruck!

Correct me if I`m wrong, but we had Bate, Green, Davey, Bruce all out, and hopefully Garland not far away. Watts and Wona may take some time but it will be good just to have them playing footy. We have plenty of upside ahead of us.

[DemonDan... 77]

A bit worrying that Scully went missing however..

I have reservations about Bailey placing so much emphasis on the first quarter. Our first quarter has rarely been a problem in recent years.

Scully and the young guys will be alright, they havent played an afl game yet..

Would've thought the opposite on our 1st quarters.

Remember all those games last year when players were ripping it out of the centre and goaling within the 1st minute of the match? Abletts probably the most spectacular.

I dont think weve won more than 3 1st quarters in the last 3 yrs!

EDIT: did we win 8 1st quarters last year titan??

maybe Im thinking of pre 08'.. oops

Edited February 27, 2010 by DemonDan...

[45HG 1,559]

I failed to mention Jamar in my earlier posts, he was very good in the ruck and really helped our midfield in general.

I disagree with your call on Bennel BRFE, but each to their own I suppose.

I worry that I'll spend much of his career thinking that Martin's pretty good for a basketballer.

Macdonald runs in straight lines and attacks the ball hard

Edited February 27, 2010 by 45HG16

[Allen Jakovich 516]

My observations:

An improved performance on last week, given the players we were missing we should be very happy with the way the team performed. Most centre bounces we had mostly players with less than 20 games exp.

- Jones - holds onto it too long as usual, poor game from him.

- Bennel - got into it in the second half but just kept turning it over. Some horrible decision making.

- Frawley, Rivers and Warnock - All very solid, similar to last week, these three are starting to become uber dependable.

- Macdonald - Good game but put the ball out of bounds on the full twice in the back 50 with stupid dinky kicks, just like the one against Freo. Was involved in some excellent passages of play though.

- Gysberts - Was at the game with his cousin so we were watching him closely, looked a bit lost out there but he was in amongst it at times and did some nice little things. Needs to adjust to the pace and learn where to run.

- Jamar - If this guy plays 22 games this year we will be a 25% better team than last year. His ruckwork was bloody beautiful. 80% of our scores came when he was rucking, and 80% of Ess came when he wasn't.

- Petterd - Very nice game, kicked some great goals and stood tall for a beautiful mark in the final quarter which really had me convinced he can make a career of playing in the forward line.

- Maric - Again some good things, few goals, his defensive work in the back half was good which was what we needed.

- Grimes - WOW. Just wow. If we had any doubts about him playing midfield they are gone. First rate game from a player who will be setting up goals for the MFC for years to come. His two goals on the run were pearlers.

- Fitzpatrick - Struggled to get near it.

- Sylvia - Awesome game, very dominant in the first quarter and a bit, took a few awesome contested marks, faded a bit after half time.

- Scully - Got involved, few errors, hands are like lightning but just need to get used to pace of the game. He is firing his handballs off a split second too late and they are being affected by tackles.

- Trengove - Pretty much the same as last week.

- Newton - Came on at half time and played most of the 2nd half. Didn't get many opportunities, but his endeavor was good, that was about it.

- Miller - Played like a leader out there, some good efforts. Let himself down a few times, his shocking set shot in the last really hurt us; the boys put in a lot to get it to him. Gysberts defensive effort to set it up deserved more.

- MOrton - Was solid, bit worrried about the knock he copped.

- Bartram & Bell - Usual efforts from them. Tried hard but struggled to make an impact. Bell went hell for leather at a few contests but failed to impose himself.

- Moloney - Very quiet in the 2nd half, did he only play a half?

- McKenzie - Was really excited by his attack on the ball, worked really hard on a number of ocassions to win the contested pill.

Overall, if you put Bate, Green, Davey, J Macdonald, and Bruce into that team we would be looking good for a crack at the Hawks in round 1.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Allen Jakovich

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

The HUN and AFL sites have stated that Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove were outstanding today. I rarely noticed Trengove but he played alot on the opposing side of the ground. What were others thoughts on his game?

[titan_uranus 25,045]

Check out the 'best' according to The Age:

Melbourne: J Grimes J Trengove R Petterd C Sylvia B Miller M Bate L Jurrah J Frawley J Bennell.

Who the hell wrote this? Bate didn't even play.

- Macnamara - Was really excited by his attack on the ball, worked really hard on a number of ocassions to win the contested pill.

I didn't think he was playing. I definitely hope he did.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

These are the bests according to FoxSports. I probably wouldn't pay too much attention based on what I have highlighted

Melbourne: J Grimes J Trengove R Petterd C Sylvia B Miller M Bate L Jurrah J Frawley J Bennell

[Allen Jakovich 516]

The HUN and AFL sites have stated that Jack Grimes and Jack Trengove were outstanding today. I rarely noticed Trengove but he played alot on the opposing side of the ground. What were others thoughts on his game?

The Age are a mess. THey put M Bate in the best and he didn't even play, lol.

Nup, he wasn't that good. He wasn't bad, but not in the bests.

Sry to disapoint titan, I meant McKenzie.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Allen Jakovich

[stranga 328]

I think he means Mckenzie not mcnamara.

Miller was absolutely not in the best. Ridiculous.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Check out the 'best' according to The Age:

Melbourne: J Grimes J Trengove R Petterd C Sylvia B Miller M Bate L Jurrah J Frawley J Bennell.

Who the hell wrote this? Bate didn't even play.

I didn't think he was playing. I definitely hope he did.

TMac did not play I think he means Strauss.

[DemonDing 56]

Just got back from visy park....

it was a better performance than last weeks effort against freo but still time and time again our disposal of the foot lets us down, its very frustrating

but a good sign is that we do get our hands on the pill a fair bit so hopefully the skills will come soon enough. Morton copped a big knock with 5 minutes to

go and looked proppy but i reckon its just bruising coz he limped/jogged off and after the game he was walking with ice straped to hes knee, i dont think it looked

to serious as he didnt twist hes knee or anything like that.

Beamer didnt return after the main break and limped past me with a bandage straped around the bottom half of hes calf so im not quite sure if it was a calf achillies

or ankle so we'll have to wait on that one.

My BOG was jack grimes he was great today in the centre got plenty of of it and generally used it quite well, Petterd played well i really wish we had a good couple

of good forwards because reckon he'd be an awesome third or forth option forward.

Quick summary of the others

Warnock didnt have a great day patty ryder sat on hes head a few times

Jones holds on to it for to long and trys to much, also doesnt mind trying to get on to the trope way to often.

Bartram pretty much the same as jones trys to much.

Gysberts very quite dont think i saw him get a kick...

Miller was Miller

Chipper solid down back love this kid!

Trengove was in and out of the game, when he got it he used it well but went missing at stages

Morton was the same was a bit better then trengove though.

Sylvia was good in patches was probably in the top 5 for us on the day.

Mckenzie quite day at the office

Marric did a few good things up forward but quite also

ding dong bell kicked a ripper but thats it

beamer not a whole lot.

Jurrah needs to get more involved looks like hes not pushing him self at times i feel

cheney pretty good again down back, not alot of kicks but good defending

Riv was handy down back full pre seasons helped him

Joel Macdonald was ok not great tho, played a lot better last week

Newton...... need i say much?

Scully quite first half got a fair bit of it in the second half but disposal at times was very ordinary but good that hes getting hes hands on it

Martin took a few marks but cant kick he was poor

jamar easily our best ruck he was ok today

Bennell again gets a fair bit but doesnt hurt the other side hes dispossal was horrible.

Bail not much

Strauss was pretty handy in the back line today, i liked hes game. one of the only players who had good disposal

And Fitzpatrick was ordinary

Hope i havent missed anyone, but all in all it was a bit better then last week, this week was actually watchable

[Felix 92]

Mckenzie worked his butt off all day in and under. I like the kid.

Mckenzie quite day at the office

hmmm!!!!!

[Guest fatty]

Wins the ball well and has good speed but is allergic to body contact and I cannot recall him hitting a target all day.

He shut Alwyn out of the game but his disposal was terrible.

Jurrah was double-teamed which freed up Miller.

Warnock is elite.

Newton won't play senior football ever again.

Trengove is vvv good and Scully will get better in the last half of the year.

He lacks size which is unfortunate. I was surprised at how short he is.

Petterd is easily best-22.

Maric is a debacle draft pick.

[Felix 92]

Newton won't play senior football ever again.

lol

[tez 6]

Just got back from the game and firstly Visy park is shocking venue for food, drink and let alone available entrances along with discracefull parking you needed to be there pretty early to get something half decent.

This weeks game was a vast improvement lots of the younger players getting a good go against what i could see was a near full strength bombers and not surprised to see the fade out in the last qtr due to the trip back from perth.

With players like davey, bruce,green, james mac, jetta, paul johnson, bates, wonna, blease, spencer and many more missing this team did make a good go of it

grimes was easily bog till he faded in the last

scullly had a torrid time found wanting with lack of pace caught a few times but his hands are so quick but his kicking lacked the drive but is only 18 remember

trengrove worked hard did some nice things

miller was just miller nothing flash did some nice things

joel macdonald wasnt as prolific as last week and passed a shocker from a kick out straight to an essendon player yet was a hard nut will be good player and will release bruce to more attacking roles

rivers i will say is back was doing things of old and looks to be fitter played alot on ryder and other resting rucks but even though ryder kicked a cpl he was lucky with marking misqued kicks

frawley was fantastic down back hard to be a back with the ball coming in so fast

warnock worked hard

jurrah was held by fletcher but our delivery into the forwards was very slow at times yet worked up the ground and i felt improved for a guy playing 8 or so senior games

bennell played a back pocket type tag role needs to improve his kicking only thing i felt let him down

pettard took some strong grabs in packs look forward to him being more of a consistent year from him

sylvia i feel still some way of fitness yet broke packs did some nice things feel he is just pacing himself for a long year ahead

jordie mckenzie and kyle cheney both are tough nuts and lok forward to them both playing more regular

jamar did the usual good ruckwork and some nice things glad he stayed and not lost to the rumors of port he along with jonno and the newer kids will be our asset in the near future

didnt get to see gysberts alot looked abit out of it when i saw but thats not to say he did good things

sorry if i missed any other was pretty much ball watching alot and was too far away on the outer side to where alot of the play was mainly on the northern side of the ground

all in all i was not surprised to see the good form of these kids against more mature afl players and we will see a vast improvement of the dees in the near future and remember its a practice game and a long year ahead

[DemonDing 56]

hmmm!!!!!

haha hey i could of missed something..... i did have this old crazy greek mad melbourne supporter hurling abuse that nobody could

understand to bombers players walking up and down the boundry lol

[ICU2 Jerry Jerry 257]

Good summation although I disagree with a few points.

-Bests for mine were Grimes (by a mile), Sylvia, Jamar, Petterd and Frawley.

-Stefan Martin is not worth persevering with as anything but a defender.

-Jones and Bartram time and again ignore the first option and do too much.

- we have the worst kick out set up in the AFL. can someone explain why Frawley is kicking out?

-Scully, Gysberts and Trengove play as you would expect 18 year olds to play. Some nice glimpses but nothing more. Scully for mine was the best performed today. I would not have any of the three in my starting 22 for round 1 though based on today.

-Strauss was excellent as a small defender and disposed well when he got it. This is unlike Bennell who was loose and turned the ball over at every opportunity.

-Our forwardline again got caught pushing up to the middle. I look forward to when some of them have confidence dictate the play and plant themselves in the forward 50.

-Petterd played a good midsize forwards game kicked 4 should have kicked 6.

-Jurrah had no impact but I have a feeling he will switch it on when the real stuff is here.

-We were lost without Jamar in the ruck with majority of Essendons goals coming when he was rested.

-Morton was injured late in the game flying back into a pack. Had ice packed on his knee and looked in discomfort when walking to the room s afetr the game.

It was mentioned that we only had 1 player today who had played more than 100 games. Essendon were close to full strength and coming off a 2 week break compared to our 5 days. A vastly improved effort in both intensity and structures this week.

I was at the game and have to disagree on a few of your points (nothing sinister!)

Grimes was out and out brilliant.

As was Trengove.

Scully is interesting to watch live . . . he seems to have too much footy smarts and instinct for everyone around him at the moment. Sounds strange I know but he was always a play ahead and lacked the like minded midfield to pull-off the instinctive one touch football you see from the elite. It looked as though he battled in a way, but watching it live looked like he went immediately where you would expect the first option to be but it just wasn't there for him and he was forced into playing like a Melbourne player from the last 3 years.

Miller and Jones show no improvement. Jones goes hard but takes far too long to make a decision and often chooses the second option and Miller tries very hard as always but just lacks basic marking and kicking skills.

Morton has not put on a pound in bulk and needs to if he's not to be so easily bumped off the ball (Granted that's just body type but fact)

Martin was deplorable at best as a forward experiment (granted we lack forwards and he's a big bugger but he just doesn't have the instinct or the intuition to be creative) he is a reactionary player that should only play down back.

Sylvia is the grunt and is stuck covering too many roles. A star.

Joel Mac a very handy pick up.

Frawley is turning into a very good footballer.

Those were in my opinion the obvious things to take out of the day.

[Diablo Deemon 220]

Just back from Princes Park. Overall a much better performance today and

considering we were off a 4 day break means it was miles better than last week.

I'll list players who made an impression on me throughout the game.

Jones: A steady game missed two set shots which weren't difficult. Had a few turnover but was largely

dependable. Almost kicked goal of the year.

Jamar: Liked his work in the ruck showed good work rate. I think he beat Ryder and split the difference with Hill

Grimes: Showed alot of poise and dash through the middle and in contested situations was on of the BOG.

Sylvia: Took some really strong contested marks really liked what he did throughout the first half went was one of our BOG

Martin: fumbled at times looked unsure wasn't precise but he is extremely mobile and took a few good marks.

Jurrah: Fletcher won the day Jurrah had about half a dozen touches and his infleuence was minimal did alot of

chasing and tackeling in forward 50 which was the best part of his game.

Pettered: Really did well I think he may have been subed at half time but his second half was impressive took some good marks and

kicked 2 really good goals that stood out.

Bail: Had a good game I think he was subed as well had a few good passes. Great to see him out there.

Newton: The juice has been squezzed and found wanting. Scorpions looks a definite for him this year.

Bell: I thought he did a good tagging job on watson and he didn't look out of his depth in the middle.

Macdonald: Majority of his game was really good had a kick in which resulted in a turnover and goal but wasn't our worst.

Absolutely creamed McVeigh so gets points for that.

Scully: Like what i saw had a set shot from 40 out but didn't make the distance might have shanked it. Some tough in and under

work by skulls.

Trengove: Played well one passage of play he linked up with skully and my overwhelming thought was the future of the MFC looks good.

Gysberts: Tried all day was involved in passages of play mostly as a link layed some good tackels. All positive.

Morton: Second geussed himself too many times and ended up turning over the ball. Bit disappointing for mine. Only because

I have high expectations.

Overall our application was much improved when we backed ourselves in we produced fast paced quick transition high skilled play.

Need to work on switching play as this resulted in some very costly turnover in the middle of the ground. Inaccuracy especially

early on killed us 1.7 at one point i think we were when legitimately we should of been at least 5 goals. We didn't finish well and

allowed Essendon 3 goals in junk time which made us look worse than we were. All in all a positive day compared to last week.

[agent_orange 0]

Overall, some improvement, but not enough.

[Cards13 9,117]

little harsh on Bennell. He did some great things. Gave us some run out of defence, his hands below his feet were really clean and in the most part his disposal was good. Most of all he was prepared to take the game on which is great for a kid

Not harsh at all. He did provide run out of defense and really backs himself. His skills today (even though it was damp conditions) were ordinary at best.

Again as per usual our skills are close to the worst in the comp. We work really hard at stages to win the ball then generally run it over.

Grimes - Excellent though the middle

Joel Mac - Backed himself with run out of defense can get caught out on his direct opposition as his pace is not great but does provide great support down back.

Sylvia much better this week and looked like the player from last year. His confidence has grown seeing him try and take a hanger on the out wing in the 2nd and jump clean over a Bomber but completely missed the ball.

Midfield provided a lot more run and seemed to have more inside 50's but we could not convert early.

Newton only played after half time and even though conditions were slippery he still just looks a step off the highest level. His pressure and chasing were his highlights.

Bail little bit of run.

Bartram looked like he spent a bit of time away from tagging and was ok but nothing outstanding. Again he seems (along with most Dees players) to run himself into trouble and turns it over or misses a target.

Bell was ok.

Fitzy is a long way off it, looks lost out there but will be able to use this as valuable experience followed by fair amount of time at Casey.

Jurrah seems to be trying to fly from behind a lot but he was playing on the best full back of all time and our fwd set up is not great. He was moved up the ground at points after half time and showed clean hands compared to most. Great below his knees. Dishes off and usually finds the right option.

Maric was a lot better today. He worked hard and was able to finish with 1 goal should have been 2. He seems to find some space but tends to get missed with the ball.

Petterd again was improved to last week we just need it to be consistent week in week out from him (and the rest).

Thats just some of my observations I'm sure there will be varying ones.

[Don24 103]

Some interesting reports form people who were supposedly at the game today...

For mine, i thought Scully was by far the pick of the youngsters...would have had 20 touches and in general used it well. Trengove wasnt in it quite as much but looked fine when he was.

Martin seems to be bagged on here. The only problem is his kicking. Which is a major problem i know. But if he kicked straight he should have had 4 or 5. He created plenty of opportunities for himself just failed to capitalise. If he can sort that out he could be a dangerous forward/ruck combo player.

Grimes BOG for us by a long way....plenty of the ball.....plenty of clearances and used it very well. Looks to be our best mid at moment.

Morton was also very good and put his body on the line several times which was good to see, seems to have improved a lot....shame about his injury but he jogged off so didnt look too serious.

Bell i thought was very good today. He got quite a bit of ground time which someone indicated otherwise, i watched him closely and although he spent a lot of time on Watson who was very good, he had a real impact when on. Was playing in the midfield as a tagger at times. Could be his role going forward.

Bartram was horrible. Couldnt make a decision or dispose of it. Our worst player on the list.

Jurrah struggled and was well beaten again.

[Oliver Hill 0]

Scully for mine was the best performed today. I would not have any of the three in my starting 22 for round 1 though based on today.

This from a Geelong supporter who attended today: "On a positive note, i thought Scully was very impressive and although its obvious he needs to put on at least 5 kgs this year, looked as though he belonged and almost looked a leader within your side already."

It's funny how views vary.

As for not being "starting 22" ? I wasn't there today, but have seen enough to think he's starting 22. Also, Bailey wants as many games as possible into his better young players. He'll be starting come round 1.

[w00dy 146]

Jurrah: Fletcher won the day Jurrah had about half a dozen touches and his infleuence was minimal did alot of

chasing and tackeling in forward 50 which was the best part of his game.

Fletcher played on the oppositions best forward??? That hasn't happened in a long time...