Game Day: Melbourne v Essendon

[Cards13 9,117]

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

Opionins... everyone has one...

Also it has been mentioned before but Skulls kicking does lack some penetration, didn't make the distance from set shot 40m out with a slight breeze which should have helped.

[Pipefitter 2,168]

Much better today. Looked like they actually wanted to win. Hard at the contests.

Have to say i was very disappointed in our defence. Seemed like everytime it got into their 50 there was a scoring shot. They need to tighten up. Warnock had a shocker.

Good to see Jurrah have a whole game on Fletcher, good learning experience for him to play on the best.

Jack Grimes was everywhere today. We are going to be happy with this kid for a long time.

We are a much better side with Jamar playing.

One passage of play that made me smile was a pinpoint kick into the 50 from trengove to hit Jurrah on the chest. I think we will be seeing that a lot in the next 10 years.

Bartram is a real tryer but his skills just havent improved at all. He is only filling the gap at the moment im afraid.

Really impressed with Sylvia today. Went off sore for prob 15 minutes and when he came back on he really led from the front to help us get back into the game.

Overall i think the score line flattered the bombers. They were nearly full strength, we have a lot of great players to come back in.

[DeeVoted 583]

Much better effort from the team today.

Grimes killed them

Petterd was dangerous all day in the forward line.

Scully - Trengove didnt blitz but showed class in patches.

Jurah was held quite,started at full forward then

later moved up the ground,did better,tried hard.

Jamar held his own rucking,maybe even won on the day.

Bell & Bartram (surprise surprise) did some good things

both put in all day. But they need to do more.

Sylvia took a qtr and a bit to get into the game.

Showed his class with some great grabs,He'll improve.

Pretty much a good effort by all the rest against a better

team, with cleaner disposal.

We had some silly errors, Thats understandable

But at stages moved the ball as good if not better than Essendon. But the better side won.But they can hold their heads higher on todays effort.

I;m sure others can go into more details,but thats my short

take on it.

Go Dees.

(PS) Heard Morton copped an injury,

Not sure how bad

Edited February 27, 2010 by Deevoted

[Je Roos Salem 661]

just got home.

Enjoyed the game, we were really in it until early in the last quarter, 40 points wasn't indicative of our effort.

Scully is a freak

[Jaded No More 68,974]

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.

Agreed.

I think that if Scully and Trengove are feeling good physically, that they should both play Round 1 and every round after that, with a few rests along the way to avoid stress injuries. Same goes for Watts.

The quicker they gain experience, the quicker we'll climb up the ladder. They are arguably our 3 most important players, so we need to stop worrying about the results right now and start thinking long term.

[Je Roos Salem 661]

Does anyone know where we play next week?

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Agreed.

I think that if Scully and Trengove are feeling good physically, that they should both play Round 1 and every round after that, with a few rests along the way to avoid stress injuries. Same goes for Watts.

The quicker they gain experience, the quicker we'll climb up the ladder. They are arguably our 3 most important players, so we need to stop worrying about the results right now and start thinking long term.

Bailey has stated he wants games in young players but he has also stated they should be earnt. Based on what I have seen last week and today they would not go into round 1 on the basis of it being earnt. Would love to know their stats but would be very surprised if they had more than 20 touches between them. Again not disappointed with their progress as they show great signs but neither of them are as advanced as what I hoped they would be.

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

Does anyone know where we play next week?

Hopefully Geelong.

[agent_orange 0]

Bailey has stated he wants games in young players but he has also stated they should be earnt. Based on what I have seen last week and today they would not go into round 1 on the basis of it being earnt. Would love to know their stats but would be very surprised if they had more than 20 touches between them. Again not disappointed with their progress as they show great signs but neither of them are as advanced as what I hoped they would be.

Come on, if they have to earn a spot, so does everyone else. Going on our current form, these two would have to play because we wouldn't be able to make up 22 players for our first round match.

Scully and Trengove must play every game.

[olgreydingo 51]

Just got back.

No forward line. Miller - if a senior player can not kick a goal from 35 mt directly in front what hope have we.

How was the Holding the ball against Maric in the dieing seconds, not a good display of the ump's today either.

Grimes - BOG

Two qtrs of 6 goals by opposition, - don't blame the back line too much, the ball came out of attack too easy.

[deanox 9,989]

not only did they name bate in the best, they also named both fletcher and jurrah, which is odd considering they apparently played on each other. even odder is that apparently jurrah didnt have a great game and fletcher beat him...

i think someone wasn't actually there!

[Oliver Hill 0]

Again not disappointed with their progress as they show great signs but neither of them are as advanced as what I hoped they would be.

Were your expectations inflated?

What former top 2 picks have led you to believe that Scully, or Trengove, aren't as advanced as you'd hoped? And you do realise that they're 2 games into their career?

Daniel Rich, who had a stellar first year, averaged 39 and 42 DT points in his two Nab Cup games last year. He went on to average 75 for the season proper. The year before Palmer had scores in the 40's for both Nab games and went on to average 87 in the season proper - both rising star winners. So I wouldn't rule out a bigger impact in 2010 based on the two glimpses you've seen thus far. It's more about how they move and whether they show class. The accumulation of ball will come - and quickly.

But getting back to "expectations". Gibbs averaged 13 possessions per game in his first year; Deledio 15; Cooney 11; Hodge 15; Judd 15 (and he was considered a star); Griffen 13; Luke Ball 15 (his second listed year); and Cotchin 16. Marc Murphy was probably the stand-out ball winner with 18 (average disposal).

I'll be very surprised if Trengove and Scully don't match the output of those that went before them. I think at this stage your 'expectations' are a little skewed.

[LITTLE STINGA 1]

Heard on SEN that Morton's injury is more serious than the reports have been here and is having scans on his knee tommorrow to see wether his season is over or not.

Where did they play Sylvia was it in the guts or wing\half forward?

Where did they play Morton before he got injured?

Anyone who thinks that Scully & Trengove aren't good enough to be in our best 22 by RND 1 cause they aren't tearing teams apart can they please tell me who are gonna replace them? We have no depth at all.

[Guest fatty]

Have to say i was very disappointed in our defence. Seemed like everytime it got into their 50 there was a scoring shot. They need to tighten up. Warnock had a shocker.

You're very wrong.

[Wolfmother 182]

I went down today and left quite happy with the boys and the way things are going. I think alot of the supporters on here are looking for the negatives rather than what is actually occurring (that and I'm sure half the people haven't played the game and have a lack of understanding of some skills etc etc)

I got there about half way through the first qtr and besides the last ten minutes when the bombers got some junk goals I thought we looked the better side. One thing I did notice was the coaching staff and their attitudes, all of them looked fit and ran between the box to the huddle with Bailey leading the sprint up the stairs. It is only a small thing but it was a big difference from the Essendon coaching staff and made me think the whole club is heading in the right direction they are positive and everyone is expected to put they're all in (enough of that down to the footy). I lost count of the amount of times that we started the centre bounce with Batram, Bell and McKenzie so relax with the scores guys it was a praccie match.

I never thought I would write this but our most important player this year will be Jamar. He made a huge difference in the ruck had took the points. He imposed himself around the ground for a big man and if he stays injury free we'll be paying through the nose to keep him at the end of the year. If he goes down I don't think we have anyone to back him up as all others are good secondary ruckman but not ready for the main role. I thought Martin was good especially his contested mark in the fwd line. He is a big unit and hard to match up on, but his kicking let him down, played on after a strong contested mark and missed the goal from 25m out. Showed the signs and the flawed will hopefully be ironed out but he is a work in process. His rucking is okay in a general tap sense but doesn't understand the body contact, when to jump etc etc so really struggles if he doesn't get a clean jump and when the ball hits the ground gets lost.

I think there was a lot of good signs from all players although there were errors but we did take the contest on and it showed. Some observations that I can think of

Jones: Gees guys get over that he holds onto the ball a bit long, its not because he doesn't want to give it off but the people around him are in worse position. Most times he is actually trying to find someone who he can get it to that will be an advantage. As players become more confident then they will move to better position for the player with the ball (scully is having the same issue sometimes when he gets caught I hear people say it is because he is too slow (which is crap) but it is because there is no player in a position for him to give it off too.) Note this is my comment about people never playing the game... Jones started in the fwd line and at the breaks was addressed by the fwd coach. I think he is having a positional move (similar to what they wanted Brock to do) and will play as a high half forward rather than in the middle.

Jurrah: Really struggled and sometimes is a little lazy or forgets about the second efforts etc etc then remembers that it is AFL and you have to be working constantly and then gets back in to it. He was against fletcher who gave him a bath and with him being a focal point this year expect him to struggle. When he move up the ground his possessions are extremely clean and he has that flair but its just the ability to use it constantly. I will come out and say it now but it has bother me from last year and that is that we should of kept Robbo on the list or grabbed Bradshaw... We have flankers in our fwd line and no focal point which I think we need to develop the other players and an older player should be in the position whilst watts has time to develop into it. I would actually start Martin at FF in Round 1.

Sylvia: Gees he is ready to take the comp on and will one of the players that brings this club into contention. He is so strong overhead and if it is kicked to his advantage (ie can run onto it) you know he will beat his man 75% of the time. Seems to have the understanding of what is required at AFL and is moving all the time rather than looking lazy, this maybe because of a preseason or lack of OP but he is now getting to more contests. The fact that he can kick 60 cleanly catches out opposition defences.

Petterd: Played well and will be a great third/fourth option as a fwd especially as he has the defensive pressure and will put his body on the line. Was one of the best today.

Fitzpatrick: Is a big boy and seem to have the speed but really looks lost out there, I expect alot of games in the Casey seconds to learn the FF role but has the physical attributes to become a player.

Juice: Only played a half, his endeavour was there and he tried but if fitzpatrick was started ahead of him it is showing were the football department rate him.

Maric: I'm really surprised by the negative comments on this site... I have never really rated him thus far but he played well today and showed some great skills, danced out of a pack and hit (miller I think) a player on the chest directly in front... shows a lot more skill than Wonna and Jetta for mine. Doesn't have the run down from behind factor of the other two but his skills and decision making looks better.

Miller: Another one I'm going to defend but people back off he will never be J.Brown, Roo or Pavlich but he is a good honest CHF who leads up and makes his presence felt. If he played for Geelong they would be calling him a great player as he would start over Mooney and Tomahawk but its difficult to play well as a fwd in our side. He is easily in our best 22 as there are no other options and we need not only watts to develop but Fitzpatrick/Juice/Martin to keep him out of the side.

Trengove: Didn't see that much of him but what he did was class, he hit a couple of lead up players on the chest without them breaking stride (think Davey) when this did occur it was mainly him or Grimes which was a glimpse of what was to come.

Grimes: Was BOG and a couple of taps by Jamar to grimes then the centre clearance looked great and when he got the ball around the 50 you felt he would kick the goal (not many players that I have that belief in at MFC) but the two goals he kicked were similar to the Richmond game last year when he put us in front. He and Trengove started a couple of the centre bounces together and you saw the future.

Scully: Another one that people expect miracles from straight away, he played a good game and got to heaps of contests. Got caught a couple of times but mainly due to a lack of targets rather than speed. He started on the wing and they wouldn't move him into the middle unlike Trengove although he did start one when a interchange rotation stuff up. You saw his smarts at a couple of ball ups around the ground where he positioned himself with space infront and the ability to push off the player manning him to get the pill. He is only slight so I doubt will be in the middle this year but when he does watch out he just hunts the ball and with grimes, trengove and scully we will have a highly skilled midfield. One thing I did notice is his amazing cruising speed. I watched a couple of times he was tracking the ball with his player on the opposite wing and over the length of the square would be a good five metres in front of his player entering the 50. I think this is how he gets so much ball at jnr level but he was doing this against seasoned AFL players and will be a ball magnet in the future.

Gyberts: Didn't do much from what I saw (although I may have missed alot) others would be better informed on his game.

Bail: Came on and did some really good things he was the only player I didn't know (he was wearing 44) and I had to look him up in the last after about the fourth time in ten minutes he had hit a target or won a contested ball.

Morton: Played like morton, don't know where he will start this year with all the new players but will definately become a swing player.

Strauss: hit a couple of bullet like passes onto players chest which set up some good passages of play

Frawley, rivers, Warnock: All played well although ryder beat either rivers or warnock a couple of times... These three are our future tall backs and we will build the remainder around them. Frawley played on Williams who is a good head smaller which shows his flexability.

Bennell: I though he played well and kept Davey quite. He is a good attacking backman and his fluid when he comes out of defence did miss a few targets but we also don't present well. He looks like a player.

MacDonald: Wasn't as good as against Freo but is a great pickup and you can but him as the fourth defensive spot behind the talls which leaves two spots open for rd 1 and I'm not sure who has them yet.

Cheney: He is a tough nut who is great as a stopper, I think he is the next wheels, whilst bennell reminds me of the next Doggy Brown.

We still have a lot more senior players to come back and will be competitive this year, we still have alot of learning but I will put us for 8-10 wins. Trying to do a rd 1 team if everyone is fit as I think both Scully and Trengove will earn their spot.

If I forgot anything ask and I'll try to remember what occurred, would of sent live updates but optus 3G failed at Optus oval .

[redman 28]

My 2 cents about the game today

Definately alot better in endevour and application compared to the game against Freo. You could see more of the game plan being put into effect.

Alot of handball use through the middle of the ground to release someone to kick forward. But with a young and inexperienced side it often falls down 1 handball away from a good attacking move.

It sounds strange but we are only one or two possessions away from pumping the ball into the F50 more regularly. As the team play together and game plan becomes second nature we will be flying.

Until then we will show patches of great movement but not on a consistent basis.

Player notes:

Nathan Jones - hard at it, wins the contested ball but turns it over at the worst time.

Jordan Gysberts - while he was quiet he showed glimpses - namely hes head over the footy diving on the footy, got the handball off for a goal. He will add some good size to the future midfield.

Jordie McKenzie - I love Jordies work - great in the centre square, he and grimes work well together in getting the clearances. Must promote to the senior list.

Ricky Petterd - good game from Ricky - marks well over head and finds space. Could have easily had 5.

Jack Grimes - what else is there to say than brilliant. Clearances, marks, goals, good disposal.. and hes only play 12 games!

Addam Maric - I think people have jumped on his back abit to quickly. The only bad thing people remember is he shocking kicking for goal in the intra and freo games - other than that his field play is really good imo. He had 81% kicking for goal effciency in u18's from memory so i'm sure it'll return. His pressure and tackling was good today.

Tom Scully - Was the best of the youngsters - last quarter was his best - needs to adjust to the speed of the game though.

Considering we played a near full strength Bombers side - and we had davey, bate, green, bruce, garland, spencer (need another ruckman to push martin's big body into the f50), mcdonald wonna & jetta from out starting 22 I think it was a better effort than the score suggests.

We just need to be patient..

[RalphiusMaximus 6,088]

Very interesting to see how some people viewed this game.

I was sitting on the wing, right next to the gate the coaches were using.

I was absolutely thrilled with the way we played today. Early on I took to keeping track of scoring shots rather than the score itself. Simply put, if our forwards could kick we would have been ahead for most of the first half and the margin would have been a couple of goals at most. Given that nobody in the club has any reasonable expectation of Miller, Newton, Martin or Maric scoring from set shots, this was not a surprise to any of us. The important point is that we matched them all over the ground, our tall defenders were all over their tall forwards (most of the time) and the midfield broke even although they were not as well drilled or clean.

The worst thing was the lack of accountability in our small defenders. Two weeks running we've had bags kicked by he small forwards while our bigger guys held their own. This is where we'll really miss Wheelan and Weatley this year.

Players of note (in no particular order):

Jones - I don't know what the people bagging him are on about. He was dominant today. We all agree that his disposal isn't the best in the team, but he was heavily involved in everything, often touching the ball 2-3 times in a forward movement. Was our best midfielder in the first half. I'll add that I was at the game with a Bulldogs fan who is far more experienced than I (he actually played with Bruce at Melbourne High). He agrees with me in this and plans on adding Jones to his supercoach side.

Warnock - Is our best Gorilla Keeper. He smashed Hille when he was forward. Ryder was too quick for him, but otherwise was very solid.

Morton - I never want to see another poster complaining about his courage. He repeatedly put himself in harms way today, and eventually it found him. Had some very good moments, as well as a couple of ordinary ones.

Sylvia - Loved his game. He hard, powerful and skillful. Loves body contact and can win contested ball.

Petterd - Had a really good game. The highlight for me was a contested overhead mark in the pocket in a small pack. He was the smallest man there and took it cleanly. Looks like a hard matchup as he seems equally comfortable playing tall or small.

Jurrah - Was not a happy lad being played out of the goalsquare in the first half. Fletcher was giving him a hard time, he was being held and pushed out of marking contests and in general looked like he wanted to be somewhere else. Change of forward structure in the second half put him up to half forward and he looked a different man. With the freedom to move up into the midfield he was suddenly involved and interested. He still had a quiet game, but it's clear that he needs to be played off the HFF.

Newton - While he had another ordinary game, the forward line looked better for his presence. His one shining moment had nothing to do with the ball. He chased from the forward pocket, through multiple possessions, ran right through a shepherd and forced the ball out right in front of us on the wing. Given that this is an area he's often been criticised for, I was thrilled to see him make the effort and get the payoff.

Frawley - Wasn't his best game. He was fine defensively, but a couple of his kicks were shocking. He should not be taking the kick-ins.

Straus - I didn't notice him early on (was he subbed in at halftime?) but he showed us all what he can do by foot today. His kicking is everything we've been told and more. His pass to Miller in the final term was magic. Pity Miller couldn't make it count.

Miller - If he could kick he would be worth keeping. Sadly, even his field kicking was pretty poor today. We looked much better when he was pushing up the ground, but anywhere in the forward 50 he's shocking. The miss after Straus gave him a perfect setup was horrible.

Martin - Has a bad case of the fumbles. He gets to the right places and often has first hands on the ball, but he never ever takes it cleanly. Missed some very easy shots. Played on when he shouldn't have and missed what would have been a sitter. When he did settle down and take a set shot he put it through the middle. Not a great action but it flew straight. He is not a ruck. Had a couple of hitouts but was soundly beaten overall. I think if he is to become anything at AFL level the coaches need to pick a spot for him and let him learn how to play it. Pinch-hitting all over the place is going to ruin him.

Scully - Magic hands. A couple of times he was caught with the ball, and he couldn't stand his ground against the bigger guys he was playing on, but that will come. Had a couple of really bad kicks here and there. Also some pretty good ones. Not a domintant game, but fair.

Trengove - Much the same as Scully. He's a much better kick.

Grimes - It's really all been said. He's a star.

Bate - ...

Bennell - He did some good things, but too often let himself down with poor kicks.

Umpire 23 - I'm not sure I've seen a worse game. Made some truly bizarre calls, none more so than the holding call against Maric just before the final siren. Even the bombers fans jeered. I may have caught a glimpse of a red and black shirt under his umpiring gear.

Obviously, there were others, but these were bits that stood out to me at the time. Bartram has no place on an AFL list. Didn't really notice Bell. McKenzie is solid and hard at the contest.

[DeeVoted 583]

Heard on SEN that Morton's injury is more serious than the reports have been here and is having scans on his knee tommorrow to see wether his season is over or not.

He is having a routine check,wont know the outcome of how bad it is until its examined. Knowing our 'good?' luck

with injuries it'll be a full reco.

Hope its just bruising. Keeping everthing X'd here.

[Cards13 9,117]

One thing I did notice was the coaching staff and their attitudes, all of them looked fit and ran between the box to the huddle with Bailey leading the sprint up the stairs. It is only a small thing but it was a big difference from the Essendon coaching staff and made me think the whole club is heading in the right direction they are positive and everyone is expected to put they're all in (enough of that down to the footy).

I saw the Dons staff do the same thing after 3qtr time too, including a very very stricking blonde staff member who caught the attention of a lot of lads around us....

[Lil_red_fire_engine 11,233]

Were your expectations inflated?

What former top 2 picks have led you to believe that Scully, or Trengove, aren't as advanced as you'd hoped? And you do realise that they're 2 games into their career?

I'll be very surprised if Trengove and Scully don't match the output of those that went before them. I think at this stage your 'expectations' are a little skewed.

Oliver not comparing them to previous picks. Their performance in the intraclub match led me to believe they would have a far greater impact than what they have shown in their 2 NAB Cup performances. Bit of a case of me getting ahead of myself.

[Je Roos Salem 661]

Hopefully Geelong.

Against Geelong?

[Don24 103]

Wolfmother....almost 2000 words in your post.....seriously......

[Keyser Söze 0]

Morton's knee injury happened only metres away from me.

Looked to me like he knocked knees with an essendon player.

Doubtful that it's an ACL judging by the way it happened - looks more like a collision injury (like the fractured patella I've seen mentioned)

He was running back with the flight of the ball showing great courage, which is the great shame.

On the bright side, maybe this will force him to get on the weights while this injury heals..?

Guess we just need to wait til the morning when we hear the results of a scan.

[45HG 1,559]

Not sure what happened with the Morton thread, but thought I'd just say that (whilst I'm certainly no expert) it looked to be a collision injury with him running back with the flight of the ball and coping a knock from a Bombers player coming the other way.

I don't think that that would often lead to an ACL injury but more of a corky. But I'm certainly no expert.

Ha, just saw your post KS. Ditto

[Oliver Hill 0]

Oliver not comparing them to previous picks. Their performance in the intraclub match led me to believe they would have a far greater impact than what they have shown in their 2 NAB Cup performances. Bit of a case of me getting ahead of myself.

I reckon that they'll have much more of the impact you were hoping for in the season proper. They'll now not what to expect and these games will hold them in good stead. Their class is evident and they'll quickly find the tempo.

Edited February 27, 2010 by Oliver Hill