Only highlights the negetives obviously, but still a chance to see where we need improvement.

EDIT: a link might be handy

A few things:

- at the 5:15 mark it shows nathan jones' switch kick that was cut off; clearly it wasn't 2-on-1 as some posters have claimed, but it was a bad kick to a 1-on-1 that was anticipated by another defender who sprinted across 20m to cut it off.

Mistakes happen.

- The highlights mainly show Essendon goals and don't show our midfield dominance in the game or the many good passage of play we created throughout the game.

Don't take these highlight to heart.

- Quite often the bombers were able to find a loose man, and that in turn lead to a goal, rather than superior skills or play.

I'll happily put this down to the youth and inexperience of the majority of the team.

At one time, no one was covering the player who took a mark then the closest dee (looked like Bail) ran away from the mark to find another man, leaving the bomber with the ball free to surge forward.

Mistakes like this will happen. It'd be unacceptable for a 120 game player... but how many of those do we have?

Unfortunately a byproduct of rebuilding our list with youth the way we have means that they can't be judged by the usual standards.

A few things:

- at the 5:15 mark it shows nathan jones' switch kick that was cut off; clearly it wasn't 2-on-1 as some posters have claimed, but it was a bad kick to a 1-on-1 that was anticipated by another defender who sprinted across 20m to cut it off.

Mistakes happen.

I remember that one. I could see it coming. But I was in the stands with my feet up. Jones didnt have that luxury.

If I recall That same Ess player had 2 to 3 bounces then slotted it from 40 metres.

- The highlights mainly show Essendon goals and don't show our midfield dominance in the game or the many good passage of play we created throughout the game.

Don't take these highlight to heart.

Havent seen any replays.

The one that showed some brillance, 3rd quarter, Ess kicked a point.Was kicked to the interchange side between HB - Wing, Couldnt see who it was, a guess.. Grimes? It was either punched or handballed to him, ran it, kicked into the forward line GOAL! took all of 30 secs.from the backline.

If anyone wanted to know how its done,that would be it!

A few things:

- at the 5:15 mark it shows nathan jones' switch kick that was cut off; clearly it wasn't 2-on-1 as some posters have claimed, but it was a bad kick to a 1-on-1 that was anticipated by another defender who sprinted across 20m to cut it off.

Mistakes happen.

- The highlights mainly show Essendon goals and don't show our midfield dominance in the game or the many good passage of play we created throughout the game.

Don't take these highlight to heart.

- Quite often the bombers were able to find a loose man, and that in turn lead to a goal, rather than superior skills or play.

I'll happily put this down to the youth and inexperience of the majority of the team.

At one time, no one was covering the player who took a mark then the closest dee (looked like Bail) ran away from the mark to find another man, leaving the bomber with the ball free to surge forward.

Mistakes like this will happen. It'd be unacceptable for a 120 game player... but how many of those do we have?

Unfortunately a byproduct of rebuilding our list with youth the way we have means that they can't be judged by the usual standards.

A 120 game player??? We have 5 of them. (Davey on 119)...

Keyser, it is unacceptable for anyone playing in the AFL for longer than 3 years be making mistakes regularly...

They are AFL players. There is no excuse. It means we have drafted badly in this area.

Why are you so forgiving ? We have drafted some terrible uses of the footy in past drafts and that is CLEAR for all to see

Because in the last two drafts a big part of what we have looked for has been kicking skills !!!

If you are constantly using this "we are a young team" excuse, then how do you explain the teams of old for Melbourne?

Before we bottomed out? When we had more experience and less youth in the side?

Our senior and middle aged players cannot compete against similarly aged players of opposition sides.

I wish you would understand this and not continually use our youth as your argument cause it's more than that.

A 120 game player??? We have 5 of them. (Davey on 119)...

Keyser, it is unacceptable for anyone playing in the AFL for longer than 3 years be making mistakes regularly...

They are AFL players. There is no excuse. It means we have drafted badly in this area.

This is incorrect.

All AFL players make mistakes, even the best in the game.

It's about limiting those mistakes, damage control when they do happen and making the other team pay for their mistakes.

The game revolves around mistakes.

Why are you so forgiving ? We have drafted some terrible uses of the footy in past drafts and that is CLEAR for all to see

Because in the last two drafts a big part of what we have looked for has been kicking skills !!!

I think I'm pragmatic. Ranting and raving won't do anything to help.

I focus on the positives and the things that will make us successful once again, and I'm sure that's what the club does as well.

Just because a player uses the ball terribly once does not make them somebody who must do it always.

I prescribe to the same theory with posters - just because they may make a stupid post, it does not therefore make them stupid (obviously there are exceptions)

It about assessing why that mistake was made and learning from it.

This is what all of our young players are doing at the moment - making mistakes now so that they will make less of them in the future.

If you are constantly using this "we are a young team" excuse, then how do you explain the teams of old for Melbourne?

Before we bottomed out? When we had more experience and less youth in the side?

Our senior and middle aged players cannot compete against similarly aged players of opposition sides.

I wish you would understand this and not continually use our youth as your argument cause it's more than that.

I think the Daniher football dept failed in this respect.

They weren't ruthless enough and quick enough to move on players that just weren't up to it.

Poor decisions were made in a desperate hope to grab a premiership that was sadly out of reach but they didn't realise it.

Topping up with mature players continually didn't help the matter. Nor did injuries/luck.

Ok, if "it's more than that", then what is it?

Which senior and middle-age players cannot compete? Does that matter?

We are not building a team to win now, but in a couple of years' time.

Building one for now is not possible considering our stocks.

We had one player who had played 100 games (Miller)

Havent seen any replays.

The one that showed some brillance, 3rd quarter, Ess kicked a point.Was kicked to the interchange side between HB - Wing, Couldnt see who it was, a guess.. Grimes? It was either punched or handballed to him, ran it, kicked into the forward line GOAL! took all of 30 secs.from the backline.

If anyone wanted to know how its done,that would be it!

I can't remember exactly who was involved, but I remember in the final quarter we had the ball in defence. I think it was a kick in from a behind, possibly from Frawley (can't remember)

But recall Trengove taking a strong mark on the HBF, immediately hitting the ground and feeding off to a player running past who fed it forward. I think Maric was involved.

The ball was moved into the forward line and I think a mark was taken and we kicked a goal.

The result and the players involved weren't important to me, moreso how impressive we looked in that 15 second burst.

Clean, sharp, precise movement of the ball, lots of run, overlap, support.

In that play we didn't so much make Essendon look ordinary, but we made it look like we were far superior.

We looked like Geelong at their most dominant.

I know that moments like this occur regularly in games, but we are by no means incapable of it.

With time and experience it will happen more regularly.

Once we can string sequences of play like that together... look out.

There's a lot of promise there; you just need to know where to look.

This is incorrect.

All AFL players make mistakes, even the best in the game.

It's about limiting those mistakes, damage control when they do happen and making the other team pay for their mistakes.

The game revolves around mistakes.

Keyser you missed a key word. I said regularly. Our older crop seem to regularly miss targets or make it tough for their

team mates.... (a wayward kick that may make it difficult for a team mate to mark for example seems to be a pretty common theme for us)

The argument about whether or not we should be worrying after two practice games is an interesting one. I have heard time and time

again Melbourne have been practising kicking all pre-season and while I didn't get to see the Essendon match, the freo game was an absolute

crock of s#&@t in terms of our "skill" level and use of the ball. Yes Keyser, making teams pay for their mistakes is part of an offensive strategy to

counter attack. But how about when we are in possession of the ball? We cannot solely rely on opposition teams making mistakes can we? So I do worry

when I hear about us concentrating on our skills over the last few months and then seeing the same mistakes made by players who really shouldn't be

making them.

I think I'm pragmatic. Ranting and raving won't do anything to help.

I focus on the positives and the things that will make us successful once again, and I'm sure that's what the club does as well.

Just because a player uses the ball terribly once does not make them somebody who must do it always.

I prescribe to the same theory with posters - just because they may make a stupid post, it does not therefore make them stupid (obviously there are exceptions)

It about assessing why that mistake was made and learning from it.

This is what all of our young players are doing at the moment - making mistakes now so that they will make less of them in the future.

Keyser, as I have said. It's not that these players are making one or two mistakes... They seem to be disposing of the ball poorly more often than not.

I agree with you that we should have patience with the younger guys and that they will learn from their mistakes.. (hopefully)

Other players in the side have been learning from their mistakes for a little too long in my opinion...

I think the Daniher football dept failed in this respect.

They weren't ruthless enough and quick enough to move on players that just weren't up to it.

Poor decisions were made in a desperate hope to grab a premiership that was sadly out of reach but they didn't realise it.

Topping up with mature players continually didn't help the matter. Nor did injuries/luck.

Ok, if "it's more than that", then what is it?

Which senior and middle-age players cannot compete? Does that matter?

We are not building a team to win now, but in a couple of years' time.

Building one for now is not possible considering our stocks.

Easy to say all this now in hindsight Keyser...

Melbourne could have won a premiership in 05, or at least come very close.

We can sit here and talk about which players were up to scratch or how Daniher did this or

that wrong but really we were as good as anyone on our day in 05... Who knows what happened with those last

5 games of the season. The proof was in the pudding though keyser. On our day, we could beat anyone.

To finish, I would like to voice my opinion about our senior list one more time.

While we have drafted what seems to be a magnificent group of highly skilled youngsters, the

fact is that the older group are not at the same level as opposition groups senior guys... (terrible wording)

I worry because this older group are the role models and team mates of the likes of Morton, Grimes, Watts, Scully, Trengove

Bennell, Jetta, Gysberts etc etc...

Hopefully our young guys will shine through and the fact that we don't have a fantastic senior list won't hinder the development

of our younger brigade of players.

A 120 game player??? We have 5 of them. (Davey on 119)...

how many were there on Saturday? answer = one, and it was Miller

The result and the players involved weren't important to me, moreso how impressive we looked in that 15 second burst.

Clean, sharp, precise movement of the ball, lots of run, overlap, support.

There's a lot of promise there; you just need to know where to look.

You are RIGHT! My mistake it WAS the 4th Qtr.

I can live with the silly mistakes /bad descisions, missed easy shots for goal during a game. (up to a point of course) Those can be worked on.

What makes the difference, is a play like the one we touched on. Gives us (supporters) an insight on what is possible. The players gain confidence, before you know it it becomes more regular.If they can do it once,they can do it more often. If you are looking for positives... I'm not letting that piece go by. Sheer brillance.

Trengove was it?? He is fast becoming my fav player.