Match Day Thread: Melbourne v. West Coast

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Watts will be good

Preaching to the converted mate. The problem is not you and I. It's the rest of the footy world that seem to like to stick the boot into Jack. Personally I'm not worried about him at all. It's public opinion and a ravenous childish media that has me concerned.

[glennycow 1]

I hope you're right, I really do - but from what I have seen of Watts he is very, very slow over those first 5 metres...and big lads don't get faster. Natanui has flair.

At the time of his testing, Watts had the fastest time ever over 20 meters for a non-aboriginal...i don't think pace will be an issue, just needs to pick up the pace of the game.

[Chook 15,023]

Before everyone goes mental, please please please remember how we played against Adelaide last week. And (apparently) the first half today. We won't play well for multiple weeks in a row for quite some time now. As long as we're not totally awful for long periods of time, then I'll be satisfied.

P.S. by totally awful, I mean getting literally smashed week in, week out. If we lose, I won't mind, but as long as we're (god I hate this word) . . . "competitive," then I'll be happy.

[jayceebee31 768]

LOL, we cant even bury the Eagles in Victoria in a preseason game.

We are going nowhere fast.

Welcome post- agreed and we will now get our membership to 30000 by first round with an effort like this. Good one Dees.

[stranga 328]

Daily we are reminded that the team will improve over time and that there will be bad losses along the way... so why the hell does anyone act surprised??

Carrying on with tripe like your posts in this thread is only petty and annoying.

It's simply a matter of keeping certain things in perspective.

Looking forward to a good development season in 2010, little more.

Ok sorry i forgot negativity (ie.reality) is not allowed on this site.

Great game from the boys today, 40 point beltings against interstate teams at our traning base are great for our development no need to panic we are a great team and it will be a great year....

[... 11]

That was a pretty depressing performance. I know we're going to take a while to come good, but I can't see how it will happen. Our forward line is shocking. Our onballers win plenty of ball but never have anyone presenting to them so they have to handball backwards over and again until they turn it over. It wasabsolutely no different to watching a Daniher game.

There's no way we will beat Hawthorn.

[Little Goffy 14,750]

Well, frankly I just don't know how the Melbourne Football Club can recover from such a disasterous loss.

Hell, at this rate we wont even PLAY a game next week.

[stranga 328]

Well, frankly I just don't know how the Melbourne Football Club can recover from such a disasterous loss.

Hell, at this rate we wont even PLAY a game next week.

Oh we will play, and we will get belted, nothing new.

[Face Your Demons 175]

Don't we get next week off anyway.

[timD 994]

stranga, I thought there was no game next week.

[Guest Rojik of the Arctic]

Well, frankly I just don't know how the Melbourne Football Club can recover from such a disasterous loss.

Hell, at this rate we wont even PLAY a game next week.

Little Goffy - you don't have a brother called Andrew do you?

[... 11]

Well, frankly I just don't know how the Melbourne Football Club can recover from such a disasterous loss.

Hell, at this rate we wont even PLAY a game next week.

I know it's really chic and witty to rubbish posters who express disappointment, but did you ride your high horse to the game today? Because it's not the loss that was concerning, it the fact that the same problems that dogged us over the latter Daniher years are still prominent. This style of game where avoiding contests and maintaining posession are the priorities is A) difficult to master, and B) doesn't stand up in finals footy even when done well.

I'm not advocating the 'bomb it long' strategy, but something half way between what other AFL sides do and what we are currently doing would be nice.

Our forward line today was a shamozle. Poeple will point to the amount of goals to half time, but the reality is that they were mostly

kicked by the midfield. That situatin cannot be sustained for a whole game, let alone a whole season.

[Carn dees 108]

A few quick notes from todays game.

- We have no forward line! I also didnt see Dunn often deep in the forward line.

- Also thought Hughes was ok early.

- Jamie Bennell looks great at times. Running out of defense dodging players, was real smooth.

- Warnock was strong and reliable as usual.

- Sylvia went off early, no idea why?

-Both Scully and trengove gave ok efforts with out being outstanding.

- Davey didnt do much thought he was in and out of the game although mostly out.

- Mathew Bate was ok, kicked about 2 goals, an ok return still needs match fitness though i think he'll play round one.

Over all the fact that we have no presence or danger in our forward line

will prove to be our main worry this year. Also watching our warm up our skills where excellent, drilling kicks not missing targets. I no its just a drill but during the game the most basic mistakes such as short hand balls and kicks across goals missing targets made us look bad.

Be happy to answer any questions.

[Jarka 767]

A few quick notes from todays game.

- We have no forward line! I also didnt see Dunn often deep in the forward line.

- Also thought Hughes was ok early.

- Jamie Bennell looks great at times. Running out of defense dodging players, was real smooth.

- Warnock was strong and reliable as usual.

- Sylvia went off early, no idea why?

-Both Scully and trengove gave ok efforts with out being outstanding.

- Davey didnt do much thought he was in and out of the game although mostly out.

- Mathew Bate was ok, kicked about 2 goals, an ok return still needs match fitness though i think he'll play round one.

Over all the fact that we have no presence or danger in our forward line

will prove to be our main worry this year. Also watching our warm up our skills where excellent, drilling kicks not missing targets. I no its just a drill but during the game the most basic mistakes such as short hand balls and kicks across goals missing targets made us look bad.

Be happy to answer any questions.

Thanks for that.

Was Bailey still experimenting with our set ups or did it look like our A-game?

[Choko 493]

I thought we were terrible today. Other than our tackling, which was very good, I don't think there was anything to take away from that game.

We moved the ball wide and predictably. WCE knew exactly what were were going to do from centre bounce setups, from kick-outs (where we are so far the worst in the AFL it's not funny) and around the ground.

Where WC got the ball, they spread quicker and wider than we did, and got easy breaks. We also conceded the centre corridor far too often when the ball was going the other way.

I saw no evidence of a game plan.

I have a lot of sympathy for the boys out there because we have been cruelled by the wrong injuries (Watts, Jurrah, Wonna and Sylvia would have made a big difference), but still, it was a poor effort. We will get smashed in Rd 1 if we do that again.

[Carn dees 108]

Thanks for that.

Was Bailey still experimenting with our set ups or did it look like our A-game?

Definetly experimenting still i think.

I saw Spencer at full forward for a while, martin played forward and back.

Davey started forward, on a flank i think.

Also might of seen McKenzie pushed forward at times.

[Sir Why You Little 37,296]

We are going to struggle winning any games this year, even against Richmond if our forward line does not get sorted quickly.

Reputations on paper mean nothing compared to on the oval.

Round 1 cannot come soon enough.

On Paper we had a pretty good side in today, & we got thrashed.

Hard to believe we very nearly beat Footscray last year.

Dean Bailey has still got a very long way to go in a very tough job.

We still should be aiming to beat a depleted Hawthorn in Round 1 though, otherwise what is the point of all the hard work & sweat over summer

When was the last time we kicked 4-6 goals unanswered against any opposition??

Bcoz that is what kills us week after week.

Today as soon as we hit the front in the 3rd Q Wet Coke just Bang 3-4 in a row quickly....game over.

Does this team switch off as soon as we lead a game??-it's very concerning-and no wonder we are not rated by anyone outside the club as we do not deserve to be right now.

[Je Roos Salem 661]

At the game today,

the Dees could simply not clear their defensive area well enough in the second half, and they were over using handballs to the extreme.

I did like what I saw of Moloney and especially McDonald, who looks like he'll be in for a big year

[Mono 455]

At the game today,

the Dees could simply not clear their defensive area well enough in the second half, and they were over using handballs to the extreme.

I did like what I saw of Moloney and especially McDonald, who looks like he'll be in for a big year

Sylvia broken jaw(s). Link

[sylvinator 96]

Just got back from the game.

- Frawley and Warnock were pretty solid in defence

- James McDonald is our best tackler and our best clearance player. whoever doesn't think he's in our best 22 is mad.

- Scully and Trengove were impressive. Trengove knows how to hit a tackle hard.

- jones and bruce were in the best

- Jamar is one of our most important players this year. He's actually a very good ruckman. Wins the taps against Cox and Natanui and good contested mark

- strauss was involved in a couple of really nice plays

- Miller our only really lead up forward. Martin really isn't a natural forward

- Hughes is a waste of space, can't believe he's still on the rookie list. Whoever thinks he's the answer is dreaming

[Bring-Back-Powell 15,240]

So Sylvia's out for 8 weeks with a broken jaw.

I'm not even upset anymore. I just expect it.

Probably glad I won't be back in Oz until season 2011

[jnrmac 20,271]

Some pics from the day..

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

My two cents after today's game...

Matthew Bate is not at AFL standard. Melbourne supporters are completely clueless when they say he is a star forward and no I am not basing this on todays performance alone..

Martin and Spencer are not at AFL standard and we will struggle big time in the ruck this year with Jamar being our only decent ruckmen...

Bruce after all his experience still misses targets by hand and by foot. He loves handballing hospital balls to players that have a good chance of being seriously injured..

I was impressed with some of our youngsters at times today. Bennell, Strauss, Scully and Trengove. Still very small and slight compared to the Westcoast players..

We have no forwardline....

Martin is not the answer....

I am seriously worried about our injuries.

We are still a two or three years off becoming big improvers and man am I sick of the ridiculous hopes and thoughts of so many posters on this site.

Is there anyone who actually thinks we are as bad as we are? It's all well and good drawing the positives but seriously we need the negatives so we know and

understand what needs to be done !!!

We still have so much dead wood. In a couple of years when our young draft picks have had a few seasons, we will be heading in the right direction but at the

moment while they are young we have to play these third to fourth year players that are really no good. That is the simple truth of where we are.

We have far too many biased supporters that really give nothing except excitement to more biased supporters on this site.

[dee-luded 2,959]

Fair dinkum. If NicNat has had a day out I'm going to put my head through this screen.

Well if you can do it, I'll welcome you in for a beer. Tell me, can you fit through a 19" screen, if not I'll have to hold the can to your head?

Are well, I think the Russian did OK, Better than our ball winners, but its early days for our kids as they learn against the big boys.

[jnrmac 20,271]

Some more pics