Bate - failed to impress Like he does half the time

Bennell - mistake after mistake Showed some positive signs with the way he moved the ball out of defence

Bruce - occasional positive involvement A bit more than occasional, but should've done more

Davey - lost on flank I saw Davey twice

Dunn - tried but failed Should be dropped for Sylvia. If not, should be dropped anyway.

Frawley - abysmal kicking game He was under a lot of pressure caused by the midfield, but his response wasn't much better

Green - our only forward He was out for a quarter and a half and was still one of our three best players

Grimes - amongst the better Second BOG

Jamar - should have excelled Permanent FF? I think so

Jones - same old same Our only real inside player, showed courage, but tried to do too much

MacDonald - slow and unsure Just a dud first game IMO

McDonald - many meaningless possessions But great leadership and harassment. One of our top five.

Miller - had no influence Key forward my ass.

Moloney - career worst game Was Moloney playing?

Petterd - doesn't deserve selection A good forward, but inaccurate at times.

Rivers - was rarely sighted Great first quarter, and he worked pretty hard.

Scully - gradually gained confidence Nervous first half, great second half

Strauss - nowhere near ready Send him back to Casey

Trengove - gave exciting glimpses More than exciting.

Warnock - was emphatically beaten Can do a lot better

McKenzie - not the worst Best on ground for Melbourne IMO

Spencer - slow and cumbersome Can't describe him better

I think if you look at the same comments from this time last year or the first 5 rounds you will be reading the same commetns for Bate, Miller, Dunn, Bruce, Green, McDonald, Jones, Moloney. When Bate is underdone he is very ordinary footballer, when he is fully match fit he makes a good footballer.

I liked Bennells game at least he took the game on. Strauss, poor bloke we want the footy in his hands but he looks up and has nothing to kick to, he needs to be told if you have no options long down the line kick it 50m, it seems we aren't allowed to do that.

When Garland is fit and ready get Bruce out of the backline he puts so much pressure on his team mates.

I think if you look at the same comments from this time last year or the first 5 rounds you will be reading the same commetns for Bate, Miller, Dunn, Bruce, Green, McDonald, Jones, Moloney. When Bate is underdone he is very ordinary footballer, when he is fully match fit he makes a good footballer.

I liked Bennells game at least he took the game on. Strauss, poor bloke we want the footy in his hands but he looks up and has nothing to kick to, he needs to be told if you have no options long down the line kick it 50m, it seems we aren't allowed to do that.

When Garland is fit and ready get Bruce out of the backline he puts so much pressure on his team mates.

Couldn't agree more with this comment - surely if you have no options in defence it's better to go long down the line rather that stop, prop, get tackled and give up a goal. That is just basic Under 9s football.

Perspective- Jarrod Roughhead is amongst the favorites for the Coleman Medal (before we even stepped onto the park).

Given the amount it was coming his way, he was bound to kick a couple.

Our backs were beaten, but not disgraced.

Well said wrathchild. Roughhead only kicked 3. I know he missed some but at least he was forced wide on a few occasions. One of his goals was from a turnover that wasn't his fault. Warnock had very little help.

Bate - very disrupted preseason, will improve, 'when he is bad he is very very bad'

Bennell - needs a lot more help than he's getting, leave him in

Bruce - slow, largely ineffective

Davey - brilliant one week, s'house the next, haven't supporters worked this out yet?

Dunn - not up to the required standard

Frawley - not the worst, he'll be OK

Green - best player at the club, proved that again last Sat.

Grimes - good effort, genuine talent

Jamar - OK, but no brains

Jones - disappointing

MacDonald - exposed

McDonald - great trier, will always be in my side

Miller - tries hard but not up to the required standard, can't keep his feet

Moloney - very poor game, more action and less talk please

Petterd - swamped, leave him in

Rivers - OK but made several costly mistakes

Scully - great effort first up, lacked confidence early

Strauss - thrown to the wolves, I think in time he might be OK

Trengove - very impressive

Warnock - overated, not good enough to play key defensive role with consistent success

McKenzie - very encouraging, well done

Spencer - GASP, needs 3 years at Casey

Edited March 29, 201015 yr by Prof

The problem with a three word analysis is you don't have enough words to properly express what you thought so it leads to generalisations, yes I was as disappointed as the rest but

Bate and Bruce both needed the run, better to get them in the first game, they won't play as badly again

Jones, loved his endeavour but trying too hard again, hasn't got the skills

Frawley, Warnock and Rivers and Joel M, made to look ordinary because they were under constant seige, the way it was I thought the played well, I was expecting over 100 point loss at half time

Bennell, exciting and gets free, looks up and there is no one on the move for him to give to, turns over looks a dud player

Moloney, Miller, Davey did not turn up and play, for leaders unforgiveable

Petterd tried all day, received crap delivery it at all

Spencer is still learning, give him some slack

Scully, Trengove, McKenzie, Grimes showed the way, the positive I took from the game

Dunn, thought he had been picked to tag, not sure what he did, but it was poor

Strauss, probably hasn't been able to sleep, has nightmares

Jamar, Junior and Green tried all day

I'm going to weigh in with my 10 cents here:

Bate - Played poorly but was way underdone. A quality player when fully fit.

Bennell - Not convinced. Looks quick and flashy but lacks decision making and execution kills.

Bruce - Looks to have lost a yard in pace and lacks penetration with his kicking.

Davey - Was almost unsighted for most of match and displayed little leadership. Must lift this week.

Dunn - Not up to it. Drop him until he plays a succession of blinders at Casey.

Frawley - Just okay. With his strong build needs to be more of a physical presence.

Green - Agree that he is the best player at the MFC. Should be captain.

Grimes - Started sluggishly but worked his way into it and never gave up.

Jamar - Did okay but needed to dominate against Renouf.

Jones - Has a real dip every match but lacks poise and awareness. Not certain he's in our best 22 long term.

MacDonald - Is it just me or is this bloke incredibly slow? Will give him another chance.

McDonald - Despite his limitations he had a crack. One of the few who tried all day.

Miller - Falls over too easily and completely lacks a footy brain.

Moloney - Got my doubts about this bloke. Built like a tank but looks slow and makes poor decisions.

Petterd - Started poorly but worked his way into it. A talented player when the side is 'on'.

Rivers - Just okay. Needs to command more of a presence in the backline.

Scully - Fantastic debut game after some early nervs. Backed into a leading Roughhead and didn't shirk the issue unlike many of his older team mates.

Strauss - Got to back him in again. Can't be blamed for what happened on Saturday.

Trengove - Like Scully an excellent debut. Will be good to see him slot through a couple of goals this week.

Warnock - Battling, plodding second tall in defence. Hard to get excited about him.

McKenzie - Battled and tackled hard. In our best 8 on the day.

Spencer - What on earth were our recruiters thinking?

Consider our backline is supposed to be one of our 'strengths'.

Its hard to stop their fwds when the ball comes in relentlessly at speed. But our defensive pressure is non-existent. And worse, they are static.

What have they been doing since October??

Consider our backline is supposed to be one of our 'strengths'.

Its hard to stop their fwds when the ball comes in relentlessly at speed. But our defensive pressure is non-existent. And worse, they are static.

What have they been doing since October??

If you look at the goals that were scored, Hawthorn had 10 invidual goal kickers, a lot came from the mids who ran through unopposed and kicked over our defence into goal.

Defence is made up of 22 players, stopping it coming out of their defence too easily and clearances, to blame the defenders is the easy way out, if a defender is on his man and the ball goes over both their heads it is not the defenders fault,.

If a forward has plenty of spece to lead into, is is not his defenders fault

We also gifted a couple from simple turnovers.

Grimes - Started sluggishly but worked his way into it and never gave up.

He started slowly becuase he was given a run with role in the middle on Hodge.

Why on earth would Bailey choose him to play him in a defensive role when it was one of his first proper runs on the ball!!

He started slowly becuase he was given a run with role in the middle on Hodge.

Why on earth would Bailey choose him to play him in a defensive role when it was one of his first proper runs on the ball!!

because it is still only his 13th game and some coaches see the value in kids playing on a star of the comp to try and learn something

because it is still only his 13th game and some coaches see the value in kids playing on a star of the comp to try and learn something

Well said sir, Bailey must have been absolutely livid with what he saw being served up by some players, but rather than rant and rave he stuck to his guns, and tried to recover something from the mess

I go back to a comment I put about the Family Day from one of the young players, yes there is a game plan but at the moment we don't have the ability or nous or willingness or whatever to stick to it.

I only hope today some of the senior players have been given a mirror so that they can have a long hard look at themselves.

If they cannot perform in the next couple of weeks, if we are going to get smashed, I say sod it throw all the kids in and let them learn

We must have been at different games- the worst game Chip has played for the team- PATHETIC display and nearly as bad as Warnock- and we thought the backline was quite good- they got lost..Rivers went ok- but made many.many mistakes.

I really don't understand what was so bad about Frawley's game.

It wasn't his best, but he kept his opponent quiet and made some forward thrusts. In a backline constantly under pressure, he was reliable and strong.

Definitely one of our future stars.

Couldn't agree more with this comment - surely if you have no options in defence it's better to go long down the line rather that stop, prop, get tackled and give up a goal. That is just basic Under 9s football.

Precisely! If you're a defender and it's the safest option, kick it to buggery as far away from the goals as possible preferably near the boundary line.

There was one revealing moment in the 3rd quarter. The ball went out on the full near the Hawthorn [attacking] point post. Several MFC players went to take the kick in but the umpire was on the spot and correctly ruled that it must be Jamar to kick it back in. He's pretty much hard against the point post, but a whole heap of chaps including Bennell and Frawley are on the other side of the goals waving their arms around trying to get Jamar to kick it to them. He has a brief look at them, but, to their obvious disgust, he signals that he will stay on the Outer wing and kick it as far as he can. And he did--about 60 metres which surprised me. And Rivers jumped up and knocked it over the boundary line. Jamar then wandered up, got the hitout from the boundary throw-in, and 30 seconds later we scored at the other end of the ground.

Now, what's wrong with that?!

is a contested possession always something to be avoided? I noticed that when under pressure on Sunday Collingwood defenders never hesitated to kick it 60 metres to a contest. By contrast our fellows seem scared to do the obvious