People suggesting dropping rivers are crazy.

He had three goals kicked on him the first was from a down field free kick (given away by davey but soft)

The second was a beautiful kick on a tight angle from outside 50

the third was after rivers got a great spoil going back with the flight and his team mates failed to help him out.

I know he is slow and sometimes his skills are bad but he marked lots of eagle kicks into the fifty, pretty much shut down his man (yeah allowed a couple of marks 70m from goal but so be it)

He did well.

I agree with the comment above that we missed Dunn, with bate injured he would have been great.

...pretty much shut down his man

are referring to Rivers on Kennedy, if so Rivers "pretty much shut him down" because Kennedy spent plenty of time on the bench vomiting or something.

Out: Johnson, Rivers, Bruce (inj), Bate (inj)

In: Gysberts, Morton, Macdonald, Miller

If one of the injured guys gets up then Miller will remain out; if both get up then Macdonald and Miller to both remain out.

Johnson: If keeping Jamar off the casualty list means that we absolutely must carry a ruckman who isn't any good, I'd prefer it to be Martin or Spencer because at least then we can call it 'development'. Those guys might come good - PJ definitely won't and surely we've seen enough. He is occupying a valuable place in the side at the moment and needs to get out of the road.

Rivers: He's good at taking marks as a loose man in defence, but that's a role anyone can do IMO. What attributes does he bring to the table defensively that we don't get from the Garland, Warnock, Frawley combo? As an attacking defender, I'd prefer Macdonald.

Sylvia was really ordinary today but I don't think dropping him is realistic. He's one player we've got who can be a real gamebreaker and I just don't think you drop these sorts unless their run of poor form is really long. He'll come good any minute and he needs to actually be in the side when that happens.

I'm not interested in leaving Hughes out at this time and I don't think dropping Bartram or Bennell will be on the radar at all.

In:

Gysberts: VFL form speaks for itself. Deserves a shot now that the spots are opening up.

Morton: I had him in my 'in' list for next week already before the game even started, and seeing the VFL results just confirms it. You don't leave one of your best players floundering in the VFL for too long. Any further match fitness he needs to get can be got in the main side.

Macdonald: Served his time in pergatory for his rotten game against North. Straight swap for Rivers -- offers similar benefits defensively and more offensively. I reckon I'll be pretty bored with Rivers-Macdonald ping-pong after a while since I'm not sure either have a spot in the long term, but at the moment I'm happy to keep playing it.

Miller: In the end my decision boiled down to Miller and Wonaeamirri. I went for Miller for two reasons - firstly because he's kicked 3 or 4 goals in the VFL for weeks on end and I believe that you can't turn your back on that kind of form forever, even if you have put a line through the player's name. What was the point of keeping him on the list for this year if we won't play him when he is clearly in good form? Reason two was that Wonaeamirri has also been out of the game for quite a long time and time is on his side more than Miller. His chance will come.

I also considered Jetta and Cheney (good VFL form) and Spencer (to keep Jamar going), but none of those really felt like the right decisions to me.

I can't agree with bringing McDonald back at the expense of Rivers. Every fault you point out in Rivers' game applies equally to Joel. He's not overly quick, not the best decision maker, not a great kick... Added to that he is not as good a stopper as Rivers. Our backline is top-heavy with Rivers in there, and I think we'd be better off going small and quick. If anything, I'd drop Green back to the half back flank and bring Wona into the forward 6 in his place.

Out: Bate, Bruce, Johnson, Hughes.

In: Miller, MacDonald, Morton, Gysberts.

I'd go with one ruck against Port.

Definite Out

Johnson - Will never be first ruck so needs another string to his bow if he wants to be in the 22 - specifically he needs to be able to play as a forward. To play as a forward he needs to take a pack mark or bring the ball to ground. Currently its not just that he does not seem to be able to mark over over his head its that he does not seem even to be exert any physicality on the pack when the ball comes in high. Its almost like he has no arms. He needs to be sent back to Casey and told that he won't get picked as second ruck until he demonstrates progress in relation to above.

Ins

Spencer/Dunn - If we are going to play a Second Ruck then its either Spencer or Martin because we need to get development into both as someone else mentioned. As Martin appears to be injured then Spencer is the option. He impressed me against Coburg with his ruck work and his contested marking. Reads the play well and has some good footy smarts. And as a big bloke should he doesnt mind the physical stuff. Certainly I'd rather Spencer under a high ball in the forward line than Johnson. His kicking does need work. If we want to go with a utility who can pinch hit in the ruck and also provide more run then Dunn is the option. Competitive enough at Bsll Ups/Throw Ins and provides run and a target up forward. Dunn's form has been inconsistent and needs to be more composed when in possesion.

Then Morton should come in after 2 games for Casey. If Bruce has a hammy as speculated then a straight swap. Maybe rest Trengove if Bruce comes up. Believer in giving young players an extra week off in addition to the mid season break. Gysberts and Jetta might also come into calculations. Perhaps Bennell to get a rest too.

Out: Bate, Bruce, Johnson, Hughes.

In: Miller, MacDonald, Morton, Gysberts.

I'd go with one ruck against Port.

Mostly agree, play one ruck (Jamar) up there with a supporter (Martin if fit, or Newton). Keep Hughes for his agility & elusiveness in the greasy conditions, goal sneak.

I really want to see Jordan Gysberts in, its the right time for him to replace Bruce.

We need the small forward in, either Wonnaemirri or Maric.

Ins: Gysberts, Wonnaemirri/Maric, Newton

Out:

Johnson - Not an AFL player. 200 cm, and does not lift his his arms above his sholders. Thnks he is an 180cm wingman. Should not play for Melbourne again.

Rivers - Not fast enough, not tall enough, can't kick. Great courage, but needs to be able to actually defend or attack, and can't do either. Delist.

Hughes - on four occasions looked for a free kick instead of a second effort. Robbo did this last year, and now he is playing up the bush. I hate divers, send him back to casey, and never to wear the red and blue while he chases the soft option.

Bennell - 10 minutes of good football is not an AFL game. Needs to work harder. Back to casey to sort out his workrate.

In:

Gysberts, Miller, Morton, Aussie. Covers all of the above postions with blokes that will put in a decent effert.

I cannot fathom any suggestions for Newton to come in. Miller's kicked about 11 goals in 3 weeks including time spent in defence. Newton has been plain awful. If Miller's leg fell off I'd prefer him to Newton.

A few weeks ago you were calling for Sylvia's head after his Footy Show appearance and I disagreed at the time. But after 3 poor performances I have run out of patience so Sylvia now deserves the chop.

Bennell has had enough cumulative bad performances to be dropped... and sounds like Bate & Bruce won't come up for next week.

Would like to see Morton, Wonna, Gysberts and Bail come in to inject some speed and help rotations.

IMO Hughes has shown enough to stay... working against the odds in wet weather and shocking delivery in successive weeks

Glad you remembered. Not too many would of in here. Just for the record I havent called for Bruces head just for his hammy. Just a straight out omitted.

I can't agree with bringing McDonald back at the expense of Rivers. Every fault you point out in Rivers' game applies equally to Joel. He's not overly quick, not the best decision maker, not a great kick... Added to that he is not as good a stopper as Rivers. Our backline is top-heavy with Rivers in there, and I think we'd be better off going small and quick. If anything, I'd drop Green back to the half back flank and bring Wona into the forward 6 in his place.

Rivers provides nothing offensively and Rivers as a stopper was beaten on the 1 on 1s. As you admit our backline is heavy with Rivers there but he stays.... Gotcha.

Glad you remembered. Not too many would of in here. Just for the record I havent called for Bruces head just for his hammy. Just a straight out omitted.

Bruce was one of our best last week.

You might have missed that with the 20 posts calling for Sylvia's head.

FWIW, Sylvia played a poor game yesterday to back an ordinary game the week before. Often a smarter footballer who recently has been playing cute too often. Some of his decision making was absolutely wooden yesterday

i would say there is going be a few chanes this week.. will Bails be able to pick it again?

Depending on a few injuries I would make the following changes

Out Bruce(inj), Bennell, Bartram

In Morton, Aussie, Cheney

If Bate is injured Millers form at Casey gets him a run.

Unfortunately for Bennell you can only play one handed football for so long, all day yesterday he just stuck one hand out to get the footy it looks great when you get it but really bad when you don't and yesterday not many stuck.

Bartram, I would love for this guy to have the skills but he doesn't, he has been around long enough and this side of his game lets him down. Looking forward he is limited.

Cheney has been in good form at Casey, Aussie will play in Darwin and Morton is in our top 5 players 2 runs at Casey are enough for him.

Edited May 16, 201015 yr by drdrake

Out: Bartram, Bennell, Garland, Johnson.

In: Morton, Jetta, MacDonald, Bail.

Sylvia was really ordinary today but I don't think dropping him is realistic. He's one player we've got who can be a real gamebreaker and I just don't think you drop these sorts unless their run of poor form is really long. He'll come good any minute and he needs to actually be in the side when that happens.

IMO Sylvia is exactly the sort of player you don't allow to have long runs of poor form just because he has the talent to be a gamebreaker.

History suggests to us that when Sylvia gets comfortable, laziness and poor attitude creeps in.

Maybe he is a bit underdone, and that could excuse him for failing to make some contests, but he was selfish yesterday. He went for the glorified long bombs at goal, and was rarely seen chasing or tackling. That is inexcusable, especially when you have a long history of playing rubbish, selfish, hero football.

He has really matured and improved in the last two years, no doubt. But in the last 3 weeks I've seen moments of the old Sylvia that really disappointed me. Maybe it's because he thinks his spot in the side is safe, when perhaps he is the sort of player who needs to constantly have failure pushed in his face in order to push himself to succeed.

Either way, 3 terrible weeks have earnt him a run with Casey IMO, because he doesn't have enough runs on the board to let performances like yesterday slide... especially when you have Morton, Gysberts, Jetta, Aussie, Miller and so forth pushing their case in the VFL.

I cannot fathom any suggestions for Newton to come in. Miller's kicked about 11 goals in 3 weeks including time spent in defence. Newton has been plain awful. If Miller's leg fell off I'd prefer him to Newton.

Fathom this then, he has a leap. Simple really to fathom, he can give Jamar a chopout in the ruck, can go forward & puts defensive pressure, & can Mark. Not hard to see.

Miller is a leadup forward who plays small, similar style to Bate, so if bate is out, Miller could fill the leadup role, or the match committee could use Watts in bates place as leadup.

We don't have many versatile types who can ruck as well, Newton, Martin, & that's about it at this stage until Fitzpatrick comes along.

I don't think Chris Connolly would want to put Morton in the ruck after his PCL.

As I thaw out, I reckon that The Ranga will come into the defence, Cheney should come into the back half.

Edited May 16, 201015 yr by dee-luded

Michael Newton is a pioneer for women's football.

I'd rather see Jamie Bennell pinch hit in the ruck.

Look, there ain't gonna be 4-7 players dropped.

And yet EVERY week people do this:

Outs: [insert 4 least favourite players here]

Ins: [insert flogs from VFL, seniors who just came off the injury list]

After a bad week at MFC, most people are suggesting 6 changes... when Bailey has already suggested he wants the team to be more settled? Is NO-ONE reading the media?

Or is this, as I keep guessing every week, a self indulgent opinion party?

Why don't we just start with a thread asking who will replace Bruce and Bate, who are injured? Isn't that a good enough start?

For mine, Dunn and Morton... Gysberts if Morton is still sore.

And yet EVERY week people do this:

Outs: [insert 4 least favourite players here]

Ins: [insert flogs from VFL, seniors who just came off the injury list]

VFL flogs eh? I would say Johnson is one of them...

Morton and Wonaeamirri are not flogs from VFL, they are more than competent AFL players who will improve the team and are best 22 material.

After a bad week at MFC, most people are suggesting 6 changes... when Bailey has already suggested he wants the team to be more settled? Is NO-ONE reading the media?

Or is this, as I keep guessing every week, a self indulgent opinion party?

Why don't we just start with a thread asking who will replace Bruce and Bate, who are injured? Isn't that a good enough start?

For mine, Dunn and Morton... Gysberts if Morton is still sore.

It's two of the last three weeks now that have been sub-standard efforts against teams we really should be beating. West Coast at the MCG are beatable every day of the week.

If this performance had been against Geelong, St Kilda, Collingwood, or interstate, there wouldn't be so much of a problem. But there are still senior players in this side who don't stand up when the team needs them (Bruce, Rivers, Johnson), and with a bunch of more talented players at Casey belting the door down, it's hard to justify keeping them in there.

Michael Newton is a pioneer for women's football.

I'd rather see Jamie Bennell pinch hit in the ruck.

Now your just being silly with Bias.

Out: Rivers, Johnson, Bartam, Bruce

In: Macdonald, Dunn, Bail, Morton

Macdonald can play as a tall defender if he needs to, but also gives us more run out of the backline. Let Dunn give Jamar some relief in the ruck, gives us a lot more around the ground, and in the forward line than Johnson does. We hear about Bail's tank, so lets give him Bartram's job as a tagger. Morton is a standard inclusion. I'd also consider bringing Aussie in for Bennell, but I'm inclined to give Aussie one more week...

Bruce was one of our best last week.

You might have missed that with the 20 posts calling for Sylvia's head.

FWIW, Sylvia played a poor game yesterday to back an ordinary game the week before. Often a smarter footballer who recently has been playing cute too often. Some of his decision making was absolutely wooden yesterday

Bruce will always handball to a bloke under the pump just so he dosen't have to take a hard tackle. His looping handballs and kicking put our men under intense pressure everytime. I love Brucy but needs a wake up call.

Bruce was one of our best last week.

You might have missed that with the 20 posts calling for Sylvia's head.

FWIW, Sylvia played a poor game yesterday to back an ordinary game the week before. Often a smarter footballer who recently has been playing cute too often. Some of his decision making was absolutely wooden yesterday

His not playing cute...he cant get a kick, dosen't even want to try. Nothing cute about that.

Out: Rivers, Pau Johnson, Bruce, Bate

In: Bail, Gysbert, Morton, Miller/Martin.

Rivers doesn't have the footpace to go with the quick leads, doesn't have the strength to take gorillas. He reads it well and gives great chop outs but Frawley, Warnock and Garland are more then competent. They are good with potentially a great one amongst 'em. they've also got good understanding amongst em so they give each other chop outs any way. those three have made that job redundant.

So Rivers should be that rebounding defender. That's not his strength. Doesn't rack it up and disposal isn't flash. So where does he fit. IMO he doesn't. Get a extra runner in. Bail the hard runner.

Bruce Bate injured. Gysbert deserves his crack. Morton might play more forward if his fitness isn't there.

Pau is just a hack. Martin and Miller at least can take a grab. Might be only once a game but better then Pau's none. At least they've got some presence.

Out: Rivers, Pau Johnson, Bruce, Bate

In: Bail, Gysbert, Morton, Miller/Martin.

Rivers doesn't have the footpace to go with the quick leads, doesn't have the strength to take gorillas. He reads it well and gives great chop outs but Frawley, Warnock and Garland are more then competent. They are good with potentially a great one amongst 'em. they've also got good understanding amongst em so they give each other chop outs any way. those three have made that job redundant.

So Rivers should be that rebounding defender. That's not his strength. Doesn't rack it up and disposal isn't flash. So where does he fit. IMO he doesn't. Get a extra runner in. Bail the hard runner.

Bruce Bate injured. Gysbert deserves his crack. Morton might play more forward if his fitness isn't there.

Pau is just a hack. Martin and Miller at least can take a grab. Might be only once a game but better then Pau's none. At least they've got some presence.

We don't have a Gysbert or a Pau Johnson at the MFC.