This weeks team

[Tricky 341]

And I forgot we can always swing Sylvia into the ruck!!!!!!!

Exaclty. Relax.

[The Great One 99 125]

Cannot wait to see all 3 of our top picks from last year all play together for the first time. Could be a glimpse into the future. I think our midfield looks very strong this week. They will need to be at their best against another good mid. Going to be a great match.

[dee-luded 2,959]

The simplest explanation is that the FD rates Rivers ahead of Warnock and Macdonald.

It was only a couple of weeks ago that Bailey was singing Rivers praises on OWAAT.

Maybe he's trying to give him a chance to show he's still got it.

[pm24 451]

I think that when looking at the team line-up that has been submitted it is worth keeping in mind that the lineup submitted on the thursday has rarely been the lineup taking the ground at the opening bounce. The players may be the same, but not the positions.

Last week Gysberts was listed as starting on the half forward line. He actually started in the middle at the bounce. The week before, Spencer is listed yet Jetta gets the game. The FD seems to like keeping the opposition coach guessing. I think its a fantastic tactic.

Therefore i don't think it's unreasonable to expect that Garland will actually start on the ground if Carlton does actually start Kruezer in the forward line.

[armstrong35 262]

no mckenzie :(

[pm24 451]

i don't think mckenzie had a great game for casey and in fact copped a fair knock to the leg.

[45HG 1,559]

I wonder what Mckenzie is being told to work on at Casey.

Almost fell off my chair when PJ told me he was dropped for form last week, I didn't think he was playing badly at all.

So I wonder what's going on.

[dee-luded 2,959]

no mckenzie :(

Emg: McKenzie, Cheney, Newton

Don't give up on him yet.

[45HG 1,559]

Warnock has played a few, and, to me, was inexplicably overawed by Podsiadly - didn't watch the ball, unsure in tackling, paid him too much respect.

I thought Knockers was playing pretty well before not taking the flight to Darwin.

I agree about Pods, probably it's as much of a match up thing and the need for us to have quick defenders. Not easy to come in and out of the team, but he seems to play a position that lends itself to it a bit more than others.

Waite will be dangerous against us I reckon, sort of player that always tears us apart.

[dee-luded 2,959]

I thought Knockers was playing pretty well before not taking the flight to Darwin.

I agree about Pods, probably it's as much of a match up thing and the need for us to have quick defenders. Not easy to come in and out of the team, but he seems to play a position that lends itself to it a bit more than others.

Waite will be dangerous against us I reckon, sort of player that always tears us apart.

Yep, Waites alright above his head as well, strong boy these days. I reckon there must be a couple of changes, but we'll see.

[e25 5]

Frawley will blanket Waite if he plays on him

[DeeSpencer 26,512]

Quite simply at the moment our big strength in key defenders for the future isn't as good as well all thought it would be. Rivers looks very vulnerable against both the very big and the quick. Warnock has been serviceable but I'm sure everyone has some concerns whether he will find the next gear. Martin as a defender was abandoned probably rightly as he couldn't read the play well enough. McNamara undersized and not getting a game.

Frawley has been awesome, but as Garland isn't back to his best, Macdonald looks average and Cheney hasn't kicked on he is taking the dangerous marking mid sizers, with Garland playing smaller than that again (which in a way suits him as he hasn't bulked up).

This week surely sees at least 2 of Rivers, Frawley and Garland taking on big guys. Bruce or Morton could play on Waite up the ground.

Personally if we get a strong midfield and fire up Garland to his best, then I'm sure we can more than live with one of Rivers or Warnock in the side. Whichever one of them plays and probably most of our other defenders will also cop it if we continue to lose, probably due to increased expectation on the most established area of our side.

[The Big Ticket 94]

God, lucky man is Jared. Dunno who he's going to play on this week.

Wona is a bit stiff. He was very slowly building.

[censored] about Brock being out too. Same thing happened with Johnstone in '08 too. He was dropped for the Brisbane game at the 'G.

[Madness 44]

Me thinks brock may come in as a late inclusion, could of named him out to throw us off...

[Timmuns 16]

Me thinks brock may come in as a late inclusion, could of named him out to throw us off...

mm yeah that's an interesting thought... is he in their emergencies though?

[Dinosaur Rover 197]

Melbourne

Backs: Bartram, Frawley, Bruce

Half backs: Grimes, Rivers, McDonald

Centreline: Green, Trengove, Davey

Half forwards: Jones, Miller, Scully

Forwards: Bennell, Watts, Morton

Followers: Jamar, Moloney, Jetta

I/C: Bate, Sylvia, Gysberts, Garland

Emg: McKenzie, Cheney, Newton

Team changes

In: Tom Scully, Jack Trengove, Matthew Bate

Out: Matthew Warnock, Joel MacDonald, Austin Wonaeamirri

Where is Bails based rumour that Scully wouldnt play?

[jnrmac 20,310]

I guess there is only Martin and he seems to have lost all form and desire.

I love posts like this - Yeah, he's just given up.

Get a clue.

[Red Sox 2]

Where is Bails based rumour that Scully wouldnt play?

Bails is usually on the money so I will be watching closely to see if skull runs out.....no one is ever correct 100% of the time so Bails...here's hoping this is one of your off days!

[Red Sox 2]

Quite simply at the moment our big strength in key defenders for the future isn't as good as well all thought it would be. Rivers looks very vulnerable against both the very big and the quick. Warnock has been serviceable but I'm sure everyone has some concerns whether he will find the next gear. Martin as a defender was abandoned probably rightly as he couldn't read the play well enough. McNamara undersized and not getting a game.

Frawley has been awesome, but as Garland isn't back to his best, Macdonald looks average and Cheney hasn't kicked on he is taking the dangerous marking mid sizers, with Garland playing smaller than that again (which in a way suits him as he hasn't bulked up).

This week surely sees at least 2 of Rivers, Frawley and Garland taking on big guys. Bruce or Morton could play on Waite up the ground.

Personally if we get a strong midfield and fire up Garland to his best, then I'm sure we can more than live with one of Rivers or Warnock in the side. Whichever one of them plays and probably most of our other defenders will also cop it if we continue to lose, probably due to increased expectation on the most established area of our side.

I couldn't disagree with this post anymore......the future IMO is still very very bright for this defence. Damn we are still in the top 4-5 rated defences in the league for points against and where we have come from and still trying to head, this is one feather in the cap.

Of course there will still be some chopping and changing and so there should be. This week as has been the case for a few weeks now, the FD are picking sides to suit who we are playing against.

Frawely - don't have to say much about Chip - most improved player in the comp! All Australian jumper coming??

Garland - will return to his best after a long spell.....there is never much room between him and his defender, once that yard of pace returns he will be hard to beat.

Warnock - yeah he wasn't great last week, no defender no matter how good looks good when supply from the opposition mids is continual.....against Geel this was the case. I'll say he still was outpointed often which is not great but how quick we forget the other games where he has been a rock...no match up this week, he misses

Rivers - some of the continual bashing of Riv here astounds me, it really does. I do concede that he is struggling one on one and concedes the front spot too often...as a floating reader of the play he is as good as any player in the comp.

Martin - IMO he had his best few games for us when he played up back, he has looked lost and soft at the contest in other areas but this young guy is still a solid work in progress, injury has had him take two steps forward and one back for the most part this year, otherwise IMO we wouldve seen more of him being used as the back up to Russian as well as being able to swing between forward and defence. He needs to crash into packs more and be a bit harder but IMO there is plenty of upside to Stef.

Cheney - hasn't kicked on would be correct but he is doing everything asked at Casey and should get a shot soon - jury still out no doubt. Bartram has held the spot well so far but I still see Kyle getting this spot at some point - lets see what he does in an improving side...

Strauss - You haven't mentioned this silky star in the making - IMO! This guy will become a regular senior player in the next 12 mths or so - could be our man to finally use the ball properly when kicking out from full back - kicks long, penetrates and hits a target - has a good size and besides a couple of howlers in his first two games does have good awareness. IMO - If the pies reckon they have a good half back line pair with Shaw and O'Brien - they wont come close to Grimes and Strauss!!!

Morton - huge guy for a mobile bloke - needs more strength no doubt but seems to have put on more weight from last year, needs to put on more but will become a good swingman similar to Cam Bruce - possibly better than Cam IMO

Grimes - the cream....just a star is Jack - love watching this kid that I'll say it again....I love watching this kid!!!!

McNamara - yep, got a way to go and has many above in front of him.

IMO - this defense has been building a fantastic core group of player, again we are only at the start of our re-building phase but two points are the defense has a fantastic points against result very early into this phase, the midfield is near the top for clearances - these indicators can and will only get better. Once the midfield really starts to control the play the defense will see less of quick ball coming down and we can only improve again.

It's all my humble opinion and having the day off work today - love having the time to put my thoughts across.

We are in good shape! Patience is the key.

[Madness 44]

mm yeah that's an interesting thought... is he in their emergencies though?

Yup...

[titan_uranus 25,212]

God, you can't drop a bloke can you?!

You all go nuts whenever any good player gets dropped.

It's apart of footy.

You play a few shockers and you get dropped.

Warnock has played a few, and, to me, was inexplicably overawed by Podsiadly - didn't watch the ball, unsure in tackling, paid him too much respect.

Rivers has been equally poor, but like Garland - has other strings. Garland has a decent attacking instinct, and Rivers is one of the best and selfless readers of the play in the game.

I can think of one bad game - last week. And even then, Podsiadly could do no wrong. He kicked a goal from 50 metres out on the wrong side for a leftie after Warnock had done the right thing and corralled him to the boundary line.

Rivers will have to play on O'hailpin or Waite this week, given the defence we've picked, so he won't be getting a lot of opportunities to float or zone off. That's the only thing Rivers can do better than Warnock, so I can't really see how we're going to benefit from Rivers' 'other strings'. That's why I think Warnock should be playing instead.

[rpfc 28,966]

I can think of one bad game - last week. And even then, Podsiadly could do no wrong. He kicked a goal from 50 metres out on the wrong side for a leftie after Warnock had done the right thing and corralled him to the boundary line.

Rivers will have to play on O'hailpin or Waite this week, given the defence we've picked, so he won't be getting a lot of opportunities to float or zone off. That's the only thing Rivers can do better than Warnock, so I can't really see how we're going to benefit from Rivers' 'other strings'. That's why I think Warnock should be playing instead.

North and WCE were hardly great games for our tall defenders with Goldstein, Hale, Kennedy, Lynch, and McKinley doing quite a bit.

Rivers has 'zoning off' in his DNA - but it is only valuable if midfielders pressure the kick in to the forwardline by Judd, Gibbs, and Murphy.

Rivers will get dropped if his form doesn't reverse, of course. I didn't mean this to be Rivers vs Warnock.

My primary point is that fans live so much in the imediate week to week of AFL that they can't see that good players get dropped early in their career (McKenzie) and when they are performing below what the team requires (Warnock, Martin, MacDonald) but it does not mean it is the end of their career or that the coaching staff, or they themselves, have 'given up.'

[Nasher 33,617]

My primary point is that fans live so much in the imediate week to week of AFL that they can't see that good players get dropped early in their career (McKenzie) and when they are performing below what the team requires (Warnock, Martin, MacDonald) but it does not mean it is the end of their career or that the coaching staff, or they themselves, have 'given up.'

Indeed - and whether they get dropped or may depend on how much pressure there is coming from below. In this case, three best 22 players had to come in, so out go our (arguably) bottom three performers. It's a pretty simple equation.

[titan_uranus 25,212]

North and WCE were hardly great games for our tall defenders with Goldstein, Hale, Kennedy, Lynch, and McKinley doing quite a bit.

Rivers has 'zoning off' in his DNA - but it is only valuable if midfielders pressure the kick in to the forwardline by Judd, Gibbs, and Murphy.

Rivers will get dropped if his form doesn't reverse, of course. I didn't mean this to be Rivers vs Warnock.

My primary point is that fans live so much in the imediate week to week of AFL that they can't see that good players get dropped early in their career (McKenzie) and when they are performing below what the team requires (Warnock, Martin, MacDonald) but it does not mean it is the end of their career or that the coaching staff, or they themselves, have 'given up.'

I didn't think Warnock was that bad in the North and West Coast games, and let's not forget how bad our midfield was in those games (especially the West Coast game) which makes defending even harder.

My argument revolves around Warnock being dropped whilst Rivers stays in the team: I would prefer it to be the other way around. But I do agree about the whole 'over-reacting to players being dropped' thing.

[Adam The God 30,644]

Warnock is in our best 22, but he was beaten last week and his omission proves you'll have to be consistent to get a game in this side and that can only be a good thing. Bate had to come back in and Wonna isn't fit, so another tick for the selection panel, for me. It was obvious Trenners and Sculls would come back in, it would be nice to see McKenzie in there, but our midfield is looking so promising with Trenners, Scully, Gysberts and then Grimes and Morton able to play through there. I can't wait for tomorrow.