FOUR YEARS IN THE MAKING

[Felix 92]

That was our home game. I did specify an away interstate game. Ou record for away losses to interstate teams was several years I believe.

it was against brisbane in 2005. does this fall into what you asked for [censored].

[RalphiusMaximus 6,000]

it was against brisbane in 2005. does this fall into what you asked for [censored].

Damn. That's even longer than I thought. Thanks for that.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,000]

3. Sylvia

2. Scully

1. Jamar

From the ABC radio team.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,594]

Not a great peformance, but nothing was going to look good in comparison to last week.

Only played 2 good quarters of footy, but still won, and won ugly. That's what good sides have to do.

Highlights for mine were:

Sylvia: Playing like an absolute superstar at the moment. Would have 10 Brownlow votes from the past month I'd suggest.

Joel Mac: one of the recruits of the year. Underrated.

McKenzie: rookie list gem.

Dunn's goals. All rippers.

Watts, even though he still makes a handful of errors each game, is starting to do a hell of a lot more good than bad. He'll be a gem.

Interesting that everybody loved Scully's game. I'm one of his biggest fans but I really wish he'd start looking up a bit more when he kicks. That poise will come with experience. Can't fault the guys workrate!!!

All in all, pretty happy with 4 points. That's 7.5 wins now with 4 winnable games to come, 2010 will be a successful year for the MFC!!!

[Gorgoroth 12,430]

Sylvia Saint, about 3 times in the last he did just blaze away, but most of the game his vison and use was pretty good.

[Jaded No More 59,648]

Just goes to show how important it is to start the game well, because it's easier holding a lead then chasing it. We won the game in the first half and resisted against the Lions' comeback in the second. Last year we would have conceded 10 goals in the third and lost the game by 50 points.

Jurrah for mine was very poor. I know we have unrealistic expectations from a guy who has played a dozen games, but he kept losing his feet and not making any serious defensive efforts. He can only be used as a forward decoy for so long. If he has another stinker next week I'd drop him to find touch with Casey.

On the plus side, McKenzie and Watts will be fighting it out for a rising star nomination this week and Scully has done his chances of winning no harm.

Our backline is amazing. Garland destroyed Fev before he popped a groin muscle and Chip dominated against Brown. Bartram gave Ranga Banfield donuts and even Jared smashed his opponent.

[Red Sox 2]

A bloody great result as in another step forward for the MFC. Not only breaking a real interstate hoodoo (the Darwin game IMO does not really count) but also coming on the back of the great win last week.

As is becoming expected another brilliant game by all in the back line who with Sylvia who is A grade, big Russian & McKenzie kept up the fight through the 2nd half. Watts & Scully were both good. Some poor decisions/disposals by both but they are both going to be A grade.

A few players down which depending on form with Casey tomorrow would see Trengove, Bate, Tapscott as well as Moloney as possible inclusions.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I love Jurrah, but his second efforts were poor and looked a little lazy at times.

[Whispering_Jack 28,116]

We're at the stage where we need to take the positives out of our games and the fact that we won a tight one on the road is enormous. In many ways we learned a lot more tonight than we did last week against the Swans. That's what it's all about at the moment. Learning to play in all sorts of conditions and in all sorts of circumstances - and learning to win games exactly like these. I don't know how far we can go this year but we've now won more in this incomplete season than in the previous two combined and we're being considered contenders with only four rounds left to play. Of course, we take things one week at a time so let's inhale, take a deep breath and think about next Sunday v the Tigers!

[Green Machine 63]

Loved Rohan Bail tonight.

He made some mistakes, but he takes the game on, and usually uses the ball well.

Loved his goal aswell.

Go Dees

[Hellaintabadplacetobe 4,150]

Very pleasing result. As Jaded pointed out, the great start sealed the win. I knew the humidity would get the better of us and we`d struggle to run the game out, and I reckon we were lucky Bris are in such woeful form.

Interstate wins, particularly after big wins at the G where you would normally bank on a loss the following week, are crucial in our progression of becoming a contender.

I`m stoked!

[gOLLy 401]

Anyone else think our captain was horrible tonight? I'm really dissapointed for maric after seeing how he played

Couldn't agree more

[The Great One 99 125]

Watts keeps getting better and either he or McKenzie could get the Rising Star this week. (surely Jordie). I wish that he would have a crack at the goals himself at times. His first option seems to always be to look to give it off. He does not seem to be confident in himself at kicking goals. Maybe due to a couple of ordinary efforts in recent games.

[rpfc 27,669]

I'm with WJ.

I know we are MFC supporters but we just won in Brisbane with a young and underdone forward line.

Great effort.

And Watts screwing up a dozen times tonight doesn't worry me at all; the fact that he is getting to the ball so often is the most pleasing thing for me to come out of the last month.

Really happy for Bailey and Mahoney and whoever else has helped him with his workrate improvement.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,000]

Watts keeps getting better and either he or McKenzie could get the Rising Star this week. (surely Jordie). I wish that he would have a crack at the goals himself at times. His first option seems to always be to look to give it off. He does not seem to be confident in himself at kicking goals. Maybe due to a couple of ordinary efforts in recent games.

I think he backs himself on set shots but isn't confident on the run. I'm sure this will change as he gains in experience and plays more as a full-time forward.

Interesting to look at the disposal efficiency of our players. Dunn at 100% for his 10 touches. Watts got 78%. Pretty impressive performance. Bartram was 88% too, so I guess we can lay off his disposal skills for now.

[heartbeatstrue 57]

Watts 27 possessions, will be interesting to see what Leigh Mathews says about that

Jack's getting more of the ball but his inexperience and lacking confidence mean he's not doing much effective with it. Some of his attempts at disposal are cringe-worthy.

Credit to Bailey that he considers Jack's potential great enough to keep giving him lots of game time.

[Jaded No More 59,648]

Jack's getting more of the ball but his inexperience and lacking confidence mean he's not doing much effective with it. Some of his attempts at disposal are cringe-worthy.

Credit to Bailey that he considers Jack's potential great enough to keep giving him lots of game time.

His disposals are cringe-worthy? WTF?

Go watch him play again. He has very very good hands, and is a beautiful kick. Conditions tonight were horrible, so much so that Simon Black was missing targets.

Watts' reluctance to kick goals is the only thing that annoys me right now, and that's only because I'm selfish and want to see him kick a bag!

[DeezMan 4]

A thought to ponder over...

Jordie McKenzie. 26 possessions; 3 marks; 9 tackles.

Jack Watts. 27 possessions; 3 marks; 1 behind only.

Michael Hurley. 30 possessions; 1 mark; 1 tackle.

So... who gets the Round 18 Rising Star nomination??? I think it'll be out of those three mentioned.

McKenzie has probably been the most consistent out of the three.

Watts is ever improving and played his best match thus far and was ALL AROUND THE GROUND.

Hurley backed up his good performance last week with a ripper against the Saints.

Hurley is a good bet seeing as his side defeated a Top 4 side with ease.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,594]

Just noticed that Bruce had 24 touches and kept Lukey Power (who is a genuine star) to 11. This is following on from last week where he kept Ryan O'Keefe to 2 kicks.

I know his helicopter kicks can be annoying and he doesn't have a lot of time left in the game, but he is doing a marvelous job at the minute!!

[bush demon 1,927]

I'm with WJ.

I know we are MFC supporters but we just won in Brisbane with a young and underdone forward line.

Great effort.

And Watts screwing up a dozen times tonight doesn't worry me at all; the fact that he is getting to the ball so often is the most pleasing thing for me to come out of the last month.

Really happy for Bailey and Mahoney and whoever else has helped him with his workrate improvement.

Watts is showing his intent, trying to break through the lines. Soon he will get there. That missed snap near the end would have been a beauty for him. Great at the LeighOak tonight. Pleased to speak to Neville Jetta. He said it would be difficult to break back into the side with the team playing so well.

[stranga 328]

His disposals are cringe-worthy? WTF?

Go watch him play again. He has very very good hands, and is a beautiful kick. Conditions tonight were horrible, so much so that Simon Black was missing targets.

Watts' reluctance to kick goals is the only thing that annoys me right now, and that's only because I'm selfish and want to see him kick a bag!

In fairness to Heartbeatstrue some of his fresh air handballs and 90 degree slice kicks can look quite bad. His disposal is generally good though, he just needs to bridge the gap between good and bad. However his ground level work is very impressive (particularly in the wet) and his work rate is getting better and better. Cant wait for him to get more confidence inside 50.

[Chook 14,646]

His disposals are cringe-worthy? WTF?

Go watch him play again. He has very very good hands, and is a beautiful kick. Conditions tonight were horrible, so much so that Simon Black was missing targets.

Watts' reluctance to kick goals is the only thing that annoys me right now, and that's only because I'm selfish and want to see him kick a bag!

Some of his handpasses and some of his kicks are sublime, but some almost miss the foot or hand completely. I would guess that almost all of these errors are as a result of having someone up his clacker or having just run a marathon to get the ball as it trickles its' way towards a boundary line or a wing.

[DeezMan 4]

I think we ought to leave Wattsy alone.

His work rate is absolutely phenomenal for a kid in his development stage!! He is Jacky Everywhere!! Up forward. Last line of defense. In the middle. And he has 3rd, 4th and 5th efforts at every congestion on hands and knees!!

[heartbeatstrue 57]

so what happened after half time?

A good question. A number of things, I think. Firstly it rained quite heavy making the ground and ball very slippery. Also good coaching by Voss - after the break the Lions played tight man-on-man. That and the slippery conditions made a very ugly, scrappy quarter. We couldn't get any run (slipping and very effectively negated by the close checking). As often happens in these circumstances, the team that's got the game on their terms (Brisbane) got the lucky breaks and kicked 3 in a row. That gave them a huge momentum swing.

Lucky for us that Green goaled late in the 3rd to extend our lead to 20 points. The tackle on Green was excellent I thought, and was surprised to see Green get a free. The replays showed the Lions' player shoving his head hard into the ground after his tackle. I reckon that one act probably saved us and cost the Lions the game. Whoever the player was (it was over the other side, I didn't pick up on who), he desrves a roast from Voss. After such a good tackle it was very undisciplined. I loved the fact he did it to Green, safest bet for us from deep on the boudary in that pocket.

In the last quarter, both sides were out of legs. The crowd seemed to lift the Lions a bit, and we were defending for all we were worth. Thankful for such a great backline. I thought our forwards simply went missing in that last qtr. Jurrah slipping everywhere, no defensive pressure up forward, too many Demons standing back leaving one player (eg. Watts) to deal with 2 or 3 Lion defenders. We never looked like scoring until another undisciplined shove on Dunny after he marked gave him that 50m penalty. Again, the Lions picked the right man in Dunn to give a shot from 50m out. Game over.

It was a gutsy win by the Dees - we won by playing only one half, which says something in itself.

We needed to come out in the last qtr and take the game on, break the defensive man-on-man tactics by running and delivering with precision by foot and hand. The slippery conditions and fact that we seemed totally spent meant it didn't happen. But we won by sheer guts and some good luck.

The guy on the bus back to the city sang "grand old flag" at least 40 times. Pretty gutsy passionate performance from our supporters too.

[heartbeatstrue 57]

His disposals are cringe-worthy? WTF?

Go watch him play again. He has very very good hands, and is a beautiful kick. Conditions tonight were horrible, so much so that Simon Black was missing targets.

Watts' reluctance to kick goals is the only thing that annoys me right now, and that's only because I'm selfish and want to see him kick a bag!

If you watched him closely, you'd see he's afraid of messing up when he gets his hands on the ball (which he's doing a whole lot more now). Hence it's like a hot potato to him. This will change as he gains confidence and experience. I think it's great that Bailey is giving Watts so much game time. He obviously sees his potential.

I'm looking forward immensely to watching Watts play more on instinct. That'll come with experience and confidence. Now I feel that he's thinking just a bit much about where and how to dispose, and the game doesn't allow the time for that.