Wow.

These articles are usually fairly close to the mark, but that is a massive overreaction for our first proper practice match.

Freo last year anyone..?

edit: I'd also make a case that it's easier for Hird to plan for Bailey, having been able to observe his gameplan and setup for a few years now.

Bailey had little idea of what to expect from Essendon.

This does make a difference.

Real coaching is making the little adjustments during a match, not being prepared for the unknown.

Can you give me a few examples of what the Melbourne coaching panel tried

I thought Clint Bartram was solid all game.

Dropping the game against Essendon was disappointing, but it was just a preseason game.

The real test is a month away.

For now, we hope the kids learn a few lessons about senior footy. Intensity needs to be matched if they are going to be a competitive outfit. I think this will come soon enough.

Declaring Bailey outcoached is a bit rich. It wasn't the tactics that let us down, it was the fumbles. It is rightly pointed out that Jamar was getting the hitouts. What isn't said is that the midfielders he gave the ball to repeatedly fumbled their takes and let the Essendon players catch them while they were trying to find the ball. Likewise, we conceded many goals through our inability to take clean possession in the backline. Dropped marks and handball receives were chronic and cost us dearly.

One thing I did enjoy was the long-bomb kick-out. Used sparingly it is a very good option.

First of all - this is a lot to conclude from 2 hours of PS footy...

With Spencer, Martin, Warnock, Jetta, Howe, and Strauss as players unlikely to be in our best 22 ahead of Gysberts, Frawley, Morton, McKenzie, Petterd, Scully and Wonaeamirri.

Conclusions from last night:

- TOO MUCH TALKING UP THE POTENTIAL, WE HAVE GOT TOO FAR AHEAD OF OURSELVES

I agree. When Cam Bruce left on the top of James Macd, I thought we would be struggling to win more than 8 games this year. I still think that.

Who will be playing in the afl longer, buckley at cfc, macdonald at mfc, bruce at hfc

Yes, some fans expect more than the team can deliver.

As an aside, what an odd question - and Joel MacDonald is the answer if that was what you weren't expecting.

- NEED SOMETHING MORE THAN JUST GAME TIME FOR YOUNGER PLAYERS AND HOPING IT WILL HAPPEN

Is this yours?

I ask because this is what Bailey constantly says and I assume you disagree?

It's pure commonsense to me but are you trying to argue that is the extent of the development of the players? If you are intimating that then that is a tad disingenuous.

- BAILEY STILL HAS SOME WORK TO DO WITH SOME QUESTIONS TO BE ANSWERED

Anything less than 8 wins and he is under pressure. Would Malthouse come? Essendon have a very impressive coaching panel although it was good to see Todd Viney out there.

I am happy to have Royal back at the club. He has come close to senior coach at times, but he says he has never coached backline before. Is that professional?

Of course Bailey has questions to answer, but a blanket 'win/loss' rule of thumb is not fair if the players missing continue to be of the ilk of those out of the side right now.

Already looking for a replacement?

I guess you have already answered some of those Bailey questions...

Royal coaching the backline is unprofessional??

It may not be ideal but he isn't learning a different sport - it's just a different part of the ground and he has experience at some successful clubs.

PLAYERS WHO ARE SUSPECT:

- WARNOCK (ALTHOUGH FRAWLEY WILL REPLACE HIM)

Warnock is the ‘new’ Miller. The backline was awful. Slow, ponderous and poor decision making, Grimes excepted. You just cannot have Warnock and Rivers in the same team as they run up and down on the spot. Garland is highly overrated and coughs the ball up too much both from kicks and handballs.

You can't replace your best players.

Garland is a very good player. A flexible backman who was extremely overworked and while his kicking was not great - he received no help from his midfielder 'teammates' who were content to leave the defence to their own devices.

- NATHAN JONES, AN HONEST TRIER BUT TOO SLOW (WE HAVE MALONEY AS THE BULLOCKING PLAYER ANYWAY)

Prepared to give Nathan bit of slack as it was his first game after a very bad back injury. Definitely we need more leg speed and Scully is a must to keep because of his dash and breakaway from the packs which we do not have an abundance of.

I think most of us like Nat but pace inhibits his good skills. In hindsight pick10?

Not too much slack evidently...

First game of the season, but like many of our mid-range players - he has to have a consistent year.

- BARTRAM, ANOTHER HONEST TRIER BUT DISPOSAL POOR

It must be in the game plan for him to kick backwards! As Geoff has been saying about Bartram, I just don’t know how you can play at this level when you cannot kick and cannot make quick decisions to move the ball on.

His courage at times is great, what a great mark he took , but while his good is good his inadequacies are horribly under the necessary for a top team.

We all know his skills are not great but all good teams have role players and that is what Clint is.

We all forget about his positives until he stitches up a star and gets 10 tackles.

- JOEL MCDONALD, CAN BE BRILLIANT BUT TOO RISKY AND HAS BRAIN EXPLOSIONS

At his best he is very good but he has got to curb his temper. Last night he seemed to be frustrated by the umpires and the poor quality of backmen around him, Grimes excepted.

Don’t blame him about umpires, what was it 14 to 2 or 12 to 4 in the last quarter. The umpires had lost perspective

I think you can blame him, he was not disciplined. Yes, he can be great value as I intimated above but I will defend the backmen again here - our midfield allow to many inside 50s and don't get the ball into our forward line enough. They were lazy when it came to providing targets to our 'poor quality backmen.'

GOOD SIGNS:

- GRIMES

- MARIC

Totally agree. A fit Jurrah is a big bonus and Watts will continue to improve although quiet last night. I think he will be very good.

PLAYERS TO COME BACK (ONBALLERS WITH RUN ARE CRITICAL):

- SCULLY

- GYSBERTS

- MORTON

- PETTARD

- FRAWLEY

These are the very big pluses. We really missed Morton last night. Other positives, I think Strauss is going to be good and because of his very good kicking should replace Bartram and we must get Tapscott and Blease to this level asap. I like to look of Evans and Howe. Both are goers. So there are some good signs but I just do not think it is going to happen this year. It is still too early.

I hold a lot of hope for Fitzpatrick. Great mobility for a guy his size. With Cook now vying for the CHF Fitz may be an option down back.

Our missing men is one of the reasons why this is a reality check? But when they come back in, we are back into high expectations mode?

Forget about the kids, they are not going to help us for years.

I WOULD CONSIDER PLAYING GREEN MORE DOWN BACK THIS SEASON, NEED SOME STABILITY AND GOOD DECISION MAKING, WE HAVE ENOUGH FIRE POWER UP FORWARD (DUNN, JURRAH, WATTS, MARIC)

Agree but we need pace coming out of the back line and I think Bennell will stay down there with Maric up forward.

I’d like to see Bailey give Martin a run on the backline at times, particularly when their forwards are out marking us which happened on Thursday

I haven't heard this one being thrown around...

Green kicked 50+ goals last year and Dunn (has played an accumulative of 1 good season of footy in 6 years), Jurrah (I think we have a God complex with this kid), Watts (Firepower? He is 19...), and Maric (??? Talk about reading alot in the NAB cup. He has a lot to do) are going to make that up?

Also need some support for Jamar, Spencer isn’t ready and Martin has not quite come on (will he make it?)

The jury is out on Martin. I don’t think he has enough AFL skills. I would give Spencer another year or two and I liked his tap work against Ryder. He is a very impressive bulked up guy now and I think we need that in the team.

Gawn is the longer term hope, but by the time he comes on Jamar will have gone

COMFORTING THOUGHT – IT’S ONLY THE NAB CUP AND IT DOESN’T COUNT, BETTER TO HAVE THIS REALITY CHECK NOW!

A big reality check.

Gawn is ages away. Years.

Spencer is getting bigger and better. At the moment he can provide adequate support for Jamar.

And the reality check is for those that thought the MFC were top 4 potential this year and thought that even without 5 experienced and talented regulars we were still going to beat a professional AFL side on their home turf.

For those of us who knew this year is another modest step along the way - the result wasn't unexpected and wasn't the end of the world.

Hey Apocolypse, where did you get the sexy Demons girl poster from? I remember seeing them in a Market in Melbourne about 10 years ago. In the UK now but want one, anywhere you can buy them online?