SUNDAY STROLL AS DEES HAVE FUN AGAINST THE SUNS

[Hannabal 4]

Don't posters understand that it's difficult to get much of a read when you play a side like the Suns ?

Just be glad of the 4 points and the size of the victory and move on. It's silly to over-analyse such a game.

[satyricon 267]

As most of the posters here will know I am usually one of the most optimistic, glass half full posters on this board, but for once I have to agree with some of the posters, yes we won by 90 points but it was scrappy, the start was terrilbe, the 3rd quarter performance was disgraceful and some of the decision making was ordinary to say the least.

The intensity is still lacking for some reason

Until we rectify the obvious issues that still exist, we may beat the bottom half teams, if we can sustain a 4 quarter effort, but against the top teams, we will get hammered and deservedly so.

We will be very lucky to scrape into the 8 if that game is any indication,

[Range Rover 1,935]

I don't think there's any conclusion to be drawn from this game other than the boys should be commended for doing what they needed to do. No injuries is also a bonus.

We'll know a lot more about the players after they confront the Eagles next week in the west. They can expect a seriously tough game.

[deejammin' 2,370]

This has already been pointed out but it bears remembering that the Bulldogs may well haved jumped us on the ladder if they had not had the bye this week. Also with the Bulldogs, Saints and Crows outside the Eight I wouldn't be too sure of staying there, with all the draws so far this season it may be a pretty tight one around the middle of the ladder. Nice to win by so much yesterday, yet not a totally convincing performance, hopefully it starts to really click against the Weagles.

[hoopla 418]

Don't posters understand that it's difficult to get much of a read when you play a side like the Suns ?

Just be glad of the 4 points and the size of the victory and move on. It's silly to over-analyse such a game.

Agree.

It's a bit ridiculous to slit your wrists after a 90-point victory - just as it is to suggest that the final margin makes us a better side than the Bulldogs!!

The Eagles in Perth will be a good test.

[furious d 463]

Can one of you doom and gloom idiots, yes that's right you are a bunch of fools, explain to me which team you're measuring us against. I've been playing and watching footy for nigh on 40 years and I've NEVER seen a team that didn't make errors. Collingwood were completely outplayed in the third against Richmond, obviously they must be [censored].

If you're waiting for perfection and it seems plenty around here expect that, you'll be waiting a bloody long time.

Bub show me where people are crowing and saying we've made it, can't can you because you made it up

[warren dean 193]

Don't posters understand that it's difficult to get much of a read when you play a side like the Suns ?

Just be glad of the 4 points and the size of the victory and move on. It's silly to over-analyse such a game.

Spot on, and be grateful we get them again later in the year!!

[beelzebub 23,313]

Carlton in their game turned it into a training drill and their ver of the Suns was a little more formidable. Our effort was a dogs breakfast at times with the suns looking more effective than us.

At no time did we look particularly slick and well drilled. How did this mob( suns) manage to impose any will on our supposedly solid defense?

How does anyone completely miss the sticks from 40 in front? Sloppy fumbles, needless turnovers.. Ah yes but it's all good apparently ?

Sorry , I expect more

[iv'a worn smith 1,979]

It is often said, 'if only we kicked straighter, we would have won by more'. The simple fact is, sure, we hit the post many times, but even if one of those posters goes through as a 6 pointer, the ball goes back to the centre and it obviously becomes an entirely different play. The 'what if" scenario' does not stand up.

I acknowledge that there were aspects of our game that were less than desirable, but I would rather think, that in a long season, we will continue to build and gain momentum. I think our guys, particularly the younger guys, will gain a lot of confidence out of yesterday, despite the limitations of the opposition.

Let's look at the positives for now and keep our powder until we get to mid-season. That will be the time for re-assessment.

[Jaded No More 68,867]

Carlton in their game turned it into a training drill and their ver of the Suns was a little more formidable. Our effort was a dogs breakfast at times with the suns looking more effective than us.

You realise that we are the second youngest team in the competition behind GC right?

Besides, Carlton played them first up and it was always going to be a different ball game with so many nervous kids in their first hitout.

The Dogs only beat them by 70 despite playing them at home, and being possibly a top 4 side.

We were just going for 3 quarters, had a great last quarter and won by 90. I get that it was a bit of a boring result and not much to get excited about, but to complain about a 90 point win is simply greedy given where we've been the last 3 years.

[satyricon 267]

Can one of you doom and gloom idiots, yes that's right you are a bunch of fools, explain to me which team you're measuring us against. I've been playing and watching footy for nigh on 40 years and I've NEVER seen a team that didn't make errors. Collingwood were completely outplayed in the third against Richmond, obviously they must be [censored].

If you're waiting for perfection and it seems plenty around here expect that, you'll be waiting a bloody long time.

Bub show me where people are crowing and saying we've made it, can't can you because you made it up

If you must be abusive, you will note that I for one did not compare us to anybody, what I want to see is improvement on last season, and I did not see that at the beginning or in the 3rd quarter, yes Collingwood were outplayed but you will notice they took their foot of the pedal and it was Richmond's excperienced players who stood up....we collectively went to sleep in the 3rd against a team of 'boys'.......I will accept errors, but I will not accept a lack of intemsity or attack on the ball

[Felix 92]

The only thing I was upset about was the fact Watts was not in from the start of the game... and a few other things which i have gotten over (the first 10 minutes).

[Curry & Beer 5,444]

Carlton in their game turned it into a training drill and their ver of the Suns was a little more formidable. Our effort was a dogs breakfast at times with the suns looking more effective than us.

At no time did we look particularly slick and well drilled. How did this mob( suns) manage to impose any will on our supposedly solid defense?

How does anyone completely miss the sticks from 40 in front? Sloppy fumbles, needless turnovers.. Ah yes but it's all good apparently ?

Sorry , I expect more

hey man we won by 90

that's NINETY points

we kicked 8.7 to 1.4 in the last, you don't think that was a training drill?

christ some of our supporters are pathetic

[Choko 493]

You realise that we are the second youngest team in the competition behind GC right?

Besides, Carlton played them first up and it was always going to be a different ball game with so many nervous kids in their first hitout.

The Dogs only beat them by 70 despite playing them at home, and being possibly a top 4 side.

We were just going for 3 quarters, had a great last quarter and won by 90. I get that it was a bit of a boring result and not much to get excited about, but to complain about a 90 point win is simply greedy given where we've been the last 3 years.

I was there, and I have to say, we lost far too many clearances for my liking.

Given that we are a more experienced group with bigger bodies and a more effective ruckman than GC, it makes me think that our clearance issues are either hunger or coaching related. I suspect it's coaching, in that our positioning, match-ups, setups are inferior. The worry is that last year McDonald was probably our best in this area. Of course McKenzie is coming back, but it's hard to see who else will improve that aspect of our game any time soon.

[Jaded No More 68,867]

I was there, and I have to say, we lost far too many clearances for my liking.

Given that we are a more experienced group with bigger bodies and a more effective ruckman than GC, it makes me think that our clearance issues are either hunger or coaching related. I suspect it's coaching, in that our positioning, match-ups, setups are inferior. The worry is that last year McDonald was probably our best in this area. Of course McKenzie is coming back, but it's hard to see who else will improve that aspect of our game any time soon.

GC beat the Dogs in clearances last week 35-26.

They are actually a good clearance team, which of course doesn't mean we shouldn't be improving our own clearance rate.

But given our true inside mids, except for Moloney, are either injured or raw, the improvement is definitely going to come in that area at some stage.

[furious d 463]

If you must be abusive, you will note that I for one did not compare us to anybody, what I want to see is improvement on last season, and I did not see that at the beginning or in the 3rd quarter, yes Collingwood were outplayed but you will notice they took their foot of the pedal and it was Richmond's excperienced players who stood up....we collectively went to sleep in the 3rd against a team of 'boys'.......I will accept errors, but I will not accept a lack of intemsity or attack on the ball

So I can't abuse whinging keyboard hero's but it's ok for them to abuse players and coaches after a 90 point win, harden up princess

[satyricon 267]

So I can't abuse whinging keyboard hero's but it's ok for them to abuse players and coaches after a 90 point win, harden up princess

Fatuous sorry Furious Dee, you can abuse all you want, coz obviously you don't read the posts you just go off, the only thing I am dissatisfied with is the intensity at the start and in the 3rd quarter,I did not post anything abusive about the players, it is only you who is abusive, obviously something you have to resort to to get your point across which I find rather sad.

And if you bother to read the article on the MFC website you will see Jack Grimes agrees....I am not a keyboard hero, I have actually watched and played the game for nearly as long as you...... it just peeves me when players who get a lot of money for doing something they love have a bit of a bludge.......

Edited April 18, 2011 by satyricon

[Disco Demons 92]

Morton, Aussie, Watts and Frawley should play for Casey this week.

Morton, Aussie and Frawley missed some of the preaseon...they could do with a hitout

[Samsara 65]

Felt a bit for Watts on Sunday. He was pretty good in his the fourth quarter when he was subbed on. Laid some tackles, took some strong marks, and showed his footy smarts (e.g., his tap to Wona for a goal). He had a shocker kick that resulted in a turnover and goal, which was about the main negative. This seems to reflect his bad lack. Grimes turns if over quite a bit, and it usually doesn't result in a quick rebound goal. Watts does it once, and bang. He also had the ball at the end of the game and looked like he was going to take a few bounces and have a shot from 50. What happens? The second or third bounce doesn't come off and the ball just rolls along the ground. Some people just seem to luck out all the time.

Still, although he has had a very underwhelming start to 2011, he has improved quite a bit in his short time and still think he will add a lot to the team. Whether it was a good draft pick remains to be seen, but the fact that he was #1 shouldn't be factored in too much. This was not his choice, but ours. The FD obviously see him as being important in a couple of years. Hindsight is a beatiful thing, but it is still too early to be even looking at things with hindsight.

Edited April 18, 2011 by Samsara

[bing181 9,196]

my my...some are so easily stisfied.

We need to play far far better, with more skill and aplomb if were to be taken seriously as finalists

Can't work out how to do that double quote thing, but to respond to these two points:

- who here is saying they're satisfied? I'm certainly not. Equally though, I'm not going the other way, and trashing the players/team/game plan/disposal/coach/team selection/choice of after-game refreshments etc. etc. I posted earlier, just making the point that perhaps a more reasoned and balanced response would be appropriate, that's all. You get the impression that even when we win a premiership, there'll still be posters on here bitching about how someone should be dropped and the coach has no idea and that our third quarter was disgraceful etc. etc. Sheesh.

- we're not finalists, so not sure why you (and others) keep bringing it up as some kind of touchstone. Maybe next year.

Finally, to those saying "we've gone backwards". Maybe you're right. Progress isn't necessarily linear. Losing Junior plus Jordie and Scully (for the moment) haven't helped around the clearances/centre. But for me, it's a sport, and like all sports, is played a lot between the ears. Last year, we were still Crap Melbourne, and played like underdogs. This year, there's a far greater expectation on us - you only have to look at some of Monday's papers where the line in a few of the articles is "we still don't know if Melbourne are finalists or not" (though see above for my take on that!)

Coming to terms with these expectations will take time, especially for young players, many of whom don't even have a full season under their belt. We have much to learn.

The road is long

with many a winding turn

etc. etc.

[thedemonwithin 0]

Morton, Aussie, Watts and Frawley should play for Casey this week.

Morton, Aussie and Frawley missed some of the preaseon...they could do with a hitout

Casey also have the bye, so that won't be happening.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

1. Concerned about the fact that once again we were slow to start. Why does this seem to be something that the FD and players cannot address?

2. Moloney's first half was superb.

3. Our forward line is very efficient when the ball is in there.

4. Our back line is looking ordinary.

5. That third quarter was disgraceful.

6. winning by 90 points was only due to the 18 year old suns fatiguing, allowing us to romp away with 8 goals in the final term.

7. Bail has improved out of sight!

8. Davey was good today, but gee his disposals at time are ordinary to say the least.

Still very unconvinced after 4 games of football.

With you all the way Mallee.

A constant worry for me is our lack of quality kickers.

It would be interesting to see how many on this forum have played the game at a reasonably high level

cause I am certain that there are guys in my side who can kick a 15 meter pass to a player on the lead

9 times out of 10 with litle to no pressure. It baffles me how many times we turn the ball over from

simple kicking errors. This is AFL for christs sake.

I often think, when I come to this board, "it can't be worse than last time i visited". But I'm wrong. No matter what we do, no matter how much we win by, no matter how many positives we take out of a match, there will always be someone with pointless hyperbole like this.

We beat them by more than the Dogs did ... and they were at home. A couple less posters and we would have come close to beating them by as much as Carlton did. But no, there's still someone here trashing the side completely.

Here, try these select quotes:

"fans disapointed with that 3rd quarter need to realise its part of the game"

"Every AFL club have talented and quality players. It's insane to expect the better team to always be better than who they're playing. Each team will have their spells of dominance in a game."

"Its impossible to win every quarter in the season. The lapses are just normal ebbs and flows."

No, not reasonable Melbourne fans discussing our game against GC. Reasonable Collingwood fans discussing theirs against Richmond ... where they were well and truly out-played for a whole quarter. No-one trashing the club, no-one calling for heads to roll, no-one calling the FD and coaches idiots ... just a realistic understanding that even if you're the best team in the comp playing one of the worst, it's never going to be all one-way traffic.

FFS.

We beat a bunch of 18 year olds by 90 points which should be expected.

They had Ablett and Brown out and they beat us by a point in the third quarter.

If you don't share some concern in the way our team is playing and how inconsistent we have been

in the first four games, someone needs to explain the game to you again. So far, we have shown no

definite signs of improvement upon last year. Why?

How is it that Essendon have improved so dramatically? West Coast?

All I want to see is us playing well and being much more competitive throughout four quarters.

We have served up some absolute rubbish so far this season and everyone has a right to voice their

concerns, no matter how ridiculous you may think it is.

I'm certainly not calling for Bailey's head or for certain players to be delisted. That would be extreme.

I want to see an aggressive flair to our side just like Essendon. It shouldn't take a new coach to inspire

that kind of play.

We have a lack of aggression and a lack of quality kickerr/decision makers in our team.

We must put in a strong performance against West Coast, or else there will be a good and proper uproar

on here.

[pm24 451]

GC beat the Dogs in clearances last week 35-26.

They are actually a good clearance team, which of course doesn't mean we shouldn't be improving our own clearance rate.

But given our true inside mids, except for Moloney, are either injured or raw, the improvement is definitely going to come in that area at some stage.

The midfield is not an area where the GC is lacking in talent. With Ablett, Rischitelli, Swallow, Harris and a giant ruckman in Zach Smith to tap it down there throats, they are set up nicely. They felt that coming into this game that their midfield was superior to ours. Arguably, it is with Ablett included.

I was also one of those who expressed disappointment in our effort on Sunday, and my disappintment is based on the same concerns others have expressed. Lack of intensity across the 4 quarters. Poor skill execution. Poor decision making at times (see Dunn and Morton chipping to a contest in the forward pocket when they could have lined up for goal from 50 out in the 3rd Quarter). We didn't excecute as cleanly as we know we can, and the club has acknowledged the need to improve in some of these areas.

So for those who are labelling us idiots, sit back for a second, and actually read what IS being said. Don't just react with negativity without considering the views of others. Otherwise you are the idiot.

[Robbie57 2,020]

Playing the Gold Coast presents a unique challenge to all sides this year. Expectations will be you have to thump them or suffer the long march back home. Melbourne more so with its slow start to the year. Truth is the Gold Coast will never be a breakout game for any team just a game with a big down side.

Often when the opposition is not great is when systems breakdown because players mentally relax or achieving things is that 20% easier so your foot is of the pedal. Looking back I think that’s why we did so well against Collingwood last year.

So despite coming away feeling the game was disappointing (despite a big win) after a days reflection I think it means nothing in the scheme of our year and we did what was required. The West Coast on the other hand will mean a lot given how well they started and we are on the road.

As for the players I think we always strike the wrong note here with our comments being far too quick to punish faults and to focus on one or two marquee "love to bag" players. What I'd like to see each week is a balanced assessment of where we need to improve and do better. Slow starts are not acceptable nor is the poor disposal either by skill or in decision making.

Bennell is up and down, we need more consistency in the centre (17 disposals is not good enough). With flashes but not a full day of hard graft means he will be out or the sub. The Jamar/Martin Duo is settled. Beamer and Trengove self select at the moment with there being a weather watch on Jones (I am a fan of Jonesey but 19 Disposals in the middle is a bare pass). Sylvia needs to do the 10% more that he can do, yes he had 31 disposals yesterday but I always feel he is not breaking the game open the way he could. If he was playing in the way Beamer does using his greater natural talent then he would be the run away Brownlow favourite. Morton and Gysberts did not get enough of the ball yesterday with Morton making some poor choices. Players in the mids must have a minimum 20 disposals a week and against that sort of opposition with us rampant at the end the count should have been higher. Grimes disposal needs work.

The big picture is that our back lines doesnt appear to be settled and I wonder if not having MacDonald there has upset the balance and communication or is Frawley yet to feel back at home? Down back I think I'd like to see Tapscott, Garland, Bartram and MacDonald, Frawley, Rivers. (I am far from convinced that MacDonald is the answer but think Grimes needs time out of the backline so he can regain his composure especially when kicking.)

Up forward is proving to be good when the ball comes in to a lead. Jurrah and Aussie work well but we need the extra dimension and Dunn is not providing it at the moment. Let's get one thing out of the way: Watts first kick on Sunday was a howler (reflective of more than one in the team). Everything else he did in his short stay was an improvement, good marks, got in and under, a couple of good tackles, excellent tap to Davey which resulted in a goal a much better effort than we have seen. We need a CHF to create enough havoc for the backs, so they are asking "is it going to Jurrah, Watts or Jamar?". Let's forget where we got Watts in the draft and decide if he is going to be a solid key forward. The rest is academic, in fact the squabbles about it here remind of the sort of arguments I have seen academics have, completely removed from reality. We got him and our practical decision is, "are we going to use and develop him?" If we are then the FD has to implement his development plan. Last time I looked footy is not played with rear view mirrors fitted. Green looked dangerous for the first time this year but is still down on his high standards.

So is our real forward line Aussie, Jurrah, a resting Martin/Jamar and Green, Watts (Petterd?),Davey?

We have some serious challenges and need to lift in all departments by about 15%. We need to dispose of the ball correctly. Yesterday told us nothing other than our boys have some hard work ahead of them. Personally I think we can lift over the course of the season. I sincerely hope the lads are not reading this site but are reading the pundits with the aim of showing them they have underestimated their abilities.

Go Dees.

[Pink Freud 364]

SUNDAY STROLL AS DEES HAVE FUN AGAINST THE SUNS by Scoop Junior

An Aaron Davey contested mark in the goal square at the Eastern end of the Gabba pretty much summed up this game. It's not very often you'd see Davey out-body his opponent with ease and stroll in for an easy goal … well, unless you were playing the Gold Coast Suns. Hard to imagine Andrew Carrazzo or Clinton Jones being brushed aside so easily.

Reckon they were more overawed as much as anything.

Good report.