I know Jon Ralph has his critics, but he's written a great piece in the Herald Sun today about the upside for Melbourne.

Ignore the Malthouse speculation and he's actually got some worthwhile insights that reflect 3/4s of yesterdays' game.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/afl/melbourne-suffer-early-blow-with-late-withdrawal-of-brad-green/story-e6frf9mf-1226114627634

Whilst most negative posts on here are legit I want some positives from today and this year. I could easily read and listen to the subjects of Morton and his horrible everything. The frustration of Bartram's kicking and McDonald's over selling of candy but I want to hear some of your positive thoughts.

I am stoked about Howe. He presents well and second efforts are there with some class aswell. It was also good to see us kicking to one on one situations with Howe. It shows the confidence they have in him.

Blease was pretty good today and I can see the potential with him Nicholson and a fully fit Davey giving us a lot of speed.

Chippa is just a gun and great to see him take the game on in the second half.

Watts and trengove are going to be if not are the reason a lot of people go to Melbourne games in the years to come.

Petterd has improved to an all round player who can run and take marks up the field and can set things up for us.

AND it was great to see Beamer as skipper today and he played like one. I would love to see him with the C next to his name next year if not Trengove.

Please ignore this post if you want nothing but negatives to write cause there are plenty more posts in here for that.

Well to start with, Mc Donald was sensational today. He may have made a couple blues, but all in all he played out of his skin. Hallelujah Howe, Blease was really good, Watts kept up his angry face. Beamer found "it" again, Petterd was great and Dunny was fantastic. In a year or two, these boys will be off the hook

- Howe, in the absence of Jurrah's excitement he gives us something to jump around about. Should've had a couple more goals but worked very hard and provided a bit of x-factor.

- Blease, seems to have a bit of dash about him and considering he's been injured for much of the time so far he's tracking quite well.

- Jamar & Martin, in the face of two giants, one being arguably the best ruckman in the game, they were excellent. Loving Stef's improvement.

- Ricky Bobby, dropping him earlier this year was the best thing we could've done for him, his work ethic since then has been brilliant and he's becoming a more rounded player.

- Finally we saw some fight! W should've been closer the 3/4 time, a couple of soft goals and poor misses hurt, but they came out looking like they wanted to be out there playing for the red and blue. In the end one quarter screwed us, we should've been in front after the first quarter and we let things slip at the end, but it was just one quarter that did the damage.

WC are a top 4 team, and beat us as top 4 teams do but I think we also showed that what we've been dishing up lately is well below what we're capable of.

Biggest positive for me was that I was out and didn't see the first half! And to hear my wife (a Geelong supporter) say at 3/4 time, "Wow, they're not playing that bad".

Thought Joel Mac was very good. I've always been a fan of his, but for some reason he is one of "those" players that will play 3 good ones in a row, then have a bad one and get dropped, while "others" can play many bad ones in a row without seeing a Casey jumper.

Positives v Eagles

Howe: Great Hands and knows where to run

Petterd: showed something up front, led well in 2nd half

Watts:Not a great day for him but never gave up and work rate was always there, that shows you more about him than anything else HE REALLY WANTS IT NOW

Blease:Showed some pace and why he was highly regarded before the leg break

Frawley: Showed arrogance and rebounded well

Garland:Wasn't beaten and was there at every contest which came his way

Jamar & Martin: Beat the best ruck duo in the AFL

Trengove:This kid is all class and after onlt two years absolutley bleeds red & blue

Jones:Gives his all

Bartram:Kerr was good early but Bartram nullified him for most of the game

and most of all we didn't give up, for the last 2 weeks we have lay down but today after the terrible 2nd quarter we came back out and had a crack, manned up and pretty much matched them for 2nd half. Hopefully we learnt the importance of getting the ball into the forward line early

Season Positives:

The old guard is being replaced by up and coming boys who want (for the most) to be part of something

We realise things just wont happen because you have talent, which we thought at the end of 2011. We realise we need to put in some hard yards to get where the good sides are

Re-signing of some quality kids

The Tom Scully saga whatever the outcome is nearly over BTW IMHO he is playing like a young man with the weight of the world on his shoulders, I don't believe he has made a decision yet and all the talk is getting to him now, either that or he just wants to tell someone yes I am going

Martin, Watts, Trangove & Howe

You mean 2010. Otherwise +1

Just wondering why we seem to wait till the games almost beyond us before getting fired up and doing the 'team' things (Sylvia excluded). Sorry about the negative but our constant poor starts suck the life out of this team/club. I guess it's the overweight rookie/youth thing and always having a few non contributors atm. The lack of any A graders/champions to lead when the chips are down isn't helping either.

Oh, and one more, in the first half.... most of our attacking plays came from the back line...again. Lost the battle in the center in the first half.....back line did a pretty good job under fire but were overwhelmed by the forward press of WC (still too slow/indecisive far too often on the kick out transitions!!) which was helped (for them) by winning most of the ball from the middle.

Pretty basic/obvious (not easy of course) but when we start winning the contest in the middle more often (particularly early in the game), we'll also get much closer to the better teams and start winning against them.

Edited August 15, 201113 yr by Rusty Nails

POSITIVES

1. Howe

2. Surely the last we see of Cale

You willing to put a wager on that?

The other positive I thought was the back line. This is the only area of the ground that looks close to being the finished product for mine. Frawley and Garland are just class, and I'm very happy with Macdonald, Blease and Tapscott as the support cast. Rivers was good today too, but by "window time" I'd like to see him produce this level consistently, or get passed by the hatchlings in McDonald or Davis. I'd be happy with either outcome.

Close being the operative word. IMO we are one pretty tall brutish player (who can play), from finishing off here.

This is the type of player we need to allow Frawley to play on (and off) a slightly smaller opponent. Garland to cover the 2nd best taller opponent and Rivers across to the oppositions 3rd/4th key opponent. This might allow us to match up on teams who have a few brute forwards like the Pies/Cats and also take the odd pack splitting crucial mark at half back when the going gets tough.

Haven't seen any of the other Casey boys to know if it's a potential there. In addition, what you see with Rivers is what you're going to get. He's better served when Frawley/Garland and Joel are about so he doesn't have to cover a better/bigger/taller forward where he often gets out bustled/played.

Hence why the Pies were so happy to have him matched up on Cloke earlier this year and went out of their way to find that match up. Not Rivers fault though. Just lacking this extra tallish/brute backman as an option IMO.

Edited August 15, 201113 yr by Rusty Nails

Just heard on the radio Aussie is gonna be playing in the VFL this weekend. Now thats positive...