"It's the Spine Stupid!!"

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Garland,Rivers & Warnock too often found out against sides with quality key forwards, Frawley is the only one we can absolutely count on. As for the tall forwards which ones would they be ?

Our defence gets found out when our midfield gets pumped by another sides quality midfield.

Geelong had the best big man on the ground and the midfield on top for 3 qtrs and guess what?

[Grandson of a gun 276]

Our defence gets found out when our midfield gets pumped by another sides quality midfield.

Really disagree with the first part of this comment. It is very inaccurate and frankly shows a lack of appreciation of what is going on.

To say the defence gets "found out" is ignorant.

The manner in which Frawley, Garland, Rivers, MacDonald, Bail, Strauss, Grimes, Tappy and Blease functioned throughout the year is actually pretty good.

The amount of balls they spoil, rebound or force a 50/50 is a credit to them when you consider how often the ball is pumped in there. No defensive unit in the league would perform much better with the amount of inside 50's Melbourne concedes, and especially with the ease at which at times other clubs can deliver into the 50 from both general play and centre clearances.

Until our mids and forwards develop stronger bodies and learn to apply the requisite pressure for a full game, we will struggle against the top teams and they will continue to smash us for inside 50's.

The defence is the best part of our team. There is no "finding them out".

Edited September 10, 2011 by Grandson of a gun

[loges 6,767]

Our defence gets found out when our midfield gets pumped by another sides quality midfield.

Geelong had the best big man on the ground and the midfield on top for 3 qtrs and guess what?

Yes probably but one point I will make is the ball wasn't being delivered lace out by Geelongs"A" grade midfield, most of the time it was just bombed long to the top of the goal square & their big guys were strong enough to do the rest. The reality is we need to get bigger & better both midfield & forward

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Yes probably but one point I will make is the ball wasn't being delivered lace out by Geelongs"A" grade midfield, most of the time it was just bombed long to the top of the goal square & their big guys were strong enough to do the rest. The reality is we need to get bigger & better both midfield & forward

Great. Tactical that is what you want to have your midfielder winning the ball from the cenre and kicking long to your advantage when your forwards are taller than your opposition defenders. Its just not a case of "bomb it long". They may be kicking long but they still kick to the advantage of their teammates.

Really disagree with the first part of this comment. It is very inaccurate and frankly shows a lack of appreciation of what is going on.

To say the defence gets "found out" is ignorant.

The manner in which Frawley, Garland, Rivers, MacDonald, Bail, Strauss, Grimes, Tappy and Blease functioned throughout the year is actually pretty good.

The amount of balls they spoil, rebound or force a 50/50 is a credit to them when you consider how often the ball is pumped in there. No defensive unit in the league would perform much better with the amount of inside 50's Melbourne concedes, and especially with the ease at which at times other clubs can deliver into the 50 from both general play and centre clearances.

Until our mids and forwards develop stronger bodies and learn to apply the requisite pressure for a full game, we will struggle against the top teams and they will continue to smash us for inside 50's.

The defence is the best part of our team. There is no "finding them out".

Every defence gets exposed when the opposition midfield is destroying your midfield. Its not just an MFC thing. Geelong gave perfect example of that against the Pies the other week.

The MFC defence is actually pretty good. If they could improve their disposal coming out of defence then they would be better.

And if you actually re read your second paragraph it makes a mockery of the final paragraph.

[loges 6,767]

Great. Tactical that is what you want to have your midfielder winning the ball from the cenre and kicking long to your advantage when your forwards are taller than your opposition defenders. Its just not a case of "bomb it long". They may be kicking long but they still kick to the advantage of their teammates.

Every defence gets exposed when the opposition midfield is destroying your midfield. Its not just an MFC thing. Geelong gave perfect example of that against the Pies the other week.

The MFC defence is actually pretty good. If they could improve their disposal coming out of defence then they would be better.

And if you actually re read your second paragraph it makes a mockery of the final paragraph.

So just stick with our plethora of medium sized forwards and develope the midfield until they can hit team mates on the chest with each forward entry. Worked well for the Bulldogs - Until they reached the pointy end of the finals

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

So just stick with our plethora of medium sized forwards and develope the midfield until they can hit team mates on the chest with each forward entry. Worked well for the Bulldogs - Until they reached the pointy end of the finals

Lets just see if we can get the midfield together and getr their hands on the ball to at least get inside 50, lace up or otherwise.

[Striker475 696]

Hard to really reply properly since I'm on the train, anyway...

- our key tagger IMO is Bail. He had some really good games before he went down.

- We do obviously struggle at FF, but in recent history it has been notoriously hard to develop full forwards. With only three exceptions in recent times (Tippett, Dawes and J Brown) these players don't have an immediate impact, but rather take almost as long as a ruckman to have an impact.

On that, let's teach Stef how to kick at goal.

[Demon Dynasty 17,094]

Just a thought gang. Was wondering about our midfield situation and how we lack depth and some bigger bodies etc in there.

He's had an interrupted year and it's only his first. But mostly he's been played down back this year with the exception of his last game where he spent a bit of time up forward i think.

He has the body already and it's only going to get stronger as we put pre-seasons into him. He's a reasonable kick and strong through the body. Not sure about his 'short' game/skill side at this point so this might go against him a little until he develops this side further.

How about developing Tappy as a mid-fielder as a core part of our rotations through there? Worth trying you think?