Where to from here?

[tonatopia 278]

Here we go again. It's the players fault!

Don't sack gillard, replace the secretaries.

We don't learn do we?

Nb, port are bottom 6.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

I still cant believe Dean Kent - probably the most exciting prospect pre season didnt get a run today when so many did that contributed zero.

Agree Norm. The selection aspect was mind boggling for mine.

Ability to spread and test/break down the opposition's defensive set ups/zone (ie., speed across the ground and quick/clean transition from clearances won).....

• The FD (MN) leaves Davey out, who IMO had a pretty decent pre season and has a bit of toe still left in him and decent disposal by foot and can still run a player down on occasions (read perceived or real pressure on the opponents to make a quicker decision...ie hopefully panick a little). Couldn't have been worse than some of the lead foots we had on the park today anyway.
• Blease sitting as sub and only brought on in the final quarter? If he's that underdone he shouldn't have been in the best 22 (surely better off playing half to 3/4 at Casey in preparation for next week or week after!)
• Kent i realise is only a young rookie and far from being able to cope at this level for more than a quarter or 2 IMHO. But we have to start blooding him. From the little i've seen so far, he appears to have the capability to hit up targets coming i50 more often than not (and in other parts of the ground) and this should be fast tracked ASAP given we are presently sadly lacking in this aspect (that's when targets do actually lead up hard....which is rare in itself). Even if it's only for 5 to 10 minute bursts off the bench in his early formative days. The luxury of waiting/waiting for a player to learn his craft in the Magoos is not on this club's side any longer.
• Jetta is a must inclusion and should have been in today given his pre season form. Can't u'stand why he was left out yet we place so much faith in others like Pederson/Gillies who have so far shown very little and certainly don't have the speed over the ground that Jetta offers (not that he is lightning but he is compared to some in this team at present).

Defence.... Neeld has prided himself on this aspect and made it a pretty big priority. However to me the following is obvious...

• Garland is a liability in this team atm and def not up to AFL standard at this point (as are a number of others who played in defence today) and should be replaced directly by Sellar as soon as Dawes returns.
• Watts was exposed today as being next to useless in the loose man role when the pressure is on. I say it's time to role the dice and play him alongside Howe, Clarke and Dawes up forward, make him earn his spot and give us a decent return on the investment placed in him. Too easy to be unaccountable in this loose man role. When the going gets a little tough and there's some big bodies being thrown around in the clinches, he tends to go missing. At this point any returns we've seen have been either mediocre to good (at best) or he goes missing completely (like today). If he has that much talent it's time to show it in his fourth season. Either give us a return up forward OR make him play accountable one on one footy down back and prove he can shut down and run off his opponent. His been given the No.4 guernsey for a reason. If he can't do either of these consistantly or well this year then we have a major inherent development problem at this club. Time to stand up.
• Swap T Mac in for Watts when ready but in a shut down accountable role that we know he is good for.

The Mid Field

• What a debut by young Jack. One of the best first game performances i've seen from any player at this club or any other club for that matter. However, IMO the Sylvia experiment has well and truly seen its day. He didn't stand up (again) today when the question was asked of him. His great games are far too few and in between. And his mind lacks an ability to play smart / clean powerful footy when it's expected and most needed. He's way past a junior yet to me he still plays in patches like he's a rookie and without the obvious footy smarts that you would expect to have seen him develop at this late stage. Time to give others like Magner and Couch a fair go, even though they may not be the long term answer either. I'd like to see them get a fair crack at it and lets see what they have.
• It is clear (to me) that we need to buy a super star mid into this line up who still has a good 3 to 4 years of football left in him to teach these blokes how to. Beyond Jones and a very green Jack, we're going to be very stretched through the mid field going into the next 2 to 3 seasons at this point. This is an important "part" of their development IMO. We have Dawes up forward who's come from a successful club. And i'd like to see us add one more to teach the youngsters in the next few years and lead them (and us as a club) out of the wilderness from the mid field. This to me is a massive key factor at the MFC right now but one which i fear we might not be able to fullfill.
• Royal, you've had a fair crack mate. If there's little to no improvement by round 6 to 8, i'd say thanks for your efforts so far but it's time to move on.

Quick clean transition from Defence into attack (both game plan/execution and mind set).....

Presently non existent (Blease excluded).

The Coach

IMO he has about 8 to 10 weeks to turn around this opening round disaster around. Until then i will wait and watch. Hoping for the best. But also preparing for the worst. Good luck and lets hope that he (we) can do so starting with the Bumbers next week.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Rusty Nails

[Rod Grinter Riot Squad 5,654]

• The FD (MN) leaves Davey out, who IMO had a pretty decent pre season and has a bit of toe still left in him and decent disposal by foot and can still run a player down on occasions (read perceived or real pressure on the opponents to make a quicker decision...ie hopefully panick a little). Couldn't have been worse than some of the lead foots we had on the park today anyway.

Defence.... Neeld has prided himself on this aspect and made it a pretty big priority. However to me the following is obvious...

• [*]Garland is a liability in this team atm and def not up to AFL standard at this point (as are a number of others who played in defence today) and should be replaced directly by Sellar as soon as Dawes returns.

[*]Swap T Mac in for Watts when ready but in a shut down accountable role that we know he is good for.

[.

Hate to cherry pick a good post, but saw a bit of the preseason and Davey definitely did not deserve to play, that was a correct call.

Sellar was a lot worse than Garland, whether it be fumbling chest marks in attack early in the game or neglecting to punch in the last line of defence, instead going for a chest mark, letting his port opponent take a mark in front of him was an out and out disgrace. He was pathetic today and should not play next week. Dawes in for him, Tommy Mac for Gillies, another who was much worse than Garland.

[Muvver Jones 64]

Where do we start?

The board must go.

Mistake after mistake after mistake, and on big decisions like picking a new coach and football department, they gutlessly handed all power over to the self serving garry Lyon, who made the biggest blunders of all by thinking he was more astute than sheedy, Matthews and ridiculously not approaching malthouse. I am dumbfounded.

We must now Chase roos. He is proven. We can't afford to take any more risks.

Ps, who in their right mind would ever pick a speculative apprentice over a successful proven master.

I am dumbfounded on how stupid some people are. Unfortunately, we are now all paying the price. Many of you supporters must take responsibility for supporting these stupid decisions. We may be the stupidity football club in the land.

Ffs, we even play games in a white jumper. The worlds gone mad!

Gary didn't hire Neeld. It was Schwab and Connoly pulling the strings. Gary just rubber stamped Schwabs and Connolly wishes. Gary would never go against his mates.

[Demon Dynasty 17,109]

Hate to cherry pick a good post, but saw a bit of the preseason and Davey definitely did not deserve to play, that was a correct call.

Sellar was a lot worse than Garland, whether it be fumbling chest marks in attack early in the game or neglecting to punch in the last line of defence, instead going for a chest mark, letting his port opponent take a mark in front of him was an out and out disgrace. He was pathetic today and should not play next week. Dawes in for him, Tommy Mac for Gillies, another who was much worse than Garland.

Your entitled to your opinion.

I watched 2 or 3 pre season matches and in most i saw Davey having a red hot go and showing some signs versus the last 2 seasons (a low base i realise). But worth a role of the dice IMO given our lack of leg speed and poor disposal skills. Davey's main problem is his inability (or unwillingness?) to "close check" his opponent when we (he) don't have the ball. Often playing off his opponent, allowing his opponenet an easy possession down back, then trying to chase him down with his pace after the horse has bolted! So yes he has defficiencies for sure, but in the short term we need the former i reckon. Maybe off the bench and in short bursts. At least give him one last chance for 3 to 4 matches and see if he can deliver, even off the bench in short 5 to 10 minute bursts maybe.

As for Sellar, i'll back him above Garland at this point in defence (from here). Although i don't think either show signs of being star players in this area of the ground or anywhere really.

Unfortunately, Sellar played most of last season in defence (finally improving somewhat towards the end) only to be groomed pre season into a pinch hitting forward role? I think he can be forgiven at this point for not knowing whether he's playing Arthur (up forward) or Martha (down back) as a stop gap and having difficulty getting his "defensive or offensive?" mindset correctly tuned as to whether to attempt to mark or punch during one defensive contest during the match. Agree he was far off it today, as were most of the team, but Garland IMO just doesn't show that he's improving his already average at best game from season to season. To me, garland has had plenty of time to show some coolness and footy smarts when placed under a bit of pressure, but most of the time he hits the panick button, disposing very poorly, choosing the wrong option and/or panick disposals into no mans land when something better was often an option.

The same could be said of Garland i guess, who was played up forward towards the end of last season with some degree of success. But from what i've witnessed at this point, Garland having approx 4 seasons of football behind him, and Sellar less than 2, if i had no other choice i'd take Sellar as a stop gap down back. Not the long term solution by any means but marginally a better option in terms of the damage they are both capable of (to us i mean lol). Sadly we are so lacking in depth this is what we have come to. Some marginal improvements across lines (maybe) in what it seams is a pretty average list to start with, with a few exceptions.

Edited March 31, 2013 by Rusty Nails

[monoccular 17,427]

Where to?

The boys need to learn to spread, and learn some composure. Port looked as though they had 30 players on the field, so many times were there groups of port players on their own.

I am sure that they know how to spread: they just looked too plain uninterested and too plain lazy to do so yesterday. It was THE most disgraceful performance tthat I can remember.

"Hardest team to play against" Mr Neeld??? Please comment.

More a case of the hardest team to watch!!!

Edited March 31, 2013 by monoccular

[Sir Why You Little 37,034]

There was no natural instincts yesterday in our entire team. It seems to have been sucked out of them.

How can that happen? I do not know.

Why did it happen? I don't know, did 8 months of Tanking media mean that Port smelt blood?

I am sure it was part of it.

What we witnessed yesterday was an entire club who refused to fight except for Jack Viney and the guy who was wearing Jimmy Stynes number.

It was psychological through the entire club.

If Essendon do the same to us, smell blood...i fear that the MFC will struggle to see out the decade.

The people running the club are in the gun as much as the players.

All of them.