I thought Chip was very tight defensively early and in the last broke out and was decent

Are you serious? I was there today and he was directly responsible for 3 goals in the first half through indecision.

agreed, TMac is really struggling this year

I reckon TMac is only a couple of games away from good form, some of his work has been really good; some not so good.

SO WHEN DO WE PLAY GWS AGAIN?! yiiieeewwww!!

TMac hardly has confidence players around him...errrr, Watts, Frawley and Garland. All 4 need to be put in a room with Dermie.

Liked this part of an AFL article - shows that Neeld is devoted whether it shows or not:

Neeld enjoyed the second round of the theme song sung behind closed doors among staff and players. It was just the fifth time he had heard it as coach, with three wins coming against GWS.

They are not out of the hole but they have shown they can dig deep. For now that was enough to put a smile back on a few people's faces as the song rang through the rooms for a second time.

Momentarily anyway.

"I then had to remind the assistant coaches that Brisbane were playing North Melbourne at Etihad, so get in your cars and get there because we've got them (the Lions) next week," Neeld said.

Edited April 21, 201312 yr by Young Dee

For what it is worth, here is my take from the day (and yesterday at Windy Hill):

- Max Gawn played a blinder, not from the sense of being BOG, but from what it said about his potential. There have been very few players at MFC who you could say has the potential to dominate the competition ( Davis Schwartz pre knee injuries was our last), but max has the skill, size, run and smarts to do that for us, and it is awfully exciting.

- having watched Casey at Essendon yesterday, I can say you can put Hogan potentially in the category. He is one of the best marks I have seen, is agile and great below the knees, and is a committed runner. Although yesterday he kicked only 4 goals, I counted he gave away another five. Significantly, two of those goals were in general play, and that is inspite of Casey being very poor at delivering it into the forward half

- some of our lesser lights showed great potential today: terlich for his guts and run; Jetta for his second and third efforts; m Jones for his ball winning abilities; and Garland for coming back from the dead. Sylvia showed us how elite he could be, some of his line breaking runs we're simply outstanding. Let's hope it is the start of things to come; Evans was terrific.

- there were a few concerns though: Viney was hardly sighted; Tom McDonald needs to stop making clangers, particularly by foot; Watts needs more fight; Davey needs to be challenged more - his skills are sublime when on song, he is just not there often enough.

Overall a very encouraging effort. Let's hope it can continue next week when the pressure comes on again.

Edited April 21, 201312 yr by Dees2014

I do think Viney is playing hurt though.

lol

Useful.

Please enlighten me as to why you think it's so amusing to think Byrnes was our best, if you're capable of doing so.

Don't understand some people giving Frawley a hard time today. Go check Cameron's stats, he absolutely flogged him. Cameron is a gun and we'd all love him in our team, and today he was smashed.......well done chip, happy he showed this.

T Mac on the other hand was ordinary but kept at it. Frawley to J brown next week and t Mac to Martin.....hmmm.

My issue is that he genuinely doesn't look like he's trying as hard as he could be. Watched him very closely 'chasing' Cameron to the ball in the forward pocket in the 2nd...reckon he was going at about 70% and then his 'attempt' at smothering the kick was probably the most disappointing thing I can remember seeing from an MFC player. Don't think it ended up in a goal but it's just another example of where good teams are so easily able to score against us once they go inside 50...it was putrid and we don't need that kind of lack of commitment from our supposed better players right now. I am at the point where I'd rather just see a group of blokes who are willing to give it 100% go out there for us each week (e.g. Jones, Jones and Terlich types).

TMac hardly has confidence players around him...errrr, Watts, Frawley and Garland. All 4 need to be put in a room with Dermie.

Great that would really [censored] them up.

There is a good reason Hawthorn dont have Dermie hanging around the club ..........

Dees 2014... a good read!

Jus got back I'm happy. The first quarter showed the pressure we can create but we aren't fit enough to maintain it.

.

But a club that has played 26 games in its history can??

Seriously??

Geez some people accept mediocrity.

I don't. Their still lazy.

I'll save you the trouble of looking up his stats:

23 possessions (12 contested) at 78%

3 goals

8 marks

4 clearances

He was a chief contributor keeping us in it when the chips were down.

But a club that has played 26 games in its history can??

Seriously??

Geez some people accept mediocrity.

I don't. Their still lazy.

Agreed. Plus even with this great pressure in the 1st we still gave up 3 goals to an ordinary side. We are lazy and I'm past the point of defending the club in this area. I believe it's up to the coaching staff to get our guys in the right frame of mind to apply 4 quarters of pressure...and to have structures and ball movement patterns that can support hitting he scoreboard ourselves...

I do think Viney is playing hurt though.

They mentioned a possible quad injury after the game.

My issue is that he genuinely doesn't look like he's trying as hard as he could be. Watched him very closely 'chasing' Cameron to the ball in the forward pocket in the 2nd...reckon he was going at about 70% and then his 'attempt' at smothering the kick was probably the most disappointing thing I can remember seeing from an MFC player. Don't think it ended up in a goal but it's just another example of where good teams are so easily able to score against us once they go inside 50...it was putrid and we don't need that kind of lack of commitment from our supposed better players right now. I am at the point where I'd rather just see a group of blokes who are willing to give it 100% go out there for us each week (e.g. Jones, Jones and Terlich types).

I was screaming at him to pull his finger out and get his ass to the ball for that one. Pathetic effort. The kick resulted in a point. TMac punched it through. Given how Setanta had smashed him one on one up to that point it was a pretty worrying moment.

I do think Viney is playing hurt though.

Seems a long way off what we think he can do the last two weeks. Time for him to not play injured if he has. McKenzie and Rodan both in the best in the VFL and time for senior bodies to help him in the midfield.

Pedersen is a dud

Byrnes is lucky he kicked some goals

Evans, Tapscott were great

Max was good

I lived the last quarter

What exactly did Tappy do?? Hardly heard him mentioned on radio. Stats looked underwhelming.

P_Man... I didn't have Byrnes as my best, but a lot of what you say makes sense. His FOUR goals were a great return for clever positioning and polished finish. Exactly why he was recruited (along with his excellent character and example around the youngsters).

One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet. How good was Big Mitch running it down the wing? Three bounces then hits a target in the goalsquare. Buddy-like even. In all honesty I thought he had a better game than his stats suggested. While he didn't take too many marks forward, he wreaked havoc crashing packs and making his presence felt. He was also badly shortchanged by the umpires. Davis had his hands in his back in most marking contests and never got called on it.

On the subject of Byrnes, I note that he took two kicks from the 45-50m range and never looked like missing. This is the value in recruiting a guy from a club like Geelong. Part of their professionalism is that they very rarely miss the basic set shots. None of the top teams do. Most of our team would have been 50-50 at best for those shots, but he was never in doubt. Compare that to Tappy's two missed set shots, one from right in front. If Byrnes manages to bring that one trait to our team and teach it to our young players then he will have been worth bringing in.

One of the things we could work on is not kicking up and under to a contest. Happened way to much today.

Pederson was good today and is getting better as he learns more about the playing styles of his new team mates. He is a goer, with a strong body, is a decent kick and an above average mark. A few here will have to eat their words about him too!

What exactly did Tappy do?? Hardly heard him mentioned on radio. Stats looked underwhelming.

He attacked the football.

I wouldn't read too much into stats, Jack Watts can have 10 to Michael Hurleys 2.

Yet Hurley has far more of an effect on the game.

Same reason why Tappy had a good game, he aggression in contests is just what we need.

Tappy wanted to be out there today and I haven't seen that previously.

He'll improve this year and he'll be a very servicable player for us in the long term.

What exactly did Tappy do?? Hardly heard him mentioned on radio. Stats looked underwhelming.

Went hard and courageous. He didn't get that much ball, but he took some good contested marks, used his body really well and had some very nice i50s. Should have had two goals as well, but he seems to have a bad case of the yips with his set shots lately.

Liked this part of an AFL article - shows that Neeld is devoted whether it shows or not:

"I then had to remind the assistant coaches that Brisbane were playing North Melbourne at Etihad, so get in your cars and get there because we've got them (the Lions) next week," Neeld said.

I would have hoped the 'MFC opposition analyst' was at the North/Brisbane game from the start - that's his job!