If we continue to show this sort of improvement under Craig then the job is his if he wants it, wouldn't change for eade or Williams, maybe Roos but anyone who gets our guys going has my vote and would be cautious of more wholesale change. I truly think Neeld's run was without luck but this change is working.

Roos or Craig.

Would be absolutely ridiculous to hire Eade or Choco.

Craig is just as good a coach as them, if not better. Hes already known the players for coming up on 2 years, and they obviously like him and respect him and listen to him.

Theres such a thing as continuity and stability, and keeping Craig on as coach will give us that.

And I can not see Craig working well with Choco or Eade anyway. I reckon he would compliment Roos perfectly though.

So yeah., its Roos or Craig.

His top end speed wasn't/isn't/never will be the problem. Sure you'll have to make sure he's not manning Lewis Jetta or Cyrill but it's not a big deal.

It's his acceleration/agility that is the difference between him being a good player and a liability. When he has that he looks fine. When he looks so slow you have to wind him up then it's a problem.

Disagree, mate. I've watched him chase a number of opponents this year and hasn't looked anywhere near as quick. He's never gained on them either. I remember (I think) a Collingwood ruckman running away from him with no trouble at all. Today he looked quicker. There's no doubt in my mind. He seems to be moving more freely too. I'd point to the goal he kicked today as evidence. The ability to turn and kick it from 45 was a marked improvement. I watched him fail to get the distance from 30 out earlier in the season.

What I'd like to see is us able to hold a side goalless for at least the first minute of a game. Cannot remember the last time it happened.

Adam that was exactly how i saw it

Why not play Magner at least a couple of times see if it works Like Fitzy has been doing at Casey for ages Fitzy earned his go I thought they should have played him much earlier

Who makes way for Magner, Jack? I agree we lack clearance players, but it really depends on who you're sitting out for Magner.

Don't kid yourself. They are a 12 goal better side. They had an off day kicking for goal.

Bit of tongue in cheek there, Jnr.

Adam

I would give Trengove the rest of the year off and put Magner in

Trengove is injured and needs rest

Magner might improve our ball winning

Mid fielders are always available you just have to select the right ones dont you?

Just finished watching Olie Wines again Clearance machine. Boy we could have used him yesterday

Toumpas is not ready for the big game and would do well in being back at Casey learning the game

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but the fox commentators said that it looked unlikely Melbourne would get a priority pick at the end of the year. Does anyone know how they came to this opinion?

Mckenzie is a liability in this side. Neil Craig's high possession game requires great skill by foot which mckenzie doesn't have.

We don't have the luxury to bring in a guy just to shut down an opposing player.

If mckenzie doesn't improve his skill then his days at the MFC are numbered

Mckenzie is a liability in this side. Neil Craig's high possession game requires great skill by foot which mckenzie doesn't have.

We don't have the luxury to bring in a guy just to shut down an opposing player.

If mckenzie doesn't improve his skill then his days at the MFC are numbered

same with Nicholson

I'd love to see a breakdown of all of Sydney's behinds, i.e. kicks on the run from 50 vs snap shots inside 50 vs set shots. They kicked a lot of behinds, but I though at the time they were peppering the goals with low percentage shots rather than hitting them with purpose and missing sitters. I'm not sure whether to conclude that we were just lucky that they missed a lot, or if they missed a lot because of our defensive 50 pressure. Probably a bit of both.

how impressive is Garland media wise. We have an absolute leader down in our backline. Thats for sure.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but the fox commentators said that it looked unlikely Melbourne would get a priority pick at the end of the year. Does anyone know how they came to this opinion?

They're guessing, just like the rest of the footy world is.

Roos or Craig.

Would be absolutely ridiculous to hire Eade or Choco.

Craig is just as good a coach as them, if not better. Hes already known the players for coming up on 2 years, and they obviously like him and respect him and listen to him.

Theres such a thing as continuity and stability, and keeping Craig on as coach will give us that.

And I can not see Craig working well with Choco or Eade anyway. I reckon he would compliment Roos perfectly though.

So yeah., its Roos or Craig.

Agreed. Both would be great! Roo's with Craig advising perhaps? But on the other hand i have really warmed to Craig going solo.

A guy can dream.

Some people on here need too look at the bigger picture, whilst Neil Craig has done a much better job than Neeld ( that was never going too be hard), we must remember that we as a club are so desperate for a Paul Roos, Rodney Eade, Mark Williams type coach that can sell the club for more potential sponsors and sell the club to members. This season we have had a significant drop off with on 32,000 members. For the last 5 years we have failed to reach our target of 40,000 members. I know on field performances have contributed to this failure but a top coach like a Roos Eade or Williams gives us a good chance of getting to our desired membership target.

We are at least the best part of 20,000 members behind Essendon, Richmond, Hawthorn, Carlton ATM.

We have to remember this is our moment to get a big name coach which hasn't been done in a while, also remembering under Craig we lost to St Kilda by 35 points, just fell over the line against the dogs after being 45 points up with 10 minutes to go, 6 goal loss to the swans, we play Geelong in Geelong and have games against Freo, Crows in Adelaide, North at Etihad, we may only win 1 maybe 2 more games this season!

I'd love to see a breakdown of all of Sydney's behinds, i.e. kicks on the run from 50 vs snap shots inside 50 vs set shots. They kicked a lot of behinds, but I though at the time they were peppering the goals with low percentage shots rather than hitting them with purpose and missing sitters. I'm not sure whether to conclude that we were just lucky that they missed a lot, or if they missed a lot because of our defensive 50 pressure. Probably a bit of both.

I thought our pressure was really good and we forced them to blaze away a number of times. That contributed heavily to their points, as well as Tippett's rubbish set shot action.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but the fox commentators said that it looked unlikely Melbourne would get a priority pick at the end of the year. Does anyone know how they came to this opinion?

Wouldnt take to much notice of what the Fox commentators have said fndee cause based on there other comments throughout the match, theres not much between the ears!

The AFL will do what they want regardsless of other teams/commentators bit#hing and moaning.

They always do.

Edited July 7, 201312 yr by DemonOX

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but the fox commentators said that it looked unlikely Melbourne would get a priority pick at the end of the year. Does anyone know how they came to this opinion?

Dwayne Russell....say no more.

What a difference a coach makes. Take out Nicholson who just can't kick, our kicking skills have improved significately. We still have the brain fades that result in massive turnovers but our ability to hit targets has gone from complete garbage to acceptable. This was highlighted by our number of marks yesterday. Who would of thought a few weeks back that we could take 120+ marks in a match.

The players we have drafted last year can all kick, Toumpas will be good doesn't miss a target, Kent kicks like Daniel Rich low hard long, Terlich/Clisby can kick and will get better with more games, Dawes is a good field kick, Rodan over 25m is good and Byrnes can kick.

I would like to see Strauss come in for Dunn give him 4-5 games to see if he can play and hopefully he can, Strauss is an elite kick to add him to our back 6 would be a big bonus.

We controlled the footy around the boundary a couple of times with short precise kicks three weeks ago it was kick long down the line to a contest because we could hit a target.

Interesting stats:

We lost the disposal count in the second quarter 120 to 69 (-51).

We lost the overall disposal count 396 to 355 (-41).

Therefore we won the disposal count across three quarters.

Interesting stats:

We lost the disposal count in the second quarter 120 to 69 (-51).

We lost the overall disposal count 396 to 355 (-41).

That is interesting. I think at the moment where we are at we should look at these types of positives. And that's not saying it is ok to lose, but these are positives we can take moving forward. I would rather we played teams like Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn every week and lost honourably than play the Dogs and GWS and win. The players must learn so much from playing against quality sides.

Edited July 8, 201312 yr by cunnerz09

That is interesting. I think at the moment where we are at we should look at these types of positives. And that's not saying it is ok to lose, but these are positives we can take moving forward. I would rather we played teams like Sydney, Geelong and Hawthorn every week and lost honourably than play the Dogs and GWS and win. The players must learn so much from playing against quality sides.

Yes and no. The theory that it is good to let young played develop at VFL before exposing them applies for the team as a whole. They learn a lot against lesser opponents with lower Prague and more time and gain confidence in their own skills and the plans etc. Against top sides they learn a lot of other things.

Sorry if this has been mentioned before, but the fox commentators said that it looked unlikely Melbourne would get a priority pick at the end of the year. Does anyone know how they came to this opinion?

We will win more games if we keep playing the same = no PP

Don't kid yourself. They are a 12 goal better side. They had an off day kicking for goal.

I'm happy to kid myself. Look at the second half (when we'd be expected to fall in a heap). We outscored them (ie BEAT them despite Frawley being absent for most of it) and they kicked 7 goals 7 behinds. A team which scores 7 7 is not wasting too many opportunities. Fairly typical kicking, probably better than average in fact.

I'm quite happy - not content (yet), just happy that we did pretty well against a side which is indeed much better than ours and won the premiership last year and may well do it again.

Adam

I would give Trengove the rest of the year off and put Magner in

Trengove is injured and needs rest

Magner might improve our ball winning

See I think Trengove's got a little something back over the last few weeks and should be one of the first names on the team sheet. Toumpas struggled in patches yesterday, but I also think he needs an extended run in the AFL.

Many thanks for all contributors.

I am away for about 6 weeks much without wi fi.

I can now understand the gratitude of interstate and OS readers to to Demonland to provide the necessary footy fix - especially now things are moving.

Won't miss the cricket though

A few games under Neil Craig and one thing has become obvious to me which wasn't before. Our players are actually quite good at following coach's instructions. How else to explain the dramatic change in playing style over the last few weeks. The question is - were they that good at following instructions pre-Neeld or is this a longer-term benefit from Neeld's tenure?