Changes v GWS

[DeeSpencer 24,682]

Dunn: You can't be serious. I thought he was our best on Saturday. Dunn was on a very dangerous player in Lindsay Thomas who is Norths leading goal kicker with 45, and kept him goalless despite endless inside 50s and opportunity for Thomas. He was the ONLY Melbourne player to beat his opponent on the day. Further Dunn's form has been consistently good. He is given a role each week and this season has almost always completed his role with distinction. Dunn made one poor error which cost us a goal, but outside this was excellent in an awful performance.

I can't understand the Dunn haters on here. He is doing his bit. He goes in hard on every contest, wears his pride on his sleave, shows controlled aggression and usually wins his position. He has been close to our most consistent this season, behind Garland. With the roles that Dunn is given he will never be BOG, but due to the ball constantly being in Norths 50, he was our best on Saturday. Clint..... watch the game on replay and spare your frustration to those who do not go hard enough and lose their position every week.

Dunn's form the last few weeks has been good, but the statements I've bolded are complete lies. If he truly did go in hard every week and not partake in the crap he does when he gives away free kicks then I'd agree. He also needs to not panic so much with his disposal, his composure hasn't got to that Garland level yet which is disappointing because in terms of skill he's a good kick.

[Grand New Flag 3,227]

You can't understand those that do not like Dunn?

Re: the bolded - he has rarely done 'his bit' in the past, his pride ususally means jumper punching, his aggression usually means jumper punching, he rarely wins his position, and he has been nowhere near Colin Garland in terms of performance and consistency.

He plays a good 6 or 7 games every second year and I am thankful he is playing well currently.

There is a spot for him if he can continue his form - but I won't put any money on it.

He has been playing deep back with shut down roles and winning each week, not many players have been consistently beating their opponents this season. Yet he is smashed on here. I never said he was at the level of Garland only that he has been consistently winning his position like Garland and playing his role successfully. RPFC: I respectfully 100% disagree and again suggest that more than half our list deserves criticism before Dunn.

[angrydee 842]

He has been playing deep back in time and with shut down roles and winning each week, not many players have been consistently beating their opponents this season. Yet he is smashed on here. I never said he was at the level of Garland only that he has been consistently winning his position like Garland and playing his role successfully. RPFC: I respectfully 100% disagree and again suggest that more than half our list deserves criticism before Dunn.

I agree Dunn has defended well so far this year.

He is, unfortunately, prone to brain fades during games but sticks to his job and usually gets it done.

As a backman his errors are costly. IMHO there are plenty of others in the team who do worse and are lauded here.

[[email protected] 101]

Dunn: You can't be serious. I thought he was our best on Saturday. Dunn was on a very dangerous player in Lindsay Thomas who is Norths leading goal kicker with 45, and kept him goalless despite endless inside 50s and opportunity for Thomas. He was the ONLY Melbourne player to beat his opponent on the day. Further Dunn's form has been consistently good. He is given a role each week and this season has almost always completed his role with distinction. Dunn made one poor error which cost us a goal, but outside this was excellent in an awful performance.

I can't understand the Dunn haters on here. He is doing his bit. He goes in hard on every contest, wears his pride on his sleave, shows controlled aggression and usually wins his position. He has been close to our most consistent this season, behind Garland. With the roles that Dunn is given he will never be BOG, but due to the ball constantly being in Norths 50, he was our best on Saturday. Clint..... watch the game on replay and spare your frustration to those who do not go hard enough and lose their position every week.

Because the ball is mostly on our backline Dunn is under much more pressure than all Forwards and midfielders.. He does a good job and it is to his credit he doesn't make a lot more mistakes, being bombarded with the ball and opposition forwards and midfielders. He ,Frawley and Garland have done a reasonable job under the circumstances...

[titan_uranus 24,558]

Dunn: You can't be serious. I thought he was our best on Saturday. Dunn was on a very dangerous player in Lindsay Thomas who is Norths leading goal kicker with 45, and kept him goalless despite endless inside 50s and opportunity for Thomas. He was the ONLY Melbourne player to beat his opponent on the day. Further Dunn's form has been consistently good. He is given a role each week and this season has almost always completed his role with distinction. Dunn made one poor error which cost us a goal, but outside this was excellent in an awful performance.

I can't understand the Dunn haters on here. He is doing his bit. He goes in hard on every contest, wears his pride on his sleave, shows controlled aggression and usually wins his position. He has been close to our most consistent this season, behind Garland. With the roles that Dunn is given he will never be BOG, but due to the ball constantly being in Norths 50, he was our best on Saturday. Clint..... watch the game on replay and spare your frustration to those who do not go hard enough and lose their position every week.

rpfc and the master have addressed this adequately, but since I might well be the Chairman of the 'I Can't Stand Lynden Dunn' fan group, I thought I'd comment.

Your second paragraph is almost entirely incorrect. He doesn't 'go hard' in every contest; he doesn't go hard in half the contests! He continually shirks contested ball. He doesn't show 'controlled aggression', he shows fake aggression at best, and often gives away stupid free kicks in the process. He doesn't 'wear his pride on his sleeve'; Nathan Jones, Mitch Clark, they wear pride on their sleeve. Dunn just pretends. He doesn't usually win his position (I'm happy to admit he did that on the weekend, so good on him), Thomas is a win but beating his opponent is not a week-in-week-out thing, it's a rarity.

What's worse is the less tangible stuff. The way, when we're in defence, Dunn will continually point at space and yell at others to position better, whilst ignoring play, and himself doing nothing special other than manning up some grass (reminds me a lot of Nick Maxwell in that regard). His field kicking is also one-dimensional and flawed - he continually resorts to long kicks which go far too far up in the air. They look good when they cover 60 metres, but they're predictable and they continually lead to turnovers because they get spoiled/marked by opponents.

Anyway. He beat Thomas on the weekend, so good on him, and he keeps his spot. But the fact he is in our side right now is an indictment on the position of this club (that goes for more than just Dunn, but he's a perfect example).

[Ted Lasso 18,742]

I actually thought Dunn abit like Watts showed some promise up forward, maybe abit of a Mitch hahn type but for some reason Neeld liked to just do everything upside down.

wouldn't mind seeing him play as a defensive forward for a couple of games and see how he does, put Tapscott behind the ball and Dunn up forward.

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

Looking at the VFL review, there is no way they can justify leaving Strauss out again. Looks like he's really hitting his stride. Taggert would be a good shot at a game before the end of the season, but I'm not sure it's this week. We really do need to do something to get the midfield functioning though, so we may see them both in there this week.

[Lil_red_fire_engine 10,836]

Add midfielders and running Defenders, get rid of small forwards that can't run through the midfield

Clisby Frawley Garland

Strauss McDonald Terlich

Toumpas Jones Grimes

Howe Watts Dunn

Byrnes Dawes Fitzpatrick

Gawn Sylvia Viney

M Jones, Trengove, Davey, Nicholson

In Garland Terlich Strauss Nicholson

Out Kent Blease Tapscott Pederson

Move Dunn forward as that defensive forward, that can also run in the midfield, get the balance right down back, Terlich and Strauss add that run and carry whilst McDonald/Garland/Frawley hold down the key posts.

We need to get the balance right, last week we played 5 small forwards with only one of these capable of spending time in the middle. Davey stays in because last week was bad but he has been OK prior to that.

Nicho comes in, lets face it most our team can't hit targets but at least he takes the game on and unlike Blease he can actually get the footy.

You had me with this theory until I got the bit where you justified keeping Davey in the side.

Edited July 29, 2013 by big_red_fire_engine

[RalphiusMaximus 6,012]

I am reluctant to drop Tapscott after only one game. Give him a few to see if he settles in. If he can get his act together he has the weapons to be a huge asset to the side.

[stevethemanjordan 6,952]

Taggart deserves a run. He has been asked to perform consistently all year and now has had two dominant games in a row, (even if the last was in the development squad).

I think he possesses some extremely valuable traits. He runs hard, has great hands and a beautiful kick. He doesn't mind body contact either and this game against GWS is the perfect game to blood him.

I'd also bring in Straussy, he deserves another run after a great game on the weekend.

Bring them both in.

Edited July 29, 2013 by stevethemanjordan

[Ted Lasso 18,742]

We have some big list management decisions to make, we need to know all we can about our list before seasons end, need to give as many blokes ( who are up to it ) the opportunity as we can,

having said that we shouldn't pick Sellar because he is king of the spuds

[Brayshaw Self 847]

Watch the VFL highlights and read the player review and tell me Taggert doesn't deserve a run.

[DemonOX 8,691]

We have some big list management decisions to make, we need to know all we can about our list before seasons end, need to give as many blokes ( who are up to it ) the opportunity as we can,

having said that we shouldn't pick Sellar because he is king of the spuds

ah u can add Gillies to that list DF.

Edited July 29, 2013 by DemonOX

[Ted Lasso 18,742]

ah u can add Gilles to that list DF..................

Mate, if i were you i'd apologise to the spud race, he isn't even good enough to get a run with them.

[DemonOX 8,691]

Mate, if i were you i'd apologise to the spud race, he isn't even good enough to get a run with them.

Ok how about King of Spuds????? (normally the worst is head of the department)

[stuie 7,374]

Ok how about King of Spuds????? (normally the worst is head of the department)

[Ted Lasso 18,742]

Did james sellar notice when you took that photo stuie? haha

[stuie 7,374]

Did james sellar notice when you took that photo stuie? haha

he thought it was weird that I asked him to wear a crown and cape, but other than that he was just happy to be noticed...

[Ted Lasso 18,742]

he thought it was weird that I asked him to wear a crown and cape, but other than that he was just happy to be noticed...

Haha that picture has made my day!

[Deecisive 1,709]

God we love burning our own dont we. Dunn was one of our better players on the weekend, he got possibly the hardest job running with Thomas and did it well. As for Davey he has been a standout player for the team for years, he is getting slower but still has a lot of class, I thought he has been running hard in the last few weeks. His game on the weekend was not great but he did not stop chasing, his problem was that North had a spare man in defense so he was running from one to another all day trying to cover over laps. Brynes tried again he was meant to be a small forward, if you look at his stats you will see he gets more of his kicks on the half backline than the forward line, he should be down the other bloody end, but we just cannot get the damn ball down into our 50 where he should be. When we do get it down there we are outnumbered time and time again and the opposition just runs it out using the overlap. God every other side sees we are hopeless at the spare man in defense so why do we still do it. Pederson his stats were pretty good for him, he will get better with time, it was not long ago everyone was bagging fitzy now he is hitting some form, we like him, Pederson has the potential to do much better, unfortunately he may need another pre-season to get him fit, but then the same could be said for the whole side they way they capitulated on Saturday after half time.

I would like to see our ruck coaches work more with our rucks, Gawn is getting first touch often enough but the ball is not going to our players, needs to work on that with the mids. We need to use Dunn's long kick down the center more often, it has worked several times this year, surely we should be able to pull oppositions sides away from the centre and then have players double back to take the long kick down the middle. Bleese is such a disappointment so much pace but cannot catch a cold. He is just obsessed with running and kicking for goal, he needs to get a defensive side to his game, i.e. put into the backline and have him man up on someone and be accountable, learn to be defensive and see if he can use that pace off the back flank, see if he can at least find the damn ball. Trengrove should either be playing VFL, or on a half forward flank as he is a bit of a liability in the midfield. Down forward he can take a mark and kick reasonably well, if we could only get the ball into our 50.

[Deespicable 2,671]

I know there are heaps of Dunn-haters on this forum, but you just have to keep quiet this week because he had probably his best ever game last week and he was pretty good, by his standards, the week before.

Craigy's been [censored]-scared of making changes and he probably will be again this week because he will think we can win against GWS.

By my reckoning about eight players deserve to be considered as inclusions this week based on form in VFL, but I reckon about three or maybe four will actually get a go.

The eight are: Spencer, Magner, Taggert, Tynan, Barry, Strauss, McKenzie and Nicholson (forced to play VFL2s).

Garland and Terlich are also expected back.

Garland comes in for Pedersen (we don't need four big defenders v Giants)

Terlich comes in for Clisby (he's had a good go of it now and he's handy but he's no star and Toumpas is made of teflon and did better down back and that means another defender has to go).

Spencer comes in for Fitzy or Gawn (we can't keep getting beaten in the ruck and leave the big fella out - have a look at his goal from outside 50m in VFL)

Barry or Taggert comes in for Kent (needs to go back to VFL and win more footy).

If Terlich is still injured then Strauss has been in top form for four weeks and deserves a chance.

One of Magner, McKenzie or Tynan also deserves a crack at it, purely because they rack up tackles, unlike the current encumbents, but Craigy likes pace, so I can't see him dropping Davey or Blease on top of Kent. But it would be good if he did.

[Invincible 9]

God we love burning our own dont we. Dunn was one of our better players on the weekend, he got possibly the hardest job running with Thomas and did it well. As for Davey he has been a standout player for the team for years, he is getting slower but still has a lot of class, I thought he has been running hard in the last few weeks. His game on the weekend was not great but he did not stop chasing, his problem was that North had a spare man in defense so he was running from one to another all day trying to cover over laps. Brynes tried again he was meant to be a small forward, if you look at his stats you will see he gets more of his kicks on the half backline than the forward line, he should be down the other bloody end, but we just cannot get the damn ball down into our 50 where he should be. When we do get it down there we are outnumbered time and time again and the opposition just runs it out using the overlap. God every other side sees we are hopeless at the spare man in defense so why do we still do it. Pederson his stats were pretty good for him, he will get better with time, it was not long ago everyone was bagging fitzy now he is hitting some form, we like him, Pederson has the potential to do much better, unfortunately he may need another pre-season to get him fit, but then the same could be said for the whole side they way they capitulated on Saturday after half time.I would like to see our ruck coaches work more with our rucks, Gawn is getting first touch often enough but the ball is not going to our players, needs to work on that with the mids. We need to use Dunn's long kick down the center more often, it has worked several times this year, surely we should be able to pull oppositions sides away from the centre and then have players double back to take the long kick down the middle. Bleese is such a disappointment so much pace but cannot catch a cold. He is just obsessed with running and kicking for goal, he needs to get a defensive side to his game, i.e. put into the backline and have him man up on someone and be accountable, learn to be defensive and see if he can use that pace off the back flank, see if he can at least find the damn ball. Trengrove should either be playing VFL, or on a half forward flank as he is a bit of a liability in the midfield. Down forward he can take a mark and kick reasonably well, if we could only get the ball into our 50.

Deecisive after watching Casey most of the year, they play better without Bleese he wants to be a hog and not play team footy. He has great pace but every time he gets the ball he tries to do to much. He won't be dropped as Coach Craig loves him

[spirit of norm smith 15,059]

Ins:Garland, Terlich, Taggert (sub), Strauss.

Outs: Clisby , Toumpas, Kent, Tapscott

[jackaub 1,402]

Bit like some of the crap I have seen posted on other Topics by some Posters, when referring to Jamar.. These boys have served the club well.. Show a little respect for them in probably what may be their final year...

You have to earn respect Davey hasnt earned mine OK

[Grimseyisgod 378]

In: Garland, Magner, Taggert, Jetta, Terlich

Out: Blease, Davey, Kent, Pederson, Brynes

all of the outs i believe will not be in Melbourne's future best 22 so i'd be pretty happy to get them out