NAB Challenge 2 - Melbourne v Geelong

[Ted Lasso 19,549]

I am so keen to see Wattsy tonight, i reckon he is in for a massive year.

[ManDee 7,226]

Is it too early to get pre-match nerves?

I hope we don't get hammered.

Stick to the game plan, maintain possession, go deeeeeeees!

Sweaty palms, so much at stake and it is only pre season. I really should get a life.

[Gorgoroth 13,055]

Is Harry Taylor playing? If so will be good to see Hogan against one of the best.

[P-man 13,366]

Still felt a kick to the guts reading that Jurrah story I will admit.

I won't say never, but certainly the chances now are so remote, it doesn't bare thinking about. He has unfortunately become the boy who cried wolf.

[drdrake 3,187]

Still felt a kick to the guts reading that Jurrah story I will admit.

I won't say never, but certainly the chances now are so remote, it doesn't bare thinking about. He has unfortunately become the boy who cried wolf.

Easy to say you want to play, but the only slim chance he would have is by moving back to Melbourne and playing VFL this season or at the very least moving to play SANFL. There is no way any one will pick him up unless he does this.

[dees189227 12,429]

Forget it, Jurrah is finished. I doubt another club would touch him and we dont need him. Last time I looked we had 3 talls to play forward and one day a time will come when they actually play together.

Most of Liams mates have gone from the club anyway. Also im sorry but what he has done in the past few years is unforgivable. Port were going to give him a chance but he just stuffed them around once and never got a 2nd chance.

By the way who was the moron that forgot to book Roos a seat on the plane?

[ignition. 1,477]

I look forward to the match tonight.

Geelong are a very unforgiving team who are renowned to capitalize when their opponent has a laps in concentration.

I went to the last NAB challenge match and even though there was a vast improvement we still did some very silly errors or allowed Richmond to move the ball up the ground far too easily at times.

It is these areas I would like to see improved tonight and I really hope the team can maintain a high work ethic from siren to siren.

If I see this win or lose, I will be going into the premiership season very excited.

So GO DEES and take it to them

[Ryan Dee 140]

Is it too early to get pre-match nerves?

I hope we don't get hammered.

Stick to the game plan, maintain possession, go deeeeeeees!

Sweaty palms, so much at stake and it is only pre season. I really should get a life.

Haha I love this post. Same feeling here, walking my dog early this morning and I was thinking about the game.

[DeeSpencer 26,090]

Forget it, Jurrah is finished. I doubt another club would touch him and we dont need him. Last time I looked we had 3 talls to play forward and one day a time will come when they actually play together.

Most of Liams mates have gone from the club anyway. Also im sorry but what he has done in the past few years is unforgivable. Port were going to give him a chance but he just stuffed them around once and never got a 2nd chance.

By the way who was the moron that forgot to book Roos a seat on the plane?

The guys life is in free fall. You got to hit rock bottom and climb your way out. If he did and got himself fit and dominating VFL every club in the comp would want him. A fit Liam Jurrah developed by a strong club isn't just a tall forward he's a wingman, half back, small forward who can take big grabs. We only got to see a fraction of what he can do in terms of speed and skills.

I'm not making excuses for him. Nor do I think he will ever get back to the AFL. But his talent is unquestionable.

[Satyriconhome 10,880]

Forget it, Jurrah is finished. I doubt another club would touch him and we dont need him. Last time I looked we had 3 talls to play forward and one day a time will come when they actually play together.

Most of Liams mates have gone from the club anyway. Also im sorry but what he has done in the past few years is unforgivable. Port were going to give him a chance but he just stuffed them around once and never got a 2nd chance.

By the way who was the moron that forgot to book Roos a seat on the plane?

Two things,

how do you know Liam's "mates" are gone, do you mean the other indigenous players, he was actually very close to Jack Watts

And

"By the way who was the moron that forgot to book Roos a seat on the plane?"

Sort of shows your character wouldn't you think, you don't know the full story on either to make such statements

[Guest]

I would love to see Liam back at the club.
However I can't see it happening. As was said earlier, no club will touch him unless he can show that he can commit to life in the big smoke(i.e. a city with an AFL team in it) for a year at minimum and can disentangle himself from the troubles of his people without totally abandoning them. That being said, maybe he shouldn't. His community needs leaders (unfortunately, Liam's recent action have been less than the actions of a leader).
As for tonight, I think that we will see a higher price paid for mistakes. We did make some howlers against the Tiges that Geelong will lap up.
The club needs to view this as a chance for a win. No more of this 'learning experience' bollocks.
That being said, I personally reckon the Cats will win. The players need to get the most out of the entire match without conceding it.

[DeeSpencer 26,090]

I would love to see Liam back at the club.

However I can't see it happening. As was said earlier, no club will touch him unless he can show that he can commit to life in the big smoke(i.e. a city with an AFL team in it) for a year at minimum and can disentangle himself from the troubles of his people without totally abandoning them. That being said, maybe he shouldn't. His community needs leaders (unfortunately, Liam's recent action have been less than the actions of a leader).

As for tonight, I think that we will see a higher price paid for mistakes. We did make some howlers against the Tiges that Geelong will lap up.

The club needs to view this as a chance for a win. No more of this 'learning experience' bollocks.

That being said, I personally reckon the Cats will win. The players need to get the most out of the entire match without conceding it.

I agree.

The funny thing about the Richmond match was how much improvement we left out there. Most of our defenders had a complete shocker turnover at some stage and some of the other players as well (Spencer!). We kicked a stack of points early. We had no tall forwards in. We had a rookie 18 year old as the back up ruck. And we seemed to get better with intensity the longer the match went (although it was that gap in intensity which was the main reason we won).

If we win tonight we probably will still have edged Geelong in intensity of play but it will also mean we've tidied up some errors from the tigers game.

[hardtack 10,654]

Still felt a kick to the guts reading that Jurrah story I will admit.

I won't say never, but certainly the chances now are so remote, it doesn't bare thinking about. He has unfortunately become the boy who cried wolf.

Saw a Brad Green tweet yesterday saying that LJ is the most talented footballer in the country not on an AFL list.

[Young Dee 1,303]

Interesting, back and centre lines fairly much as you would expect them to be for round one. It is the forwards, interchange and rucks who will change ie Gawn for Spencer. I think it is good we seem very settled on two thirds of the field and this has been so for over a month now.

I suspect for us, Georgiou will be the find of the season. He is not a potential star like Viney, Vince, Salem, Watts, toumpas, Tyson or hogan, but immensely dependable in the mould of a Wheatley, Johnson, Whelan, even a Don Williams. He somehow provides a glue for that backline when at times in the immediate past could be a bit flakey. A great get by our recruiters.

I thnk you should at least let Georgiou play another game (even nab cup) before coming to any conclusions. I have never been a huge fan of mature age recruits (not like a young draftee where the sky is the limit).

Don't forget - for a long time we thought Magner was a gem. Wait for the derogatories to start lining up ('he is to slow'.... 'Nicholson is a better kick'.... 'he has no tank'... etc.)

[deeko 952]

I have to head to a local tonight to watch the game as I don't have foxtel.

Can someone let me know what time it starts for the Victorian's to watch? No idea the timezone difference. Don't mind getting there early as always happy to tip down a few jars but would be shattered to miss the start.

Cheers

[rjay 25,157]

Looking forward to the game. I would like to see us keep our composure as we did in the first game and see improvement in tackling and pressure acts. Looking forward to seeing how Watts adapts in the midfield and having another look at Michie, Tyson and Trengove. See improvement in big Fitz hopefully.

...and of course Hogan.

[Young Dee 1,303]

My revised team now that I know that we can have six interchange (& 2 subs) and that Pedo was injured at training today and replaced by Max King.

Back: 41. Alexis Georgiou 8. James Frawley 46. Dean Terlich,

Half Back 31. Jack Grimes 25. Tom McDonald, 14. Lynden Dunn,

Centre 4. Jack Watts 2. Nathan Jones 5. Jimmy Toumpas

Half Forward 38. Jeremy Howe 48. Jack Fitzpatrick 9. Jack Trengove

Forward 17. Sam Blease 1. Jesse Hogan 44. Rohan Bail

Followers 42. Jake Spencer 12. Dom Tyson 23. Bernie Vince

Interchange: 22. Viv Michie 18. Daniel Cross 45. Matt Jones 10. Shannon Byrnes 15. Mitch Clisby

13. Jordie McKenzie

Subs: 29. Jayden Hunt 33. Dom Barry,

,

Emerg: 26. Daniel Nicholson, 39. Neville Jetta 47. Max King

I think I would rather Jetta then Byrnes but then again players always seem to turn it on against their old team.

Suprised to see Hunt/Barry but then again it is just nab cup.

Would have liked to have seen Viney, Gawn, Jamar, Dawes, Garland and Clark but oh well - we have a pretty strong team.

Disappointed Strauss did not get another run.

I think some people need to take a little step back - yes we beat a pathetic richmond last week but we are playing Geelong and they don't do pathetic.

Will be happy if we stick to our structures and show some desperation - anything within 30pts will be a win.

Looking forward to seeing how Jack Watts and Hogan play!

[rjay 25,157]

I have to head to a local tonight to watch the game as I don't have foxtel.

Can someone let me know what time it starts for the Victorian's to watch? No idea the timezone difference. Don't mind getting there early as always happy to tip down a few jars but would be shattered to miss the start.

Cheers

Struggled with this one myself but it starts at 7.10pm Melbourne time as the other week day games have.

[SaberFang 7,151]

7:10pm Melb/Syd/Tas time

6:40pm Adelaide time

6:10pm Brisbane/QLD time

4:10pm Perth/WA time

[Vipercrunch 2,827]

If Geelong brings the same sort of pressure that they did against Collingwood, it will be the perfect preseason game for us. Really test out the new game plan and skills under real pressure. I am sure we will at times succumb to the pressure but it will really sort out the players who are ready for the real thing and those that are not.

Watts is probably the most interesting player for me, as well as Hogan and both Dom's.

While hoping for the best on the scoreboard of course, I don't really mind how it turns out because I am sure Roos will milk every drop of learning and development out of it. We found out a little bit about where things are headed against Richmond. We are about to find out a whole lot more.

[Vipercrunch 2,827]

7:10pm Melb/Syd/Tas time

6:40pm Adelaide time

6:10pm Brisbane/QLD time

4:10pm Perth/WA time

You forgot 5:40pm Local/NT time

Edited February 28, 2014 by S_T

[Deeoldfart 8,067]

If Geelong brings the same sort of pressure that they did against Collingwood, it will be the perfect preseason game for us. Really test out the new game plan and skills under real pressure. I am sure we will at times succumb to the pressure but it will really sort out the players who are ready for the real thing and those that are not.

Watts is probably the most interesting player for me, as well as Hogan and both Dom's.

While hoping for the best on the scoreboard of course, I don't really mind how it turns out because I am sure Roos will milk every drop of learning and development out of it. We found out a little bit about where things are headed against Richmond. We are about to find out a whole lot more.

Those last couple if sentences say it all S-T. I'd love to be feeling ecstatic at 10:00 tonight!

Edited February 28, 2014 by Deeoldfart

[DeeSpencer 26,090]

Saw a Brad Green tweet yesterday saying that LJ is the most talented footballer in the country not on an AFL list.

And twice as talented as half or more on lists. If we were in the US he'd still be on a list. If he played soccer he may have fallen down the leagues but would still be getting paid.

[daisycutter 29,756]

Saw a Brad Green tweet yesterday saying that LJ is the most talented footballer in the country not on an AFL list.

i don't think anyone (mfc or not) has doubted Liam's football talent hardtack

[jane02 3,773]

I was overseas and missed the Richmond match but did listen on SEN poolside in Phuket. Looking forward to watching the boys in action tonight. I have planned a night in with pizza watching my beloved Dees. Friday nights do not get much better than that!