On a positive note ...

[Standing Room Only 27]

I'm not sure if I'm on my own here or one of the silent majority but I get a little sick of all the negativity in a lot of posts, especially match days ones. Don't get me wrong, I understand your right to whinge & after the last 7 seasons why wouldn't you. But as someone who craves the positives I don't often get more than a page through threads before running into some sort of negativity.

So this thread is dedicated to the positives. If people take it up then it would great if the admin could stop it from being hijacked.

My list from last night:

Constant leads from Hogan went unrewarded but lead to the space being created for Toumpas' goal on half time. All players did the right thing. Good players & good teams create goals that way.

Dunn's field kicking was a treat. Stats might make a liar out of me but don't remember him missing a target, especially on a switch.

Players made mistakes but didn't go into their shells. The next possession they were in the play to make up for it.

Jack Grimes courage.

Your turn.

[Webber 10,454]

Good OP. Plenty of mistakes last night, but it's a new design they're playing to, and they're on a steep learning curve. They're frustrating but entirely forgiveable, cos there's just so much more to get excited about. Lots of guys out there playing their first game for Roos....Watts, Hogan, Fitzpatrick, Clisby, and still some biggies to come back. When it all starts to come together, we're in for some serious excitement....

[Akum 2,660]

I don't think the players will be overawed by "the Geelong factor" any more, when we meet them in the real stuff. There were 2 or 3 times during the game where Geelong threatened to bust the game wide open like they usually do, but we were able to not only limit the damage but actually rally and take ground off them.

And as pointed out by someone on another thread, this was in blustery, humid, slippery conditions - the worst possible conditions for our game plan. We're unlikely to encounter such adverse conditions against a top side again this season.

It's now within the realms of possibility to actually beat Geelong (and perhaps other top sides), rather than "the best we can hope for is an honourable loss".

[Whispering_Jack 29,812]

My brief report is up on the articles board but I so like the idea of this thread that I'll repeat it here:-

SOMETHING GOOD THIS WAY COMES by Whispering Jack

Two weeks after the euphoria of the win over Richmond at Etihad Stadium, Melbourne catapulted back to earth and landed in the country's red centre. It wasn't a crash landing and there was a lot to like about the Demons who lost their second NAB Challenge match to a more skillful and composed Cats outfit at Traeger Park, Alice Springs by a mere 13 points.

I have this feeling that the final margin might be a little flattering in view of the fact that the Demons achieved the result with the benefit of substantially less scoring shots, half the number of forward entries inside fifty metres and with the benefit of three nine-point supergoals which won't be available in the regular season but there were lots of positives among all of this including the comeback in the second quarter after a slow start and keeping Geelong goalless in the last.

While we should never be happy with a defeat, the way the team performed produced an interesting conundrum for the club's coaching panel which opens the door for a positive future. Melbourne exceeded 400 disposals for the second time in a row but had far less inside 50's (31 to 62). which means that if Paul Roos can work out how his team can translate 444 touches into a lot more than 31 inside 50's there will be plenty to look forward to as the season unfolds.

We are in the very early days of the Roos era and one would expect that he's been working on the answer for some time because it's not exactly a new phenomenon at the club. Part of the answer is to do away with a few of the less skilled players and therefore reduce the abysmal disposal and bad decision-making that results in bad turnovers and another part is to inject a few key talls - Frawley and Garland into the defence and Dawes and Clark into the forward line. The Roos style will get better and with the right personnel, I expect it will give his charges a good chance against all but the top sides this season.

Certainly, the addition of Vince, Tyson, Cross and Michie to the midfield and the promise of young Hogan were all major plusses and I couldn't help but wonder what might have been had Kennedy-Harris been given another run instead of sending him off to the backblocks of Gippsland.

We could be onto some good things in the near future and perhaps looking at up to 10 wins.

Melbourne 0.3.0.18 2.5.0.48 2.7.1.61 3.9.3.84

Geelong 0.6.5.41 0.8.6.54 0.14.9.93 0.14.13.97

Supergoals

Melbourne N Jones Michie Vince

Geelong Nil

Goals

Melbourne Howe 2 Bail Cross Hogan N Jones Michie Toumpas Trengove

Geelong Brown 3 Bartel Duncan Taylor 2 Caddy Hawkins Horlin-Smith Varcoe, Walker

Best

Melbourne Vince Tyson Cross N Jones Michie Dunn

Geelong Duncan Caddy Johnson Bartel Horlin-Smith Rivers

Injuries

Melbourne Toumpas (head)

Geelong Selwood (hamstring)

Reports

Melbourne Nil

Geelong Billie Smedts for striking Jimmy Toumpas in the third quarter

Umpires Fleer Wenn Deboy

Attendance 5,378 at TIO Traeger Park in Alice Springs

[Gorgoroth 12,924]

Yep, best things from last night were hard running all night, Hogan showing he belongs, not giving up when Geelong smacked quick goals on us and then steering the game back our way.

Dunn was once again bloody great last night. Super impressed.

[Deestar3 167]

Great thread........I too think some very positive signs.......once the boys actually feel comfortable plaing with each other .....so many new players .....the results will be even more encouraging. Players like watts & Fitzpatrick will definitely get a lot better but I thought they performed pretty admirably given that it was their first hit out. We are all realists & we won't turn into an A grade team overnight but at least they are heading in the right direction,

[mauriesy 7,261]

We're out of the media for all the right reasons. Meanwhile ...

Martin and Connors sharing a house.

King associating with bad boys.

Marley Williams awaiting sentence.

Dayle Garlett having AFL 'adjustment' problems.

[Jarka 767]

Dom Tyson, wow. This kid will be our elite mid and what a fantastic trade that will end up being for us.

[CityDee 738]

Big Likes for the 'old school' positioning of Spencer right in the slot in front of the leading forward. then pushing back hard to force the spill, courage and smarts. hopefully will clunk a few in future and deliver well on the out.

I also like our possession style that will need work but In pre season is allowing the guys to get plenty of the ball, building decision making skills , the Cats put us under pressure and was a taste of what to expect.

[Wormburner 674]

I just loved the fact they didn't drop their heads like last year....showed great fight to keep in the game.

I actually think if we had another 2 minutes longer in the last qtr, we may have snatched a win.

Keep it up fellas, on and upward!!!!!!

[P-man 13,366]

I have previously claimed that Vince is twice the value of Sylvia. I was mistaken and apologise for this false claim.

He is in fact three times the value of Sylvia.

[Ouch! 2,258]

I am trying to paint this in a positive light, so bear with me

Geelong scored a LOT of their goals, from our mistakes in transition across the ground... and it seemed like they often stemmed from simple skill errors from our players, rather than pressure situations from Geelong.

So whilst some have commented that the scoreline flattered us with super goals etc, the opposite can also be true in that we can eliminate goals being scored against us by tightening up in this area....working through Roos game plan, improving the execution of it, and gaining confidence.

I noticed that this happened also in the Richmond game as well. I think in general play we have been pretty solid, and our high possession game is actually standing up well against top teams...

Sam Blease also has played two pretty solid games!

[Dees2014 2,377]

You make a good point. I think we all should be greatly encouraged by last night. It is early days in the exhibition of our gameplan, and yet while under pressure the structures did not appear to break down even if our skills were down in such adverse weather conditions. As the commentators pointed out many of the Geelong goals came from turnovers, situations where we had possession of the ball and gave it up through lack of skill. This can be corrected, especially as we move out of defence, and the return of players such as Frawley and Garland will help this enormously. I might add that our new recruit Alex Georgiou did not cough it up once that I saw- he is a very skilled defender and should be in our opening round side no matter who is available. The offenders were actually mostly onballers - Trengove, Matt Jones, sometimes Grimes, Cross (although i will have to look at the replay again to confirm this more definitely). I have no doubt that the coaching staff will weed out the repeat offenders in this. They need to.

Another point I would make is we had more crucial players out than they did, players who would play crucial roles in correcting the mistakes of last night. I speak of Dawes, Clark and JKH up forward, Gawn in the ruck, Garland and Frawley in defence, Our major weaknesses were coughing it up in defence, having a static forward half (with the honourable exceptions of Hogan and Howe), and getting smashed in centre clearances, where Gawn and Viney will make a big difference. All are correctable, and all will be partially solved by the return of crucial players.

The absolute positives for mine were:

- the gameplan when executed properly makes us very competitive,

- the team stuck to their guns very well and there was no sign that we were at any stage becoming uncompetitive.

- Hogan was very good. I was one who said he shouldn't play because he looked unfit at the practice match last week. I was wrong. His game was outstanding, and he WILL be a gun.

- Howe gets better with each game. His defence has improved immensely under Roos and when he plays as the third or fourth tall in attack he will be an absolute handful to opposition sides.

- Jack Watts has found his place on the wing. He now is showing the huge potential we all knew he has. Top five in the Brownlow for mine.

A very encouraging, albeit also frustrating night.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Dees2014

[Ouch! 2,258]

I think another positive is that with a midfield (Cross, Jones, Michie, Vince, Tyson etc)

.... means that Salem, Toumpas and Viney don't have to be the 'Messiahs' and can develop as young players in the team without the pressure of having to save the team!

[Demon Head 271]

We're out of the media for all the right reasons. Meanwhile ...

Martin and Connors sharing a house.

King associating with bad boys.

Marley Williams awaiting sentence.

Dayle Garlett having AFL 'adjustment' problems.

... and we don't have any potential million dollar problems like this one - Lance Franklin suffered suspected seizure two months out from the AFL season

[ILLDieADemon 804]

It was good to see the boys fight to get back into the game in the last term.

That was my biggest positive.

[Ted Lasso 19,334]

I reckon we really missed Chip, if he was in he'd take Hawkins, Mcdonald then moves to Brown and the backline is abit more solid

[John Crow Batty 8,862]

I am somewhat surprised by Dunn's improvement. Where did he develop that poise and coolness?

[Whispering_Jack 29,812]

... and we don't have any potential million dollar problems like this one Lance Franklin suffered suspected seizure two months out from the AFL season

Not much in that. Could just be the fish he ate or perhaps the coke he consumed. Too much fizz in the bubbles, if you know what I mean

Anyway, let's not concern ourselves with the problems of others. This is supposed to be a positive thread.

I think the fact that we've performed reasonably admirably away from our home ground where we play more than half of our games is a plus. We've won at Etihad and by the looks of it Traegar Park should have suited Geelong better. It looked like a long ground with narrow wings much like Simonds Stadium. The conditions wouldn't have suited us as the younger side either so all in all, we can get better.

[Deestroy All 14,262]

Positives for me.

Dom [censored] Tyson.

I think I'm already wrong and Watts will make it on a wing. I think he'll slaughter shyte teams in time and space. The inclusion of 3 bonafide, ball winning mids makes the transition for Watts that much easier. Watts, Toump and Salem could be devistating in the future.

Dunn. I'm not surprised. Look what Roos did with the likes of Grundy and LRT. Dunn has more natural talent than them, early signs are Roos is going to love him.

Hogan.

The direction of the game plan. Stuck to it, if we minimise mistakes/weed out the changer kings we are going to be in with a chance in most games.

Edit: Oh and get Georgiou on the list.

Edited February 28, 2014 by Deestroy All

[beelzebub 23,313]

I am somewhat surprised by Dunn's improvement. Where did he develop that poise and coolness?

when he found the razor

[The Reverend 1,736]

Good work my friend. This forum needs more positivity and I'm certain about that. If we can't be positive at this point, when can we. I can only see goof things ahead over the next few years. We are on our way. Thanks PJ, thanks Paul Roos and thanks to the recruiting folk who went out and got us a half-decent midfield. Yeah, there'll be some pain ahead at times but I'm confident we've seen the last of the 100 point debacles that have hurt so much in recent years. From here it's going to be some gradual improvement as we continue developing our list and Roos consolidates the game plan, but I'm sure we will be watching finals next year positive optimism for me.

[Young Dee 1,303]

I am somewhat surprised by Dunn's improvement. Where did he develop that poise and coolness?

I think he has been a steady improver for a long time. It has just taken a little time for people to catch on.

Some people still see him as the Dunn of 2010.

[Heisenberg 2]

Clisby! I didn't even have him in my best 22 before last night, now he's surely a lock for round 1. Great skills with a penetrating long kick on him, which is desperately needed if this game plan is to work.

[Redleg 40,856]

Dom Tyson, wow. This kid will be our elite mid and what a fantastic trade that will end up being for us.

Not according to Damien Barrett. We were mad according to him to trade Kelly ( pick 2 ) for Tyson and Salem. He has actually called Kelly a Brownlow medallist.