Post match discussion

[Matt Demon 1,474]

Good- Jones, Viney

Bad- Tyson, Vince

Terrible- Watts, Spencer

At least we fought it out.

[Tyson_Viney_Toumpas 269]

Mckenzie the tackling machine 2 tackles with his 10 disposals(9 hand balls).

Jetta, Watts, Mckenzie, Spencer, Bail, Terlich... Time to cut the emotional attachment and delist these players, their disposal puts pressure on their team mates time ago and Watts doesn't try- jogs around with no effort.

I'm blaming the players, not the umpires.

[Wadda We Sing 10,685]

After 5 rounds only 1 team has kicked more than 100pts against us.

[Demoneyes 562]

Think we'll see quite a few changes after that one. So many skill errors and Watts is now exposed for all to see. We'll be a much better side with Kent, Hogan and Garland playing. Can drop some deadweight.

And I still rate Evans, that was a great goal. He's a sneaky kick that guy. JKH fantastic with a lot of flare, which so much of our team lacks.

Dont know about Kent but like Evans. Need garland back, how did he go today? Apparently Salem played a blinder?

[titan_uranus 25,020]

Get Kent, Hogan, Garland, a more confident Toumpas off half-back, and Jamar/Gawn into this side in place of Jetta, Terlich, Evans, Spencer, and one other (Bail, McKenzie, Georgiou), and we'll continue to be able to match it with sides that are better than us.

[Pates 9,660]

Game was there to be won, but GC (with a little help from the umpires) did enough to take the wind out of our sales. There were some frustrations and there were positives. No doubt there is improvement but we went into our shell way too much and at times there was not enough hard running. Watts had a bad game today but I can understand why at times he doesn't do hard leads, because even when he does they don't honour it enough.

Too many players drifted in and out of the game, and unfortunately we collectively switched off in the 2nd quarter. That was the difference in the end.

8 points flatters us but probably more a sign that we weren't going to pack it in and that alone is a good positive to take away.

[Deecisive 1,709]

Mckenzie the tackling machine 2 tackles with his 10 disposals(9 hand balls).

Jetta, Watts, Mckenzie, Spencer, Bail, Terlich... Time to cut the emotional attachment and delist these players, their disposal puts pressure on their team mates time ago and Watts doesn't try- jogs around with no effort.

I'm blaming the players, not the umpires.

of Jodies 10 disposals he had 5 clangers and also gave away 4 frees so nett positive output was not so great.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

A lack of run all game killed Melbourne.

You could hear the frustration in the stands as players looked up with the ball and saw 17 flat-footed teammates.

There was no movement, none.

This contributed heavily to Melbourne taking so long to dispose of the ball.

[chook fowler 19,459]

Spencer 3 disposals -hopeless giraffe! Everything that needs to be said about Watts has been said - disgraceful. Players like Bail can't put 2games together. McKenzie- no future. Another big clean out needed

[scarlett 247]

A lack of run all game killed Melbourne.

You could hear the frustration in the stands as players looked up with the ball and saw 17 flat-footed teammates.

There was no movement, none.

This contributed heavily to Melbourne taking so long to dispose of the ball.

howe moving forward was when we came back into it, he needs to stay forward and play the link up role, jones is our best mid, stayed on ablett to long

[CityDee 738]

On the tram Was at the game . . . Watts is criticised often . He tried just wasnt his day . Team stats- wins -plus for hitouts . Watts would be a superstar in a hawks jumper .

Team . . .

Suns were too quick , and too big in attack . We need Garlo but we need someone bigger for a a defensive matchup .

Go dees

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

On the tram Was at the game . . . Watts is criticised often . He tried just wasnt his day .

That's the thing, he doesn't try! That's what we're saying and you are completely blind if you think otherwise.

[Damo 3,367]

Watts needs to be played at Casey.

I wonder what we would get for him in a trade.

[Nascent 9,239]

It's good to see our fans are not happy with honourable losses. Still, we have to keep in mind how far back we are coming from and take the positives out of the game.

A few random thoughts. Our midfield has improved markedly and our make shift forward line is doing the job. Backline was a weak area today with probably the worst game I've seen from McDonald. Our entire team will benefit from Hogan in and Frawley (despite he's fantastic form up forward) shifted back to take a Key forward. I am looking forward to Garland making a quick return as well. Tyson was down today but not sure I would've subbed him. My candidates for that would've been Watts, Jetta or McKenzie.

The one major positive for me. I watched the game thinking we could win and thought we were still in it throughout the whole game. Haven't really felt like that since 2011.

Edited April 20, 2014 by Nascent

[whatwhat say what 22,783]

The funniest thing about Watts is you can't even say he's getting a game 'on reputation' as his reputation is a pea heart softie!

[Coup Cooper 610]

Correct me if I am wrong.. But since round 1 Vince have been average.. Poor disposal..

I thought Dawes was Good.. Had he kicked 4.2 instead of 2.4 would of been best on easily!

Edited April 20, 2014 by Laces Out

[titan_uranus 25,020]

It's good to see our fans are not happy with honourable losses. Still, we have to keep in mind how far back we are coming from and take the positives out of the game.

A few random thoughts. Our midfield has improved markedly and our make shift forward line is doing the job. Backline was a weak area today with probably the worst game I've seen from McDonald. Our entire team while benefit from Hogan in and Frawley (despite he's fantastic form up forward) shifted back to take a Key forward. I am looking forward to Garland making a quick return as well. Tyson was down today but not sure I would've subbed him. My candidates for that would've been Watts, Jetta or McKenzie.

The one major positive for me. I watched the game thinking we could win and thought we were still in it throughout the whole game. Haven't really felt like that since 2011.

I thought our midfield today was a large reason for our loss. Second quarter clearances we were totally uncompetitive in. Spencer gave us nothing today, which didn't help.

Agree with the sentiment though - we're now playing competitive footy at least, even with a side like Gold Coast who are pushing for a finals berth.

[DeeSpencer 25,759]

Spencer 3 disposals -hopeless giraffe! Everything that needs to be said about Watts has been said - disgraceful. Players like Bail can't put 2games together. McKenzie- no future. Another big clean out needed

Spencer - dominated the ruck and put our midfielders in with a chance to win clearances

Bail - Kept Harbrow to 14 touches

Whilst they didn't have great games they largely did their job. Injuries mean we don't have the classy players (say Gawn and Kent) in to replace them right now. You're blaming the wrong guys.

[titan_uranus 25,020]

Spencer - dominated the ruck and put our midfielders in with a chance to win clearances

Bail - Kept Harbrow to 14 touches

Whilst they didn't have great games they largely did their job. Injuries mean we don't have the classy players (say Gawn and Kent) in to replace them right now. You're blaming the wrong guys.

Cannot agree with that assessment of Spencer - he was beaten in the ruck today and his hit outs were relatively useless.

Bail was alright, not our best but not our worst. Plenty of players below Bail in the pecking order.

[Bang Bang Bang 5,826]

Correct me if I am wrong.. But since round 1 Vince have been average.. Poor disposal..

He has been OK but a little disappointing for mine. Seems to baulk and kick flat-footed too often.

[What 18,810]

Watts needs to be played at Casey.

I wonder what we would get for him in a trade.

Take a 3rd rounder

We can get a better player than Watts anywhere in the draft

[Jack7 528]

Very poor by Roos to tag Ablett with Jones,put us a clearance mid down and that's when the pressure around the contest dropped markedly and they kicked 3 quick goals.

If Jordie isn't in the team to tag,what's he doing in the team???

Liking Dawes,playing better than he can

Prefer Howe up forward but his kicking clearly isn't AFL standard

Chip can't take a chest mark!!!

[DeeSpencer 25,759]

The second quarter was a complete drop off in effort. The second half we kind of played up to our potential.

We are largely limited by 3 things:
- Foot skils

- Run

- Contested ball grunt both winning it and tackles that actually stick

The run got better as the game went on until we tired (as did they). Unfortunately we can't find players who can do all of the above. It's going to have to mean dropping guys and finding guys who can contribute the best.

The other thing we need is just more and more football training in playing smart. Jack Grimes' attempted spoil on David Swallow where he had him cold with a run and jump yet instead chose to walk up behind him then spoil over the top was a great example of a basic mistake from a reasonable player. Some of these guys need re-education and I think it can happen it just wont overnight.

[Nascent 9,239]

I thought our midfield today was a large reason for our loss. Second quarter clearances we were totally uncompetitive in. Spencer gave us nothing today, which didn't help.

Agree with the sentiment though - we're now playing competitive footy at least, even with a side like Gold Coast who are pushing for a finals berth.

Agree on the second quarter, the midfield comment was more speaking of the year as whole compared to last year.

Viney and Jones are quality and I'm a big fan of Tyson (although not his day today), Vince is serviceable and gives us a more consistent output than Sylvia. Cross is playing his role well as is Matt Jones. We are still short probably 3-4 quality players running through the guts. Hopefully Salem and Toumpas can make the grade.

[Undeeterred 3,124]

Didn't get to see the game, as overseas. What exactly was it about Watts' game which makes about half the posts on here about how he should be taken out the back and shot?

Did he do something spectacularly awful?