Tommy Mac stands tall, doesn't give in and has some handy scalps.e.g he can run with Riewoldt (except when he has two corkies), Franklin and last saturdya night stood tall again. His 1% are valuable because the blokes against him are scorers. We need to support him. Just a few weeks ago everyone was saying how well the defence knits and now we tear them down .

Frremantle scored less than 100 points and a lot of them were through turnovers further up the ground. Let's be fair.

Is it that bad really? He's probably "bottom quartile" in the AFL (and someone has to be) and I know he has a funny action, but in the error riddled game just gone, I don't recall any Tom McDonald howlers, and he was involved in the game plenty.

It's probably a case of being way overplayed amongst supporters because a small number of very bad errors stick in people's mind and skews their perspective.

He was good on Saturday night. You may be right. I may be suffering from the "Clint Batram's". Probably didn't make that many errors but when he did they were real stinkers. Goes back to my point - the times he turns it over is when he has too much to decide what to do. Makes it look worse.

Getting hung up on his skill execution misses the point.

He is a CHB. He would be dynamite if Nick Malceski was on his left and Rhyce Shaw on his right.

why is skill execution a non debatable ?

Getting hung up on his skill execution misses the point.

He is a CHB. He would be dynamite if Nick Malceski was on his left and Rhyce Shaw on his right.

Agreed. We have a backline that only has one damaging kick - Lynden Dunn. Our inability to break lines from defence, by foot or with run, has been a big problem for a while. Ironically, McDonald is actually one of our best at running through the lines from defence!

yeah skills....so overrated

yeah skills....so overrated

I assume that wasn't in response to my post.

I assume that wasn't in response to my post.

why ?

do you not rate skills ?

why ?

do you not rate skills ?

How did you get any of that from my post? Did you even read it?

youre so precious Bob

it was your inference to RP's post..

dont you read ??

yeah skills....so overrated

You've really missed it on this one.

rpfc said, and AoB agreed, that focusing on his skill execution misses the point that he's the FB/CHB and shouldn't be the one doing the bulk of the kicking.

It's a good point.

Doesn't change the fact that his kicking is still not good enough even for a FB/CHB, but it vastly changes the dynamic of the discussion when you realise that he's not supposed to be the player doing the elite kicking out of the back.

youre so precious Bob

it was your inference to RP's post..

dont you read ??

Let's go back a step.

You implied that I don't think skills are important. This was directly in response to my post, which was of me bemoaning the lack of highly skilled players in our backline.

*sigh*

Don't think its been mentioned, but McDonald got 2 votes in the AFLCoaches votes (presumably from Roos), and Roos singled him out in his presser. McDonald aint going anywhere (unless he wants out).

lets rewind..but purposely

YOU ,A of B agreed with RPFC that getting hing upon execution misses the pojnt

That is the pojnt. You missed it

Execution is the skill..its what he lacks go fish

nice try

If you stopped focusing on the poster and looked to the problem maybe youd make sense

Apologies to everyone else, but this will get boring for a little bit.

I agreed with rpfc's post that we lack skill in defence, and that focussing solely on McDonald is missing the point. I reinforced this by explaining that we lack skill in defence. In fact, my exact words were:

"We have a backline that only has one damaging kick - Lynden Dunn. Our inability to break lines from defence, by foot or with run, has been a big problem for a while."

You didn't read my post. You saw the first word and assumed it was a direct attack on your POV. You made a mistake because you didn't read properly. The best response you could have made was "Oops, I misread your post" which would have resulted in nothing further happening. By continuing to try to cover up your mistake you are just making yourself look foolish. You don't get out of a hole by digging.

At no stage did I focus on the poster. I responded to rpfc's post, not yours, because he is a good poster who makes interesting points.

He's a solid contributor, pretty quick. His kicking used to be woeful, it's improved a fair bit. McDonald isn't really a problem, it's a difficult time for our defence, Garland hasn't been great, Questions over Frawley, Grimes is struggling, Terlich too, is Howe comfortable down there? Only real standouts in recent weeks have been Dunn and Jetta

why is skill execution a non debatable ?

It's not. But how about we worry about those in the list who lack these qualities but don't bring serious attributes like Tom. Like RPFC says, he'd be dynamite if we had better users off half back, he shouldn't have to be one of them.

What people seem to fail to realise is that Tommy is a fantastic contested possession player and is rarely beaten.

He turns it over. Fancy that from a young key position player.

MFC will be desperate for him to extent his contract.

Has Beezlebub always been this asinine?

I remember him being at least readable, but now pretty much everything he says is ridiculous.

What people seem to fail to realise is that Tommy is a fantastic contested possession player and is rarely beaten.

He turns it over. Fancy that from a young key position player.

MFC will be desperate for him to extent his contract.

You summed it up for me there Bob. I can have diametrically opposed views on Tom from one game to another. Hell sometimes within the same passage of play I can go from wild enthusiasm for his defence work to abject despair over his disposal. But let's face it we all knew that when he went down against Riewoldt in round 1 that it was probably going to be game changing. We would have won that match if he didn't get injured. If his kicking was even a 7/10 then you could comfortably assume he would be a fair shot at AA CHB for the next half decade.

The MFC will be desperate to get his signature but hopefully Tom can spend less time in the offseason gut running and more spent on honing his disposal

It's not. But how about we worry about those in the list who lack these qualities but don't bring serious attributes like Tom. Like RPFC says, he'd be dynamite if we had better users off half back, he shouldn't have to be one of them.

Speaking of our need for better users off half back, does anyone know how long Garland & Grimes have on their contracts?

Speaking of our need for better users off half back, does anyone know how long Garland & Grimes have on their contracts?

Nah, not a clue...

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-07-10/mcdonald-locked-in-at-melbourne

Tom signed on for another 2, and Barry also

Re-signed until the end of 2016. Good news.

Re-signed until the end of 2016. Good news.

Welcome to the next era Tommy.

Please continue your good work and ethic but please please work on that kicking ...please

Good to see you have faith in the club

Edited July 10, 201411 yr by beelzebub