THE MATCH: NET GAIN IN THE WEST

[jabberwocky 2,301]

Matt Jones just sat in his back. It was terrible technique. He also gave away another 3 or 4 free kicks for too high, where a loose arm of his in a soft attempted tackle made high contact.

He has no idea how to tackle and it's because he tries to protect himself and he has no grunt.

He may be inexperienced at AFL level but he's not a young man, if he isn't willing to play with some conviction then he shouldn't be out there. And that goes for Grimes, Garland and others.

Jones does a few nice things a game, but I honestly think he is too limited to be a regular midfield rotation option.

He lets us down in poor disposal by hand, lack of penetration by foot, poor strength around the footy and a fair bit of poor decision making under pressure.

Yes I know he and Terlich came 4th and 3rd in our B and F in 2013, that was a reflection on how poor our list was rather than how good they are.

Edited March 6, 2015 by jabberwocky

[watchtheeyes 1,210]

So you are basing that on one half of a practice game, we also have Vince, Viney, Watts, Hunt, White, Stretch Riley, Howe and Terlich, think it is a bit of an early call

A lot of the postings I could guess what they would say without even reading them, like counting sheep

Steady on old man, I was specifically talking about Terlich/Reilly vs Vanders and volunteered I had seen little.

I've been a staunch defender of you old boy, I think you can sheath the unnecessary sarcasm

[sue 8,430]

I do not understand how anyone can say that a game played in clear skies, 30 degrees and a 10 knot wind to cool them down is anything but great conditions to play AFL.

Just in case you were not being ironical:

1. Clear skies mean the sun is in your eyes some of the time (and for TV viewers it can be horrible since the broadcasters often don't seem to change the camera aperture to account for grandstand shadows. Not easy if you are at the ground sometimes too)

2. 30 is far too hot regardless of a breeze. If conditions were great, why did the clubs have all those fans? If the breeze is fast enough to cool players, it is probably playing havoc with the footy.

Hardly great conditions.

[jazza 1,323]

No 31 looked fit.

Welcome back fella.

[s-t-i-n-g-a 439]

I know Walters got a bit of it in the second but once was from a terrible turnover up the field that led to a situation where no defender could stop. That was his only goal. As the commentators said, Ballantyne and Walters are close to the two best small forwards in the game and those players of ours that are being maligned did the job. I suppose many would prefer to see those four get multiple possessions but not stop their opponents. I'll probably never be able to judge how they went tonight because I'll never really know who they were on or what their role was but I'm betting Roos thinks they did a lot better than most on here.

In the second quarter Walters was instrumental in turning the game for Freo. He did a lot more than get one cheap goal from a turnover "no defender could stop" and during that time Grimes was on him.

I agree that outside of the second quarter he didn't do much and because he didn't do much and the defenders seemed to be rotating a fair bit I don't recall who was on him when he was quiet. But it was the period that effectivly won the match for freo in the second Grimes was standing him and being led on a merry dance.

Your talk of multiple possessions is rubbish. Jetta doesn't get much of the ball but when he gets it he rarely gives it up and we love him for it. He also stops his opponent. On last nights effort and much of last year Grimes was not doing either. You can get away with doing one of those really well and not great at the other but Grimes doesn't seem to be doing that. He is below par on both accounts when in the past despite the odd clanger he was a solid defender who usually retained the ball.

For me this is a concern because I have been a huge fan of grimes and love his passion for the red and blue and the selfless leadership he has displayed over the last few years but his output on match day is far short of where it needs to be. There can be no hiding from that if we want to get off the bottom of the ladder. You may think that Roos is happier with him than many on here but id suggest he'd also be more concerned than it appears you are.

The stepping down from the leadership group to concentrate on his game (ie improve his output) would suggest some honest conversations are being had and the coaches (and grimes himself) know there needs to be a change for the better. And I hope there is.

Edited March 6, 2015 by s-t-i-n-g-a

[jnrmac 18,954]

Let me say this for the final time

IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU!

Now, please go back to apologising for being entirely wrong despite weeks of desperate insistence.

For someone interested in psycology you would make a good case study......

[jnrmac 18,954]

The opposition player is as often responsible for this; with momentum also is a large contributing factor, and if you dragged every player who gave away a free kick when someone collapses their knees or dives forward into the ground; then there would be know one left playing against teams like Geelong or West Coast.

Free kicks will happen, particularly if you are in the play more often than not. N Jones was continually penalised for holding the ball until he got a bit more assistance from his team mates (Tyson, Cross, Viney and Vince)

Wow maybe Jones should have gotten the free...

Sorry disagree. It was a massively dumb piece of footy. No coomparison between Jones tryig to to take the game on and falling on a player in the fwd 50 and costing a goal.

[rpfc 27,451]

For someone interested in psycology you would make a good case study......

Steady on.

[jabberwocky 2,301]

For someone interested in psycology you would make a good case study......

We are Melbourne supporters.

There is now a unit dedicated to Dees supporters at Uni.

[Yossarian 1,808]

Horrible.

Thought his disposal was better yesterday though.

[rjay 23,903]

If you slow down the incident you are referring to, Matt Jones did the right thing and had the majority of his body to the side of the player who then flopped forward, compare to the Tommy Mc holding the ball where because Tommy was face up, Pavlich just fell on him and got holding the ball

Interesting these 2 incidents, Jones needed to turn his opponent in the tackle but got caught out when the Freo player milked the free kick by falling forward on contact. He certainly didn't just fall in his back but I would say it was a execution error in the tackle, Cross had one just the same probably 20 secs early and executed it perfectly.

Tommy Max problem was he took possession when he was on the ground in a pack situation and then tried to roll out, big mistake. Doing that he made himself a target for anyone wanting an easy free and Pav was smart enough to get it.

[Slartibartfast 15,761]

In the second quarter Walters was instrumental in turning the game for Freo.

What was instrumental in turning the game for Freo was our inability in the second quarter to apply pressure through the centre of the ground and out of our forward line which gave talented forwards the opportunity to ply their trade.

Grimes, McKenzie, Dunn and Garland were a substantial part of a defense that contained Freo very well on the day. On the TV none of those guys appeared to play well but if they hadn't we'd have been smashed.

Just on another issue, I had real difficulty with the umpiring and as you might expect I thought we were on the wrong end of it. Frees in front of goal to them were paid where similar incidents to us weren't. But perhaps I'm bias.

[dazzledavey36 48,735]

Note to all supporters.

Never get emotionally attached to AFL players..

[the grint 71]

Honestly, how fricken quick is Frost? What an absolute lightning bolt! Great pick up

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

Just on another issue, I had real difficulty with the umpiring and as you might expect I thought we were on the wrong end of it. Frees in front of goal to them were paid where similar incidents to us weren't. But perhaps I'm bias.

I'm going to pull my hair out this year with holding the ball, more than ever the player who makes the play and gets the ball will be punished by the looks of things.

[beelzebub 22,225]

Honestly, how fricken quick is Frost? What an absolute lightning bolt! Great pick up

bit of a find eh

[jnrmac 18,954]

Steady on.

Suggest you look at his post and comments and interests. S'not me that's a-shoutin'

[Wiseblood 24,636]

Interesting these 2 incidents, Jones needed to turn his opponent in the tackle but got caught out when the Freo player milked the free kick by falling forward on contact. He certainly didn't just fall in his back but I would say it was a execution error in the tackle, Cross had one just the same probably 20 secs early and executed it perfectly.

Tommy Max problem was he took possession when he was on the ground in a pack situation and then tried to roll out, big mistake. Doing that he made himself a target for anyone wanting an easy free and Pav was smart enough to get it.

The Jones tackle, for an AFL player, was very clumsy though. Players at this level should know that the opposition player will want to fall forward, it wasn't as if he was under pressure to lay a big tackle. He just needed to use proper technique, which he didn't do and it looked terribly clumsy.

[What 18,810]

Honestly, how fricken quick is Frost? What an absolute lightning bolt! Great pick up

A couple of of his runs were so exciting. Wait til he gets on to the MCG and has all that space to run into.

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

I'm re-watching the third quarter (having watched the game in the pub where I couldn't hear the commentary) and I actually agree with Dermott Brereton when he talked leading patterns.

As good as it was to see Hogan crash a pack and create a goal opportunity for Kent, it wasn't an easy goal and as was pointed out if Hogan was leading on a better angle Tyson would have had a target to hit on the lead. I don't want to be critical of Hogan here because he is young, but what Brereton was saying was reflective of Melbourne over the past few years.

I don't think since Jurrah has Melbourne been able to score easily with clear forward line targets who are in the clear, hopefully Hogan changes this.

[daisycutter 28,508]

......... But perhaps I'm bias.

biased

[Barney Rubble 1,576]

I enjoyed the style of play they were playing.

I can't remember when our midfielders were on top of centre clearances and stoppages.

The first kick after clearance let us down so often.

Newton was brilliant first Q.

Tyson was great all night.

Hogan was a bit frustrated and went into the midfield to get his hands on the ball.

Ball handling in general was a bit rusty, they will work through that in the next month.

Van den berg showed his worth.

H showed the backline the way to do it.

Frost was classy big and fast.

Everything is good and has improved on last year.

[beelzebub 22,225]

biased

pedant !!

[beelzebub 22,225]

I enjoyed the style of play they were playing.

I can't remember when our midfielders were on top of centre clearances and stoppages.

The first kick after clearance let us down so often.

Newton was brilliant first Q.

Tyson was great all night.

Hogan was a bit frustrated and went into the midfield to get his hands on the ball.

Ball handling in general was a bit rusty, they will work through that in the next month.

Van den berg showed his worth.

H showed the backline the way to do it.

Frost was classy big and fast.

Everything is good and has improved on last year.

not quite EVERYTHING.... but I'm hearing ya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1yYDuSf3C4

[boydie 653]

I'll admit that I wasn't super excited when we got Frost, but when I saw run from the backline then through the middle and do the old one two I thought geez we've needed someone that can do that for a while now.

I'm looking forward to the season ahead, we're not going to be playing in the grand final but we're going to be competitive this year and who knows... just maybe if our players stay injury free, confidence builds, and Tony Abbott gets ousted we just might sneak into the 8.