Melbourne v Western Bulldogs @ Eureka Stadium Ballarat - 14th March, 2015

[HEMLOCK 39]

now I know why Hogan looks so sad in the banner......

[Deeoldfart 8,033]

We look a lot better with Toumpas/Salem kicking the ball out of defence, Lumumba providing run, Hogan providing a contest and Garlett crumbing. The game's being played at a training intensity but some decent signs early on. Four quarter performance is important.

Agree completely, BUT ...........................................

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

Colin is looking a bit slow in the modern game..Not Looking good.. I have been a fan .

I have never been a fan of Garland, he looks slow mentally, I hate his style of play.

At one stage he had the ball on our defensive 50, looked inside to centre half back where we had a free option, then he looked back up the line, by this stage we had lost our advantage by giving the opposition time to get settled, then he looked back to the fist option at CHB and finally kicked it there.

A switch needs to b done quickly to catch the opposition off guard.

He looks like he is going through the motions half asleep, much like the old Watts. And that 50m penalty from his kick after the whistle, come on.

TIME TO WAKE UP GARLAND AND SPEED UP

If I was the opposition I would love to play against him, we will never be a force with him in our back line. TOO SLOW!

[barneymfc 152]

You must be taking the [censored] ? He came on at half time into the forward line where the balls hardly come down... His kicked 1 of the 2 goals kicked in the 2nd half. God help you

one of two goals what a great player.god help a dick head like you

[P-man 13,366]

Toump was in the top 5-10 players. Did some very nice things, just needs to be quicker in doing them.

[whoszachunt 29]

Watts came on in the second half, and immediately had an impact. Two set shots for goal against a howling wind from 45 m out, nobody was kicking from there. In the last quarter he kicked one goal from one of the very few forward entries, I'm not sure there is more he could've done given the opportunities he had.

Must be the most criticized player in the AFL (by his own Club Members) Get off his bloody back... He doesn't select himself in the side..

[HEMLOCK 39]

I have never been a fan of Garland, he looks slow mentally, I hate his style of play.

At one stage he had the ball on our defensive 50, looked inside to centre half back where we had a free option, then he looked back up the line, by this stage we had lost our advantage by giving the opposition time to get settled, then he looked back to the fist option at CHB and finally kicked it there.

A switch needs to b done quickly to catch the opposition off guard.

He looks like he is going through the motions half asleep, much like the old Watts. And that 50m penalty from his kick after the whistle, come on.

TIME TO WAKE UP GARLAND AND SPEED UP

If I was the opposition I would love to play against him, we will never be a force with him in our back line. TOO SLOW!

Garland...the new whipping boy

[barneymfc 152]

I have never been a fan of Garland, he looks slow mentally, I hate his style of play.

At one stage he had the ball on our defensive 50, looked inside to centre half back where we had a free option, then he looked back up the line, by this stage we had lost our advantage by giving the opposition time to get settled, then he looked back to the fist option at CHB and finally kicked it there.

A switch needs to b done quickly to catch the opposition off guard.

He looks like he is going through the motions half asleep, much like the old Watts. And that 50m penalty from his kick after the whistle, come on.

TIME TO WAKE UP GARLAND AND SPEED UP

If I was the opposition I would love to play against him, we will never be a force with him in our back line. TOO SLOW!

yes so right

[Macca 16,996]

When we needed to play well, we did ... and when it didn't matter anywhere near as much, we didn't play well.

We showed glimpses of what we were capable of in the first half. The kicking to position was quite good and our attack on the ball was excellent. We took our foot off the pedal in the 2nd half and to me it looked like the coaching dept. wanted to get the players out of the match without any major injuries.

It's just a practice match - nothing more, nothing less. The standout positive for me was our distribution off half back - amongst others, Salem, Lumumba & Toumpas all did some nice work (all 3 are new to that area of the ground for us)

The usual suspects again made the same type of errors but we're going to have to wear that until the list improves. We can't turf them out now as their replacements right now aren't any better. I do believe that there will be less of that type of player getting a guernsey this year though - Roos is almost certainly working out which ones to keep in the side.

[Dommygun12 79]

one of two goals what a great player.god help a [censored] head like you

not to try start a crap storm but I think calling someone a F*** head is a little overboard how old are we all here?

[HEMLOCK 39]

yes so right

so wrong, complete rubbish

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

Toump was in the top 5-10 players. Did some very nice things, just needs to be quicker in doing them.

Although Toumpas was caught out a couple of times, it was the best game I have seen him play, simply because of the amount of ball he won. He was running to better positions on the ground and providing an option. I think he will take a lot of confidence out of the game, played like he was apart of the midfield, should take some confidence after that effort. Good on you Jimmy.

[Bobby McKenzie 2,385]

McKenzie, what a star.

Thank you very much. Of course I didn't need you to tell me I'm a STAR!!!

[HEMLOCK 39]

Although Toumpas was caught out a couple of times, it was the best game I have seen him play, simply because of the amount of ball he won. He was running to better positions on the ground and providing an option. I think he will take a lot of confidence out of the game, played like he was apart of the midfield, should take some confidence after that effort. Good on you Jimmy.

toumpas looked slow mentally

[Henrietta Lumbago 331]

toumpas looked slow mentally

Nah, I thought he was good, covered the ground well.

[HEMLOCK 39]

Nah, I thought he was good, covered the ground well.

yeah

[waynewussell 5,768]

Does anyone remember seeing MFC awarded a fee kick? How about for holding the ball? You know, the type that Jones (who is a ball player) always has paid against him! Does anyone remember seeing Viney paid for in the back? Does anyone remember seeing Hogan paid for having his head or arms slapped when he was trying to mark? Don't stress, just watch a Hawthorn or Sydney game and you will see it all the time!

[JV7 2,351]

one of two goals what a great player.god help a [censored] head like you

Your getting stuck into a bloke who's coming off a restricted pre season, plays one half in a forward line where the ball would be lucky to have come down a dozen times.. His had two shots on goal and had a handful of touches and you think his one of our problems ? Jog on mate, you have no idea

[Bang Bang Bang 5,826]

Agree completely, BUT ...........................................

Yes, a similar thing happened against Freo. 2 good quarters, 1 mediocre quarter and 1 absolute stinker. If we want to win ANY games this year, even against the likes of St.Kilda, then we need to at least compete for 120 minutes. Still a big concern IMO.

[Roger Mellie 4,037]

I was watching the centre bounces with interest!

Nathan Jones wasn't in the centre once in the last quarter.

From this I can conclude the following:

1) We were experimenting

2) The experiment failed

3) We're farked if Jones gets injured

[dazzledavey36 54,997]

God help us all if Nathan Jones ever goes down with an injury this year..

[Ted Lasso 19,521]

I thought today was the best game that both Salem and Toumpas have played for the Melbourne football club, that's a massive positive, Hogan and Viney showed great work rate, which is also really important.

Garland looked to me to be just starting to gain a bit more touch.

Letting a lead like that go, and nearly coughing up the game against ordinary opposition is simply not good enough, our best has improved alot, but we are not going to win enough games to play finals while having lapses like that, imagine if we did that against good opposition?

we really miss Bernie and Howe.

[Ethan Tremblay 30,876]

yeah

You posts remind me of Bails game today..

[Dee-licious 1,953]

The thing I liked about Salem and Toump today was the tackles. Both made quite a few and put pressure on their opponent. That keeps them in the team and their kicking makes us a better team. Toump needs time - this should surprise anyone.

[daisycutter 29,621]

This is becuase most football supporters are nuffies who think that every tackle should be rewarded with a free kick. The AFL have caved in to their demands.

Watch this year as the player with the ball is continually punished for getting the ball.

and then watch later in the season when they back off after heaps of complaints