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

[Ted Lasso 16,868]

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.

10 tackles between them infact, Toump went back with the flight a couple of times too just to put those making Cale morton comparisons at ease a little bit.

[DemonOX 8,541]

First half only and was promising..

Thanks whos nice to hear he looked promising in a half of footy.

[DemonOX 8,541]

Despite the second half crapola at least we still won.

It's nice for a change.

[DeeZee 6,775]

Just happy to have a win.....no doubt we are a work in progress, and additions of Vince, Howe and maybe a Brayshaw will improve us again.

Wasn't rapt with McKenzie and Bail, thought Grimes ,Garland and Toumpas were better

Vandenberg copped a knock early and we know he can provide more when 100%

Salem will be a revelation this year

Only Vineys first hit out, so he will improve.

Tyson just keeps on performing.

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Toumpas was good today but I would love to see a bit of agility and evasiveness to break a tackle and give him a yard to use his skills.

[Ethan Tremblay 28,436]

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.

Salem seemed to be everywhere in the back half, I thought he was great. I really don't get those who are criticising Toumpas today, he had a solid game.

[titan_uranus 22,498]

I haven't seen the game so I'm just going to tell myself that when the game was up for grabs (first half) we were dominant and showed that we are going to be a much better side this year, and once we had done the job, we took the foot off the pedal and preserved players during the second half.

I like the sound of that a lot more than what I think the truth is.

[Ted Lasso 16,868]

Salem is going to start getting alot of attention from opposition teams if he continues to play like that, the beauty of that is Howe, Lamumba, Grimes, Mcdonald, Jetta can all run and create as well, it's a group that can defend really strongly but also run and attack off half back.

alot of goals scored from oppostion mistakes today which is something we haven't been able to do consistently.

[HEMLOCK 39]

I haven't seen the game so I'm just going to tell myself that when the game was up for grabs (first half) we were dominant and showed that we are going to be a much better side this year, and once we had done the job, we took the foot off the pedal and preserved players during the second half.

I like the sound of that a lot more than what I think the truth is.

yes yes I like that

[Ted Lasso 16,868]

I haven't seen the game so I'm just going to tell myself that when the game was up for grabs (first half) we were dominant and showed that we are going to be a much better side this year, and once we had done the job, we took the foot off the pedal and preserved players during the second half.

I like the sound of that a lot more than what I think the truth is.

we were utterly dominant until a point in the third quarter where we did i think just go to sleep and Bulldogs got a run on at just the right time, it really showed that if the workrate of our stoppers drops off players like Bont and Stringer really can start to come into the game and cause issues.

[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

did he chase ,run hard ,no,you go and get your own ball

[CityDee 738]

Nice to take a win from that , Watts Viney and Bail all miss getable goals in the third that could have swung the game our way . It hurt us last season and we need to turn 10-12 goals into 15-16 as we get the oppurtunity to convert . Scoreboard pressure/ confidence will help our all round game and key to the demon revival .

[chook fowler 18,320]

Thought some good signs from the whipping boys Grimes, Garland and Toumpas. Dunn was a lot better than last week. Salem is a gun.

Garlett and JKH benefited by being at the feet of Hogan and Dawes.

McKenzie, Bail and M Jones have reached their used by dates.

Hard to fathom Terlich being given a new contract but not deemed good enough to play in the pre- season.

Love Neville Jetta.

[dazzledavey36 48,905]

did he chase ,run hard ,no,you go and get your own ball

Right..

[sue 8,451]

Roos seems less concerned than people here:

Melbourne coach Paul Roos said he wasn't too concerned by the change in momentum and didn't blame his side for taking their foot off the pedal.

Roos said the Demons stopped competing as hard at the contest, but he was pleased with the way his side moved the ball in transition early on.

"I think today what we saw in the first half was what we're trying to work on both defensively and offensively," he said.

[Nasher 33,111]

Roos seems less concerned than people here:

Melbourne coach Paul Roos said he wasn't too concerned by the change in momentum and didn't blame his side for taking their foot off the pedal.

Roos said the Demons stopped competing as hard at the contest, but he was pleased with the way his side moved the ball in transition early on.

"I think today what we saw in the first half was what we're trying to work on both defensively and offensively," he said.

What would Roos know about footy anyway?

[Earl Hood 5,789]

Didn't see the game, didnt hear the game thankfully! But looking at the stats what was going on? 160 plus more disposals for a 7 point win! 403 disposals for 10 goals! We lost the clearances and we lost the inside 50 count? But we took 20 marks inside 50 for a 10 goal return! I know these are only stats but what the hell were we doing with the ball? Haven't we been training to be more direct, to move the ball quickly to players on the move?

What were we doing with the 160 or so disposals that on paper seem to have gone nowhere in particular. We had this problem at the start of last season when we had no forward line. Today we had targets but the stats imply we were pisseffing around again with the ball.

Can someone who was there please explain?

[HEMLOCK 39]

we r still looking for a key forward, so we will have to try and manufacture goals for some time yet

[McQueen 17,864]

We can look really good against an average side.

We can look really ordinary against an average side.

Underwhelmed but hardly dejected.

[sue 8,451]

Didn't see the game, didnt hear the game thankfully! But looking at the stats what was going on? 160 plus more disposals for a 7 point win! 403 disposals for 10 goals! We lost the clearances and we lost the inside 50 count? But we took 20 marks inside 50 for a 10 goal return! I know these are only stats but what the hell were we doing with the ball? Haven't we been training to be more direct, to move the ball quickly to players on the move?

What were we doing with the 160 or so disposals that on paper seem to have gone nowhere in particular. We had this problem at the start of last season when we had no forward line. Today we had targets but the stats imply we were pisseffing around again with the ball.

Can someone who was there please explain?

Totally dominated Q1 into wind without much scoring. But for the first time in almost living memory were passing with precsion to players in space.

[HEMLOCK 39]

What would Roos know about footy anyway?

yeah he is a spin doctor, nothing to gain from mauling the side publicly

[dazzledavey36 48,905]

Surprised Chris Dawes hasn't been mentioned yet.

thought he was very poor today..again

Edited March 14, 2015 by dazzledavey36

[wattsup 470]

I did think watts was good still gets ignored way too much, for example the 1st shot he had at goal should have been 30 out dead in front as he worked hard for a lead but was ignored, he then tried again and was ignored finally for 3rd time he marked close to 50 on a decent angle and then missed our players need to learn to pull the trigger earlier as watts should have been shooting from 30 out in front

[HEMLOCK 39]

Surprised Chris Dawes hasn't been mentioned yet.

thought he was very poor today..again

yeah he was poor sighted rarely seems to have flown under the radar because I think it might be too painful for some to consider that we are fairly bereft of good talls in the forward line

[Sir Why You Little 34,612]

Roosy is happy with the performance. That will do me.

It's a practice hit out. We lost no players for next week

I can deal with that...