Michael Newton

[Jarka 767]

Ok, can anyone now give me a good reason why Newton should continue with Sandringham and not play for Melbourne?

Points in favour I believe are that

1 - His form is just as good as any Melbourne listed player to play with Sandringham this year

2 - We have no key forwards in Melbourne that have any form at all.

3 - At this stage no other Melbourne player looks anywhere near to be able to replace Neitz as our only true key forward

I thought it was worthy of a thread because over the last couple of weeks there has been alot of support to leave him with Sandy for alot longer, now I really don't see that we have a choice but to play him because of his form and the fact that we no one else.

Thoughts?

[sylvinator 96]

i agree completely.

newton should play.

however he cannot be in the team with neitz, robbo, dunn and miller. its too top heavy.

his only chance is if miller gets dropped, or someone gets injured.

i am in favour for miller getting dropped. unfortunately he does not have a place in our team structure

[Jaded No More 67,609]

I'm not against selecting Newton next week, in fact, I'm all for it, however...

Robbo will play next week, as he should, which means that in the forward line we could potentially have Neita, Robbo, Sylvia and Bate.

Assuming they drop Miller, which would be extremely harsh given our entire side has been terrible this year, you would have to play Bate or Sylvia at CHF, Neita and Robbo out of the square and Newton in a forward pocket. Dunn will need to play on the wing once again, which I'd be happy to see.

My question is, will that make the forward line too crowded?

Neita, Robbo and Newton are just forward, and we can't re-shuffle them. We could throw Bater into the midfield, and get Sylvia to play a more crumbing role, to allow for more space.

I guess we could exploit the Roos by loading our forward line with a few talls, but it could easily back-fire.

Still, we have nothing to lose at this stage and I'd like to see Newton get a game. Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen.

Frawley will probably debut next week, and Daniher is unlikely to debut both.

[45HG 1,539]

good luck telling sylvia to play a crumbing role in the forward line!!

[Jarka 767]

I'm not against selecting Newton next week, in fact, I'm all for it, however...

Robbo will play next week, as he should, which means that in the forward line we could potentially have Neita, Robbo, Sylvia and Bate.

Assuming they drop Miller, which would be extremely harsh given our entire side has been terrible this year, you would have to play Bate or Sylvia at CHF, Neita and Robbo out of the square and Newton in a forward pocket. Dunn will need to play on the wing once again, which I'd be happy to see.

My question is, will that make the forward line too crowded?

Neita, Robbo and Newton are just forward, and we can't re-shuffle them. We could throw Bater into the midfield, and get Sylvia to play a more crumbing role, to allow for more space.

I guess we could exploit the Roos by loading our forward line with a few talls, but it could easily back-fire.

Still, we have nothing to lose at this stage and I'd like to see Newton get a game. Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen.

Frawley will probably debut next week, and Daniher is unlikely to debut both.

Jaded, good points, you make sense with a valid reason of why not to play him.

To those that know his game better than I how would he go playing in defense?

[QueenC 74]

I'm not against selecting Newton next week, in fact, I'm all for it, however...

Still, we have nothing to lose at this stage and I'd like to see Newton get a game. Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen.

Frawley will probably debut next week, and Daniher is unlikely to debut both.

I also agree with your points Jaded.....

Newton will rightly debut and probably pretty soon (although please lets not build him up as a saviour of our current position), but I agree that Frawley will more than likely get there first and that Daniher is still unlikely to debut two at once, especially with a few players returning from their injury lay-offs.

[Nasher 33,607]

Jaded, good points, you make sense with a valid reason of why not to play him.

To those that know his game better than I how would he go playing in defense?

If Newton is the weapon-in-the-making forward with x-factor oozing out his bum everyone claims, then playing him in the defense would surely be a waste.

[Jarka 767]

If Newton is the weapon-in-the-making forward with x-factor oozing out his bum everyone claims, then playing him in the defense would surely be a waste.

Agreed but it's better than playing him with Sandy.

The facts remain that apart from Neitz we don't have any key forwards who have shown that they're capable of playing well at AFL level over a long period of time, Newton is the one on the list we haven't tried and his form for Sandy of late has been not bad. Now considering we're now 0-8 I think we can afford to experiment with a couple of different things instead of just having Neitz at FF, Miller at CHF with Robo trying to take mark of the year everytime the ball goes near him.

[QueenC 74]

If Newton is the weapon-in-the-making forward with x-factor oozing out his bum everyone claims, then playing him in the defense would surely be a waste.

And those excessive-type claims on a kid yet to debut make me very nervous !!!

[Straight Sets Simon 23,113]

HF: Pickett/Bruce Dunn Davey/Green

FF: Newton/Sylvia Neitz Robertson/Yze

All you would have to do is just get the ball inside the forward 50 this lot to do something with it.

How hard would it be for opposition coaches to find a good match-up for everyone in this forward line.

Back to the topic, I'm all for giving Newton a run.

Melbourne are 0 - 8. What's the worst that could happen?

[diesel 420]

And those excessive-type claims on a kid yet to debut make me very nervous !!!

More so in the context of Newton playing in the forward line of a top of the ladder VFL team as opposed to a bottom of the ladder AFL team. Melbournes forward line entries are spasmodic and haphazard. Could Juice cope with this???

[CHAMP 347]

I'm not against selecting Newton next week, in fact, I'm all for it, however...

Robbo will play next week, as he should, which means that in the forward line we could potentially have Neita, Robbo, Sylvia and Bate.

Assuming they drop Miller, which would be extremely harsh given our entire side has been terrible this year, you would have to play Bate or Sylvia at CHF, Neita and Robbo out of the square and Newton in a forward pocket. Dunn will need to play on the wing once again, which I'd be happy to see.

My question is, will that make the forward line too crowded?

Neita, Robbo and Newton are just forward, and we can't re-shuffle them. We could throw Bater into the midfield, and get Sylvia to play a more crumbing role, to allow for more space.

I guess we could exploit the Roos by loading our forward line with a few talls, but it could easily back-fire.

Still, we have nothing to lose at this stage and I'd like to see Newton get a game. Unfortunately, I don't think it will happen.

Frawley will probably debut next week, and Daniher is unlikely to debut both.

Play Newton at CHF if need be, just get him into the forward line somewhere. At the moment the Demons are the only side who average under 11 goals a game. Any Inside 50 marking option is better than none. If Juice fails to fire no great harm's been done anyway and at least we have a glimpse of what might be the future.

[Jarka 767]

More so in the context of Newton playing in the forward line of a top of the ladder VFL team as opposed to a bottom of the ladder AFL team. Melbournes forward line entries are spasmodic and haphazard. Could Juice cope with this???

Good point, he does seem to possess some skills which appear to be superior than Miller's for instance. Miller is a lead/mark/handball type and the opposition knows this which makes it very easy to beat him. Newton seems to be a little more agile and his contested marking is better.

But as CB has already stated what's the worst thing that could happen if we try him? We're already 0-8.

[QueenC 74]

More so in the context of Newton playing in the forward line of a top of the ladder VFL team as opposed to a bottom of the ladder AFL team. Melbournes forward line entries are spasmodic and haphazard. Could Juice cope with this???

Well those with more experience haven't as yet, but maybe he could. I don't really know.......

But it worries me that he seems to being billed in here as some kind of all powerful saviour to all of our forward problems. Good at Sandy doesn't always translate, and we have to trust those that know better than we do about whether he is ready for the jump up. He will debut when the folk in charge think he is ready to do so. It will happen soon enough.

My worry is what happens if he doesn't come up to scratch straight away? Do we toss insults and criticism at him and write him off, as seems to be the way.

I want him totally ready to do so before debuting. And I don't expect him to solve all our problems.

It could also be worth remembering that the forwards are not our only problem.

As diesel said getting it in there with any great accuracy and consistency has been an enormous detriment to getting the scores on the board.

And if that continues it won't matter who is playing up there !!!

[deanox 9,641]

i would love to see him in there...however, i think we will see miller our for robbo this week, miller just hasnt performed the last 3 weeks and robbo is a better forward option - dunn has looked capable playing elsewhere on the ground, whereas i think miller struggles when he goes back just as much as when he is forward, so i think he'll head back to sandy this week.

i dont think two debuts would be a problem- didnt petterd and garland play in the same match first up a couple of weeks ago? newton seems to have strung more good games together in a row than previously which is a promising sign, given many of the queries around him are not based on ability.

im not sure who it matters is up forward for us at the moment, i think our problem is that the midfield is under too much pressure to execute any game plans. they just through footy to boot and our players arent in the right positions. it is too easy for opposition players to plug the holes in our forward 50. against west coast it looked like they had extra players around the place.

[steve_f 40]

Top heavy is not a problem.

Neitz is dropped on form. Miller takes the gorilla down back instaed of Holland who is declining slowly. Robbo if fit comes in with Newton.

Without Neitz, Green, Bruce, and White need to show leadership; both in deed and voice. Or get dropped regardless of how many possessions thet they get And Moloney, Sylvia and McLEan on return get the titles of captain, deputy etc.

Keeping Neitz just for leadership implies that we accept the absence in the rest.

TJ and Yze? It is to laugh.

[Guest baysidedave]

i agree completely.

newton should play.

however he cannot be in the team with neitz, robbo, dunn and miller. its too top heavy.

his only chance is if miller gets dropped, or someone gets injured.

i am in favour for miller getting dropped. unfortunately he does not have a place in our team structure

Miller should be dropped and traded at the end of the year

[Yze_Magic 3]

Why would we play Newton?

He is only the next Russell Robertson/Brett Burton, and god knows the coaching staff dont want another star in the team cos we are jam packed with them already

[brey9186 102]

why not debut our full forward and full back together for the next 10 years??

make an event out of it in the media, we need some positives at the club

[Gorgoroth 12,696]

id rather see him tried now when he has some confidence than let him stay at sandy and maybe play some bad games and lose confidence that he didnt get a game when we had our injuries etc

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

Neitz's form has been fine. He was marking strongly against the AA full back last weekend, and forwards are soft targets in thrashings.

Anyone who is calling for Neitz to be dropped is:

A) Blind.

B) Naive.

C) Being counter-productive.

D) Probably an opposition supporter.

[45HG 1,539]

Neitz's form has been fine. He was marking strongly against the AA full back last weekend, and forwards are soft targets in thrashings.

Anyone who is calling for Neitz to be dropped is:

A) Blind.

B) Naive.

C) Being counter-productive.

D) Probably an opposition supporter.

agreed. skipper changed our attitude when he came in against port, and his presence is enough to help the players. don't forget what he did against the roos last year.

if he has a shocker on sunday i'll begin to have my doubts, for the first time ever.

but at this stage i'm all for the skipper, his attitude embodies what our team needs. especially guys like bruce

[ickey_11 145]

Has anyone seen how skinny Newton is? At AFL level he will struggle until he bulks up. I am all for playing him for experience, but he will get the confidence at Sandringham and but a few games he will see how far he has to go at AFL level.

[CHAMP 347]

Has anyone seen how skinny Newton is? At AFL level he will struggle until he bulks up. I am all for playing him for experience, but he will get the confidence at Sandringham and but a few games he will see how far he has to go at AFL level.

He's 90kg, that's 8kg on Frawley at the same height, the same Frawley whom folk on this forum are slotting into a key back position with no issue whatsoever. He's 6'4' and 14 stone 2 pounds for God's sake.

[Jarka 767]

Neitz's form has been fine. He was marking strongly against the AA full back last weekend, and forwards are soft targets in thrashings.

Anyone who is calling for Neitz to be dropped is:

A) Blind.

B) Naive.

C) Being counter-productive.

D) Probably an opposition supporter.

Look, I love the big bloke, he's our captain but let's not overlook the obvious. So far this is Neitz' worst season ever, but I agree that he won't get dropped though, just not for the reasons you're saying. He won't get dropped because we have no one else to play his position.

Daniher has had 10 years but he's failed to come up with a replacement for him.