Melbourne v Western Bulldogs Post Match

[Diablo 1]

I'll get onto my match report later, but a few things;

Our backline was solid last night. The umpires crucified us at times. There were about 4 50m penalties which totally negated any influence Carroll, Miller, Warnock et al might have had. When they did get an opportunity to spoil, they did the job 8/10 times. On top of that, they worked the ball well out of defence MOST of the time. It was not flawless, by any stretch, but it was certainly good enough. The problems tended to come from our yet-again-stagnant forward line, who, apart from Bate, almost totally failed to provide any options up the ground. So we would clear the D50, then have nothing to kick to. The first half was good in this respect, but this was a very noticeable problem in the second.

Our ruck division is mildly concerning. Meesen and White are good contributors around the ground, and PJ has some deft skills for a man 2m tall, but it's the ruck contests that worry me. Jamar and White are able to compete, most of the time, without being dominant. Meesen is more of an athlete than a ruck battering ram, and his worth at the bounce is questionable. Jamar is the opposite, and is more or less MIA outside of the centre bounce. White, with his big leap, can still compete and be handy across the park, but he is well and truly into the twilight of his career.

[Paul Gardner 6]

You can't be serious... you're claiming our boys are underdone only starting praccies 5 weeks before the season? What do you think this is? These blokes have practically been playing footy every day since they were five years old and have just completed months of competitive running, weights, drills etc What do you think that they went away on an end of season trip and totally forgot how a game of football works? If you think a turd is suddenly going to bloom into a daffodil once round 1 swings by you are sorely mistaken

sheesh from now on i'm going to completely shut myself off from pre-season... just serves to build your hopes up for nothing

There's your problem, these games are only practice matches were winning is not as important as following the team patterns & procedures. These are the important things @ this stage, implementing the new ideas into action on the field, this will take a little while to settle.

Only now are we starting to play some of the more important players to the team, blending them with some 'kids' who have just shown us the're ready to take the pressure on.

Why stress over tarted up practice matches?

[beelzebub 22,269]

what were the frees given for.. ..silly indiscretions..or a particular elemetn of our play that needs refining ?

cheers

[Diablo 1]

what were the frees given for.. ..silly indiscretions..or a particular elemetn of our play that needs refining ?

cheers

Thats an excellent question, belzebub, and having sat through the game I would still like to know the answer. In all seriousness though, alot of the 50m penalties appeared to be for touching a bloke after not being in the contest... but when I say touching, I mean like tapping him so he knows he can't play on, which is absurd.

The frees that I could actually understand seemed to be for chopping the arms. But there weren't too many that I could understand, without seeing a replay.

[Forest Demon 4,681]

Fair dinkum there's alot of discussion here but half of you have your heads up your asses. When was the last time a side got done by 23 goals over 3 weeks against mediocre opposition and ended up being at all competitive in the real season? I guarantee you Dean Bailey is not sleeping very well tonight

Sydney Swans won a premiership after a disastrous preseason and first couple of rounds, you truly sound like a [censored]

I will hold my judgement until after Hawthorn in round 1, and maybe we will struggle, but i couldn give a [censored] what happens in preseason, as long as their are no serious injuries or suspensions, im happy enough

[Guest Schtacker]

Sydney Swans won a premiership after a disastrous preseason and first couple of rounds, you truly sound like a [censored]

I will hold my judgement until after Hawthorn in round 1, and maybe we will struggle, but i couldn give a [censored] what happens in preseason, as long as their are no serious injuries or suspensions, im happy enough

True the Swans were down 2-4 after 6 rounds that year... gives me little comfort though

[jacey 333]

I will hold my judgement until after Hawthorn in round 1, and maybe we will struggle, but i couldn give a [censored] what happens in preseason, as long as their are no serious injuries or suspensions, im happy enough

Agreed although I would like to see some of our senior players get some runs in their legs. Get them sharp with actual match conditions.

As for the doomstayers, it's called a Practice match for a reason.

Anyway it's still mathematically possible for us to make the finals so relax people.

[Hannabal 4]

I know I'm wasting my breath, so to speak, and I should be using crayons, but here goes.

The Swans have never won a NAB Cup match with Roos at the helm. And other clubs don't want to do well in the preseason comp due to the protection of their upcoming gameplan. This strikes a cord with me. Bailey has one closed training session a week. Whenever Bailey or one of his assistants is interviewed and asked about the new gameplan all they offer is that "they'll be playing for each other". Well having been to training sessions, let me tell you that they practice far more drills and set plays than the previous coaching staff. Bailey doesn't want to let anything out. He also had no interest in winning these matches. That was obvious from the side that played Geelong. He's aiming everything at round 1.

Now the nervous Nellies, ill informed, footy stupid, overly emotional, pessimistic, and just plain dumb supporters can work themselves into a lather, but I'll wait til round 1. Obviously I don't know what we'll do this year, but I'm far from concerned by what's happened to date. And if we are terrible it won't alter my opinion of the preseason. I'd rather experiment with kids.

Frankly, I feel like spitting on the footy stupid. Especially you, Schtacker. And to think that you must love my all time favourite tv show.

***patueey***

[Keepin up with the Joneses 48]

I know I'm wasting my breath, so to speak, and I should be using crayons, but here goes.

The Swans have never won a NAB Cup match with Roos at the helm. And other clubs don't want to do well in the preseason comp due to the protection of their upcoming gameplan. This strikes a cord with me. Bailey has one closed training session a week. Whenever Bailey or one of his assistants is interviewed and asked about the new gameplan all they offer is that "they'll be playing for each other". Well having been to training sessions, let me tell you that they practice far more drills and set plays than the previous coaching staff. Bailey doesn't want to let anything out. He also had no interest in winning these matches. That was obvious from the side that played Geelong. He's aiming everything at round 1.

Now the nervous Nellies, ill informed, footy stupid, overly emotional, pessimistic, and just plain dumb supporters can work themselves into a lather, but I'll wait til round 1. Obviously I don't know what we'll do this year, but I'm far from concerned by what's happened to date. And if we are terrible it won't alter my opinion of the preseason. I'd rather experiment with kids.

Frankly, I feel like spitting on the footy stupid. Especially you, Schtacker. And to think that you must love my all time favourite tv show.

***patueey***

What he said!

Don't forget; there is still 2 full games to go before Round 1.

All the last 3 weeks have shown me is this. If we have between 8 - 12 of our best players out for the season, like last year, we probably aren't going to win the flag. Sorry guys, 2008 might not be our year.

Otherwise, all going well, and Round 1 is when we start playing for the chocolates, we might be alright!

Bottom Line - We don't have the depth to succeed with a long injury list. Anyone who didn't know this, and is disappointed, let me know.

I'd rather start slow with a full squad, than be primed with 6 - 8 players warming the stands. It looks to me as though, through extremely difficult circumstances, the conditioning staff have done an excellent job. and we are on track for round 1.

Our 2008 recruits aren't going to win us the flag this year.

[Guest Schtacker]

I know I'm wasting my breath, so to speak, and I should be using crayons, but here goes.

The Swans have never won a NAB Cup match with Roos at the helm. And other clubs don't want to do well in the preseason comp due to the protection of their upcoming gameplan. This strikes a cord with me. Bailey has one closed training session a week. Whenever Bailey or one of his assistants is interviewed and asked about the new gameplan all they offer is that "they'll be playing for each other". Well having been to training sessions, let me tell you that they practice far more drills and set plays than the previous coaching staff. Bailey doesn't want to let anything out. He also had no interest in winning these matches. That was obvious from the side that played Geelong. He's aiming everything at round 1.

Now the nervous Nellies, ill informed, footy stupid, overly emotional, pessimistic, and just plain dumb supporters can work themselves into a lather, but I'll wait til round 1. Obviously I don't know what we'll do this year, but I'm far from concerned by what's happened to date. And if we are terrible it won't alter my opinion of the preseason. I'd rather experiment with kids.

Frankly, I feel like spitting on the footy stupid. Especially you, Schtacker. And to think that you must love my all time favourite tv show.

***patueey***

All I read was 'i'm a genius I love myself'

"The Swans have never won a NAB Cup match with Roos at the helm" I love how you saw that article today and pass it off as some info stored in your gigantic brain. I would like to know what the hell the Sydney Swans have to do with us anyway. There was probably another side in the 80s that were rubbish in the preseason and won the flag so let's pretend our squad is the same as them, too

The point is, as I have stated, last night's side was almost as good as what we will be fielding regularly. We also played a 'non-contender'. Furthermore, those named in the bests were the same as last year and that didn't too us too much good did it?

There was a game we lost to eventual-preliminaries Collingwood by 11 points last year. We did ok despite the side missing Whelan, Petterd, Rivers, Bruce, Yze, Bartram and Moloney.. also Davey got hurt early. We were carrying dead wood in Jamar, Pickett, Bode, Holland etc who had no impact. Everything points to a sharp improvement this year so why do we have ZERO evidence of it in the preseason? As others have pointed out, to get the first five on the board and then just lie down like dogs was a bitter slap in the face that nothing appears to have changed.

Don't you think its a bit naive to imagine there is some kind of secret that is going to be unleashed in round 1? Do you think Bailey put gravel in everyone's boots before the match just so we appear to be rubbish and the Hawks will go easy on us in Round 1? And you call me stupid. You reckon you're so clever you haven't said one thing insightful, you're just trying to convince yourself (and others) of something. I look forward to your take on things when we get flogged in Round 1. Now i'm going to get [censored].

What TV show?

[Jarka 767]

He's aiming everything at round 1.

The result of that game will be very interesting. Hawks will be without Hodge, Lewis and Brown which means we're expected to win, but if we lose....

We'll know by about round 8 whether we're any good or not.

[grazman 6,602]

There was a game we lost to eventual-preliminaries Collingwood by 11 points last year. We did ok despite the side missing Whelan, Petterd, Rivers, Bruce, Yze, Bartram and Moloney.. also Davey got hurt early. We were carrying dead wood in Jamar, Pickett, Bode, Holland etc who had no impact. Everything points to a sharp improvement this year so why do we have ZERO evidence of it in the preseason? As others have pointed out, to get the first five on the board and then just lie down like dogs was a bitter slap in the face that nothing appears to have changed.

Don't you think its a bit naive to imagine there is some kind of secret that is going to be unleashed in round 1? Do you think Bailey put gravel in everyone's boots before the match just so we appear to be rubbish and the Hawks will go easy on us in Round 1? And you call me stupid. You reckon you're so clever you haven't said one thing insightful, you're just trying to convince yourself (and others) of something. I look forward to your take on things when we get flogged in Round 1.

A good read for you Schtack if you're not too busy jumping at shadows.

http://www.realfooty.com.au/news/general/j...4227048471.html?

For the players, the equation is simple. "You just want to go out there and play again, get a kick, find a bit of rhythm, and not get hurt," one said this week. "Full stop. Winning just isn't part of it." Most footy fans, stripped of the temptation of premature exaggeration, would agree. But most footy fans don't behave rationally, not even in February or March.

[mo64 5,230]

Our backline was solid last night.

I hope George From The Outer doesn't mind, but this is his take on our backline from Friday night's game:

"Without the natural football skills of Jared Rivers or (dare I say it ) a Clint Bizzell, the back-line looks like rudderless ship. Not that the opposition forwards were winning in any way, shape or form, we were simply giving them opportunities through our own ineptitude."

This is how I perceived our backline last season. Without Rivers, we lacked naturally talented footballers. Carroll, Holland and Bell are try hards. As were Ward and Brown, who have now departed. It's a bit early to call, but Frawley also seems to fit this category.

Playing the likes of Yze and Green in the backline, might not be a bad solution.

[Jarka 767]

It's a bit early to call, but Frawley also seems to fit this category.

It is too early to call on Frawley however before he was drafted there were suspicions that he's not really suited to a KP role, more of a rebounding flanker, and he was taken much too early. I'm concerned that I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, and it's made even for hard to swallow when you see other clubs pick up guys like Gilbert and Egan with much later picks.

[Guest Schtacker]

I hope George From The Outer doesn't mind, but this is his take on our backline from Friday night's game:

"Without the natural football skills of Jared Rivers or (dare I say it ) a Clint Bizzell, the back-line looks like rudderless ship. Not that the opposition forwards were winning in any way, shape or form, we were simply giving them opportunities through our own ineptitude."

This is how I perceived our backline last season. Without Rivers, we lacked naturally talented footballers. Carroll, Holland and Bell are try hards. As were Ward and Brown, who have now departed. It's a bit early to call, but Frawley also seems to fit this category.

Playing the likes of Yze and Green in the backline, might not be a bad solution.

Don't forget about Matty Whelan

[mo64 5,230]

Don't forget about Matty Whelan

I never include Whelan in my discussions, because I doubt that we'll be seeing much of him this year. I agree that he does add poise to the backline.

[Guest Schtacker]

It is too early to call on Frawley however before he was drafted there were suspicions that he's not really suited to a KP role, more of a rebounding flanker, and he was taken much too early. I'm concerned that I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, and it's made even for hard to swallow when you see other clubs pick up guys like Gilbert and Egan with much later picks.

19 years old and 9 games under his belt

Get your hand off it

[grazman 6,602]

It is too early to call on Frawley however before he was drafted there were suspicions that he's not really suited to a KP role, more of a rebounding flanker, and he was taken much too early. I'm concerned that I haven't seen anything to suggest otherwise, and it's made even for hard to swallow when you see other clubs pick up guys like Gilbert and Egan with much later picks.

Frawley was taken much too early yet you're plumbing for Gilbert and Egan. West Coast would've taken Frawley which means he wouldn't have been there for our second pick - so I'm not sure it was much too early. We got both Jim and Ricky with our first two picks, both will be very good players for the club. I'm sure Petterd will develop into a very smart rebounding HBF/BP.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Frawley is the real deal

He will be the best Full Back the Demons have had since Danny Hughes, and he will make multiple AA teams

Whoever is writing him off now, I suggest you either get a clue about football, or go follow cricket

[Cards13 9,117]

I'll get onto my match report later, but a few things;

Our backline was solid last night. The umpires crucified us at times. There were about 4 50m penalties which totally negated any influence Carroll, Miller, Warnock et al might have had. When they did get an opportunity to spoil, they did the job 8/10 times. On top of that, they worked the ball well out of defence MOST of the time. It was not flawless, by any stretch, but it was certainly good enough. The problems tended to come from our yet-again-stagnant forward line, who, apart from Bate, almost totally failed to provide any options up the ground. So we would clear the D50, then have nothing to kick to. The first half was good in this respect, but this was a very noticeable problem in the second.

Our ruck division is mildly concerning. Meesen and White are good contributors around the ground, and PJ has some deft skills for a man 2m tall, but it's the ruck contests that worry me. Jamar and White are able to compete, most of the time, without being dominant. Meesen is more of an athlete than a ruck battering ram, and his worth at the bounce is questionable. Jamar is the opposite, and is more or less MIA outside of the centre bounce. White, with his big leap, can still compete and be handy across the park, but he is well and truly into the twilight of his career.

How about Warnock and Weetra, how did they go Diablo? Weetra is certainly one I'd love to see step us this year.

I think we as supporters can tend to be very pessimistic but lets keep positive but also keep our expectations low for '08. Making the 8 will be a bonus for us this season I would think. So before we go bananas about loosing preseason games lets look at it as Bails and the new coaches getting a chance to look at the entire list, who can play and who can't, who will be given chances of bringing us wins this season and into our next phase because quite clearly this phase has passed us by with no premierships.

[Jarka 767]

19 years old and 9 games under his belt

Get your hand off it

There are alot of people with knowledge far greater than mine who are of this opinion, but as you've already pointed out you don't watch much junior footy so I'm not surprised you don't have anything of value to add to the discussion

[Jarka 767]

Frawley was taken much too early yet you're plumbing for Gilbert and Egan. West Coast would've taken Frawley which means he wouldn't have been there for our second pick - so I'm not sure it was much too early. We got both Jim and Ricky with our first two picks, both will be very good players for the club. I'm sure Petterd will develop into a very smart rebounding HBF/BP.

What's your opinion of Egan?

The Melbourne footy staff would give their left nuts to get a CHB of his quality into the team.

[Jarka 767]

Frawley is the real deal

He will be the best Full Back the Demons have had since Danny Hughes, and he will make multiple AA teams

Whoever is writing him off now, I suggest you either get a clue about football, or go follow cricket

I hope you're right YM, but he has a long way to go to reach AA level. To put that much expectations on him is as stupid as writing him off after one season.

[chapter 2 0]

well said Jarka. i disagree with your pessimism but we'd be stupid to put that kind of expectation on a 19 y o. As for our problems, after hearing about Aker's complete carnage of us throughout the game, what does those of you who saw it think of our tagging capacities throughout the season? perhaps its just coz junior and batram weren't playing but is it a cause for concern come round 1?

[Elwood 3184 1,268]

As for our problems, after hearing about Aker's complete carnage of us throughout the game, what does those of you who saw it think of our tagging capacities throughout the season?

It might also mean that DB had other issue to deal with than to tag someone like Aker in a practice match knowing he has run with players like Junior, Barts and even Cameron Bruce around for when the real thing starts.