Cameron Bruce - overpaid, soft, pathetic

[kramer 0]

I may as just copy what i said in another thread on the matter:

"To be honest, I'm fed up with demonlanders around here continuously bagging fantastic servants of the MFC such as Green, Bruce and White. Firstly, Green and Bruce are blokes that give 100% in every game that they're involved in...to suggest otherwise is ridiculous. They are not and have not ever been superstars, but all our supporters seem to blame them for everything that goes wrong around this club! Brad Green is a good kick, someone who puts his body on the line for the team, but he is not an exceptional athlete and he does not know how to find the ball like a Scotty West. He does NOT have exceptional talent and he gets the most out of himself as a footballer. What more can we ask of him than that?

As for Bruce he is clearly playing injured and has done for the last few years. Bruce is a midfielder and he needs to be played in the midfield! Makes sense doesnt it? Bruce would be in the top echelon of distance runners at our club... when he's fit we need to put him on the ball and let him run opposition players off their feet. Everyone here has got to understand that Bruce is recognised by the playing group as a leader of this club, someone who gives his all every week and is one of our best players.

Everyone around here is saying its curtains for Jeff White. Am I the only one to think he wasnt that bad yesterday? He got 28 hitouts! and we drew level in clearances..not a bad effort for a ruckman considering we got flogged. Sure his input around the ground was below par...no denying that...but one of the reasons for this was that we never got our game going! A ruckman's job is not to get his own ball but to provide a target and in his case be a link man. He had a bad game but in the context of his career and his last few years for the dees it was an aberration. Jeff White has been a great servant for us...he has played over 100 games in a row (an outstanding effort for a ruckman), and just recently i read on this site that he was considered by another afl player to be the 2nd best ruckman in the comp behind cox. And we are saying its time for him to retire? Are we serious? Good idea guys lets give Jamar another go because he has clearly shown to be of afl standard. Jeff White could easily play 5 more years as a second ruckman!!!!"

thats rubbish , if there fair dinkem bruce ,green. and white will get dropped this week.

[demonattack 27]

thats rubbish , if there fair dinkem bruce ,green. and white will get dropped this week.

If I go to all that effort to write that...do you think you could explain why that is rubbish?

Yeh lets drop three of our best players - seriously all this will achieve is more thrashings!

How can you justify dropping three senior players who have been good performers over their careers on the basis of one ordinary game? And to think, none of these three players were that bad! Whilst stats dont tell the whole story, White had 28 hitouts, Bruce got around 20 disposals whilst severely underdone and Green was far from the worst with 2 goals and 25 odd touches. If you start dropping your best players all the time you will be playing a bunch of rookies everyweek who will simply get smashed! The MFC can't afford to sacrifice games in such an important year. Memberships are well down and losing games will not help this! Plus, does it really do young players any good throwing them in the deep end if they get belted everyweek?

[45HG 1,539]

I think you forget that if it wasn't for Brent Guerra, Bruce could well have had a BnF, AA and Brownlow on his CV

on track after 3 games? that's not really a huge point to make on one's CV now is it? and hey, if we're going back to 2005 to say he's been our best player, why not include a few years before that to get some scope. Neitz Coleman medal, robbo b and f, heck Yze started 05 off well too. Quite sure Mcdonald would have something to say about Bruce being called our best player. Even Trav won a B and F. Bruce = ....

[re draft molan 1]

Wha.....??????~~~?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

You mean, no one has outperformed Bruce in the last couple of years? No one????????

Jones? McLean in 06? Bartram (and he hasn't played in 10 years)???

I mean, Jones has outperformed everyone on this team CLEARLY in the last 15 or so home and away games.

And you say dismantle as if he is such a champion player. To me, champion players win B&F's and make All-Australian teams. He hasn't done either.

???????????????????????????

Junior! Da.

[Gouga 528]

Robbo was definitely robbed for an AA spot

Agree, but it's not like he has made amends since.

[re draft molan 1]

Quality Players win Premierships. We have to get into that mindset. At Present Cam Bruce is NOT QUALITY. Thats been our Problem for the last 43 Years. Brucey may be a top Bloke but he is not a top line Footy Player

He has had 8 Years at this level to prove himself

The simple fact of the matter is our top 4/5 marquee players are ie. Bruce, McLean, White, Neitz, Green. Compare this to a Brisbane, Brown, Black, Power, Lappin, or a Geelong Ling, Bartel, Ablett, Chapman, or Port, Cornes x 2,Burgoyne x 2, St.Kilda, Ball, Reiwoldt, Hayes, Dalsanto, Montagna. Stack our best against other teams best, and it becomes instantly clear where our problem lies now and for the next few seasons. I believe Bruce at full fitness is our best, but he is nowhere near to the other players i mentioned. I think DB knows where we are at, and last years clean out and the one I think will happen at the end of this season will prove that. Unfortuneately it seems we have put all our eggs in the one basket with Bruce, Green, Miller etc and come up short.

[Yze_Magic 3]

Bump

Another inspirational effort from the $500,000 a year leader

[Chook 14,710]

Bump

I wish he would. But, to be honest, he didn't to too bad a job today in the role that he was given.

[Eastie Boyz 0]

And how underdone he still is.

It'll take another fortnight before he begins to get to match fitness

[Jaded No More 60,441]

Much better today when given a set task to perform. A world of difference when compared to last week's game, so credit where it is due Y_M!

Maybe he needs a defensive role each week in order to force accountability and get him really involved in the match?

If only he was our only problem...

[beelzebub 22,775]

Bruce did play better today... he bordered on Mediocre...which made hiom a bit of a standout today !!

[warren dean 193]

Cam has been a fine player over a long period. He is no superstar but he has performed to a creditable level over long enough to be regarded as a worthy AFL player. His best games have often been in run with role. He has played well on Hird and Brad Johnson in this role and at this stage of his career it is what he should be doing. His great advantage with this role is that he can hurt teams going the other way. The problem he has at the moment is a limited pre season and an unrealistic expectation. I don't think he has ever been a match winner, more of a saver. Todays effort was not one of his best but he wasn't Robinson Crusoe! The skill level of most of our senior players was appalling and their lack of preparedness to run, carry, distribute etc etc was in stark contrast to what would be expected of a side genuinely having a dip!

A question for the statisitical boffins out there - has any coach had a worse start in terms of losing margin to their coaching career than Bailey? I can't remember any that have managed to lose by more than 100 in their first game. I hope somebody has!!!

I think I may have been onto something when I posted this one after round 1. A few people went a bit early on Cam I believe. His last two games on Johnson and Johnson have been pretty good and the coaching panel obviously read my comments above after the Hawks game. As I said then his best value to us now is playing on someone.

[rpfc 27,702]

He was great today, but I think it a shame that a bloke that was 8 votes in the brownlow after round 3 in 2005 is reduced to playing off a half back flank.

But hey, if he does that for the rest of his career, and there isn't a top 15 draft pick for him, more power to him and DB.

[Eastie Boyz 0]

He was great today, but I think it a shame that a bloke that was 8 votes in the brownlow after round 3 in 2005 is reduced to playing off a half back flank.

Andrew McLeod anyone?

[Seinfeld 40]

You have to remember the Bruce missed a month of footy prior to the 1st game...he was underdone..and finaly is nearing full fitness...the guy played very well today..He easily would get a game in any team in the comp.

It's also interesting that it was mentioned this week that Bruce had taken Cale Morton under his guidance for a while now and there's alot of Bruce in the way Morton plays i reckon even his kicking style is like Bruce.

[Eastie Boyz 0]

I noticed that about his kicking as well.

He's basically a slightly taller version of Bruce at this stage (albeit a lot more raw)

[waynewussell 4,261]

Three games... on two occasions now he has beaten an opposition gun! Bruce-beaters are are dumb!

[45HG 1,539]

Three games... on two occasions now he has beaten an opposition gun! Bruce-beaters are are dumb!

got to love the irony in the exclamation that other people "are are" dumb.

i personally see a lot to gain from bruce going back to the same role that built him up as a 'superstar' in the first place