positives v Blues

[Bay Riffin 1,474]

Was at the game today and positives today for me were:

Rivers - in a game where you hold your breath when we kick the ball, he normally delivered well. normally accepted as expected at this level but at the moment hitting a target stands out.

Sylvia - in the backline looked very good. beaten in the air at times, but seemed more at home from the back half. much better game and no brainer to keep him back there. still gets sucked in early though.

Whelan - not a great game but could see he was tacking them on. just missed a great goal and very attacking. we missed him last 2 years.

Robbo - have not been 2 weeks so was wondering what the bagging was about - hello, the bloke is continually against 2 or 3 opponents and was able to keep the ball in the forward line. unfortunately becoming expert at creating ball ins and ball ups till we get numbers up forward.

Green - my man to go missing first, but had a good game this week. got early possessions for a change.

Mclean - easily our best. Judd was more effective as an opponent but 32 disposals showed another worthwhile game

Frawley - really liked his game early but was thrown to the wolves against Fev. Not disgraced by any means. Excellent field kicking and running early. I think he will be something in a couple of years.

Bartram - liked his game - still missing some touch but pace is a welcome addition. will get better. A few weeks and he will be in the centre tagging on ball and frustrating key players.

Just a couple of negatives:

Jamar - woeful at times, mis-kick half foward was a shocker. I think the umpire felt sorry for him and gave a free when he dived on the ball. Mostly ineffective.

White - should have dominated today but didn't. delivery was bad though.

[deesrock 0]

The chips were hot - that is as rare as a mfc victory!

[Maybe next year 170]

My son was given a Melbourne flag for free

[praha 11,240]

Was at the game today and positives today for me were:

Agree with everything u said. Green and Robbo impressed me today. McLean was as good as you can be against God. Sylvia is our franchise player.

[Mono 455]

..............Sylvia is our franchise player.

Hey CB, stay of the [censored].

[Dappa Dan 2,188]

I went to the game, and have only just gotten back into the country.

Like you I saw some fair to good games from a few guys.

- Green went pretty well.

- Robbo had a dip.

- Bruce was frustrating at times, but was busy.

- First time seeing Wonna. He didn't do a whole lot, and made skill and choice errors, but there were patches where he looked like a future AFL player.

- Davey not at his best, but had some cameos.

- Sylvia. I haven't seen him play 4 quarters, much less 4 good quarters, much less 4 quarters playing up 2 ends of the ground. He's not a born defender, but he won his match-up. Didn't look anything near as controlled and confident and Rivers, but by gee he had his touches and went at it for the 120 minutes. That alone is as pleasing as anything. Then when he went forward he played... like a forward. Always looked to lay it off instead of having tough shots. It wasn't his fault he didn't have the options, and he's a good kick, so I was happy for him to take the shots. ANd when he entered 50, he was damaging. He even kicked it so nicely Jamar marked it.

- Brock had a game where he out-possessed Judd, playing on him all day. yes, he wasn't anywhere near as damaging, but I think given he found that kind of form, he might just have learned a thing or two.

- Whelan. Even some skill problems, decision making errors and that incident with Feva didn't effect me. We need him and it's good he's back.

- Wheatley. He's usually a perennial passenger, and today was probably no dfferent. But we hung onto him because he can deliver the pill, and when absolutely fit, he's of some use in an AFL side. He butchered it slightly less than everyone else, but the encouraging thing is he's moving well, running to contests and providing something entering and rebounding from the fifties... He didn't star by any means, but he's in the shape he needs to be to return to the important player he was a few years ago. Everything's in place for him.

- Bartram. It may have ben the opposition, but he looked like he'd regained some of his tenacity and running power, as well as his ability to burst through tackles. A confidence builder.

- Frawley. Again, it may have only been Carlton, but he did enough not to get dropped. Which is important.

- Jones. Maybe not dazzling, but consistent. Which is a rarity in this team.

- Neitz. The silver lining is we can see someone else for a few weeks.

The negatives:

- First time I saw him and wanted to see more. I'm not writing him off by any stretch, but I was disappointed to see a quiet game. I've heard so much.

- Beamer. Not convinced about him. Was slow to contests, didn't chase. Somehow was up there on the poss list and should pay next week, but I want to see him chase more.

- Jamar. One of the worst players I've ever seen. Just get rid of him. He's had long enough. Winning the taps doesn't mean anything if you can't pick up the basics. Was a loose player in the end and that suited the Blues just fine. Please just delist him. Now.

- Dunn. Was busy in patches but I wanted to see much more.

As a team we were woeful. Unbelievably bad skills from players who are quite skilled normally. This is Bailey's job, he says he's doing something about it. Let's hope he is. Our handballing dreadful, kicking not so great (improved though), and goal-kicking diabolical.

We are miles off it, and whatever good things we can take out of it are shadowed by the fact that they are still an average side.

[Mono 455]

The negatives:

- First time I saw him and wanted to see more. I'm not writing him off by any stretch, but I was disappointed to see a quiet game. I've heard so much.

Who?

[Chook 15,013]

Who?

A total guess, but I reckon he means Cale Morton.

[drdrake 3,163]

My positives were

Frawley only player that seems to take on the game receives the ball at speed run his full measure and hit targets

Aussie he will learn to be a little more selfish around the goals, a few time he should as a forward pocket had a shot but layed of instead but gets the footy

Sylvia I watch him closely yesterday his work rate was good and I saw on many occasions that he work hard to get into a good position in the middle of the ground but wasn't used I think this was a condience thing with the player with the ball we didn't want to use him and stuck to the safe boundary option. His skills foot and hand are in our best 5.

Bartram we will see him returning to his tagging role in the midfield very soon, that is his best spot. Next time we play Carlton he will get Judd

[Gouga 569]

- Dunn. Was busy in patches but I wanted to see much more.

I didn't think Dunn was used well on the weekend.

He started well on the half forward line taking a few good marks on leads. However when Neitz was off and we needed an extra forward option he was either in defence, midfield or on the bench.

Unproactive Daniher style of coaching for mine.

[Deeoldfart 8,033]

My positives were

Frawley only player that seems to take on the game receives the ball at speed run his full measure and hit targets

Aussie he will learn to be a little more selfish around the goals, a few time he should as a forward pocket had a shot but layed of instead but gets the footy

Sylvia I watch him closely yesterday his work rate was good and I saw on many occasions that he work hard to get into a good position in the middle of the ground but wasn't used I think this was a condience thing with the player with the ball we didn't want to use him and stuck to the safe boundary option. His skills foot and hand are in our best 5.

Bartram we will see him returning to his tagging role in the midfield very soon, that is his best spot. Next time we play Carlton he will get Judd

That's how I saw the positives too. Plus a bit of gut running from Robbo (for the first time this season), and good work ethic from McLean, who may be getting over the negative effects of a shortened pre season.

[Demon3 2,541]

Agree with everything u said. Green and Robbo impressed me today. McLean was as good as you can be against God. Sylvia is our franchise player.

My god, that is crazy talk. Sylvia is a massive let down who walks around like he is gods gift to Football. The guy obviously has skill, but he really is a prime example of where we are at as a football club.

I think he must go!

[praha 11,240]

OK. I'll rephrase what I said. He has the POTENTIAL to be a franchise player. He has the skill and appearance, and yes, appearance has an influence. He probably won't be, but he could be, more so then anyone else imo. I mean, who else could be? (god help anyone who says Bruce)

[Keepin up with the Joneses 48]

Positives

McLean regaining some form. Would have learnt a lot from Judd today. McLean had more, but wasn't nearly as damaging.

Frawley; was great to see him take the game on early, and great to see him have a crack at Fev later on. We won't playing finals, Chip should go to the opposition Gorilla week in and week out and learn his trade this year.

Brad Green played a game, as did Sylvia, fantastic to see them running into some form in time for November Trade.

Morton; go easy on him, he's just a boy playing a mans game, and he's doing fine.

Bartram; loved his pace.

[JJJ 1,285]

Sylvia has a lot to learn as a defender but his application and commitment was outstanding. You could see when he was caught out of position a couple of times yesterday he wasnt sure what to do, with experience and training this could be remedied. Whem we were playing well, his run off half back and excellent disposal was very important. His workrate as a forward was also very good.

McLean was excellent. No midfielder in the comp will be able to run with Judd and come out trumps. He would have learnt a lot and I think he will build on this as the season progresses.

Frawley was often involved with our most direct and daring passages of play inthe 1st half. He's stronger than he looks, extremely quick and loves to take on his opponent. Not sure what position he will fill in the long run but he looks the goods. Loved his work on Fev.

Dunn. Early on he was used as a lead up forward and I though played well. As Carlton got on top he tended to drift so far back that he was rendered useless as a release man. People may be frustrated with him but I believe he will be just as frustrated.

Green and Robbo. Effort. Effort. Effort. Green should try to avoid handballing at all costs but he played 4 qtrs. Robbo was always outnumbered and only hit the deck a couple of times..... an improvement.

Rivers. He's awesome. The lack of talk between he and Green aside (which lead to a goal) he generally helps others, negates his direct opponent and provides voice and direction in the back half.

Wona. 7 tackles. Can be a bit messy but he is pretty raw.

Negatives.

Jamar. Signed a 2 year deal last season....

Jones. We are burning him out.

Neitz. I hope he can play soon. Newton is no replacement.

Moloney. I see people are stating that he deosnt chase. This is untrue. He cant. He tried to chase but is too slow.

White. Cheap possessions in the back half and taps to Judd and Co. mean nothing. Kruiser's 2nd efforts and general workrate should have embarrassed White. Itr wont of course, he plays for pay day.

Sooner rather than later I hope to see Bate, Buckley, P Johnson, Petterd, Maric, Meesen and Martin play and send us in the right direction. I guess thats a positive.

[Gouga 569]

Green and Robbo. Effort. Effort. Effort. Green should try to avoid handballing at all costs but he played 4 qtrs. Robbo was always outnumbered and only hit the deck a couple of times..... an improvement.

Robertson still hit the ground too many times for my liking but can be forgiven as he had no support and actually had the ball in his hands on a few of those occasions.

He let the side down with his kicking for goal however. Also his kicking to teamates this year has been terrible. part of being a forward is setting up opportunities for other forwards. Robbo is constantly putting the ball to defenders advantage.

His effort improved on the weekend but he is still a long long way off the mark for mine.

[Demons 32 235]

Wonaeamirri's 7 tackles and something like 10 contested posessions was good.

Sylvia in backline was pretty good.

Liked Green and Bruce (although that kick on the full :angry: )

Davey is getting better.

Good to see Frawley.

Robbo presented, still fell over to much, didn't look for his team mates and missed his shots on goal.

Mclean played well.

Dunn was good early leading up the ground.

The way this game was shut down with no movement, could have used the ever debated Miller running up on the lead to open things up.

[The Emblem 1]

Other positives

1/ The crowd was pretty decent and will be good for the MFC coffers.

2/ Well before the game it was pleasing to seeing Brad Miller running a bunch of young kids through some training drills out on the G [was it Ricky Pettard helping out as well?]. Thats a good thing...especially considering we're coming last on the Auskick numbers as well.

Does anyway know the story behind this?....it would be great if it were some sort of lottery system whereby young MFC members could go into a ballot to enjoy a pre-game training session as a regular feature at our home games. [there's nearly always going to be injured/suspended players who will be able to conduct them.

Login for the lottery could be via the club website...a feature for young members only, a good added incentive to join up.

[praha 11,240]

What was the crowd number, anyone?

[Gouga 569]

44,000 odd, McNamee said we budgeted for 28,000.

Good result for the club.

[MrMoose 262]

What was the crowd number, anyone?

Crowd was 44,159. According to the paper, MFC were expecting and budgeted for 28,000 - so some good extra dollars for MFC.

Moose

[Demon Jim 149]

What was the crowd number, anyone?

About 45K I think - a good little earner, don't we need it

[drdrake 3,163]

It might just cover the 10K we will get at the Freo match

[praha 11,240]

It might just cover the 1k we will get at the Freo match

Fixed.

[demons007 1]

A quote from Herald Sun article from Dean Bailey: '"I think our skill level has improved since the first two rounds, but it's still not at a level we think is acceptable," he said."

What skill level. Its an absolute joke. The only skill they seem to have is to consistently manage to find a teammate who is under pressure to handball to. Gee what a talent.