Baileys Love Children

[Cranky Franky 1,814]

I was glad to see Bailey drop Yze & make other players perform at Sandy to justify their place which is something Daniher rarely did but Bailey is now in danger of replacing ND's love children with his own version.

Bartram has been terrible in the last few games, Dunn has been lazy and unnacountable & Jamar is so bad that we may as well play with only 1 ruckman.

Davey has played 1 good game this year & Mclean & Robbo have been poor.

Its time to bring in players who have shown good form at Sandringham.

If Bailey is fair dinkum Holland, Yze & Bate should come in this week.

[Damo 3,238]

If Bailey is fair dinkum Holland, Yze & Bate should come in this week.

We have to persevere with Bartram.

Bate does not look either fit or interested enough to get picked this week.

Valenti must come in. I think Holland should come in before Newton.

[Axis of Bob 11,146]

Dunn - lazy and unaccountable? He kept Johnstone to 15 touches, which doesn't seem to be too lazy and unaccountable.

Jamar has been underwhelming in his career to date, but he was excellent yesterday. Exceptional work around the stoppages.

McLean has generally been good this year.

Bailey seems to like playing players who have a really strong work rate. Bartram certainly does.

[Gorgoroth 12,695]

Dunn kept TJ to 15 possessions,

Bartram is coming from a year off and is still better than most,

Robbo has been poor at times and the rest we have not got the ball to him so he could be ina 1 on 1 contest

Davey has been poor and looks to have lost a bit of zip and desire to chase, I still believe he gets lost playing outside the F50

McLean has not been poor, he and Jones are still our best 2 and both get the number 1 and 2 tags, the rest of the midfielders without tags have done Sweet F All or they are getting cheap possessions

Yes lets bring in Yze who does not chase or care about anything except kicking a goal and holland whilst tries his guts out will be gone with yze at years end.

[Gouga 560]

I was glad to see Bailey drop Yze & make other players perform at Sandy to justify their place which is something Daniher rarely did but Bailey is now in danger of replacing ND's love children with his own version.

Bartram has been terrible in the last few games, Dunn has been lazy and unnacountable & Jamar is so bad that we may as well play with only 1 ruckman.

Davey has played 1 good game this year & Mclean & Robbo have been poor.

Its time to bring in players who have shown good form at Sandringham.

If Bailey is fair dinkum Holland, Yze & Bate should come in this week.

I agree Bartram has been terrible. Clanger king and like I said on another post he is the number 1 offender when it comes to handballing to a teamate under the pump. Not good enough, needs to go back to Sandy. Kicking has been bad.

Same could be said for Daniel Bell. Constantly turns the ball over by either getting caught with it, giving away a free kick or by foot. Needs to go back to Sandy and work on awareness, discipline and skills.

However I'm not sure if Holland and Yze are the answer. IMO Holland should not be on the list this year and Yze has run out of chances.

[Gouga 560]

Dunn kept TJ to 15 possessions

C'mon, we know better than anyone that keeping TJ to 15 touches is nothing special. The bloke never worked hard enough to break tags when playing for us, guessing nothing has changed. Dunn has been thrown around so far this year. IMO looked best when leading up to CHF. Has been lost in the midfield and ineffective in the backline. I'd like to see Dunn return to the forward position at Sandy. Get some goals under his belt and then come back into the seniors as a premanent forward.

[RickyBobby 0]

Its time to bring in players who have shown good form at Sandringham.

Problem is besides Valenti and maybe Buckley no one at Sandy has really put there hands up for selection, I watched the Sandy game at the weekend and againt fairly weak opposition no one really shined besides the two mentioned. Having said that I'd give Stef Martin a run ahead of Warnock, would like to see how he copes at AFL level I reckon he could be a regular in the seniors this time next year.

[youami 54]

Add Bell to that list. Has no awareness, and is caught holding the ball at least once a game. The man has no peripheral vision. With whelan set to come back, it would be good for bartram to go back to sandy and get some confidence.

Morton too looks as if he needs a rest.

It is time to unleash Johnny Meesen. Give him a go.

[RickyBobby 0]

C'mon, we know better than anyone that keeping TJ to 15 touches is nothing special. The bloke never worked hard enough to break tags when playing for us, guessing nothing has changed. Dunn has been thrown around so far this year. IMO looked best when leading up to CHF. Has been lost in the midfield and ineffective in the backline. I'd like to see Dunn return to the forward position at Sandy. Get some goals under his belt and then come back into the seniors as a premanent forward.

Dunn's been moved around his whole career, forward then back then midfield then forward then midfield sandy then seniors then sandy and so on for the past 2-3 years no harm in leaving him in the seniors all year IMO he'll come good otherwise he could be out the door at years end. Has the makings of a quality footballer just needs to make a position his own.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

If Bailey is fair dinkum Holland, Yze & ..... should come in this week.

I find references to a Coaches "love children" about as knowledgeable as calling AFL players "soft".

Its another way of saying "I dont understand why some players are picked over others but I will try and label it as coach's blind bias".

Bob nailed it in his summary.

[ucanchoose 1,816]

Why did they put Jamar as the sweeper across half back at any stage?? I couldn't believe my eyes. Thought the heat was playing tricks on me

[stretch marks 2]

After 6 games how could anyone seriously assume that any player is a love child of the coach? Maybe after one full season and the decisions are made as to which players are retained or moved on, you might be able to make some assessment on this but after 6 weeks?

[Hannabal 4]

I have always really liked what Bartram (or Batram as most here type) brings to the side, but I have real concerns over his disposal. Does he have the class to be a premiership player ? I have my doubts.

At year's end Bailey must weed out those that don't have the capabilities to bring a flag to this club. Yes, most don't, so we have to start significantly turning this list over.

[Pates 9,624]

Miller is one player that Baily seems to rate, i just don't see it. Works hard but he just doesn't have a good enough footy brain.

I think you're being pretty hard on most of the players you mentioned, especially Brock who at 22 is pretty much our key midfielder.

Dunn could do with a stint in the forward line, it's where i prefer he'd be. Bartram is returning from a a long period of injuries, he's young and finding his feet again.

[Gorgoroth 12,695]

Exactly Pates. What other club relies on a 21 yr old to be the #1 midfielder and a 20 yr the #2? Why do the likes of Bruce and Green get the #1 tag?

[Eastie Boyz 0]

Miller is one player that Baily seems to rate, i just don't see it. Works hard

Maybe that's why he rates him.

I'd prefer an honest battler (Miller) over someone with freakish abilities but zero work ethic (Yze)

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

What other club relies on a 21 yr old to be the #1 midfielder and a 20 yr the #2? Why do the likes of Bruce and Green get the #1 tag?

So what other choices does he have in the centre? Its not a desirable solution but I dont think DB has much choice in this.

Bruce and Green do not get the No 1 tags.

Also Miller gets a game because of work ethic, attitude and leadership values which are not in abundant supply at MFC and while in the longer term if we improve our list in skill, KPPs and in these above attributes he will struggle, he gets a game.

[Cards13 9,117]

Bailey seems to like playing players who have a really strong work rate. Bartram certainly does.

Robbo?

He is the least hard working player in the comp. In the 4th qtr yest he jumoed into a mrking contest, ball spilled and he just stood there watching as it went into the forward pocket. Made no effort to chase the ball or work back to FF. Ball rumbled around the forward pcoket for 15 seconds before Lions cleared it for a shot on goal.

I've thought he has had patches of good play when the delivery has been there for the forwards but his lack of work rate when we do not have the ball is a glaring example of Bails playing someone who jusr does not get it and never will.

[Cards13 9,117]

Was interested listening to Clarkson before the Hawks game saying how he spent his first season trialing players who had football skills. Anyone who didn't was weeded out and they drafted people with actual skill.

It will be a deep deep weeding session at years end.

[Rhino Richards 1,467]

Robbo?

He is the least hard working player in the comp. In the 4th qtr yest he jumoed into a mrking contest, ball spilled and he just stood there watching as it went into the forward pocket. Made no effort to chase the ball or work back to FF. Ball rumbled around the forward pcoket for 15 seconds before Lions cleared it for a shot on goal.

I've thought he has had patches of good play when the delivery has been there for the forwards but his lack of work rate when we do not have the ball is a glaring example of Bails playing someone who jusr does not get it and never will.

He is definitely working harder in the past couple of games than he has done in the past two years. Its just foreign territory for him and I am concerned that despite his best efforts he is not good enough at it. However, he still has a penchant to go for money or bust MOTY or GOTY efforts which shows a limitation in his ability to think properly through the options at hand.

[Cards13 9,117]

He is definitely working harder in the past couple of games than he has done in the past two years. Its just foreign territory for him and I am concerned that despite his best efforts he is not good enough at it. However, he still has a penchant to go for money or bust MOTY or GOTY efforts which shows a limitation in his ability to think properly through the options at hand.

Spot on RR. When the ball is delivered on the "dime" he looks really good it is just so far from his instincts to work hard off the ball when we do not have it. It has been a trait over Robbo's career, every two years he would come out and say he is maturing and not just going for the speccie and working harder on forward pressure blah blah blah.

Watching young Dale Thomas on Friday, the Dons had the ball in the right forward pocket and he was on the mark. They passed the ball to a player running out of the left forward pocket, Thomas chased him HARD for close to 100m's, applied the pressure, alomst tackled the ball carried and turn over occured.

I hope the coaches highlight sights like that to our players.

[Gouga 560]

Spot on RR. When the ball is delivered on the "dime" he looks really good it is just so far from his instincts to work hard off the ball when we do not have it. It has been a trait over Robbo's career, every two years he would come out and say he is maturing and not just going for the speccie and working harder on forward pressure blah blah blah.

Watching young Dale Thomas on Friday, the Dons had the ball in the right forward pocket and he was on the mark. They passed the ball to a player running out of the left forward pocket, Thomas chased him HARD for close to 100m's, applied the pressure, alomst tackled the ball carried and turn over occured.

I hope the coaches highlight sights like that to our players.

The most impressive thing about Maric on the weekend was his second and third efforts. Mmm...

[Cards13 9,117]

The most impressive thing about Maric on the weekend was his second and third efforts. Mmm...

Mate I've been hoping to see him in the 1's since round two.. Obviously he is young and slight of body but at least he is putting in the 2nd efforts, Lovell's write up about him from last week was good too. was it 5 tackles the week before?

It's the rnd 6 cut off... hmmmm

[mo64 5,477]

Was interested listening to Clarkson before the Hawks game saying how he spent his first season trialing players who had football skills. Anyone who didn't was weeded out and they drafted people with actual skill.

It will be a deep deep weeding session at years end.

If Bailey goes down this path, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Miller and Bell. They're both try hards who aren't up to it. And Bailey seems to like try hards.

[Cards13 9,117]

If Bailey goes down this path, it'll be interesting to see what happens with Miller and Bell. They're both try hards who aren't up to it. And Bailey seems to like try hards.

Agree... Think Bell is very average, he is just not visible until you see him get run down from behind... It is a symptim of our lack of talk and blocking for the ball carrier but his awareness is not there along with him not being able to actually beat a forward opponent.

Millsy works hard at training and on the ground match day but it doesn't seem to translate to any kind of actual ability to mark a contested ball. Bombing it long to two on one's doesn't help but he still does not look like a player who can make the next step.