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I am glad we have progressed to the point where we can put lines through promising kids names. Why don't you look at his age before you determine his fate? This thread is a steaming bag of nonsense. McDonald is a promising tall defender who needs refinement - he will be sticking around.

Really?!? A young key defender was beaten (?) by a mature and talented key forward at times on the lead when they were isolated inside 50. And the lockdown key defender isn't a great kick. This is enough for you to be 'officially over' him? Your opinion is not worth the paper this thread isn't written on.

Out: Salem, McKenzie In : michie, blease

His primary role is as a lockdown defender. The fact that he provides such good run is a really nice bonus. He's a very good young key defender, and this thread is awful.

Nathan Jones ‏@nathan2jones 30m The greatest day of my life. I've got two angels. Welcome to the world little Bobbi Grace Jones. http://instagram.com/p/plbhmRgDPN/ Now from a selfish point of view does this mean we wont miss the darwin game anymore as the bub has arrived early.

Fox Footy 15 mins · Edited · Jonathan Brown will call time on his brilliant AFL career today. Brisbane has called a press conference with Jonathan Brown, Leigh Matthews and Justin Leppitsch for 12.30 Yes, it's not about the MFC, but an absolute champion of the game deserves a thread of his own regardless. Tough as nails since the day he arrived as a kid on the AFL scene and absolute champion of the game who is respected by everyone, literally EVERYONE who has anything to do with the AFL. Been a pleasure watching you do your thing Browny. The next crop of forwards, and there is a lot of them, could only hope to do half of what you have done.

Was at the game tonight it was very simple , North skills both Foot and by hand were far better than Melbourne. Our decision making let us down . and we certainly failed across the CHF line were we need to find some one to hit up as target , that's were the ball was turned over consistently and the rebound occurred. How good was North ? Well I reckon were they are on the ladder is where they should be . They also made some dreadful decisions just not as many as us . In fact at one stage it was a comedy of errors by both sides . How good is Melbourne , based on tonight's game Id say we are were we belong . That doesn't mean we cant get better we have already come a long way from were we where . However we need more consistent players then we have , recruitment is what is needed . But in all honesty I still saw some football from the DEES that I haven't seen in a long time . Disappointed YES ! Shattered NO ! We will win a few more games but lose a lot more too . I cant wait for next year, this year is definitely a building year Keep the faith guys and go Roos' !! Oh by the way did I say the Umpiring sucked as Usual !!!

What the hell does that have to do with the Barenaked Ladies?

This is one on the most heartbreaking images of a footballer I've seen...a champion who keeps on giving and doesn't know how to take a bacckward step. Glad for his sake he is giving it away. Gave his all when the Lions were up and when they were down. Even without 3 premiership medals he would still be a champion. Enjoy the rest, you've earnt it.

Well, it does make it a rumour, it just doesn't make it true.

Spangher is also 27 and at his third club. He's played 41 games of footy in 8 years of being on a list, unbroken. The football world has shown him a patience almost unprecedented, and he finally seems to have arrived. Tom McDonald is 21, and has already played 52 games, often holding his own in one of the most under siege defences of all time. Yet plenty here are ready to burn him at the stake.

The only problem I have with him the moment is the lack of his signature on the contract waiting for him at head office.

No he isn't. He's a 21 year old key defender who has done an amazing job every week, in one of the most under seiged backlines going around, who takes on and beats the best defender every single week, and who creates countless attacks the other way. Yes his kicking isn't the best, but he is an A grade defender, which is his primary role! And as I said before, anyone who goes every single week like I do, will note that he is clearly struggling with that corked thigh he got earlier this year. He gets work done at every break, and his running is completely compromised. Not to mention he's getting rested a lot more during games than he was before.

Anytime he gets the ball, I feel as though I have some form of generalised anxiety disorder.

We overused the ball today. Some of it was induced by very good North pressure, but a lot of it was poor decision making under pressure. It's frustrating in the present, but hopefully we'll learn from games like this. With Roos as our coach, I'm confident we'll take lessons from today's game. I'd argue the North pressure was just as intense, if not more so than Collingwood's. If some of the other top 8 sides bring that sort of intensity, I hate to think what sort of carnage they'll subject us to. We just couldn't deal with it. Hopefully, that changes. What's more, there were patches in the game where we really let ourselves down with our levels of intensity. There were acceptable moments in the first two quarters and then again just after half time, but other than that, our work rate and intensity was below ordinary. Vince was superb and along with Jones and Jamar, they really led the way in the first half. While when the going got tough in the third, it was those three that were still trying to impose themselves on the contest. Unfortunately, they had little support. Cross tried hard, but made some silly errors. Viney made consistently horrible decisions and turned the ball over. He looked a little lazy, never thought I'd say that about him. Didn't feel he wanted to pick up an opponent, but instead stood in no man's land a couple of times, hoping to intercept, but got caught out, big time. Bail struggled to have any impact - he finished with 3 tackles (two of those coming in the last) and 9 disposals. I don't think disposals are indicators for Bail, but I felt he was out positioned for most of the game. And he wasn't alone there. Garland and Grimes really, really struggled. I love Garland and I hope he can recapture some of his 2013 form, but over the last three weeks in particular, he's made crucial turn overs by foot which have cost us goals. After a decent display last week, Grimes returned to his old self. He's just a horrible, horrible decision maker. Nevertheless, every time Watts got the ball, he made something happen. He really is a great decision maker. It really stood out, amongst all our poor decision making today. He also has the skills to execute. I still want more physicality though - that old chestnut. Dunn was decent in defence and with limited service, Frawley presented reasonably well in attack, although really struggled to get into the contest after half time. On Frawley, it was an interesting move from Roos at the start of the last. I'm not sure it says anything in particular, the game was already lost, but I wonder if it's telling (maybe he's on the brink of re-signing?) that Frawley was shifted back for the last? And despite being held at every opportunity, Dawes was good, although when the game was on the line, I felt he failed to really impact physically, in a meaningful way. The first time he laid his now signature crunching tackle, it resulted in a goal. He finished with four tackles for the game, but most of them came once the game was dusted. It says something for his spirit, work rate and dedication to the team, but a pity he couldn't bring 'it' earlier. On the whole, we were severely out-played today. The way North set up their forwardline and their movement right across the ground was excellent. It left space for their team mates to run into or kick into and isolated our defenders. Our coaching team, clearly tried to readjust our defensive set up after quarter time and it worked for a little while early on in that quarter. However, North did all the things that I hope in time (soon), we begin to do. They laid clever bumps and blocks (how often do you see an MFC player block for his team mate?); they ran out of the space to allow others to run into it, thus pulling our defenders away from the contest; and finally, they consistently made better decisions with ball in hand. Yes, their work rate was far higher than ours and their intensity was ferocious, but in the end, it came down to decision making and the ability to execute skills under duress. I think I must be crazy, because for some reason, I think we'll beat the Dogs next week. I think it might be their injuries, but I also hold out hope that we'll want to atone vigorously for today's horrible showing.

You would think Sam Blease has finally earned a call up Jordie McKenzie has been offered 1 week by the MRP Time to rest some of our youngsters? They look tired, though they aren't the only ones. Doggies will be without Cooney (hammy), Giansiracusa (suspension) and possibly Ryan Griffen who was subbed off with a back injury vs Port

I'm with you, Monoccular. It's the arrogance that gets to me. Typical big powerful organisation, thinking they're above the law. You're sprung doing something wrong, so rather than taking your medicine, you hire the best lawyers in the country to comb through the charges searching for a technicality you can use to have the case thrown out. Not one iota of ethics in thinking about what they might have done to their own players, much less to the thousands of youngsters who model themselves upon them. This Little creep; what kind of idiots does he think hes dealing with? His basic claim: weve no idea what we injected our players with, but whatever it was, it wasnt illegal. He keeps saying 'we don't believe', as if he's talking about religion or something. Huh? These are facts, man. You either know or you don't. They seem to have pretty accurate records on lots of other things. My wife is a nurse; she says any time you give any sort of injection, you keep a record of it. Enough of this. Makes me mad. Dinner time!

The problem is we lack class around the ground but especially across half back and in the midfield.

All that shows is how bloody important it is to maintain possession of the ball. Do that and you're halfway home already.

May the football gods...and the WORLD SPORTS ADMINISTRATION GODS please smite these recalcitrant idiots and wipe them from our sight. Choice. Windy Hillers. 1) Suck it up and pay homage to the incalculable and immoral damage you have imposed on those who seek and rely on your governance. 2) go to hell, do not pass go, do not collect any sympathy , do not return.

Whilst I agree with your points, the i50 and shots on target aren't the be all and end all. For example against essendon the ball use by essendon into their 50 was useless and whilst they were having the better of their midfield battle it was purely our use going into our forward line that helped us score the win. It's alsmost an argument that our decision making has been so good for pieces in games that we are able to score from far less i50. That being said our real problem is that we are one or two class midfielders short still. We lose the midfield battle meaning they can get it into their 50 but our defence and forward set ups are good enough to keep us in the game.

Saty I think too much is made of the cost of a stand alone team. Peter Jackson has come out and said our core business is football and we need to get it right. I've only seen a couple of Casey games but it appeared to me that the Casey stand alone players are not up to it. That means the structures MFC players are trying to put in place don't stand up and it's therefore difficult to develop those standards and systems. As far as I know we will have a total turnover of around 40 million this year as a club. Half a million dollars is 1.25% of total turnover. Let's call it 2.5% to deflect any mathematical argument. If footy is our core business and the Casey alliance is hurting us then for 2.5% of turnover it can be fixed. The club must look to raise these funds or cut costs in other areas. If Casey is not a problem and we could get more benefit spending the money where it is or elsewhere then Casey remains. Jackson and Roos will have a much better idea than us what the right outcome is but I find it very hard to believe it's the dollars. My belief is the best result for MFC would be to play our own team out of Punt Road. Those not wanting to put $$ into RFC miss the point entirely.

Not smiling. He's ours!

If there's one thing we can be sure of, it is that a North Melbourne tall forward on his last legs will have a final hurrah against the Demons. It's as frustrating as Daniel Bradshaw or Peter Matera record against Meanwhile, Tom McDonald by the numbers on sunday - 18 disposals at 77% efficiency, with 3 clangers. Also, ten 1%ers. If I recall right, McDonald has been not just our leader for 1%ers all season, but has been the leader in 1%ers in every individual game. The kid goes alright. Definitely has flaws. Got beaten by someone taller, more experienced, and better supported.

I had thought he was a good, loyal, country boy.

Can't recall ever saying we are a powerhouse, care to bring up the post where I did. Can't recall saying we are totally hopeless, care to bring up the post where I did. Did you go to the game? I did and we were terrible, that's not to say we can't play better but it gives an indication where we are at the moment. If you went to the game you would have seen that we were very patchy and a few times we were ok but others where we were substandard. We were lucky they were inaccurate because it could have been a blood bath otherwise. If you think they only beat us because of the third quarter you obviously didn't watch the game. Have a closer look at the scoreboard and do yourself a favour, watch the replay. Scoring shots 1st 9 to 3 2nd 6 to 3 3rd 11 to 6 4th 6 to 4, we kicked 6 straight up to half time and they kicked 7.8, they kick straight and game over at half time. Perhaps you might want to comment on the game instead of other posters. There are too many players at Melbourne where the difference between their best and worst is massive and until we can sort that problem we will struggle.

Of course he doesn't. He's not going to be critical of players in a public domain, he will behind closed doors though. It's that attitude why this club has been rubbish. Justify a bad performance because last week was a good win. Last week we didn't have a team of world beaters, we had an average team that got lucky. This week, we had a below average team that was lucky not to get spanked. GWS after 12 rounds have a better percentage than us... All of us are theoretical shareholders in this 'company' and each one is entitled to his say, and just because you're happy with what the boss is saying doesn't mean it's roses. There needed to be changes to the team last week, we were absolutely smashed in so many areas of the game yet the notion of no changes suggested all 22 deserved their place from last week. It wasn't the case and it showed. Bail, Garland and Matt Jones specifically were weak weak links for now 2 weeks. In Jones' case his attitude to defensive running is as poor as I've ever seen. He takes a mark, than walks-jogs back every single time as if to slow down play so much that when we turn it over we're completely ****ed. Good on these posters, supporters, media personalities and hopefully coaches for not standing up for one good game a month. I'm sick of that rubbish.

A game played between two sides at VERY different stages of their development. One side that's been a tight unit, practicing a disciplined, attacking game plan that will stand up in finals for the last 3 - 4 years. Another that's still learning how to defend, how/when to attack, who will play what roles, rebuilding from the ground up. We need to remember 2 key things: North pummelled largely the same playing group less than 12 months ago. When 'on' the Roos have been able to get hold of some VERY capable sides this year, including the Swans, by a similar margin, at the SCG. Let's chalk this up to a learning experience and turn our attention to a very winnable game next week.

The umpire pointed the wrong way. This as far as I'm concerned is completetly unacceptable from an umpire and to then call advantage once everyone had stopped (becuase they thought it was a Melbourne free kick) should be a punishable offence.

Born: September 18, 1992 (age 21)

What I saw of Watts today he is no way perfect, especially in defence but in offence he is a revelation on what I saw. In a great side he would be the icing. Today he did some great manoeuvres to get the ball to a forward. At least Jack is on the up.

North as a team unit have been together for a while now and they have experienced hard bodies on most lines; we are a group cobbled together by Roos and lack the cohesion of a good top 8 side. We should be in the same position as they are but a series of drafting blunders and some poor coaching has resulted in us starting from scratch, we were the ones who were supposed to have the great bunch of kids who would have been on their 5 the year or more of development. We have to live with that and today will make us acutely aware that we have a way to go; there's not a lot at Casey and the players that need to go back won't get much help when they do. It's not wrist slashing time it's just another lesson that hopefully the players will learn and it will tell Roos a lot about the group he has at the moment. It will let him know who goes missing when the heats on and I dare say they won't be on the list at years end.

Also, the kick-ins. The huddle may have worked last week, but it doesn't work when you do the same thing every time - Dunn plays on to himself, runs 5 metres, then kicks a beautiful long kick 50 metres down the line in the Jamar vicinity, where North Melbourne know it is going so they can either intercept the ball or stop our forward movement. As it always does at this club, it got too predictable too quickly. FFS - Watts was one of our best today. He needs to make tackles stick, sure, but so do pretty much 21 other Melbourne players. Meanwhile at least Watts ran hard, presented, and hit a target when he kicked.

They went lower at the contest, they ran harder and faster both ways and executed skills better. The only positives were Vince's form and that last year that would have been an 80+ point loss. Now 40 point losses are annoying rather than an acceptance of an ok performance.

Back down to Earth this week, but nevertheless it was an 80 point turnaround. Lest we forget, we're coming from a LONG way back. It's not going to be sunshine and roses every week.

I don't want to be mean to the Casey listed players but there are obvious issues there. I have seen quite a few of their games this year. They are young and small. They have lost too much experience over the last couple of years and went young this year. Due to this the whole side lacks any structure. Fitz was really the only tall guy to kick it to in the forward line and gawn was the only tall guy around the ground. This is pretty easy for the opposition to counter. Especially when they have an abundance of talls themselves. With Clark retiring, hogan injured, spence out for the year and all the injuries to tall players in the preseason and early season Casey has hardly any tall players. The opposition have much better experienced VFL listed players. Caseys have had a very ordinary year. They don't seem to be able to get their hands on the footy and turn it over very easily when they do. A lot of the time the turnovers have really hurt the team as everyone has been caught out of position. I don't really mind whether they win or not. I just want to see the players learn their roles. I have no doubt that is what our coaches are after. Of yesterday's game some players had good patches and some put in for most of the game. Some are really struggling. I think blease played his best game this year. He still made a few mistakes but it was a 4 quarter effort. Gawn tried hard the whole game. Dropped a few marks he will take in the future with more footy under him. Has missed heaps of footy with injury and hasn't done a full preseason. Was competing with big bodies the whole game rotating on him and was knackered at the end. I think he will be a better player in the future playing under these pressures. Jkh needs a week off imo. Been a long season for him. Would be close to having already played more games than last year. Michie also played his best game imo. Strauss is a friend of a friend and a good bloke but i don't think he is going to make it. He really lacks confidence ATM. Georgiou played a terrific game. His opposition was a lot taller and he was rarely beaten 1v1. He made a few mistakes but tell me a player t our club that hasn't. Would be nice if he was 10 odd cm taller. Fitz is playing on his own in the forward half, most outnumbered with some poor delivery coming in. Another big forward would change our perceptions on him. Evans is struggling imo. Fades in and out of the game too much. I thought toumpas played ok. Was much more aggressive in his tackling and at the ball. Nicholson had a shocker. I don't know what to make of Barry. He was tagging again and it will be interesting to hear what Brett says about his game

What? Can't a coach give a player a spray anymore? Getting a too precious if anyone has a problem with that

I must be totally out of touch, because until this thread I had never heard of this guy.

These days you have to have more tricks than be able to rub a 15 beep test and punch the ball.

Skills skills skills or our complete lack of and North ran way harder both ways than we did end of story.

A week is long time in football. This time last week he was a star.

Yep agree. Watts was probably our second best today. And led to a bunch of our better scoring plays. He's getting stronger in contests and getting more confidence in his game. You can teach Watts to defend and lift his standards. It's happening right now. And probably happening quicker than some of our players are fixing their deficiencies.

Definitely our worst effort this year outside of the West Coast debacle. 40 points flattered us, immensely. They made a lot of mistakes, granted, but we were really deplorable I thought. A lot of what we've been doing right for most of the year we did wrong. Bad decision-making, lack of options forward of the ball, being caught behind our opponents, and terrible kicking. Might have been Nathan Jones' worst game for us in a long time. He lacked cleanliness with his first touch, turned it over much more than usual, and called for dinky handpasses out the back when he was in no position to ask for them. We notice it when he's down on form, really notice it. Garland is a shadow of his 2013 self. In an ideal world I'd drop him I think. Salem also should be heading back to Casey, though I'm not sure we really have the players to be making many changes. McKenzie didn't do that well this week at tagging, which makes him pretty mediocre. Viney was really poor too, whilst Tyson was down on what he is capable of. On the flipside, Vince was incredible, Cross superb, Dawes lifted his game from the previous month, Jetta started poorly but improved a lot as the game went on, and I thought Jamar did pretty well in the circumstances (Goldstein is a lot more mobile than him but he didn't really impact the game I thought).

I hate North Melbourne.

Pretty much agree with that, I don't like the way Tyson is so inconsistent, I know he's pretty young but he was ordinary today. Salem isn't really ready for the big time yet he needs to get more of the ball and get involved more often in the game. Jones has to learn it's not all about Jones, that's all I'll say. Our forwards, if you can say we had any, just waited for the ball to be bombed in there and didn't bother to offer a lead the players up field did exactly that, bombed it in without looking to see if we had a player in the contest. The movement of the ball was the worst I've seen for a long time and Norf just pressured us in to poor decision making and when we tried to do the same they just brushed us aside. Make no mistake, Norf are not a great side, but they are very well drilled, much more cohesive than we are at the moment.

Lazy effort today. Stop start. No running up the field. Kicking to position was atrocious with players continually sitting under the ball waiting to get smashed by some nobody Roos player. Howe had his worst game for a long time. Either went up as a third man and took out two of his team mates or hit it to a Roos player. Dean Kent hardly sighted. Viney did nothing. Salem looked tired. Pedo didn't seem to do anything and was surprised how many stats he had. Bail was very ordinary. Jetta has his colours lowered. Jamare was smashed. Tyson was ineffective. NJones tried hard but has to stop calling for the ball when he is in a bad position. Too many times today he ran behind a player looking for a cheap h/ball and he got pounced on. Bernie was stellar. Our kick ins were unbelievably repetitive. We would huddle. The Roos would zone. Dunn would chip to himself, run to the right side and shoot a low bullet to a 2 on 1. Really disappointing day. They are a cra p football club with cra p supporters.

yikes, and i thought i disliked him. you are just down right evil...i like it.

Tried to play like we finished off last week. We are not up to playing an attacking game for 4 quarters. Premature experiment. Haven't got the clean slick game yet. Roos is trying to wean us off the ultra defensive game. Time is not right but had to see where we are at. Does this means Frawley stays since he went back to defence? I think not.

Was always worried about this one.

Too much handpassing, not enough players taking the game on.