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I havent looked at a single comment on DL before writing this, and will probably be brave enough to venture back shortly to witness the carnage. Instead I thought Id write my own report, call it catharthis. Tonight was clearly disappointing. An underwhelming performance at best, truly dispiriting at worst. I havent yet seen the press conference by Roos, but I have seen fleeting comments through twitter and one in particular stands out, the difference between our best and worst is pretty dramatic. Roosy, youre not wrong. Despite promising signs early, the Dees slumped in to old habits, seemingly brought on by pressure. One gets the feeling that the boys have built their confidence around slick ball movement while unopposed at training, yet forgot that in games there is an opposition thats trying to stop you. Decision making is a serious concern and when that is coupled with at times suspect skills, you have the makings of a train wreck. Unfortunately, tonight, like so many nights before it, thats exactly what happened. Those two factors defined the last 2.5 quarters, while the first 1.5 appeared to be tainted by an inability to put the ball through the sticks when it appeared the easiest option. Thankfully, I think this is rectifiable. Garlett is a god-send, he is so vital to this team now. However we need one other, and that is something we will have. Both Kent and JKH have shown an ability to sniff an opportunity, so come round 1, heres hoping some of those bouncing balls find their home off their feet. Tonight also highlighted something else we all hoped wasnt true, Hogan is young. He is inexperienced and will take time to develop. I dont think anyone doubts his talent, the bloke will be a star. But not yet. Its as if at the back of all our minds we secretly hoped hed kick 6 goals the day he walked in. Our very own Wayne Carey from day dot. Sadly, not. A few other players stood out for different reasons: · Frost is a very handy pick up. Personally, I liked the look of him down back but I understand what theyre trying to do. In the ruck however, he is super raw. He was beaten time and time again and it allowed the opposition to get on top in the clearances. · vandenBerg was a shrewd pick up, and is a lock for Rd 1. · Sadly, I think the man expendable when Vince comes back, is Toumpas. I still hold hope that he can fill a role, but when you look at the team and where Bernie slots in, its on the wing or HHF. Sorry Toump. · Viney is all heart, but he makes bad decisions and his foot skills are dubious. Talk of him as a future star is premature to me. A wonderful clubman he is, but future A grader mmm, I just dont know. · For the second game running, I was pleased with what Grimes put out there. Thought he was one player in our defensive 50 who showed a bit of poise and his disposal was much improved. He had 19 disposals tonight at 100%, bet you never thought youd hear that. · Watts looks ripe for a good season. He has definitely filled out and now looks a man, rather than a lanky boy. He did some really good things tonight, knows how to kick a goal and covered a hell of a lot of ground as well as making lead after lead. There are plenty of others we can speak of, but I fear its been heard. Our tackling was disappointing tonight, this is a little concerning and hopefully doesn't represent a backwards step from last year. its a major factor in a game. Without it, you dont get momentum and it can affect everything. So, Im hoping a lot of what happened tonight can be put down to psyche around it being NAB Cup and not wanting to get injured. Well see. My team for Round 1? FB: Jetta Dunn Garland/Howe (fitness dependent) B: Salem McDonald Grimes C: Vince N Jones Lamumba HF: Watts Frost Garlett FF: Gawn Hogan JKH Foll: Jamar Tyson Cross R: Viney, Kent, M Jones, vandenBerg Sub: Toumpas · Im not comfortable with Frost at CHF, but with Dawes there, what do you do. Im open minded about Pedersen on form. If he comes in I move Frost back to the resting ruckman, but Jamar takes the workload and Cross/Dawes provide the chopout until Frost works out what hes doing. · I persevere with Toumpas as the sub, he has to grow comfortable on this stage. Its like he gets stage fright. · I find Garland underwhelming at the moment. There were a few times tonight where we looked like we had a bit of class, but its baby steps. You look at the team above and its clear were a better side than last year, vastly better? Maybe not, at least not yet. Baby steps.

Nice measured review watchtheeyes. Still the result was disappointing....again! While I would have a list of really sub-standard efforts at critical points of the game, and a couple of performers who simply aren't up to it, we know who they are and for the first time in donkeys years we have players to replace them! A couple of insights which a lot would have missed: Cross took Goddard apart in the last quarter. Prior to that he was running riot all over the ground, and it is this unseen work that makes Cross such a valuable player. Really really disappointed with Gawn. A huge height advantage, comes on having to play only the final quarter and got thoroughly pantsed by McKernan of all people. I simply don't know why Pedersen wasn't playing. Reports of a BOG performance at Casey last week, and Dawes unavailable for the first round, and Gawn with the vest on for the first 3 quarters??? Result no backup ruckman for 3/4's with Frost forced to pinch hit to give Jamar a rest. Once Mark went off so did our clearance rate, so let's hope he can hold up during season proper. HL plays a different game to the rest of our players. Confident, daring, dashing and constructive. Hopefully, he can show a few others the way to play top level AFL football. Garlett was another first class pickup. Without his vision and skill around goal tonight the result would have been truly, truly ugly. Lock Vandenberg in for a rookie raise from round 1. Another great pick-up and a ready made footballer with the body and toughness and skill required at this level. How was he overlooked?

This is the big issue of the season to me. Earlier in the preseason I was shouted down when I questioned Roos and his coaching tactics but I've seen very little in the practice games that leads me to believe Roos knows how to coach a team to kick goals. It's well documented that he reduced the scores against us last year and it's now better known that we kicked the lowest average score for years. From memory we never kicked 100 points last year and scored 6 goals or less 6 times. That's pathetic however you slice it. Like everyone I hoped that with the inclusion of Hogan and Garlett, the introduction of some new mids and a year under their belt we'd see a significant improvement in our scoring capacity. My impression is that most teams are now concentrating on fast ball movement to break zoning and the press and that this started in the middle of last year. Teams such as Richmond and Carlton who had shocking first half years in 2014 improved dramatically when they started to move the ball quicker. Brisbane punched above their weight last year to the surprise of many and they relied on fast ball movement. The most disappointing feature of our play this preseason has been the lack of any dare. We stop, look, hesitate, kick backwards and allow the opposition to zone back and make scoring difficult. So far I'd have to say that Roos has failed to teach us to kick goals even with Hogan and Garlett added to our attack. And just for the record this is not new to Roos. He won a premiership based on stoppage work and defense despite having a forward line containing Goodes, Hall, O'Laughlin, Davis and O'Keeffe. I just wonder if he is capable of changing his mind set. I can't help but believe we are much better than we are showing. Just some random other comments: 1. I think many are over rating Vandenbergs game. It was ok but a long way from good. 2. I think people are underestimating Grimes game who was good all night but very good in the first half. 3. I was particularly disappointed in Newtons game. I held hopes - now I have doubts. 4. On viewing I thought Tyson was poor last week because despite his ability to find the ball his disposals have little impact. I then looked at the stats and saw he had an 81% DE and dismissed my thought. But for a bloke that gets it so well he does so little with it. 5. I'm struggling with the concept of Frost as our second ruck resting forward. 6. We seemed completely unable to find any space with the ball. We were outnumbered all night. Poor workrate I would have thought and a lack of desire to win. Strange given our history and the fact that there are alternatives to most players in the team. 7. At least the first half of last year we could make it difficult for the opposition to score but last night Essendon got goal side of us regularly and their forwards found space and provided options. That was a worry. 8. I think we miss Bernie Vince a lot. He has the ability to get on the outside and dispose well. He has a bit of flare which is something we are very short of. All in all it was a thoroughly disappointing performance from a team that has some very well credentialed people working with it. I agree with Webber who made the point that what we saw last night is what we are. Preseason or not, we are not going to suddenly stop experimenting against the Suns and magically play much better footy as a result. The fear of another long cold winter is starting to settle on my psyche.

Trengove played very well in his first year as an 18 year old, Brayshaw is already 19. There's no need for a cotton wool approach. Lewis Taylor, Aish and countless others haven't been disadvantaged by playing. Brayshaw's first 2 passes today were turnovers, but he worked into it after that. He moves and looks a bit like Cotchin. He's definitely got class and plays with grunt around the stoppages.

He's only a kid, let him live a bit before we destroy his life

Should be playing with the senior rabble instead hey KC?

Why would an AFL football even consider kicking across the face of goal deep in defence? Players will make mistakes when under pressure, tired or when rushed but what Viney did should never happen. The idea of kicking across the face of goal should not even enter his mind. It's like suddenly deciding that drinking battery acid is a good idea, it just should not ever happen, especially from a free kick with no pressure.

It's a nice theory to have picking experience over kids but when most of the experience are spuds like ours surely you have to go with the kids? Talent should always win out.

All over - Casey left its run a bit late going down 7.7.49 to Port's 8.7.55 meaning both games were lost by a single goal. Goals Kent Smith 2 Pederson Rosier Walmsley Best Brayshaw Kent Fitzpatrick Michie Spencer Pattison It was a much better second half with Port winning due to its experience and calmness under pressure. Spencer controlled the ruck and Fitzpatrick did well in defence. People want to know why I'm so impressed with Brayshaw. He is all class and poise, moves beautifully and kicks well with either foot. A couple of his kicks were intercepted but that was due mainly to the flat footed laziness of the intended recipient. Now to sum up why he impressed - it was in a single piece of play in the second quarter. The ball was kicked towards the wing on the members side, the Casey player in the pack was out of position with two Port players about to raffle the mark between them. It was Brayshaw who had to go for the mark from behind and he rose, plucked it away and played on. Exquisite. Viv Michie was a solid ball getter as well and set up some nice plays but is not much different to some of the other midfielders who played last night. We have a need for an outside running machine. Billy Stretch could become that player but he he has a way to go. Paul Pattison also impressed. I think Casey will have a good year. They had a few of their leaders out today and looked very ordinary until the third term when they lifted. Lucas Walmsley with his shock of blond Rasta hair, pace and elusiveness could be a big name at this level and go even further.

Bail - replace with Vince Garland. - replace with Howe M Jones - replace with Brayshaw Jamar - replace with Pederson Toumpas - replace with JKH

Interesting that our best pre season game was against Freo, who were by far the most quality of oppositions and in the most hostile environment. We played impressive footy and stuck to the plan for all but 1 quarter, forgivable given the strength of the opposition. This gives me some comfort, but realistically if players went to the past 2 games thinking it'll be an easy win, we are further up [censored] creek than I thought. Mentally this team is more screwed than physically. As Roos said, the disparity between our best and worst is schizophrenic. And we spend too long in games at our worst. I'm scared of the season ahead.

I am more concerned with the basic desire to get the ball forward and how that has been seemingly beaten out of the players. Talk about Footy 101; that is in the mission statement... Get the ball forward as that is how you score and win the game. 16 more contested possies, 35 more uncontested possies - those are healthy numbers. Then we get to 4 less Inside 50s and losing the game... This team needs to go forward to go forward.

I thought this as well. It seems to me they are grooming Frost to play forward while Dawes is suspended and given many of GCs talls missing. I would rather settle Frost down back and play Pedersen personally.

Strangely enough a narrow win would have met with the same criticism as the narrow loss.

Cricket was great.

This was exactly what we didn't need before the start of the season, a loss to the replacement bombers. It should however be noted that they still had quality out there, but what they had over us for pretty much the entire game after half way through the second quarter was intensity. They wanted the ball, they wanted to tackle and they wanted to win. Now all three of those last things you can actually put down as a product of it being pre-season, but if this was really about us preparing for round one and being up and about for it then that is very concerning. Decision making is still our biggest issue. It lost us the game in the end. Viney didn't sum the situation up well at all and gifted them the goal to win the match, that is one of many instances of us doing silly things that will hurt in the H&A season. Top that off with still plenty of suspect deliverers of the ball, we are still a long way off the pace. Positives: Garlett and Lumumba continue to be excellent pick ups. Frost keeps showing good signs, but are we going to play him as a defender or as a forward? Get him settled. Jones seems to be taking to the sole captaincy like a duck to water, shame he had very little support in the leadership department. Hogan keeps showing he's a footballer, he'll have a break out game this year that will leave the competition in fear. Salem's tackle on Chapman was awesome, and the look on his face was brilliant! I'm going to try to put this loss behind me quickly, it's pre-season and you take every result with a grain of salt. I can handle us doing stupid mistakes now and even losing to the (replacement) Bombers, but FFS we need to learn from these mistakes, and know who's going to progress with the side. A lot of players have question marks over their heads.

Potentially not, but it just symbolizes a lot of the stupid mistakes that Melbourne players make over and over again.

No, it's not a case of him making the difference to the result although it could well have done yesterday and in any event, had we stopped the last two goals and finished up 10 point winners, the game would still have been looked upon as a singular failure on our part.I would have thought that he earned a place in the NAB Challenge team ahead of at least a few others on the basis of his first hit out for Casey. The opposition played a few 19 year olds and were not at full strength and everyone agreed the result of the game was meaningless. He deserved to be given the test.

Yes it must be frustrating for some of our players, training and being paid as full time professionals with elite facilities, sports medicine at call, a proven AFL coach, experienced assistant coaches for advice, video analysis of your every move but they don't get better, they make the same skill errors season after season! I don't get it. But I do wonder why we train so much with little or no pressure applied. This lack of composure when pressure is applied just kills us. Why don't we have regular sessions of game simulation in a confined space where you have little time and space and have to take the first option. This doesn't have to involve heavy tackling that could cause injury although it should involve body contact so players get used to this. I do wonder about some of our guys at times and their lack of appetite for the physical stuff.

Just let him learn his craft playing with Casey. When he has a couple of BOG's then promote him. It's not as if he'll make the difference between winning and losing in the seniors.

wow i felt depressed after the game. after reading these posts on demonland I feel even more depressed and the season has not even started.

And your thoughts on Fitzpatrick's game? One on my "needs to show a lot more" list this year. Played at fullback, I was very pleased to see him hold some contested marks. I thought his game was good today. Still needs to improve his work rate a bit more. But one of our better players. Pedo lifted in the last qtr, to help narrow the margin. Hardly sighted before that. I thought pencil went alright, didnt set the game on fire, but was servicable. Mitchie also showed a bit in the last qtr, but again, needs to work harder for an entire game. Uninspiring game, but it had its moments. Port are always hard to beat, Casey went down fighting. Seen worse than todays effort.

The Melbourne team needs quality players and needs them in depth. I know Essendon had plenty missing last night but when you cut the team down to 22, adding the likes of say Vince, Howe, Kent, JKH and Brayshaw its a completely different team.

Jetta Dunn T McDonald Grimes Frost Salem Vince Tyson Lumumba Kent Hogan Watts JKH Gawn Garlett R: Jamar Jones Cross Int: Newton Viney vandenBerg Sub: Toumpas The good news is that Viney has always performed well against the Suns, so it might be a good opening fixture to shake him out of his pre-season rut. Vince will be a very welcomed inclusion if he is physically ready. He is cut from the same royal cloth as Lumumba in that he is gifted, he enjoys a final chuckle, and he is not terrified to get the ball moving FORWARD. Not sideways. Not backwards. Forwards. Towards the goals. Where you register a score.

The bad things have already been mentioned many times over. My good was Jack Watts showing real aggression and physicality. That's great to see. Garlett and Lumumba too helped to cheer me up on a bleak afternoon's footy.

I know he will play, but I don't expect him to do much for at least the next 3 months. He did ok but he was playing on another kid and was beaten often in one on ones. He also seemed frustrated which isn't great. He should be enjoying his footy not trying to carry a forward line. Don't get me wrong I see his star qualities and I think that as long as we don't ruin him in typical Melbourne fashion that he'll be a star. But I worry that we expect a lot from someone who hasn't played a game yet.

I don't ... never have, never will. And there's plenty that think the same way. Let's face it, who ever has conversations with other people about training? (outside of the internet) I prefer to wait until the real stuff starts before being too judgmental Roos does see "practice' games very differently ... even when the Swans were flying they never won these encounters - 1 win only? Most here have us winning 8 games max this season and that is a mediocre year ... so, we're almost certainly going to see a mediocre team struggle our way to 8 wins (perhaps) Our list doesn't contain enough good players - last year we had 2 above average players (N Jones & Tyson) Dunn, Vince & Cross were reasonably good (Cross missed a 3rd of the season so he misses out on the 'above average' category) Lumumba, Hogan & Salem have the best chance of becoming very good for us but after that, who knows? It's going to take a fair whack of time to fix the club ... free agency has cruelled us as well. In 3 off seasons we've been unable to bring in any top quality free agents because we've been concerned about our compo being watered down due to losing free agents. In theory, we could have brought in 4-6 top free agents in the last 3 off seasons. In actuality, we haven't even brought in one. And if you're not in the game, you're out of the loop.

Theres a time to do things and times you dont.Dying minutes of a close tussle isnt the time.Footy 101 says guard the ball..kick to safety. This instant an epic fail. Laughable if not so costly. Amateur hour strikes again. I sometimes wonder if we're making ANY progress at all if this still enters the players thoughts. Dumb

He's seriously lacking touch but took 6 marks and had a direct hand in 3 of our goals. I don't think he looked overawed I think he looks like he is trying too hard. Once it clicks there will be no turning back. Ignoring no Dawes Rd1 there is no way he wont play.

Terrible call.

Just to put it in to perspective Haw lost to Nth and Coll....then had a big win against StKilda who played kids Gold coast beat Geel ...Lost to GWS.....and then drew with the lions and watched a bit of their game last night and the mistakes from both sides were just as bad as ours. Richmond thrashed Pt Adelaide....I don't think you will see that in the season proper. It's NAB Cup.........No one will remember once the season startsl

We looked dangerous last week with two small forwards. Why was JKH not playing? Frost whilst laying good pressure and some marks is not a forward or ruck. Get him back or out if match ups don't allow. The Hogan expectations are alarming. A 19 year old got out-bodied and looks rusty after not playing all last year and at all with this team. WTF. I know we don't want to play kids but Bail, M Jones and Garland need to go. Grimes game whilst not a stinker still doesn't see him in a best 18 for us when we are a good side. No disrespect to Viney as he gives his all but he needs to work on his kicking or become a handball first player. Its not just his final kick last night, for all his hard work he has been a liability the last two weeks. If that was MFC with 2 way running I would love to see MFC without it. Someone needs to tell Gawn he is tall, very tall. There is no need to crouch or hang on to try and balance his advantage. I don't know if its a positive or negative that our three best players last night in H, Jeffy and Vanders weren't there last year. I've said that the most important part of NAB is no injuries but tripe like last night is hard to swallow.

Our leadership group is failing us during games! No, I don’t mean their respective performance, effort or skill in games; most of them had good games last night. I mean their seeming inability to manage the team on the field. Surely at training, we have practiced and practiced and practiced what to do when the momentum starts to shift. But our leadership group go into ‘brain-freeze’ mode and by the time they snap out of it the game is all but gone. It happened vs WB and vs EFC. Our younger plays sense it then they freeze up. Then it looks like the whole team is mentally fragile. (It makes me wonder whether we have runners going out during games with ‘snap out of it’ words). Where was the encouragement to young guys when they made a mistake or looked uncertain? Tyson, Toumpas, Hogan, Viney, Bail looked like they needed some help last night and could have done with a pat on the back or a few confidence building words. I cannot criticise the games of these 19 to 21 year olds when our leaders are not mentally supporting them on the field. Where are the on-field ‘Line Generals’ who call their troops together or help them take correct positions when needed? Where is the ‘talk’? We have 6 players in the Leadership Group but no one seemed to call the shots out there last week or last night. We need them to find their ‘voice’, to support the young guys, to quickly recognise momentum shifts and then implement the practiced strategies. Leaders need to stay vigilant and alert to what is happening around them and harness their troops quickly. Until these happens, I fear that no matter how good or how skilled we are we won’t win many games.

I reckon this probably sums up most Melbourne fans feelings this pre-season.

Good 1. VandenBerg's game. See a lot of Michael Barlow in this guy. Well researched and smart recruiting (touch wood) 2. Hogan. Just glad he is on the park and getting through full games. 3. Jeffy. So creative, makes things happen out of nothing. Exactly what we need Bad 1. Basic footskills, lack of team work 2. Clumsy tackling and giving away far too many unnecessary frees in dangerous areas, which mind you were absolutely there. 3. Inability to turn clearances into scoring opportunities Ugly 1. Our kick-in set up. Has been deplorable for the best part of a decade. I can't remember the last time we have managed to turn a kick in into a scoring opportunity.

One of his more productive games.

And he came out tonight and kicked 4. How refreshing to have a player not filled with a check list of pissweak excuses for not performing. He just goes out and does his thing.

Oh, the club has a history of assembling sheer stupidity. They've turned it into an artform.

To be honest the kick across goal was irrelevant. If we retained possession and won by 5 points would the game have been any better?

The idea itself isn't what's bad. Kicking across goal creates space and opens the play. Deep in defense is risky but if it pays off the transition can be deadly. What was frustrating was that everyone seemed to see the Essendon player there but Viney. He took zero time to assess the area. Such a risky take must be made with extreme caution and utter perfection. It was a lazy kick and ultimately he deserved to be punished for it. He let the team down at that moment He'll learn.

I learnt not to do that in Auskick. And I'm a fat, bearded bloke, 6 beers deep on a couch.

I don't particularly like it when I am misquoted for somebody to make a point I have consistently said the skills have improved at training, it is whether we will see the improvement in games is another matter We saw it in bits and pieces against Freo We saw it for a half against the Bulldogs And we saw it from a minority tonight I think watchtheeyes report/review mostly very good

Yeah Toumpas had a bad night, Bail looked right off the boil and for an AFL footballer, Tyson has one of the sloppiest handballs going around and hasn't sorted out those random brain fades yet - not too worried about him though. I'm also not sure how much improvement Viney has in him. We need him to fire. We look slow. We're a slow team. And a dumb team. The footy IQ just doesn't seem to be there in most of our players. Garlett looks better than I remember. Big win there. Goddamn our forward line was crowded and messy tonight. Need to give Hogan space to run and jump. Round 1 without Dawes is going to be tough. Forgettable night. NAB challenge or not, we need to develop a winning culture and this was VERY winnable.

Hogan to me isn't quite ready for AFL. He spent the year not getting any footy into him. I would think a month at Casey get some easy goals would do him good. He looked overawed and underdone in a game that was at 40% the intensity of an actual match. Wouldn't be surprised if he isn't in the team for round 1.

Jack Grimes may have had 100% DE, but the number of times he handballs to team mates under the hammer is ridiculous. It's as though the footy is a hot potato and he thinks he has 0.0001 seconds to get rid of it...

And that deficit is largely through our midfield. i had a sinking feeling before the doggies game and with tonight. Our mids are not good enough. We have a talent sink-hole right through the middle of the list and none of Saty's fanboy nonsense is going to repair it. I have a horrid feeling that the truth is that we are behind every team in the competition in terms of midfield talent.

Because our worst 6 are still our worst 6. Mckenzie Grimes M Jones Bail Toumpas Gawn Those 6 have consistently been in the team the past several years, it doesn't matter who we get when those 6 are still in the team. An anchor just doesn't become lighter with a different ship pulling it

It's very puzzling. I saw the Freo game and apart from one quarter we were excellent. Our teamwork was fluent and cohesive and our tackling ferocious. We were brilliant for the first half last week and then petered right out. What happened there? I still cling to the feeling that we will improve this season and improve well. How can we gain the services of HL, Jeff Garlett, VanDenberg, Frost, Newton and Hogan and NOT improve? It defies logic to think that we can't improve. Bring on the real season and see how we go.

Sorry they are NOT, the I will only buy a membership if they don't win line is crap, anyone can go to a website and say they are a supporter, but are they? I have seen some good times and (to many bad ones) but will still buy my membership every year.