Leaderboard

I'm sure there's been lotsa love for Fitzy on other threads. But, I reckon the lad deserves a thread of his own. I have to say I had mixed feelings about him being named to play on the weekend, in spite of the reports that he was doing well at Casey in his new role as a defender. I just couldn't get out my head the images of him running around in his previous senior appearances, looking something akin to a stunned giraffe, with his awkward gait and gangly appearance. But, what we were witness to on Sunday was something, at least in my mind, that was truly remarkable. From what I saw of the game on the TV, every time Fitzy went near the ball was a thing of grace and beauty. He really looked like a seasoned veteran, barely putting a foot wrong. I understand his main oponent was Tom Boyd. If true, Fitzy held his man to a single hand ball, finally seeing him handed the red vest. He just didn't look at all out of place and, if anything, added an extra level of strength to our backline. I think Fitzy was taken as somewhat of a speculative pick back when he was drafted, and he certainly didn't look much, with his long, unkempt hair, when he was first photographed with Dean Bailey. And, as I mentioned above, he hasn't exactly set the world on fire with his previous odd few senior appearances. But, hey! If he can build on Sunday's performance, we may really have something special! And, if so, I for one will be stoked! Just so thrilled for the big guy!

Being only 2,0000 members down from 2011 is a bloody miracle conidering what we dished up in 2012-2014 Keep winning and those not signed up will flood back

Jake suffered a bit of a set back with a hip injury that has hampered his season, while it has not been an impressive season to date, I am told the Club is aware and will monitor his progress. Expect him to drift right out of contention with so called experts, but my understanding is that he will be in contention for drafting come end of year.

Schulz, Westhoff and one of Lobbe or Ryder resting forward requires TMac, Dunn and Fitzy to play as tall defenders

yes but Jack Viney wasn't born like you and I, he burst out of his mothers womb/stomach and ran straight onto the MCG.

horrible? it's pure poetry and wondrous to behold

I really liked the structural set-up we had back in round one: Hogan and Frost as two falls, Watts as the 'tweener', and Garlett, Kent and JKH as smalls who buzzed around the big boys feet and pushed up to the flanks and wings as necessary. When Dawes came in for round two, I was worried we were going too tall, and I think that GWS game bore me out. Last weekend's side was essentially the round one structure again, just with a few like-for-like(ish) replacements: Pedo = Frost, Bail & Jones = Kent & JKH … and lo and behold, we functioned well and got a nice big score on the board. So for my money, we *MUST* keep that structure. And therefore Dawes has to play at Casey, find form, and wait for a chance to take his place off Hogan (when he needs a rest) or Pedo (if his form drops away). After what happened with the selection, structure, and results in rounds one and two, I'd be pretty annoyed if we made the same mistake again in rounds eight and nine.

No

carlton and essendon in one season....oh my schadenfreude runneth over!

It's funny I get sh1tty when posters criticize McKenzie for his disposal or Watts for his effort and the list could go on. I see our players in a glass full kind of way. We get a player who is a combination of Jonathan Brown and Wayne Carey and I am worried his kick isn't penetrating enough. It's tough being a Melbourne supporter.

What impressed me most was the fact that Tom Mc was having a "quiet" day, there was no Salem and no Jetta, so Fitzy and Garland had to carry a much bigger load. Garland was Garland (which is good), but Fitzy had come from the 2's no doubt aware that his future is in the balance, no doubt aware that there are supporters who already have him gone, and no doubt aware that getting the Dees season back on track was reliant in a large part on his performance on Boyd. The fact that he coped with all of that and the fact that he was probably the 3rd or 4th best performed player for our team (probably only beaten by Pedersen and Hogan and maybe Jones), speaks volumes for his character and his coming of age as a player. If he repeats that again this week, I think it will be up to others to displace him rather than him going back to the VFL having performed his role as simply a depth player.

he did much better than hold his own, yd. i'd put him in the top 5 on the ground. credit when it is due.

Absolutely no way I would be leaving Lalalalamumba out

This is hilarious.. we've all just seen how so-called 'write-off' players Grimes, Pedersen, Spencer, Toumpas, Fitzpatrick and Riley can come back from obscurity and low supporter opinions.. but 90% of people in this thread have declared Dawes a dead man walking.

totall agree, especially in regard to Shwarz. I remember watching a game with a young Ox, pre any knee injuries, at Victoria Park. He was simply awesome and a big factor in a famous wins (close to my favourite game i've attended: Schwarz and Jakovich at their best. Fantastic stuff)

^^. Gonzo. I said elsewhere that this was a fantastic TEAM effort. And the guys "on notice" fitted into that team structure very well And rjay - given the thread title, what an ugly duckling Westhoff looked for quite a few years as a youngster. Big men take time but some are worth preserving with. Hopefully Fitzdemon will be one of them.

It's only one game, but if Fitz can resurrect his faltering career as tall defender, full credit to him and the coaching staff who set him down that path. He obviously needs to keep learning and building on that performance, but if he can establish himself as a reliable 'best 22', the flexibility that his inclusion would bring to our line-up would be enormous. Keep it up Fitzy!

He played well on the weekend. He should get Ryder and Lobbe this week which will be a step up. Hope he rises up to the role.

Sounds more like a footy fixture.

Sir Launcelot is not only wrong as you say but he raised a point which smacks of desperation. While it may not have been against any specific rule (as he stated) to 'vanish' records, or not keep them during a pharmaceutical experiment, their absence 9or inability to produce them) is evidence (a fact) which together with other evidence may even lead to a beyond reasonable doubt verdict, let alone the weaker level of proof required in this case. I await a reasonable explanation of why there are no records, especially since they would prove the program was kosher.

This has been roundly discussed In Another Place, and as I and others suggested there, if you were to look at the reality of Olympic sports, or any sport at an elite level, these points are pretty well invalid. Sure, every sport has its idiosyncrasies, but there's not that much difference, especially once you get to the professional level. Athletes in olympic sports have to toe the organisation's line every bit as much as at a footy club, perhaps even moreso. Cyclist Trent Lowe was sacked for going to a non-team doctor, as was sports director Matt White who recommended said doctor. In the Armstrong case, there was much made of the fact that the cyclists who were penalised were given a 6 month ban which just happened to be right across the off-season. Then, this mention of the Olympic calendar is a complete furphy - you only have to look at the Olympic winter sports for example, where the focus is completely on the season-long competitions: world cup, world championships etc. etc., with the Olympics themselves as a bit of a postscript. Cycling is the same ... can anyone here tell me who won the gold medal in the men's road race at the last Olympics? etc. etc. Rather large red herring for mine.

Viney and Jetts both available for selection!!! Yew. I'd leave Tyson out until after the break to give him time to heal.

God no What are his runs?? Seriously when have you sat back after a game and thought jeez Dawes made a huge impact for us today. And don't give me the Adelaide game. Few cheap goals and thats it.Im sure he is a good bloke but he is as useless as a [censored] on a stick. He had a full pre season and yet he has NOT played one good game at all. He needs to spend the next 4 weeks and Casey and learn how to mark a footy like Pedo.

How does that effect his ability to hold a mark when it hits his hands?

We are coming off a good confidence building team win. In an ideal world you'd like to go unchanged into the next round. However, if Viney and Jetta are fully fit they are logical and team strengthening inclusions. Bail and M Jones would be the likely losers. I do have concerns over Jetta's situation though.

Expensive depth Dazzle.

in his position i'd do the same (at least on a public forum)

Spot on Hardtack! Watched him in defense for Casey recently & loved his play and relaxed confidence. Not looking like the same guy. Improving overhead, kicking & footy smarts, plus how many 200cm players are so fast or good below the knees? He was diving for marks, great game. Love to see more.

Come on guys Share some all too brief and rare moments of joy I don't think anyone believes he is the messiah (or even a very naughty boy) but enjoy the moment and be glad for him.

Hellfish: I would certainly put McDonald, Dunn and now Fitzdemon and even Garland ahead of Dawes as a big defender. I must say given the good recent form and competitiveness of Pedersen I can't really see where Dawes will fit back in. He was sorely down on form prior to his sore calf, and IMVHO must find form at Casey before playing AFL again (regardless of his salary)! If he wants to learn new tricks he should learn them at Casey, as has Fitzy.

Hogan and Schultz all we need is a Klink and we are away.

Yes plenty of spots available at Casey.

Has anyone else thought of Chris Dawes being reinvented as a key backman? I've always been a big critic of him playing forward as he doesn't present well, doesn't mark much, hardly a goal kicker. But there's always someone to remind me that he puts on pressure, chases, tackles and all that crap that personally I don't rate a key forward on. But with Fitzpatricks seemingly successful move down back I thought maybe they could try this with Dawes. With a backline of McDonald, Garland, Fitzpatrick it got me thinking that non of them really have the big body to take on the 'gorilla' forwards like we had when Frawley was around. When Frost comes back he will most likely play forward, Pederson is in good form up there and we will riot if Hogan gets left out. Where does Dawes ever come back in. Dawes is capable of at least contesting against the likes of Cloke, Roughead and Hawkins. We know he can bring the ball to ground. Then he can do all the chasing and tackling he likes. Gotta be worth a try, otherwise he'll be a very expensive VFL forward in the last year of his contract next year and worthless at the trade table.

Certainly seemed to read the play well down back and was all over Boyd. If he plays to his strengths and uses his height to punch and his agility to mop up the loose ball he could be very useful. Frost if not injured would probably be playing down back instead of Fitzy as Pedersen has filled the extra tall forward/ruck roll beautifully. Actually Frost getting injured has been of some benefit as it brought Pedo back in (who was just going at half pace at Casey) and allowed us to experiment with Fitzy.

The Hoff & Ryder???

Thought JKH had resumed his acting career!

There's your weaknessLance EFC has chosen to not tell the truth re a performance enhancing program Have you asked them what the truth is? Do you honestly believe they had no records of a legal drug program? Do you believe the world body can allow any sports person to undertake an illegal drug program and ignore it on the basis that there are no records? Do you think the cost of testing every athlete for drugs every time they perform is worth it just to ensure that no athlete can use that excuse? Do you support drugs in sport as a reasonable extension of whatever it takes? That'll do for now

On the other hand ... My only reservation about getting HL was that he was a bit one-dimensional. Great when he had the ball in space, but not good defensively, and great when it was tight, and could only really play HBF, maybe the easiest spot on the ground. Still worth getting, because we needed his strengths, and because of his great leadership, which was stifled (to say the least) where he was. But I was worried about whether we could get the ball to him in space as well as the Pies did. But with us, he had a great running game against Suns, a good game against Tiges as a sweeper & "mopper-upper", and a very good defensive game against Dogs. I'm amazed how often either him or Cross are in the right spot for a tackle to stop a breakaway, or at the right spot to take a bandpass and give it quickly to clear a pack. You can't teach that, it just comes with experience & intelligence, both of which we've lacked for far too long. That, incidentally, was one of Bruce's strengths, for all his failings - just being in the right place at the right time, again and again. I've been frankly surprised, after 200 games, that he's been willing to take on new & unaccustomed roles for the sake of the team. Same goes for Bernie, by the way. Roos has really stretched them & challenged them, and they've both stepped up from being bit-players in their former clubs to being leaders and core players who have had to adapt to new demands. I also wonder whether Grimes played so well, and was back to the decisive and direct Grimes we haven't seen for so long, because he didn't have to worry about being the main small defender who had to hold the defence together, because Cross & Lumumba were there for that. All he had to worry about was beating his man & generating drive.

And I think I saw Dean Kent still 10-12. He was injured a month ago and I thought it was 10-12 then. Reminds me of one of the opening scenes of Snatch when Turkish is asking how long until the sausages are ready.

Whilst it may not be related to the thread, i've seen that Minson has been given a 4-week suspension for his barely touching an umpire. This is an absolute joke and farce from AFL Victoria and the AFL in general. What about the footy player that got kneed in the head by a field umpire running into him? Nothing came from that, yet if it was a player they would have been given a life-sentence just about. Shocking double standards.

I agree with your sentiment here. Look at his reaction after his second kick was finally paid a goal. The game was long over by then but you could tell he was thrilled with a "Yes, I've finally done it!!" thought. Long way to go for him, as he needs to play near this level on a consistent basis. But I'm happy for him. Morton most certainly had blinders. He had 22 touches and 2 goals in his 3rd game at Kardinia Park, 26 and 3 against the Bombers the same year. 37 against the Dogs in 2009. He fell away quickly after that but your memory must be pretty short mate. Morton looked very good early on.

'I'm jealous of Hogan. If i was playing against him i'd king hit him behind play when he wasn't watching. Like that good looking Smith fella. See how pretty he is after a broken nose. I could mark and crumb. Hogan will never reach my level. Did i say i'd king hit him?' At least i think he said that. I could be wrong.

Go to 1:14... Toump putting his body on the line in defensive 50 and getting flattened in the process. Great courage and more proof hat the fools that allude to him being timid are clowns.

And if you roll it on about 2-3 mins, you see the point I tried to make about Lumumba's contribution in another thread. Three times in quick succession, he was just in the right place at the right time to stop a Bulldog breakout down that flank. Only one kick to add to his stats in all that, but he held them up 3 times to keep the ball inside our 50. Sure, he didn't have a great game, but he just put himself in the right place at the right time so often. And while I'm rolling the tape, another great bit of play by Riley just after that. The Dogs again tried to make a break and Fitz was under the ball with Dickson, and although Fitz is much taller, it could have been nasty if he'd let it go over the back. Riley made metres to get his body to the contest between the other two, and turned a tricky mark into an easy mark for Fitz. You could argue that perhaps it made no difference, and he could have just jogged past the contest for a possible spill. But he seems constitutionally incapable of "just jogging past the contest", without throwing himself into it!

Come in spinner. Took Barassi off us by stealth. Bought premierships. The 2002 salary cap schemozzle. Elliott. Bringing in a peeved Malthouse and Daisy to win a premiership. It's taken a long time, and i hope it's a long time near the bottom for the good old navy blues. ps good song though.

Are you another who just looks at stats? Roos stated what should be the obvious in his presser - that he was very happy with him, and that his defensive efforts and spoils were important for the team on the day. Stats only tell a small portion of the story.

When does McCarthy cop the opposition's best key defender ? Answer, never. Not once. The opposition put the most work into Cameron. Hogan isn't a foil for anyone. He's the man. I like McCarthy and don't begrudge him the nod, but Hogan beats McCarthy in just about every relevant stat except goals per game. Hogan has more disposals, more marks, more contested marks, and the same average marks inside 50. All while copping the best defender and playing for the team with the least inside 50's in the league. Even on the weekend it was 21 disposals to 12, 9 marks to 6 and 3 goals to 4. Not to mention he splits packs and creates goals for teammates. One is a power forward, the other isn't. It's no major issue, but there's a flaw in the award when the best 20 year old and under in the competition hasn't been recognised.

Not sure "Dead Wrong" covers it Farmer. Yesterday was IMO his best Game in 2+ years He has had a lot of shockers in between. However lets hope he can build on Yesterday.

Call me old fashioned, but I dislike the way folks speak so harshly about their players. We are all blessed or not blessed with differences of intellect, skills, aptitude etc. It may be a supporters site but we should not write with such disdain and contempt about people just because they are footballers and seen as expendable. Sure talk about trades but do we need to be so harsh in our reasons.....no skills, hopeless etc? Would you like to be described in this way?

Will be interesting this week to see whether Port swing the axe or stay loyal to squad for another week. They have three big forwards - Ryder, Schulz and Westhoff - plus Monfries - so the fact that Fitzy is in means we don't have to make any changes down back and also means we don't have to panic that if Spencil went down, we are stuffed. Fitzy's strong game means there's no room for Gawn or Dawes this week - but they will get a game soon. It was an extraordinary decision to select him given his poor game against Sandy and then the fact that he hurt his neck the week before and virtually didn't play, but we were well overdue some luck and the good thing is that he's fast enough to make a contest on all the big forwards when they lead. As to inclusions, Jetta is a definite now that he has done his month off and his return will most likely mean Howe lines up forward again. Viney also returns if he pulls up OK from training. He will play the whole game - he is a super fit bloke. They replace Matt Jones (injured) and Bail or Riley. Bail has some chance of surviving because he is a small forward - not because he had a game worthy of retention. Tyson may play - although it then begs the question as to whom he replaces - it would have to be Riley or Newton. Other than that, the guys who played well in twos - Terlich, Michie, Neal-Bullen and White plus the 23rd man Stretch just have to bide their time. Amazing what a win does to team selection.