Leaderboard

Mate I’ve said it before on here and I’ll say it again. You need to remove that “Pro” part from your name.. Because you have absolutely no idea.

your a pessimist

Cameron Pedersen booted five goals in the VFL on Sunday but won't be picked to play the Tigers. Thats surprising, a one day break should surely be enough.

Melk was one of our best players in the second half. Kicked 21 goals in the last 12 games including at least 1 each game. Do you actually watch the football?

MCC sold out and now predicting 87K. reckon we should tick over 90K given the weather

A players speed is useless if they can’t stick to the game plan or structures.

And what happened to Hawthorn on Sunday... lost to North by a tad under 5 goals... I suppose the Hawks' season is done now and North are premiership contenders. The point I'm making is that the first 5 rounds have been so lacking in consistency for just about every team, that it's nigh on impossible to judge where any team will end up the season on the ladder. We lost to the Cats by less than a kick, we beat the Lions reasonably comfortably despite falling asleep, we break a 17 match hoodoo comfortably beating North by approx 6 goals, then we stumble against the Hawks (who, let's face it, we have a history of stumbling against) and all of a sudden our season is over... knee jerk reaction is an understatement! Let's look at a couple of examples of teams who, by the standards expected by some posters in this thread, will be joining us at the bottom of the ladder: The Swans lose to both Port and Adelaide at home, beat the Eagles in Perth, comfortably beat expected premiership contenders the Giants and only just get over the line against the Bulldogs. Port... destroy the Dockers in Perth, beat Sydney in Sydney, only just beat the Lions in Adelaide, get comfortably beaten by the Bombers in Melbourne and get comfortably beaten by the Cats in Adelaide.

I like the changes this week. Weidmann gets a chance which is great, which gives us the second ruckman we need and a taller player to complement Hogan, especially when he pushes up the ground. Tyson coming in adds a good, solid mid to the mix and allows us to potentially play Oliver forward a little more. Stretch and Hunt give us some outside run which is something we have lacked a little of. I'd love the get a win this week and I think this team gives us a shot at it.

Not thrilled that Fritsch is out.

Agree but I think you have to pick on current form. He couldn’t miss a goal last year but misses everything now. He’s a very frustrating player, as he was at Essenscum.

I'm interested to see how this plays out tomorrow night. We all know that the Tigers have an excellent defence, and while we've been able to generate a bucket load of inside 50s, we've blazed away more often than not. With Weideman coming in, does this give us the extra, leading target we've been craving? At the very least the Weid can provide a contest and bring the ball to ground, even in a two on one situation. Our mosquito fleet will need to be buzzing for 120 minutes to ensure that they don't get too many easy rebounds off half back. At the other end we all know how poorly our defence has functioned as a unit in the first month of the season, and I like that we've dropped Frost to accommodate the fact that the Tigers play pretty small up forward. Will that allow us to play Oscar on Riewoldt which frees up Lever to play the second man up? Will we be able to release someone like Hibberd into the rebounding role he plays so well? Can Jetta find some form and play a lock down role on one of their small forwards like Castagna or Butler? I'm looking forward to how we respond tomorrow night and I think, on paper at least, we match up quite well against the Tigers. We all know that doesn't get us very far and we'll need every player to give 100% to their role in the side tomorrow night. Go Dees!

Posters are stating their preference of Pederson over Weideman based on the formers game on the weekend. I won’t explain to them how silly this is.

I would suggest with Fritsch it's more of a rest and will be the reason why he was not named tomorrow, nor played yesterday. I think the changes work and give us both more polish, run and height. I thought one of Melksham or Harmes would also miss and suggest both are on thin ice if they turn another poor performance. As far as the choice of tall its time to back Weid in ahead of Pedo. Pedo is a stop gap who we know can play a role but really will not kick bags at AFL (nor may Sam yet) and is better as the first follower than the second ruck. After watching the VFL yesterday I struggle to see how well a developing forward can show in that environment once they get used to playing against bigger bodies. He may well drop back when T-Mac returns but lets see where he is at and his form at VFL and on track has been worthwhile by all reports. Its time we invest with measured expectations and acceptance that development will come with inconsistency just like Carlton are doing with Curnow (goals over first 5 rounds 5,2,2,0,0,) and Brisbane with Hipwood (goals over first 5 rounds 1,1,3,0,3).

Vs the dud picked this week. he has played two decent games at Casey in his career. First was half a game last year against Bax Hill and the second against the worst team in the VFL two weeks ago. he will need to put a 1000 % improvement over his games in 2017 to be effective. Yes we have to give the chance but I will be amazed if he even earns his spot tomorrow.

I'm all for getting some games and experience into Weed. Part of me is a bit meh on it tho. I hate Richmond more than any club, and it's such a big stage and important game that could be season defining. Against what was the best defence in the game last season with some experienced defenders, he'll more than likely get eaten alive. And that SHOULD be ok. We need to find out about him. Just a shame for the desperate-for-a-win crowd, like me, as Pedo would have been the better in IMHO for the next 4 quarters of MFCs life.

So there have been some topsy turvey results this season. That doesn't change a goddamn thing for the MFC. We squibbed it against HFC We are repeat offenders for squibbing We need to show backbone against RFC, win or lose We need to show backbone the week after that. And keep showing backbone every week, win or lose Doesn't matter what other clubs are succeeding at or failing at We need to give fight, 4 quarters, week in, week out. That's our issue, it's on us and no one else.

If Weed plays I hope for his sake our entry into our 50 is dramatically cleaned up.

The game he had five tackles and everyone tried to act like he contributed? You can't read minds. PS. I'll say it again. Pedo gives us the better chance for the win. I'm not asking you to agree.

Good to see all of our 2014 draft crop playing in the same team tomorrow night.

Really frustrating that Fritsch has been dropped. Harmes did sweet FA last week and was a liability. Fritsch was clean and was decent one on one.

I wouldn’t call it great wisdom, I’m just blessed with common sense.. I’ll try to keep it short and easy to understand as I didn’t think it warranted any further explanation. Posters are referencing Pederson’s good game on the weekend as a reason he should have been selected for Tuesday’s game. Do you see the issue here?

I like the Stretch inclusion. I think he has the potential to be a ready steady consistent player. I want him to become part of the young core of mid/wings (Trac, Brayshaw, Oliver, Salem) that really lift eachother each week and perform to a high standard. Long way to go still obviously.

I think 2 games in 5 days will see him back against Essendon

Sorry Stormy, I have some problems with what you say. (How's Don by the way?) The small errors are egregious faults for AFL-standard footballers [censored] happens So it's ok to put the cue in the rack when you've realised you're going to lose? Danger is, you do that at 3/4 time. Next week you might decide to do it at 1/2 time. In no time at all you might be doing it at 1/4 time and it's Neeld all over again. It's crucial to fight the whole way for a few reasons. 1, so your opponent knows they're in for a battle next time. If you're pushovers they will treat you like it. It can become self fulfilling. But if they're worried about the fight, they will play differently. 2, it is essential to be in the habit of going full on the whole time. If you are picking and choosing when to turn it on, you will find that your bad habits have a way of letting you down. This is Bernard Tomic's issue. He thinks he can turn it on at will, without cultivating the habit of fighting out every point. Compare with Hewitt, Nadal, countless other tennis stars. Yes it is. I've heard that competitive scrabble is less taxing for those not cut out to be AFL footballers. And you can represent your country. So percentage is important? I wish the players had that insight before the last two rounds of 2017. Or before letting 10 in a row sail over their heads last week (while kicking 1 in 3 quarters). Finally, we have the talent and the list to make finals. For chrissake, why are the players squandering that???

Makes sense to me. Stretch and Hunt for speed. Weeds for a focal point, Tyson for clearances. That's an improvement

Completely pointless comparing Hawthorn's or anyone else's performances to ours. Lool at the context. 1. It's not that we lost, but rather how we lost. 2. We've beaten Hawthorn once in a decade. 3. We should be well beyond those sorts of performances. There's nothing wrong with losing. It's how we lost.

Bloody ridiculous that a squad wasnt announced over the weekend.

Shepherding on the mark is just plain UGLY. And if it not banned will only get uglier as teams extend its use, especially when marks are taken 60-70 metres from goal. Pretty soon we'll be playing gridiron.

You must think this is the home and away season !

And bizarrely I have every confidence in him with ball in hand at the other end. He must play forward. FF, rotating CHF and second ruck.

Unbelievable what Hawthorn got away with last week. I heard Mitchell rebuked as well. Christ umpiring is third rate. Incidentally, two big differences between our game and North's pantsing of Borethorn were the fine conditions and North's conventional forward structure. I did wonder whether we outsmarted ourselves playing Jesse so far upfield once Kent etc stopped finding the goals. Brown really showed up Frawley and Sicily was exposed for the panic merchant he is.

That stat explains the score line. Our injury list has probably been what a normal AFL club would expect while the Tigers continue to enjoy a blessed run. Think Hardwick may have sold his soul early last season to the injury gods.

Well yesterday we only had 11 MFC listed players vs 17 for Richmond (I think) but still we were soundly beaten around the contest after quarter time that allowed the other areas to fall down Petty has been pretty good, I really liked his round 1 game, but like Keilty yesterday it wasn’t his best game. Took 1 or 2 nice defensive marks but was otherwise beaten, especially in the last quarter he was out positioned and out marked a few times.

From an interstate Demon, thankyou to all you dedicated Demons for your thread input

There isn't one variable though 'Clint', there never is. ...but those 4 players were a key component of the revamped plan. Take Rance out and I would suggest the plan falters and they don't win the flag. Hardwick finally worked to his strengths. Luck and circumstance along with playing (astute coaching) with the cards that were dealt played a big part.

Fair point, but take Martin & any of Cotchin/Rance/Riewoldt out and they wouldn’t have made finals! Look at their results and see how many games they would have dropped last year without two of their 4 stars!