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First let me say that I have confidence in our FD in this area. The only major blunder recently was Toumpas and there is no need to go into that again. We clearly have identified the contested beast as our main target and have done well in that respect. What I am concerned about is that type still appears our main aim. Many on here acknowledge our lack of pace, skill and small goal kicking forwards. Also another tall forward. I posted at the time that we should chase Schache and Finlayson, who were tall mobile players, who while not stars, would come cheaply and would be great Insurance for Hogan leaving and injuries or loss of form to the Mac’s or Frost/Weid.They incidentally kicked 9 goals between them in their latest game. They also were gettable cheaply, even though Finlayson stayed at the Giants. i am not posting this to blow my own trumpet as they still may fail long term but rather to highlight a somewhat blinkered approach to our needs. IMO we always needed pace, skill and small goal kicking forwards. Yes we took Bedford, but he is the only one that I can see we have and he is some time off, if he even makes it. Guys like McCarthy, Dahlhaus Lyons and Rohan, just as examples of recycled pacy skilful players are doing well at their new clubs . They are not champions but filled needs and didn't cost a lot. Shiel’s pace from the contest killed us on Friday. I just think we have erred in only targeting the contested beast at the expense of other types. I think the group we got in this season only has Bedford with real pace. I still maintain we are a slow, poorly skilled side and contested footy can’t be our only trick, though I acknowledge it’s importance. I just think we have an unbalanced list and it is hurting us.

Pruess was obv being held for thurs night. Maynard was absolutely terrific in a woeful overall effort, Chandler & Bedford also impressed me, but both are just so so slight. Stretch and Maynard must be in’s for next week with concern being turnaround time. Baker was quiet but has had no prep but pace is still quite something. Smith also looked good despite his field kicking - for me his hands mean he will be an inc once match fit, Joel Smith ahead but thanks to a JLT game he was put back into for [censored] knows why he’s out. All MFC players there in crowd, TMac didn’t look sore but who knows, Oliver and Salem both talked about how bad fri was and how much better we were against cats which I found a little off putting in a 80pt loss tells me Clarry still being young really just refers to his own performances I suspect even though he says “we” - Heard Brendan Mc say few interesting things, seems coaches blv it’s 100% attitude and lack of following instruction defensively. Maynard 27 touches and looked a cut above all other mids, even delivery was good. Chandler had 17 kicked 2 and loads of pressure acts, Bedford looked good but still while away I think.

Except when T. Mac kicked 53 goals last year.

Good morning all. After what the Seniors have been dishing up lately we could all do with a Casey win today. There’s a few boys out injured and possibly some to be held over for Thursday so today will be a tough game. Dont forget the game will be broadcast on Channel 7 from 11:30am. Champion Data will also be updating live VFL stats of every game this year so check out the VFL app on your phone for real time updates.

Yes, lord forbid that they have a life or are able to smile. They should be walking the boundary in sackcloth and ashes while being whipped.

With Demonland friends you don’t need enemies. I’m incredibly disappointed but posts on this site are appalling and reflect the worst aspects of social media. It’s a bloody game for Christ’s sake. Constructive comment, analysis and criticism is fine but personal attack on players is disgraceful. Sure express disappointment but save me on the vitriolic personal abuse. Your worst feelings should be kept to yourself. If you don’t want to support the side drop off and stop filling these pages with hate mail for the sense of common decency.

Still angry about that bulltish 50 against Rivers

The big thing for me was the tackling numbers of both Chandler and Bedford. I think it will get to a stage where once the season is completely out of our reach, we will blood these two. Chandler especially was very very impressive with his smarts and composure with the footy. Bedford did a lot of unrewarded running and was ignored several times. But he showed zip and tackling pressure up field. Some promising signs from both.

Made his TAC debut today for Dandenong Stingrays and played as ruckman/forward. 11 disposals 1 mark 15 hitouts and 1 goal

This is not a pleasant thread to read. But it has to be remembered that we do have another 10 players who are injured and so didn't play at AFL or VFL level. I'd have each of May, Lewis, vandenBerg, Hannan and Lever in the side whilst Garlett, Spargo, J Smith and JKH would have to be thereabouts given the 22 we fielded on Friday night. So yes, we've obviously had a stinker of a day at Casey, but it's not like Casey is reflective of the entirety of our club's depth.

dysfunctional backline without leadership is easy to exploit. We miss Lewis more than people realise and of course it doesn't help having defenders that can't defend, or 3 of them fly for the same ball and leave Ess players out the back or have a brain in their head because they guard 'space' not players. Sure we don't have May and Lever but we didn't for most of last year as well.

No he’s not. Was a key component of the Dogs 2016 flag.

I think we need some new coaching blood. Wouldn’t be surprised to see a major overhaul next season. I was disappointed to see Ratten go to the Saints - he would be a good get for us.

A wonderful thread by quality posters. Every third post was about Keilty and how poor he was playing. Even though he's been incredible for weeks. I think I hate the guy and he's probably a good bloke. Seeing a bloke's name 35 times will do that. Every fourth post I learnt that Hore is horrible. Apparently Petty wasn't playing well before being injured and was Oscar reincarnate. I believe Bedford was ''unsighted''. Notwithstanding his 14 disposals and 9 tackles. I learnt a bit about the game plan being the same as the seniors. Tim Smith can kick as well as Chaplin can coach. Stretch played well. Chandler was good, but he's supposedly not quick enough. And a rebuild is on the cards. I'm sure I've missed a few things. Why people need to post the same observations over and over and over is extraordinary.

I’m sure most of these guys will be devastated to miss out on your random team of the minute.

Some player stats. Billy stretch 20 disposals 7 tackles. Toby bedford 14 disposala 9 tackles. Kade Chandler 14 disposals 7 tackles 2 goals. Corey Maynard 27 disposals 17 tackles. Tom Sparrow 11 disposals 6 tackles James Jordan 10 disposals 2 tackles

Sorry, I love your passion for the club, but I can't stand it when people change their tune on drafting. This was you on draft day when we drafted Sparrow: And this was you after we took Hore: Please don't make it sound like you thought Sparrow and Hore were bad calls at the time. On the contrary, you liked the look of both.

As bad as Casey have been, I think people need to get a grip and look at our injury list. Of course we are weak atm. Half the list is injured. Pretty unfair to judge them on this effort.

Its a repeat of what we see at Senior level. - Too many players going for a contest, balls spills free, swept away by Hawks and delivered beautifully by foot - Hawks can take a mark, we are devoid of players that can mark - uncontested possessions we are being creamed - players doing basic things wrong, like being on the wrong side of a contest, covering space not a man, short handballs to a manunder pressure. It's pretty demoralising watching this knowing that there is no-one other than maybe Stretch who will come into the senior side. Our coaching staff at Demon HQ and Casey seem to be on the same page, it's just the wrong page.

I think I know why ANB and OMAC get a game each week......no one at Casey is better .

Leave Frost for Buddy. Has done a reasonable job before but replace OMac with Kielty. At least he can defend and can take a contested mark. He also has a football brain.

We could do with someone like a Dean Kent in our forward line at the moment. ?

Not that I think they are great players, but rather they are filling needs and came cheaply. Rohan is nothing like ANB,. he can kick straight, run, take a mark, not fumble, stay on his feet and is a footballer.

Hunt and Lockhart are looking good in their new roles though. I am not as worried about our small forwards and pace as I was two weeks ago.... just hope they can both keep improving

I think this is not what he said and what we are saying. He didn’t come to us as a cake gorging, beer swilling slob. He came to us in similar condition to that which he did every year at the Suns. He acknowledged that our boys were far fitter at that point and he was shocked at the difference. He then knuckled down, lost weight immediately and improved his fitness bringing him into line with the rest of the list. He is now in our system and is aware of our standards and hopefully will be the player we desperately need given Lever’s absence and Oscar’s current form. I am not sure his groin injury has anything to do with his condition when he arrived, given he has been training with us for 5 months. His suspension was a crock given Cox did worse by running across the line of Grimes and hitting him flush on the jaw. Of course Cox is a Pie and a celebrity overseas player. PS, May is not the reason we are playing poorly.

It's certainly the wrong word. It's not possible for sporting teams to overachieve.

Our biggest issue is the kick into the forward 50. I have no doubt that this is a team rule given how often we see it happen. Petracca from the pocket yesterday was a classic example. He's a forward, he was 30m out, he should be taking the shot. Instead, he followed the team rule, kicked it to the Hot Spot and it was taken the length of the field for a Bombers goal. Goodwin's entire gameplan is based around weight of numbers. The ball is in dispute in the middle? Get more players to throw themselves in there than the opposition and you'll win it. Marking contest? Have more players fly for the mark and the opposition won't be able to mark it. Goals? The best place to score from is 10-30m out directly in front of goal, so let's keep putting the ball there and if we have more inside 50s than anybody else we'll score more goals. Last year that plan worked enough of the time because teams tried to play us at our own game. West Coast showed the entire competition the way to handle it. You concede the extra men around the ball and have your players waiting on the outside. You set up your defence to cover that zone 10-30m in front of goal exclusively. You send one person up to compete for the mark against three demons knowing that they'll get in each other's way and you have the advantage of more crumbers. You have pacey outside runners who break early to the space knowing that their defence have it covered and will get the ball out to them. We're going to see this from every team this year and unless Goodwin has a plan B hidden somewhere that none of the players have found yet it's going to get very ugly.

Seems like an obvious statement doesn’t it? Yet the MFC coaching staff/team seem to have forgotten to change their calendars on January 1st. A 3 goal loss against the equal bottom side in the competition and now with a 0-3 record for the current season, it should be obvious that things have changed from 2018. Not so on the field, as Melbourne continue to play the style which got them to a Preliminary final. Once again the Demons saw 20 goals scored against them for the game. It is easy for the coach to come out and say “ we were scored against easily” but the reason that happened is probably because we are still playing the game as it was played in 2018. The rules have changed, and other teams have worked us out. The Melbourne “brand” of contested football is fine if you win the ball, when you don’t it means you leak goals because we have insufficient players behind and outside the contest. It is why we see other teams this season “waltz” the ball into goal. It is why opposition forwards are seen to be un-manned. The Rules have changed. 6-6-6 was introduced to open the game up in the middle. The jury on that aspect is still out, but opposition coaches are now sitting a resting ruck in their forward line in lieu and we have seen it in all 3 games in 2019. In this game Zac Clarke was brought into the side to do exactly that alongside Bellchambers. They had little effect as players, but it forced us to put one of our tall defenders on them and that opened the gate for Stringer, Tipungwuti and McKernan who each kicked 4 goals! And our resting ruck?…..he will be playing at Casey. It may not be obvious to some but Jesse Hogan is now playing for Fremantle. We are playing with 1 less tall forward in 2019. So why is Sam Weidemann being used as a substitute ruck? In this game against the Bombers, we saw the ridiculous situation when Tom McDonald injured an ankle in the 2nd quarter, had to leave the ground, and then was used on a wing. Max Gawn was resting on the bench and Weideman was rucking. Even after Gawn came back on, Weideman had to be rested on the bench. Having Gawn return to the ruck position saw Melbourne’s resurgence in that quarter. Does that not send a message we need a full-time ruckman on the ground? It is easy when the opposition kicks 20 goals to focus on the backline. There is no doubt that Oscar McDonald is playing well below par. Frost is filling a hole, which he will probably continue to do so, even with the return of May and Lever. But they are being asked to take on opponents much bigger and stronger than themselves, especially with resting rucks dropping back. Then to top it off we are still following the mantra of going at the man with the ball, even if it means 3 Melbourne players doing exactly the same thing, resulting in loose opposition players. And the backline needs help, especially with our current defender drought. The wingers need to get back to cover, but instead are heading toward the middle like they did in 2018. In 2019 it should be the HFF’s heading to the wing and the middle, but hey it worked last year, didn’t it? The disfunction of the forward line is more critical, because this is from where the opposition in 2019 have launched their attacks. Contested football isn’t just in the middle, and once again the lack of pressure from the forwards to keep the ball inside the scoring area was appalling. We saw Melbourne players all flying for the ball leaving no-one crumbing. The times when Hunt and Lockhart stayed on the ground saw them rewarded, but it was the exception. Neal-Bulleen provided nothing again in the forward line, with his opponent Saad doubling his possessions. 2018 performances shouldn’t get games in 2019. This week the Hun re-opened the wounds of the “tanking saga” of the 2009 season ... winning no more than 4 games was thought to be a good thing, because it worked for Carlton, Collingwood, Hawthorn and others in previous years. Well that turned out really well didn’t it, since we learned playing by last years rules doesn’t get you reward. Are we making the same mistake on the field in 2019? Melbourne 3.1.19 10.1.61 12.3.75 18.4.112 Essendon 6.4.40 8.6.54 15.6.96 20.10.130 Goals Melbourne Harmes Hunt 3 Lockhart Melksham Weideman 2 Brayshaw Gawn Kolodjashnij Neal-Bullen Petracca C Wagner Essendon McDonald-Tipungwuti McKernan Stringer 4 Fantasia Smith 2 Baguley McGrath Parish Zaharakis Best Melbourne Gawn Brayshaw Hunt Oliver Harmes Lockhart Essendon Heppell Shiel McDonald-Tipungwuti Zaharakis Stringer Fantasia Injuries Melbourne T McDonald (ankle) Essendon Mutch (hamstring), Francis (corked quad) Reports Nil Umpires Stevic Harris Haussen Official crowd 52,475 at the MCG

Bedford named in the best.. But according to old mate werridee he was barely sighted. Think he needs a new job cutting oranges instead of randomly making team changes.

And 17 tackles means he is second to the ball!!

Absolutely nailed the key issues. Lack of footskills mean we rarely hit a lead. Lack of aerial ability means we rarely take contested marks.. so bombing it doesn't work either. That's why I was bloody annoyed when we lost Howe. At least he was better than 50/50 with the ball in the air. When I look at the surplus of key marking/intercept players the Eagles (and many other teams have) it makes me weep for our future.

Even if Maynard is next in line, which in my opinion he shouldn’t be, I can’t see him coming in regardless of today. Is there enough rest time for him to back up after a full game 4 days later against Sydney?

Chandler showed a bit. Bedford is very slight but has talent and may need some time.

I think once we get the side back into form, that'll be the time for Sparrow to come back in for another crack. Too much for a kid to play in a team in shambles.

Too true junior. It seems the same structures, the same patterns, the same intensity, the same skill levels. Most disappointing. Stretch at least showed he should step up, but perhaps he can't get a game coz he gets the ball and delivers it to a teammate, provides an option for teammates and can run and kick to advantage. Not our current style.

Our list has been sickenly over rated by everyone. Time for for a rebuild, we havnt drafted enough talent and traded out all our top picks. Got a dry period ahead of us due to a few years of poor drafting/trading.

Issue for me is we seem to lose every trade. paid overs for Lever got unders for Hogan got unders for Kent paid overs for May Compared to when you look at teams like Essendon who can bring in Saad, Smith and Stringer in one off season, or Hawks to can pickup Scully for pick 85. We consistently seem to come out worse for wear due to Mahoney poor negotiation skills. We have well and truly lost the Tyso/Salem for Kelly trade now to.

Agree. My point was that there was Insurance there for the taking, but all we concentrated on was the contested beast. Schache and Finlayson were gettable cheap options and would have us with a better balanced list. Hogan was always a chance to go home and realistically more than just a chance. What did we do about it by way of replacement? We all knew Jeffy was probably past his best and Spargo was limited in pace, height, kicking distance etc, yet the only one of that type in the last few years I think, has been Bedford. Someone said Lockhart but I think he is another contested player foremost, but looking likely at least. Look at how many small forwards at the Cats and Lions for example.The Lions also have more and better talls than us as well. They also have 2 of our former ruckmen. They are going places and are on the way to finals most likely this year.

It might have been mentioned already and apologies if it has, but there are so many threads it’s impossible to keep up at times. An observation on our defensive set up in the 1st and 3rd quarters from Punt Rd goals. It was puzzling to see our backs line up on different ESS forwards in nearly every centre bounce in those quarters. Do we like to rotate our defenders or is the opposition simply regularly throwing a different mix down there to confuse us even further knowing there’s a lot of panic at the moment amongst the back 6? Stringer had 3 different opponents at one stage in the first and that included Fritsch. Oscar and Frost regularly swapped between McKernan and Clarke especially in the first when a lot of damage was done. Ess had Shiel, Smith, Baguley deep at different stages. Fantasia and Tippa were rarely used deep, more so high half forwards and wing so they can damage us on the rebound. We can’t afford to have Hibbo sprint 50 meters back when the ball is kicked over his head to man up the guy out the back or deepest forward. It’s happened numerous times this year and Hibbo is best used as a dasher from half back. His disposal seems to have suffered a bit from 2017, is he maybe spending too many petrol tickets this way? Is the wing a possibility for him? My confusion stems from seeing our backs gather together after we concede a goal for an encouragement knuckle touch or whatever it’s called only to be followed by a lot of head shaking and finger pointing. This is where Lewis is needed. This is purely an observation from ground level fence. Also, looking up at the interchange board, I noticed Jones and Viney were on the bench together a few times. A lot are questioning their leadership, but surely at least keep one of them out there during crucial times.

Where has all this stuff about the players not understanding the coaches coming from? It’s basically the same players as last year, with the same coaches as last year. I doubt Goody decided to start talking to them in Mandarin over the pre-season. We greatly overcomplicate things around here when things aren’t going well.

Can't believe how many times we leave our opponents alone and go into a contest to aid others who are already there. Madness! And as for three flying to spoil one opponent! Give me a break. Forty years ago I played under 17s. We knew stuff like this.

I really like this three word summary, JB. Thanks. I'd add: Backs: 1. Guard a man 2. One man up Mids: 1. Run both ways 2. Kick to us Forwards: 1. Make some space 2. Mark one, occasionally Coaches: 1. Are you blind? 2. Earn your pay

The only surprise to me was that Zac Clarke didn't kick 4 as well.

I’m currently re-watching the first quarter of the Elimation Final against Geelong from last year, and while I do think we overachieved last season it’s a nice reminder to see this group playing so well. The big thing I take out of it is how much better our structure was, but also how much quicker and fitter we looked. Whilst I think finals are almost certainly out of the equation this year, watching this replay does give me some hope that we really are just a team that is lacking fitness and form to key players.

I had faith in Roos/ Jackson. I could see progress. I have none in this lot to tell the truth... This is all about to unravel before our eyes imho. This is not MfCss . The very foundations from the rebuild...the reinstitution of basic footy values, the realisation you need skills and a game designed to protect and score...well.....melted in the snow. I can see the pseudo success of last year was an illusion. We essentially blind sided a number of teams and bullied out wins. We lucked out with some teams having off days. It looked good but it was a false dawn. We have a walking wounded list early into the season...and partly by design. We have a game plan that's laughable. We have tortoises crawling one direction whilst opposition run circles.... We have players devoid of basic skills. We have players devoid of essential fitness. You'd think this was suburban amateurs for God's sake.. We've had a whole off season to develop a strategy to take advantage of 666. We play ignorant dumb football. Some of our coaches should be on fraud charges. I'm a member. I've supported this club for 55 years. I've earnt the right to be cranky and critical. For a team all but universally touted as contenders to be 3 and zip is comical . But it's ok. .... actually...it's not. Our position is deplorable. There is undoubtedly more pain to come. Norm Smith uttered those famous words..'I am Melbourne' . I'd like to echo that sentiment. I will never follow another team but I find it very hard to get very excited about our current prospects or club makeup. These are my thoughts. Each to their own. Do I trust the current regime to deliver ? No, not one iota. Some good intent has been derailed. I might be wrong. I hope I am. Go Dee's.. sometime.... eventually maybe.

Pretty interesting stat regarding Lewis.

have a happy life. we will miss you here

From my listening to post match footy fan talkback I've gleaned the following... Losing teams don't have plan 'B'...