Scoop Junior

There is a difference between physical fitness and the mental strength required to run hard, hunt the ball and defend. At the moment we are simply not running hard enough.

I think the initial post is pretty good. I was wondering the same myself. I just can't remember us having players who could drag us over the line single-handedly. Garry Lyon at times would lay some crunching tackles to inspire the side and kick some big goals, but by this stage of his career it was more inspiration than actual effect as his back was stuffed. We don't seem to have the star quality to win games when things are going pear-shaped. Geelong has a similar problem IMO. They look a million bucks when on top but find it difficult to respond when confidence is low and the team isn't performing. Nature or nurture? Are we not picking up star players in the draft or are we not developing our players as well as others?

Pace. We lack it.

If Davey was injured I'd consider PJ. I wouldn't consider him to fill a KP. He's a 6"6 small forward.

Bate should be held to the standard of a young player making his way in the game. And according to that standard he was a disaster today.

Yep he does. There's no doubt Yze has been a great player over the years. No one is denying that. The issue has been his performances in the last 3 years. He will always rack up possessions. But possessions don't tell much of a story. Anyone can run behind a ruckman and get a cheap handball. I didn't think Yze was our worst on Friday night. But at the same time he isn't doing much to solidify his place in the 22. He probably doesn't deserve to be dropped on that performance, but it's the fact that his performances over the last couple of years have been ordinary that makes him borderline selection. I think he should play this week. But he's only hanging in there and definitely needs to do more to cement his spot or else he'll be down at Sandy.

When your team gets done badly, suddenly all those who weren't in the side become much better footballers

Whether or not we agree with the original post, I don't think there's anything unfair about it. It's just an expression of opinion on a footballer. If we can't make comments on players' abilities and how they are performing, then what really is the purpose of this forum? I was under the impression that this forum is for Melbourne fans to discuss all things concerning footy and in particular the Demons. Granted personal attacks on players are prohibited, but commenting on a player's strenghts/weaknesses is a discussion point and is something I find interesting.

Very well said Rolling Stone.

Agreed. He was one of a few who had the courage to run and take the game on. The rest played dumb, circular, non-descript football.

2006 Rd 1 Essendon d Sydney - Sydney lose GF by a point. 2006 Rd 1 Carlton d Melbourne - Carlton win two more for the year. While we were disastrous last night and I was extremely disappointed, I don't think you can make such sweeping statements after Round 1. Very, very early days still.

McLean got injured because he took sooooo long to get rid of the ball when he had it tonight. He was clearly underdone in terms of match preparation. He just was not up to speed with the intensity of the game. Two or three times he just ran straight into trouble without getting rid of the footy quickly.

Love ya work Finks. Friday night footy, MCG, Dees, Saints, wet, cold, big crowd....de ja vu?

Bruce is a fantastic player and has a lot of captaincy attributes - consistent, hard working, loyal, clever, class player, etc. I do feel though that when it comes to a sport like footy, inspiration is a critical quality of a good captain. Bruce is a top player and sets a great example, but does his style of footy inspire? It's exciting, it's great to watch, it's critically important to the team, but I don't know whether it can be classed as inspirational. That's not having a go at Bruce. He is the player he is and that player is a key member of the team. Hird, Voss, Carey, Ricciuto - the great captains all have that crucial element of the ability to inspire those around them. That's their game style. A footy captain IMO must have that quality.

Most of my comments are in WJ's post, but I'll add: Biz got a lot of the ball and did very well as a rebounder, but I still think he'll struggle to find the right match-up and that is priority number one for a defender. Travis showed his genius football brain. Hasn't played in 6 months but just had the vision at times to bring the ball inboard and set up goals. Just provides that spark that the midfield needs. Jones was hard and an excellent 4-quarter contributor. Love the way he hunts the footy and burrows in. CJ - class written all over him. Now needs to work on producing it more consistently across 4 quarters. This bloke has the goods. Brilliant first half. Neita looked great, chased hard and snagged 3 goals. Too strong for Bowden. Left the ground midway through the 3rd. Green's kicking is certainly back - kicked a monster goal from 55 on the run. Frawley's last quarter was great. Love the way this guy backs himself. Always looking to take players on with his speed and is really confident. Really liked Bell's game. Starting to develop very good defensive skills like spoiling and positioning. His tackling is tenacious and he will be hurting players this year, mark my words. Robbo struggled. Yze did a few things. I think people are going to take a negative view and look for bad things from Ooze rather than good. He had some nice touches, but he jibbed an attempt at a mark and it just sends all the wrong signals. Absolute borderline for Rd 1 IMO. Moloney did a few things. Still rusty but went hard and should improve. Bate was fairly quiet. Much less run and carry. More kicking. I thought our movement was good from defence but we struggled to find the killer pass up forward. More often than not we bombed away to packs. The ball invariably hit the deck but with Davey further up the ground there were no real crumbers and the Tigers ran it away. We need to work on delivering the ball to a crowded forward line. Impressive start, but nothing to get too excited about in the second half. We always had their measure but they had a few out and they are hardly going to be pushing the top sides this year.

So why are you concerned about a 58-point loss in Mt Gambier without half our side when in the past pre-season beltings have proved absolutely nothing as to form come the season proper?

2002: Pre-season Rd 1 St Kilda Saints (16.13 109) Melbourne Demons (5.11 41) Pre-season Rd 2 Brisbane Lions (12.8 80) Melbourne Demons (10.11 71) Pre-season Rd 3 Adelaide Crows (22.10 142) Melbourne Demons (4.11 35) Rd 1 Real season Hawthorn Hawks (15.13 103) Melbourne Demons (20.9 129) Yep, pre-season results are indicative of where a team is at.

I've always thought overuse was a product of pressure, rather than a game plan. Which coach tells his players, "right guys, today I want you to chip it around and handball and go backwards and sideways and make mistakes overusing the ball"? Teams get caught out overusing the ball because of the other team's pressure. They have less time with the ball, panic and make mistakes. They don't have room to get a kick so they handball. They lose confidence and don't want to take risks and make mistakes so they go backwards or sideways to a safe option. You always hear commentators criticising teams for overuse of the footy and then saying that when they do go direct, they usually win. It's a bit of chicken and egg. Intense pressure forces overuse.

Round 4 Melbourne v Fremantle MCG Beautiful

Obviously you didn't see Paul Williams play. Calm down guys - it's a practice match - the scores are irrelevant. I'm just interested in the progress of the younger players and guys like Moloney who haven't played in a while.

In regards to Lance Franklin I would like to see us play Bruce on him when we meet. I'm yet to see Franklin dominate a game with powerful overhead marking. He gets most of his goals at ground level or on the lead. He needs a mobile opponent. I'm also not convinced with his attitude. He loves a goal (possibly too much) and does not appear to show any respect for his opponent. Bruce could run off him and really hurt him. It's similar to the Tarrant tactic last year.

I don't think any definitive statements on players can be made based on a NAB Cup game. What impressed me was that when the heat was on, we had Hawthorn's measure despite missing a number of key midfielders. That's what H&A footy is like, not like the last quarter when we ran out of legs and Hawthorn were pretty much doing as they pleased. Franklin has amazing athleticism but I hope he enjoyed the lattitude he received in the last quarter. He'll have to work a lot harder for his goals come the real stuff. My favourite moment was when Campbell gave Ward a late one and Wardy came back at him and delivered a couple lovely blows. Campbell took a while to get up and then had to come off because he was groggy. Was great seeing this try-hard tough guy cop one and Ward standing up for himself. Might cost him a week or two but I enjoyed it I thought it was a good early season hit-out. A few players will need to really lift to make the Rd 1 team but I was fairly pleased with what I saw.

Good post carnthedees. I too think Biz is competing with the other "third tall" options. His game is suited to the bigger forwards even if he is outsized. A little quick runner would be a tough gig. If Holland is wanted for the gorilla, Biz will be in trouble. If no gorilla, he is then competing with the likes of Frawley, Warnock, Ferg, etc. for that extra tall defender. I don't think a backline of three talls plus Biz is well balanced. I want our other three options to be able to run.

B: Whelan Carroll Frawley HB: Bell Rivers CJ C: Green McDonald Brown HF: Dunn Miller Bate F: Pickett Robertson Yze R: Jamar Bruce Jones INT: Bizzell Buckley PJ Ward Godfrey (one of Holland/Ferg/Warnock) Would like some younger midfielders in there but McLean, Sylvia, Moloney, Petterd (probably) and Bartram are out. Older blokes like Ward, Brown and Godders are therefore needed to fill the void. You can't go too tall in the NAB Cup - it will be hot and you need plenty of runners. The other option is to go really young and play Weetra or Hayes instead of Brown/Ward/Godders. From only a glimpse yesterday, Hayes does not look ready. Weetra showed a little bit but I don't know whether he is at a "Bartram" stage to play straight away. I see no point in playing Neitz, other than for structural reasons. He never has a big pre-season and does not really need the extra game. If he does play, I'd drop Miller to the bench and remove Holland/Ferg/Warnock.

Just to add a few things: - Really like Dunn - his movement, foot skills, awareness and goal nous are impressive. He does need to improve his aggression at the footy, especially when it is at ground level. He can take the easy option and go to ground rather than keeping his feet. He is a big kid and needs to exert some physical presence. He's very young so there's time for that and experience and confidence will help in this regard. Miller has this aggression, but Dunn shades him in just about all other areas. - Our ruck stocks are thin. Big, big trouble if Jamar or White go down. - Bell was good but he was hardly facing top opposition. I am a huge Bell fan but I'm not reading too much into him demolishing Newton. - Thought Yze showed a bit more of a defensive mindset with a couple good tackles, which is positive. - Love Bate - a big, powerful midfield machine. - CJ is a class act and looks like he is getting better and should really put his name forward for best 22 during the NAB Cup. ATM he is not best 22 but he should be knocking the door down if his form/improvement continues.