Scoop Junior

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.

While players betting on AFL matches is clearly wrong, surely there is another issue involving match-fixing that crops up every year. The AFL system rewards winning less than a certain amount of games. How many times do we see teams in the bottom few spots on the ladder play all their youngsters and send their best players in for early surgery with a few rounds to go in the season? There are incentives to drop such games to obtain a higher and/or priority draft pick and the incentives are there for top level management rather than one player as is the case with betting. I am not saying that the AFL shouldn't take this gambling issue seriously. But it is a little hypocritical to wholeheartedly promote "integrity" when there are things such as the draft system and fixture that compromise the game's integrity each year.

There is a misconception that playing a good player in the backline is defensive. Fair enough if they get dragged to the last line, but otherwise it can be an attacking move. You can generate a fair bit of run from behind the ball. Remember Bruce on Tarrant? Heath Black on Pickett? You can exploit the lazy forward and use your backman as an attacking weapon.

The issue is not whether Bizz can play. He can. Rather, it's where he fits into the side. I like Bizzell. Composed, clever, good kick, tough, gives his all and reads the play well. But we appear to be building a team with plenty of run from behind the ball. Bizz lacks pace and there appear to be better options for this type of a role. As Old says, he then must play on a tall/medium sized forward and given he is only 6"2, he may struggle if the opposition load talls in their forward line. Against a side with three big forwards, you'd look at Holland possibly to play and take one of the big guys. Against a side with a smaller forward line, you'd look at Bell who has the pace to match it with the smaller forwards. Bizzell at this stage is a better player than Bell and Holland, but it does come down to balance and because of his lack of height and pace, he may find it hard to squeeze into the back six. Good player? Yep. But does he fit into the balance of the back six?

I believe it is all based on the best teams at the relevant times. The focus of the 2000-2004 period was on strong bodies - Essendon and Brisbane leading the way with their strongly built midfielders and flankers. 2005-2006 has seen a shift to a more running game with WCE, Adelaide and Sydney covering plenty of ground as their midfielders and flankers run hard up and down the ground. The current trend is endurance but strong bodies cannot be ignored. It's easy to look at WCE and Sydney and see running machines, but you cannot ignore the impact of Judd, Kerr, Cousins, Bolton, Kirk and other strong-bodied players who perform a key role with their grunt inside the packs. It obviously helps when you have someone like Judd who is brilliant inside and outside, but there's no doubt that come finals, inside grunt cannot be completely sacrificed in favour of a running game. We have probably over-emphasised the strong-bodied type and are now trying to re-adjust to get a better balance.

Turning circle is one element of athleticism and PJ may not have the greatest turning circle, but there are other elements like ability to get down low, trap the ball below the knees and general co-ordination when moving around. PJ is very good at these aspects. His big man skills let him down and this may be the reason he won't make it.

Good report tigger. This quote caught my eye though. Neaves more athletic than PJ? I don't think there are many players the size of PJ who are more athletic.

Correct. Slip of the tongue (or should that be finger). I meant Daniel Hayes. Bell: Belly was ok, but still made one of those typical blues when he runs into trouble, hesitates, tries to get around and is then caught. I'm a big wrap for Bell but he definitely needs work on his awareness and decision making. Awareness is something that is usually natural and is difficult to teach, but hopefully in Bell's case he can focus on becoming more decisive when he has the ball.

Not a huge amount of game time...roughly three 10-12 minute periods. Bartram, Bate, Davey, Godfrey, TJ, Pickett (save for 10 minutes), Sylvia, Wheatley, Bode and Hayes did not play. I thought Nathan Jones was the stand-out. He was opposed to Brock. Won a lot of footy and was ferocious at the ball. Ran hard up and down the ground. Liked the look of Frawley. Showed a heap of confidence in carrying the footy and a good turn of speed. Ran past to get the handball back, something you don't often see of a 192cm defender. Excellent mover. Kicking is awkward but whether that affects the delivery is another thing. He was practising his kicking after training with the video cameras. Also liked the look of Petterd. He stands his ground and took a couple nice overhead grabs. Like Frawley, moves well. Junior got quite a bit of footy, while CJ found a bit of it and used it well. He could be important off HB/wing with his precise delivery. Rivers was very good and was composed as usual. White was forward for most (all?) of the session. Good to see Moloney back out there and in amongst it. He'll get confidence from each competitive run. Neaves looked quite slow and was lapped by PJ when chasing after a loose ball. Bruce cruised through and Dunn took a few marks out on the lead. It was a pretty sloppy hit-out. Skills weren't great but that's usual for this time of year. It was pretty competitive and the boys were throwing themselves in, especially early in the game. But you can't read too much into these types of "match simulation" sessions. I noticed a fair few players dropping back into defence to fill the hole. Running teams like Freo and WCE run from behind the ball and that looked like a bit of a focus with some specialised drills focusing on moving the ball out of defensive 50m from a throw-in. It was probably also used to test the ability to spot up targets in a crowded forward line. I'm sure Bob, Kev and Redleg will add their thoughts.

Powerhouse may be in the sense that those four teams have won the most flags. While Richmond may have a bigger fan base than us, we are in the top four in terms of the most successful on-field clubs. Just a pity it's been a while between drinks!

Disagree that Bell lacks skills. His skills are very good. I agree that his awareness is not great and he definitely needs to work on his decision making. But if he does make the right decision, the skill execution is usually spot on. Dunn has more tools to be a better footballer than Miller. He needs to get more aggressive and I'd like to see him charge through more often. But he has that natural forward's instinct to be in the right place at the right time and bob up for a few goals. Miller doesn't possess this attribute and has to work bloody hard for his goals. Admittedly he pushes up the ground, but he hasn't really displayed that nous around goals that Dunn has. As Fan says, Miller still has much to offer and they may well play different roles. I just feel that Miller is more predictable and easier to shut down while Dunn has the tools to add a few strings to his bow. NAB Cup form will be important but ATM Miller is ahead for the CHF spot.