TeamPlayedFine39

Whoops! I've been blaming Stevie J all these years for being the one who did this...

He plays with a maturity well beyond his years and a physicality well beyond his physical stature. When viewing the footage of him at TAC level and seeing him run around over preseason, I was thinking there's no way he is going to be able to play this style straight-up in the AFL. Since round one though he has been an animal at the contest and habitually puts much larger, grown men on their backsides. A pure footballer. Gun.

Jeffy played himself into some form yesterday. Was rushing and fumbling everything early, but after he jagged his first, the confidence returned. He's been a fantastic pick-up and was exactly what we needed in our forward half; we now threaten in the air and when the ball finds the turf. Has speed and nouse and hopefully many more years in the red and blue!

In my time anyway, melbourne's never really had huge accumulators of the ball. We've had damaging midfielders, but not ones pulling in the massive numbers that bernie has been the last month.

I think there's maybe been better since, but that win was almost a carbon copy of this weekend. Decimated by injuries, written off by all, hoodoo team on a cursed ground.

He also yelled out 'He ducked!' during the second quarter- it was comical. Not only that, but at least twice today he failed the basic addition/subtraction and hit the margins wrong, very wrong.

He looks a little lost to me or even down on confidence. He has spent an entire pre-season preparing to follow up and excellent 2014 in the backline, only to now find himself switched forward again. For someone who's always appeared to be a natural forward, he appears all at sea

Jimmy's problem has never been his effort. It's great to see his team mates looking for him in space and using him well. His hard running and understanding of the game-plan, speed or AFL and leading patterns are paying off. He's also got a bit more pace than he's given credit for and is getting a bit of separation on his opponents.

I would take Aish in an instant. Last year's form is a better reflection of his ability as a footballer; and that form was very, very promising.

Takes a good grab because when marking overhead, he pulls the ball down to his chest as quick as he can; almost snatches it. Doesn't give opponents the chance to punch it out.

He's a garn! Reminds me of Travis Boak. Very confident he'll be a long term contributor to the MFC. Well done Gus!

After the bye for mine. No rush at this stage but love his form and attitude.

Very true - and Paul Roos agrees with you. Our bad is very bad, but when we're good, it's the best football we've played since '06. It's not the electric, fast running, all one way Bailey style; it's a hard, sustainable brand that could stand up in finals. We are a while off doing it week in, week out though. I had such high hopes this would be a positive thread... It seems there's many people on this site who do not enjoy football...

This site has violent mood swings! Last week it was like Mardi Gras in here, this week it's like a funeral home. The game has changed a lot since 2007 and, particularly last year we had a coach and game plan that was intentionally trying to keep the scores in matches low. Unfortunately, this style kept the opposition AND our scores very low. While an interesting (and somewhat depressing) read it doesn't paint the full picture. Part of the picture? Certainly. However there's so much more to our game and club than those numbers- that's what keeps forums such as this churning.

And he's taken the resting mid-fielder when they've gone forward- exemplifying his versatility.

Unfortunately he's a free agent so we won't be able to trade for him. With that said, we don't have another player to take his place. He can play tall or small, shut down or attacking. (Been a favourite of mine since 2008 when he and Aussie were our only 2 shining lights)

Playing a role and is a leader at the club- has demonstrated this leadership on field and the players speak glowingly of him off field. He is playing somewhat out of position, but he has a bug body and some dash- two things we desperately need in the middle.

He is a priority IMHO. Howe is a marketing boon for a club and the kids love him. Garland is much more valuable to our tem.

Does Sam Frost have turf toes like Aaron Sandilands had a couple of years ago..? IIRC Sandi had an indefinite return date for much of the season as it's a very difficult injury to get right.

We're dating the hottest girl in class- stop thinking she's gonna dump you and enjoy her while she's yours!

I would probably have all of them in the 22 Round 1 2016...

Only fair that Brayshaw gets the Norm Smith after Hogan gets the Rising Star. Sharing is caring.

Well done Jesse! One can never take the Rising Star Award too seriously - just take it for the bit of fun that it is. With that said, he is the most talented Demon since Schwarz; he will win us a lot lot of games off his own boot.

Is this suggesting that decent, tolerant, kind human beings, who go about their business accepting people for who they are, not what the happen to look like are not entitled to be disgusted by the backward, ignorant and vile racism that flashes it's face at times in this country? Unless you've donated money or joined a protest march, you can't express your disappointment at the discriminatory opinions of others?? Voicing your objection is how change comes about.

I think it's very difficult to measure the effectiveness and necessity of a ruckman by statistics alone. Yes, Sandilands won the overwhelming majority of taps and Freo only shaded Adelaide in the clearances. However, suppose Jacobs wasn't there to apply the physical pressure to Sandi? Those taps would have been essentially uncontested and would have been easily directed the right down the throat of Fyfe, Barlow, Mundy and co. In many cases you need your ruckman to make a contest and apply pressure to the hitout.