Axis of Bob

Give it a rest, children. Stuie is right to question whether or not the comment was actually said, because it seems an ultra odd comment for an assistant coach to make, and we have heard many fabricated rumours on here. Also, the retort of 'you weren't there so you can't deny it' is not a good one. Just because I wasn't at the royal wedding doesn't mean that I'll believe someone when they say that the Queen gave Prince Phillip a wedgie.

Why? Back up your claim.

Salem does some nice things and I can see why he was drafted. His ability to move the ball in the air quickly by foot is one of the things that can break games open. The problem is that he's so tired when he kicks it that he's making poor skill errors. He'll be good, but he needs time to get his running up to AFL level. Currently the speed that we have to open games up with is in the form of Bail and M Jones .... not the most reliable ways to finish off good play. We really do need to find a finisher to help us break the play up a bit. I liked Grimes' game today. He was very solid defensively and won some important contests. Dunn was also excellent down back. What I really like was that there were some times where we turned the footy over in dangerous positions, but the we worked super, super hard to stop Collingwood scoring when that happened. There were 2 or 3 times where we should have been scored against, but that manic defensive intent shut down their options or forced them to stuff up. It was satisfying, and a really good base to build a team on. No excuse to stop learning.

That's better! PS- It's 'grammar'!

What you should be saying now is "Whoops! Ha ha, yeah but you know what I meant." What you're actually doing is getting angry with other people because you are embarrassed that you made an error. We all know it and your anger is just causing mare embarrassment. Just accept the error (which I found funny in a 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' kind of way), laugh and get on with life.

I assume you don't know what 'technically' means. 'Technically' was about the only word you couldn't have used in the context you used it. Nasher is correct in pointing out that your sentence was 'technically' incorrect. Although you are now pointing out that you have 'practically' no understanding of the english language.

I thought we were generally OK, but we didn't make the most of our opportunities in attack. Firstly, we were inaccurate which cost us momentum at times where we had it. Secondly, we didn't move the ball quickly enough when we had the opportunity to expose them. One thing that I really noticed, which has been an issue for a while, was that we often lacked the guy with explosive pace to open up the game when things were a bit stagnant. They were able to do it a few times with O'Brien and Swan, but we didn't have that element to break the play open in a low scoring game. Late in the game you could see Collingwood's older players running over us and some of our younger players couldn't keep the running going. Salem, especially, struggled to run out the game and I would think that he'll be at Casey next week to play some proper midfield minutes. Overall, it's encouraging but we have some holes in our team to fill.

I love the use of 'technically', especially how it is presented to mean the exact opposite of its actual meaning.

You and me both.

What if (because we're getting hung up on the specific differences with the Yankees) we didn't compare them to the Yankees, but instead the Boston Red Sox, who are the second biggest team in baseball. When you go to Boston you go to Fenway Park and buy a Red Sox hat. Until 10 years ago they hadn't won a World Series since 1918.

Nobody is saying that we have to be as big as the Yankees. That's ridiculous. However there are parts of what makes them successful as an enterprise that we can certainly look to use in our own situation. A football example would be that Dom Tyson plays like Pendlebury. Then half the people start screaming that he's not as good as Pendlebury, even though that's not being argued. We are not the Yankees, but we want to embrace a similar style.

Exactly. What Bartlett is saying is that everyone who goes to NY ends up with a Yankees hat because it is synonymous with New York City. He's saying that MFC has that intrinsic branding possibility, due to our name and history, but that we aren't positioning ourselves well enough to take advantage of it. He wants people who come to Melbourne to automatically jump on the MFC, because they are now Melburnians and therefor should support Melbourne. Part of that branding would be to make our emblem ore symbolic of Melbourne, so that it is immediately recognisable as being a team from Melbourne.

The best thing about Dom Tyson's hair is that it is attached to Dom Tyson.

We have clearly run out of scapegoats. It must be hard to get angry with Byrnes out of the team, especially with Watts and Pederson playing well. Some of the things being said about Grimes are simply false. He is excellent overhead. He very rarely loses a contest. He is strong (despite comments to the contrary) and quick. Add to this is he is a great runner, which is really important to a strong defence. The problem is when posters only look through the most basic of lenses. They see the occasional turnover and then try to justify why that player is bad. Grimes is so far in the positive balance with his contributions that it isn't funny. His actions on the field will be enormously respected by those who know: the coaches and his fellow defenders. He is a role player and he plays that role very well.

http://www.afl.com.au/video/2014-05-28/eyecatchers-round-one Round 1 Eye Catchers. Includes a tiny bit of vision of Billy Stretch towards the end.

The question should be "What would you be prepared to add to pick 4 to get Shiel?"

I just love the idea of Rainier Wolfcastle doing standup comedy. That 10 second set makes me laugh every time I think about it. "That's the joke" "The film is just me in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half. It cost $80 million. How do you sleep at night? On top of a pile of money with many beautiful ladies."

Strauss isn't a left footer. Strauss has a number of strengths. He's good good speed, is strong and a very good size. He's an excellent kick who can get the ball to travel quickly. That said, he has some things he needs to work on.

I really like the idea of Toumpas in defence. We often lack class bringing the ball out of defence and Toumpas is an excellent ball user who has a great tank. He's also good at reading the ball defensively from what I've seen, and decent overhead. If he can develop into a level headed, rebounding, ball using defender in the long term then it certainly fills a big hole for us.

People don't realise that the reason we are shutting teams down well and creating contests everywhere is because players all over the field are doing unfashionable hard work. Chasing, pressuring, tackling, harassing ..... I think that keeping those players who are creating this culture and backing it up several weeks in a row deserve to stay in the team unless either they stop doing those things, or somebody in the VFL absolutely smashes the door down with their performances. I think that we'll see no change again, but Salem will get a full game (just as JKH spent several games as a sub before getting a full game).

Agreed, Scoop. I would also add that while Grimes did a really good job on Griffen, we missed his influence in defence.

I thought Russian was tremendous for us tonight. Minson is a mountain and Jamar beat him comprehensively to give us first use consistently. With as many stoppages as we create, having a quality tap ruck man is very useful.

How would you know? You're just choosing to believe it because it's convenient.

Blease in would be a mistake. Byrnes is lacking, but he does work hard, do his defensive stuff and compete for the footy. Blease has talent, but needs to do the things that make his team mates trust him on the field. I was disappointed we lost, but mainly because I believed we were the better team out there. But you need to take your chances when they pop up, and we didn't. But we are so much better than we were.