Axis of Bob

White shorts signifies that we are the away team. White jumper also signifies that we are the away team. It has a nice symmetry to it.

I would say that it shows that we are still willing to develop players rather than going all out just for victory. Cale is in our best 22, has played very good footy as an outside midfielder and is probably best suited to playing up forward. But Bailey is still working hard to teach him the defensive side of AFL footy. He's been playing him in defence, giving him tagging jobs on people like Adam Goodes, sending him to the VFL despite games that people would consider to be good. But Bailey has obviously got him working on specific things that he needs to improve and he is determined to make him learn them even if the team is worse off for it in the short term. Imagine Cale Morton running free through the forward line yesterday a la Jurrah and Watts - with his engine and finishing he'd have kicked a bag. Watts has played up the ground since he came to the club rather than throwing him up deep forward. His work rate at the start was poor and was costing us at times, but he is getting much better at that and we can see the huge improvements in his game. We'll see the benefits of that in years to come. Development is not stopping just because we're starting to win games. Bailey still has his eyes on the prize, and finals this year is not the main one.

.... from an interchange infringement!

Moore is just doing what he needs to do. They got beaten and everyone is talking up the youth of the Dees, and Richmond obviously thought they were a big chance to beat us. When we leant on them in the last quarter we got away from them, but he's saying what he wants to hear and what his supporters want to hear. He knows that we are a rising force so he wants to piggyback with us. I don't see it as disrespectful, but rather I see it as a sign of great respect that he is hoping that they can be seen in the same light as we are. Of course we know that we have more talent than Richmond, but that's beside the point.

He desperately needs a preseason and he has still has plenty to work on. But he sure has a whole heap of talent. I hope he plays and learns.

I think you'll find that you've heard it all before. It's like the football version of watching Today Tonght/A Current Affair. Or, more appropriately, Frontline.

We need more symbolism, more ruthlessness, less change, less accepting second best and less accepting mediocrity!!!! The colour of the jumper is vitally important and this is just another example of the big clubs and the AFL walking over us!! Am I right?!?

Interesting that Paul Newman, former MFC rookie, kicked 10 goals against for Kyabram in their 12 goal thumping of Shep Swans. Kicked 82 for the year. Some interesting names popping up when you look through a lot of the teams, especially the top teams.

I wouldn't be surprised if Garland went to Reiwoldt and Frawley played further away from goal. Garland has been absolutely fantastic on a whole range of players and I think he'd probably match up on him pretty well. He wasn't outmuscled by Fev last week and also had the pace to go with him. What it also does is allow Frawley to play the rebounding defender which he has started doing really well. Look at the way Geelong set up, or the Bulldogs. They have the two best full backs in the league, but they often play on the second best forwards while Taylor and Morris/Williams take the number 1 forward. It wouldn't surprise me if we set up that way. Obviously Frawley is probably our best bet on him at the moment defensively, but does his attacking run from defence mean that he's more valuable being released (since Garland is capable of doing the defensive job well)?

I really liked his game on the weekend. I thought it was a really positive step for him to compete with a guy like Gardiner and look pretty good against him in ruck contests. The co-ordination with really tall players can often take time. As they grow they have more control over their limbs and he's starting to fill out. This is something that will naturally improve with time. What he does have is really good aggression for the ruck contests and great competitiveness. As the game becomes more about the quick transitions and games played at high speed, the role of a ruckman around the ground becomes less important. What is important is their ability to influence the contests in close through aggression and bodywork, just like Jamar has been doing this year. Spencer works hard around the stoppages and is actually very good in ruck contests, which is unusual this early in a project ruckman's career. Look at Darren Jolly, the poster boy for aggressive tap ruckmen, in his first games and see how effective he was in the ruck. He played 22 games in his first 2 years, averaging 5.2 hitouts per game. Jake is younger than Jolly at that point is his career and is averaging 11.4 hitouts per game, include games of 16, 20 and 17 (this weekend) hitouts, all of which were better that any of Jolly's first 22 games. As for disposals, it wasn't until 2008 that Jolly averaged more than 10 disposals a game. Spencer averages 6.9 at the moment, which isn't too bad for a player of his style at this stage of his career and his age. People judge these sorts of players far too early. He looks uncoordinated, so people automatically judge that he's no good and no amount of what he actually does will change their opinion. I think Spencer was good on the weekend for the most part, very promising at stages, and I'm very happy with how he is progressing.

You have time to respond to that post but not any of the others. You even had time to respond to a post to specifically say that you didn't have time to respond to his posts. Insecure much? Tee hee.

The interesting thing is that if any player with no record was done for any one of those incidents then he would have copped 2 weeks reduced to 1 with a guilty plea. The fact that he's got a shocking record means that the two weeks become 3. Loosely multiplied by 4 means he gets 12 all up. If he was suspended for any one of those incidents, given his record, for 3 weeks then nobody would have said boo.

We changed the game plan after the first 2 goals yesterday by throwing Morton loose behind the ball. Seemed that this plan B worked OK.

Interesting to note that in the final minutes, when the game was there to be won, Bailey had Morton playing deep in attack. And I don't think it was because they were trying to hide him!!

If the ball is 'like a cake of soap' then surely there will be more stoppages. If there are more stoppages then the role of a ruckman is more important. Especially the choice of a tap ruckman in Spencer over a mobile ruckman like Johnson.

IIRC, he actually said Gysberts was an 'outstanding' young mid. On my, albeit very subjective, list I'd have 'outstanding' ahead of 'terrific' - especially from a coach.

At the risk of comparing Jack to another draftee, I thought that it was very interesting to look at Jarrad Grant playing for the Bulldogs on Friday night. Grant is similar in style to Watts with his good speed and slight build as a key forward, but obviously not as skilled. Grant was drafted the pick after Cale Morton, but has played about half a dozen games compared with Morton's 40 games. People are assuming he was a bust, but he looked really good on Friday. Watts should be better than that, but it's interesting that he's taken a bit of extra time to start looking good while the midfielder with great endurance (Morton) has looked the goods from day 1. That may not make any difference to the thread, but it's interesting to note.

Jayceebee, I am absolutely convinced that we really lacked the sort of height in the forward line that could only have been provided by drafting ........ Serhat Temel!!!! Bring in Serhat!!

Admittedly we lost to that overrated mob in round 1. Comfortably. We are a very young team. We are playing some good footy at the moment but the only consistent thing with young teams is inconsistency. I am enjoying this at the moment, but with all these kids you just don't know what's going to happen. I haven't gone into any game this year with any expectation one way or another. We could play really well and beat them by 10 goals, or we could play horribly and get belted by 10 goals, or anything in between.

Looking forward to the return of Morton. With us starting to move the ball the way we are I would think he's going to be one of the main beneficiaries. When we surge from defence he is often the one that surges faster over distance than anyone else, enabling us to get an extra man to overlap when we handball. The only player that rivals him is Scully in this respect. Alternatively, with an open forward line, if he plays forward he will almost always be the first player to push into the empty forward line. He's perfect for the type of game we're trying to play because of his running and ball use.

Funnily enough, for similar appearing players, their games have improved for almost opposing reasons, although inextricably linked. Moloney has been playing as a true clearance midfielder and he has been winning a heap of them. He is ranked 4th in the league for clearances and 2nd for 1st possessions. He's using his big body for good, rather than evil! He's tackling really well too inside traffic, which is good because his defensive ability has been a concern of mine. Jones, on the other hand, has largely been able to play a more outside midfielder role than previously - possibly even because of Moloney's form. He has been doing his best damage as the sort of ultra hard running outside midfielder that is needed. He's cleaning up his ball use and been very effective.

rpfc, these are the same people who were screaming for us to 'just kick it'!! Just listen to the press conferences in 2008: - "need to be more competitive" = high intensity tackling and pressure all over the ground. - "turned the ball over too much" = we couldn't execute our high possession gameplan well enough. - "need to take more risks" = players weren't running forward hard enough when we got the ball. Suddenly we are 'more competitive', don't 'turn the ball over' and 'take risks' and people talk about how we've changed the gameplan. It is, fundamentally, the same plan. Look at the players we have drafted in the national draft since Bailey arrived: Morton, Grimes, Maric, McNamara, Cheney, Watts, Blease, Strauss, Bennell, Jetta, Bail, Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Tapscott, Gawn and Fitzpatrick. Of those players, only the last two picked (Gawn and Fitzpatrick) and Watts have not been skilled running players. Players who run the footy and hit targets. Players who are capable of playing a high intensity, high risk running game that Bailey has been trying to implement. People used to joke about Alistair Clarkson's handball heavy gameplan in 2005. Then suddenly he was a genius in 2008 when his team were able to execute it properly. The media will write what the public wants to hear. And people want their lives and issues in easily digestible chunks. Trying to look closely at a gameplan is too big for them to swallow, especially when it's easier to just claim that there is none.

Dappa, Jamar is a very different player to Johnson. Jamar was always a good ruckman who struggled around the ground with his workrate. Jamar has actually been very good since 2008, however he missed a bit of footy last year so was out of sight out of mind. His ruckwork remains his strength, it's just that people are recognising his work a lot more now. Johnson is more of a running ruckman who struggles in the ruck. He's now pushing towards 26 years old (less than a year younger than Jamar) and playing second fiddle in the VFL to Spencer. The game is trending towards the stronger ruckmen rather than the linking ruckman due to the speed of ball movement - the ruckman is more like a spectator now in open play and his importance is in the stoppages. Jamar needed to get his workrate up to AFL level, but he had all of the 'big man' tools. Johnson's running is fine, but I don't see how he can develop the 'big man' skills quickly enough to be an AFL ruckman. What do you think?

If Jamar gets injured, then I would think that Spencer is the obvious choice as a first choice ruckman. Johnson only went into the ruck because Spencer was injured in the last quarter, which I think indicates the pecking order.

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