Bay Riffin

Never have called for Newton to come in before, but i think we have little option. If he got some confidence, maybe he could do a role for us. Next week will be tough with the pies backline. If he has found form, then we have little choice.

not a bad prediction. This from demonology...we lost to bombers 2nds by 12 goals... Maric: Good,busy Bail: Good. Martin: Reasonably good in variety of roles. Healey: Good T Mac,& Cheney: tight and some run Hughes Good to very good Watts: Got better as game progressed and classy when he got it. "Juice:".. Our best with 4 goals something. Apparently his contested marks and pressure were exemplary. Also, Casey lost.

listening to Bailey after the match at the press conference. You would think we weren't shallacked today, and lost by a couple of goals. the score flattered us. Would have thought a public statement that what we produced is unnacceptable is needed here. Just wonder if he has got the balls required to demand we play winning football. That was pathetic today.

Nailed it perfectly. This is our game plan all right.

We wanted him, and think he will probably go ok, but really happy we didn't go for him at that price. I always thought why on earth we went for he and Alwyn Davey at that time. Neither were to play in a premiership IMO. Alwyn is self evident now, and I think Warnock will be easily pushed aside by stronger ruckman. I would rather the old fashioned ruckman, as St Kilda have shown with King. The rules now favour bigger bodies, not skinny blokes.

Ideally we want Scully, Blease, Strauss, Bennell, Watts to make it as they are all what you would call 'express'. If our high draft picks come off we should end up with a very fast team.

I think Hawthorn getting Roughhead, Buddy by bottoming out, Luke Hodge as no 1 pick to name a few were crucial to Hawthorns rise up the ladder. Can't say high draft picks don't make a huge difference. pick 5 in 2004 kicked 100 goals in 2008 and fair to say would not have been picked if Hawthorn had no priority pick. It must be noted they also had 2 first round priority picks. They cleaned up nicely a few years ago.

spoke to him 2 weeks ago at the Essendon game. looks strong and looks like he has put on weight. still looks a young bloke.

a desginated kicker doesn't work. in todays quick game you need a few who can pick up the ball and kick to a free man immediately. we just appeared to wait too often. I agreed Strauss had some options short but wasn't confident enough to hit up the target. I thought the weagles were more disciplined throughout the game. we did ok first half but then just fell away, sadly again.

Well it would be handy if he knew a little as the best players are in the under 20s bracket for us. everything he said was obvious, and hardly insightful. His one saving grace is he appeared to know about the older players, something that makes you stand out in journalism today.

when asked about Gysberts, he said he hasn't seen him play. Not the most riveting read.

Great news. This kid can play. Happy for him to play back, especially to get him back into the swing of AFL. After all, like Grimes that is where he has made a name for himself in his short career so far. I like our defence but we need some extra pace as well. He adds that factor. If he starts in the early rounds, we could be laughing here. In reality with a year out and little pre-season, you would expect a conservative introduction through Casey. Playing next week for a half sounds great though. Just out of interest tingles, what happened with the hot spot that appeared a while back ? was it precautionary, as a lot of people feared the worst, seeing players like Egan succumb to foot injuries.

It is disappointing as he was probably the most watchable player of late, but the real factor for me is the amount of injuries. Late last year, despite all the tanking talk we had 20 plus injuries and when young blokes like Blease and Strauss were ready to take advantage of opportunities they went down as well. Surprisingly we didn't seem to drop off and stayed competitive with half the list down, albeit in some lower intensity games towards the end. I still think we will have depth in the qaulity of youngsters across the board, most of who will get a chance, as long as we can stop long term injuries happening to say 10 plus players. For instance we hear Garland is back next week for his first game, Wonna and Bate are back to playing again, with Watts a week or two away (like a mirage isn't it). In reality they are some quality youngsters to come back. My hope is they can play 15-20 games. In reality I am disappointed but I would need a few more than just Jurrah to go down to take away the enthusiasm for 2010. love Jurrah but we shouldn't be relying on 1 pre-season draft pick for success. We usually do well with rookie and pre-season picks, but time has come to develop the high graft picks and create some A-graders, and 1 or 2 elite players. As for the forward line, I believe if we can get as many forward 50 entries as our opponents get this year, our forward line can convert and win games.

Rivers has time and again been torched by smaller fast players. He is not quick and much better in the air and playing on talls. Where he comes into his own is knowing when to peel off and when to defend.

Saw him on Saturday. he said he will be in full training in 3 weeks. I found it surprising Bailey said on SEN this week that Blease will play mid year. thought he would be earlier than that. maybe they are being conservative. that's a year and a half before he even starts !!

McKenzie ?

went to the game and this is my take on it: Came away a lot happier than the perth game. my gut feel was there is something there. The biggest difference was Jamar today gave us first use of the ball when he rucked. He moved well and played a fair chunk of the match, probably over half I would say. My summary on some of the players are as follows: Jamar – surprisingly good against Hille and Ryder and beat them. Easily our number one ruck. Grimes – killed it today, kicking goals and racked up possessions. Used it well generally. Showed a bit of toe. Sylvia – excellent in the wet in the first half and cameos thereafter. Agree he looks cherry ripe for a big year. Scully – canned for his kicking on this site, don’t know why because his kicking was ok. Missed occasionally but generally good by foot, some short passes were very good. He got to the ball but we have no idea how to use him yet. Often caught as he was ready, shaping for a handpass often, but had to hold onto it, or take on 3 blokes without support. Trengove – good early but not a lot of it today. Used the ball well. Morton – thought he was good and showed real guts to go back with the flight and got injured. Frawley – excellent. Did most things right and was aggressive all day. Warnock – disappointing. Looks down on confidence. Ryder turned him inside out and his disposal was average. Rivers – not a lot to notice but generally good. Strauss – kicking at times was superb. Low rocket passes were effective. Also quite quick and reckon they will be happy for him to develop like he is at present. Bennell- undecided about him. Has the attributes of a good footballer, worried Davey out of it a lot today but turnovers cost us dearly. Takes the game on though so that is forgiveable for now. Maric – good game. Gets canned on here but don’t know what game people are watching. He was good today, very competitive and nice mover. Used it well. Only thing is he lacks a yard for a goal sneak. Martin – terrible at times, then really good, then terrible again. If only he could kick !!! MacDonald – led our backline early when we were in disarray. We need this bloke right now, was aggressive, hard with ok disposal. Won’t be a world beater but important for us if Davey and Grimes can spend less time trying to mop up down back. p.s spoke to Sam Blease and he said he is 3 weeks away from full training and maybe another 3 weeks till playing, so expect him out there in the early rounds. Looks very fit.

I stood near him in the crowd and he is not trim. Don't know how we let a player bulk up like that. Disappointing.

ok here are my notes form todays game. I am surprised I must say from the negative backlash from posters today on skill level and certain players. I was out at Casey last year when Aussie was BOG and how times have changed. It was clearly better than last year. One year later and i made the trip down again and I thought I would watch the new recruits specifically and here is my report: Bennell - one of the best today, seemed to be in amongst it a lot, very fit and very evasive. When he dodges and it comes off, it created a huge advantage for his team. When he got caught, the turnover was the exact opposite, He succeded many times, failed only a couple. Top marks Scully - unsighted early on a wing, came into his own, especially when moved into the middle. complete natural, fast hands, excellent skills and reading of the play, only hampered by the club playing him outside the guts most of the time. once on ball he showed he is a great reader of the play. Played on a confident Trengove in the last quarter on the outer wing. When they were about to bounce he sprinted off Trengove to half back, playing the odds the opposition ruckman / midfield would win the clearance. A confident Trengove stayed put but looked on. Scully was right, he ended up where the ball was. Grimes - bigger then I thought was second BOG and didn't put a foot wrong really. Reports I read of him stuffing up were early in the first quarter are a bit harsh were hardly damaging to his team. Overall he was EXCELLENT. Cheney - Solid. Uses his body well and seems to do the right things. Strauss - A little disappointing for me. He uses it well but did not seem to impose himself enough. Beautiful kick, but not quite convinced as yet. Maric - People bag him, but looks fit, got more of the ball than most think but was part of team that was getting slaughtered early on. little disappointed he didn't impose himself a lot, but 2 or 3 goals showed his class. Trengove - Easily the pick of the youngsters. NOBODY last year had the crowd in ooohs and aaahss, the closest being Aussie. Jurrah had them clapping and applauding in pieces, but Trengove had the crowd oooohing and aaaring with everything he did. Must say it was impressive today. I've seen his highlights reel, and today showed that agian. i was a nice surprise. Marking, evasiveness, composure and most importantly kicking skills were superb. Should we get excited ? answer = Yes. Gysberts - Surprised he looked tall but quite skinny. no great presence, but seemed to find himself in the action a lot and just doesn't fumble much. Very clean but didn't stand out. Seems a good reader of the play. Wonaeamirri - stood near him in the crowd on the outer wing and looks quite unfit to me. Surprising because I reckon he was BOG and look fit and very conditioned last year. Sounds harsh, but he is just not fit enough at the moment. Weird given where he was 12 months ago. (a full year of injuries though). Morton- Good by the end but poor early. Doesn't have that physical body language of someone about to take it to the next level. sounds funny but you know when some are about to go the next level. He isn't. On todays performance that is, but still expect another good year. Mckenzie - loved his game. not always racking it up, but his disposal was excellent IMO. hope he gets promoted off the rookie list this year. Frawley - Excellent, just excellent. Great defensively 1 on 1, fast rebounding as well, and becoming a general down back along with Grimes. Martin - very disappointing for me. heard he had a full pre-season but lacked confience early and Jamar smashed him in the ruck. Did a couple of good things late in the match though he was ordinary as a ruckman.

If you want to know how to get Casey Fields, try this link to google maps below and type in you suburb in the 'A' or 'from' area. Then press the DIRECTIONS button. It will show you the direct route . (copy the whole URL below and don't click on the hyperlink - it doesn't work due to full stops in the URL) http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Melbourne&daddr=-38.119432,145.329208+to:Casey+Fields+Entrance+%40-38.11636003532337,145.30723571777344&hl=en&geocode=%3B%3BFfhjuv0dZDapCA&mra=dpe&mrcr=0&mrsp=1&sz=11&via=1&sll=-38.017263,145.225525&sspn=0.316461,0.527344&ie=UTF8&ll=-37.965313,145.168533&spn=0.443898,0.606995&z=11

http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/7415/newsid/89338/default.aspx Good to hear more good news on 3 of our very promising youngsters in Blease, Wonna and Garland. Let's hope they continue the progress. if we get all 3 pushing for selection this year, I think we will be happy.

I like Cheney, he seems to me to a natural footballer. I am not convinced about his pace but his aerial skills and reading of the play are very good, with accountability being a weak spot. Happy to keep him on the list and see if he flourishes in a team that gets stronger. You never know, he has attributes of a Clement who wasn't rated highly early on in his career at Freo, but became a top defender. Good size, good body work and composed. We do need pace in the backline though. We have the makings of a great defence but not overly quick (Frawley excepted).

The podcast is up already if you want to listen to it.... http://www.sportsentral.com/pro/main/Podcasts.aspx Very enthusiastic. big raps for Trengove and Scully, reckons they are ready to play straight away with the occasional rest. Thought it interesting he didn't put forward Jamar as the number 1 ruck and said its up for grabs. probably ties in with us giving him only a one year deal. Also said our ruck is our biggest weakness.

Yes that would be interesting?

Bate was very consistent last year, and I think makes the difficult look straight forward, that's the problem I think in him being underrated. I watched him in our intra club last year on valentines day, and Frawley played on him. Frawley was all over him, he looked too quick, too strong and beat him in the one on one marking contests, but somehow, especially in heavy traffic, Bate lost his man and was able to find space on his own, usually by reading the play more quickly, especially from turnovers. I thought Frawley did everything right as well. Bate has the football smarts most of us here crave in our players, and appears to methodically get a little better each year. 4th in and the best and fairest as a half forward is pretty special when you think about it. not the easiest position to play in a weak side. A key position forward? I truelly doubt that. he doesn't play tall even if his height looks ok. Great if he did, but he is providing great service as a half forward right now.