Bay Riffin

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.

thanks jayceebee. Any reason you think Watts is a long way off? Is it lack of fitness, or not yet confident enough ? he seems to be still nursed through by Melbourne.

52K, how did Trengove and Gysberts train, if you can remember ?

I don't put Sylvia's imporvement down to Baileys game plan. He really had his first full year in 2008 after a decent pre-season and playing most games. It was always going to take a year to get back and then move forward in 2009, which he did. Very similiar to Rivers who had that full year in 2009, and can now launch into 2010 with some continuity and confidence in his body. Sylvia's style would be suited to most teams. he doesn't rely on just one element of his play. Brock I thought in 2009 was not up to AFL standard because of his lack of pace.

Tapscott is an unknown, but he looks to have the foot skills at least. I would think the football dept have Strauss, Maric, Grimes in their sights to play out a full year, and as much at senior level as possible. They should be ahead of the others, despite previous injuries, and with a good pre-seaon will be expecting them to cement a spot (perhaps in the midfield for Grimes). Blease is an interesting one and would love to know their expectations of him i.e whether they really expect senior footy this year. I would be thinking 2nd half of the year. Add to that Wonaeamirri and Garland as possible starters for round one, and already we have to squeeze out some newbies. A good position to be in, if this is the case, hopefully we have most of the list to choose from in round one !!

I think that is based on Tapscott looking physically stronger. We have no idea where his fitness is at. Interesting Williams named those 3 as possible round 1 starters. Gysberts if he has the tank could be every chance. He is a tall midfielder/utility, and although still a lighter build, should be able to handle himself. Will be interesting to see these guys up against the real opposition to see how they look. Still I would expect blokes like Maric in his third year to pushing ahead at this stage for the available spots in our team.

I make the comment on Mclean re: my thoughts prior to the trade. I loved him in 2006 and always thought he could reach those heights again. I must say though, in 2009 watching most of our games, just whether he was AFL standard anymore. His kicking was ok to me at times but would then disintegrate to rubbish passes at times also, but most of all I thought his lack of pace made him almost unemployable. Harsh words I know, but i ask regular supporters who really watch the games if they disagree ? I assumed he was always going to be with us given his donations(s) to debt demolition and comments in the media etc, but I really doubted his worth this year. It looked like he was gone. He missed a month of pre-season yes, but he was so slow, was that an excuse ?? I honestly think like Hawthorn getting rid of Jonathon Hay and Thompson, Travis and Brock will provide us with so much more. Time will tell

I was very keen on this bloke when he started. Tall, strong, very quick off the mark, great agility and good skills by hand. I thought here is a full back that would create a fabtastic mis-match in our favour. Given first go in defence, he was good at Casey doing his job, but seemed to get found out by some smart forwards at AFL level (Anthony and Roughhead come to mind) . He did tend to get turned inside out or lost in traffic too often for coaches to perservere with him, so he quickly found a second and third home at ruck and full forward. It's a shame as I do have doubts in his kicking as a full forward, but his ruck work has been clever at times, whilst giving away a little in height against the top ruckman. Right now I can see he will have to improve once more to maintain his position, especially if Jamar, Johnson stay unijured and one of Spencer/Gawn/Meeson start showing something. I think he has the ability to have a career at AFL but he needs to improve at least at the same rate so far. Personally I think he should still be groomed as a stopping backman, who can take a fast tall or small. Even if it takes another year at Casey learning the trade.

We will be on the lookout for a big body like Griffiths because number 1 forward or not, Jurrah will not be a key position player to base a team around. Even Bailey said he was surprised he has not put on weight since being in Melbourne. A big body, even like a Lynch at West Coast is what will fit into our structure. We need a more traditional full forward, as we will have the crumbers in Aussie, Maric, Davey, Jurrah to take advantage of the ball at ground level.

Of course we need a big bodied key forward. We will be competing with Hawthorn when our time comes and they have Buddy and Roughhead. We must get at least a strong body preferably at full forward who can play that role. It's a must especially as Watts has shown he can play on ball for stints, so it would be useful to have a big bloke to kick to.

The guy does look a real prospect, reminds me of Tippet a bit. Strong mark, very athletic, I can see why the hype. He looks more exciting to me than Carlisle as he looks stronger, more imposing and forceful.

really saw something in Jamar this year, for the games he got on the park. Much more confident. I think when he put his knee into Dean Brogans chest and he had to go off the ground, I saw something new in him. He has been showing some excellent tap work. Always thought his kicking style was ok and was somewhat vindicated with 5 goals against Carlton. I think this bloke is getting more confident, and might have a really good 2010 for us. Progressing like Jolly did slowly but surely. Let's keep this one. We need his bigger body too. not many heavy blokes at Melbourne.

Yes a real breakthrough game, and thought he looked very confident. i can see him being a player with plenty of mongrel and a touch of flair. Has the angry pills Jeff Farmer used to take, but hopefully not quite as hot collared.

24 goals in your first season is a sensational effort. simply sensational. can you name many forwards currently who have done that ? Would be a small handful I would suggest. No, this bloke is a natural footballer, looks to have a superb attitude given the condition he has come back in both last year and this year. With injuries behind him, he will be something to look forward to this year. He isn't slow, just not fast by aboriginal standards.

cam Schwabb in the media area according to to whitey http://twitter.com/Whitey927

not sure if he has stamped himself the best in a pretty good draft with Dangerfield, Rioli, Kreuzer and Cotchin, but he is up there, thats for sure. This is one guy I can see going forward in a few years and being hard to match up on. defensively he has developed well and is a natural wingman as this stage. I think his year was exceptional considering he was given different tasks throughout and still ticked a couple more boxes. He needs size now, and although he will never be huge, that will come soon enough.

Not only a consistent year, but deserves the bluey IMO. Hard at it, good disposal all year and showed us just how good he can be. nothing but a big tick for this year and can see him producing this year in year out in the future, injury permitting.

Yes he would be highly dangerous if given the ball in more attacking positions. passing into the forward 50 is first class. He isn't slow but not quick either which is probably why he is a borderline player at the top level. My gut feel is he has become 'robotic' in nature, which is both good and bad. He does the one percenters well now, and is more dependable, but feel he doesn't have the belief he can be a truelly damaging players with those foot skills. Keep him, see if he improves.