DemonDave

Name me one game in Colin Sylvias career when he's been named in the best three on the ground. This from a top 3 draft pick. He had 11 posessions in the junk-time last quarter yesterday. to make his stats look respectable, and his efforts to fly for a one handed mark late instead of punching the ball that resulted directly in a goal show he's not a backmans a$$hole either. What a pathetic waste of a top 3 draft pick!

No Bate again is disappointing. Surely Moloney, if fit, is worth persisting with for a few weeks?

Whoah! I make that ten different players last time: Ward, Frawley, Brown, Bizzell, Godfrey, Bate, P Johnson, Buckley, Moloney and Newton. All these players played last time, and barring last minute changes, wont be playing for various reasons Saturday. The ins would be: Whelan, Rivers, Bell, Bartram, Bruce, Davey, Wonaeamirri, Jamar, Dunn, Morton Correct me if I'm wrong, I only did the comparo quickly. I know which ten I'd rather have in! Thats a huge difference in anyones book.

Then who was our best tall defender last year?

It was stated in the weekend Australian that Ben Holland will be retiring at the end of the year, so you can put him down as one definite to drop off the list.

This from the article on the MFC website states Grimes was put on the Long Term Injury list because of a back injury, so no-one 'made it up': "Austin's elevation has been made possible because Jack Grimes has been placed on the long term injury list with a back complaint."

Did anyone else read Chip Le Grands story in the weekend Australian. This was the sentence that stood out a mile for me: ..The writ was lodged to keep the case within statutory time limits. Richmond and Casey wont be served until the end of this season, when Holland retires as an AFL player So there you have it, Dutchy is retiring at the end of the year. I guess hardly surprising, but its a very understated place for this news to emerge.

Even though the stats say Bartel had 30, I thought Dunn didnt do too bad a job on him, he does seem quite suited to a run-with role. Garland had a whopping 7 stats today, no doubt a season high. How many more games will they give this guy? Interestingly, it was an equal team low with Rivers, the difference being Riv had 9 1%ers.

No it has nothing to do with this, the manufacturers do not 'own' the design. All we'd need to do is change the little manufacturers logo (which seems to change every 2 years anyway). Either way, lets hope we dont wear that horrible silver monstrosity again tomorrow.

Anyone know what Ricky Petterds injury is? I thought he would've been picked for Sandy this week after missing last week.

A groin/shin related back complaint? Why are the club continually covering up the true aspect of his injuries?

Miller takes Hawkins Carroll takes Mooney Bell takes Steven Johnson Bartram takes Stokes/Gamble Rivers floats as a loose man in the hole. Bruce takes Chapman. It'll be a tough task for all of them the way the Geelong midfield bought the ball into their forward line today, good luck lads! And it'll be a huge task for Rivers to play his first game in almost a year, given the stepup in pace it will be compared to the VFL level he's played at the last 4 weeks.

Well it had to happen sooner rather than later, some wag is selling his 'Melbourne Membership' on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Melbourne-football-...1QQcmdZViewItem If the link disappears as the admins of ebay figure out its a joke, here's the text from the page: -------------------------------- Melbourne football club 2008 membership hardly used, will sell cheap or swap for: 1 room at any ski lodge, Travis Johnston, large or small hot chocolate or anything worth more than a buck. Also for free 22 players, may be suitable for weekend social game, a couple might be handy if your on holidays and get into a fight, but best check used by date of the rest. 1 hardly used coach, may have slight recently developed pschological issues, buy now, comes with some hair. President and board, promise lots and deliver zilch (a bit like this add) Club rooms and gym, sutable for under 9s or homeless only. Video tape of former club great being carried from the ground on a stretcher, recently used as player motivation. box of tissues, (will come in handy) 20 more weeks of heart ache, frustration & confusion. 2008 highlights tape,(--------------------------------------pick 1 national draft) last but not least, the 2008 wooden spoon framed & signed by all the players warning!!! This mebership may result it mood swings, suicidual tendencies, or moments of extreme rage. What you should expect to recieve upon delivery of your 2008 membership. The same as everyone else got!!! didly squat!!!!! please note: this is not a real product -------------------------------- No doubt we'll be the butt of jokes for the rest of the season now...

I too found this disgraceful. The ground announcer bigging up Scott Welsh as the players walked off at half time. It felt like a Dogs home game! Something needs to be done about this. Can you imagine a Bombers home game at a sold-out Telstra Dome against us showing highlights of Aaron Daveys first half? No, they'd rather show a slo-mo shot of Lloyd throwing his grass in the air..

Dunn and Bartram both clearly showed today that the speed of the game is hard to adjust to when you havent played senior footy all year. Dunn looked slow and flat footed most of the time, and had no speed to run to the right places for contests. Bartram suffered the same fate to a lesser extent, but he did show signs of the old Bartram, and can be forgiven these in his first game given his lengthy spell out. Having said that the more and more I watch Dunn, he's built like Tarzan, but plays like Jane.

Agreed. They should start new categories for him in stats sheets: Fell Over Didnt attack the contest Didnt Chase Looked Despondent/Helpless He'd almost rack up a quadruple double in these catergories in his games so far. 2 stats today,and he was on for large chunks of the game! It would be a disgraceful effort on the selectors part if he got another game after today.

And thanks to Chad Liddell for some outstanding years of service as a Captain. He has been a continual inspiration, lets hope those trademarke dive-smothers, and that booming left foot are a fixture at Beach Road for at least another couple of years...

This was exactly the problem Daniel Bell had in his first 10-20 games at Melbourne, good call Demons32. Lets hope Fizz can overcome the same issues, and go onto be a dominating wingman!

Very hard to find positives other than the obvious two: PJ and Morton. PJ had what was probably his best game since his first half up at the SCG the day he ran into the fence. His first, second and third efforts today left a lot of the onballers to shame. How he did not get in the best, let alone our best, in the papers is a disgrace. Morton, despite his obvious rawness, showed more than enough in his debut. The contest where he put his skinny body on the line and took a big hit in the last half showed that he wont be overawed or timid despite his physical shortcomings. And thats it. How people could laud Robbo on that performance defies belief. His selection in the best in 1 paper bordered on disbelief. He had 3 posessions before that last 15 minutes. 3 posessions in a team that had almost as many inside 50s as Hawthorn did. Junk time goals/stats mean nothing. Exactly like the North Melbourne game two weeks ago where he was sightless until the last 15 minutes, and again got 3 junk time goals. I've never realised until yesterday just how slow Newton is, he looked terrible, no second efforts, he really needs to work on the small things in his game. For a kid playing his 10th or 11th game, that level of disinterest was alarming.

The liftout is a great read. Except for this in the timeline: 1982: Brian Wilson wins the Brownlow, having won his first with Collingwood in 1979. Ahem!

Does anyone know where the clubs allocation of seats is at the Gabba this year? Myself and a few friends have already booked airfares for that weekend to goto the game, but really dont want to sit behind the goals would much rather be on or nearer a wing. Does that mean we'll have to get GA seats?

Agreed it was my first trip to Casey Fields, and I was mightily impressed with what they've done out there also. This snippet from that article concerned me though: The delay in securing the Olympic Park precinct base — it is not expected to be finished until late 2009 or early 2010, and there is still much work to do to finalise a tenancy deal What? I thought the ink would've long since dried on this deal? Who at the club is responsible for not finalising this?

Our partnership with the Age is turning into a good one, if nothing else Stephen Harris should be applauded for getting this deal sorted (seeing as his previous employer before us was the Age).. The liftout looks fantastic from the thumbnail pic of it in the members email!

I think one of Brad Millers weaknesses is that he's not selfish enough, he more so than a lot of others tries to get his teammates into the play (Whether that be because of his own perceptions of his skill shortcomings or a genuine endeavour to be a 'team' player). He needs to get back the agression and gangbusters attitude he had when he burst onto the scene..

Rivers, Whelan and Wheatleys first quarters for Sandy in particular were cause for real optimism, they jumped out of the blocks and looked cherry ripe early on. In the first 7 or so minutes alone Riv had taken a couple of marks and performed some of his customary amazing spoils that he manages to make look easy. He did pull up wincing and very ginger after one contest, I thought it might be bad, but he soldiered on. They tapered off a bit in the 2nd quarter as Casey came right back into the game, but still looked a class above all others on the ground. Bartram off a half-back flank was fairly quiet. Bodes decision making even at this level was sub-par. Valenti was on fire, after playing in the heat of an AFL midfield against Geelong, this VFL stuff looked a soda for him, we need to get this guy into Red and Blue. Warnock was just OK. Stef Martin was very good, this kid has a really great football brain, but you can tell at times the size of his body doesnt allow him to do everything he wants it to. Definitely one to look to play seniors around mid year. Lynden Dunn has had the rudest of rude haircuts, he's shaved it all off basically in his best Ezra Poyas impersonation, but his stuttering efforts in the middle were rather underwhelming. Jamar as usual dominated at this level, taking marks and kicking goals, using his considerable bulk well, the slower form of the game in the VFL suits his plodding style perfectly. Meesen again ran around not really knowing where he should be playing, this guy is a rover trapped in a ruckmans body, but to me has no real idea how to play the game. Will be a curiosity to watch and see how he develops during the year, most likely in the yellow and black stripes. And Dutchy at full forward was vintage Dutchy, taking some fantastic marks, kicking good goals, and then also missing sitters. As only he can. Cheney and McNamara were fairly quiet what I saw, and Marric ran around not really knowing what his role was either on the half forward line. As for the curtain raiser match, I think it was late in the last quarter when we took our first mark inside 50 if my perceptions were accurate. This was our 'best' forward setup we could field, yet Neitz, Robbo and Juice were horrible. Awful. Neitz looks old and slow, he did cop a 'dead arm' in the 2nd quarter but continued on after a brief spell. Juice got 2 goals, both from free kicks. Robbo probably had 2 posessions upto 3/4 time, and yet somehow got 3 soft goals in 5 minutes to make the scoreline suggest he was a good player. He was far from it, he looks fat and slow. Give the showboating on the Dancing show the flick, and knuckle down at training, or its back to Penguin for you, son. Weetra is not physically capable at this level, he looks scared and timid. Will slot nicely onto a half forward line for Sandy for 17 games this year and nothing more. Austin showed glimpses of real talent, but again cannot handle the tempo at this level for a sustained time, and is also overweight. Bate had about 2 touches before he went off injured, he started at CHF. I'm not a Col Sylvia fan, for a top 3 draft pick he has been an absolute bust so far (dont give me the injuries excuse), but he really impressed me today. His work ethic looks to have improved, and his strength and speed and agression really put him in good stead to have a cracker of a year. Same with Moloney, this guy only knows one way, and thats hard and straight down the line, hoofing the ball as far as he can. If he can stay fit he's a readymade midfield recruit. Jones continues to amaze, this guy is only 20 but plays like a 28 year old in his prime. An unbackable early favorite for our B&F. Brock McLean is still reading stories of his heroics in the St Kilda final, his decision making and perception let him down countless times today, but he did improve as the game went on. Green cost us at least 3 goals directly with his appaling decision making, his quest for redemption back into the leadership group remains a longshot when he puts in performances like today. Same goes for Chris Johnson, trying fancy snaps around his body to hemmed in teammates deep in defence. Careless and unforgivable, he will be playing for East Perth this time next year. Yze looked flat footed and disinterested at times, but a bit happier once he moved forward. Colin Garland was invisible until late in the 3rd quarter when most of the sting had gone out of the game, and all of a sudden he bobbed up and got a few nice touches, but you cant really be that anonymous in the heat of the early game, he still appears too raw. Carroll was easily the pick of the defenders, one of the few willing to run out of the backline and find a target, was very happy with his game. Bell was towelled up by Edwards the leading goalkicker on the ground, but still tried hard with rebound. Miller was terrible to begin with, but got better, not necessarily posession wise but with his spoils and agresssion, he did almost kill Chris Johnson in a contest late too. The fact that Nathan Thompson only got 1 goal was testimony to the fact he had a passable game. Buckley continues to improve with each game, he still has no left side whatsoever, and his decision making needs work, but his ability to run lines and take opponents on and create attack is something sorely lacking in a lot of his teammates, he's a shoe-in for a starting wing spot in Round 1. Junior was as anonymous as he's ever been, but I'm sure if there were stats available he still had 20 odd. That doesnt mean he played well though. Jeff White got absolutely slaughtered today, he was an embarrasment at times. At least another positive was Paul Johnsons game, he really had a dip and provided a presence around the ground in the 2nd half. He's just cemented a round 1 game too I'd think. I think thats covered just about everyone, apologies for the lack of any decent structure to the above paragraphs, just had to get my frustrations off my chest!