titan_uranus

Having had the benefit of the night to reflect (and drink), I hope my thoughts here a slightly more reasoned than some of those expressed on the previous pages. Yesterday's result was borne out of three things that have plagued this club for the last 10 years: complacency, lack of leadership and poor game-day coaching. There is a good reason we haven't won back-to-back games in 5 years. We do not, mentally, have the right instinct. The killer, wanting to be the best instinct that typifies Hawthorn, Geelong etc. Our leadership yesterday was appalling. You could tell from the start. N Jones was trying dinky cute sideways kicks when last week he would have been running harder and kicking longer. As for coaching: I don't know where to start. Selection was awful (I was in favour of Brayshaw's inclusion but I have to trust the FD to know if a player's fit or not and he was obviously not fit). Essendon played four forwards and used the other two up on a wing. We just left two spare defenders back. I think Worsfold knew that we routinely, every year, struggle when we drop a loose man back, so he just forced us into that pattern early and it worked. Our forward setup is still putrid - that's two weeks in a row now where we have had a clogged forward line and been content to bomb the ball into packs. No wonder Hogan can't take a mark! But the worst thing of all was Roos' response at the press conference that we're "tired". After Round 2, that is an appalling comment and makes me angrier than anything else. As to the players: first two out must be Kent and Harmes. Neither of them put in anything close to the required basic minimum effort. I was embarrassed by both of them. McDonald, Watts and Viney were shadows of their performances from Round 1. I have no explanations for any of them (Watts was limping a bit, he may have had a corkie, but no excuses otherwise AFAIK). I have no understanding of how anyone could think Lumumba played well. It's one thing to say "he gives us run" but that "run" is inevitably dangerous running into an opponent or into trouble, followed by a turnover. He was useless and a total liability. Hogan rolled his ankle halfway through the game and couldn't run as he should be able to. However, his body language is terrible and his second efforts are non-existent. I cannot and will not blame him for his teammates' poor delivery and continual clogging of the forward line, but he clearly needs to lift his effort. I will give credit to Kennedy, Jetta and Garlett who, IMO, were the only three players to put in the required effort for four quarters. Overall, the saddest thing about all this is that I'm just not that surprised.

I agree. I also think we looked great when we had N Jones running off half-back and providing link up run in the fourth - I hope Lumumba can do this throughout the game .

I like the changes. Essendon only really has Daniher as a tall forward (they dropped McKernan too) so we've added extra run whilst Frost was offering little at CHF anyway. I suspect Dunn and/or Frost will be pushing for a recall next week with North's much bigger and more potent forward line, but we've done the right thing this week IMO. It's all about the start. If we can put quick goals on the board early and build up a nice lead by quarter time I think any adrenaline and/or optimism that they have before the match will fade and we should be able to close it out from there. If we let them start well, though, I still have that lingering feeling in the back of my mind...

Pedersen was crap in the forward line but him being moved out of the forward line was not the sole reason it clicked in the fourth. We also got Frost higher up, got Kent and Garlett out of there, and Gawn stopped floating in front of Hogan. I also thought Pedersen did well when he went into the backline. That kind of versatility is something Roos has said this week we are looking for in our list, so that's going to get him credits. One option may be to move Pedersen to CHB this week instead of bringing Dunn back. I'm not sold on a Hogan-Pedersen-Frost-Watts forward line and one solution may be to move Pedersen back rather than to drop one of him and Frost. Regardless, Frost has really got to improve as a forward because right now I don't like it.

ESSENDON B Mark Baguley, Michael Hurley, James Gwilt HB Alex Browne, Ariel Steinberg, Martin Gleeson C Brent Stanton, Dyson Heppell, Nick O'Brien HF Zach Merrett, Joe Daniher, Michael Hibberd F Patrick Ambrose, Cale Hooker, Jayden Laverde FOL Shaun McKernan, Jackson Merrett, Brendon Goddard I/C David Zaharakis, Shaun Edwards, Ben Howlett SUB Jason Ashby Hurley, Stanton, Heppell, Hibberd, Hooker, Howlett are suspended. Browne, O'Brien and Steinberg were delisted. Viney tagged Heppell out of it last year but Hurley played a blinder and Stanton got a fair bit of it from memory.

Quick shout out to the 28,505 of us who got down to the ground on Saturday. North vs Adelaide was a game between two of last year's finalists, one of whom some say is a top 4 contender, at night (i.e. "primetime"), but only drew 25,485. WB v Fremantle was also a game between two of last year's finalists, both of whom people considered to be top 4 contenders (though to be fair was played in the dead-zone of 1.10pm on Easter Sunday), and drew 27,832. We also pulled a bigger crowd than in Round 1 last year vs GC (despite last year's game being played in glorious sunshine all afternoon). I'm quite proud of our effort this week and I hope we see a decent portion of MFC supporters this week to try to deafen the crap coming from the Essendon morons.

I hate Hawthorn and I cannot stand the thought of another inevitable procession towards a Hawthorn flag, so I'll generally barrack for whoever their opponent is each week. It's tough when the opponent is Geelong (and will also be tough when the opponent is Sydney). Hawthorn, Sydney and Geelong have won 9 of the last 11 flags (add West Coast, who have the 10th of the 11, and you have four of this year's premiership contenders). Heaven help the AFL (and the supporters of 14 or so clubs) if Hawthorn, Sydney, Geelong and West Coast make up this year's top 4. Yeah it came up in our fourth quarter, with around 5 minutes to go. Classic AFL "match day experience" gimmick.

I'll admit to being the slightest bit nervous. I'm a lot less so given we got the Round 1 win on the board but this has to qualify as a danger game given our recent history. Last year we lost to Essendon in the middle of what turned out to be a 12-game losing streak for them. We also lost to Carlton who won the wooden spoon. We also played quite poorly against Brisbane (just one goal in the second half). This week is all about the start I think. If we start well and get a solid break on them early, I'm confident that the gap between the teams could see the margin blow out. But I'm certain Essendon is treating this game as one of the 2 or 3 it has a chance of winning this year and will throw everything at us to try to get the win so if we let them jump us at the start, I expect to be nervous all game.

No need to be so negative, jnr. The fact we stacked the backline means we at least learned one thing from last year.

Wait, is it October already? ... Anyway, I'd like to hope GNF is right. Has been maybe 50% spot on the money well before anyone else, and 50% way off. There's no doubt if Prestia wanted to come to Melbourne we should take him. Midfield depth wins premierships (also, running N Jones off half-back in the fourth quarter was really good and I would like us to do that more during games, meaning we need another inside midfielder anyway).

Port wasn't underdone (though chose to use fewer interchanges) and St Kilda was at completely full strength (and it was at Etihad, and we were undermanned). Don't discredit the pre-season wins and their importance in building confidence.

There was a lot of signalling from the bench that there was only 10 or so seconds to go and to stack the backline. That, of itself, was an improvement on the St Kilda debacle. However we need to work out a better plan for the centre bounce in those situations. Simply moving the entire team into the defensive 50 and having just the ruckman and three mids in the middle is going to result in an inside-50 to the opposition 9 times out of 10. We need to have someone like Garlett forward of the centre or on a wing simply so that if a Melbourne player can get the ball from Gawn, we can belt it forward and let Garlett run onto it (also uses up time if you kick it high and long). We're too reactive in simply waiting for GWS to get the ball and hoping for a tackle or a mark/spoil in the backline.

Even if OMac wasn't injured he's not good enough to warrant a spot in the seniors to get that experience. He was completely lost yesterday and, unfortunately, is a liability at this point. He needs to go back to Casey (upon returning from injury) and get confidence in his bodywork and his positioning. Yesterday was just nowhere. I don't mind, he's a kid playing KPD, but we are at the point now where we shouldn't be carrying kids in the seniors simply to give them experience. Not this year. When Brayshaw is fit, even if we're coming off a win he comes back into the side. Good sides drop players from winning teams to make the team stronger. We had weak links yesterday (Harmes, Bugg, Tyson, Frost) at any rate.

It was an improved effort on the St Kilda debacle from last year (not hard though) but we still need to work on those situations. Needed someone forward of the ball to bump/block GWS's runners and/or create a contest if the ball went that way.

In: Dunn, Brayshaw Out: OMac (inj), Bugg/Frost I'm not convinced Lumumba is best 22 so I don't think he's automatically back in. Not sure who to drop for Brayshaw. Might be a tall, I felt we were too tall at times in the forward line. If so I'd drop Frost. He's just a more mobile Dawes at the moment but a worse shot for goal and no better at marking. If not, then I'd drop Bugg. Harmes offers a little more as a half-forward who can snag a goal or two (but absolutely needs to lift his output).

Me too. He looked comfortable there in the last (despite it being quite a pressured situation with the close margin). He was certainly a major upgrade over OMac and, simultaneously, freed up space in the forward line. I'm not sure we'll see all three of Hogan, Frost and Pedersen in the same forward line much again this year (especially given Watts' improved ability to play as a genuine third tall).

Forgot to mention: our improved fitness came to the fore again today. Clearly ran out the stronger over GWS. Whilst I thought Davis did well, he manhandled Hogan in most marking contests and got away with it, plus we did ourselves no favours by consistently allowing Gawn to float back in front of Hogan. Pedersen/Frost clogging up the forward line also did not help. Will need some tweaking for next week. OMac's injured whilst Harmes, Bugg, Frost and Tyson all played pretty poorly IMO.

6 - Viney 5 - Watts 4 - TMac 3 - Kennedy 2 - Jetta 1 - Oliver

Most of the first quarter was great and the last quarter was exactly how we want to play this year. We were hopeless in the middle half. We let GWS play on their terms (flooding back, using the space in their half to stream forward). But to Roos'/Goodwin's credit, we made some key changes in the last to get the spark back and it worked. Jones to half-back, Garlett to the wing and Vince into the middle were key moves. Pedersen to CHB fixed two problems (filling in for OMac and making space in the forward line). We can't play Pedersen, Frost and Hogan in the same forward line, with Gawn continually floating in front of them. Fourth quarter was down to just Frost and Hogan and with the faster ball movement made all the difference. Oliver's debut was stunning. I can't wait to watch this kid grow into a star of the AFL. OMac was lost and shouldn't have played. Frost was largely ineffectual and I remain unconvinced that he is a forward. Harmes was poor today as well I thought. Kennedy added a heap of value across half-forward and his fourth quarter was spectacular. Watts, Viney, Gawn and TMac all played great games as well. Overall, we got lucky in parts but we took the game on when we needed to. Good sides use the opportunities provided to them and GWS kept the door open. We found away to barge back in and that should be celebrated.

It's certainly noticeable, though I'm certain if we lose today the feeling will revert for next week vs Essendon. It's like Nasher said: I'm at the point as a supporter now where I want to leave the ground after a win and feel like that was the right result, not feeling some sort of pleasant surprise or relief.

I've had a nice air of confidence about this game, until this morning. The nerves have, finally, set in. I still think we have the form and the players (not to mention the home ground/crowd advantage) to get us the win but I can't shake the nerves nonetheless. A win today sets the season up and will feel great.

OMac and Frost are my two biggest worries. With no Cameron, McCarthy or Patton we might be able to get away with OMac in the side, so that helps. I'm not sold on Frost at all, let along as a forward, but he's clearly in Roos'/Goodwin's good books so he gets a crack first up. The remainder of the team looks great (based on NAB form) and we have talent waiting in the wings to keep the pressure on the 22 who get to play this week. Bring it on.

Some more classic Demonland on here. We aim for finals, we're criticised for aiming high without results. We don't aim for finals, we're criticised for "accepting mediocrity".

This is a genuinely awful idea from Richmond, Bingle, the AFL, the MCG and anyone else involved. The "match-day experience" is one of the biggest things going wrong with the sport at the moment.

I don't like selling home games and I want us to build this club up to the point where we don't need to sell home games. Unfortunately, we're not there yet. Until then, I will deal with the Darwin game (the Alice Springs game is nothing terrible IMO). I don't like it, I'd rather us find somewhere else to sell the game instead of Darwin, but if the NT government keeps paying and the AFL encourages it, let's just suck it up and focus on winning football anywhere, any time.