titan_uranus

How about some of these VFL player reviews from Plapp - http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2015-08-10/vfl-player-review-round-17 Riley - got some contested ball but needs to work on effectiveness of disposals. McKenzie - did a tagging role but didn't have enough output. Newton - needed to get more of the ball. Terlich - endeavour was good but didn't get the right balance between offence and defence. Jamar - good at bounces/stoppages, nothing anywhere else. Heard this all before, haven't we. I guess it's just one VFL game, but these players haven't been able to improve on the areas they were sent to Casey for in the first place, and some of them have been at Casey for a long time now.

Based on the VFL reports, the only two players who appear in line for a recall are Bail and Salem. Both would be good prospects against the Dogs, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them both in. At a guess, I'd say Michie, Grimes and Harmes are the most in danger of being dropped, though I'm not sure what the exact permutations will end up being. Agree entirely.

I love what the Dogs are doing and I think they'll be too good for us at Etihad, but I've just had a look at their draw. They haven't beaten a top 8 side since Round 5. In fact, they even haven't played a side in the top 8 since Round 9. Since they bye they've played Geelong, who weren't in the 8 at the time, and otherwise have played 7 of the bottom 8, with the 8th side (us) to come this week. That's a ridiculously soft draw.

Dunn's first quarter was horrid, but to his credit his next three were great. Something I noticed creep back into his game was his attack on the ball - might have been the first time this year he attacked it hard and provided drive out of the backline. Disappointing year, disappointing first quarter, but great quarters 2-4 I thought. I don't disagree with your argument, but I don't buy that Michie wasn't our worst player (or equal with Garlett). Lumumba's been poor for a while, I wouldn't be against dropping him, though I'm confident it won't happen. I'm also not sold on Garland as a long-term key to the side, like many on here are. However, I think he'll be a useful match up on some of the Dogs' forwards next week. Michie, unfortunately, is a vanilla midfielder who is easily replaceable, and over whom I would pick VDB every day of the week. Salem is another possible in, and that puts pressure on M Jones and Grimes who are flankers/runners, like Salem. As you've identified though, there is a key balancing act that we've struggled with at selection this year - between keeping the core players playing together to develop the cohesion we sorely lack, and building a culture which doesn't tolerate mediocrity and rewards good form.

Should be a good run to the finals. North, Richmond, Geelong, Adelaide and now GWS will all be just one win apart with four games to play. GWS need to beat Port next week, but if they can get that win, and assuming they beat Carlton at home in Round 22, they could well be playing for a finals spot when they play us in the last round. Would make the game that much more interesting if so. Geelong and Adelaide may well be playing off in Round 23 for the other finals spot, the way things are going.

Providing a target is one thing. Akum's post suggested they'd dominate the game - they didn't. Waite played well later in the game but Brown was subbed off and Petrie hardly influenced the game. Besides which, looks like Fitzpatrick would have been a late withdrawal from the seniors anyway if he'd have been picked.

Really? Brown and Petrie combined kicked 3 goals and neither was ever that dominant. Gawn was smashed by Goldstein in the first quarter but fought back after that and by the end of the game Goldstein wasn't as dominant as it looked like he was going to be. This game wasn't lost at the selection table, it was lost in the first quarter and with the subsequent errors made by senior players.

6 - Hogan 5 - Tyson 4 - Dawes 3 - Viney 2 - Howe 1 - Brayshaw Honourable mention to Gawn, thought he fought it out well after being smashed in the first quarter. Garland, Garlett, Watts, Lumumba all woeful.

Infuriating game. We dominated for two quarters but didn't capitalise on the scoreboard (4.4 to 2.0 in the second quarter a good example). Catch up football is tough though, and the awful first quarter is essentially why we lost this game - we'd have been 3-5 goals up at 3/4 time if we'd even played 25% better in the first term. I can't believe how bad Watts was today, after his last two months. Almost every kick was a turnover. There were three or four critical second-half errors from leaders which killed us - Garlett's dropped chest mark, Dawes missing from 20m out directly in front (which would have given us the lead), Garland's turnover in the fourth which led to a North goal, and N Jones' turnover in the fourth which led to a North goal. Tidy those stupid things up and we most likely would have won. On the positive side, we played some great football today but at no point did N Jones or Vince play well, and we also had some other poor performers in Lumumba, Watts and Garlett. So credit to the others (Viney was immense, Tyson was much better, Dunn and McDonald played great games down back, and of course Hogan and Dawes up forward) to not just keep us in it, but lead us to playing impressive, dominant football. Higgins is at least a good footballer. Nahas and Thomas won't go near a contested ball and generally have no impact on games of football, but they keep getting on the end of other players' good work and being rewarded with undeserving goals. I hate them both so much.

Much better quarter, two main reasons: lifted midfield intensity, and fewer awful mistakes. Didn't convert as well as we should have (4.4 to 2.0) but at least we stemmed the tide and evened it up.

Appalling quarter. No effort. Midfield watching North's while they run around us. Forwards pushing up the ground to try to help the embarrassing midfield, therefore no forward line. Turnovers. Mistakes. Just rancid.

I'm sure we'll bounce back almost straight away - whether it's against Bangladesh, or at home against NZ and the WIndies (home = our conditions = easier for our players), we'll score more runs and Lehmann and Clarke (if either are still there) will say 'see? We told you so!'. The key is to find the right young batsmen who have the required technique. Khawaja has always shown that, but cannot convert it to Test level. Maxwell, on the other hand, has no technique to speak of and is everything that is wrong with Australian cricket. I like Maddinson, Silk, Lynn and Burns, although Burns last summer was disappointing. Hopefully Shield pitches this summer are greener and give the batsmen more of a test against swing and seam. Of course, the real test is four years away - no England tour until 2019. Over the next two years, prior to the next Ashes in Australia in 2017/18, we have (for Tests): Away to Bangladesh Home to NZ/Windies Away to NZ Away to South Africa (TBC) Away to Sri Lanka Home to South Africa/Pakistan Away to India Home to Bangladesh Of that, the NZ tour in February should be good, although their pitches are more like South Africa's than England's. The Away tour of Sri Lanka in July and the tour of India in March 2017 will be disasters, IMO, unless we find the right batsmen this summer.

Matthew Lloyd is probably the most anti-Melbourne commentator there is, and that's including Dwayne Russell. He never, ever, gives us any credit for anything. It's all either luck, or the opposition playing poorly, and the moment something goes wrong he jumps on it and makes a song a dance about how pathetic we are.

Appalling cricket, yet again, from Smith - absolutely rank shot on Day 2 when you're 200-odd runs behind. Just make it to tea, then stumps, then the next day FFS! We are likely to go down by an innings, and if not, then by 10 wickets with a chase set of less than 50 runs. I think we have a tour of Bangladesh before the summer - danger? Rogers will retire, though I'd keep picking him if not. Smith needs to mature. Marsh and Voges aren't the future if they can't play swing and keep pushing hard outside off. Clarke's finished. So too Watson and Haddin. Hazlewood's not threatening enough, Starc can't control it well enough, Johnson's only got two threats (pace and bounce) so can't do it all himself when the pitches aren't right. Warner, Smith, Johnson and Lyon are the only players IMO who are a definitive part of the immediate future of Test cricket.

Yarran. Approaching most overrated player in the AFL status.

Wow, that should have been a 60-100 point loss, can't believe that it was that big of a disparity. I didn't know Deledio was out - it's amazing how awful Richmond are without him. Look at the stats - CPS 151-118, tackles 73-55, clearances 50-27. Those are horrendous numbers. 1 Melbourne, 9 Richmond, 14 Essendon, 15 Carlton, 16 Sydney, 17 Geelong, 18 Hawthorn. That would do me nicely.

VDB out is super disappointing. M Jones getting a game over Newton likewise. I guess he'll be put at half-forward or on one of North's runners (Dal Santo?)

I love that, on so many levels.

I agree Siddle should be playing, but the obvious issue isn't the bowling, it's the batting. We need to be finding new young talent to replace Rogers, Clarke and Voges, and at the moment we don't have anyone standing up for those spots. S Marsh is in form but continues to make ducks at Test level. Meanwhile Smith's technique is being worked over, again. Our home summer is against New Zealand and West Indies. NZ is good but I'm sure in our conditions we'll see our batsmen making big runs and everyone, yet again, saying there's nothing wrong with the batsmen. Until we next go to England or India.

Siddle doesn't make runs though. Have a look at Voges' face when he got out. A shrug as if to say 'well, I got done by a great catch'. Yes, a stunning catch, but you got out because your technique is abysmal. Classic Australian batting - couldn't possibly be a flaw in the technique, it's all fine and it'll work eventually (i.e. next Australian summer).

Classic Australian bowling. Starc can't bowl six balls in the same spot and Hazlewood's first ball to Cook is full on leg stump.

All out for 60, 20 minutes before lunch. Most likely outcome is England is something like 2/200 at stumps, I'd say. Make 300, bat once, do us tomorrow and beat us within two days. Nevill bowled, Warner caught behind on the inside edge (the only batsman to truly be beaten by an unplayable ball). The other 8 wickets were all caught in the slips, almost everyone with bad technique.

I'm confident they will be. Starc will lack control, Hazlewood isn't menacing enough, and their batsmen aren't technically flawed like ours. We might bowl them out for 200 or 250, but that of course won't matter now.

This is, honestly, the most inept batting innings I've ever seen. The bowling is good but not unplayable. It's swinging, but not a mile. This is just awful batting. Front foot doesn't move. Playing miles away from the body. Playing in front of the front pad to the swinging ball. Gaps between bat and pad. Heads all over the place. Not capable of leaving the ball. Not capable of watching the ball onto the bat. Not capable of playing late. Not capable of bunkering down and just trying to survive (Marsh, Voges, Clarke and Starc all dismissed driving). Edit: still on track for 47 all out...

Horrendous batting. Absolutely horrendous batting. They're doing a good job of showing it on TV right now. Smith, Marsh, Voges, Clarke, Nevill all pathetic technique - awful feet positioning, playing away and in front of the body, gaps between bat and pad.