titan_uranus

This is completely incorrect. Dunn may have done enough in beating Thomas to keep his spot in the side, and may well have been one of our best, but his field kicking is as bad as anyone else in the side. You're not watching enough games if you think Dunn hits targets kicking in. Again, while he may have hit one or two today, week in week out he reverts to bombing it 50 metres to a contest. You may be right to defend him today, but in general his up-and-under kicking style is a liability.

Again, I'm happy to look at these players with question marks, but given we have so many spuds playing right now, it shouldn't be at the expense of the ones actually giving a yelp.

Crowd at Etihad Stadium today - 16,959. Crowd at Metricon Stadium today - 19,460. MFC supporters hate Etihad, that's for sure.

Fair sentiment, but Spencer in for whom? Gawn was one of our better players today. If we're going to make wholesale changes, we should at least start with the ones who gave us zilch.

It's harder to assess off the radio. Each time I heard his name it seemed to be associated with a turnover. I guess if he's beating his man then that's a step up from the other 21 players.

A bit flippant from both you and h_h. Yes, clearly Schwab wasn't able to do anything on the field, but it's not exactly a bad call to say the time he spent at the club has hurt us and may well hurt us into the future.

I've been a big fan of Craig's decision to try to maintain stability as best he can since he started. Fitzpatrick is a perfect example of how that can work for you. However, not rotating the players after the Darwin game sapped us probably hurt us today, and there are quite a few players who have been passengers the last month. Changes really need to be made. Even if Garland's not ready, Pedersen goes. There aren't enough tall forwards at GWS to warrant having him anyway. Kent and Clisby maybe could use a spell at Casey to refresh, Toumpas possibly as well. Blease and Davey need to be dropped, Dunn possibly as well given his abysmal use of the ball. As for who comes in, Strauss, Jetta, Tynan, Taggert all could be looked at to make the final call on them. It's all deckchair shuffling though, really.

Fair enough: 2010 - Port Adelaide had a 47 point loss to Richmond. 27 scoring shots to 15. 319 disposals to 299. 50 inside 50s to 47 (i.e. Port had more). 2011 - Port Adelaide had a 32 point loss to Adelaide. 31 scoring shots to 24. 398 disposals to 348. 61 inside 50s to 41. 2012 - Port Adelaide had a 27 point loss to Fremantle. 20 scoring shots to 18. 345 disposals to 361 (i.e. Port had more). 44 inside 50s to 43.

Agree on both points. I'm certainly not trying to say that if we stop going to Darwin we start winning, or anything like that. I'm merely questioning the merits of Darwin as a financial gain.

16.11 to 1.2 after half time. 21.48 into the second, when Jones missed that easy shot, the margin was 12 points. That means, in a half and nine-or-so minutes, we were outscored 118 to 8.

Granted, our opposition in 2010, 2011 and 2011 were all finalists, and that clearly will have had an effect, but in 2010 and 2011 we won 8.5 games each year, so we weren't the basket case we have been the last two years. More importantly, it's the type of game we serve up each year after Darwin. No effort, can't get our hands on the ball, uncompetitive.

Frawley now off the ground with a sore left hamstring (the same one he missed games with).

It's sad that the radio commentators are saying things like 'stop the fight', 'wave the white flag', 'I've never seen such a mismatch'. It's sadder that I'm somewhat used to it. Watts now loose man in defence. Who does this help? Us? No, it means more turnovers if we are even able to get the ball forward. Him? No, it means he gets easy disposals, if any.

Here is what's happened after each Darwin game. 2013 - 122 point loss to North Melbourne. 40 scoring shots to 8. Disposals: 439-290. Inside 50s: 66-30 2012 - 54 point loss to North Melbourne. 32 scoring shots to 18. Disposals: 429-337. Inside 50s: 62-37. 2011 - 54 point loss to Hawthorn. 32 scoring shots to 18. Disposals: 409-298. Inside 50s: 59-39. 2010 - 54 point loss to Geelong. 31 scoring shots to 17. Disposals: 434-328. Inside 50s: 57-37. Aside from the amazing coincidence of three consecutive 54 point margins, each year we've been uncompetitive, unable to get the ball. We need the money, but is Darwin worth it?

Our skills aren't VFL standard. They're not VFL seconds standard. We can't make basic kicks. We can't make basic handpasses. We don't make good choices, so we're making mistakes on bad options. We go backwards too often. We go sideways too often. We go wide too often. We carry too many passengers. We have too many up-and-down players. We have too many players whose ceilings aren't high enough.

As I read this, I heard 'Trengove kicks into the man on the mark'. Apt.

Three quarter time stats: Disposals: 233-316 Marks: 71-82 Tackles: 58-58 Contested possessions: 84-111 Clearances: 21-37 Inside 50s: 21-47

Seems to be absolutely no pressure whatsoever. Have we been worse this year? I wasn't complaining about the commentary, I was using it to make a point. Our attempts to move the ball forwards are insipid.

Grimes and Trengove giving us absolutely nothing. The question gets asked unfortunately frequently: if they weren't captain, would they hold their spots?

6.3 to 0.2 since Jones missed his easy shot at goal in the second quarter.

3AW currently commenting on how many times we kick backwards.

Dunn, Davey, Pedersen, Blease, Tapscott, Grimes, Trengove, Howe, Watts. So many passengers.

Dunn, Pedersen and Blease are all contracted for 2014. None of them should be here, though.

Davey subbed off, Kent comes on.

Blease pops up for his second touch for the game, taking 3 bounces (typical play), but Tapscott misses what he should have kicked. Not good enough from either. Now McDonald misses another easy shot. MFC skills = non-existent.