titan_uranus

Bartram I would have thought. Who else? 0 points if anyone suggests Jones.

I honestly thought MacDonald was good. But it seems I'm the only one... He may get suspended from the MRP. Given that Frawley seems to be right, that might be the change. If he's not suspended, I'm not sure who would make way for Chip. Rivers was worse than MacDonald IMO. Maric didn't live up to the pre-season form either, but that's not exactly a like-for-like swap.

Disagree wholeheartedly; in fact I'm astonished I'm the only one who thinks this. I sincerely thought MacDonald was great today. Continually cut off Sydney inside-50s, made space, ran hard, linked up, and created two or three goals from his direct work in defence. Just like Grimes, his kicking wasn't exactly fantastic, but the rest of his work, I thought, was damn good.

Wow, you really missed the point. Who here said Grimes is a crap player? Maybe Freak, but he has no idea. I, and everyone else who agrees, think that he has a significant issue with his kicking. That does not make him a bad player. Nor does it make his effort today substandard. I thought everything else he did was superb, and I said as much. But his kicking was atrocious. He is a fine player, a potential captain of this club. But he is a poor kick of the football and I want to see him improve in that area.

Petterd was a good sub. But that's because he's a good player. In essence, if your sub is good enough to be in your 21, he's going to have an influence.

Not a bad crowd, given all the crowds this round have been down for some reason, but given the weather I was hoping for closer to 40,000. Another game in Melbourne on the same day doesn't help, nor does the F1. Hopefully it'll push towards 50,000 or even beyond next week against Hawthorn. MCC quite full and noisy again. It's a great place to watch Melbourne play.

No it wasn't. It was more that Adelaide was insipid. Hawthorn's best last night was good, but not that good, and we showed enough today to convince me that we can win next week. It's about quick ball movement and keeping forwards (preferably a mix of Green, Jurrah and Petterd) deep enough so that a long kick can isolate them against Hawthorn's defenders, who suck. I'm not saying it's going to be easy, or even that we're favourites, but we can beat them.

I was wondering what was missing from Demonland post-match... I'd consider going unchanged. Petterd must start next week, and Maric could be the sub. If anyone's going to be dropped it's Maric, but there has to be someone to come in, and I don't think Gysberts, Bate or Wonaeamirri did enough for Casey to warrant pushing him out. When Morton, McKenzie, Frawley and Scully get fit and return, that's when we can release players like Maric. But for now, provided we didn't get any injuries, I can't see a need to drop anyone.

Our goal-kicking wasn't great. 11.18 is evidence of that. But they'll similarly be ruing Goodes and Bevans' misses in the third, as well as a couple of shots they had in the fourth, including O'Keefe's, which he would kick 6 or 7 times out of 10. If you really want to look for one area of the game that 'cost' us the other 2 points, try the stoppages. Jamar positively owned Mumford, and Martin was OK, but our mids were ineffective for much of the game.

I didn't think Watts was out of place or afraid of it or any of that rubbish. I thought he worked his ass off, double and triple leads, ran to the right areas, created space, and positioned relatively well at marking contests. True, he didn't impose himself on the game, but he is coming from a hell of a long way back physically and only now has a body that can allow him to reasonably contest at AFL level. We have nothing to gain by dropping him, but the sky's the limit if we just allow him to settle into CHF.

Glen Iris. Come and get me.

I don't agree that this was a one-off, I've been noticing it for a year now. Agree with the second point though, some of the time he's forced into long bombs or sideways options because he's the one putting his body on the line to get the ball.

Yep, I guess wanting one of our best players to kick the ball well is pretty OTT. On that note, I see you have a 'formal' name in Calabreseboy. I think you may mean 'Formerly Calabreseboy'.

Exactly, he has so much going for him that if he improves the kicking he could really dominate as a midfielder. But as it stands, his kicking is holding him back. Gotta love his willingness to cut off the supply to Goodes. Repeatedly.

Disagree, much of the time he picks the right option. When he goes sideways/backwards it's usually because the switch is on. Sometimes he picks the wrong one but I'm happy enough with his choices, what he needs is to improve the execution of the kicks. Too many off the side of the boot, too many are too long or too wide. It's not good enough for him IMO.

Brilliant debut. His kicking was top notch, he was hard at it, seemed to run it out no problem, and just overall didn't look like a first gamer. Loved it, and will easily hold his spot for next week.

His kicking needs serious work. I've said it for the last 12 months, but today really showed it. He is just unreliable by foot, and it can cost us dearly. Don't get me wrong, he is a superb mark, reads the play brilliantly, is selfless and courageous, and usually picks a decent target. But he rarely hits his mark, and his turnovers are too high. It's an area of his game he must lift in if he is to raise himself to the next level. It's a killer.

6 - Moloney 5 - Trengove 4 - MacDonald 3 - Tapscott 2 - Jamar 1 - Grimes Martin Moloney outstanding. Trengove and MacDonald played well even in the first half when we struggled. Grimes' kicking was atrocious but he did a lot right. Crap, forgot Martin. Thought he did really well, and answered the second ruck question.

Got all four wrong. Go me.

Loving seeing England get knocked out of the World Cup by 10 wickets. Couldn't get either opener out. They both made centuries and England were made to look second rate. Again. You'd pick Sri Lanka to beat NZ, and comfortably I'd say, but the other semi is going to be a classic. India's not in the greatest form, despite their wins, and Pakistan can either be brilliant or insipid. Hopefully it's the former.

Their weakness, as it has been for the last three or four years, is their backline. Quick movement out of defence, through their zone, results in their defenders being hopelessly left stranded. Gibson, Gilham, Birchall, Bruce, Stratton are all OK as a group, but individually they're not much chop, and their skills aren't flash either. It also helps when you have someone like Phil Davis who does a pretty good job on Franklin (who could have kicked 8 goals but still didn't stand out like he can).

Goodes to go berserk. Jurrah to do likewise. Maric to finally play a decent AFL game. Melbourne to win by under 15 points.

Ah OK then, no worries. I'll just stick to a darker colour then.

CB, with the original logo and the white background, the preview makes it look like the Air Jurrah is in grey or at least not in black. If I get a white shirt, will the AJ logo be in black (i.e. like your avatar on a white t-shirt)? I'm really itching to get one.