titan_uranus

I'd be more than happy with that, but I don't think we'll beat Adelaide. After we go to Perth, though, every game from there on is winnable. We can beat Sydney, Richmond, Hawthorn (maybe) and North at the G, and we can beat Brisbane in Brisbane and Port in Adelaide. So I reckon those 6 weeks could be quite enjoyable. Currently Hawthorn is 8th with 7 wins. For us to make the 8 on 10.5 they would have to win no more than 3 games for the rest of the year. North Melbourne as well. That's not going to happen, so you can let go the fantasy of us making the finals on 10.5. eth38 has explained how Essendon getting there last year was an anomaly.

B: Cheney Warnock Garland HB: Grimes Frawley Bail C: Morton Trengove Davey HF: Bate Jurrah Sylvia F: Petterd Watts Jetta R: Jamar Scully Moloney I: Gysberts McKenzie Bennell Gawn Just missed out: Rivers (toss up between him and Cheney), Jones, Wonaeamirri, Tapscott Unsure at this stage: Blease, Fitzpatrick, new draftees from 2010, 2011 and 2012. Thereabouts: Bartram, Strauss, McNamara, Maric, Martin Not good enough: Miller, Bell, Dunn, MacDonald, Johnson, Spencer, Newton, Hughes, Meesen, Healey Too old: Bruce, McDonald, Green

Agree with this comment. We won't win the spoon though. But if I had to place money on one of the two I'd be putting it on the spoon, not the 8. I just think our draw is too difficult to even contemplate finals. Having said that, if we win next week we'll be 10th on the ladder (assuming Port loses today), ahead of Brisbane and Essendon.

The first goal was good. The second goal was bloody amazing and should win GOTY, GOTC and GOTM. Just think about what was involved in it: the sprinting, the bouncing, the composure to kick the goal, then the beauty of the kick itself, the enormity of the moment in the match and their season, and all that for a man who is 6 and a half feet tall in the fourth quarter.

Easily the worst thread of the year. Nice.

Dear God that was terrible. We were on top of the ladder going into this game. That is unbelievable. This game confirmed that PJ is a dud. It also confirmed my suspicion that Strauss will struggle to make it. No good one-on-one. I saw very little in him today (but then again it was not the best game to get information on players from). Thought Wonna was OK early.

There is nothing wrong with the system as it is. Especially the finals system. 1) What is the criteria for splitting the AFL into conferences? Crowd-pulling ability? Hardly fair on the smaller clubs, but if you split them up there will be uproar if there aren't 2 Collingwood-Carlton/Essendon matches per year. Past year performance? Not always a good method (a la Hawthorn from 08-09, Adelaide from 09-10, Fremantle from 09-10, and us of course). Geographical location? There is not one geographical split that works. With there being 2 WA teams and 2 SA teams, other teams have to be added to their conference. If you use Brisbane/GC then you've got too many of those massive cross-country trips. If you use a Victorian team you get one or two Victorian teams making repeated trips West whilst the other Vic teams make 1 or 2. All in all, a subjective and flawed method. 2) Where is the ultimate difference? If you play everyone in the other conference(s) at least once then it's exactly the same as it is now anyway except for the qualification for finals. If you have separate finals for each conference you are likely to eventually get a scenario where the best team that doesn't make the finals in one conference is better than a finals team in another conference. If you don't have separate finals series then the system is exactly the same, except for a flawed fixture, which makes it worse. Cannot for the life of me see any merit to this at all.

Jurrah in the 1s! I know what I'm doing Saturday afternoon.

I've heard of worse suggestions. But the game has enough rules and rule changes already.

Just take a look at the footage of the boys in the rooms after the draw. Jimmy was down there making a concerted effort to get around to all the players and talk to them. The way the younger boys' faces lit up when he came over to them was just unbelievable. The man is an inspiration to everyone. Everyone and anyone associated with not just the MFC but the AFL at large is behind Jimmy.

If he comes in for Round 15 it'll be kinda like last year: an 8 week cameo at the end of the year to whet appetites for the coming season. Last year IIRC he played 9 games. Only this time let us all hope he is in the team for Round 1!

I want to see us finish out of the bottom 4, but to do that we've got to end up with more wins than one of Port, Brisbane, or maybe Essendon or North (and that's assuming Adelaide, WCE and Richmond stay below us). So it'd be more realistic to hope for an amount of wins. Let's say 3-4 more. I'd love to see us knock off someone considerably higher than us on the ladder (e.g. Hawthorn, St Kilda, Fremantle, even Essendon). But most of all I want to see the continuing development of the team and the individuals.

Rubbish list. Riewoldt is obvious. Longeran is a good choice. Thomas doesn't deserve kudos for taking far too long to reach the potential he had when drafted at no. 2. The rest still suck. For every game Setanta kicks a goal in there's one where he doesn't get a kick. And Leroy Jetta has improved, but that's only because he was ready to be delisted 6 weeks ago and is now playing half-decent football. Russell is massively over-rated and had a shocker against North. And it's not hard to look good playing forward for Geelong.

He's up there with Jack Riewoldt, Heath Grundy and James Kelly. Probably just behind Riewoldt. Amazing improvement nonetheless.

After running Collingwood to a draw I'd be rewarding the guys who played QBW and making as few changes as possible. Sylvia and McDonald will be ready to go, so that's 2. I doubt Hughes will be pushing for a spot this week.

Nope. Scott Welsh kicked 4.4 for them, Robertson kicked 3 for us. http://www.footywire.com/afl/footy/ft_match_statistics?mid=1295 I didn't realise we were 6 goals up at half time that night.

So you agree that Miller is beginning to assert his authority in the forward line? Going missing for large periods of the last three weeks is hardly 'asserting authority'. But if that's what you think then fine. And given that Mark Robinson would be classified as a so-called 'specialist football journalist', that's doesn't exactly speak wonders about these people's ability to analyse AFL.

This is a great opportunity to notch up a win at AAMI. Haven't won there since Round 2, 2001. Adelaide are more than beatable.

The mid-season report card for Melbourne according to the AFL: http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/96400/default.aspx Awarded us a B. I particularly liked this bit: "Brad Miller has re-emerged from the football wilderness to start to assert his authority in the forward line." Who writes this crap?

Bad example. Bennell had never carved a spot for himself in the back line. Garland has. Moving players around when they're not settled down is one thing, moving players who are just starting to find form at one end of the ground just for the sake of bringing in someone from Casey is another.

Don't confuse 'plan B' with 'flexibility'. The best teams nowadays are capable of adapting to conditions and opponents when necessary, but that doesn't entail a complete shift away from the desired gameplan to something markedly different.

rpfc is right. Being 2 goals down in the opening 2 minutes does not call for a radical change in approach. That's why I was disappointed to see a loose man in defence appear at the 2 minute mark. At that stage of the game, I didn't feel that the loose man would help us at all, and would free up someone in Collingwood's defence. Once we'd settled that man disappeared (came back late in the fourth quarter when we were up by a goal, but that's a different kettle of fish). The argument that we have to be able to mitigate damage by going defensive is wrong. If we're down 4-5 goals, the best way to make that up is to remain aggressive.

Sylvia and McDonald should be right to go for Adelaide. Jurrah will be ready maybe 2 or 3 weeks after that. Bail hopefully will get another shot as well. The rest won't be rushed into the side (Blease, Gawn, Tapscott). I doubt they will get a game, barring an unforeseen spate of injuries, this year.

Rubbish thread. Every single one of our defenders has no fear in pushing up the ground. Warnock did it at least twice on the weekend, and has done it plenty of times over the year. Same goes for Rivers. At one stage Frawley had presented an option inside our 50 (and maybe should have been passed the ball). He gives us regular run. And then we have Garland, Bruce and Grimes providing regular run off half back. And in the reserves MacDonald, Cheney, Strauss and McNamara wait their turn. Possibly the last area of the team we need to look at.

Dunn was good in the first half at both quelling Shaw and providing a target. But I'm sure Shaw went in unfit. He never spends as much time on the bench as he did yesterday and I reckon he was limping at times. That said, Dunn still did his job for a half. In the second half Dunn didn't even get near getting a possession, and Shaw got a lot better. Overall just an OK game, disappointing that he wasn't given the freedom of just playing full forward though.