titan_uranus

Not happy that McKenzie got dropped for Bruce. Not happy at all. Scully and Trengove were never going to play out the entire 22 weeks, so seeing them get rested now is OK by me. Although, like Hannabal, I'm a bit disappointed that they're missing out on seeing Geelong first hand. Good luck to Gysberts.

Just imagine if we win... Keep imagining, because it won't happen. Not after having one less day's break coming off a trip to Darwin in 30 degree humidity, when Geelong played in perfect Melbourne conditions.

Would have thought that, if someone was to be dropped for MacDonald, it would have been Rivers, as Warnock is in better form and is a better player. Given that it was Warnock who missed out I'd say he was truly injured/sore/not 100%. True, but I think BIH was talking more about Sylvia's overall game, which was good and a lot better than his previous month. Maybe the extra responsibility or the change in role helped him find some form. But yes, when he was actually rucking he was well beaten, and their comeback coincided with Brogan dominating over Sylvia in the fourth.

Let's hope it's not related. I didn't notice any limping or apparent pain in the second half, but if he did get an injection I guess this wouldn't be obvious. Wait and see I guess.

So I used the word 'talent' in place of 'football ability'. Boo hoo. Stop trying to tell everyone where they're wrong.

The HUN seems to intimate that he'll be contesting it, but it seems that decision hasn't been made officially yet.

Yeah I picked up the paper and glanced at Naitanui's stats yesterday: 0 marks. When I said I like watching him take marks I meant it, some of his speccies are just that, but obviously they're not commonplace. What's your point? I said Naitanui is athetically gifted like no other (Martin and Spencer are not even close), which gives him a massive advantage from the start, but he has to work on his football skills, which will take time and might ultimately never get to a decent level, as there have been plenty of players who have never been able to improve theirs. Martin certainly leans to the 'athlete' side (as opposed to 'footballer') at the moment but I reckon he's got more talent than NicNat.

Yeh that happened to me. The best way is to find something in the selectable features (goals, behinds etc.) that is close to the start of the second half. Try Cassisi's free kick (you'll miss a few seconds).

This does nothing but confirm that the MRP needs an overhaul. The inconsistency is ridiculous. This should have been thrown out. He clearly turns his body to attempt to avoid contact (so how is it possibly 'reckless'?), and there is no contact to the head.

I really don't like this defence. Yes, I applaud her for breaking into a male-dominated industry. But that doesn't mean I have to like her. Or refrain from criticising her commentary. She's not good. Worse when Geelong's playing, as her obvious knowledge of the Cats, their game, and their players, is starkly contrasted with her less-than-optimal knowledge of other clubs. She doesn't really do a good job of telling you what's going on (a bit of a redundant job anyway for a TV commentator) and she's annoying to listen to, both in terms of her voice and her cliches. It's nothing at all to do with her being a woman. There are plenty of male commentators I dislike too. The fact she's a woman should not prevent her from being open to criticism. Agree. Let's enjoy the fact that, for the only time this year, a game that's not in Melbourne is viewable by the majority of us. The rest of our non-Melbourne games are all on Foxtel. It's only 60 minutes. Seriously, I have to wait 2.5 days for the Lost finale (it's torture).

Well unfortunately for you, this is a Melbourne forum, and on Melbourne forums chances are there are going to be one-eyed Melbourne supporters. Plenty of intelligent and constructive criticism occurs on this forum outside of the ridiculous posting provided by some. Maybe you just need to look harder.

If there's one thing that we've seen over and over again from plenty of players it's that an unskilled player takes time to improve his skills, and plenty of players never really overcome their shortcomings in this department. Fitness and game sense can be fixed with a lot more ease than skills can, and that might hamper Naitanui in the future. I enjoy watching Naitanui take marks and run rings around players who should theoretically be able to catch him, but I don't believe he will be even close to as good a player as Watts will be.

FFS. Kelli Underwood again. Apparently she didn't do the North Melbourne-Western Bulldogs game last Saturday. Yet she did North vs us and now she's doing Geelong-Melbourne. I get the feeling they're 'testing' her out in low key matches. Just our bloody luck. And she's an unbelievably biased caller. Last year in the corresponding fixture showed that.

Scully's pretty able on both sides. In fact he'd be better than Grimes IMO.

Really? It looked like he was starting some centre bounces in defence. Doesn't really matter.

To make the 8 we have to win the Sydney, North Melbourne and Richmond matches easily, then we'd also have to beat Essendon, Hawthorn, Adelaide (away) and Port (away) or maybe Brisbane (away) or Carlton. Obviously we'd have to win at least one more interstate game, plus we'd have to beat the teams below us on the ladder and put up a good show against the likes of Carlton, Essendon and Hawthorn (and by that I mean win one or two of them). Short answer: we won't win enough games. But I wouldn't be surprised if we knocked off St Kilda or picked up another interstate win.

Watts > Naitanui Only those without any ability to assess football would disagree. What we've seen from Watts so far is a brilliant ability at ground level, quick hands, strong contested marking and hard running. What we've also seen is a lack of AFL match fitness and a tendency to lead at the wrong time/place, but those are easily fixable. What we've seen from Naitanui is the ability to do some freakish things (like jump over six foot tall men and run faster than them too). What we've also seen is a lack of football skills, which will take time and might not be ultimately fixable. Please. Watts will clearly be a better player than the most over-rated player there's ever been.

In: Warnock, Bate (if fit) Out: Rivers, Wonaeamirri (if Bate's fit). Whilst Wonaeamirri will be better for the run, and is an important player, if Bate's fit he comes back and I can't really think of any other player to drop without upsetting team balance. Garland was good, the calls for him to be dropped are off the mark. Bartram is getting better believe it or not, and he plays a role every week. Jones was terrible when he had or went near the ball but did his job shutting Pearce out and will get Bartel or Ablett or Chapman or someone good again this week. Rivers has no match up and we need Warnock back. Two contenders for worst post of the year. Dropping Jetta is ludicrous. He was top 5. Bringing Strauss in is similarly unfounded. And Green Machine obviously has it in for Morton but clearly has no idea about football.

If you're like me and you didn't get to see the game live last night, there's an easy way to see it: http://www.gameanalyser.afl.com.au/Default.aspx The full game is there. Just go to Round 9. Completely free, and legal, and pretty good quality too. And not that bad commentary from the Foxtel team.

6 - Davey 5 - Jetta 4 - Jamar 3 - Green 2 - Bennell 1 - McDonald

I didn't really notice a lot more weight on his frame. I thought he looked a bit taller. And even paler. His kicking was superb for the most part. A couple of bad ones but some absolute gems. Nothing to worry about. Same for Wonaeamirri, but he showed a lot less. Flashes of brilliance but mainly restricted by a lack of fitness and being behind the play. Can't just ease back in after that long out. But we'll need more output from him if he's going to keep his spot in the team over the next few weeks.

Can't fault him for last night's effort. What more could we have asked for? We play better with someone playing the role that Miller did. Whether or not that's Miller's job in the future will depend on whether or not he can repeat that performance. More than once. Didn't like the appearances he made in the backline though. Thought we'd move past that one.

It's not about the win. Having seen Geelong against Collingwood, I feel safe in saying we're no chance. Especially down at Skilled. It's about the effort. I don't want to see a West Coast style performance, which will give us a 100 point loss. I want to see us really compete against the best team in the competition. This game will really help us determine where we're at.

Bad call WYL. Garland was great last night. Copped a couple of whacks in the chest, but he provided run from half back and attacks the contest well. Played a lot better than MacDonald. Singling out one error in the fourth, in which most of our players dropped off and/or made mistakes, isn't fair.

Clearly you didn't watch the Geelong-Collingwood game. Blake played very well. Not just in the ruck contests but around the ground, linking up, shepherding etc. A good game from a player I don't rate at all.