titan_uranus

Up against a team like West Coast I'm not sure that would be the best strategy. Giving Cox/Naitanui free hit outs would only make it tougher for us to get a clearance. Most teams don't have two ruckmen in their side that you would have as your number 1 ruckman though, so West Coast aside that kind of plan might work. And certainly Johnson isn't good enough to demand a spot in the team as a second ruckman against a lot of other sides. Yep, I'm sure Watts will be thrown in the ruck. I get your point, but surely you realise that Watts would never be put in the ruck. If it came down to it, Rivers or Garland might get that 'honour'. Maybe even Hughes, with his leap.

Certainly his commentary has made 3AW the station to listen to, and like E25 I wouldn't be surprised if that's a result of 3AW being more mature now than Triple M.

Exactly. All that tripe about how Dunn should be kept because he's leading the marks statistic; what rubbish.

Some of the reactions to the news are laughable. It's like a player of Gary Ablett quality is returning from a long term injury. It's more about helping Jamar out. I still fear the point where Jamar burns up due to being over-played. Playing another ruckman (and an actual one at that) helps ease the load. Personally that role should be given to Martin, not Johnson. But I'd rather have Johnson in the team with a directive to do nothing but focus on Naitanui than play Dunn as a false second ruck and watch Naitanui dominate all day. Bartram's playing well at the moment, but if we're going to argue about who's in our 'Best 22', then Bail can have his spot. Mind you, Morton still has to get back into the side. As do Petterd and Jurrah...

I doubt it. What's he got to feel unlucky about? Certainly there's no doubt that Watts in for Dunn is an improvement. Though I am surprised that Watts made it back this quickly. I wonder how Cheney and McNamara feel. They don't have the added bonus of being former number 1 draft picks.

CONFIRMED: MELBOURNE v WEST COAST Melbourne B: Jack Grimes, Matthew Warnock, Jared Rivers HB: Cameron Bruce, James Frawley, Colin Garland C: James McDonald, Jordie McKenzie, Aaron Davey HF: Jamie Bennell, Matthew Bate, Jack Watts F: Nathan Jones, Daniel Hughes, Brad Green Foll: Mark Jamar, Brent Moloney, Tom Scully I/C: Paul Johnson, Colin Sylvia, Jack Trengove, Clint Bartram Emg: Neville Jetta, Jake Spencer, Lynden Dunn In: Jack Watts Out: Lynden Dunn

That will happen as soon as Naitanui gets a routine handpass. It'll be brilliant and freakish.

Wow. This is a long thread. Oh boo hoo. Dunn is crap. He is just not good enough. Taking up a spot that someone else (e.g. Watts) could take. Agree that PJ isn't much chop at all. But we'd be stupid not to go into a match against West Coast without a second ruckman. He won't play against Port though. They've only got one ruckman (Brogan) of any note. We could drop PJ for extra run.

FFS... Another unsubstantiated rumour that scares the poo out of me. Can we please try to refrain from saying 'Player X is out' when what is really meant is 'Player X may or may not be injured, it's possible'.

Dunno if this has been edited or not since you posted but there's no Jamar. It's Mumford in the ruck.

He cops a lot of attention, on account of him being the only one to have played semi-decent football through the last 3 years. He's public enemy number 1 for opposition teams. Let's look at the positive: we know Davey has room to improve, yet we're still playing great football. Imagine what will happen if Davey gets going.

This is not an argument nor a reason to play him. Bailey and the FD have repeatedly said he won't play until his form at Casey warrants it. One good game doesn't equal form. I would be surprised if he makes it into the team. Exactly right. Very nicely said too. And instead of bringing Watts back on the back of one game, maybe it's time to look at Cheney and McNamara, who are continually playing good football for Casey. I still think McNamara could be a good half forward for us.

I'm not saying this will happen, but in 2 weeks we go down to Geelong. If we win that, there's your surge.

That argument is so annoying (and I'm pretty certain you don't mean it Jaded...) Going along the same line, we should play Bell, Miller and Newton this week. If not now, when? If the FD thinks Watts is ready (which I don't think they will), Dunn will go. No one else deserves it except Johnson, but we need a second ruckman against West Coast so he stays (unless, of course, Martin gets a reprieve, but that too won't happen). Even if Watts isn't ready, Dunn can still go IMO and we can bring in McNamara or Cheney, or maybe even Jetta. Dunn's time is up.

God I hate the way Hutchy prefaces his 'calls'. Always OTT. I still doubt they'll play well enough for long enough to win the B+F. McDonald, Moloney and Jamar are the three contenders IMO.

That would be the point. Right now in most games he's in it for maybe 2-3 quarters, but there are still period where he goes un-noticed. It'll come, I'm sure.

Really? That kinda sucks. But he was picked with a long-term view in mind so another 3 weeks isn't that long a period, but I do want to see him pushing for AFL selection before the end of the year. As others have said, this kid would slot into our team beautifully, and I'm sure I read a report last year that he was quicker over 20 metres than Davey is.

Well this just ruins your post. Not that I've read beyond this...

The thing is, you get players like Joel Selwood, Brett Kirk etc. who, though they're considerably bigger than Bennell, go hard at everything no matter who's coming at them, and the public loves seeing it. Thus when you get players like Bennell, who don't have that natural courage, doing the right thing by their own safety, there's a general lack of sympathy for them.

Leigh Mathews has something nice to say about us: http://www.afl.com.au/news/newsarticle/tabid/208/newsid/93919/default.aspx

The MRP's take: Contact between the Western Bulldogs’ Jarrod Harbrow and Melbourne’s Jamie Bennell from the first quarter of Friday’s match was assessed. The panel said contact was made with an open hand as Harbrow went to smother a handball. No further action was taken. That seems a massive let off to me.

There was one incident on Friday where it looked like Bennell went to kick the ball off the ground instead of trying to take possession. I didn't like the look of it, but he played well enough outside of that for it to not matter. He's getting better. I think some players just don't have that natural courage or aggression, and for them it takes time. Instead of getting worried about that, let's analyse the rest of his game, which is improving with each week as he adjusts to playing forward. I'm still looking for a 4 quarter effort, but I'm quite happy with Bennell at the moment.

A win. 30,000 crowd. Someone takes out Kennedy (preferably Sylvia). Someone takes out Naitnaui (preferably Sylvia).

A Brownlow? No. A Bluey? Unlikely. The Rising Star? Definite chance. If Scully keeps his form up he'll beat Naitanui (or at least he should).

Take a look at the ladder now. The top 8 probably won't change. Of the teams outside, Brisbane might get in but Brown's clearly not fit, Drummond's gone for the year, and away from the Gabba they're not great. Then there's us, but we have a tough second half to the year, plus we're not that good just yet. Then there's North, who suck, Essendon, who suck, West Coast, who suck, Hawthorn, who have the talent when their best 22 is out there but that won't eventuate this year, Adelaide, who's best 22 is better than most of the other bottom 8 teams but probably isn't good enough to make finals, and Richmond. In the top 8 there's Carlton, who are up and down like a yo-yo, Port, who we all believe to be flaky and crap outside of Adelaide but are 5-2, Freo, who everyone expects to drop off at some point but are 6-1, 2nd on the ladder, and playing great footy. The point: we'll probably end up where we are now.