titan_uranus

Sorry to hear that. On the positive side, at least he's not injured, which I assumed he was given he didn't play yesterday.

Unfortunately, the comments about Maric do not surprise me. That's not to say I'm not disappointed, or that this is the end for him, but that sinking feeling I have with him continues to linger. However, I'm over the moon with Trengove. Cannot wait for next Sunday (I'm presuming he'll be playing). Wouldn't complain too much Jarka, those photos looked pretty good to me (I'm no expert though). Thanks for those. Ha! Can't say I'm surprised! Loving the good words about Frawley. Key player for us this year, and it's good to hear he showed some pace today.

Thanks for the reports people. This is what I wanted to hear. Connolly was talking about Spencer being our premier ruckman in the SEN interview he did a few weeks ago, so it's good to see we've actually got something to watch in that department. Ah, that's good to hear as well. I think we'll see Green play predominantly forward this year, and I reckon it will really help us.

Fair enough. I wasn't trying to have a go at you, just that it seems that whenever Naitanui does something good there becomes this talk of how we made the wrong choice with Watts or something along those lines. I'm not insecure at all. I have full faith that Watts will become a fantastic player for this club.

Good to see McNamara get a mention. I still think he has a lot to offer.

I was waiting for someone to say that. Naitanui plays one good NAB cup game against a team with no talls to speak of and the doomsayers come out.

It's hard to care about cricket given that, as I type, we're playing our intraclub match, but I saw this on Cricinfo: New Zealand and Sri Lanka are going to play ODIs in Florida. Also, Afghanistan is playing well in the World Twenty20 qualifiers. It'd be pretty cool if they could qualify.

What does Ball add to a team that already has Swan, O'Bree and Pendlebury? Certainly not what they need, which is pace. Jolly will help immensely in the ruck, though.

Garland or Sylvia?

Damn I wish I could be there... If anyone can provide updates that would be greatly appreciated.

Bulldogs - this should be their year. Hall rounds off what is basically a perfect and peaking list St Kilda - close, but I feel the Dogs have their measure Adelaide - strong team, may well go undefeated at home this year Geelong - going to slide a little bit, more next year Hawthorn - over-rated, but will still play finals Brisbane - could finish higher than this if Black, Brown, Fevola and Power play every game Collingwood - over-achieved last year, will be making up the numbers Essendon - same as Collingwood, but might just sneak in; next 3 years they will be strong West Coast - could make the 8 this year, but their best will be in the next 2-4 years Carlton - going to fall apart without Fev Melbourne - optimistic but I do feel we can outperform the 5 below us North Melbourne - similar stage to us I think Sydney - all good things come to an end eventually, I think they're almost bottomed out Port Adelaide - further behind Sydney Fremantle - a couple of stars but a lot of duds, could be a little too low here Richmond - a long, long, long way behind. Their list is pathetic, save for Cotchin, Martin and Deledio.

Immensely looking forward to the Ashes. But following the Tests there are 7 ODIs. Too many. Seems to me that CA is either contractually or otherwise bound to have 10 ODIs per season (there are another 3 before the Ashes vs Sri Lanka) or they don't get it. 3 would have been plenty. Warne can get stuffed. We're the Bushrangers. Show some respect to your heritage I say.

No, it was hyperbole. There would definitely have been a negative impact. But it wouldn't have set us back 5 years.

Awesome news. Garland especially. I hope not (well, actually I wouldn't mind that much), since he played so well at FP in 2008. His kicking for goal was sublime. Now that's hyperbole.

No way the triangular series is coming back. It was scrapped because of the boring and unattended neutral matches every week. I mean, who wants West Indies v Pakistan in Hobart? We can't play England, South Africa and India exclusively. Every so often we play lesser teams, like these two, and this is what happens. But one day the Windies will be strong again, and maybe it will be England who will attract complaints. Who knows. Meanwhile, I'm loving the India-South Africa Test in Nagpur. India have been forced to follow on after Dale Steyn ripped through their batting order, taking 7. And in the follow on they've already lost Gambhir and Sehwag. Hopefully the Proteas have enough in the tank to get Tendulkar out early, and the match will be theirs.

Sweet. Great to get that sorted out. FWIW, I don't think we'll see a lot of Maric this year, as I think Jetta and Wonaeamirri could play the same role but better. Hopefully they'll all keep the pressure for spots on each other and force themselves to work and improve.

I reckon Sunday games generally draw lower crowds than Fridays, for starters. So let's compare ODIs with ODIs, and wait until the Friday ODI vs the West Indies next week. I'm tipping the crowd will be higher on the Friday. Although, there's a NAB cup game between Collingwood and St Kilda that day at Etihad. That could impact on the crowd. But having and ODI 2 days after a T20, when the T20 leads into a weekend and the ODI leads into a work/school day, clearly the T20 is going to rate higher. Was a good game to be at, though. Except for the damn cold wind.

Well deconstructed, fork. Let me clarify. By 'biggest disappointment', I meant draft/youth/new players wise. Not overall, Melbourne Football Club wise. Badly written by me. I feel as though, for a player who came to the club at pick 21, and who had massive wraps over such traits as kicking ability and reading the play, neither of which have been demonstrated so far in his fledgling career, he has been a disappointment. Furthermore, when I compare Maric with the other kids we've drafted over the last couple of years, I rate Maric beneath our other draftees based on where he was drafted and the reasons why he was brought to the club. But, like I said, and like everyone else has pointed out, he is only 19 and he's only played a handful of games. You don't get massive wraps for nothing. So there's still plenty of time for him to develop. What I wanted to say was that I rate Maric as the biggest disappointment of our drafting/blooding of new players in the last 2 years. But thankyou for bringing my attention to this, because I haven't done a very good job with this one. This I don't like. This is a forum designed to facilitate discussion about the Melbourne Football Club. Not for posters like you to decide which opinions or 'passing remarks' are OK and which aren't. Yes, my post was crappily written and failed to express what I actually wanted to say. My fault. But if I have the opinion that Addam Maric has disappointed me, this is a place where I am free to voice it. Discussion is always encouraged and takes place every day. And I doubt there are any posters here who don't want to see the club become 'a better one'. So please don't insinuate that when someone posts something that comes across as totally negative or as hyperbole, or just something that you disagree with, that they might as well not post at all.

Clark-Leuenberger would be a pretty damn good ruck duo. Add Brown and Fevola, then Black, Power, Brennan and Rich in the midfield, and the team really starts to look good.

I'm sure they played Clark forward at one stage last year, but maybe Bradshaw wasn't playing those games. Without Lachie Henderson maybe they will try him in defence. But most likely he'll stay as the no. 1 ruckman and they'll alternate between Charman and Leuenberger.

Biggest disappoinment of the last 2 years IMO. But he definitely has age and reputation on his side. In for a big year, no matter what.

I don't think having 3 ruckmen should be classified as being 'overstocked'. I would say that's a good thing to have at any club. In Brisbane's case, they could easily play Leuenberger and Charman as ruckmen and send Clark forward. Leuenberger and Charman are coming off injuries, though, so they won't be in peak form for a while yet. They'll have good competition amongst themselves. As for us, I'm thinking it'll be Jamar + one of Spencer and Johnson for this year and possibly next, until Spencer takes over as number 1 ruckman, and Gawn will eventually join him.

Don't like the news of Siddle's stress fractures. Not good. However, it opens the door for the likes of Clint McKay and Ryan Harris to get on the plane to NZ and play Test cricket. It also gives Brett Lee some hope, if he's fit for the tour of England. But by then I think Hilfenhaus will be fit again, and he'll come in straight away.

I'd love to know what makes Crawford believe our pre-season has been so terrible. Apparently we've been shocking, so bad that we're only a '4/10'. Like the author, this article is total rubbish and a waste of time.

So am I. I believe, once you're given a number upon coming to the club, it's yours for the duration of your career.