titan_uranus

Yeah it certainly wasn't his best game. The flat footnedness was something I noticed too. And his kicking wasn't as good as it has been. But he did kick a goal, which was nice.

Well, I was judging him based on a couple of things I saw, where he seemed to be outpositioned or he leapt too early. I thought that he looked like he was basing it all on jumping. But I'll accept that it'll only take one mistake from him to make me say he shouldn't play ruck. I just think it's such a waste of talent to ruck him.

Fair enough. But whether it's the fault of the midfielders or the defenders or the coaches doesn't really matter.

I noticed that too. I just hope he hasn't bulked up to the point where he's slowed himself down a lot. We don't really need yet another slow and stocky player (though Wonna's quite different to most of the other slow and stocky players on our list). I think we've forgotten how good Wonna was last year as a first year rookie. He's missing a lot of development and experience unfortunately.

This, coupled with his agility, is what makes Martin such a tantalisting prospect. He did much better forward last night than he had done previously. Very pleasing. No it wasn't. It was pretty poor. If Jamar's fit this week, we can concentrate on Martin playing as a forward (or possibly as a defender if Warnock's not right, since we have Brisbane next).

Yes, those free kicks at the start were soft. Over the last few weeks some of those free kicks wouldn't have been paid. Umpires have put the whistle away somewhat of late.

I thought aboute that watching him last night. I'd prefer him to stay as a forward. Have you spoken with him since last night Rudeboy? If so, how did he feel and how is he feeling now?

Davey's second half was very good. I thought he beat Bennell overall. I was disappointed by Bennell's disposal, more than anything. Given what we've seen from Bennell, I thought last night was far below his best. But we do have a future gun on our hands.

The umpiring was pretty poor last night. But we have to understand that a lot of Essendon's free kicks were legitimate, and were caused by the Essendon players being first to the ball. Lots of high tackles, pushes in the back, holding the man, etc., often because we were second to the ball. We were smashed in the contested ball last night. If the midfield we're playing can't win the contested ball then you know we're in big trouble.

Agree totally. Though for me it's not so much the margin that we lose the 3rd quarters by, it's the fact that we don't score enough in those quarters. 2 goals in the last 3 3rd quarters. Never more than 4 goals in a third quarter. Whenever we play reasonably well in the first half or in the second quarter leading up to half time, the opposition ramps the pressure up in the third, and we buckle badly. Then Bailey resorts to moving numbers behind the ball, which destroys any chance of us actually scoring (or even heading inside 50).

I wonder if Watts will be rested for the trip to Brisbane next week? I'd prefer him to play as many games as possible, but with school and everything it might be easier on him to play him in Melbourne only.

I'll keep standing by Bate. I thought he was pretty good last night. When we went forward he gave us a target, kicked well for goal too. Doesn't deserve some of the criticism he's getting here. The rest of your groupings are pretty good though.

Agree. Whilst he was never a 'soft' player, he has taken his game to another level now, and his courage is second to none. Leads by example each and every week. Morton and Bruce could stand to learn some things from Green. No. The Essendon player (Hocking?) was running with the other Melbourne player (Robbo maybe?) in a legitimate attempt to contest the mark. Green came from the side/front and leapt in front of him, and momentum caused him to collide with Green. Certainly unintentional, and unavoidable too.

I'm with you CB. I don't what it is with Bailey, but yet again last night, we played that ridiculous structure whereby the forwards push up into the midfield/defence. It seems as though whenever Bailey thinks the margin is going to blow out he sends the entire team to half back in the hope that the flooding will stem the tide, when it just makes it worse. And the flooding doesn't even work. Essendon were still finding loose players in their 50 despite the entire Melbourne team being in defence. I would have thought that by now Bailey could have worked out that the reason we over-possess coming out of defence is because there simply isn't anything on offer. Part of that is the fact that our forwards aren't very good, but the major problem is that when we get the ball on half back, there's nothing but opposition players in front of us. And then in the last quarter, when the game was lost, we, according to Connolly, chose to then take the game on, put some forwards in our forward 50, and we scored some goals. I don't get it. Sigh. Anyway, better to look at the positives from last night, which were Jurrah, Martin, Bate (I thought he was good last night given the lack of opportunities he had. Presented well, kicked very well for goal) and Moloney.

Bartram - played tagger's role Bate - good given circumstances Bennell - disappointed with disposal Bruce - shouldn't be VC Cheney - tough but struggled Davey - still kicks well Frawley - another promising performance Green - best yet again Grimes - looks much older Jetta - didn't warrant selection Johnson - just a game Jurrah - exciting, tantalising, special Martin - his best game McLean - good clearance work Miller - not enough output Moloney - brilliant in stoppages Morton - very very disappointing Rivers - not our worst Robertson - career on line Sylvia - didn't drop off Watts - OK in patches Whelan - shouldn't be playing

Ah poo, too late again. FWIW: 6 - Green 5 - Davey 4 - Moloney 3 - Sylvia 2 - Bate 1 - Frawley

Really liked Martin last night. One of only a few positives. I still want him to settle into one role that he can concentrate on learning, but Connolly said last night that the aim with Martin is to use his ability to develop him into a utility that can play both ends of the ground.

Also, opposition teams know that when we get into trouble the first thing we do is look to Davey. And Davey is always willing to take possession. So all it takes is for someone to run with him and our movement up the ground can be botched. Not sure if moving him up forward is going to help us. I think what we need is to stop the reliance on his kicking. That means finding someone else we can feel comfortable with when he kicks the ball. Maybe Grimes or Bennell?

Fantastic debut. Exceed all my expectations, showed glimpses of brilliance, and brings excitement to a team that otherwise is devoid of it. That was pathetic from us. But it's not the first time it's happened. I've seen that occur plenty of times, this was the first time it cost us though.

I reckon that's a part of it.

Well if he is getting injections each week, you have to begin asking whether he should be playing, especially since this is a season that is long gone. If he doesn't hit his straps over the next few weeks, some 'list management' could see him sent off for surgery or rested or whatever. Better that then aggravating his injury.

There aren't many (if any) who are questioning his effort, Jaded. It's what he does with the ball that matters.

On a side note, I can't believe the amount of media coverage we've had this morning. We're all over both papers. Back page of the HUN, front page of The Age sport section. 2 or 3 articles in both papers. I guess that's what happens when you play on a Friday night.

What the hell kind of thread is this? I mean, of course, we should really be pushing for Ratten to be our coach. If we can't get him, let's try and lure Thompson from Geelong. Wow.

On the Footy Show last night they said that Jones and Warnock have 'flu-like' symptoms. If we were playing on Sunday they would have kept their spots in the team. They don't know if it is swine flu or not, but it doesn't matter anymore. The government has changed protocol, so now you don't have to be quarantined or anything like that. If it is swine flu they'll be over it soon anyway. Very disappointed to see Warnock go, especially since we need Martin to ruck in Jamar's absence. Unless we ruck someone else, I'm not sure who's going to play on Lucas (then again, Lucas might be doing some ruckwork as well, so it could be Martin on Lucas, leaving Rivers for Lloyd). If we have a good game tonight, Jones might find it difficult to get back into this team. McDonald would too, but since he's captain I assume, once he regains fitness, he'll be back. No he didn't. Might not have been entirely his fault, but his last few weeks haven't been great. Jetta's Casey form meant that the selectors couldn't keep playing Maric in his currrent form.