titan_uranus

Even if West Coast tries to win the rest of their matches they'll struggle to do so. I think we're a good chance to get picks 1 and 3, with the Eagles getting picks 2 and 4.

Would be close to selection for Friday's match, you'd think. If Watts can get in on the back of his Casey performances, I think Jurrah can get in.

Well I think it's all been said already. Can we just agree that both will be great players and move on.

Strauss is going to be a great player for us. But he's not close to a call up yet. I hope he doesn't play solely of half back either, as I'd love to see him delivering the ball to our forwards at some stage.

Superb kicking... You don't read that as a comment related to a Melbourne-listed player very often. Can't see Wheats getting too many AFL games this year, and this year must certainly be his last. What's new? What's his foot-speed like? It wouldn't be much of a benefit to the team if he happened to be another plodder. But I do think he's a future prospect regardless. Boy am I excited by this guy. 11 goals in 3 weeks; that's the kind of output that Melbourne is crying out for (though I'm under no illusions as to the difference between VFL and AFL). I'm sure there are still plenty of areas that Jurrah can/needs to improve in, but there's enough going for him to warrant a call-up in the coming weeks (vs West Coast?)

Richmond is no threat to our ladder position/draft picks at all. They'lll win another 4 or so games this year. West Coast is.

Did Spencer play seniors or reserves?

But he then went on to imply that if we don't start putting in decent efforts on the big stages, they'll be taken away from us. Which is not a particularly fair thing to say. Sure, we did crap on QB. But if the big stages were only given to the high-quality teams, then there'd only be 8-10 teams each year on Friday nights and blockbusters would be reserved for Geelong, St Kilda, Hawthorn and the Bulldogs. So long as we continue to draw crowds to QB we should continue to be a part of it. Despite this, he was more than entitled to present statistics showing our deficiencies. I mean, we are 16th with 1 win from 11 games for a reason. Agree. He named Petterd in a list of players who 'sustain hope for the faithful'. If Sheahan had seen enough Melbourne games he'd know that Petterd has been dropped for not giving enough to the team, and at this stage is not someone supporters are looking to to drag us out of the doldrums.

I did. Then I commented on it. So we agree on McLean. I see we also agree on Bate. I think he's really improved on his first month or so when I thought he was pretty poor.

He's already in front of most kids his age by being drafted young. This year is like a bonus year in his development. He gets to be a part of an AFL club, that's pretty good experience for a 17 year old student.

It's a problem of quality, not quantity, with Brock. He's getting enough of it, but his disposal is terrible. People were harping on about Robertson lying on the turf having a sook. That happened because McLean couldn't hit him with a simple 20 metre pass under little pressure.

Jaded was suggesting that this bout of OP may cruel what pace Buckley has, and pace is all that Buckley's got to offer. If this OP does in fact lessen the extent to which he can sprint then I would agree that he is likely to be delisted. At the moment he isn't anything special anyway.

Indefinite = season Most of the time, anyway.

It's not just Brett Lee. Ponting's no good at Twenty/20 either. I don't care though. Cricket is about test cricket. So long as we win the Ashes, does it really matter?

Positives: Sylvia, Frawley, Meesen, Warnock, Davey, Bennell, Moloney, Cheney Loving Sylvia's new outlook on football and life in general. Frawley and Warnock are standing up in defence. Bennell and Cheney look like good future players. Davey has taken his game to another level, and is in line for AA selection this year. I've always loved Moloney's toughness, but this year he's showing leadership qualities too. And Meesen was tipped by many of us to be a useless player, but I like what I've seen in him. Disappointments: Whelan, Newton, Robertson, Petterd, McLean, Jones, Johnson, Dunn, Bell I thought Whelan would still have the ability to play AFL football this year, but he's really struggling ATM. Newton, Bell and Dunn basically qualify for this category automatically. Just stagnant careers. Petterd has been played out of position, but I still think he could have had more of an influence on matches. McLean and Jones are letting us down in the midfield at a time when a lot of us thought they'd have stepped up a notch (I wouldn't be surprised if McLean is carrying an injury, though). And Johnson is going backwards. Injuries that hurt: Wonnaeamirri, Garland, Blease, Strauss Injuries I don't care about: Buckley

Not a good idea IMO. The way NRL is, where players sign contracts for the next year whilst playing out the current year with another club is not good. Leave it the way it is I say.

Buckley's a good chance to miss the rest of the year. His estimated return hasn't changed in the past few weeks now. A typical 426 injury. I miss Wonna. I'd argue that Meesen is in our best 22 over PJ at the moment. But you're right anyway. Usually we can blame crap performances like Monday's on our injuries.

Nope. Especially if it's Richmond that finishes 16th.

I'm of the belief that we play better football when we go man on man. We don't have the skill to be trying fancy stuff like zoning.

I would have thought that King got a longer suspension because his was nowhere near the ball. Gardiner could at least have tried to say he was shepharding at the time. King's could be classified as 'intentional', whereas Gardiner's was probably 'reckless'. But I too dislike the way that suspensions seem to get longer if the victim sustains an injury.

Backline: he seems to be settling in well at the moment. He reads the play well, doesn't shirk contests and has the skills to dispose of the ball cleanly. Not that he'd be no good as a midfielder.

Doubt it HT. For one, televised games start at 1:10pm. At any rate, there will be another game already being televised and the ABC just does the one match per week.

I don't think Rivers is in danger of being delisted at the end of this year. Far from it actually.

Have to agree with you here. If he wasn't captain, he wouldn't be playing, and there would be a lot less hesitation in admitting that. It looked like he was hampered by his knee yesterday. If he was, then he shouldn't have played. If he wasn't, then it just futher enhances the argument that he's no longer up to AFL football. None of that changes the fact that he's been a fantastic servant of the club and that his off-field leadership is probably top notch. But at the moment, his on-field leadership is being reduced by his inability to influence matches. Hmm. Not sure Dunn for McDonald is that much of an improvement HT...

I'm happy to admit I went OTT calling for him to be dropped. I guess I was just hoping for more from him by now. It's not harsh for me to say I've been disappointed by Maric though, because I have been. I thought he played just as well, if not better, last year. But I guess things can be attributed to the rest of the team too.