titan_uranus

Yes I went to the game. I agree with Warnock. Frawley got towelled early, but improved considerably as the game went on. That's what I said. Green played well. Hence 'an OK return'. Though I guess 'a good/great return' wouldn't be out of line. Johnson was good around the ground. I'd like to know how many of his hit outs were to advantage, but from what I saw he wasn't proving our mids with first use.

Petterd has been sucking big time this year, but it's because he's being played out of posisiton IMO. He's not a forward. He's a half back flanker, maybe a wingman. I think he was moved there in the second half and he got a bit more of the ball. If the coaches are adamant on him being a forward, then they need to think again, because he just isn't going to make it as an AFL forward.

The umpiring yesterday was the worst I've seen in the past couple of years (even though I agree that it's better that they're putting the whistle away somewhat). Completely inconsistent with the holding the ball decision, and plenty of blatant push in the backs weren't paid either. It was in stark contrast to the great umpiring I saw the previous night at the Richmond-Essendon match.

You put the word 'seriously' in there, then you make a ridiculous comment. You actually think, of the 39,000 people there, that there were only 1500 of us? Come on rusty. At worst it would have been 10,000 to 29,000.

Unbelievable thread. I'm going to assume Brockstars didn't actually see the game, because McDonald was one of our best players. Aggressive, hard at the ball, lead from the front in those respects. There are plenty of other players who should go before Junior.

Positives: Sylvia, Maric's first half, Bate (though there's still more work to be done), Johnson's around the ground effort Negatives: Petterd, Robertson, Johnson's ruckwork

Bate - better than most Bennell - he looked lost Bruce - not that great Davey - made some mistakes Frawley - bad but improved Green - an OK return Grimes - a little overawed Johnson - smashed in ruck Jones - doesn't know limitations Maric - a definite improvement Martin - not a ruckman McDonald - good physical presence McLean - troubled by pace Miller - very quiet game Moloney - down on output Morton - poor decision making Petterd - shouldn't have played Rivers - not his best Robertson - too damn selfish Sylvia - his best game Warnock - fantastic shut-down effort Whelan - one good tackle Oh please. They were 2 down on the bench in the last, and they chose to play it safe instead of continuing to attack. If they'd kept it up the margin would have been a lot worse. We were completely outplayed in the first half. It was probably some of our worst football so far this year. Me too. I've seen improvement from Bate over the last two weeks. He's getting more of the ball, seems to be at least a little more mobile, and he is absolutely spent every time he comes to the bench.

6 - Sylvia 5 - Warnock 4 - Green 3 - McDonald 2 - Bate 1 - Johnson

No he didn't. Miller played his best game at CHF against Fremantle in the semi final in 2006. He took something like 14 marks and dominated. Miller is a third tall playing as a first tall. He needs to back himself in to take shots on goal, and he needs to work on his kicking. But he's never going to star, especially not until we get someone else into our forward line. And don't blame the supply. Yes, at times yesterday it was awful. But there were also some passes to Miller that were spot on, and I reckon he dropped about 3 sitters.

Well why didn't you say this in your first reply? As it is, I'd say Jerry got the bottom 6 pretty right. Quite right. Carlton has a lot of star players (Judd, Gibbs, Murphy, Stevens, Fevola) but when they are down (Judd was basically ineffectual yesterday, Gibbs too, Fevola's had his worst 3-week period in 5 years), the other Carlton players can't stand up. Robinson's a good example. When the team's up and firing (e.g. vs Richmond and Collingwood), he plays well. When the better players are down and the team's losing, he looks completely lost and doesn't play anywhere near as well. Carlton still relies too heavily on its best players. Which makes Jerry's argument completely valid. Melbourne doesn't have to rely on our stars, because we don't have any. But our bottom 6 beats Carlton's.

It doesn't involve Melbourne, but if they do choose to do a match on Good Friday, it should be Western Bulldogs v North Melbourne. Neither team has a blockbuster/event match yet, and both need help in drawing crowds. I'd be livid if Good Friday became a Collingwood-Geelong or Hawthorn-Carlton match, given the states of those clubs. As for Melbourne, well, a Melbourne-Sydney match, playing up the rivalry between the two cities might be an option (though it's tough to draw crowds with interstate teams).

I was trying to say that Petterd played worse than Whelan last week, and, based on that, it would have been fairer to drop Petterd before Whelan (regardless of who comes in). But given that it was Cheney who was left out, you're right in that it's Whelan's spot he was playing for. I think/hope we can both agree that Cheney was unlucky to miss.

Yeah, anyone from that list wouldn't do us much harm if they were to leave (though we'd best reserve judgement on McNamara until we see him play). Include Newton.

I didn't say that they were. I said that Petterd deserved to be dropped before Whelan did if Cheney was to be brought back in.

Whelan did play well last week. I understand your argument, but I think the real issue is why did Cheney go before Petterd, not Whelan. If anyone currently in the team deserves to make way for Cheney, it would be Petterd, not Whelan.

Have a look in the Friday papers and you'll find that 'No Change' rarely appears any more. Most teams have a change or two either in bringing a good player back or rotating through youngsters. I couldn't really care less if we didn't have an unchanged line up at all this year, provided that the players who should be playing, are playing.

That's pretty stiff to be charging another $5 just so that you can have an extra digit. But I guess the money all goes to the club. Yeah I remember that interview where he said that we wanted to return our colours to the way they used to be, not like they have been over the last 10 years. I wonder if that's going ahead.

We still can. Their defence is pretty poor. I wouldn't be surprised if Cheney is a late inclusion for either Frawley or Rivers, given how quick their recoveries have been.

You have to say that this is the best team (on paper) we've had all year. Cheney's really, really unlucky. I thought he was one of our better players last week.

Also: Hawthorn B: Brendan Whitecross, Thomas Murphy, Brent Guerra HB: Beau Dowler, Campbell Brown, Grant Birchall C: Jordan Lewis, Sam Mitchell, Beau Muston HF: Mark Williams, Lance Franklin, Michael Osborne F: Cyril Rioli, Jarryd Roughead, Garry Moss Foll: Simon Taylor, Brad Sewell, Chance Bateman I/C: Robert Campbell, Cameron Stokes, Ben McGlynn, Jarryd Morton Emg: Stuart Dew, Brent Renouf, Travis Tuck In: Muston, Stokes Out: Stuart Dew, Travis Tuck New: Beau Muston (Murray U18)

Melbourne B: Matthew Whelan, Matthew Warnock, Jared Rivers HB: James Frawley, Stefan Martin, Aaron Davey C: Jack Grimes, Colin Sylvia, Brock McLean HF: Cale Morton, Brad Miller, Russell Robertson F: Brad Green, Matthew Bate, Cameron Bruce Foll: Paul Johnson, Brent Moloney, James McDonald I/C: Ricky Petterd, Addam Maric, Nathan Jones, Jamie Bennell Emg: Mark Jamar, Kyle Cheney, Clint Bartram In: Rivers, Frawley, Green, Bennell Out: Lynden Dunn, Shane Valenti, Clint Bartram, Kyle Cheney

I think the majority of the media is beginning to talk us up now. Last year it was basically 100% negative, but now, I think we're starting to claw some respect back.

Well then why would he be selected in an extended bench? If he doesn't play then Martin will have to do some rucking which means Rivers will probably have to stand Roughead. Petterd may well be part of the future, but his form over the last few weeks (really, over the entire season so far) hasn't been brilliant.

Why is Spencer still in the reserves? Still not fit?

It's good that, not only is there a Melbourne player on the panel, but they're getting some variation as well. Too many appearances from Thomas, Richo, N. Brown, Fevola etc..