titan_uranus

Agreed. Now why would you do that? He showed improvement from his effort last week, he had much more of an influence, and he needs the game time at AFL level.

Surely there's no onus on the player to give the ball to the opponent if he doesn't have it. I mean, there have been millions of instances where the ball has been lying at the player's feet, and he's just stood up and waited for the other player to come and get it.

He has his own show? What is the world coming to?

I too think Hughes has some talent. But that was based on one match. And even then he really only played one half. He'd have to get some consistency going at Casey in order to get a call up. Newton's the same. That's the thing, though. No one knows where Dunn should play. He might be 'handy' up forward, he might be 'handy' down back, he might be 'handy' running with Cooney or someone. But when the game comes, we're more likely to see him struggle to have an influence no matter where he plays.

He's kicked goals. He consistenly leads and takes marks. He chases. That equates to more than what Newton gave us. Your points on Sylvia and Bate are good though.

I don't know if it's ignorance or arrogance on BT's part, but by now he should know that it's Robertson. He's not the only one, though. Most commentators call Petterd 'Pettard', which pisses me off. I noticed these too: you'd think as an AFL commentator you'd have some idea about each of the 16 teams, rather than just the ones you call the most.

I read in an article on melbournefc.com.au that they have to wait for the swelling to die down before they can assess his injury, so that might explain the conflicting reports.

No chance Bartram will be dropped. He played his best game so far this year, and he kept Kerr relatively quiet when he was on. Bartram was good.

Well I guess you could say that he improved on last week, yet still remains in our bottom 6. You're right about his below-knee skills. He really needs to work on it if he's going to extend his career.

Yeah that would be a more appropriate description of it. Moloney as always was in the middle with an angry look on his face. Love that man's aggression.

Agree. Though I'm not sure how good Martin is at actually rucking, he should beat Minson around the ground, especially when he pushes forward.

It seems quite obvious to say McNamara and Cheney in for Frawley and Rivers. The Dogs aren't a tall side, so we might get away with playing Martin as a 'second ruck' for another week. But if Spencer's fit then he might come into consideration, and might get a game over Cheney.

I happen to like Rex, but it's defintely an 'acquired taste', one that I was brought up on, and I understand how most people can't stand him. 3AW do have some of the better special comments, and the only decent statistician on the radio. MMM is horrible. Cannot listen to them. 774 is good sometimes, but when we're interstate I always listen to SEN.

I have to say, I absolutely loved seeing Jones use pace and create drive for us through the midfield. First time I've seen him do that for a long time. Great game from him.

Pure and simple, we suck at kick-ins. As much as I love Rivers, he's no good at it. His disposal isn't the highlight of his game. He shouldn't be taking them. Davey's good at them, but he's wasted at full-back. I think we have to wait for Whelan or Wheatley to come back to deal with them for the rest of this year. As for the future, maybe Bennell?

Like Hannabal, I'm not a fan, but I'm happy that Cox didn't run rampant yesterday, and I'd say at least part of that should be attributed to PJ. Were you listening to 3AW/6PR, because they're very biased. SEN didn't sound biased at all. Gossage was calling and he was very positive towards us.

Bartram - a great effort Bate - a little better Bennell - looks a star Bruce - better up forward Davey - played well again Dunn - another useless performance Frawley - his absence hurt Grimes - level-headed performance Johnson - never gave up Jones - career best game Maric - way, way better Martin - not a ruckman McDonald - saved by captaincy? McLean - he's worrying me Miller - looked quite dangerous Moloney - strong and tough Morton - signs of improvement Petterd - better up ground Rivers - gonna miss him Robertson - just one quarter Sylvia - an OK performance Warnock - did job well

Bennell looks a future star, and yes Dappa, I see the McLeod in him. Love his pace and his willingness to take the ball and run. Grimes looks far more mature than a second gamer.

That was my first thought too. With a few defenders out, this is a good time for McNamara to come in.

6 - Jones 5 - Morton 4 - Miller 3 - PJ 2 - Bruce 1 - Moloney Really? I didn't think so, I thought he improved on last week. Still not great, but I wouldn't call him WOG.

I feel the same way. When our crowds are low, it's: 'where are the Melbourne supporters'. When North has trouble pulling crowds, it's: 'oh, poor North, they need help'. Not that I want to see them die, but they really should get the same treatment from the media that we got after the Adelaide match, and that we will get after the Freo, WCE and Port matches this year.

Was it today? If so, does anyone know what happened?

I assume you're refering to Lloyd, McVeigh and Fletcher(?). They seemed to cope fine last night without two of them. And I would argue that Stanton is in front of Fletcher now.

There's more to it than just that (though it would be a pretty decent start). For starters, there's the other 17 players. Ruck? Midfield support? Then there's the game plan. You're right in that getting Butcher and Scully to the club would improve our chances of success over the next 5 years. But I completely disagree with those who claim that if we don't get those two this year, we will have no chance at all. Can't see that happening M2W. I wouldn't rule out a Spencer/Meesen ruck combination by 2012.

Two sheds was responding to people like Digga who make ridiculous claims like this: Its simple, if we win over there its going to dim our chances of winning of getting a flag. No more than 4 wins. If we don't get picks 1 and 2 we will not win a flag. It's stupid and OTT to suggest that our chances of rebuilding will be shot if we don't get picks 1 and 2. Yes, it would help, but two sheds rightly pointed out that it isn't the be all and end all of this club.