titan_uranus

You obviously don't watch a lot of Essendon, do you? Last night their spine was Neagle, Lloyd, Ryder, Pears and Hooker. Lloyd was close to best on ground, the rest are all long-term young prospects. They beat Hawthorn by 7 goals with two 'senior' players in their side (Lloyd and McPhee). Essendon has been out of the finals since 2004. That's 4 years of top-10 drafting. They're entitled to be in front of us at this point, and they should be too.

No. Silly gimmick.

Well, I'll be listening for, rather than watching, but anyway; Bate - must have an influence this week. Lucky to be playing, needs to justify the selectors' faith Dunn - see Bate Martin - I'll be very interested to see how this all plays out. Maric - hopefully he won't be so nervous this week and won't be rushing all his disposals

Brilliantly put two sheds. Great post, one of the best for a long time.

Very unhappy with the extended bench. Bate and Dunn should have been shoo-ins. I'd love it if it happened, but I think we all know that's impossible. I'd just be happy if Bate kicked 2 goals, and actually had an influence on the game. Anyway, I think the bench will be Jones, Maric, Bennell and Grimes. My reasoning is that they wouldn't have named Grimes if he wasn't fit to play. Newton doesn't deserve a recall until he shows consistency at Casey.

31,556

Disappointing for both Aussie and Meesen, more so Meesen. I would think/hope that he's done enough to stay next year. Jamar and Johnson are going to have to lift their games in the second half of this year as it's possible that they might be fighting it out for one spot on next year's list. As for Aussie, well, we know what he's capable of, we know he's likely to be in our best 22 once he regains his fitness, and we know he's not going anywhere next year. Never good to have injured players, but let's at least try to look at this one optimistically. As pitmaster said, this gives Maric more time to cement his spot.

Now that Meesen's out: In: McNamara, Cheney, Spencer Out: Dunn, Bate, Meesen

That would be assuming we don't play any rookies, and you'd think Spencer will come into consideration considering our ruck stocks. If it came down to it, Valenti would also be considered too.

Yeah that's what I thought. Boy, that's a pretty lacklustre team.

Change to Dunn and you might well be on the money Steve.

Haha, good summary.

No, there probably weren't. Certainly anyone who saw the Coburg game wouldn't have called for his inclusion.

Me too, though that may be a reflection on PJ's crapness in those first 3 rounds than Spencer's ability. Nonetheless, from what I saw of Spencer I think there's talent there that could well work out for us.

For those who want or believe that Wonaeamirri will return this week, DB's said he won't: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/newsart...69/default.aspx That article also has this quote from DB about Stef Martin: "We'll just take it week by week with Stef. We just thought on the weekend, we could get another marking player up there, as we weren't quite marking the footy as often," "He's quick and he's 198cm, Stef, so we might look at it (playing him up forward) again, but we're trying to groom him as a backman … he showed a little bit Stef and he had a goal assist to 'Robbo', which was great. "He can ruck as well; he did some ruck work when he was down at 'Sandy' (Sandringham), so he's got some elements that we'd like to expand on for him." Leaves the door open for him to go forward again. But that bit about rucking is interesting. Maybe, if the Meesen rumours are true, we'll see Martin get a go in the ruck this week.

Agree. Which is sad because a lot of people on here have been saying 'Can't wait till Jamar's back'. The media trumpets him as being our 'no. 1 ruck', which makes him sound a lot better than he actually is. Meesen hopefully will be right for next year. IMO he's done more than enough to take Jamar's spot on the list. It would be nice, wouldn't it.

Well, when I said I thought Warnock had a bad game, you told me that I needed to try to learn more about the game before I commented. That's condescending petjud. I agree with some of what you say, like the Maric stuff. But when people disagree with you, it would be nice if you presented your side of the argument without resorting to claiming that they are stupid, lacking knowledge, hiding behind their username etc. If you could just bring up your points and have a discussion, it would be much nicer.

Fair enough. I must admit, I was swayed by seeing him against Coburg. The Casey bye this week makes these decisions quite interesting.

Yes, definitely too soft. In regards to the trumpeter, am I the only one who thinks the effect is lost when he starts playing at the same time as the (albeit soft) song comes on over the speakers as the team runs out? I would much prefer him to do it when there's no other noise, so that everyone can hear him.

Doesn't he always?

Not sure about that Hannabal. Hasn't really done a lot at Casey level to suggest he's pressing for AFL selection as yet. I reckon he's another week or two away.

Ah, whoops. Pinned up the top. Sorry. 6 - Frawley 5 - Davey 4 - Robertson 3 - Jones 2 - Morton 1 - Bartram

What?!? I thought it was bad enough that they would cut to an ad break after first replaying the goal (which could take 30-60 seconds). Channel Seven are absolutely pathetic. They turn a 2.5 hour match into a 3 hour affair, full of ads and pathetic half-time interviews. All just to make sure that people don't turn off before the news comes on. Add to that their crap commentary team, and they become the worst football broadcasters ever.

I did like it when he provided an option further up the ground. But I thought Warnock was on Mooney in the first half, which was when Mooney looked more dangerous. Anyway, Warnock's certainly not at the top of Melbourne's problems at the moment. You know, you could make your point a lot neater if you weren't so condescending. Look at Trident for example. Same problem, but he at least didn't resort to insulting. It was just my opinion.

I like the sound of this: Jordie McKenzie – Jordie was fantastic. He was in our top three players on the day. Week after week now, he's starting to show his run and ability. He's also clean with the ball and is able to find teammates from clearances. Obviously too early, but maybe we've got something here?