titan_uranus

Yeah I'm a bit surprised that we haven't gotten there yet.

This is very true. The best ruckman he's faced so far is Mark Blake... In fact, the same argument can be made for the entire team. Geelong aside, they've still got the better teams of the AFL awaiting.

I usually don't like what comes out of Kennett's mouth but I agree with what he's saying here. And good on him for standing up to the AFL. I think I heard the AFL this morning say that Jeff was being sent to be 're-educated'. Whatever that means.

Miller imposes himself on the contest. He runs fifty times harder than Newton. He puts his body on the line. Newton is weak, does not impose himself on contests, gives up some chases, and doesn't run out 4 quarters. Agreed. It might be in your book, but it's not in mine. Especially considering how little else he does. For someone like Newton to be in the team, if he isn't to do anything of note when he doesn't have the ball, I'd be expecting many more shots on goal, and many more goals. As it stands, he needs to either up the goal/shots on goal tally considerably, or start to play proper defensive football when we don't have posession. That's exactly right. He's had plenty of time to stew over his problems at VFL level. And he's had plenty of chances, upon returning to Melbourne, to take command of a game and show that he's got what it takes. It still hasn't happened.

The way I saw it, he said he turned off because the game was appalling to watch. I didn't read into it that it was Melbourne that was appalling. And you're right, because it takes two to tango. If we play at the level we played at on Sunday, you can bet your bottom dollar that the game doesn't play out like it did last weekend. Geelong won't be kicking it around on half-back.

I would say West is having a positive influence on our midfield. This year we are certainly more competitive at the stoppages and we seem to be doing well in hard ball gets and contested possessions. What we need to improve on is what we do with it once we've got the ball out of those stoppages.

Can't see a win coming in any of these matches, except maybe Collingwood. First week after the break: Essendon at ES. Then Brisbane at the Gabba. Could well be 1-12.

Unbelievable. That contact was minimal, and was made to look worse because the umpire fell over. Sad times.

Gee he doesn't kick many goals, does he? Really has to work on his pressure/positioning when we don't have the ball. At the moment it's not good enough.

Clearly they get the sweet deal no matter what, but interesting to know that they too have a 4.40pm MCG home game against Port Adelaide this year. So we'll see what their crowd is.

I started this one because I was interested to see what Demonlanders thought of the booing. I just wonder what would happen if the roles were reversed. I still reckon Demonlanders would get stuck into opposition supporters for booing.

That's unbelievably rude. You should be ashamed at yourself for insulting someone based on his username. As Chook said, it's not like your's is super-cool. I congratulate DD on posting his views. It's a shame people like you Digga do not possess the intellect required to comprehend it. Oh dear, now I've stooped as low as you have.

Agree. Didn't think about the jokes though. Come to think of it, it seems like they've subsided a lot, compared to this time last year. Maybe you're right. Well I don't listen to BT because he sucks, but he's not the only one. And could someone please learn to pronounce Petterd as Petterd, not as Pettard

I agree with this bit. Having just studied this exact thing the other week, Newton's a good example of it. But I have to say, even now that the post has been cleaned up, it is still very hard to read. That's probably why a lot of people replying here don't understand what you're talking about, so just criticise you. I just wish more people knew how to spell, because it often ruins good arguments.

This thread is not as farcical as some would make you believe. But it has arisen as somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction to the weekend, at which, IMO, Cale played his worst game so far. Too often he looked to handpass as a first option. At the time I wondered if it might have been a directive to use his hands, because it was obscene the amount of times that he'd get the ball and immediately look backwards/sideways to handpass. I have to say, I expected him to be at least a little stronger by now than what he actually is. However I'm not worried. He reads the play brilliantly, which is why he gets so much of the ball. (Although, I did want to make mention of the really shocking attempt he made to spoil an Adelaide player at the start of the third, where he clearly didn't have eyes for the ball. It was a poor attempt, something I wouldn't have associated with Morton.) All in all, I wouldn't be troubled nor surprised if Morton got dropped for the coming match, considering he made a ton of mistakes on the weekend, especially if the coaches think playing in the VFL could help him improve his disposal. But some of our other players could use Cale as an example of how to gut-run.

Good one, I thought the contact was so minimal he'd get off. I am surprised that, based on the Heath Shaw decision, Max Rooke didn't get anything for his umpire contact. But I'm glad he didn't.

Something we should all consider: Magpies chief executive Gary Pert said yesterday: "Our responsibility if for us to be playing well enough that our supporters are going to want to come along regardless of what the fixturing is." That effectively sums up the 'team' side of the team v crowd debate. If we were playing decent football, the supporters would be more likely to be showing up. I'd expect this week's crowd v Geelong to be down on what it could have been if we'd played decent football last Sunday.

I think some poor media is deserved considering what happened. We played like amateurs, supporters chose not to go, it was a crap-fest all round. We are entitled to be copping flak for that performance, especially considering we had just had a win and played some good footy in the process. And to be honest, I thought the newspaper reports could have been a lot worse that what they were. I think we got off lightly all things considered. Port Adelaide's getting it a lot worse that we are at the moment.

Yes. My candidate for Most Improved 2009.

Did you see the two attempted handpasses: i.e. he picked the ball up, then went to handpass, then dropped the ball. He makes far too many mistakes to be keeping his spot at the moment.

That's exactly right. If the other match on Sunday had been Carlton v Fremantle, then we'd have been in with a chance to get the better slot. However, this Sunday we've got Geelong at 2.10, whilst the Dogs and Saints have the twilight match at the Dome on the same day. I guess Seven likes showing Geelong.

I like him as a forward too. But he doesn't get much of the ball at the moment, so I'd prefer to see him further up the ground.

Hmm. I understand what you're saying, but I still disagree. In a trial, the onus is squarely on the prosecution to provide enough evidence to prove that the defendant is guilty. In every trial. So I'm happy to say that Bock is innocent until he is proven guilty, even though, in my mind, he's guilty. I do get what you're saying though.

You've got to be kidding? You're telling me the players wouldn't care about football unless they had a big crowd to play in front of? The players should be able to play decent football regardless of the size of the crowd watching them. Oh, come on. I'm sure, if I could be bothered, that if I looked up free kick figures for matches involving Adelaide at AAMI stadium (or any other interstate team at home), I'd find plenty of instances where they didn't win the free kick count. I'm also sure I'd find instances where there were a lot of free kicks at matches with big crowds.

No it's not. It is always innocent until proven guilty. He 'admitted' it because he had to, because he is a football player. That's not to say I think he's innocent, because I don't.