Goodvibes

A couple of wins and we're getting a little cocky aren't we? Obviously this is all rumour but if he was available, keen and didn't cost too much we'd be mad to not entertain the thought. Does his presence bring us closer to a flag? Clearly another seasoned midfielder who can float forward would help. He's better than Moloney and Jones and therefore would make us better. If his body is ok and his motives are honourable I'd definitely be in the "yes" camp. Let's revisit this after a couple of losses when Moloney butchers a few kicks and Jones tries to take on half a team and the propisition will no doubt be viewed in a more positive light. BTW, I'm very impressed with the improved performances of Moloney and Jones this season - please don't respond to my glib references to those two individuals!

Whilst not a great shock to most of us, Steve Quartermain just revealed on 'One Week At A Time' that Frawley and Morton were both offered big bucks by Gold Coast and both rejected the advances because of the future they see here at Demonland. Made me all warm and fuzzy anyway.

Not so sure. Chipped tooth has me worried.

That all makes sense but in reality even premiership teams have holes. The four areas you've pointed out are certainly deficiencies but at the end of the day Scully, Trengove, Morton, Grimes, McKenzie and Blease need to become the best midfield in the competition and Jack Watts needs to become a dominant key forward. If this happens we'll be top four for 5 or 6 years and have a chance at a flag.

There's an article in the Sunday Mail up here in Brisvegas this morning talking up the prospects of Ricky moving to the Gold Coast. I'm not sure if it's made the press in Victoria but the article confirms that Ricky has officially put off contract talks until the end of the year. He talks of how great it would be to play in front of friends and family but also talks about how much he loves playing for the MFC at the G every week. Looks like some serious money will be thrown his way but I think we're keen to keep him and will have the money to match a GC offer if need be. Watch this space.

It was Brisbane in Cairns.

His only key weakness at the moment is his kicking to team-mates. I find this strange given the sales pitch we were given upon his drafting. We were told that he played a quarter back style role where he set up play with his accurate field kicking. Nevertheless, his one on one skills are great whether it be in the air or on the ground. He provides good 'frontal pressure' and is a reliable set shot at goal. Oh and he's a solid citizen who seems to rise to the occasion when the game is up for grabs. At his age you're looking for regular improvement and he seems a little bit better every game. If he can stand up like he did on Saturday in an undersized and inexperienced forwardline, he's going to be very dangerous when Watts comes of age and Sylvia, Morton and Jurrah return. There's going to be mobile targets all over the place! I agree that he is the perfect GC target but have a feeling he's very happy at the club.

Thanks for the summary Chook. Sounds like he pushed beyond the usual Bailey cliches to provide some interesting insight.

Residents of Brisvegas like myself don't get the chance to watch Footy Classified. Would greatly appreciate a quick summary, preferably one that doesn't take the [censored] out of Bailey's use of the word "competitive". Cheers.

Nah

So it's ok for us to give in but the players have got to compete . . . compete . . . compete?

I can assure you that I certainly know how to vent. I just don't choose to come onto an internet forum and have a hissyfit under an assumed and anonymous username. I much rather spend time on here analyzing where we're at and looking at how we can improve. Calls to sack coaches, absuing players who have limited ability but plenty of ticker like Brad Miller and insulting fellow posters who endeavour to enjoy their footballing experience shouldn't form part of the venting process. I can understand why some chose this approach but at the end of the day, most of these posts come across as self-indulgent, meaningless rants. "I'm as mad as hell and not going to take it anymore". Sorry, didn't help. If you reach a point where you're not going to take it anymore you wouldn't be posting on a fan forum. While you're here you might as well tell me in a constructive way what you would do as a coach. Would you have tanked last year? Would you have traded for an experienced key forward? If so, who and how would you get him? Would you instruct your players to kick long into a forward line devoid of key forwards? Would you adopt a possession game based around short kicking? Who would you structure our centre square? Which young players would you give a chance to and who would you drop? Who would you have drafted over the past three years with the selections we had? Would you have traded Johnstone and McLean? How would you set the team up to defend kick-outs? How would you combat a Hawthorn-like zone to our kick-outs? Who would have played in your starting 22 last week?

Sarah does a great job and garbage like this is disrespectful.

From the Bailey quotes in the press today it looks like tackling and chasing and intensity could be the buzz words for the week. Hopefully the buzz words become a week in week out part of our team mantra.

That's a fair call. After a loss like Saturday's we need to keep it simple. Talk about the ideals that the team values and attempt to show the footballing world and the faithful supporters that we stand for something. One on one footy makes alot of sense at this point. Obviously we'll still have our defensive structures and zones at appropriate points. I'd place the emphasis on two things - run and risk taking. I'd give Davey, Bennell, Scully, Strauss, Trengove, Sylvia, Jones, Green, Bruce, Junior and Frawley the license to take the game on, play on at every opportunity and take risk after risk. I'd tell them not to worry about the mistakes, keep having a crack. I'd forget about a 4 term approach and tell the boys that we're going to break the game up. Let's play the first quarter like it's the only quarter of the game and run to the point of exhaustion - run in numbers, hunt in packs. And as corny as it sounds, I'd tell them to have fun. I'd talk about the amazing honour they have every time they run out onto the MCG. To play this game like it might be their last. And if we were anywhere near Collingwood at quarter time we'd immediately forgot the scoreline and start again. Sounds a bit u/14's but most of this team were at that level not long ago! Keep running, keep taking risks. Keep running, keep taking risks, Keep running, keep taking risks. If Woey were playing this weekend it would be pretty clear which two words I'd have him writing on the back of his hands.

Good post Age. I can't see things becoming any clearer re gameplan issues and certainly no easier with Collingwood ahead this Saturday but I'm confident that when confronted with less seasoned opponents in the near future, we'll start to see signs (as we did last year) of what Bailey wants us to stand for as a footy team.

Interested to see the word "confidence" used. Might just be something in that!

You can't see any difference between Daniher 2007 and Bailey 2010? The similarities lie in the lack of leadership, the regular skills errors, lack of confidence and the general unwillingness to take the game on. These are skills and attitudinal factors. The gameplan is very very different.

That may well be my point.

Need a hug? Seriously, harden up.

I'm not really a bumper of posts but my five and half month old daughter is having one of those nights and I've reached the point beyond sleep deprivation. I'm a poster who seems to post more when we lose than when we win, more when things seem bleak than bright. The evidence lies in the previous 24 - 48 hours. I felt that some posters here needed to re-read this thread. But once I read the thread again myself I started to doubt my own optimism, seeing my current sentiments repeated a few years ago. Could I go back to 1999 or 2001 or any bloody odd year from the early 2000's and find a similiar thread with the same people saying the same upbeat things? My question is simple, are the optimists on this site, like myself and Graz who started this thread, simply born to do what supporters should innately do and support? Does our natural sense of optimism blind us from the reality of the situation? Or conversely, is our club about to deliver the decade of dominance that our President and team have alluded to over the pre-season and the optimists will, for once, be allowed to revert to teenage form and immaturely say, "I told you so?" Were Fuller, Lover and Churchill truly on the money when they said that "the darkest hour is right before the dawn?" We often hear about false dawns. Are we currently experiencing a false darkest hour and we'll be back here again in a couple of years?

That's a fair call. Bob explained that many of the mid-tier and experienced players were coached, under Daniher, to play a very different style of game. They're obviously struggling to adjust. In some cases, they're simply not good enough to adjust. I highlighted in another thread Here! that was quickly drowned in a sea of negative threads, that confidence plays a crucial role. Many of the players that you're alluding to that Bailey has coach for 3 years have been on the end of some mother of all thrashings. Confidence levels must take a hiding. Late last year I spoke strongly about the long term cultural dangers of tanking. At the time I was in a very small majority of posters who were concern about developing a 'losers mentality'. Losing becomes part of the psyche, it's not easy to simply hit the switch and start winning. I still have great concerns that too many of our list have been negatively impacted by the scourge of deliberately losing. When confidence is low, skills and workrate drop off. The process of regaining confidence will take time. Bailey certainly has alot to prove but I'm convinced that his match day decisions are driven first and foremost by a desire to see his young players learn and develop. Without the core of senior leaders that Hawthorn, St Kilda and Footscray had throughout their respective rebuilding phases we're going to do it tough and at times it's going to be ugly and inconsistency is to be expected. How can we possibly expect to see a true reflection of Bailey's grand vision if so many of our class players are absent and those that are in the team are so young? If you don't like being told to be patient then look away now. Be patient!!!

So what's the alternative Franky? Give up on football? Give up on Melbourne? Support the Pies? Maybe Gold Coast? No-one is inventing a silver lining. Scully and Trengove running around like seasoned midfielders breaking lines and taking chances wasn't a figment of our collective imaginations. You're a smart guy, you know what we're going to get from the likes of Dunn, Bruce and Miller. You understand that youngsters like Spencer, Bennell and Strauss need time to find their feet. You understand that our list doesn't possess a key forward to demand the footy. You know that Bate was short of a gallop. You know that Morton, Sylvia, Garland and Jurrah are amongst our best and most exciting players. You agree that the quality of our best handful of players simply isn't a match for the rest of the competition right now. And hopefully you can see that this is about to change. We'd love to jump in a time machine and fast forward 2 or 3 years but we can't. It's easy to tell people like me that I accept mediocrity or that we're always being told that good times are just around the corner but perhaps this time the answer really is to simply be patient. The alternative, of course, is to spit the dummy on an internet forum but that's hardly productive is it?

The most obvious difference between us and the Cats of 2006 is the core of experienced players that Geelong had, many of whom became All-Australian 12 months later. If this meany quality players can lose confidence in themselves and each other to such a degree that their basic skills diminish to the point of ridicule then the challenge for our young core devoid of senior leadership is clear for all to see.

See, there you go, you can detect a gameplan!