William

I have been unconvinced about JVR since he debuted with all the hype that he was to become a superstar and solve all our forward issues. His poor performances have been rationalised as ‘he is young’ ‘he has a young body’ etc etc ‘give him time’. Well he is 21 years old. He has played 45 games and really never shown any signs of being the solution. Yes, he kicked some goals in 2023 and 2024 but so what. Someone had to kick some goals. He drops marks continually and rarely leads. Jason Dunstall, who was a great forward, analysed JVR last night and was highly critical - no forward craft was the conclusion. And for the ‘he is only young’ narrative, Sam Darcy has played only 21 games is a bit taller and is the same age and is becoming a great asset for his team. Who would you prefer JVR or Sam Darcy? No contest. And, then there is the ‘at least he busts packs even if he cannot mark’ narrative. Last night, the opposition were smarter than us. JVR drops marks and Geelong scout the ‘busted pack’ and away it went again. So, in addition to not being able to mark our forward thrusts he actually sets the opposition up for their own forward thrusts. I counted several occasions where that happened last night. There was another incident where the ball was in our forward pocket and there was a scrimmage and JVR was standing looking the other way with his hands on his back and then suddenly realised the man that was on him had the ball and away it went up the ground. Conclusion: total liability and should be dropped. I do not believe he is up to AFL standard. And the responsibility for continually playing him and Spargo and Fritsch etc who contribute nothing is on the senior coach. That is why he should resign immediately. This situation has been a long time coming - at least one and a half seasons. Since May 2024 we have won just 5 out of 19 games played. That is the performance of a bottom four team. And the reasonable assessment is that despite all the hype about changing game plans etc, the team has steadily demonstrated an increasing level of incompetence. And our kicking is appalling now. Do players suddenly lose their ability to kick? Probably not. It is probably the fact they are so tied up in a plan that they cannot execute that they just let go. Time for calmness. Best wishes Bill Ps: I had trouble logging in last week and the Admin set up a new account name for me (thanks). My old account name was Billyboy (same E-Mail address) and it would be great if the two accounts could be linked or rationalised.

The problem with these discussions is that you have to criticise players who are people and have feelings. But then they are on high pay relative to the rest of the workforce and should be accountable. The senior coach should never have been renewed. He is inflexible in his thinking and after we won the premiership, rival teams started working us out, which is why it has been downhill since until now when we have reached near rock bottom (two 10 goal losses to teams that were below us - particularly North). He also picks favourites. He kept playing Spargo who cannot kick further than 30 metres and is slow off the mark and the consequence of that is we lost Jordan and Bedford to other clubs and they have become very good players, much better than Spargo. If Spargo had not been injured, the coach would not have played Chandler who at least can mark and tackles well. So he probably would have been lost. On the marking issue - the coach keeps playing JVR who has a marking to attempt ratio of close to zero and that is not because Viney bombs it in all the time. He just cannot hold marks and is often out of position anyway. He is similar to Sam Weideman - high draft pick but ultimately not up to it. And he has been around long enough to demonstrate his hyped super talent. We were lucky to have Ben Brown in 2021 but he became injury prone and aged and so that bright spot didn’t last long. And then there is the most selfish player in the team Fritsch who should be delisted. How can the coach keep playing these poor performers and hope to improve our prospects. The reason is that the depth below them has been hollowed out by players leaving and poor recruitment. But surely the senior coach has to ultimately take the responsibility for the decisions of the football department. He should resign gracefully and be known as a premiership coach.

He is nearly 22 years old and debuted in Round 2, 2023. He has played 44 games which hardly makes him a new recruit nor that 'young'. Other players who have played as many games and came into the system with high expectations are doing much better (for example, Sheezel at North). JVR has also not been playing the number 1 forward exclusively - there have always been at least one other tall player down there. And lately, his performance has been so poor that Max Gawn regularly drops down there. Further, have you watched him closely? HIs running patterns are ridiculous. Also while I agree the forward line is not helped by the 'bombers' like Viney and almost everyone else further up the field, there have been many times he has received delivery that any other skilled player would mark, and he drops it. He cannot even stick chest marks when the delivery is perfect. And the back line players know they can easily nudge him under the ball when it is one on one. I have lost count of how many times that happens every game. A plausible proposition is he has been poorly coached and was originally a defender anyway (before coming to MFC). Under that scenario, it might be desirable to take the pressure off him and give him playing time and skill development at Casey. But we have been through that haven't we? A more plausible proposition is that he is similar to Sam Weideman - a good VFL player who can kick well but not really up to AFL standard. I am in that camp and think we should drop him and eventually see what picks we can get in the trading season. Turner is much better player than he is yet is not the first choice (down to poor coaching decisions).

i go to most games but left just after 3/4 time today as I couldn't watch it any more. I keep hearing people say that JVR is the next big thing and he is just young and needs time like all tall players. If you watch him carefully his running patterns are all over the place and he rarely leads. Not much credence there. He cannot take a mark - this has been the same for three years. Today's fumbles were comical if they were not so tragic. He is always getting pushed under the ball. He has played 44 games exactly as many as Harry Sheezel for North and which player would you prefer? He Is not AFL standard in my view and persisting with him is wrecking our forward line. Viney doesn't seem to have much nous - bombs the ball wherever when he actually gets it. May keeps messing up kicks and was so loose today - this has been a problem for a while. Jack Billings should not have been drafted. Matt Rowell obliterated Clayton Oliver today - who tried but was 2 metres too slow. I think his peak has gone. Fritsch should be dropped and given an ultimatum - put some effort in or never play again. If there is a game plan it is not detectable from the stands. So the players are either not following the 'plan' or it is dysfunctional or both. I have thought it was ridiculous extending the senior coach's contract a few years ago. He is inflexible and if there is a plan it is too complex for the skill levels of the players to actually execute. He favours certain players who are not up to it in my view. And I am sick to death of the excuses that are given. I have been a supporter since childhood - went to the 64 GF. So I have seen a lot. At present, we are a bottom four side and a number of teams that have been down there are passing us by quickly - Adelaide, North, Hawthorn, GC, etc. The coaching staff have wasted the early draft picks that helped us win in 2021. Those players are ageing and seem to be somewhat disinterested by the body language one sees from the stands. Conclusion: They should gently tell the coach his time is up.