Cards13

In defence of other posters, i dont think ive seen one person critisise Watts. If anything peoples comments show that they are actually realising they have to be more patient. No one has said he's been poor or wont be a good player in the future.

some posters are concerned with his development and the fact they think as he has not played any games as the number 1 pick he might not be up to it.

Some of the comments in this thread have made me a little bit embarressed to be a Melbourne supporter TBH.

agree, every week someone posts a drop so and so thread or so an so is not going to be good enough. give it a rest and have some patience, it is fine to question but give it some time on players in there 1st season of footy. why compare previous no1 picks to watts??? the mfc have stated how many times they have a program he is on and they will not deviate from it, deal with it. he will play some games this year as a 17yr old, he will play his best footy in his 20's... we have years to go before we see his or any of the draftees from the last 3 years best footy.

This thread is ineffective without pictoral evidence to back up original post....

Two fwds out and no Newts... gee wizz he is well and truely on S T ruggle st. Any thought of him being able to come back from here would be very very very optimistic

Don't expect them to write back. In my experience, Melbourne's Head Office are absolutely hopeless.

So much so, we have cancelled 4 armchair memberships after calling once a week since mid-March and still not receiving them.

Schwabby has posted something on here maybe send him a PM and see if he can get someone to call you back deestroy

Threads that denigrate him as a player without appreciating the circumstances in which he plays and classify him as a "selfish" footballer based on one game are a disgrace.

It's not one game 1858... it is a continual pattern over the years andif i recall correctly it is something Robbo himself has raised it as something he needed to imropve on maybe 4 preseasons ago and was quite proud of the fact he thought he had. He has regressed in my opinion.

Think we have both had a say and got something out of it but not going to change the thoughts of others so no point in keeping on with it.

Cheers mate

Absolutely but you are missing one thing.

His time at the club will be as long as Bailey requires it to be. Regardless of his accountability (which Bailey will press him on), Robbo will be in the team whilst he serves a valuable role and there is nothing any of us can do about it - this is something we have to accept. A hard reality to face but a reality none the less. We can point out his lack of accountability and where he needs to improve but surely we can do it with an ounce of respect.

Will have to agree to disagree on that point. How can you justify one players accountability or lack of yet hold the rest of the list to the same standard... weakens the team and what the coach is trying to do with the club as a whole. We do not have to accept anything, Baiuls has to accept it and I really doubt he will accept it, he plays it one way and if you're not on for the ride I doubt you will be around.

How am I doing it without respect? I love seeing robbo play but he is not showing respect for his team if he does things outside of what everyone else is doing.

Correct Cards. I hope he has been held accountable by the leadership group too. They should treat him much like the Geelong group did with Johnson.

It is not the one instances that frustrate it is the pattern of behaviour and I certainly don't put him anywhere near the Johnson category as Johnson had off field issues. But he does still need to improve and follow the game plan, coming back from injury, being in his 30's, having played for 10 years or whatever. THe game evolves, the game plan changes players need to move with it, if he can't then his time is short unfortunately.

Why do people keep on about the achillies, he is selected so he is fit to play and fit to play to a plan like everyone else in the side. Other players are held accountable so should Robbo and I'll bring it back to rnd 1 last seasn where Newts played a horrible defensive game and was dropped, the precedent is there. I'm sure he has been held accountable and as Bails said he knew it was a stuff up straight away but if it is something he can not or is not willing to change (and I mean his lack of defensive game) then his time in the game is even shorter than I would hope it to be because I love seeing him play the game.

Just watching this One HD footy show replay and they showed some Fev highlights from the weekend.

Now I recall a lengthy debate about us trying to trade for him as one point (last year or the previous year not sure). I think I was against the idea at the time but gee wizz I am so happy he is not part of our club in any way shape or form. The man is a gifted footballer but as selfish goes he has to be close to topping them all. Couple of passes in the first qtr landed short of him and he gave up on the ball or went one handed and then didn't chase at all when the ball turned over.

Also saw a few weeks ago he had a spray at Cloke for something, Cloke came to him for a "sorry bout that lets keep working" type high 5, Fev told him to fark off......

Very happy to see him at that cheating mob.

And what did he do with the other 36 disposals?

Probably hit blokes on the [censored]. One of the best skilled players in the comp but all players can put the blinkers on and need to be pulled back into line. Robbo needs to be pulled into line, if not see ya later.

Great to hear Brock on the channel 10 footy program saying Colin gets ahead of himself after a good game. "They" told him good game but move on to next week and do it 3-4 games in a row. Also Colin needed to find something to do outside of footy and has started to do that doing a "couple of programs" outside of the game and club...

You should have just written the last sensible paragraph and not making illogical and silly arguments in earlier paragraph.

Your comparison of Ablett and Robbo for selfishness is bizarre. Relative to his output and performance, any selfish that Ablett is nit picking at best. He averages 40 possessions a game and hurts oppositions. And spare us the bull about being in a good team. He is an elite footballer who creates opportunity for his side. He rarely put himself above the team. Robbo is a senior player had 8 kicks in tough forward line to get them and proceeds to do one of them flat on his back. If he was winded he would stop and get his breath. He had the mark. Some of the kind explanations of Robbo's actions are one step short of UFO sightings. As baffling as Robbo's stupidity

Steve Johnson would have been the perfect role model for Robbo. It in no way justifies or placates his selfish behaviours. Just proves them wrong. Robbo does not get it. You might not get either. If you put your outcomes above the teams then you are selfish. Robbo wont learn.

Just watching the Ch 10 HD footy program and they highlighted 2 (maybe 3) instances of Ablett having shots for goal from 50 on the weekend, ignoring team mates in space closer to goal. He was given a spray by his team mates each time....

In that case lets give Bailey the chance to reinforce this with Robbo and Robbo the chance to get better physically in the next few weeks. 30 and back from an achilles yet he still puts his body on the line and tries to be as dangerous as he can for his side. We have no optimal game plan when we go forward so Robbo is sticking with what he knows. If people think he is just going to spring up like a 20 yr old and run down players then it won't happen. I am sure as the year goes on he will improve with the chasing and tackling within his own limitations.

Not having a go at you mate but some posters have misconstrued certain aspects of Robbo's game as being selfish without due consideration to the circumstances and nobody is defending his lack of accountability which is unacceptable.

Not having a go either 1858 but nup not sold there... If he is not able to excecute the game plan the coach has implemented since day 1 then he should not be in the side. Coming back from injury, being our best fwd option (which I have mentioned already today) or not. If you put yourself in a position to be "hurt" flying for hangers then you need to put yourself in a position to chase hurt too whilst following the team game plan and chase. Thats my only beef, I love seeing him take those marks but I detest seeing him laying on ground with the ball in a contest right next time him and him not giving anything to help the team, the lack of team play when it suits. On Sunday he looked like the only MFC player not putting in to chase.

Most People seem very Happy with Jimma at the Helm, all except Hazy it seems!

horse........dead..........[censored]....

In other words your opinion is compromised.

On the second point I won't argue the showman aspect he has displayed on occasion but it seems to distort for some people what he actually does do in situations where he is against the odds. The kick on the goal line was perhaps a clown act but he is not the first person to go up for a hanger and land square on his ass (possibly winded) to consider a short cut. He was quite simply blind sided and opportunity bit him on the back side.

On Ablett, ability aside, Ablett is fortunate at least to not have the best defender or be the sole player to perform for his team up forward. Yes he has tags and is a machine player to brush them aside but Robbo plays above his height and is a go to man - this is not an easy task.

So indeed, Robbo was/is not the only apparently selfish footballer.

Again the task that Robbo has in an unfamiliar forward set up means he has to play to his strengths - that is not selfish football but sometimes his plays can be a gamble for a multitude of reasons - no crumbers for one. Also Robbo has been institutionalised to the Daniher era and is 5 years older than Johnson, Johnson was lucky that the coach intervened when he was so young that it changed the fundamental way he approached the game, not just mentally but when he has the ball.

Yes, the attempted goal looked embarrasing and the coach dealt with it accordingly.

Well you may be right here with some supporters but I don't think this is a very common belief. The club accepted mediocrity here and there under Daniher and didn't iron out problems with players when it should have. Robbo in some respects is indeed a symptom of this but I think people are missing the point with the way he plays some times because he has to play that way. Nearly every poster on this site acknowledged Robbo's goal attempt as unacceptable. We all know that he has to be more accountable. I agree wholeheartedly that he isn't part of our future focus and our youngsters are showing more accountability in general situations. Putting Robbo in the context of where we want to move forward is pointless. The thing that people are not considering is that besides being 30 and coming back from an achilles, Robbo performs as best as an individual to achieve team goals not to be above them. Let's not hang him for the fact that he plays like this because this style of play has rewarded us time and time again and without it he wouldn't be as effective on bigger defenders - he hopefully will work on other aspects of his game and I doubt he will be as stupid to try another goal from his ass again.

Rhino, Robbo's style of play is old school and no doubt is not what our future is about, I too hope we move in a direction where team, accountability and excellence is demanded all over the ground. When we have system and quality all around the ground this will occur - Bailey is a good coach.

It's the complete lack of defensive side of his game that people call selfish 1858. He does not chase once the ball lands unless it is in his hands or he can easily pick it up. So frustrating when this is one of the planks of Bails game plans and has had other players dropped or younger players have had to show for long periods of time in the 2's before getting a game. Robbo needs to show he is part of the game plan, if he does then he is a selfish footballer.

I think he needs to be called out infront of his teammates.

Whether it iss done by Bails or someone else (preferrably Brock) it has to be acknowledged and stamped as completely unacceptable.

Shame him and let it be known that this is completely unacceptable and no one is sacrosanct, no matter what else they bring to the table.

Bails question when he dragged him: So take me through that Russ..

I think he shamed himself no need to shame him in front of everyone and I am sure his team mates will be shaming him all week about it light heartedly too. He needs to continue to learn about the game and as it is one of Bails major underpinning philosophys Bails might need to give him a spell in the magoos ig he does not show enough of a turn around on the track this week.

Also I'd say Fev is very selfish and Robbo's actions point to selfishness. He also had two occasions he could have blocked a Hawks player touching a ball heading for goal on Sunday and instead went for speccies.

One thing I consistantly enjoy about Bails is his consistant approach to trying to get the players to be consistant. From day 1 he has just continued with the same steadfast approach and it is enjoyable to watch.

After the win this year he was asked why he was not in the huddle singing the song and he response was along the lines of, Why would I? It is for the players, we are the support staff to try and get the best out of the players, they are the ones training since October and playing all season so they should enjoy the wins whilst we get on with the job. Just thought it was fantastic.

... falls on his backside then watches as his opponent runs it out of defence.

Sometimes he gives a half-hearted 'token' effort to chase.

How about in the last quarter (or it might have been the third) when he leapt for a mark, missed it, fell on his arse, and then sat up with his arms resting on his knees.

He sat still and watched for 5 seconds while the ball bobbed around on the ground no more than 3 metres away from him, in between his opponent and a couple of other hawthorn players as they fumbled and eventually ran it out of our forward line. He made no effort to even look like he was trying to get involved.

I lost my marbles at this point. You don't want to know what I shouted (or how much vitriol i left on the back of the neck of the hawks supporter in front of me)

Pathetic, selfish and WEAK.

That was right in front of me and I lost it too. He lay face down for awhile then sat up with the ball still in the area bobbing around then as the ball was leaving the area he decided to get up and chase it... horrible efforts. He continues to do this and Bails if he is teaching the kids like Newts and Maric etc about having defensive pressure then he sure as hell needs to do the same with the senior guys. Champion players you hear they always think they need to work on recognised problems in there games.

That being said Robbo is our best goal kicking fwd option he has 10 goals already... He looks better on the lead this year than he did last year before the injury.

Sister is someone we should definately get involved too.......

As Daniel Kitson would say, "I think we're in the presence of a maverick". Careful DD, all this positivity might have you pigeon-holed as a 'happy clapping, glass half-full, strawberry fields-loving optimist". Keep it up!

Kitson.... what a legend, so disappointed he was not here for comedy fest this year.

Cale Morton doesnt have the body type that will be able to stack on weight. LIke Bruce, he will only probably be able to put on another 5kg to reach his peak

I vaguley recall I read something that mentioned he has only put on 5 or so kgs in his 2 preseasons so far so you might be right on that. I just hope he gains enough weight to be able to stand up in a tackle and hit a team mate. Unfortunatley at the moment he generally drops the ball at his feet as soon as he is tackled as he is so slight he is monstered.

I called someone back in Australia earlier this week who told me Melbourne were "no good" again on the weekend. I can ensure you I climbed in and gave them a lecture on progress. Sorry mum.

.......... hahahaha she'll know better next time.

The MCG is our home....

The MCC have been tremendous, we could not have asked for more.

Unfortunately, the MCG cannot be our training venue.

Come on Schwabby I thought you were the man, how can you not have negotiated with the MCC to level out an area of the car park around the G and for them to build us a training base with a training ground attached to the G itself...

Didn't he just break his leg again couple of weeks ago? Unlycky to have two 3 fantastic fwds ahead of him.

I have no problem going there but i don't see why we should be pushed off OUR home ground for two clubs that don't even call the MCG home

But don't you think a better way to show the AFL is to have as many supporters as possible at the ground? Not showing up just confirms the AFL's view of us.