CHF

Breakfast bounce for me at 7.20am. Bad news for me as in- laws are staying overnight and in am on chef duty with pannenkoken. …… and then they will want to talk… I hate that.

Not so much a comment on JVR, more a general observation. Are some of the players being overcoached? Are we coaching the instinct out of them to the detriment of the team performance?

To answer your question as to why I believe Laurie is ahead of Tholstrup at this stage: For me, it has nothing to do about where they were selected in their draft years and nothing to do with average disposals last year or perceived potential. It is all about form and how they are playing and training week to week. Laurie has been doing all that he has to do at VFL level for the past few weeks and Tholstrup has been doing very little in the AFL team. I felt that bring him straight back into the team without a VFL run was the wrong move and keeping him in the team was also wrong. Personally, I am not convinced by Tholstrup. For me, he is a bit too concerned with ‘image’. The hair, the sunnies…. Kissing teammates. Needs to concentrate on his football. I hope he makes it. Not confident at this stage. I also note the comments regarding his performance for Casey today. It sounds less than satisfactory. That however was after my comment.

If I was Laurie, I would be giving some thought to looking elsewhere next season and if Tholstrup gets back into the team before I am given an opportunity, I would be straight to Goodwin and requesting a trade.

A few observations about the game: A little bit of love will take you a long way but it takes a lot of work on conditioning and fitness to run out the fourth quarter of a game. In retrospect, mistakes made at selection. When the team was announced, the selection of Jefferson had us all scratching our heads and asking questions. We were right, selectors were wrong. Similar situation with a couple of others in the team. What strange pathways will selection wander down this week? The team played well for 3/4 applying good pressure and had the Hawks on the back foot only to let themselves down kicking for goal. How many goals did JVR, Jefferson, Fristch and Spargo kick between them? Ahhh hello. Forward 50 is still a mess. Newsflash: it’s not the delivery that is the problem. Our young players coming through are showing a lot. The only one I am not sold on is Tholstrup. I just do not see what others see. To me he looks more concerned with his image rather than letting his footy establish his credentials. I think we need to see some of the players that are in the cupboard. I don’ think it is as bare as we think. I would like to see players like Laurie, Sestan, Brown, Adams etc. given the same opportunities as Tholstrup. A few weeks run in the senior team. Ah well that is the Hawks game done a dusted with the season creaking along held together by hope and secondhand sticky tape. Lions next. Where there is a heartbeat, there are possibilities. Look in the pregame thread for what I would do at selection and how I would coach the match. I know you are hanging out for my wise thoughts. LOL

Feels like a strange thing to say after a good win in the West, but it is going to be a hard night at selection for the Hawks game. Petty out will make getting the team balance for the game difficult because he is a very versatile player who, while he has been playing forward in the last few games can also swing back and be very effective. Playing as a forward he also backed max up in the ruck. There is also a few unknows with the form of a couple of mall forwards/midfield and availability of Oliver. ....and then there is the question of the opposition, Hawthorn. Firstly, my take on Hawthorn. Entertaining but brittle team that is playing in a bubble of hype and confidence. A thin veneer of quality. I will make a bookmark prediction here, we will finish the H&A season above the Hawks on the ladder and they will not make the finals. This is the game where we show them up. I would go with the same defence structure and players that we had last week. May and Tmac as the main talls with McVee, Bowey, Salem and Windsor at their feet as support/run. Rivers to rotate back there as required and Turner to drop back a a tall option in case of emergency. Midfield has a good quality rotation for the wing positions with Lindsay, Langdon, Langford, Sparrow and even Chandler has been taking a turn there. Viney to run with Newcombe but it might not be a hard tagging role. Petracca to be on the ball a majority of the time. I would have Oliver back in the team if he is good to go in the judgement of the coaching team. Rivers, Pickett, Sparrow and Langford to rotate through there. Max rucking but who to cover for him? that is a question also rolled up in the forward structure. The forward 50 is always going to be an interesting riddle from round to round. Turner, Fristch, Chandler and Melksham are in there without a doubt. The second tall is a tossup between, JVR, AJ and Jefferson. With the bye in the VFL last weekend the exposed form of the three is a couple of weeks old. JVR kicked 5 and AJ 3. I would go with AJ as he has a physical presence that JVR does not show at this stage of his career. He also can back up in the ruck. That would give us AJ and Turner as the taller options, Fristch and Melksham as mediums and Spargo, Chandler and Pickett as smalls. Sparrow, Petracca, Langdon and Langford as possible rotations forward. I would like to see Tholstrup have a run at Casey this week with a view to him working on his positioning and consistency. Sharp back to Casey to get a full game. I think that leaves one place in the 23 open. With no game at Casey last week except for a scratch match, it is hard to look at promotion. Laurie seems to have been in form as well as Sestan. Brown? Woewodin? Culley? I think we need to have a look at these guys as the opportunity presents. I would like to see Sestan get a run in the team as sub. So, the team... B: McVee, May, Salem. HB: Bowey, TMac, Windsor C: Langdon, Viney, Lindsay HF: Melksham, AJ, Sparrow F: Fristch, Turner, Pickett FOL: Gawn, Petracca, Oliver IC: Spargo, Langford, Rivers, Chandler. Sub: Sestan WTF is Hok ball? (I do not read responses to rhetorical questions)

Another game I enjoyed. 3 in a row now I am getting used to it. Had lunch after the game and noticed that even a very good red tastes even better after a win. A few observations: Max is the best Ruck of his generation easily and has to be in the conversation as the best ever. Monumental game. One of many in a wonderful run of 200+. Viney again given a role that he executed very well. Nullified and forced Reid’s move out of the middle. He then expanded his role. A very even team performance with a spread of quality performances from a number of experienced and inexperienced players. We covered Petty’s injury well and generally it was a good game from the coaches. Across the board the players look to have more confidence in the ability of their teammates to win the contest and exert pressure. Defence played well as a unit and managed to get matchups that they wanted. Caught out a few times, but that happens. Midfield did as it liked at bounces and stoppages. Interesting that it was without Oliver there. Will need to watch again to see what happened there. (One of my pet peeves is that after a goal they replay a few different views of the goal and reduce the vision of the center setup to the bottom right only expending it as the ump moves in to bounce the ball. I would love to see who is in there and where they are) The forwards did well but could have, once again, made a few of those points goals. One of the things the team and coaches referred to a number of times in ‘21, if I recall correctly, was the ability to reset. Either during play or between quarters. I see that happening a bit more from game to game. Next round is an early start for me so I will be having breakfast after the game. I hope my coffee tastes excellent. No matter how good we play, mistakes will be made. I accept that. It does not make it any less frustrating at the time but winning the game wipes a lot of that frustration away. I can reflect on the less good bits of the game in a day or so. Onward and upward.

11.35am start over here for me. Good timing. Watch the first, an apero or 2 at halftime and a relaxed lunch after the game to celebrate. Expect a win. Viney to wear Reid like glove and pester him to distraction. Sparrow to take him if he lines up at HB. Rivers to step up in a midfield role. Petty and Turner to not change ends at the breaks. Half forward, half back. All good…. Dees by 30 points going away.

So, we are off to Perf to play the Weagles. One of those classic no win matches. Win it and people will shrug and say “So you should have.” Lose and they will jump on us as a rabble. Don’t mind the selections. Where Petty and Turner line up will keep the opposition guessing as will who will line up at the bounce. Petracca, Viney and Pickett for mine with Rivers lining up on the edge of the square on a wing at the bounce. Viney to Reid… wear him like a glove and be a pest. Small forwards our key to scoring. Swamming at the drop of the ball with insane pressure. Dees to break the game open in the third and ease to a 5 goal win…… (says the heart…. Head not far behind) Go Dee!

My observations from the game: Bowey is in excellent form. AA? Just looks so good and confident with the ball. Besides Bowey, a number of others stepped up. Max, back to his best Langdon in everything eveywhere Someone must have woken Oliver up at halftime as his second half, third quarter in particular, was very good. Salem had his best game so far this season. Tight first half due mainly to our handling errors and good pressure from Richmond at times. Smaller defenders, Bowey, McVee, Windsor, Salem and Rivers looked very good as a running unit and will only get better with more games together under their belt. Viney another good run with game. Coaching team had another good day with tactics including putting a couple of weapons in the rack late in the 4th. 1st year players, Langford and Lindsay both look settled and as if they belong. Forward 50 still very much a work in progress. It all felt pretty much in control, even during the first half. After the game, a good lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. I am half the world away.

I am of an age where I have a hell of a lot more long and winding road behind me than open road in front of me and I will take the enjoyment of a win by the MFC anywhere, at any time no matter how they come. I always rant at the mistakes, yell at the vision and the umps as if they should be able to hear me and take heed of my observations about their parentage. And after that, I do what I did today, grin quietly to myself and look forward to the next game. I also had lunch and a glass or two of a very good red. I would have given my left nut to have been one of the 71,000 at the G last night. Mind you, at my age that is not giving up much. Sit back and enjoy the win for a few minutes. Love this team of mine.

I will be interested to see the way the coaching team perform this evening. Last week was really the first time I have seen them win the match day coaching. They were positive and proactive. Need the same tonight. Want to see pressure, Pressure, Pressure and a clearly defined task for Viney. He responded very well last week. Go Dees!

As good a team as could be selected with the available players. I will be watching as usual but this week it starts at 11.30am my time. A glass of wine at half time as an aperitivo. Followed by lunch after the game. I would have selected a little differently by retaining Howes and dropping Sharp. I just think that would have given us a bit more flexibility with some of the positional rotations. Bring last week's game and we run out easy winners. Slide back into earlier habits and we get done. I hope the coaching team bring last week's style of planning as well. Pressure, pressure and more pressure and a defined task for Viney. Go Dees!

So, it has taken us 6 rounds to get on the board and me until Tuesday morning my time to get around to posting a few observations about the game against Freo. I don't feel so bad about that as Easter was very busy. Not too busy that I did not watch the game live starting at 5.20am and then steal some time to watch a replay a bit later on. The replay was blurred a bit by an excellent red. My observations: Very good lift in pressure on the ball/ball carrier. There was also more attention paid to possible secondary receivers. Pressure in forward 50 was [censored] good as you are going to see. We were keeping it very tight at the contest. Early on watching it live I thought that Langford was a bit hesitant at the contest but on second viewing he was letting his team mate in the contest do his work and looking to the next receiver. It is what we used to do in the past. Trust in our players to do the job. if they do not succeed, then the next in line steps up. Don't over commit. The midfield looked better balanced. with a greater variety of players attending. I want to see Petracca in there consistently as he will always attract a to p notch opponent and make the job easier for others. Midfield bested the Freo midfield without domination from Petracca and Oliver. Pickett cut them up but the balance was very good. won the center bounce clearances well. Bowey is in the best form of his life. Just looks so confident and assured with the ball. Salem looks a bit slower than he was in his prime. McVee to replace him? Be a big call. The coaches to be commended for the use of Viney as a tagger. He seemed to love the responsibility of the role on Serong and it is the best game he ha played in a while. We finally fluked a forward setup that gave us a good return. Going into the game I was not confident in the patchwork nature of our forward setup, or, for that matter the patchwork defence we cobbled together. Both worked better than I expected. The coaching team ran the game well on Saturday made the moves and played to the developing strengths. However, it needs to be asked "Why did it take so long to react to players in bad form?" Fristch and JVR should, in my opinion, have been dropped at least 2 weeks ago. Any change would have made the intent clear. That game sets the base standard that we need to bring to each and every game for the rest of the season. A 0-5 start has not completely destroyed our ambitions for the season. It has made it a hell of a lot more difficult to realise our ambitions by increasing the pressure on the team, and coaches to perform. May and McVee to come back into the defence. There might be a bit of shuffling of the players but I could see Sharp dropped and May replacing Turner. Now the question is, "Can we play two good games in a row?"

Simon has changed his jocks and socks and the forward 50. I will be interested to see what he has changed when it comes to his match day coaching. Seems to me we have been going backwards since he was on the boundary with Yze upstairs. I am not confident. Head says Dockers… heart always says the Dees.

When Simon talked about changes during the week I thought he might be about to don clean jocks and socks. It is likely that he now has having kept them on for two weeks longer than he should have. Three forwards dropped. About bloody time. The forward 50 has been a mess the whole of the first 5 rounds. Players down on form, lack of rhyme and reason in the way it moves or is structured... make me wonder what the hell they have been doing in the pre-season. 5 rounds in and winless with just one reasonable performance in the first round, 3 abject beatings and, in the last round a bad loss after scoring just 3 goals in 3 quarters of the game. I really need some one to convince me that the coaching team have any idea what the problems are or if they have any clue how to rectify the problems. I've got no idea but I would at least have tried a few things over the last 3 weeks to see if the changes made any difference. Select on form and give those out of form a chance to work their way back via Casey. Play players where they have proved themselves capable of playing. Windsor on the wing. Rivers in defence. Petracca in the middle. Fristch close to goal. Chandler and Pickett front and center at the drop of the ball in the forward 50. Across the ground get back to basics and build from there.

Just saw some vision of all of our forwards sitting together talking. Wonder what they are taking about?

Total lack of basic skills with the exception of 2 or 3 players. The forwards lack any structures to play too and the coaches look to have no idea of what to do.

So, zip and 4 going into round 5 playing Essendon in Adelaide. Not where to hoped or expected to be at the start of the season. I am actually very confident about a win in this game. I believe that we will come out and things will click for the team. We are getting a few players back and a couple have found form at Casey. What I would like to see is that we go back to basics. Go back to our strengths and evolve our gameplan as the season unfolds rather. The basics of selection to my mind is to select players that are in form and play them in the positions that they are excellent at. For the players the basics to me are hard running to both ways, nailing tackles, fast reactions to turnovers and concentration on the simple handballs and kicks. I am not saying that I do not want them to be ambitious with the ball in hand but I want them to execute properly. My team: B: TMac, May, Rivers HB: Salem: Petty: Bowey C: Langdon, Oliver, Windsor HF: Sparrow, Turner, Chandler F: Fristch, AJ/Fullarton, Pickett Fol: Gawn, Petracca, Langford IC: Viney, Lindsay, Melksham, Tholstrup, Spargo Sub: Henderson Play Petracca on the ball as much [censored] possible, Windsor and Langdon on the wings for a majority of the time and Rivers defending a majority of his time. Picket 70/30 split forward and on ball. If Lindsay does not get up I would look at giving Brown a run. JVR to go back to Casey to get some confidence. Personally, I like what I see with AJ. A tough straight forward footballer that can backup in the ruck for a bit.. Full Cream might get the nod though. Viney needs a big game. Tholstrup back in first up to be subbed out late third quarter. Dees to win a 'back to basics' game by a few goals.

I can go along with this selected team. I would have dropped a couple of 'names' that are not performing but it is as expected given the coaching teams loyalties to some of the players. However, I hope that no players gets a pass in this game. The not negotiables in this game are 'perform or get dropped, no excuses.'

Always tough to win down the road in Geelong. However, over the last 10 matches we are 5-5. Add to that the fact that the Cats are not travelling all that well either and you would think we might be a chance. Goody put the pressure on with a demand for a response from the team. All well and good but possibly a week late. We were all whimper and no bang last game following on from a thrashing the week before. There has to be doubt about the players ability to respond. A repeat of the team performance of the last two weeks on Friday night will really put the media blowtorch fairly and squarely on all aspects of MFC footy department and rightly so. Leadership needs to step up. Off ground starting with selection and on ground starting with Gawn and the senior players. Match selectors need to start with a blank sheet of paper and look to play players that are fit, in form and ready to commit. Forget reputations, Forget what they have done in the past. Look at what they are doing now, week to week in the games, MFC or Casey, and put together a team that will attack the ball and the contest with bit of vigor and determination. This last couple of weeks there have been too many putting half hearted efforts chasing, contesting and tackling. Select and play to our strengths. Windsor and Langdon are class wingers. Play them there for 80% of their game time at least. Same with Petracca, 80% mid, Rivers, 80% back. Leaders on the ground leading from the front. Doing the hard yards, supporting and chastising when required. Demanding a standard of performance. I want the Dees to win but my expectations of a win are bery, very pow. Go Dees

I have not given up on the season even though after 3 rounds I had us penciled in for a win or two. I lot of water to flow under the bridge in 25...... and starting this game some of the water will be fresh back from suspension and injury. Here is my take on the team for this week for Friday night at the Litter Tray. B: Lever/Tmac, May, Bowey HB: Rivers, Petty, Salem C: Langdon, Oliver, Windsor HF: Sparrow, Turner, Henderson F: Pickett, AJ, Fristch/JVR Fol: Gawn, Petracca, Langford IC: Viney, Chandler, Spargo, Campbell, Melksham In defence I would have Tmac in the team if lever does not get up. 7th Defender may see Windsor rotate back there Or even Langdon playing deeper behind the ball. Langdon and Windsor on the wings. Oliver, Petracca, Langford, Viney, Sparrow, Rivers and Pickett to get time in the center and on the ball at times. I used to love to see Max walk to the center with Petracca, Viney and Oliver for the bounce but I really hope that we mix it up a bit more. P,V & O look a bit one paced and predictable. I would not mind seeing Henderson at a bounce or two. In the forwards, Turner and Pickett come back. I would retain AJ as I like his attack on the ball and even his rough edges. For me, I would drop JVR back to Casey to ease the game pressure on him a bit and to see if he can get a bit of confidence back into his game. Chandler and Spargo on the bench to rotate through the forwards as required to allow for others to rotate into mid roles. Campbell on the bench as rotation for Gawn if he is fit. He could also slot into the resting role forward to free up AJ and/or Turner if required. A few possibilities for sub... Spargo, Campbell and Melksham. I want see us run out the game right through the 4 quarters. Time for our on field leadership to lead from the front.

We got thrashed by a better team this week. I want to be clear what I mean. The team that thrashed us this week is better than the team that thrashed us last week. Dreadful response across the board by the players and coaches. Lack of leadership on the ground and off the ground. I woke at 3.20am my time to watch that game and I think I showed more commitment in doing that than 80% of the Melbourne players in that team.

Given what the teams has produced over the last two weeks it is hard to feel very confident in making a prediction on the result of this game. I always try to go with the head and try to give an educated opinion. However, this week it is all with the heart and hope. Dees will produce a response to the inept game they presented last week and get over the line by a couple of goals or points. No idea how they will do it but the heart is confident. I look at the talent and experience we have in the team and I cannot see us not responding. May to give the backs some backbone and structure, Midfield to lift and AJ to rip into it in the forwards. All good. Go Dees!

Two games into the season and we are under the pump. Understandable given the game our team dished up on Sunday. Our game fell apart in all areas. Team structures failed with little teamwork or team support shown at all across the ground. Our leadership on the ground failed to have any effect on the performance. It is the first time I can recall in recent times that we have been so bad at the fundamentals. I do not see the coaching team changing course in any significant way at this stage of the season. It would be madness to do that after spending the off-season training to the developed game plan. We have an extensive list of players that are unavailable and there is nothing we can do about that except work through their recoveries and each week put out a best team we can. Mind you, that is where things get interesting as there are hell of a lot of opinions about the best team. My take on this weeks best team is a follows: B: Lever, May/TMac, Rivers HB: Bowey, Petty, Salem C: Langdon, Oliver, Lindsay HF: Sparrow, Turner, Henderson F: Fristch, JVR, AJ Fol: Gawn, Petracca, Viney IC: Campbell, Windsor/Sestan, Langford, Chandler Sub: Spargo Defence If May gets up and is available he comes in for Tmac, other wise I think Tmac gets another run. Lever and Petty to stay there this week but I would look at Howes spot very critically. Without McVee we lack a number of options and flexibility. It may be necessary to have Rivers spend more time as a full time defender to cover Howes position. Bowey and Salem with Windsor, if available to cover the running defender options. If not Windsor then it may be time for Sestan to get a run. it must be time for a look at him by now. There are a few others on the list that are there abouts. Mentha, Brown and Woewodin could all get the nod in place of Sestan. Midfield: Gawn is there but with Campbell on the bench as ruck support. Both of them to be used at times forward to give the Suns defence something to think about. Viney, Oliver and Petracca as midfield back bone with Langdon on one wing and Lindsay on the other. Langford, Sparrow and Rivers to rotate through there at times with possible cameos in there of Chandler and I would give Henderson a couple of runs in there at center bounces. He is fast and elusive with a good footy brain. I would also give AJ a visit to the center just to disrupt things. (yeah, I know, it will not happen but I do like a bit of out-of-the-box thinking). Forwards: AJ in for Jefferson. I liked his first up game. He was strong at the contest, and gave good second and third efforts. JVR and Turner to get another game together but I want to see both of them commit to the contest with both hands. I do not want to see them run in at the fall of the ball with their hands in the air waiting for a push in the back. I want to see Henderson, Chandler and/or running mids crumbing properly at the forward contests. Sharp to get a run at Casey as a pressure forward kicking goals, or, at least attempting/practicing to kick a few.