Tricky

News just in. Ready made player makes an impact in first year. Surprise!

Here is a highlight package of Lucas Cook

Notice how he is taller than his opponents? notice how he takes a good contested mark? notice how he is an accurate shot at goal?

Notice that he is quite thin and will need a couple of years in the gym?

Lets not lynch Barry Prendagast just yet.

That's the point isn't it? Rightly or wrongly, it was a strategic decision to bring in a tall?

A plug n play draft pick sitting in the forward line isn't much good in a side functioning the way Melbourne are currently. Dropping a C.Judd in the middle would be a different story of course..

"They (tall players) were all there at the pick. This year the planets aligned a little bit ... [Lucas] Cook's kicking and decision-making was as good there was in this draft." BARRY PRENDERGAST, recruiting manager

2010 draft by club

Have I seen MFCFS somewhere also?

Watching Judd tonight makes me realise how desperate we are at Melbourne for some of our kids to become a champion that can change the direction of a game and lift his team to a higher performance level..

Thought the same thing watching him last night. He was the difference...

What longer term would that be?I have a feelng that we are in for more than one year of pain

The competition seems to have gone past us

It appears we have wrong game plan wrong coach and not enough hard firce determined players

I really hope im wrong

The same longer plan that includes Jack Watts.

Fwiw I'm not defending it necessarily, just sayin the decision seems to fit the plan, as opposed to merely being worried the kid was some kind of nasty headline waiting to happen.

to be fair, the ball never entered the Demons 50!!

so replace this stat with the inside 50 stat and get the same result...we sucked

Spot on.

I may have an answer on JD. It was mentioned during the night by a commentator that JD was a "troubled" or he was a "troublesome youth" (not the exact words) and that the has come leaps and bounds in his personal side. I recall MFC want to stay clear of that stuff regardless of talent. Hence Sidebottom & Beams..

Yes there were some potential question marks over character but I doubt the decision was anywhere near that simplistic.

Was it also that 12 < 26?

We weren't the only ones to pass and the decision to take Cook is in keeping with the longer term plan.

Has anyone actually sat down and looked at the stats of the playing list?

Yes we have no heart, no passion, no intensity, no game plan and an average coach, however there are some glaring facts which can't be discounted:

Last night 2 teams lined up:

Average Attributes

West Coast Attribute Melbourne

188.8cm Height 186.8cm

89.7kg Weight 85.9kg

24yr 4mth Age 23yr 6mth

84.0 Games 62.2

Total Players By Games

WC Games Melbourne

8 - Less than 50 - 11

8 - 50 to 99 - 6

1 - 100 to 149 - 4

5 - 150 or more - 1

Last night Melbourne were shorter, younger and had played on average 20 less games. To highlight the issue they had 4 more players with hardened 150+ game bodies.

The above facts can not be overlooked.

Our player list is at the same level as Richmond.

Richmond

Height 187.1cm

Weight 86.0kg

Age 23yr 6mth

Games 61.7

Total Players By Games

Games

Less than 50 - 11

50 to 99 - 7

100 to 149 - 3

150 or more - 1

In fact the MFC are a mirror image of Richmond. And to make it worse we are a little bit shorter and thinner :-)

We have the second youngest side in the league, second least experienced side, one of the shortest and the thinnest.

No wonder we were man handled last night.

Even though we are statistically on par with Richmond they seem to show more up side then us.

Great to seem some perspective amongst the frustration - good post.

Good post. But don't expect many to discuss here, because they are venting their spleen in other threads.

I think most are concerned with the teams inability to perform under pressure, and the fact they looked terrible last night. It was the Hawks third quarter re-visited and something needs to be done. The concern is that the current coaching regime is stifling their development. They appear to have no answers to the forward press being adopted by most clubs that are competent. Failure to address it is incompetent, despite the age of our team.

We lack leadership on the ground as well as off it.

It hurts serving that up anytime, especially on the big stage like last night.

I reckon a Brendan McCartney would have more of an idea in his left [censored]. So I think our club would be derelict in their duty not to look at it. Due diligence. Maybe they already are ? I'd be interested to know the findings from the review....

Again, well said.

Great post.

Honestly I don't care about how much we lost by last night, it's simply the manner in which we did.

Ditto.

I never expected to win this game but the extent of the complete and utter on-field chaos was embarrassing unacceptable.

Is that tackles inside our 50?

Never mind, i get your point - we sucked.

The most damning thing is seeing two clubs that finished below us last year rejig their games styles, and make rapid improvement (West Coast and Essendon).

Half time stat of 13 - 0 tackles inside 50 is laughable in football today.............Aaron Davey would get at least 1 a quarter when Daniher was coaching!!!!!!!!

Is that tackles inside our 50?

Night all...

We have no mongrel...I could use another word that rhymes like punt.

are you calling Karmichael a mongrel?

This game is making me feel physically ill. I can't cope with it anymore.

We are so bad, it's actually depressing.

Bartram, Watts, Grimes and Garland are working hard. Everyone else is asleep. WTF is going on with my man Frawley?!

It looks like such a lazy performance, and the joke is that WCE are actually pretty poor. We just keep gifting them goals.

I know, Frawley, wtf - where is the cry emoticon

I thought Morton had been okay so far, though I stopped watching closely about 15 minutes ago. Surprised by the criticism.

Yeah, i can't single him out

Still no [censored] idea in kicking out. Same kick allllllllllll day long.

They know our kick outs, it's like waterboy where the coach is looking in the coaching for dummies booklet and knowing the other coaches (the fonz, bailey in this case) game plan.

Yes, we are playing foosball

Any chance we can stand next to the opponent?

or at least near...

Could these commentators call the [censored] game? I have no idea what that free kick was for.

mute button

We are looser than a hooker on new years eve....

lol

i know, i stated that i thought the free was there for both.

how many times do u see a player duck and get high contact paid >? 90% of the time atleast.

as for in the back the north player clearly puts his knee all over and in his back could have easily caused harm to martin.

geesham was forced to release a statement because Roos would have had almost every north melbourne supporter feeling like they had lost because of the umpires.

I agree the free for in the back was there.

I also agree they pay the head-duck as high way too often - actually it drives me nuts and players are exploiting it more than ever. I'm surprised you thought it was there...

I didn't realise Roos was commenting the game, only saw the OTC stuff.

i dislike both Roos and Malthouse.

but mick is by far the better coach id take him any day over ROOS if both were available next year and bailey was to be released, the way roos carried on about the

umpires on the TV show the couch and during the richmond vs north game is a disgrace!Im all for umpire critics but the free was there

for high and in the back,he seems very bitter now he has left the swans.

FWIW the free kick you are talking about was paid for in the back, not high contact.

It was a text book case of the player with the ball ducking his head.

This detail was missed by most, so much so that Geesham released a statement to clear it up (which they also read on that show).

no i mean from the leadership group,my point being Bailey is ridding himself of players who may show discontent.

Actually I think Beamer did that all by himself....

I think Le Cras is still out injured.

He's a chance apparently. readme

McDonald is gone,Bruce is gone,Maloney gone.Green is captain in his first year,so do not expect any thing bar positive actions.

Next is Davey,and he obviously has no respect for bailey as a senior coach.

Wait...Moloney is gone?

Ahhh, you meant that metaphorically, right?

He certainly isn't painting that picture on-field.

I'm starting to agree with your comments re the inhouse stories, getting out through Caro both times. I don't think Caro is "After us",,, but someone is loading up the ammunition to her to fire out into the free world. Like propaganda confetti.

Question is, where is Caro getting this inside info from, and from Who, what is this persons agenda,,, and Why???

Who does she know from Melbourne?

put the crack pipe down and step away from the keyboard....

but seriously, very creative use of the style buttons

you'll have to provide a bigger picture WYL - eyesight not what it was

likewise - actually I've often wondered..