the pearl

They had to kick 5 goals to nothing in the last quarter. We would have to have stood still to allow them to do that. The tackling and the pressure was far too good for Brisbane to overwhelm us in any way. I feel the stress and lose confidence sometimes but not last night.

6. Sylvia 5. Moloney 4. Frawley 3. Scully 2. Warnock 1. Trengove

This article covers the game in a fundamental sort of way. Apart from Brown, who can be a machine, the others names mentioned should not have Demons shaking in their boots. Most of them jump out of their skins when the Brisbane crowd is behind them and they get on a roll. Winning in the mid field is the part of our performance that has improved most of all and this is where can win the game.

Exactly right Why. Early days, early days. Lets make the call on Jack Watts in five years time. In the meantime, we should enjoy watching his development.

Disrespectful post! Bruce and Green don't tackle, rarely lead by example and don't bleed for the club as much as Junior. Green is fabulous but will not ever have Junior's endurance and commitment.

Junior McDonald should play for Melbourne as long as he wants to play. He has so much integrity that he would not decide to go on if he couldn't cut it with the best.

Didn't Doug Koop come from South Melb/Sydney and Springvale before that?

Yeah. Good post, mono. I'm nibbling at a bit of humble pie re. Nathan Jones at the moment. I worry about the random handball out of the pack when he gets possession under pressure - the sort of thing you see them doing at training with no opposition. However, I really liked his intensity on Sunday; it was second to none.

Bruce looked smart, balanced and cool today. I've been critical of his shabby passing by hand and foot but he showed the characteristics of a quality AFL player today. He looked like he had so much time to do whatever he needed to do to generate smart attacking moves.

Junior has always been under rated and underestimated. He should have been selected in 4 or 5 All Australian teams. A class act!

6. James McDonald 5. Moloney 4. Sylvia (10 marks) 3. Jamar 2. Bruce 1. Green

Watt's more to the point, Chouk, is the way posters stuff up the names of Chaney, Strouse and Warlock!

The final line up is difficult to work out at this stage. How do you work out match-ups with the Toiges squad? How Richmond line up is like a lottery. Their players are either out of form or they've not got much form!

6. Frawley 5. Warnock 4. Jamar 3. Grimes 2. Davey 1. McDonald

1. Go back to family memberships that include the whole family not just 2 adults 2 children. 2. Provide partial/limited game memberships - we won't lose many full memberships but we could rope in a whole stack of people who don't contribute at all at this stage.

It is how well a team adjusts to the turnover; it's how they cope psychologically with losing the ball after working hard to get possession and how resilient they are.

Sorry Chook. You seem to be getting a bit upset. From a football point of view, I would stick with a youngster like Strauss - as I would with Scully and Grimes. I lose patience with Newton, Jones and Miller because they've been tried in teams that were a lot more accomplished and successful than our current team, with little development or progress. If we're blooding our youth, then that's what we've got to do. Last week's game was an indication or what lies ahead - Frawley, Strauss, maybe even Bennell included. This is not a time for paranoia or sookiness. Get over it.

Well done. Maybe you should check a recording of last week's game and make sure you haven't got your analysis of Strauss's game wrong. It's not to late to contact the selection committee/

How did you know my name was Alec?

This one came back to bite you Chook. Recanting was a good move - particularly when you have such a strong reputation as a football commentator!

We ran Adelaide around in a practice game over there in a pretty feral environment. A little bit of inexperience and some poor umpiring cost us that game. It'll be different at the "G" with plenty of red and blue support and a team of youngsters that are beginning to believe.

No

Out: Newton, Bennell. In: Anyone ..

You can't read but you can count??

You should get your mum to read it to you. Norm Smith played with, and coached, a few players who had served with our armed forces during the Second World War and this was where the standard was set. Showing courage and respect for team mates was the most important quality that MFC players could possess. If a player 'jibbed it' ( as Smith referred to the act of pulling out of a contest ), Smith would tear him apart verbally in front of his team mates, eyeballing the player ferociously. If he did not compete relentlessly and bravely at every opportunity after that, he would be shown the door. So developed players of the character of McGivern, Cordners, McMahen, Beckwith and Barassi. The Demons of 1952-53 showed similar characteristics to our current list. As I said, get your mum to read it to you.