heartbeatstrue

Agreed, pathetic. Very disappointing as I had 2 visitors from Perth and took them along to see our skillful future champions. No intensity. Very poor decision making (PJ was the epitome, what goes through their heads?). Kicking was woefully inaccurate. Totally disappointed. Except great game Sylvia.

It just shows the vast gulf between the VFL and AFL. All Watts needs is games and experience under his belt, and over time to bulk up.

Remembering Maric in his first few games, how lost he seemed, yet today comparing him with Watts he seemed mature and confident. And that's after 11 games! Wait until Watts has played 10, it's a steep learning curve right now.

can someone possibly pick a few of these free trials up for me and then possibly send them to brisbane for me?/?

Very keen to give this a go cause atm i just use avast ( free home version)

Give me your postal address and I'll do what I can... GO DEES!

This works for me but make no mistake we really don't have a wealth of forward options, but it is a big step in the right direction......

Agreed, and consider... I left out Bruce, Sylvia, Jetta, Jurrah, Dunn. Left Martin down back. And didn't even consider Newton or Petterd. A nice dilemma to have

That was nice and subtle

I thought Monsieur Morton was "having a laugh" (a la Ricky Gervais) and I smiled along with him.

Humour can be difficult over the internet. But hey, what does come through clear is everyone's passion! I appreciate the commendations for Kaspersky security, thanks everyone.

Does anyone find it funny how BATE is the new flavour of the week hahaha

He is in just about everyone's DREAM forward line. Go back 2-3 weeks and he wouldnt have been in any.

I think its good he is playing SLIGHTLY better but its funny how this forum changes so much from week to week.

Ohh and I really like the look of maric. He is a VERY smart player and can use the ball really well.

Davey, Grimes, Maric and Sylvia have impressed me most of all this year in terms of their BALL USE AND FOOTY SMARTS (very underated these attributes).

Agree with you re that last lot, I've liked Maric since his first game this year (remember, plenty were wanting him dropped).

As for Bate, I think it's his potential. Sure, he had some shockers earlier, down on confidence & form. But his potential is better than that. I think he's worth persevering with, especially in a potent forward line where Bater's not getting one of the best opposition 2 or 3 defenders each week. And like Miller, I think Bate operates best up the ground where he can mark one-out.

Mine for this week:

HF: Bate, Watts, Miller

F: Maric, Robbo, Green

Good enough forward line to win this week, which is what really matters!

(Suddenly we've got a wealth of forward options, if Miller is dropped to make room then we've got Sylvia. But I'd like to see Miller up the ground, one-on-one with some space to work in)

OK experts, what's the thinking... bring Robbo in to provide some distraction? Keep Miller in for some protection of Watts? Some interesting calls this week, but at all costs we want a forward line that will win this game. Maric to crumb, imo he'll enjoy working off Watts.

What do you think we'll see, and what would you dream of seeing (resurrecting Jakovich would probably require a bigger miracle than is likely

So amongst our experts here, what's the thinking... bring Robbo in to provide some distraction? Keep Miller in for some protection of Watts? Some interesting calls this week, but at all costs we want a forward line that will win this game.

I'm doubling my standard 34,000 for this one. But 68,000 has already been taken, so we're making it 68,020 (to include Jack's family and aunts and uncles).

No future Demon champion could have a better debut. Savour the day, Jack Watts!

Because as supporters, we're gonna... :D

Thanks to MFC for the SMS, great to get updates like that. Really appreciated.

We'll all be there, this is one we're gonna WIN!

Anybody taking bets on Jack's first kick???

If my blasted DVD drive wasn't busted, I'd get more clips up.

Get it fixed! I'd love to watch that vic park game

I do rate Brett lovett's Mullet higher than Jacko's. but Febey's Under cut is even better

I remember Rex Hunt's description of Brett Lovett one day when he passed him on the way in to the ground. He said he looked as scruffy as an unmade bed! Exactly...

I didn't comment on the Robbo issue and dropping him, because in essence I agree with the decision, however I would just like to make two comments:

2- You can't drop the only, and I repeat, only deep forward we have capable to taking marks and kicking goals consistently, and not even attempt to find a replacement

How many times did we go inside 50 to nothing? Either play Green out of the square, and have our midfielders kick to him on the lead, or play Martin at FF and bomb it long. Jamar and PJ are not forward targets.

And finally, we will continue to lose, competitiveness or no competitiveness, until we can eliminate the completely unnecessary amount of ill-directed handballs and start winning some contested footy on the back of long kicks (taking a mark one on one seems a completely foreign concept to us, and it goes back to my second point in regards to Robbo).

On the plus side, I thought our backline was brilliant under constant siege and Grimes (and Maric and Bennell) will be a star!

Good points, agreed.

As I've been saying, Miller is not a replacement for Robbo, he needs space up the ground, to win one-on-one and deliver to leading marking forwards in the goal-square. What happened at Carrara was unfair on Miller, imo. Like Jaded said, "You can't drop the only, and I repeat, only deep forward we have capable to taking marks and kicking goals consistently, and not even attempt to find a replacement". Ultimately selecting like that will take its toll on the players up the ground because all their huge effort goes unrewarded. Maybe that is even partly to blame for the last half?!

Agree Maric has come a million years since his first tentative game a few weeks ago. Maric, Grimes & Bennell, GREAT PROGRESS!

The third quarter will tell us everything we need to know about whether we are any chance of winning this.

And? What did we learn... ??

Carrara Stadium is situated on the Gold Coast, and is also known as the Gold Coast Stadium. Construction began in 1986 and opened the following year after the Brisbane Bears were granted a license to play in the VFL. Their highest crowd was in 1989 when 18,198 people watched the Bears play Geelong. However crowds dwindled and the Bears moved to the Gabba in Brisbane in 1993. The ground was left without a major tenant and was sold to the Gold Coast City Council. The ground occassionally played host to Rugby League games and in 1996, the Gold Coast Chargers moved full-time to the stadium until 1998 when they were kicked out from the ARL.

Carrara Stadium has main grandstands on either side of the ground, and grassed areas around the rest of the ground. It has a total capacity of around 18,000 including 5,300 undercover seats and 2,500 transportable seats which can be placed in front of the outer grandstand for Rugby League matches.

http://www.austadiums.com/stadiums/stadiums.php?id=31

No good me going with my long-standing 34,000 then. And I'm tipping they won't need those transportable seats!

OK I'll be optimistic, 14,000.

And I do not like soft Melbourne fans and all their excuse - so this is why people say we go to the snow

Seems it might now be, "must be the dry season... on safari in the top end!!" Jill, don't breathe a word of that suggestion off of this forum, we don't want that one doing the rounds :D

I'm actually enjoying all the games at the 'G. The Sunday twilight slot isn't the best but at least we're at the best ground in the land.

As for manning up, that can make for a very defensive stop-start kind of game. And because both are forced to do it, it doesn't automatically favour one team over the other.

Hawthorn play a very distinctive zone type of game, which suits teams who rely on possession and speed. I know it's frustrating when the opposition (say Hawthorn) get possession on their back line and suddenly there are 3 or 4 of their players loose all the way down the wing to their goal. But it cuts both ways. When we get possession, we hopefully have similar loose players and if we're skillful enough we can keep possession through these players (by pin-point handpasses and kicks) and onto the chest of our leading forwards.

Watch how Melbourne are moving the ball, we usually aim to have players loose and move the ball quickly through the centre corridor. Which is an attacking style, guaranteed to give you best chance to win games. Once the skills of pin-point handballs and kicks get better. It's a style that should eventually challenge for a flag. And if while we're learning and developing the necessary skills to implement it we lose some close games, then that's just the price for ultimate success.

I'm happy with our game plan as it's developing, some of our passages of play are a delight and hopefully those exciting plays get more and more with each game. And the stuff-ups (that can lead to loose opposition players destroying us) get less and less.

What was your other point Jill.. soft Melb fans making smart-alex comments about the snow. Yep, hate that. Walking to the 'G on Sunday, there was a group of us Melb supporters together and another Melb supporter thought he was being clever by shouting "not been a good week for the snow". It made me cringe.

And you are absolutely right Jill, we're definitely playing better. So enjoy!

What about Robbos's brain fade. He didn't cross the mark. Moss came in from the side and grabbed the ball away before it hit Robbos foot. Should have been 50m penalty.

If a player takes a mark, fakes a handball and then gets it knocked out of his hand its 50m. same deal here.

Doesn't excuse Robbo but the maggots got it wrong.

Is that right? If it is, it would take a pretty strong umpire to make that decision. But if you're right, then you expect the umpires to know and act. Like you say, Robbo should never have let the situation arise.

The umpire pointed the wrong way later in the game too, think it was the 3rd qtr. It was clearly a Melb free but he pointed as if he was giving it to Hawthorn. Confusion reigned for a few moments, and we were about to lynch him when he corrected himself. Not sure if it was the same umpire.

I thought we got the worst of the umpiring on Sunday but part of it is what was said about Hawthorn being smart and coached to push every rule to the limit, or beyond to the point they can get away with.

In regard to tackles, I think their greater overall strength helped them. When they get tackled, they are strong enough to spin and hold their feet, giving time to get a handball away to a team-mate. We invariably go to ground and it looks awful. Hence we get pinged for holding the ball much more against Hawthorn.

There's something else. Every time we play Hawthorn, they run right to the mark then crib a metre or so over it, often jumping in a circle with their arms flailing (Bateman's the worst) and it annoys heck out of me. By going in a circle, the umpire doesn't know exactly where the mark was, so they can get away with cribbing over it. As the game went on, it became clear that the umpires weren't policing that rule on Sunday so it got more blatant. A couple of times the Hawthorn player was several metres over the mark and Melb supporters were yelling "pull him back" but they never did. There were several that should have been 50 metre penalties, then Hawthorn would have stopped doing it. As it was, they do it every week because they are getting away with it.

We need to improve our smarts in these areas so we can play the percentages in our favour.

-ve's

So called MFC supporter behind me who objected to my passion

Inexcusable!

My point was why you little, Miller still has to kick his set shots, and kick accurately. Which he has been unable to do, of late.

And my point is, get him up the ground a bit. Feeding our marking forwards, like I remember him doing Neitz. He's not even a second target in my opinion, but his strengths are his strength at outmarking most opponents and out-hustling them in space to win the ball and kick long to the teeth of goal. I've watched him do it, and he does it very well.

just as well. i lay out far to much money for my comfort on the 33.5 point line. was sh*#ing myself the whole day

ha ha! They did you proud in the end... :D