Vipercrunch

It's been the way we have lost that has been so dissappointing, not the numbers of wins or losses. We have been completely unable to cope with heavy, organised pressure and zones. We competed better with the better sides last year than this year. Despite how the players felt about Bailey, I think once his game plan came unstuck so dramatically in games against Hawthorn and West Coast early on in the season, the players lost faith in it and we saw the big blow outs. Despite what our win/loss record looks like at the end of the year, we went backwards.

Agree

Who would benefit by leaving this incident on the field? No one. Who benefits by getting this stuff out in the public forum? Everyone.

I wish we could trade some of OUR feral supporters to Collingwood. All those who pulled out all the normal PC gone made, nanny state remarks without knowing the full story. Digusting posts. It was obvious that this wasn't a normal mum jibe. No footballer would react in such a way to a fat/ugly mumma joke. A truly "soft' society is one that doesn't stand up to idiots like McGinnity and Sherman on the field and the racist comments and rapist chants from the crowds.

Jimmy did sound very tired. Hope this doesn't have too much of a effect on his health. It is a reality of footy clubs that at times like this the coach takes the fall. He is ultimately responsibility for how the players on the list are developed, trained, motivated and directed to play. It has been obvious to me since our completely disorganised and chaotic second half performance against Hawthorn early in the year that our team is not motivated and directed in the right way against the top teams. Our beating up of lowly oppisition only strengthed this feeling. Bails is speaking atm the moment and saying quite similar. As usual you can't fault his demenor and sentiments. He departs with his character unquestioned. Massive decision in front of us. Hope we get it right.

Watts was in the typical airport footage this morning on Fox Sports news so he made the trip. They spoke to Rivers in the report. Nothing re team make-up, just the expected stuff about needing to prove oursleves on the road etc.

I never said that the FD didn't make mistakes. All I said was that I was in agreement with their deciscion to promote Newton from the rookie list (ie the FD and I still believe Newton has something to offer at AFl level). Only time will tell if it was a mistake or not.

Was he promoted to the senior list too?

I'm not sure that has ever been the case. Bad policy. Every team can be improved by dropping out fo form players for in form players. I would hate to think our coaches have been happy with what we have been dishing up the last two weeks. Collingwood *may* go through the year undefeated, but I bet they make many, many unforced changes to ensure good form is rewarded.

I saw their reserves play last weekend against Sandringham. Fishing was looking good for a promotion until the wet weather came in and he looked lost at sea. I see he has been placed on the long term injury list after that nasty incident that saw him literally lose his tackle. Ouch!

I agree. We are yet to come close to some of the form we showed last year which is very dissappointing. Our injury list is very small and can not be used as any excuse whatsoever. Perhaps there is a reason why we are yet to match, let alone improve on last year but it is a little concerning. I am happy to wait for the success, but would prefer to see things going forward, not backwards.

I don't think he would necessiraliy only come in for Stef Martin. He is kicking goals in the VFL playing as a key forward, not as a utility ruckman. If the output from our bigger forwards doesn't increase and he continues to kick goals at VFL he should come in as a key forward. I don't think we would be too big at all. One thing to remember is that Jamar only came good as a 26-27 year old. Newton has missed quite a lot of football in his time on our list and is 24 atm. His problem has never been a lack of talent, but atitude/effort. If he has matured and begun to apply himself as necessary, then he could be very valuable for the next 5 years. I'm a believer and it appears those in the football department are to.

The changes I would like to see for next week are:- A lot less kicks getting smothered - we need to push back harder after a mark before playing on and more awarness in general play. Better set shot-kicking for goal. Less clangers. Oh, you mean team changes... /shrug

If our club does not have a strong enough culture to withstand any (and a big IF here too) problems that Fev may cause then we are screwed any way. Carlton is a disgraceful club with extremely weak leadership. Brisbane is a basket case atm. I know our club is far better than them cultrally. The ONLY possible drawback as mentioned by others is possible slowing the developmet of MFC key position forwards. His presence may actually be positive however in being an example of how AFL forwards play, position etc. All you shallow, short sighted folk out there who think people are beyond redemption jump back into your little boxes. The world won't end becasue of this decision. On a side note, very poorly played by MFC publically. Even if they were against the move for Casey to recruit Fev, they would have been better off to keep it behind close doors. The MFC-Casey relationship looks quite fractured atm.

If we make the finals, it will be because we win some pretty tough games over the next few weeks, which is a indication that we are ready. A game or two in the finals can be used as a huge motivator to work harder and focus even more on what needs to be done to ensure the next time we make the finals, we are better positioned to go even deeper into September. I echo the sentiments from others that Bailey seems to be more than able to keep the group focused and level headed. For what its worth, there is a big difference to hanging onto a finals position by the skin of your teeth with a poor record over the last part of a season to finishing a season with a good record and hitting the finals, even if it is the lower part of the 8 with confidence and momentum.

I, like most supporters have always hoped for something special from Sylvia, and have only seen glimpses of elite football thus far, but there was an aspect to his game on Sunday that I had never noticed before and it has got me very excited that he is about to emerge as one of the most dynamic and damaging midfielders in the comp. This burst speed he showed on several occassions on Sunday is something either he hasn't shown, or I have missed, but it was amazing. Whether it was the blood-clot injury or something else holding him back, but he was able to go from cruise speed within a congested area to suddenly take posession of the ball and burst clear, showing acceleration and top speed that left opposition and teammates in his wake. It took me by surprise. Having Sylvia come back in and show that form, on top of Jurrah's return and begin to find his rhythm made the win all that more satisfying.

The current interpretation of holding the Ball is killing football for me. I used to watch a lot of footy, but now pretty much limit myself to watching Melbourne games. My biggest beef is the incidents where a player is tackled immediately (no prior) and wrapped in a solid tackle that pins both arms and is ruled against because he is not making an attempt to dispose of the ball. That is the correct descision according to the umpire bosses, but it is a disgrace and goes against the things most of us love about the game. And yes, it is the correct descision according to The Geisch on the umpire info-ads they run on SEN. I used to love the rule when it was simply no prior oppurtunity and lock-up tackle meant ball up. If the player has prior oppurtunity and does not dispose of the ball with a legal kick or handpass then it was HTB. So simple!! Viewers could pick with about 95% accuracy the outcome of any given incident. I loved watching football back then. Until this is osrted out, TV stations won't be getting their bang for their buck from me. I'll watch melbourne games and thats about it.

Her inaccuracies drove me and my wife (an ardent North fan) crazy. She always called the play at least one step behind and when she did try to call coming plays she ALWAYS got it wrong. She once called that a player looked up and had no options as the ball was sailing through the air to a wide open player deep within the 50. Other times she took 2-3 attemtps to get the players name right. I like the idea of having female commentators, but she is not the one to lead the way. Give me an easier to listen to voice and a much, much higher level of accuracy and I am sold. Tiff Cherry, Malthouse or Sam Lane would all be worth a go. On a side not, you could hear the desk moving whenever Darcy spoke about Jamar. The amount of times he apologised for mentioning how good it was to see Jamar playing so well then go ahead and repeat it again and again was crazy. Impartial or oppisition supporters would have been throwing things at their telly.

I like some who have posted here are concerned about his intensity and attitude (what we see on the field), all of which has nothing to do with age and body maturity. The post from Davey36 concerns me. Calls to play him in the seniors also concerns me because it is not on merit. Nothing from the reports from the Casey game on the weekend suggests he played any where near well enough to get selected for Melbourne. Why on earth should he get a game on potential or hopes? It will do nothing for him and will do nothing for his team mates busting their guts out for a game in the seniors. For all those who stand firm in confidence that Watts will be as good as we have been told he will be, when (if ever) will you start to question or worry about Watts?

I think the biggest hole in the side against North was our lack of tall forwards to take advantage of North's lack of tall defenders. Firrito and Thompson relished not having to play on tall forwards and were on top most the game. Until our forward line becomes more balanced there are some teams that will match-up very well with us and shut us down. Brisbane lacked quaility shutdown mid-size defenders and we took advantage. I think Miller or Newton would have helped on Saturday. For whatever reason, Martin doesn't seem to attract enough of the ball when he plays forward, although I still have high hopes for him.

Glad to see someone else here can see how good NikNat is already. Take off your Red and Blue glasses people, RM in particular.

HINT: I was being sarcastic.

I am so glad the football smarts here at Demonland can see thru the dark skin, the dreadlocks and the hype and know that he really isn't very good at all. It's a shame that all the media outlets in the country that rave on about his ability and that gave him BOG on Friday bight aren't as clever as you lot.

Nic Nat was BOG on Friday night and has done miles, miles more than Watts has done to date. Yes it is too early to tell who will be better in the long run, but to act completely blind to the exceptional football NicNat has played to date is getting moronic.

Thats the way I remeber it also. The sources I have heard saying it was a choice Melbourne made was from journo's. The first was the country radio coverage of the Melb vs Coll game when Sandy Roberts asked the very leading question early in the game about whether Melbourne regretted their decsicion to keep Jamar instead of Jolley. He was obviously insinuating that we had made a huge mistake. Whether or not he re-addressed the issue later in the game after Jamar totally dominated the ruck is doubtful. The other was at the start of the Gerald Healy article in the HUN recently. The gist of the article was the Jamar should count himself extremely lucky to still be listed.