george_on_the_outer

I like the structure of Todds new role. That way recruiting managers don't run off on their own deciding what they think the needs of the team are. Or following the mantra of picking "best available", even if not needed. However, the concern is this: " the club will look to employ a full-time recruiting manager to eventually take on that responsibility, a role Barry Prendergast played until January this year when he joined Carlton. The person appointed to that role is expected to take on the job in 2013 and will report to Viney." So we have no-one in the role for this year...... How much of Prendergasts data went with him? Especially for this coming year. Maybe none....and maybe there is not a snowflakes chance in hell of recruiting someone to fill the role this year, as all the clubs have their recruitment teams in place. Certainly highlights the under-rated value of the recruiting team to any Club.

Just stuck a report up on 'Ology with photo's..... There was an intereresting session held in front of me with Rivers, McDonald, Frawley & Morton under the eyes of Rawlings. Two nominated to contest and ball kicked high toward them. The object was to make sure that you either marked the ball or stopped your opponent from doing so. Rivers and Frawley were simply the masters of this game, but it was interesting to watch Tom and Cale. Tom is just raw and got out positioned by our gorillas and boy was he frustrated. However, he stuck with it and pulled down a strong contested mark toward the end. He would have learnt lots. Cale got off to a bad start with Frawley, when the initial body contact saw him sprawled on the ground. However, and this did surprise me, he then got up quickly and got back in the contest as the ball came in. I doubt that the 2011 Cale would have done that. He struggled the whole exercise, because he just doesn't have the body or strength but he stuck with it, and denied the opponent the mark if he couldn't get it. If he is prepared to continue to show this willingness to get into the contest and make a contest, then the attitude of the fans will change.

Trenners, please take it down, from here and Youtube. The club DOES NOT want video posted as it is used by opposition sides.

I'd be a worried passenger/pilot if the re-fueller had loaded the jet with Avgas. ( Designed for piston engines, jets run on avtur or JetA1)

It's probably easier to find 5 players who you DON'T want to see in the side. Every team has them, the fringe players who "aren't quite right" and get a run when injuries have hit the talent which will get you into finals. No names so back to the ones we would like to see..... Rather than the obvious, like Jamar and Moloney, I would prefer to see the following getting 20 games: 1. Jurrah. If he plays 20 games he will kick 60 goals. Even when he was playing injured and below par in 2011 he still manages to get a couple each match. If he manages 20 games we will get a return which will provide us with the opportunity to win those marginal games which gets you into finals. 2. Watts: 2011 marked the turning point. Does this ( 2.25) remind those who saw him in action of the young Schwartz?: Over the past 2 years he has looked like a boy who didn't know where he was going. Not now. 20 games, and like Jurrah, he will provide the output to win games 3 & 4. Tapscott & Grimes: Struggled to get the bodies right with injury. Both hugely talented and if they are getting 20 games, then the fringe players arent't getting a run. 5. Gysberts: Absolute ball magnet. Body struggled with AFL last year, but we need a class option to get the pill. Moloney can't do it all on his own. If he racks up 20 games, then the pre-season investment that Neeld & Misson are putting into him will pay dividends.

Absolute disaster of a game from ND. We had them on the ropes at 3/4 time, yet the players were stuffed. Lost track of the times that the ball came out of the centre and was marked uncontested by Adelaide talls in their forward line. And the whole time ND had Darren Jolly sitting on the bench! As usual, he finally got a run with 5 minutes to go when the game was lost. He could have sat at CHB, having a field day, and we would have been in the Prelim.

If the AFL wanted to put a stop to this they could, but Adrian Anderson avoided the very first question fielded at the press conference: Why don't you ban spot betting? Claimed it would then go "underground". Who with Indian bookmakers? Perhaps the AFL and Anderson should note the difference between the laws in India and those in Australia. Perhaps they should note the type of betting that has led to numerous cricket scandals. People can bet on the outcome of a game fairly because AFL results cannot be manipulated ( unlike soccer). Betting on who kicks the first goal, or when will a no-ball be bowled are the types of betting which can be manipulated. Ban that and all this ridiculous puffery stops instantly.

Get anyone in the GWS backline...e.g Chad Cornes....because the ball will be down there for nearly 100 minutes each game.

...or...since the club had to delist to participate in the draft, that Aussie has been told to stay low until later...... who is better, someone whose talent is known, but out of contract at the wrong time, or pick 100+ in a weak draft?

Exactly, and Richmond have gifted us $1/2 mill. They don't have it now, so we are $1M better off than them before the season is already started. How many extra coaches/physio/medicos can we now have that they don't? The game is televised free to air on Saturday night. A big positive to sell to sponsors. For those who think we would do better at the MCG you are assuming we would get an MCG game. In all likelihood we would get to play the Dogs or Port at Etihad, where we would lose money. As others have said, until we have 60K plus members and 40K turning up at each match we have to be smart and maximise the opportunities for OUR club.

Now THAT would be something. Given that 6 flights a day arrive from China each and every day at Melbourne there is huge potential. ( By the way not a single one of those flights is QANTAS. 2nd biggest economy in the world and you can't get a flight there using the national carrier. They wonder why they are falling apart)

Can drive a truck through this one already...... Dean Brogan wants to go to Brisbane instead of being delisted. Brisbane offer Luke Power to Port instead of retiring. Both clubs get a compensation pick for players who wouldn't have been there. Can't wait to see Adrians excuses for this one when it becomes abused.

There is a difference between form and capability, especially when the form is in the past. Brad looks like Junior in 2009. In 2008 Junior looked great, his form was great. Game over 12 months later. I watched Green live in Adelaide ( and 19 other games). He cannot run to GET to the ball on a lead any more. Every time the backs were on his hammer, and a spoil invariably resulted.

Trouble for Brad is that he USED to be a good player. This year he could only play forward pocket, and couldn't get to contests or the ball on a lead any more. The body is sending the message. And as has been seen too many times before...the game goes past your very quickly.

I warned the young guys next to me before the game about Schmitt and he didn't fail. The sheer number of wrong calls from him is incredible. Not when the situation is 50/50 but 100% obvious to someone watching the game. Not just this week, but every week. At least Razor Ray plucks them from nowhere, but this guy just makes the wrong call.. He started with a throw call against Blease in the first quarter, that was a clear hand-ball. (It was 5m away from us in full view ) Trouble was he called it from 30m away. Jamar pushed in the back all game by Brogan. ....but then he probably wanted the leave the stadium alive, and not upset the Port ferals....

To quote the guys on SEN... "Chris Newman goes into the pre-game huddle and says " Hey guys - the Melbourne coaches are saying on the radio that they can win the game ......"

When he kicks 10 in a game of VFL ( remember VFL) football, then tell him to come knocking. When he lays a tackle outside 10 metres from his own goal, then we might take notice. There are 3 other players ahead of him on the 2011 goalkickers table in the VFL. So what makes him special? Answer: NO.

Not sure who is the problem. Jones has been played on the wing all season, and unfortunately is not a runner so gets cut to pieces at times. If he were played in the middle he wouldn't be exposed and he would be ideal to tag. Unfortunately we have only 1 Jordie McKenzie, and he can't be accountable for all of them. Fact is, there are others in the midfield who aren't accountable for their opponents, and while it looks good to get 20+ touches, it is of no value if the opposition get 30.

Glad someone else can spot the problems..... What do Mitchell, Cassisi, Harvey and Giansiracusa have in common? Yep no-one on their shoulder when we played them......forget about all the other matchups touted on these threads. We have the right players to cover them. But if we let an opposition mid-fielder get 30+ possessions in a quality side, then we will be belted (again) I doubt the coaching staff have learned the lesson from the last time we played the Hawks, because we were doing the same thing against Port. Fortunately it was Port.

When Jimmy unveils the statue of Norm in the Avenue of Honour outside the ground, then the curse will be broken. It will be then that the MFC can say "welcome home Norm....all is forgiven..."

It took until the 3rd quarter for Melbourne to kick to the left from a kick-in. This was the FIRST TIME IN 3 WEEKS!!!! Does anyone seriously think that the Collingwood coaches didn't know this before the game? Sure makes the press easy to execute. Also gives a good idea of how much work we are putting into our planning. Inconsistency because of young players...RUBBISH Have a look at the stats for Sylvia, Green, Bennell, Moloney for each quarter. Up and down or non-existent in the case of Green. It's not our young ones who are inconsistent.

And virtually all of their list will be out of contract inside 2 years......wait for the cheque-books to appear at Collingwood and Carlton. What they are doing to Callum Ward and Tom Scully will be paid back in spades.....

Trouble is that the majority of the team weren't playing for Casey 4 weeks ago, and all of them were training with the club since last November.

Accurate observation Fork......we have gone back to the Daniher days where players finish up defending grass, because the opposition have moved toward one side of the zone or the other. To cure the problem requires players to run to fill the holes as others move to where the ball is going. Our players don't. Zone defence is really easy to teach, but it has to be taught and taught properly. It is obvious when playing ball sports which players have never been taught, no matter how good they are individually. And at the moment it is obvious to me that the Melbourne players have NOT been taught.

Exactly....and cannot understand how after 6 years of the same rubbish, he gets a game ahead of Howe or Gawn.