dimmy

I reckon some of you would eat your young. Already you are talking trades. These blokes are not cattle ! Two years ago we were telling Miller not to touch any of the opposition players . They still look over their shoulder when he is around. He presents as a leading forward, its just that no one kicks it to him. I cannot see Watts being the big tough forward if he gets the same delivery as our Forwards get now. Two weeks after that some will be talking trade for him. Why would we trade those people from our Defence ? We have just got them working together. Injuries do happen . Note that the strength of Geelong is who they could bring in when required. (like Hawthorn in the 80's). If we trade everyone there will be no-one to bring up.

Doesnt it say something about the patience of our Coaching staff when Addam Maric had a horror run last week and they left him on the ground & openly encouraged him to work his way through it. Rewards came this week. Moloney would be sensational if he kicked the ball half as high as he does, inclined to "bomb"it a bit. Cannot fault his committment. Did like Bennell & Grimes. Matty Warnock is quietly becoming a nver valuable player down back. Near top 1% each week. Need blokes like him and Frawley & Rivers. Quietly worried about Brock Mac's pace.Still admire his grunt. We still need to improve our "single grab"possession rate. Geelong get away with their game by eliminating fumbles.

Today was a test and the lessons learned need to be absorbed. To compete against the best you cannot give them a sniff of an opportunity. Effort rating : 10/10 Movement of the ball : 8/10 for intention, 5/10 for skill. THe effort was there all day to move the ball forward quickly (more than a couple of weeks ago) Thnking : 5/10 Still trying to find perfect solution first up. Take note of Geelong who move the ball around until good solution presents. Have not been a fan of Robbo when he thinks he is a pack mark. Today he lead/presented well and showed the midfield a target, so great to have him back !! James Frawley's decision making (sometimes) took a little gloss off his fantastic competitive performance. Big Improver, shows the benefits of patience with a kid who works hard. Stef Martin showed a lot when he moved forward. Gave us a big presence. CAn we cover him from the Backs ?? Miller always provides a contest. CLint Bartram showed more than potential today. Well Done Aaron Davey : Silk Meesen for all the flack he has copped shows a lot of potential. Confidence will lead to improvement. Lots of positives. Let the kids learn from Bartel, Corey and Chapman. And today proved (via Bartram) that Ablett is human (albeit very talented).

All we need to do is attempt to stick to our proccesses, becasue this is the best test we will get as to where our wekaness/Strengths are. Forget the fancy stuff and just play our game. :rolleyes:

I agree that we are on right track. At times we need someone to run around within 5 yards of Miller, because he provides the contest continually. Too many times the ball went to ground and was moved back down the ground by Port. Sort of Aussie or Bennel type player. Aaron Davey revelled on this (and putting pressure in forward line) when he first came into the side. Warnock,Martin,Frawley all showing lots of improvement. Instead of showing faults the coaching satraff should show Hawthorn and how they bring the ball down the ground with Rioli LURKING like a crocadile. Our kids will be as good as that.

I have come up with an even better trade idea. Why dont we trade the whole team for the Number 2 Draft pick. That is how ridiculous the notion of trading Bruce & Green is. We want loyalty from players yet we want treat them like pieces of meat. I think they have earned the option of playing out their time at Melbourne.

I cannot understand why you would be considering trading Jones & Bate. They are both young players whic is supposedly what we are building on. Also the CLUB needs leaders and Bruce,Green Wheatley & Whelan will supply that until our 20 YO get into the "Window". It seems some people think that if someone from Melbourne plays a good game(s) then he should be traded. I thought we should keep the ones that play good games. Consider Aussie, 1st year wins goalkicking when only 1/2 fit, Valenti was in the middle when it hit the fan against Brisbane and we didnt lose antything by it. We have got potentially good running midfielders i.e. Maric ( just think how quick he will be when he gets out of nappies), Davey , we have just got to teach them and I think we have the people to do it in the Coaching Staff AND Green,Bruce & Whelan (who commands a lot of respect amongst the younger players). Lets concentrate on enjoying watching these good kids improve rather than selling them off to every vulture that walks past.

At least Green and Davey can play which is more than what we know about pick 19 . Why trade a good player like Green to Carlton, they have had enough windfalls in the last couple of tanks. It seems ridiculous that we are intent (well some of us are) on offloading our good players just to create a window down the track. Did we predict our Grand Final appearance in 2000 as a "Window"or what.

Last thing we need to do is crucify someone who is not afraid to get his hands dirty and get the hard ball. Shane Valenti is going to have to shoulder a big burden in this area this week. ( Big task) Whilst Nathan needs to improve his disposals he at least gets the ball.