drdrake

What our best team needs to look like in 2008 for us to improve IMO is Whelan Carroll Frawley Bell Rivers Bartram Sylvia Mclean Johnstone Bruce Bate Robertson Davey Neitz Newton White McDonald Jones PJ Buckley Green Wheatley Moloney Dunn Petterd The only reason Buckley makes my team ahead of Petterd and Moloney is pace we need someone else besides Davey with speed and he looks to have good acceleration and pace just needs to get better each week over the next 6 and preseason. Frawley has to cement that spot because our other options won't help us go forward. Robbo has to get his knee right and play HFF so we can have two talls on our FF line. This will enable Newton and Neitz to work in tandem great learning for Newton.

Its not so doom and gloom, Whelan comes back he does set up a little of drive, Bell wil be our 5th or 6th defender. We have Bartram as a tagger, Rivers to come back into our defense. I see two areas that needs to be addressed, a skillful midfielder that gets the footy has the acceleration to break through packs and carry, I have posted many times all our midfielders are one pace and don't have powerful bursts to break away from a pack our chasers. They a good hard workers but we need someone exciting with acceleration to be introduced to complement Jones, Mclean, Sylvia, Bruce, McDonald, Moloney. And a good tap ruckman, White just doesn't put the ball to our players, lets get Warnock he was good on Saturday give up our second round pick for him.

Mclean, needs another preseason and needs to learn how to beat a heavy tag, that should be his focus for 2008 not leading the MFC, in 2009 if he achieves this then he should be Captain. Sylvia to Leadership group not yet, let him do a full preseason get into the midfield and establish himself as one of the top players of the AFL. Biz, don't know one thing is two of Biz, Ferguson, Warnock and Holland will be gone next year which two I'd say Biz and Ferguson, with Rivers back next year Biz doesn't have a role. Another thing when will the Melb Medical staff step in and say Robbo time for spell and get your body right for next year, he cant run and will keep trying until he completely breaks down, or is Robbo playng to win another leadng goal kicker, put him in the paddock next to Whelan, Rivers, Yze and Bartram. When do we give up on Miller? I like the guy but since he has taken the aggression at the contest out of his game he has been useless. Either get that straight line running at the contest back or pack your bags, in dog terms he was a Doverman now he is a Lap dog, get your bite bag Miller you no good with out it.

Tough game for me to watch all in laws are mad Roos supporters so sitting with them at the game was tough but we are doing what they did last year, playing kids and sending injuried players away for surgury. On the game positives another game into Newton, Frawley, CJ and Buckley. Although Frawley was beaten tonight we still have got very good reseason to be excited about him, CJ great skills just can't get the footy, Newton looks better in the FF line got a little lost up the ground but had to play higher up the ground because Robbo can't run, Buckley I think he will be good, has pace good skills and got some footy tonight. Negatives, our senior players, unaccountable and didn't look like they wanted to play Robbo needs to be spelled for the remainder of the year, Brown should never play forward again in fact give him one more farewell game because he has earnt that, Ward gets the footy and gets hurt because he turns it over and his man usualy gets it o the rebound. Miller tries hard but if he is not a lead up CHF and not a defender where else can we play him. Neita first game back I will let him off tonight. White won a lot of hit outs tonight but hit them no where near our advantage. I can't wait for Bartram to be fit so we never have to watch Godders again, I respect Godfrey for what he has acheived with the limited ability he has, but he gets beaten by quicker players and offers us nothing besides a run with role. Our Midfield, we need someone exciting in there all our midfielders are exactly the same, one paced, honest but we lack an exciting midfielder that can accelerate burst through packs and take on the opposition, Trav does offer this excitment when he gets the footy but is also one paced and inconsistant. Mclean, Jones, Sylvia, McDonald, Moloney, Green, Bruce all have one speed and not acceleration. I didn't expect to win tonight but I expected to see us show a lot more than we did.

I don't think we have much choice but to play the younger players. We already have 4 of our best 22 out for the season, if Robbo's knee is stil playing up play him today for his 200th then send him to the paddock. We have to see if players like PJ, Newton, CJ, Buckley players that have been in the system a few years can show signs of playing consistantly at this level and we need to play Frawley to get experience into a KPP defender. We need to find out if Miller has a position at our club be it CHF or Key Back.

I like players that have played league footy either at WAFL, SANFL or VFL level. How are te mighty Perth Demons going, down the bottom I expect. It's amazing that the Perth Demons and Melbourne Demons dominated through the 50's and 60's but have struggled since.

You can't defend a hard leading forward when he has space to lead into and a midfield that has no pressure on them putting the ball on his chest. Carroll was only better because the space was taken away from Brown and our midfield became more accountable. The forward will asways get a jump on a defender on the lead you just hope as a defender that the kick is a littl of so you can close and effect a spoil. Last night the lions midfield hit Brown lace out in space. I agree Miller will never be our number 1 defender but I still believe he is a better option than Holland, Ferguson and Warnock.

It wasn't only our delivery into the 50 thats was bad but our delivery out of defensive 50 was even worse. Get back to the gut busting hard running preseason with as many sessions as possible with the footballs. Our skills are a disgrace, our 1% don't exist and a lot of players are selfish an dworried about their stats.

Col is a midfielder and last night looked his best when in that role. We needto get him fit enough to be a midfielder first that can push forward. He was far from our best last night, Brock was easy. I don't know why we look at Whites stats and say he plays well. He got smashed again in ruckwork and took 1 contested mark against a man that was 5'10. He is unaccountable, refuses to run with the opposition ruckman and gets cheap kicks on the wings. OK he kicked two goals great, but even when he clearly won tap outs they go straight to nobody in a red and blue jumper.

get rid of Robert Walls, his opinions are rubbish and he is the one who recommended Ross Lyon to ST Kilda. I assume the club is paying all these consultants. How hard could it be, you have Voss, Mckenna, Lomgmire, Ratten, Harvey, plus a few others, interview them and pick what our club needs, a hard nosed leader that our players will respond to and has a good long broom to sweep through the club.

I'm a big fan of Palmer, he is a goal kicking midfielder that averaged over 30 touches per game and kicked 9 goals for the carnival. I haven't seen him live but looks quick. The best thing with WA and SA players is most will be playing against men in the WAFL SANFL either at league or reserves level.

You could off had the best defenders in the league playing for us last night and it wouldn't of made a difference. Our preassure through the midfield on the player with the ball was a disgrace. If your midfield is getting beaten like ours has all year your fowards and backs will always struggle. Round 1 I posted that our foot and hand skills are a disgrace. We don't sheppard, our tackling is ok but we are getting wrong footed and mising to many easy tackles when it counts. Runing out of defense we miss easy targets and turn it over which catches our players out of position. People bag CJ but at least he hits targets and looks comfortable with his disposal skills. Some players that have had a lot more oppurtunity than him still have skills that you expect watching suburban footy not AFL.

I don't think we need a CHF, the role has changed no longer do teams kick to a contest at CHF it is always trying to hit someone on a lead or by themselves. we have a few options 190cm+ that are good runners and can play the new age CHF, Bate, Dunn, Garland and when Miller was on song a few years back he was a good lead up target. We need to add speed and skill to our midfield, all our midfielders are one paced and more workman like. With Mclean, Jones, Sylvia we have enough hard nuts around the ball, we need someone that can receive accelerate carry and hit targets.

Miller will start on Brown, Ben Holland has done a good job on some of the bigger forwards but the way forward is not with Holland. We need to see over the next 8 weeks whether Miller can be that strong tall defender that we need.

Fast skillfull midfielder, ball magnet with polish, Rhys Palmer from WA averaged over 30 touches and kicked 5, 2 ,3 goals in the recent under 18 championship.

Exciting future I don't care which one but with the players mentioned plus a few others the below team gives us a bright future Petterd Frawley Garland Bell Rivers Bartram Buckley Judd CJ Bate Dunn Sylvia Davey Newton Johnson ???, Mclean, Jones Moloney The 1st Ruck is the missing link, hopefully we get a good one this draft and Judd, domination for 2008 and beyond.

Any player is tradable if the right deal can be made a deal that will benefit the MFC. If the club got offered pick 1-25 in the draft or Judd for him and first round pick you would trade him. I can't see either happening so he will be a Melbourne player next year.

Against St Kilda we had a full strength forward line, we are talking about KPP and one point is that our midfield hasn't been able to give them enough supply. Not only this year, we get beaten because our midfield gets beaten. You talk about straighten us up Miller has played most games and is a good lead up forward, thats what straightens us up a CHF not your FF line because coming out of defense you still need to hit an option leading in the middle of the ground. We are talking about Newton at FF, we didn't get enough ball inside 50m and I would hate to see a stat for inside 30m we would be rock bottom in the league.

A forward is as only as good as his supply. Our forwards didn't cause us to lose our first 9 our midfield got smashed, just look at the inside 50's we couldn't get the ball forward enough to score enough goals. Maybe we went into our shells in the midfield because no Neitz and Robbo and tried to maintain possession accross half back, but if you look back at the past 5 years when we lose it is because our midfield gets beaten and our supply up forward is llimited. Even if Newton played earlier it wouldn't of made a difference, in fact could of had a negative effect on him. Our spine does look weak but we don't have an star in our midfield. We have good hard workers, one paced midfielders in Bruce, Green, McDonald, Mclean, Jones, Moloney but we don't have any explosive fast top skilled midfielders that can continually get the footy and hurt teams. Mclean may do this in time but is very muched a work horse one paced but hard at it. We need to add speed and polish to our midfield

You cant select a team with out looking at what the opposition has. Brisbane has one two tall forwards, Brown and the young bloke(I Cant remember his name) amd a strong midfiled. Backline if Carroll is fit will remain unchanged if he is unfit I would bring in another running type to add to our midfield. Hopefully Bruce is right and maybe Pickett if Carroll is not right. My line up Ward Frawley Bizzell CJ Miller Wheatley Buckley Mclean Sylvia Bruce Dunn Bate Davey Newton Robbo White McDonald Jones Johnson Pickett Brown Godfrey If Carroll Playes C to the bench Biz HBF and Carroll to BP

We got a snap shot of our future today and look good. A couple of old timers in Biz, Brown and White played well, but Bate, Jones, Sylvia, Newton, Brock needs to find form but we know what he can do, Dunn, Frawley, PJ. Don't be to hard on CJ and Buckley both will get better with a few more games, they look skillful and poised they just need some game time to adjust to the pace of AFL.

You just hope Miller gets out to CHF and Newton plays next to Robbo out of the square. These youngs men, Frawley, Newton, Buckley, CJ, Petterd play them give them good game time for the rest of the season.

The stand out is the WA kid Palmer, the two games 30+ possessions and kicks goals I think he kicked 5 last week. Fast midfielder, this is the player we should be looking to get.

With our current injuries this is what I would like ot see Ward Carroll Miller Petterd Garland Wheatley Buckley Mclean Sylvia Bruce Dunn Bate Davey Robbo Newton White McDonald Jones PJ Pickett Moloney CJ In Miller Buckley Dunn CJ Garland Pickett Out Neitz, Green, Johnstone, Bell, Brown, Bizz

I don't know about Bruce's kicking being fixable, it actually seems to be getting worse every season, but he is not he only one, a majority of our tea has struggled to hit targets this year, we may be fit but our skills are well below what is required. Difficult spot for Riley, he wants to impress to enhance his chances of coaching next year and he also will be under pressure to play the younger guys. I would be confident the Buckley will play next week, CJ will be close and I'd like to see Garland down back from all accounts he has been playing well down back for Sandy. Add in Frawley and they are the only kids we have to come in.