drdrake

The dockers like to push thier Giant forward every quarter, we will need to play PJ to combat this. I'm worried about pickett being back, as I stated all week Freo run hard and fast getting a lot of drive from Half back, I'm worried pickett will be under done and we won't get much out of him. He is class though and you have to respect that. I would of liked to see Buckley for a bit extra pace, we look slow through the midfield.

Although Newton has done nothing at Sandy firsts level and I personally feel he will struggle at this time at AFL level, if you are going to even look to play him this is the week. Fremantle aren't an over physical team their style is more we will take you on and kick more goals than you do usually high scoring games. Saying that though I think to take Freo on we need to inject speed. They are a hard running fast team, at the moment we look slow through the midfield, Buckley and Petterd have good speed these are the kids I would be looking at this week. But as stated if you want to see Newton, Freo would be one team you could do it against, I can't see ND doing it though.

We have to look at who we are playing, the Dockers, their style is hard running, quick team, Pavlich is the only real power forward, Carroll plays well on him, the wil end the Giant up forward to change with Longmuir, give PJ another Crack down back. Tarrent will get Bell. We need to inject some pace into our team to combat Freo's foot speed. On our side Rivers is doubtful, Pickett is still under done, Col who knows and the other injuries we all know about. B: Whelan Carroll PJ HB: Petterd Bell Biz C: Wheatley Jones Buckley HF: Bruce Miller Davey FF Dunn Green Yze R White Macdonald TJ Int Godfrey Jamar Moloney Brown In Petterd, Buckley, Dunn, Biz Out Holland, Ferguson, Bate, Ward Petterd and Buckley over CJ and Pickett because of Freo's speed and hard running both Buckley and Petterd are quick, if Rivers is fit comes in for Biz, if Sylvia is comes in for Dunn

ND will coach us until the end of the year. I don't blame the coach for losing yesterday, losing I can take, not very well but can accept when we are beaten by a better team on the day. What I can't accept is that our players skill levels are well below AFL standard and his game plan that he has tried to implement cost us against St Kilda and he was out coached by Clarkson. We read that so many times out coached a 10 year coach in the first two weeks gets out coached by a first and third year coach. Look on the bright side we can still lose another 6games and make the final 8, the downside is our next 5 look very tough. I say keep ND till the end of the year, if we keep losing at least we will have an early draft pick. We we are to get rid of him at years end we better get into the market quick because the Kanga's will be looking and if Freo don't improve so wil they.

Our skills in all facets of the game are below AFL standard. We drop chest marks, miss handballs, can't hit targets by foot, our tackling is good but we get wrong footed to easy, we don't sheppard, our vision is like we wear blinkers that point at the boundary line, they need to be adjusted for the middle of the ground and our awarness of players around us in bad. You can be the fittest, strongest, fastest time in the AFL but if your skills are crap you will not win games. Apparently ND said in his press conference we couldn't match Geelong's skill level. Skills come back to the coaches.

Let's play the Rev's paddock, push all forwards to the HFF and us Davey's pace, kick the ball beyond our forwards and make it a foot race. Our just bomb it long and pray that we get it.

The only way we can get Judd is if we offer Travis Johnstone and a early second round pick the Eagles will want a first round. I dont know when players contracts expire but to make room for 1mil player, delist Yze promote Jeff White to Veteren Status and Trade Trav, each player would be on around $500,000 IMO. Besides maybe Robbo, TJ and Brock are the only currency we have for a deal like this. Lets face it who would you rather have Trav or Judd.

Have we every thought maybe our kids aren't good enough. Newton, everyone blame Sautner for taking his spot at Sandy, but correct me if I'm wrong there is still another 17 starting positions including 5 forward spots at Sandy. If this guy is the player a lot of you think he is why hasn't he been able to force his way and cement a senior spot at Sandy. All he has done is kick some bags at VFL seconds level, but even at that level he is very inconsistant he may kick a bag one week and not get a touch for a few. CJ looked great pre-season can't get a touch in the season. Buckley, the coach mustn't have much faith in him, looked good pre-season and played well enough last week but hasn't even been named as an emergency when he have a stack of injuries. Bate shows glimpses and looks good sometimes and others times looks real bad, he is young give him that and hopefully overtime he finds consistancy. PJ/Jamar are the up to it? I don't think ND is the right man for the job, but he is now limited to the players he has avaliable, if we get to 0 wins and 7 losses or 1-7 or we can't make the finals then it is time to see if these kids can actually play, not round 3.

ND has gone into survival mode, he is trying to win games with the old faithful and neglecting to develop our younger players. Three ruckman, one was a star but time is catching up, one cant get a kick and one can't mark overhead. CJ I'm not angry that he got dropped, I'm angry for who he got dropped for. If it was Petterd or Buckley good lets see what they have got. If we lose this week what will ND acheive, playing old players and not showing us fans our youth. If we win though is it a master stroke or a short term fix that may be highlighted in the weeks to come. Only time will tell.

I agree with your comments, but it gets worse, Godfrey and Brown in our best 5 that means 17 players that played on Monday most of them with a lot more ability than these two played worse. I said in another post I'd love for these two blokes to be give the skill of Travis Johnstone or Trav to get the heart these two blokes have. I applaud Brown and Godders for having a crack and giving their all whenever they play for MFC. On your 5 inclusions, Pickett can't run out a half at VFL level, Newton everyone raves about him, but what has he done a few bags of goals at VFL reserves level. I'm a bit tired of reading that Sautner has held him back, if he was good enough he would of been able to hold down a second forwards role next to Sautner. Newton can't even hold a regular seniors spot at Sandy, if you cant do that your not going to play AFL. Yze, is dropping him for 1 game enough, he will come back in only because of the injuries we have had, I would like to see Buckley given a go, he had good pre-season form and played OK well for Sandy on Saturday. PJ for Jamar is their any difference, both good VFL players but had no effect at AFL level. But its wirth a try, he will get beaten at tap work but hopefully makes up for it around the ground. Sylvia will be good to see him back.

Our best 22 has the ability to make top 4, unfortunately now we will be with out 3 of them until about round 6 another one in Col hasn't played yet, same goes with Byron, and to be honest Byron is 3-4 weeks away from playing consistant good footy at AFL level. We has lost Bartram for a long period as well and Dunn gets his first run back at Sandy this week. If we can get through the next 6 weeks and pick up 2 or 3 wins we still have the ability to get into the finals. To have any chance we need to be 2w-6l min. Anything less than that no finlas for us and the end of the ND coaching at the MFC.

We need to inject some pace into our team, Buckley for his first game. Holland to be the tall forward and Sylvia the leading forward. Yze Pickett to stay at sandy for another week, Ferguson or Biz comes in for Ward to play on N Ablett.

It's not consistancy he is not ready for AFL footy, he needs to cement his spot at Sandy first, why play someone who is not ready and we all will expect so much from him if he does play. Let him play well at Sandy and bring him in when he is not going to be our number one target up forward. Don't get me wrong the kid has a lot of ability, but he has to show a lot more at Sandy to be even considered.

Newton is miles away from playing AFL footy, he will be lucky if he is not dropped from the Sandy's first after his game on Saturday, he got towelled in the first half. Pickett couldn't run out 2 quarters at Sandy he is 2-3 weeks away. Buckley may get his chance if they drop CJ. Ferguson plays well on N Ablett, smashed him in last years VFL grand final, Rivers plays on Hawkins and Carroll gets the hairy cat. Whelan on G Ablett better match up for him. If it is dry and Neitz and Robbo don't play this would be my team B Whelan Carroll Ferguson HB Bell Rivers Green C Bruce Johnstone Moloney HF Buckley Miller Bate FF Davey Sylvia Holland R White Mcdonald Jones Int Jamar Wheatley Brown Godfrey If wet Biz comes in for Ferguson

Lets look at some positives, Miller kicked 3 goals, would of had 8-10 marks and played well, could off had more of it if our disposal wasn't so bad. Nathan Brown and Godfrey, I wish we could but these guys hearts into TJ, Green, Davey, Bate and a number of others or better still give them TJ's skills. We all are quick me included to bag these two but with the limited ability they have they have a crack and try every time they get game. Jones for a second year player will only get better he tries runs hard kicking needs some work but will be a good player for us. Now for some negatives Injuries, can't help that they just happen, looks like we will be with out Neitz and Robbo next week. They join Dunn, Brock and you can also include Pickett because he is still 2 weeks away. That's three tall forwards out. Coaching firstly conditioning, I thought we got the new running coach because we wanted to increase our speed, we look slow through the midfield. Skills we are playing a possesion style of game but we can't hit targets, we handball to a player standing still, we handball behind the player running past our skills are well below the standard required to even make the final eight. The head coach ND, for some reason our team refuses to play the coridor even when we had space up the middle we changed direction and went to the wings, very easy for a team to defend when your attacking from the wings. Match ups very bad today down back, when Rivers went of for a break nobody picked up Franklin, he never puts Carroll on the best forward. Bell should of started on Williams he was always going to be to quick for Whelan, Whelan is better on small roving forwards not hard leading ones. Starting TJ out of the centre square, put him where the ball is, trying to make Davey a midfielder and taking him away from what he loves doing, kicking goals. Our top tier Johnstone, Bruce, Green, Davey, Robbo are to hot and cold. Their good is good and bad is bad no in between we never know what we will get from these players when we go to the footy. We really lack a topline elite player most clubs have one a go to match winner. We accept losing, I believe certain clubs have winning cultures they don't stay down for long. We accept excuses and have done for many years. I'm not just talking about today but we always have an excuse for losing, ran out of legs, injuries, our players over used to footy. Oh another positive, we can still lose 4-5 more games this year and finish top 4.

Forget about Pickett being back for a couple of weeks he couldn't even run out a half at Sandy. I blame Danners for Davey, he is tried to make him something he is not and that's a midfielder. Davey is a roving forward pocket someone needs to tell the coach and Davey to get to the forward contest and stop chasing kicks up the ground.

Now I'm worried, looks like Brown, Wheatley, Godfrey and Biz are in for the game. Take Biz out of the four and add Ward we have the four turnover kings playing. I'd rather see Yze hold his spot at least he has the ability to win matches.

Col won't play this week, but he will the next if Yze doesn't perform. We can bring him back playing HFF with limited runs on the ball. Then after 3-4 games put him on a wing. I really rate this kid he will show us why this year.

I thing you all have our current game plan wrong, run and carry implies that you run with the football and take the oposition on to create a better option that will then run and carry the football. We play hot potato style get the footy and handpass or short kick to someone standing still who in turns gets rid of it in the same sought of fashion and this goes on until the footy gets so hot we turn it over. To me the concept of Run and carry should be direct fast flowing football, run with the football, run take on the oposition and if someone is in a better position then give them to footy so they can run with the footy. Run and carry isn't the over posession crap that we have been playing. To me our set up was wrong, once we ignored Millers lead which happened time and time again we had no one to kick to. Neita and Robbo played inside 50m Miller the leading CHF and the rest of the forwards played as midfielders. Use Miller, we know he wants to dish it off when he gets it, our midfielders can then run to his feet, get the crumb or handball run carry and try to hit Neita or Robbo, with Davey at their feet looking for the rovering goal. Simply, even if you turn a 50m kick over at least it is 50m further away than if you turn a handball over.

devastated, week 1 all is not lost but that was the first game I've ever been at and walked out before the final siren. I can cop losing but playing a pathetic game style like we played tonight I can't take. we are not Sydney, we are not west Coast, we are Melbourne we have to find our own game plan that works for us and not try to play like something we are not.. I watched Hotter then hell 1998 this morning, ND backed his players, not like tonight. Footy is an easy game all you have to do is outscore your opponent, tonight we didn't try to kick goals we tried to stop our St Kilda kicking goals, defensive midset from the start. Don't blame Miller or Yze because they are easy targets our game plan is a disgrace and full blame should be placed on ND. Worst coaching performance I've ever seen, trying to make our team something we are not. We are an attacking football team that is best when we control the coridor and kick long to one of the best forward lines in the competition and back our players. As I said I have never before tonight left before the final siren but tonight was a disgrace.

Our game plan was lets play to our weakness, stuff around with the footy instead of going forward, I think 30 something inside 50m compare to almost 60 you will lose every time

Seeing the Saints line up it would surprise me if Bruce starts down back

Are we talking about the same guy, didn't this bloke land the best punch every on some Richmond blokes Jaw

With less then 30 hours to go before bounce down for a season with high expectations from both the supporters and the club. All the talk is about the MFC making the top 4 in 2007. I'm excited about the season ahead and focusing on our first game against St Kilda I would like to see a few things happen. 1) Before the bounce Brad Miller and David Neitz walk over to the little snipper Baker and let him know that if he touches Davey unfairly that they will be on him, these big to forwards have to protect Davey from snipers. 2) Jamar to start in the ruck and White up forward, Clarke always beats White in ruck work, let Jamar have first crack and if dry White up forward to stretch the Saints backline 3) Robbo to get out on the flank and leave the square for Neita with planned rotations for short periods with Neita out on the flank and Robbo at out of the square, take Maxxy somewhere he is not comfortable. 4) Our Midfield unit to join the elite midfield ranks Mclean, Johnstone, Bruce, Green, McDonald, Jones, Bate, Moloney and C Johnson with Davey pitch hitting to a MFC supporter that looks imposing but the rest of the competition doesn't rate them as high as they should. 5) Yze and Miller to silence their critics. 6) Win the game and put them away, something in 2006 we didn't do we always gave teams a sniff, this year I want to smash teams we should, and take advantage of teams when they are underdone like a lot of St kilda players will be. Bearing the above in mind this is how I see our line up B: Whelan Carroll Holland HB: Bell Biz Ward C: Johnstone Mclean Green HF: Bruce Miller Robbo FF: Davey Neitz White R: Jamar McDonald Jones Int Yze Bate CJ Moloney I assuming Rivers and Pickett don't play, if Rivers plays he comes in for Holland, I don't think Pickett will Play. Lets get 75,000 out for the season opener stuff the weather lets show the AFL that we deserve to open the season and we belong on the big stage.