drdrake

Mitch Plays at full Forward rotating up to CHF. If we can find a good ruck coach to improve Fitzpatricks ruck work he has shown that he can play the third tall second ruckman. I went past training the other day and Mitch was running well.

I'm trying to find any small glimmer of hope from what has been a train wreck of a season. Yesterday, we were poorly coached, I'd rather have a chance of scoring goals than playing a loose man in defense. I thought we had some players really play hard in the first half and the last quarter we were done, one player on the bench for the second half really hurt and in the third quarter Tom McDonald was off for a long period of time no idea why. We all know our midfield is bad but yesterday we saw the best of Viney, Sylvia was wasteful but still wanted the footy and Trengove had his best game in three years. Jones was down but that's OK he has been so good all year. To me that is the glimmer of hope, we do have 4 AFL standard midfielders, where as mid year we had 1 in Jones performing week in week out. I think all 4 over the past few months will have averaged over 20 touches per game. Grimes hasn't come back inthe same form that he started the year but he can play. We need 10 players to rotate through that midfield, you can't win games with 4-5 midfielders. Love to see Kent run off a wing, he kicks the footy like Rich it travels fast and goes longer than most expect. Would have been nice yesterday if Fitzpatrick held a couple more marks he got clean hands to it a few times but dropped them, still his last 6-8 weeks have been great. Terlich will get better with another pre-season same as Clisby. It was bad yesterday like nearly all games this year, but for some reason I left yesterday thinking we will be OK, it may have been Jack Viney or it may have been the players sitting in the stands. One person that was sitting at the front end of the plane frustrated me all day and I felt for his team mates, they all worked hard expect this one player and everytime it didn't go his way he pointed and blamed everyone except himself. This former number one draft pick was my biggest dissappointment of the day, he wants everyone else to do the work for him and I can't believe he was allowed to play the way he did.

We have enough players to delist that might save Aaron. I hope he stays another year, just one more and hopefully he can be at the feet of Clark, Hogan, Dawes. He is still our most dangerous small forward

Jack Watts wasn't a loose man in defense he basically stood next to the Goal umpire and was like a seagull feeding on left overs. I can't believe our coaching staff allowed him to do this, it was the worse bit of coaching I have ever seen. I have no issues playing a loose man in defense with the role to stop goals and contest but Watts wasn't that he was there purely to receive the footy and try and set up attack. Considering the ball went over his head 20 times I don't think it worked. Saying that though every time Watts had an option to compete for the footy he didn't. We need to keep Col Sylvia, the reason behind this is Jack Viney is 19yo, we can't expect him to bash and crash every week he needs support, you have Sylvia, Jones and Viney in that midfield you have options. For Col to leave now we are stripping away someone from what is already a bare cupboard. Watts on the other hand we can cover if he goes, Clark, Dawes, Fitzpatrick, Hogan, Howe, Gawn. The club should pull any offer we had on the table to Jack and tell him we are waiting till the end of the year to see if he has a spot.

Bobby, I take it you watched the game from the comforts of your lounge room, Jack Watts was a huge dissappointment. We stood behind every player on the ground 25m out from the Fremantle goal, to call him a loose man in defense is totally incorrect, he was a seagull at the back of the pack waitng for easy kicks. Ihave never seen a player avoid body contact as much as Jack Watts did yesterday, I was a defender of this bloke but the wall he played yesterday was a joke. I have also posted they way Craig allowed him to play yesterday was a joke

I would like to see Jetta come in an play down back so for me In Jetta, Dawes, Frawley, Magner, Taggert Out Strauss, Blease, Byrnes, Tapscott, Davis Jetta Frawley Dunn Terlich McDonald Garland Trengove Jones Grimes Howe Watts Kent Taggert Dawes Fitzpatick Spencer Sylvia Viney M Jones McKenzie Magner Davey Rory is a better option than Tapscott, Magner adds that midfield grunt. You have to feel for Casey, every year it happens, they get into a position to challenge for a flag and the MFC either pulls players or as the case this year gets hammered by injury.

Strauss was ok today until injured. I can understand having a loose man in defense but watts wasn't there as a defensive player he was to deep and was there to set up play going forward, this had to have been a coach thing because to have a player standing where watts was avoiding any body contact or any defensive acts no player in the afl could get away with this unless it was a coach instruction. Craig is either an extremely bad coach or is scared to put jack under pressure either way that was bad coaching today. To me having jack that deep was taking him out of the game and he had no impact at all and going forward Freo loose man toweled us. Craig took any chance for us to play our best footy, we where never going to win but two weeks in a row the coach took our best forward that was playing to a position of little impact. Saying the above watts was bad today one of the softest performance by any individual this year he has a few mates but he continues to put these performances up

Watts was a complete waste today we played with 17 men, today craig confirmed he doesn't want to coach to allow watts to stand 25m in front of Freo goal allowing players to run past him avoiding contact a all cost he was a disgrace and Craig should have addressed this. Viney Trengove Dunn

Wouldn't it be great, new Prez stands up in front of his first Prez lunch on Sunday, and just goes I have a few announcements to make, 1 we have a new footy manager Walsh, that will be working closely with our new coach Paul Roos. Whack whack the hope comes back. Not going to happen but we must have some sort of good news this season

They need to do this, Sunday is our last home game, we need to start to see our board take shape, until this happens filling key roles with in the club mainly Coach and Footy Manager can't happen. Would be great for a new President to host the lunch on Sunday,

This is a hard call, my kids love him, has he delivered no will he every deliver each week who knows, all I know is we drafted him as a key forward, he isn't that, he is a high half forward, that can push up on the wing. He is hard to assess, what I would live to see is him sign a two year deal and we see him play in a forward line that will have Clark, Dawes and Hogan, if he can be that 4th tall he would be hard to stop. But our midfield needs players, Watts is one player on our list that could be used to get a decent midfielder or another top 10 draft pick. I would like to keep him but if the right trade was there more for a player than pick you would have to look at it. I think our forward line is dangerous enough with Clark, Hogan, Dawes, Howe and now with Fitzy as a second ruck/forward, we need players that can get the ball to them

It's funny after a win he comes out stating he wants to stay at Melbourne, I'd rather on national TV first time we have someone on the panel this year, he needed to follow that line, he new it was coming, all he had to say was "my intention is to stay at Melbourne I love the boys, the club has some issues to work through but as long as we can work through these I'm happy with the club" It still gives him the out if he leaves, he doesn't upset a supporter base that has already been put through hell this year.

How about players start to take ownership on where the club is at, jack watts tonight sums up our club, we have to many players blaming everybody and not themselves. Jack you think you are better then you are, if you and your first round draft pick mates play to your best each week we would be a better side. I was looking forward to watching jack tonight and just like your performance each week you are disappointing

I only started following VFL footy in '87 when the Eagles came in, prior to that in the West we had 1 hour of Winners each week so VFL no one cared. I realise the MFC had some very lean years through 70's and 80's but I don't know if we have had a 7 year period that has produced only 33 wins and 2 draws, with 15 wins and 2 draws coming in 2 of those 7 seasons. We are facing a hell of a decade, a decade of lost supporters

What year did Ratten take over our midfield, from memory he was the one that fixed our midfield. You don't need A grade midfielders to be organised and well drilled, our midfielders have no idea at stoppages, the defensive side is always open, they work as individuals with no team blocking. Anyone that backs our current assistant coaching staff has no idea, when was the last time Royal was at a successful club, same as Rawlings, Brown great from Collingwood but was a third string back up tall.

Nutbean, when Ratten coached our Midfield it worked with no stars just honest footballers, when Wellman coached our backline it worked and was under constant attack. Good assistant coaches improve players and are vital to a head coaches success. McDonald is looking after GWS midfield it is organised and works, Ling is a punt but he is respected and comes from a great club. Bassett his having good success as a head coach in the SANFL like Knights in the VFL. Your assistant coaches are just as important as your head coach, if they can't excute their role the head coach is stuffed. Our assistant coaches aren't up to standard.

Craig can definately coach next year and I would like to see him do this. But he needs the support of a very good coaching team. We need to get the up and coming coaches such as Bassett, Ling, McDonald and someone like a Matt Knights or Brett Ratten to support. Don't arm our next coach with duds like Royal, Rawlings and three no name assistance with no AFL experience. The coach is only the face of the coaching team, we need the best assistance out there with a coach that can manage his team. Our team is spent, it is unfair to assess Craig on how the team performs, he is trying to pick a team up of the canvas and keep them up for 11 weeks, he did it for 3-4 weeks but it has become an impossable task.

We have had many discussions on our coach for next year, I have a complete coaching panel plus a midfield star all from the Adelaide FC Head Coach Neil Craig Mid-field Coach Simon Goodwin Forward Coach Wayne Carey Backline Coach Nathan Bassett Get Scott Thompson back as a free agent

No he wasn't, people kept telling him he was and he believed it. For players at this level it is all above the shoulders, they think to much, you can see it in Jimmy Toumpas every time he gets the footy, this guy has elite skills, he stops props and then instead of backing himself he takes the safe or wrong option. The same for Jobe, he didn't back his kicking skills, Jobe Watson also couldn't run out a game and get near it, in fact if you watch Jack Trengove now he reminds me of a young Jobe Watson.

People need to be realistic, I keep reading we need to trade for 2 experienced good midfielders, but who are they, who is worth a top three pick that firstly wants to leave there current club and secondly wants to come to the worst club in the AFL. Adams is a great suggestion but does he fit the experienced midfielder that we need or are we adding another kid to our list and is he worth a top three pick? I agree that we need to add midfielders, but what we have learnt from this year is not to add experience players to our list just because they can get them, Dawes has been good but the others have offered nothing. Byrnes cost us pick 21ish, if we didn't get him we would have got a second round pick for Moloney and Rivers. We have to go back to the draft, there is no short term fix, if someone is available then yes trade offer up our picks, but that person needs to be a high quality player and not a fringe player from another club.

No by 18 years old your technique is hard to change, but what can improve is your decission making. I don't think our players are bad kicks I just think they make the wrong decision. Tom McDonald is a prime example along with Sam Blease, they just run themselves into trouble so instead of have an easy kick they pannick and are force to rush. It is also about kick placement, we kick to where players were rather than space for them to run on to. Our players confidence is shot completely shot, all they are thinking about is stuffing up. Jack Grimes has a nice kick for some reason he just tries to nail it low and hard all the time.

I find it funny on another thread we are talking about Jack Watts and playing him before he was ready and this thread we are putting up players that aren't ready. There is no point playing those players they will learn nothing from playing for the MFC over the next 4 weeks in fact the opposite we are that bad by playing them could hinder them going forward. Let them play with Casey, look forward to finals get them playing well consistantly at Casey over the next 6 weeks

In McKenzie,Nicholson, Strauss, Dawes(if Fit) Out Davey, Tapscott, Toumpas, Gawn Clisby McDonald Pederson Strauss Garland Terlich Nicholson Jones M Jones Dunn Watts Trengove Kent Dawes Fitzpatrick Spencer Sylvia Viney McKenzie Grimes Howe Byrnes We need some sort of defensive pressure up forward, move Dunn as that defensive forward, for all of Trengove's poor form at least he can stick a tackle.

Bloody Jeff White, the only game for the year he dominated I think it was his 250th

Start building a team for 2016, there is no short term fix. We can offer any of those picks for a trade but we need to identify the midfielders that will make our team better, target them, get them to agree to come to us and execute the trade. The hard part is getting them to agree to come to us. I read we need to get experience mids, what this year has shown we just can't get experience players just because they will come to us, we don't need to get fringe players from other clubs we need quality adn getting a quality player to leave a club and come to us will be hard this year. Dawes and Clark over the past two years have been good wins except for the fact they can't stay fit but this is a different year our club will struggle this year to attract any decent players. Viney will be better, Toumpas will be better, Hogan comes in, hopefully Grimes, Trengove go through off season injury free, Clark recovers, Jamar recovers, M Jones, Clisby, Kent, Terlich improve. We do have players on our list that will improve ourside next year, will we be bottom 4 most likely, do we lose by an average margin exceeding 10 goals I hope not, can we win 4-6 games yes.