Doggo

No, well not officially anyway. I don't think anyone doubts he'll be back in the leadership group next year, so for now, let's just let him let his footy do the talking for the rest of the year, accept his punishment humbly, and get him back in there for 2012. He's playing career-best footy, all whilst trying to "earn back the trust of his teammates and coaches" and as such, is playing with a "point to prove". Giving him his VC back takes away that added incentive to push himself that extra bit further, which he has since his demotion. Official vice capt or not, we all know he's a real leader among the playing list.

I said the exact same thing. It would've been the classic 'joe the goose', but 2 goals on the stats sheet looks better than one, and would provide some much needed confidence for Bater, a talented player at the crossroads of his career and struggling for a spot in the regular 22 after being an automatic selection for many years. End of the day, doesn't really make a difference, but i thought the exact same thing at the time.

Has been our best in all our wins and in the draw. Could easily be on 11-12 votes at this stage. Won't win it, but could go top 5 if he can stay injury-free. What's he paying anyway? Think he was around $101 in round 1.

The Good: Where to start? *Increased forward pressure. *Winning clearances and contested ball (Beamer take a bow, 19 clearances!). *Having dangerous marking options up forward (Petterd is such a potent weapon in there with his contested marking ability). *Tackling, tackling, tackling! *Colin Sylvia. *Maric had 30 touches and looked like he belonged. *Watts' improved hunger for the contest (not just a one-off against WCE). *The skipper, Brad Green. *Dean Bailey comprehensively outpointing his opposition coach in game-day tactics (!!!!!!!!!) The Bad: *Neil Craig. Much has been written/discussed in the media about how to stop Melbourne & our 'transition-based' game plan, etc. in recent times, and the general consensus has been to beat us you: tag Davey and give him absolutely no space; try to curb Moloney's influence around the stoppages; play a strong physical 'body-on-body' game on Jurrah (i.e. don't let him get a free jump at the high ball, ever); and Crow midfielders to read Jamar's taps as he's likely to win the majority. To my great surprise, Craig implemented none of these things. When Davey had all that space to pick up countless uncontested possesions and hurt with his disposal, early on, i thought he might place a tag on him. But it never did eventuate and Davey was back to his blistering best. Moloney was left unattended in the centre square and cleared the ball at will, nearly breaking the record for clearances in a match. Their midfielders were not able to effectively read/shark Jamar's ruckwork in the way other sides have been able to this year. And Jurrah was able to take a few trademark leaping marks with very little body pressure. Neil Craig was outcoached and outgunned, IMO mainly due to his own reluctance to follow Hawthorn and West Coast's lead (in exposing the best way to dismantle our structures). *No 2nd ruckman is playing with fire with our most important player, Mark Jamar. Needs backup, badly. The Ugly: *That it took such a pathetic, insipid performance in Perth and the subsequent caning they got from it for the team to pull their fingers out and actually play the game. Definitely hope this match sets the tone for the rest of the season.

Fantastic effort that from Bate. It was late in the game and we were up by 90, so you could be excused for giving a token chase, but to see him go that hard and commit in that way showed how much it means to him to get back into this 22. Conditions didn't really suit Big Red today, but he tried hard and deserves another crack at it next week i think, if only for the heart and effort shown in that one single piece of play.

6 - Moloney - Gotta be leading the Bluey by a mile at this stage. 19 clearances! 5 - Sylvia 4 - Petterd 3 - Trengove 2 - Jones 1 - Davey Tough to find just six names, fantastic effort across the board. edit: can't believe i forgot the Russian! 1 vote perhaps, ahead of Davey

Classic case of a player whose last couple of (poor) years took a lot of the gloss off of what was an amazing career. Led the league for kicks on a few occassions, a prolific ball winner who kicked goals, was a good mark for his height and had a lazer left boot. Did the flashy things and brought fans thru the gates. Not one of my personal favourites, but i can see why people would've chose him. Surprised to not see any mentions of TJ or Woewodin. Before they were traded, there were more #16 and #22 jumpers in the outer than any others IIRC.

Current: Brent Moloney - Courageous, strong-bodied, hard-nosed on-baller, passionate about the jumper and, for the most part, leads by example. Would jump on a grenade for his teammates. Not enough players on the list with his passion IMO. Notable mentions to: Aussie- love his enthusiastic spirit and energy, when he's on, the brand of footy he plays makes me smile; Jurrah- just so damn talented!; Ricky P- Courage, courage, courage! Gysberts- because i think he will be in the select few "elite" midfielders in the league once his body matures, possibly even the best of our current crop, Scully/Trengove included. A "pure" footballer. Past: Russell Robertson (pre-2007 achilles injury only. After returning from that he took "lazy forward" to a whole new level.) Special mention: Jim Stynes & Stephen Febey, who came and ran a clinic at my school in 1991 when i was 6 or 7, and they were my heroes from then on until my early-teens.

X2

Positives? Watts was good I thought. Enjoying seeing his "big man" game evolve. He's still a long way off being a dominant AFL CHF, but i do have faith that he will get there one day, on tonights performance along with glimpses shown this year and last. He's starting to show an ability to mark a ball in a pack, is drawing the footy and defenders, and generally competing well. He's brining the ball to ground more consistently, as well as being able to clunk a few. If Watts had played for them tonight and Darling for us, you'd think Darling would have struggled and Watts would've starred. The supply into our forward line was non-existent, and when we did actually get in there, the disposal was just horrendous. I rated Darling's performance but it was all too easy for Eagles forwards tonight. They were down-hill skiing and looking a million bucks, and we were letting them. We were just insipid. So on a night where we were comprhensively pantsed by the reigning wooden-spooners, Watts' performance (still only a cameo at this stage) was heartening.

6 - Trengove 5 - Jones 4 - Watts 3 - Garland 2 - Grimes 1 - Jamar

Weird post. I didn't care about whether or not he wore the trackies when he was on our list, and i still don't care now. And i'm pretty sure they (Tasmania Hawks) wouldn't care either. What is it that annoyed you so much about them? Gotta agree with the pre-match flag raising thing though. Hoping we don't see a repeat of that again until we truly earn the real thing.

You're talking about Hurley, yeah?.... Wow.

Really interesting conclusion from BP!

Wouldn't surprise me if he had 8 or 9 Brownlow votes to this stage of the year.

I reckon we'll beat North this year too. I'm looking forward to seeing this guy (Majak Daw) play in the seniors though, what a stunning goal... !

Sorry, my mistake. Not sure who i was thinking of now, maybe Grimes.

Very disappointed with my favourite son getting into trouble and setting poor examples for his teammates. But there's no doubting he's been one of our best, arguably BOG in 2 of our 3 matches this year. Stripping him of his leadership position will make him even more hungry and desperate to make amends, so as long as he's available for selection this week i'm happy. I'm very nervous about this match, don't want to make history and be the first team to lose a home and away match to that mob. Fine him, strip him of his title, give him a harsh peer review this week... and let's all roll on to next week and smash the Suns with Beamer up, firing and with a point to prove.

Gysberts Wona Beamer

Yeah, good call. As a key forward, you're coached from a young age to really demand the footy if you're a marking target/tall. This is something taught from the grassroots level but is relevant through all levels of footy. The louder, stronger and more aggresive your calling is on the lead, the more likely your teammates are to direct the ball towards you. Would love to see him get a bit dirty when his leads are dishonored. But only to a point, i guess. We don't want the next Richo/Fevola sook antics either.

Considering he grew up a life-long Demon supporter, I'm pretty sure he wouldn't want to be anywhere else either.

My mate and I commented today on how confident he's looking. So much so, that everytime he got the ball in space, he looked like he wanted to tuck it under the arm and have a few bounces. Just remember your role son, you'll be alright... Very impressed with his improvement this year, hope he can stay fit and in the 22 all year (not a huge Spencer fan at this stage)

What's the answer? Because Flash's best is up there with the best... Problem is, he can only provide his best when left unattended. Backline perharps?

It's a werid one, Juice. On the one hand, we've seen what he's capable (or not) of at AFL level, and no-one wants to bring that into the team. On the other, 11 goals in 2 weeks is hard to ignore, and the fact that maybe, just maybe, the penny might have dropped for him and it's his last "now or never" shot at the big time. He could come in and have an immediate impact.... Just not sure i'd want to drop Watts for him, no matter how bad he actually was, his development in the long term somehow seems more important? That, and Juice is a long way in deficit in terms of footy credit, needs more than just a couple of weeks of dominance at VFL level perhaps. I dunno. Not a Juice fan, but if he makes it into the side next week can't say he doesnt deserve the shot. Playing against the Suns, he's probably likely to kick a 'soft' bag of 4 or 5. Ideally would like Watts to have a go against the young Suns and gets a few cheapies just for the confidence.

Love the kid, he's one of my absolute favorties at the club. Would be such a shame/waste of talent if he hung up the boots so prematurely. Hope he can do his old man proud for our great club and have a long, illustrious career. Good to read about his mates at the club and all the leaders getting behind him and supporting him and his family in such a tough time. One thing that stood out was this : "When dad died the club gave me three weeks away, and I rang a mate of mine (former St Mary's coach) Brenton Toy and said, "I am not going back to Melbourne. I am going to stay here. "But my mates said, 'You can't stay here. You have the Melbourne footy club and they love you - and it's not what your dad would want'. "That was in the back of my mind. "Aaron kept ringing me saying, 'We love you and want you back'." It's true, we love you Aussie!