whatwhat say what

i think we saw the real effects of 2 close losses.

no one was prepared to chase. at all. the defensive pressure that we thought may be there after getting oh so close for 2 weeks in a row evaporated into the vapour waves of chris judd streaming forward.

oh, for a superstar like that at the mfc.

bell was horrific. again. his use of the ball makes ward and brown look like superstars; he tries hard, but he's very, very trying.

miller just didn't give a whimper, did he? awful.

i dunno. the losses aren't bothering me anymore. i'm just expecting that they're going to continue to mount up.

i like how you laugh at the commentators saying robinson, but have no problem typing newtown

ha! hadn't even noticed i typed that - error of the fingers rather than the tongue

pressure on miller is huge now. with robbo coming back, he really should be dropped anyway, and newtown MUST be close to debuting.

great to see hughes sounding impressive, and i'd prefer wheatley to ward or brown. i'm positive he could play on their players at least as defensively as they can, and be better skilled when he has the ball into the bargain.

he's always played as a medium tall player on tall players. it'd be great to see him play as a medium tall on slightly smaller players. i think he might have the agility to do fairly well.

commentators say that very even performance.

commentators opinions:

sautner prevented, "but it was telling that he and robbo spoiled each other."

impressed by robbo, had a hand in 6 or 7

wheatley miserly in defence, link man across hb

bizzell terrific in the middle or down back

poyas cutting across hb

like the look of gallagher

summers in and out of the game

hughes - only played for 2 quarters, livewire when he came on the ground

holland down back an old head.

no mention of newtown. sounded to me via their very bias call that he was very, very good

16.16.112

13.12.90

goals:

robertson (and robinson) - 4

sautner - 3

newtown - 2.6!

pickett - 2

hughes - 2

summers, gallagher, garland all singles

best / most frequently called in last quarter and a half: pickett, gallagher, lidell, newtown, robertson, valenti, neaves.

sandy wins.

robbo to be interviewed? nope, walked away.

gallagher nails one for sandy, 26 mins gone. looks like sandy has it wrapped up now.

some bloke called robinson misses. apparently he's done well enough to be straight back in for the dees next week.

not sure about robertson though.

johnson kicks another for the seagulls. the commentators go 'nanas as a result.

another goal for sandy, but i have absolutely no idea who kicked it as the commentators immediately started talking about williamstown again.

newtown missed a sitter.

seagulls get one back.

they're pumping up williamstown tyres. the bias is 5aa-esque.

he misses. 25 pts the diff i think it is.

newtown from outside 50...hits danny hughes within kicking distance.

commentator has been impressed by hughes today.

where's jamar?

neaves has been called half a dozen times doing things around the ground but no mark. worrying signs for the russian.

valenti hits sautner on the lead after lots of oohs and aahs from the williamstown-supporting commentators.

he misses the goal.

byron takes a 'courageous mark' at chf and will line up for goal...

...nails it.

goalkickers:

robertson - 4

sautner - 3

newtown - 2

summers, hughes, garland, and pickett have singles.

13.9.87

10.10.70 at 3 quarter time to sandy.

i only found out about this when i logged in about 5 mins. ago. much props to 1611, even though the commentators are going for williamstown!

wasn't it the smallest at the g for all time, or some such stat?

eh? demolished farmer in the finals? you've gotta be joking. farmer kicked 2.2, had a hand in about 4 more, and picked up a dozen or so possessions.

you're right in that he does work hard defensively. but that's not my gripe with him; my gripe is his disposal, and his incredibly poor decision-making.

bell did blaze away last night - he butchered the ball time and time again. that's what he's like when he's 'taking the first option' - he's no good at it.

if he stays on the hbf for melbourne in 5 years time he'll be thought of just as brown is now - a good, honest trier who gives his all but is just not good enough when it comes to disposing of the ball.

yep, like the idea of bell as a tagger and sylvia off the hbf.

bell's biggest problem, other than dithering, is that he too often simply blazes away, and not merely because he's under pressure because he hasn't taken the first option. in packs, that's (almost) allowed. he's fast, he's hard, he can tackle. i think he could succeed as an on-ball tagger - it's definitely worth a try.

the only part of the game where sylvia looked ANY good last night was opposed to davis. he is worth a try on the hbf on a more permanent basis, essentially replacing bell i guess.

nope, i loved his attack on the ball last night, but his disposal and dithering had me tearing at my hair in frustration.

he's a good, honest trier. but that's all.

and it's not like he's the only one i ripped into; he's just a demonland favourite.

i thought my sylvia critique and byron blasting were far more negative.

daniel bell turns it over time and time again.

his attack on the ball is exemplary; his use of it is less than ordinary.

being at the game, you see the side in a completely different way.

on the tv, we don't look nearly as slight as we do in person - where has the likes of bruce and johnstone's muscle definition, particularly in the upper body, disappeared to this year?

at the moment, i honestly can't see us winning a game. we lack heart, we clearly lack conditioning, and we seem to lack any desire.

6. matthew bate - not the worst, not the best. tries hard, but does some stupid things, like handballing to stationary players time and time again. came off injured, i think?

7. brad miller - tried hard up forward, was completely out-pointed down back. can't mark the ball in front of his face but always wants to take it on the chest, meaning that when he doesn't have a break it always gets punched away from him. at least he tried hard.

11. paul johnson - can't mark, but other than that was one of few who consistently put in. would love to see him continue to be experimented with as a key back - he reads the play well, is good at ground level, and punches well from behind.

12. colin sylvia - will clearly play over 100 games for the red and the blue, by dint of being a high draft pick alone. i think if he was a 4th round pick this year would be his last at the mfc. will never be anything other than a fair-to-ordinary player.

13. adem yze - pleasingly, put his head over the ball. at one stage he had the opportunity to soccer off the ground but instead you could see him think about it, and then pick it up, and deliver it cleverly to a forward-moving player. was good to see.

14. lynden dunn - yep, he's a good n. looks a natural footballer, which is something he has over the likes of miller. his coralling of barry on the hff at one stage was the sort of instinctive defensive work that can't be teached, but is naturally intuitive.

15. ricky pettard - looks a footballer. tough, courageous, thinks before he disposes of it instead of simply blazing away, works hard off the ball to be a further option, and can clamp down on his man. should replace ward/brown/bell as the running hbf of choice for the rest of his time at the mfc.

16. travis johnstone - lazy, ineffective, and can't cope with a tag. looks frustrated as he doesn't have support from teammates or umpires with constant scragging, but doesn't look bothered enough to try and run to the next contest.

17. chris johnson - has no awareness at this level. he tries really hard and his disposal is quite clean, but dithers with the ball.

20. colin garland - should not have been playing, ideally. he's a long way off being afl-ready, but should continue to get a taste of senior action while there's no other options with neitz and robbo out.

21. daniel bell - personally, i'd be happy if he never played for the mfc ever again. has no lateral movement, dithers with the pill, disposal is shoddy, runs hard and works hard but should never be a starting 18 player. could go home to adelaide and play a role similar to torney - coming on and off the bench to do a pinch-hitting role every now and then. not up to it.

22. brent moloney - tries ever so hard, but how much longer can he keep playing for? runs up and down on the spot after half time - clearly his groin is knackered. off to the glue factory, i'm afraid.

23. james mcdonald - what a trier. but like bruce and trapper is another who seems to have lost muscle in the upper body - can't stick his tackles like last year. never stops trying though.

25. nathan brown - see bell, minus the adelaide connection.

27. jared rivers - gee he's good. reads the play, disposes of the ball cleanly, works hard off it to provide an option. we'd be in an awful spot of bother defensively if we lost him.

30. simon godfrey - didn't get within coo-ee of goodes until he injured himself, and even then the man with one arm still played better than him. having godders in the starting 18 sums up the position the mfc is in at the moment; rooted to the bottom of the ladder.

32. cam bruce - i just can't understand why his body shape has changed so much. it isn't as noticeable watching on the tv, but he looks like a twig. he really tries, but gets brushed off the ball, and his disposal is poor.

33. byron pickett - fat and ineffectual. provided the occasional bit of run and sometimes a nice tackle, but at other times looks completely disinterested. wouldn't be surprised if he pulled the plug on his afl career at the end of the year, unless he really is broke and needs the cash.

34. jeff white - effort, effort, effort, but too small to play ruck these days and not strong enough to go forward. still, without him i doubt we'd win a single take-away from around the bounce of the ball.

36. aaron davey - so pleasing to see him provide some genuine dash. worked hard, laid a couple of stellar tackles, and looked interested in getting the football again (unlike the first few rounds when he was more interesting in chatting to the umpires about the scragging he was receiving).

40. mark jamar - ineffectual, at best. barely won a tap, barely got the ball. can't kick. can't position his body in the marking contest.

41. nathan carroll - i thought he was okay on hall, who was the go-to guy in sydney's forward line. provided rebound, and did his job defensively too.

i think we're in huge trouble for the rest of the year.

we have far too many players who simply look like they can't be bothered, and others who try hard but are simply not up to it.

oh, and the coaching? the match-ups in the first quarter were abysmal. miller couldn't get near hall, and trying to play johnstone as a forward to lose the tag is a ridiculous move - it essentially concedes defeat in the middle before you've even started the game.