w00dy

I think we need 1 more key forward, and mids mids mids... No matter how strong your backline is, or how many guns you have up forward, midfielders are they key to winning flags... As Mick M said the other night on one week at a time i think it was, when was the last time you can remember a side winning a flag that didn't have a completely dominant midfield? My answer to that question would be North Melbourne in 99 and that was only becuase the Bombers choked against the blues in the prelim, otherwise you look to the Crows the year before... Every side since has had a completely dominant midfield... Lets say we get Butcher, then how will our team look in four years (forgive me if I forget someone)... Forward: Watts, Butcher, Jurrah, Aussie, Maric, Jetta, Bate Back: Rivers, Garland, Warnock, Martin, Frawley, Bennell, Cheney, Grimes Midfield: Morton, McLean, Strauss, Blease, Buckley, Jones, Bartram, Bail, Sylvia (make it in the middle some day Col please) Great depth forward and back... however you need the most depth in the middle, where you need the most depth, and that's where we'll be spread a bit thin... no Bruce, Green, McDonald... Davey will be close to the finish line, as will beamer... therefore we need mids, mids and more mids...

i don't think it's about him getting smashed at the AFL level... many said that about Cale Morton last year, but how many games did he play? to me it's more about having the fitness to run out a game at AFL level... yes you don't have to run much if you're in the forward line, but it's not like the old days... you've still got to run back and fill the holes when required, and you need to keep your workrate up in the forward line... the fact that he hasn't been able to train full time because of school means his fitness base isn't going to be anywhere it needs to be for AFL footy... give him a run at Casey, let him get some match practice under his belt, and go from there... think i might have to make the trip down to cranbourne when Jack starts playing down there, will be great to see him in action...

i enjoy BT calling footy, but not when Melbourne are playing... clear bias against us, always putting the boots in about the crowd, saying there are about 12,000 people at our games, when there's double that in attendance... they're all sitting below you or above you BT, just because you can't see them doesn't mean they're not there... i missed the interview with Jimmy, so I didn't hear what BT was saying, but I heard him say the thing about having a problem with our supporters, that we don't show up... the fact is BT we're just as passionate as most other clubs, but there just aren't that many of us... good story about BT... a few years ago on triple m he was talking about a player who was having a go at his teammates for not kicking it to him or something... can't remember exactly what he said, but it's not that important... i've got a mate who played for Collingwood, in the 2's... was a good player, gave wayne schwass a bath in the 2's one day, but injuries never let him make it... anyway he played a game with BT in the reserves... during the game he passed BT the ball, and hit him right on the chest... at the next break BT ragged on him, told him he didn't want it on his chest, he wanted it out in front of his eyes so the defender couldn't spoil it... anyway, so when BT was bagging that player my friend called up Triple M, and told them the above story... The boys all loved it, were into BT about it... BT asked "who is this? Who are you?" my friend replied, "You didn't want to know my name back then, so why do you want to know it now?" owned him on radio, it was quality... and gives you a good insight into the type of person he is...

good call, long term the plan is to have flash up the ground, with Aussie and Maric playing closer to goal...

terrible thread... Davey did a fantastic job yesterday... He got us running from the backline... He had the pace, confidence and skill to play on in the backline, hit a target and get us moving... If he wasn't there doing that we would've been a lot more stagnant coming from the backline.. And the most important thing, he hit a target pretty much every time, didn't waste the footy at all...

been calling for Stef to play forward before round 1 when it was clear we had too many key defenders... maybe I should apply for a job on the demons coaching staff...

I find that a little surprising. While if Jurrah becomes a player of Goodes' ilk I'll be over the moon, but Goodes doesn't seem to be a player who does freakish things with the ball, something many often comment on with Jurrah.

Liam is obviously quite an exciting player. I haven't seen him at all yet, all I know is what I read on here. What type of style of player is he? If you had to equate him to an AFL player, who are we looking at?

I had a quick chat to Stef when I was buying my membership. It was great by the club to have the players there, accessable... Even if like Stef, they were kind of shy...

it pretty much sums up our day... champion data believe it's an all time low... http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...9-19742,00.html any thoughts on how we can improve in this area? as I've said previously I'd like to get Stef Martin into the forward line... but as many have already said, tall targets are clearly the biggest deficiency in our game...

I was talking to Stef Martin today when I bought my membership. Asked him about his game yesterday at Casey, and why he played forward. He said that the coaching staff wanted him to have that flexability to play forward and back. He said he found it hard with the delivery he got from the midfield at Casey, but was confident he could do a job down forward for Melbourne where the delivery should be better at AFL level. The way it came into the forward line today, I'm not sure if the delivery will be any better, but we definately needed a tall target down forward, and as I said last week in the discussion about the side to be selected for the Roos, I think Stef could be it. having said all that, In: Martin, Maric Out: Jetta, Bennell

Stef Martin very unlucky, play him forward I would... no Dunn means Bartram would tag you'd think...

Yeah, I understand that. He didn't seem that underdone to me, and I'd play Bennell this week. But I think Cheney is more likely to get a run than Jamie is. For starters, this is how I'd line the team up if I was coach, not how I think they will line up. Secondly, all our 5 key defenders would've trained all summer in the defenders group. They all can't play every week, yet they're probably all deserving of a regular game each week. So something has to give doesn't it? Thirdly in your side you've selected 4 talls in a top heavy backline, and left Martin out of the side. So what's wrong with throwing him forward? It's not like we have a great forward line that's hard to break into. It's something I'd like to see tried, that's all I'm saying. For mine Stef has shown a heap more potential than Frawley has. Are people pushing him just because Frawley was a 1st round pick, and Martin was taken in the PSD? For team balance, I can't see all 5 playing, especially if one of them doesn't play forward. We'll run out of legs if they all play.

Rivers is not a forward. He zones off, and reads the play, can't do that as a forward. Garland could be a forward, although I'm not sure he's the right shape to be a true key forward. If he played forward, I'd see him more as a flanker. If I were going to try one of these key backs down forward, it would be Stef Martin. Kicked goals when he played in the Ammos I'm lead to believe. He moves well, has good size and good skills. I'd like to see him tried down forward. And we all know we need another key target in the forward line. This is how I'd pick the side. FB: Garland Warnock Bennell HB: Petterd Rivers Green C: Morton Jones Bruce HF: Sylvia Bate Davey FF: Wonaeamirri Miller Martin Foll: Johnson McDonald McLean Int: Spencer Moloney Buckley Dunn Emg: Bartram, Newton, Maric A bit hard on Chip, but if we lose a KPP at either end, Newton comes in and Stef Martin heads down back again. But for the balance of the side I just can't fit Chip in. A lot of people have Cheney ahead of Bennell, and I've only seen the one pre season game against Sydney, but Bennell looked more polished than Cheney. While Cheney was serviceable, I can't see him being much more than that to be honest. Bennell on the other hand has class. And I really think it's important to have that specialist back pocket in your side, Wheels has done the job for years, and I think Bennell has been drafted as the heir apparent.

:D

i've been listening for the last hour, he hasn't been on yet... he might not even get on, wouldn't be the first time the run home have said they're going to interview a Melbourne person, and for it not to even happen...

he's a tallish defender... was the youngest player in his draft, so is a similar age to a lot of players who have just been drafted... i haven't seen him play, but he's meant to have plenty of potential...

out of Garland and Warnock, go with Garland... but as others have said, Grimes over both of them...

that pretty much sums it up Whispering Jack... backline looks very strong, midfield looks serviceable, forward line is non existant... we really missed matty bate up forward this week, without him there we looked extremely poor up forward, and he's yet to show us he can do the job week in week out... rather than repeating what WJ has reported on, here are some moments for the game that stood out for me... Neville Jetta - was in a one on one contest on the half forward flank... won the ball ahead of his opponent, side stepped him in slow motion, then speared a pass forward to a team mate... looked very composed and promising for the future... from memory also kicked a goal later in the game... Daniel Bell - now playing as a half forward... still lacks awareness, even in this position... he was running forward from the wing, and there was an opponent running pretty much straight at him from the side, not from behind, but from the side... and Bell had no idea he was even coming... still lacks the awareness he desperately needs... Jake Spencer - ran to a contest to spoil Adam Goodes on the half back flank. This young ruckman's massive frame spoiled the boil over the boundary, and knocked Goodes to the ground. Not overawed by the dual brownlow medalist, just as Goodes was getting up Spencer just shoved him back to the ground. Not hard enough to give away a free, but firm enough to assert some authority, it showed to me this kid has the right mindset to make it in this caper, and from what we've seen he has the ability. Colin Sylvia - very quiet early... We did have an extended bench, perhaps he didn't play much in the first half. But was super in the 2nd half of the 3rd quarter and the last quarter. Very exciting stuff from Col. Other comments from me, Bennell looked composed and very much like another Wheels in the making, perhaps with a little less grunt, but a little more polish... Strauss used the ball well as has been reported.... I think he had fresh legs in the 2nd half, but Bail really ran hard to the contest... There were a couple of times he got to contests where most players wouldn't... And Grimes showed us that our expectations of him are warranted... But as WJ said, our non existant forward line is what hurt us... And until the messiah is ready, we're going to struggle to win games. From what I saw today, we'll win 5-7 this year, more if we somehow find a functioning forward line...

for those who suggested the red cross, it looks like the club agrees... we're giving our sponsor space away to charity this week, with the red cross bushfire appeal appearing on our jumper... http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/sport/afl...0-19742,00.html

at first I thought it was Bater... but then I looked closer, and I changed my mind and thought it was Blease... apart from the red hair, they both look quite alike in the face...

i tell you what, a sponsor has missed out tonight, great exposure would've been available on the bushfire telethon tonight... Sam Blease has been wondering around the telephone room the entire night looking lost in the background of the television shot... i haven't seen him answer a single phone all night... actually, scratch that he just picked a phone up... either way, would've been good exposure for a sponsor...

what part of the annual report is that from? essentially what it is saying is that while the club struggles with bringing in revenue, it's not good for the club to carry debt, so we should try and clear it... by clearing the debt we won't be spending money on interest expenses and can acutally make some money... if we don't clear the debt we're always going to be behind, and never get in front...

here is our list in order of age, oldest to youngest... gives us an idea of the future... i draw the line where I see the available players who will be around for our next flag tilt... of those above the line, Brad Green is probably one who could still be there, not sure about the others... everyone else is in contention, which is exciting, because there are only going to be so many spots on the list, and only the fittest will last... 23. McDonald, James* 32 33. Robertson, Russell* 30 7. Bruce, Cameron 29 39. Whelan, Matthew 29 14. Green, Brad 27 38. Wheatley, Paul 27 -------------------------------------------- 10. Davey, Aaron 25 16. Jamar, Mark 25 27. Miller, Brad 25 18. Johnson, Paul 24 28. Moloney, Brent 24 32. Rivers, Jared 24 36. Warnock, Matthew 24 4. Bell, Daniel 23 35. Sylvia, Colin 23 22. Martin, Stefan 22 24. McLean, Brock 22 26. Meesen, John 22 3. Bate, Matthew 21 8. Buckley, Simon 21 11. Dunn, Lynden 21 30. Newton, Michael 21 1. Bail, Rohan 20 2. Bartram, Clint 20 12. Frawley, James 20 13. Garland, Colin 20 19. Jones, Nathan 20 20. Jurrah, Liam 20 31. Petterd, Ricky 20 40. Wonaeamirri, Austin 20 9. Cheney, Kyle 19 15. Grimes, Jack 19 5. Bennell, Jamie 18 17. Jetta, Neville 18 21. Maric, Addam 18 25. McNamara, Tom 18 29. Morton, Cale 18 34. Strauss, James 18 6. Blease, Sam 17 37. Watts, Jack 17

that's great to read isn't it... seems that last article really hit home with many here... I assume that means they will be changing the contrast of the jumper this year...