Melbournepotter

I think Barrett might have 2 out of 3. I think Neeld will be given more time. Add a re-structure of the Football Dept re Line of command being streamlined and that will be it for today.

I wanted to watch Davis to see how his disposal was. To me, it looked ok. Re Toumpas, I would rather he spend a few games at Casey, to develop. It;'s obviously too early to make a career judgement, I think he needs to develop a stronger confidence in himself at VFL level befroe moving up again.

Toumpas does have a bit of a waddle...although so did/does Jobe Watson to a certain extent. (only comparing their walk/gait....) i'm not sure Dawes will be a player to take the game by the scruff of the neck. I think he will be used to provide a contest and create space for others which I think he did yesterday. Clisby has a go. He got crunched yesterday in a big pack, in the fourth qtr and I don't think he came back on. That further depleted Casey's rotations and possibly affected the outcome. I like the attitude of a number of the younger players such as Clisby, Tynan, Davis and Taggert. They are positive in thought and continue to be competitive, despite what the outcome is. I think Spencer showed some of that against Essendon. A just keep competing attitude. I think that will hold us in good stead in the future. (I hope anyway). The top teams have faith in what they are doing despite what the score may be, and more often than not endure.

Toumpas also played as a loose man for a while in front of the defence. His kicking was very accurate. I think he is still getting used the physicality of the local game. He went for a bump (in the third I think) where it looked like he had a choice to either go or evade. He put in a tentative but solid bump (I think the Port player had similar thoughts by his actions as well). It probably shows he may not yet have full confidence in what his body can endure. I thought all the younger guys had decent games. Tynan got up very high to spoil a few times, Davis I thought had a good game. The times I noticed him coming out of defence, he always found a casey player by foot. Toumpas will get better once he has acclimatised and become a little more battle hardened. Blease continually seems to run too far. He gets around his man but then is either on he wrong foot or has run into a cul de sac. I didn't notice Taggert too much, he could have been on the far side of the ground to me most of the time. He did have a good game against Essendon though and I hope he gets a game with Melbourne at some stage this year. Too bad we don't have a David Rodan that's 4 or 5 years younger. He kicked a great goal after bursting through a pack but also got caught a few times. He tried hard though I thought. Sellar did ok down back, mixed a few good things with some indifferent patches, and Dawes did ok. I think his role with Melbourne will eventually be a quality foil for Hogan and Clark rather than the main target he was yesterday. At one time he had a go at Blease for trying to kick an impossible goal by screwing the ball along the ground. His message was to keep it simple. Overall, It was an enjoyable, entertaining match. Port got a few goals early in the last, and the crowd burst into life and helped them home. Casy were obviously without a number of players but tried throughout. Someone else mentioned Kyle Mathews. I didn't have a "Record" but I believe he was wearing the helmet. What an inspiration. He is courageous and very skilled. Credit to him for coming back from such an injury and playing good footy at this level. Oh, and thanks to big Maxie and Chip for having a quick kick to kick with my little boy at quarter time. Thankfully they pulled through without injury.

My son was in the Guard of Honour a couple of weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. He met David Rodan and got his signature on his jumper which he was thrilled about. I think this helps keep kids interested in the club and helps keep them as supporters. He was getting sick of losing but this brought his spirit back up. Anything that helps engage younger supporters should be encouraged in my opinion. It was well organised and kudos for the club for at least attempting to engage with it's supporters.

I look forward to Robinsons retraction in the print media.

There is also no mention of Frawley, although I guess the report's not going to mention everyone. I thought Frawleys efforts were lamentable at times on Sunday, he just seemed to be going through the motions, doing the fake attempts to smother etc.. I did see some effort from Watts in the last quarter, though he still needs to do so much more. Garland showed glimpses of what he's capable of. He is much better than what he has shown so far. At least there were some signs of life, if only for 2 quarters.

Agree with mots of the comments re players today. Taggert looks solid and hopefully continues to develop. He did some nice things and is solid enough in build. If he puts together some good games, I can see a spot for him later in the year. Tynan was pacey off the defence, however his kicks lacked composure at time. His endevour was good (as were all the teams I thought) so with some experience he should improve. Spencer and Fitzpatrick had good games. Spencer did some great things with the ball and created a turnover on the far side of the ground with some agile chasing and tackling of a couple of opponents. Fitzpatrick moved well but perhaps needs to eliminate some skill errors (a couple of juggled marks). Overall they worked hard and hAD GOOD GAMES. The player I probably disagree with most is Jordie Mackenzie. While he did get touches I particularly tried to pay attention to what he did with them and found most of them were not cleanly to Casey players. I would have hoped he would be more accurate with his passing. I know that is not his main role in the seniors, playing more as a stopper in the midfield but I think he needs to polish his disposal (nothing new there). Hogan will make a huge difference in the forward line. His shoulders and size are already huge and he has the smarts and skill to go with it. He should be immense for us. The other players were generally as described. These observations should be tempered with the fact that I had two children with me today that meant I couldn't concentrate fully on the footy... I might have missed some of Jordies better plays.

Fair enough.....Maybe it's me that's punchdrunk. I found myself defending Essendon last week...purely because of the media frenzy against it. So much negative media attention over such little information re illegal substances. So much inuendo against clubs that still say nothing illegal was given/taken. Such indignation at clubs having the audacity to text that some players may be getting legal drugs injected..wowee.

This club is being cut up into little pieces by the media and the club administration seems to be holed up in a bunker somewhere. Isn't there someone at the club that can come out with guns blazing in defence of the club or has it become too punch drunk to offer resistance ?

There are plenty of rules that umpires are red hot on early in the season then go cold on. I saw a Freo player dive at the feet of an Essendon player and get a free for high contact. I thought the rules were brought in so that it should have been the other way round. There were a lot of frees the umpires missed yesterday. Sure it wouldn't have made much difference to the result, but they should be given on merit. They are still inconsistent as ever, with contact up one end resulting in frees given to West Coast, but ignored dow the other end. Very frustrating.

By hassling some Eagles supporters sitting in amongst the reserved MELBOURNE seating area, they eventually moved. (yeah...small win I know)

While Neeld has had a draft, we now have (from all accounts) a very good talent spotter in charge of selecting the draft picks. i would hope that we see players come into the club now that will progress and become good players. So many top pick players have come and gone at Melbourne, it makes it tough on coaches if the talent/desire in the players is not there. Other clubs that are currently enjoying success have done well in the draft, be it recycled players or young talent. For whatever reason we haven't been able to develop that talent that should be standing us in good stead at the moment (we know the list, it's been displayed on here before). Most other clubs can afford to develop their talent in the VFL, most of our top draft picks are already in the AFL side. If we need to get rid of a coach for blood letting purposes....let's look at the midfield coach....very little system evident in that area, especially when stats say Jamar won a lot of taps.

I agree with most of the sentiment. Most of the previous players you mentioned didn't show much on a consistent basis and that's why (I believe) they were released. They were stuck in the region of being good VFL players, not showing enough at AFL level on a consistant level when given the chance. I would also put Dunn in that category, although he has improved. Moloney and Rivers had other issues. That begs the question....do we get rid of the average players that will keep us 5 or 6 places off the bottom or clear them out and try for better players ? We appear to have gone for the latter, brought in some good young players and topped up with some short term players that have tasted success at other clubs with apparently the hope they will help teach the younger players good habits. The reasons are ok, although I think the club would have hoped that Rodan and Byrnes would have had more impact in the short term ...but they haven't been able to do that yet. The main issue is that the beatings have been greater than anticipated which is not acceptable.

Stephen Tingay ?

Good Post. I didn't go yesterday. I had plenty of more enjoyable things to spend my $40 or so (I usually go with my son). I couldn't take the seemingly mindless and uninspired performances of most of the team. My decision to not go was (to me) vindicated when i saw Moloney running down the wing, look up and promptly pump it long into the 50....straight to a kangaroos defender standing on his own, with no other Melbourne player in sight. He was with 2 other kangaroo players so where our forward line was I don't know. I've seen bad demons teams before and have remained optimistic, but this team gives me no optimism at all. We just play so much dumb football. The best efforts I have seen this year was against GWS, when a number of our fringe players (Dunn and Sylvia immediately come to mind) really put in...against kids. Where are they when we need the efforts against better teams ? As you say. I hope that Neeld is looking very hard at some of these players that continually do dumb things and give away stupid free kicks....and we get rid at years end.

Sidebottom slammed McLean with a pinned/sling tackle as well, not dissimilar to Trengoves on Dangerfied. It will be interesting to see the adjudication on that.

i think Cale has improved this year in his physicality, but can still turn the ball over a number of times which is frustrating. The way I see it, is that at least he is not hiding and there were a number of times last weekend where he ran with the flight of the ball. He also did make a number of accurate passes but seems to have issues when he hesitates and perhaps tries too hard to create, and then causes a turnover. I am willing to give him time. If he also puts on some weight, he could be very handy in time. Mick Malthouse commented re Murphy of Carlton that sometimes players have to use common sense when going in for the ball. Sometimes it's unavoidable that the body has to be put on the line, but there are also cases where to dive in to prove toughness could only mean getting an injury, which doesn't help anyone at the club. I'm not comparing Murphy with Morton, but I'd rather have him on the field learning than flying recklessly in and only causing himself injury.

3aw commentators also thought it was a bad look. They said that some players were smiling and waving from up in the stands. They thought it liked like they didn't care about the result. Hawthorn cared about the result and worked hard to make sure they got the win.

'Jaded' is probably a good word to describe a lot of our support. This year I have noticed myself calling our players morons for some of the stupid errors they make. I'm a paid up member but it probably shouldn't happen i guess. However, after many years of watching the demons, I am short on patience. After all the pre-season training skills practising etc, I get to see our players look up and then kick it straight down the throat of opposition players, standing in the clear, or fail to find a player 3 metres away with with a handpass. The first few times I can put up with, but when it continually happens, the frustration comes out. It's difficult and we probably shouldn't let it get to us as much, but we are passionate and simple skill errors are frustrating. Anyway I hope your daughters keep the faith. Some better footy from Melbourne would make things a lot easier for all of us, and hopefully make the football a better experience for your family.

We need to recruit an experienced ruck (tall..not follower) and a good experienced midfielder to help gel the current team. Jamar is struggling and the other ruck stocks are either injured or not up to it. Put Martin at CHB. He's not a forward but has played down back previously with ( I believe) success, Who the players are may be difficult. I don't know the contract status, but perhaps Warnock at Carlton. While injured, he may have slipped down the list so may want game time. I believe we tried for him before but failed...perhaps he'll change his mind ? We may have to look at the VFL to pick up some good mature footballers to give leadership to the current younger players. In hindsight, we have removed too many experience players, recruited the wrong players, while the senior players that are left are not providing the leadership required for some reason. Has the loss of Bruce, McDonald and others affected the psyche of the other senior players ?

This is a very pertinent thread. Where ARE the supporters coming from ? . I have supported the club since the late seventies and can honestly say that this year is my first year of not looking forward to the season. If these pathetic displays keep on occurring I won't be attending games just to sit through a game and being associated with a group of players that get laughed at for being so inept. Then we get the usual 'we must do better...players take responsibility ...blah blah' platitudes after the game before the players dish up the same garbage the following week. Supporters will only take so much ridicule before droppping off....prehaps forever. I can take losing, but the disgraceful efforts this season is beyond just losing. It's a waste of my time. However....on a positive note, the club have instigated a great program whereby Auskick kids (first 500 from memory) that register with the club will get a free signed guernsey. There have been quite a few kids at Brunswick West Auskick last season wearing the guernsey, so it's great to see the jumper being worn. Like many of the other kids mentioned here, my son (5) went to the game yesterday and had a great time, wearing the clubs colours. i'm hoping that it's a while before he realises what a loss is and how many we are having ! He's currently with his mum at the shops proudly wearing his guernsey...I hope i can get some of his enthusiasm.

Paul Roos at the Swans had a number of strong players at the club that provided the same leadership. He probably didn't need to go hard at the players, the leaders did that themselves. We need to weed out those that are comfortable at the club and do so without pre-conceived opinions about players. I liked Bailey, I thought he spoke well, but lacked in parts of his coaching. That the players loved him....but as they wouldn't perform for him tells me that perhaps we need a coach that is not necessarily popular with players but certainly respected and perhaps a little bit feared. You only need to look at the recent successful clubs to see either strength in coaching or player leadership.

My comments are not necessarily confined to yesterdays debacle. I have not been able to get excited about this year. Last year we had a number of new faces that we could anticipate seeing, which coupled with some of the previous seasons performances instilled some belief we would improve. This year, despite some new faces I couldn't see where the big improvement was coming from. The names usually bandied about have been tried and found wanting. Where is the top player we need to come through and show leadership THIS year. I don't see one. Jamar might win the tap, but the opposition continually take the ball away, Moloney fights hard to get the ball (usually) but then usually pumps it long to a contest, Jones tries hard but lacks the dynamism (?) that is required for him to go to the next level and McKenzie is a defensive midfielder also lacking in the attacking dynamism required. That's our top midfied (arguably Magner has come into this group). When we frequently win taps but the opposition get the clearance, we are not going kick big scores. As for yesterday..I think it in obvious to Neeld that we have a number of lazy players. I mentioned to my brother during one passage of play that Davey was just jogging after his opponent through the middle, trailing by 20 metres. Only when that player received the ball did davey put in some pace but by that time it was too late...another Brisbane goal. Our great hope Bate in the last quarter....one of the first things he did was fall over his own feet in the Lions forward pocket and virtually gift them a goal. Laughable and typical of most players yesterday. The team needs to stop the meaningless '...as a group we are aware that effort wasn't good enough..blah blah' carp that is becoming too frequent with this group and actually follow up these hollow words with actions. It shouldn't need jimmy, it shouldn't need any extra reason, they should just go out each week and put in 100% all of the time or go home. The football world laughs at them and they don't seem to mind. If they can't be arsed to put in an effort then just move to club to Tasmania, and I'll find something enjoyable to do on my winter saturdays in future. The only problem is, my son is becoming an avid fan of the dees at the time the players are killing my passion...

Just one word on a big sign when we play GWS.....LIAR