Melbournepotter

Now your being ridiculous....

Nathan Jones on one of the Sunday TV footy shows used 'obviously' many times...Must be a favourite of the Melbourne boys.

At one stage in the game on the weekend Toumpas saw oncoming players and still put his head over the ball in an attempt to gain possession. That showed courage for mine so I don't have too many issues on that front. He is still a kid, getting better with each game. I thought he did ok on the weekend, not too flash, made some errors but was attempting to get into the game. Shows a lot of promise at this stage of his development IMHO.

I don't want to pay over the odds for a coach who only seems convinced by the money (Roos). I just don't thinkj his heart is in it. I would go for Eade. He seems the most level headed and has been reasonably successful at the dogs and Swans. I spent 8 years in Sydney and saw a lot of the Swans while he was in charge. They rarely put in a collective bad game effort wise. They might not have won all their games, but very very rarely could I say they didn't seem to have a dip, regardless of the result. That could have also been due to the type of players he had (Kelly, Kirk etc) but he also got the dogs playing well so whe must have something. Eade has experience, seems to still have the desire and also appears to actually want the job. Ticks a lot of boxes for me.

Agree re Big Maxie. He looked tired in the last couple of AFL games. He's gone back to VFL and done very well. He's missed a lot of footy over the last couple of years so will probably take time to get some run in the legs on a consistent basis.

I thought he did ok in yesterdays game. He missed a few overhead marks but I thought his attitude to work was good. He stuffed one thing up on the wing and then chased and harried until he caused a spill from Collingwood and an eventual ball up. I liked him having a shot from 50 which hit the post a fair way up. I think he showed enough to persevere with.

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.