Dappa Dan

Yeah. But terrible? Miller was terrible. Some of Jeff's wprk was terrible. Belly was going it alone on a tall player. You can't expect him to beat tall opponents as often as he plays on them. He's going to have down weeks. And shock horror, he had one against a rampant reigning premier with the best midfield against a non-existant one. EVERY week he gets the same thing. NO midfield pressure, his opponent getting delivery on a platter. And he works as hard as he does, with well over half his involvement near the footy to positive effect... He drills it upfield where NO-ONE is there to pass to, and no-one is leading... What more do you expect? Even golden boy Petterd, the great Wrecker, Carroll, even our so-called-star Bruce had shockers... And Bell is the one we pick out? your opinion is well considered. But under the circumstances, surely Belly has earned a break like his other friends in defence. Worst game for the year? It'd be up there. But I think he played worse last week or the week before... I think he had less effect on the match in recent weeks, whereas today he made mistakes when he got it. It's probably about right though. Again? Again.... So when was he horrific before today, THIS YEAR. Was there anyone else that was "horrific." Brucey, Yze, White, Brown? Naaah horrific is entirely appropriate... He tries hard, he gets no help, and does his job in the first 7 rounds and we STIIIIIIIIIILL see this utter, utter garbage from the likes of MFC supporters who wouldn't know their football from their Auntie's knitting classes. Fair dinkum Andrew, watch some football. The kid had a rotten day, along with everyone but Trav, JMac, Silvia and Godders. He was NOWHERE NEAR our worst and is bleeding for the club... For those of you with foxtel active did you see the blisters on his feet? Covered in them. His toes were entirely concealed with tape. Makes Ward and Brown look good? THE GUY IS A GREAT KICK!!! OPEN YOUR EYES!!!! He didn't have any targets today... and when he did he hit them up perfectly. YES he made some mistakes, but you would when the ball's down your end as soon as you've disposed of it. But nooooo, he's absolutely horrific.... again apparently.... Jesus, I don't know why I bother. This is a simple no-brainer people...All of you Bell haters living on the past take off the prejudiced goggles and open you eyelids!!!! The kid can play..... Give him a go.... He is NOT the one to blame. He wasn;t today, and he CERTAINLY hasn't been all year.

I think it's worth noting here that ND is actually a pretty good bloke from all accounts... If we treat him right ie let him coach out the year and leave under his own steam, he may just take care of the list and leave the incoming coach with a better list than he'd be left with otherwise. If Williams, or Fagan, or whoever comes in you can bet they'll be so pressured they won't be able to educate the younger players in the way they need to be. It would be left up to the players themselves... It makes much more sense to treat Neale with the respect he's shown the club. It paints us in a good light for a prospective incoming coach, and Neale will probably do the right thing by MFC before the end of round 22.

Oh my God!! This enormous man will devour us all!!!!!!

I like the idea. Worked for the two dogs who retired that time... Croft and Garlick I think... And they won!!!

Yeah. Allow him to part ways with respect and dignity. It's not going to make MUCH of a difference to sack him now, if any at all. The guy deserves some measure of respect. He's done a fair bit for the club.

Ok. Take a breath. Sylvia has been sensational in the past 2 weeks. Kicked 6, and that's a good return, particularly considering today where we didn't go inside fifty much. If you're going to campaign for the sacking of Y_M, you should probably have a good honest look at who is ACTUALLY playing well. The truth is, and this is a simple statement of fact, that players like Green, Bruce and Trav... all matchwinners on their day... are supposed to lead the club through the guts, out of half-back and in the clinches. It's no coincidence that THAT'S where we were thumped today. Our defenders in deep were given nothing to work with... Carroll had a heap of the footy and was still towelled. Bell and Petterd tried hard deep. But Green and Bruce who were supposed to pump it up the ground from the HB line were severely smashed. Our midfielders were led by JMac (fair enough) and Godfrey..... Godfrey. He's a goer, no mistake, and I love his desperation but it's not up to him to get us our clearances against one of the best midfields in living memory. they're our B-graders. Green, Bruce and Trav are ABSOLUTELY in their prime, and we are losing match after match after match. Now say what you like, that injuries are to blame, and that they are trying hard and getting the possessions we need... bbut the simple statement of fact is that this is THEIR time to own the comp, and they are doing the opposite. The net result of their hardest and best efforts is being Stone Motherless Last. Now say what you like about Y_M. The man can say some outrageous things... But this was one of his more contained... We are, in all likelihood, not going to win a flag in the next 4-6 years, which is the time when Trav, Bruce and Green are making their mark. So what do we do? Personally i don't think trading your quality for high draft picks HELPS your young list. I reckon having good players giving an example is more important... so for me, I say keep them. But the idea is fairly sound. Y_M speaks a strange and wonderful language. He understands the vernacular of these sites better than most. He knows that if you write something serious (like this) no-one will listen. If you write something extreme, people stand up and take notice. From what he's written, I read this between the lines: "I actually think Bruce, Green and Trav are good players. They are among the only ones with any trade value, and in their time unfortunately we are unlikely to see a flag. In order to win in a trade you have to trade something good to get something good. It's no good saying to trade ferguson, who no-one wants." In the end, while extreme, it's a fairly sound theory in many ways. If a new coach came in and identified our mature players as soft, I'd imagine he'd look to offload a couple too. Like I say I don't necessarily agree, and I'm on your side, but I'm not about to shoot down the concept of trading players who are not going to see a flag at the MFC. Oh, and McLean and Sylvia will prove themselves to you soon enough. getting on their backs just seems daft to me.

Harsh on Green. When he's been there he's gotten plenty of the ball, and he has been injured and underdone... But I get your point... I'm making excuses..

GO YOU GOOD THING!!!

Thanks for that. Wonderful insight. Keep 'em coming people. You see? I'm yet to run into someone who regretted making the trip to TBO. EVERY demon fanshould make the effort when there's no clash. ESPECIALLY if you've travelled in for the demons game and have the other day free.

But then so do most naturally occurring phenomena...

Just noticed this thread has 100 posts up! Now disregarding the fact that some of those are mine, that's a pretty good effort for a Sandy match. In fact that's a pretty good effort for a dees match!

Isn't that what Aaron does? I KNOW I've seen him do that a bit in the past...

Is that you Clint?

Should have mentioned that was the FIRST time I remember seeing us get some luck in that regard. And I think while Aaron deserved his go, they were very generous. Interestingly, he was given 5 votes by BOTH coaches in the footy classified coaches votes in player of the year, along with Colin and one other I think.

Each to their own Fan... And I think i may have said too little about Wheatley. I'm trying to cut down on the long posts (and failing miserably). What I meant to say was that earlier this year I saw him play a game out of defence in which he looked better than Hird. He was faster, stronger, smarter and kicked 3 goals from about 60. Then he duly gets promoted and is actually a LIABILITY in the AFL. It's THIS that I was trying to point out. He's played good years in the AFL in the past, but not kept it going... and I disagree that he's a solid AFL player. Just disagree though.... I'll keep your comments in mind. Great insight Wrecker, and thanks for coming on to mention his behaviour. And It's fascinating isn't it. When I read it at first i was thinking that he could be a problem. But the more I think about it, I wonder what neita would be like as a player if he was given ANY arrogance at all. Reiwoldt, Carey, Dunstall, Brereton... All smartarses... Would having a bull in our little china shop be that bad... just to shake things up? If you said to me you can have a great player, but you have to put up with him being a bit of a Dermie... I think I'd say bring him on... No... I don't. Could you expand a little? Oh... you're not flirting with ME now are you? I'm a fan of Ezra's, and I'd like to know what you mean. If you're duty bound to keeep schtum, then I'd appreciate a PM... I think that's a first... A radio commentator coming on to apologise for making a blue... You'll go a long way, my son. But seriously, you yourself do a fine job there. Shades of Commetti once or twice. I hope you take the opportunity to come on and advertise in the future. Now that we know who you are, we'll be sure to keep our eyes and ears open. Cheers mate!

I'm absolutely red hot on this topic, and have been trying to fight the good fight on Aaron's behalf... but I'll try and keep it short... Call me biased if you want, but Aaron is still streets ahead of his brother, and given his head start, I think will be regarded the better player in the long run, as well as now... BUT he isn't!! just because the dons picked another Davey up, and wit their supporter base, and the fact they're the darlings of the media, we have to sit back and watch Alwyn get as much press in the first 4 rounds as Aaron got in his first year. As stated above, he started earlier, had to fight from being a rookie (though not for long), he came into football when players of his size and type were not fashionable, and now that he's there, an identical player (albeit 2 years older than he was when drafted) has been drafted not only in the normal draft, but well into the second round, and in a superdraft year no less BECAUSE of the influence Aaron has exerted on the comp. We'll be arguing this point, and seeing it posed over and over, and since they are both similar in size and the way they go about it, I don't think we'll ever come to a conclusion until MANY years into the future when both are retired and we can stand back and really apply the microscope. At this stage you'd have to be a ninny to think it would be Alwyn. And most people are unfortunately... they can't see red and blue, but can see red and black perfectly well.

Thank you BRB made a fool out of me there. Newton not in the best, but Neaves is. BTW which Johnson is in the bests there? Was it CJ, or one of the brothers?

I think they might have mumbled something about the fact that CJ was tagging Williams... But I could have that wrong. He got a few touches... maybe 15 or so. But I kept losing my connection so I may have missed a few. The commentary wasn't scintillating. One of them was on the ball, but the other was making mistakes willy nilly. Kept calling players by their wrong first names, and making emotional noises like "OOoooooh how was THAT" and "Gee THAT was good" without actually telling us what was going on. Buckley was quiet, but again may have been picking someone up. Pickett was VERY damaging and led really well. Was taken on and off the ground a bit, but when he was there he actually played good football. No-one ever talks about his kick. It's sensational. Frawley was only used sparingly. Didn't hear much about him. Wheatley, they said, had a very good day. That worries em a bit. He's appalling at AFL level this year, but smashes them in the VFL week-in-week-out. I hope the players who regularly do well at Sandy aren't the same as him. CJ, Newton I'm looking at you. Bizzell was a rock in defence. VERY good days football. Neaves was in amongst it, but I'm convinced he's not the player we saw last year. Happy to be convinced differently though. Garland, though young and prone to drifting in and out of the game, is looking right at home now. Seems to find plenty of it all over the place, and does good things whenever given the opportunity. And chips in with goals, which is good. Holland got a lot of soft frees, but was VERY strong mopping up by all accounts. Hughes got better and better as the game wore on, and finished off where Juice couldn't. I always liked him but have always been concerned about where he'll fit, and whether he's big enough. From what I understand he's been a bit down on last year early on this season. Robbo and Newton I've spoken about. They were probably the pick of the dees, along with Wheatley and maybe Pickett. Holland and Biz didn't disgrace themselves either.

Newton would have to be among the best 3 Zebs in recent weeks, and among them for the year. Will he play? Probably not. He'd have to move heaven and earth to get a game at the moment I reckon. What's weird is that this year there haven't been too many demons players I've been excited to watch. Maybe Beamer, Petterd, Bate, Bell... Juice is up there with them, and he's not even playing in the red & blue... What did he do? Hit on ND's daughter or something?

Juice kicked 2.6!!! At least 2 of those were rushes of blood to the head that he should have avoided, but other3ise he played a mature game. Would have had 25+ touches playing at CHF, as well as doing all manner of other things like tackling and intercepting kick-ins... As far as assists, I think I counted about 4... Shame. Would have been nice to say he kicked 4+ 3 weeks in a row... But... Juice played another ripper today, and his side got over the line. That's the important thing.

Newton could have had about 9 goals today. Would have been BOG or at least the most dominant forward had he kicked straight. Has had about 4 assists too.

See earlier in this thread. On MFC.com they're saying McLean will be rested for another week.

3/4 time... Sandy 13-9 - 87 Willy 10-10 - 70 Robbo has 4, Newton 2 with I think about 3 points... could have that wrong. We've been the stronger team all day, but they've taken some sharp opportunities. We might be in a little bit of trouble. There's a definite goal-scoring end. Sandy are going to have to earn this despite being nearly 3 goals up...

Robbo kicks his fourth after a blue 40 metres out from the goal-line.

JUICE!!!!!!!!! Goal number 2.... He's been all over it so far in the second half at CHF!