Dappa Dan

Aaah yes. YM is the cheese in the demonland gourmet sandwich. My prediction. A loss by 1 point. Why? Have a look at the dees form compared to that of this time last year... Round 1 2006 - Woeful opening. No players playing well. Just the one good one who was unexpected (Carroll). Round 1 2007 - Woeful opening. No players playing well. Just the one good one who was unexpected (Moloney). Round 2 2006 - Slightly better. Played two good quarters. Gameplan was a touch more improved. The two lesser quarters were downright diabolical. 10 goal loss. Round 2 2007 - Slightly better. Played two good quarters. Gameplan was a touch more improved. The two lesser quarters were downright diabolical. The only reason it wasn't a 10 goal loss was the Hawks' inaccuracy. Round 3 2006 - A game we had no right to even get close to winning. Crows had been pretty good, and we were away. Thanks to some inspirational efforts, among them a shot on goal at the death by one Aaron Davey we nearly got up. The three early losses galvanised the team and we went on a spree for the next 12 weeks losing one match to the eventual premiers. Round 3 2007 - ?

- So are you saying there isn't? The young guys at the club are pretty damn good. And they're developing nicely. I wouldn't say they're developing at an ACCELERATED rate, but as far as each player goes we're getting out of them the time that's invested. Obviously there's a couple of exceptions, but on the whole... You tell me where our development has gone wrong. - So you're saying the Travs, Greens and Bruces are an example of stunted development? There's some truth to that. But I'm happy with the direction at least one of their games is taking. Also, after 21 I reckon the onus shifts to the players themselves. - Yes, clearly my rhetoric is the problem here. And I do agree with you there, the development isn't exactly the LAST thing we need to worry about, but it's close enough to. - By up front do you mean in the forward line? If so, God I hope not. If not, and what you meant was "will they be selected" then yes. In some cases, and certainly when we have injuries enough, we're going to need the depth, that's what they're for. These young "developing" players can't be expected to play 22 each. In some cases I don't expect them to play 12. This is the reason guys like the older depth players are retained. You can't be running around with kids all year if you expect to make finals. As bad as things are, if ND tanks now and decides to play youth to the detriment of all else, there'd be chaos in the media and at the club. The time has not come yet to throw the 2007 towel in. The way I see it, as with all sides who come to the end of a sustained period of success (albeit very mediocre success), once the powers that be agree that we can't make finals or win a flag, then you delist your depth players to make all that lovely room you need for the youth to come in. Simple really, but we're FAR from being there yet. - I'm not completely convinced the they were an abberration, but 3 years of slowly improving footy warrants a show of faith for the time being. At round 3 last year we were robbed, and at that stage everyone got off their backs, and we went on to have a good year. We're supposed to be giving the team and coaching department a chance to prove they can improve, and while they've done the exact opposite so far, there is still time.

Gut running was made a piece of "in vogue" banter when Sheahan and Walls devoted about 10 minutes to it on the couch last year. It makes me laugh now. They were saying that they and others had been down to West Coast's training sessions and noted that Ben Cousins would run so hard that he'd end up chucking. I remember being inspired by this. Now I'm not as sure. He was chucking because?...

I must admit I got a little bit lost in there, but I think I get your point occo. Fair enough. I reckon it's ok to be sceptical about him, so long as you open your mind enough for him to be given a chance to prove himself. If he goes on to cost us games, gets dropped and generally becomes a depth player then is delisted or traded, then fine... I'll throw myself at your mercy. But if I'm right mate, I'll be barking up your tree, don't you worry about that! Now let me bookmark this thread so I can retrieve it in 3 years time...

Someone on 'ology posted something along these lines. Worrying isn't it? I remember looking at the fixture, and at the form of all 16 teams last year and saying we are a chance to win the first 10-12 matches, or something like that. Boy is my face red.

Agreed.

I assume you meant "our" best player there. Oh. My. God. Like it or not, he is NOT our best player. Close. But NOT. Bate can't kick? What was that 55 metre kick that sailed though on the boundary then? He may have made some bad decisions, but his kicking is NOT a weakness. If everyone played like him NO-ONE would get the pill!!! It's about time YOU showed YM and Jaded some respect... Ok... maybe YM can cop a bit, only because it's amusing watching how he lets it sail through to the keeper... How many times is it going to take for you to take some advice from people who KNOW something about footy beyond Cameron Bruce? Alright, fair enough, YM has a habit of looking at the glass overflowing when it's half full and bone dry when it's half empty, but if 20 posters a week are spelling out in black and white why a player is not rated as highly as you think, why can't you just take a backward step for a moment? They're not asking much. From what I can tell, most people rate Bruce in our top 5. Is that good enough for you? His kicking has been bad for the last 16-24 months. Most people pick on him because he was a GREAT kick before that, not because he's ALWAYS been a bad kick. They're grading him harshly because they rate him highly. Surely you must be able to see that that at LEAST is fair enough. For the record, I reckon he CAN kick, but he's been kicking badly for a sustained period now. Long enough for people to be excused their opinions. Seriously BB, pull your head in. How can you expect ANYONE to show you respect when you spew this kind of crap week in week out. A player you LOVE (and I mean love) is NOT playing to his full potential YET. People are coming on and offering their opinions on this. You disagree... fine. But it doesn't do anyone, least of all Cameron, any favours when you compensate by making outlandish statements about him being our best player, then proceed to tear strips off players who are actually playing ok given the circumstances!!! How can you expect anyone to take you seriously?! Are you his brother, or cousin or something? If you want to get your point across, you'd do it far better by amatching CB's critics, not trying to blow them out of the water. By now you should realise that YM has a habit of posting ridiculously positive or negative comments, mixed in with unparrallelled genius. Take him with a grain of salt, everyone else does. And don't let him get to you. When you've been a poster as long (and as much) as he has, you have to accept a bit of eccentricity. I admire your love of a demon player.. ANY demon player... But jeez.

What? Jesus. Look at the youth of the club. Bate, Dunn, Newton, Bell, Jones, Buckley, CJ. All given time, not rushed into the club. Jones is a goer. McLean is our future. Bartram came from WAY down, as did Bruce. We're getting more than our fair share out of our lower draft picks and rookies, statistically this is proven when compared to the lists of the other 15 clubs. What more do you want? I said it's a strength, not that MFC is the STRONGEST in this area. Our top selections were mistakes, we know this. And I reckon players like Trav and White were as responsible for round 2 as anyone, but they were taken BEFORE Daniher's time. As a work in progress the last 3 years have been pretty good. We've gotten draft picks only after the first 8 have been divvied up, along with the Father/Sons. We've had very little in the way of juicy picks and we've still picked up some good guys that are coming along very well, and have proven so far to be better players than their picks suggested. To explain my "silliness" to you in terms you can comprehend, I believe the last 2 rounds will be proven to be abberrations in the (very) long run, and I blame the coach as much as anyone for our lack of early season mental preparedness. The nurturing of the youth is one of the FEW things the club has gotten right. Simple enough for you, or still silly? BTW, I've heard on the grapevine that you're close to Hannabal. Where did he go? Finally got sick of demonlanders?

Nature versus nurture... I reckon the way ND, CAC and probably Mark Williams nurture our young players is one of MFC's strengths. They give them at least one season where they're not expected to make the seniors. After that they're SLOWLY brought into the team with only as much pressure as they deserve given their performances.

There was that one awful moment when Franklina and another smaller player chased Davey down. What a demoralising moment for us!! One thing about Davey is that he's small, and has weaknesses. His pace and tackling is SUCH a strength that he earns his spot, but if he's not absolutely smashing guys into the turf and his pressure falls back to normal levels he becomes a liability. I was ready to start screaming at him until I saw him put on a sensational chase to drop Franklin near the boundary line later in the game. It looked to me, up until that point, that he'd lost a yard as a consequence of his ankle.

You have to give wrecker first shot on the small forward, he's the senior defender and is in his prime. All things being equal I always back in wrecker at this stage, he's more than earned it. What's frustrating is that after those 4 goals he kicked, Bell was thrown on him as an afterthought. For every game that Bell plays better than Whelan, Whelan would play 2 better than Bell. Champion MFC player. Very arguably. Davey? But yeah. I see what you mean, especially yesterday. He's Ward with a decent kick and accountability. I've been watching people sling crap on him for a couple of years now, and how they don't get EXCITED by him is beyond me. I suppose it seems silly to sing a player's praises in the light of such demoralising losses. But if you're going to tear strips off Trav, Davey and others you must be bale to do the opposite when a player deserves praise, otherwise what are you? A troll.

I dunno Ash. What the team needs is respect in order to facilitate confidence. Not unconditional love. Respect, like trust, is earned... and even the demon players would probably agree they've not earned our respect. We'll win games this year, of course we will. But to what end is the frustrating thing...

That's what I thought. And you're probably right given that Belly lined up on Dixon at the start. In my mind it's the Wheatleys and CJs of this world that are mid-heights. You know... the guys that lope around the field that are juuuust short of 190cm?

I think it might have been in the AGE... I read he'll be out for 4 weeks. I'll take that. On Saturday I heard it was a knee-reco. 4 weeks is nothing compared to that, and he was a bit borderline based on the Saints game. It'll set him back further, and that's not a good thing, but we know his quality already. Like most of the team he'll be back for a scintillating last 15 rounds!!!

GOD DAMN IT!!!!! I always miss this thread. It must have come up in the last 20 minutes and already there's 6 lists here, which means mine won't count!!!! Sigh... For what it's worth... 6: McDonald. 30 touches and was in there all day. How is it the quality of his performances never waver? Probably leading our B&F count already. 5: Bruce. Was MFC BOG if not for a few butchered kicks. 4: Miller. Strong game, but far from dominant. Even took possession of the kicks that landed at his toes on the half-volley. On a day when we were down one KP forward, he did his job. Franklin < Miller on the day which is saying something. 3: Rivers. Stopped the dangerous Franklin all on his own. When he had a breather in teh second Franklin caught fire. Has to get him every match for the next ten years. This rivalry will be a ripper to watch. 2: Bell. Stopped Dixon, then went to Williams when the master of the backline was having a shocker. He's going to be important for us this year, win lose or draw... well probably lose. 1: Godfrey. Was just about a forward option. Could easily have finished with 4 goals How does that happen? Can't help but take your hat off to a guy that was nowhere near our best 22.

Best? Really? Wow. What about Wrecker? Do you consider Bell a mid-height and Whelan a small?

Actually wrecker started beautifully. But yes, he's that good a player that we haven't seen him play that badly in a LONG time, if at all. The new rules aren't helipng his tough-as-old-boots game, and the umpires were on him like a rash. Not making excuses, it certainly wasn't his day, and he should learn to adapt... but he's got enough brownie points in the bank for us to chalk this up as an abberration haven't we?

Interesting. the reason I don't get on Belly's case as a midfielder is because we've got a fair few of those already. Our small defenders, or defender as it were, are thin on the ground. When wrecker finally hangs up the boots I want to have another small back that is on the list in pen, not pencil. Honestly I don't reckon we can afford to let Belly out of the defensive third for anything more than a quarter a game. We're leaky enough as it is.

So what was the issue? Neitz wasn't being vocal enough from the bench? You don't think perhaps he was busy keeping the bottom half of his leg attached to the rest of his body? Demonique, maggotbasher. Run along. Neitz is a GREAT MFC player and has been a fantastic captain for many years now. Who would you prefer looking at the rest of the league? Buckley? Vandenberg? Whitnall? King? Cousins? Simpson? And who on the current dees list would make a better skipper? Not everyone can be a Hird/Riccuito/Johnson. Neitz is in the top 8 of current captains and you're coming out and having a go at him? Fair dinkum what a bunch of trolls. Have all the opinions you like maggotbasher, you only need to hit that "add reply" button for uneducated, trolling garbage to come spewing forth. Go back to whatever primary school you went to and spread your filth there, where it belongs. Or better yet, go and follow Richmond, I'm sure you'll fit in beautifully at Puntroadend where they eat their own. The demons need all the supporters they can get. But in your case, we can do without. Neitz is MFC. We are MFC. With an attitude like that towards one of our favourite sons you do nothing but get in the way, and give us a bad name. Go somewhere else and leave the MFC talk to MFC supporters. Troll. Jaded, Nasher. Ban me if you feel you must. It was well worth it. SOMEONE has to say what needs to be said.

Eh? Swans no class players? Roos of the nineties? Goodes, Hall, O'Keefe, Carey? I think I might have missed something there WC. And I'm not so sure about all this. Yes, we don't have a star. That much is clear. But I also think MFC will NEVER have a star. If Shaun Burgoyne were playing at MFC they'd characterise him as "silky talented midfielder, penetrating kick. Oodles of talent." With Kerr they'd say "Super-talented mid-fielder, very small". I'm completely confident that unless we Recruit an established star, NO-ONE will rate any demons higher than they are currently. Everyone has a pre-judged opinion of us that keeps them from getting excited about players. Case in point? Hawkins. He's had all this hype, and kicks 3 goals. If Newton came in and kicked 3 goals what would people say? Nothing. Forget the fact that he's a couple of years ahead of him, a star is a star at whatever age. to be honest, I couldn't give a stuff what people think of our "stars." It's how our best players play on the day. THAT'S why we have none at the moment. I'm more worried about how MFC people rate their best players. ie, is Neitz a champion, or an MFC champion? Is Bruce a star? or just an MFC star? Whelan is only a champion of MFC, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Right. I love demonland, and ordinarily I wouldn't dream of telling anyone what to think, but I've come on here to absolutely smack some of you closed-minded, trolling little children into submission. And I'm doing it because you deserve it with some of the garbage you've written on here. Daniel Bell is a good player, and could be a sensational defender at MFC. - He's played 2 good games where many of his team-mates couldn't bring 1. Admittedly last weeks game was below par, but above the average for MFC on the day. - He is a sensational kick, particularly under pressure where he seems to find a target's chest at 40 metres while being bumped. - He's lightning fast, and has been using his pace lately to great effect. - He's hard at it, doesn't mind the body-on-body stuff, loves to play close-checking then run off his opponent. What more could you ask for from a defender than to play accountable high possession defensive footy? - He's fit as all buggery and reputedly works as hard as anyone at MFC. - The one, weak-as-[censored] criticism you can bring to his game has shown very little sign of rearing its ugly head. His awareness. Kosi is worse, and still gets a good run from AFL supporters. Bate has problems in this area. Ditto Jamar. Bell has realised this is a problem and is working towards correcting it. - Williams was well held by Bell in the NAB cup game, and wasn't given the job yesterday. Without a doubt our best smal defender of the past decade was given the job, and had a shocker. What does that say to you? He's beaten other guns like Chapman and Farmer... Fair dinkum, the visitors to demonland are an embarassment sometimes. I can live with the criticism of players who just aren't going well, like Miller/Yze/Godfrey. These guys have limitations or have attitude/form problems. They're fair game, and while they don't deserve abuse it's ok to criticise, I'm sure they're prepared for it. But Bell has been putting up FANTASTIC performances since his OP was no longer a factor. He plays a good game yesterday and all the closed-minded twits on here come on and start calling for his head!! Why? because they just don't like him... pure and simple. It has nothing to do with how good he is, or how well he played on the day. You've all resigned yourselves to the idea that he's no good. God knows why. You've been far more forgiving of Trav and Sylvia, who've taken longer with more talent. He's going to be a ripping defender. He has EVERY attribute you need, and best of all he plays the role to perfection. Perhaps he has some bad luck or bad form some time in the future. We all know what will happen then, everyone will say he's crap, always has been, and drop him. All you hack football supporters need to pull your heads in and give this guy AN OPEN - MINDED CHANCE!!! Don't make me come back here with a large stick. I'm prepared to use it...

Fair dinkum, why are people calling for Bate to get the chop? I commend your fair and impersonal assessment, but why why WHY? Are we all forgetting that monster roost for goal? The couple of scintallating inside fifties directly to our players? Yes he dropped a sitter (Neita does that all the time), and blazed away incorrectly, but jesus he's just a kid!! He was played out of the square because he's 191cm (same as Neita in the books) and is destined for that kind of role. BUT HE'S NEVER PLAYED THERE BEFORE!! Certainly not without the help of Neitz. And he still got to the ball, and kicked one sensational one. No offence CTD, there's a lot of good stuff in your post and I agree with a lot of it. I'm certainly not referring to you when I say this site has gone backwards a long way if everyone's calling for Bate to be dropped. Stupidity at its worst...

We can live in hope. What else can we do?

Davey was woeful. Trav was woeful. For every fulff, or incorrect decision Bate drilled a sensational pass or kicked a 55 metre goal from the boundary. Learn about football before you come on here having a go at the young guys who actually play SOME good football. Why? He's played a number of matchwinning games in the seniors, and he's been far from our worst in these last 2 weeks. He actually looked dangerous a couple of times in a position he hasn't played much (out of the square) because of necessity. Go to Bigfooty you troll. Fair Dinkum worst post I've read in ages. Posters like you give this site a bad reputation.

I'd love Newton to come in. It'd be our debutant against theirs (sort of). Wouldn't it be awesome if Carroll/Holland smashed Tomahawk and Newton got their 3rd best forward and kicks 4 in the first quarter!!! I can hear it already... "Tell him he's dreamin'! "