John Dee

Were you watching the game? It was a real clanger, but, he got back and tied the ball up, resulting in a stopage.

One of CJ's best attributes is his kicking ability. Too many of our players, Ward, Brown, Godfrey, Holland etc, are shocking with their disposal. This alone should get him a run of games, something that Daniher did not give him. Confidence is hard to build, and almost impossible to construct when you are the first one out of the side. I remember seeing a Daniher interview just before the start of the season in which he was asked which Melbourne player was going to have a breakout year; he replied, without hesitation, Chris Johnson. Obviously the club think a lot of him; with our current situation we must play him for the rest of the year.

Poor old Heath Neville, the forgotten man.

Arrogance does not equal intelligence. A great example of a mixed metaphor; the number of cylinders that a motor has is technically independent of the choice of two or four stroke.

First quarter, hands in the back by Lucas on Bizzell, mark payed and goal. Shocking rule, but it is there and should be applied. This rule is a travesty on our game and, if not gone next year, we must all mobilise ourselves to vote in directors who will appoint delegates that get rid of Demitriou, Anderson, Bartlet, Fitzpatrick and anybody else who had a hand in bring in something that was not asked for, was not tried out, was not warranted and is not appreciated.

It must be something to do with the number of games played in the AFL or Sandy firsts. All of the senior Melbourne players named have missed chunks of the season so far. Buckley, Frawley, Neaves and Garland would be inelligible. Nevellie is either injured or stiff; or both.

Where are Bartram and Petterd?

Back in Garry Lyon's time there was a singer going around called Juice Newton. Leigh Newton was on the list at the time and was given the monicker 'Juice'. When Michael Newton arrived, Leigh was, and still is, at the club; 'Juice' was passed on to him.

Loved Greenies game today, but, I think that Greg Parke might take issue with your staement.

Very interesting stuff. I am highly impressed with Steve Harris, and he seems to be doing a great job. This is a well researched and deep article, recommended reading.

In the bad old days of the draft a player did not have to commit to going to a club that drafted him. Benny was from Adelaide and, I believe, completing a graduate course, and declined to go to Fitzroy. The quirky thing is that Fitzroy still had dibs on him and was able to trade them to Richmond who convinced Benny to come over. If you go back to MFC's first draft picks, you will see that we once drafted Darren Jarman who also declined to make the trip over.

Damn those safety switches!

out : Ferguson, Miller, Brown, Ward In: Rivers, Newton, McLean, CJ

We don't have the ability to promote a rookie this year owing to having two declared veterans. For each declared veteran, two maximum, you lose a rookie spot but get a spot on the main list. Last year we had only one declared veteran and so had a spot for Warnock.

With Warnock playing yesterday we have now played 35 out of a possible 40. The ones yet to play are Newton, Buckley, Neville, Frawley and Weetra. Newton, Buckley and Frawley will, in all probabilty, play this year. That has got to be some sort of record.

My count is 32 out of a possible 40. Remember that each declared veteran is outside the list of 38.

There seems to be a theme in the AFL that things must be changed; rules and regulations get changed every year, sometimes with consultation and experiment but mostly at the whim of Anderson and Bartlet et al. This flies in the face of the average supporter who is screaming out for them to leave the bloody game alone. The father son rule is a good one, leave it be. There will always be winners and losers; accept that and move on.

Bell has been our best defender for the season thus far. A lot of people have already marked his cards, so, rather than admit their mistake and re-evaluate him they fall back on their mantra.

Watching the game live and on TV are two completely different things, particularly if you sit in the Southern Stand. I watched the replay last night, something I usually don't do after a loss and I saw it live. I wish I hadn't, as now all I can think of is the image of Moloney in front of the bench being wotked on by a trainer in extreme pain and pointing to his groin.

You Miller bashers never give up! You've been screeming about how he only gets worthless possessions up the ground and never kicks goals. So, on a day where he presented all day and took three strong marks inside the 50 and goaled from all of them he is still a failure?

A late report from someone who also attended the game; I was on the scoreboard wing; soaking up the sun. I thought that, particularly in the first half, Bartram struggled to get into the game. He got a run in the midfield in the third quarter and did a lot better. I was looking forward to a big last quarter from him, but, he took his boots off at three-quarter-time. Sylvia moved well and was a class above his opponents. He put the cue in the rack at half-time. I thought that Sandy were going to get overun in the last quarter owing to many players missing and general lackadaisicalness. However, after Willy got to within a point, Sandy, without any Melbourne players, piled on six unanswered goals to lead by thirty-five points, before a late Willy goal. I say that no Melbourne players played the last quarter although I thought I saw Warnock at full-forward; obviously that was a mirage.

I slipped down to watch the game today. I missed the first 5 minutes, but, now I know what happened to Dunn. I was on the wing next to the main scoreboard sitting with a couple of Port supporters. Newton impressed me greatly; It was the first time I have seen him live. He should have got 6 or 7. What impessed me most was his judgement; He seemed to judge the flight of the ball far better than the players around him and knew when to work to the front and take the mark and, also, showed that he could drop to the back and take a basically uncontested mark. Early days, but, showed plenty. Godders was Godders; Yze was Yze. Godders was head down bum up, in the packs, forcing the ball forward more by will than skill. Yze was on the outside, showing ridiculous skill. A mark that Yze dropped near me typifies his game; Yze came out on a lead and the ball was kicked to him. The kick was not perfect, but, a little extra effort would have got Yze an easy mark, The effort was not there, the mark was dropped, but, Yze gathered the ball on the ground and it was no contest for him to get around the onrushing Port defender. Yze has far too much skill to play at VFL level. Yze does not have class, class is skill and committment combined.

The squad was up on afl.com.au early this afternoon. It has Geen and Macca out with Buckley and Garland named.

I am well aware that Whitey has never kicked 20 goals a season. I think that someone of his ablility should kick 25-30 a year whether from the ruck or from the occasional foray forward; He has the talent.

OK, my two cents worth. I was at the game with my son, in the Legends Stand, just beyond the shadow line, at about the 35 metre mark Some bloke named Laurie Kerr seems to have sposored just about every seat. Richmond is coached by Terry Wallace, so we had a flood of biblical proportions. It was nothing to see 18 Richmond players in out forward 50 whenever we had the ball. Numerous times during the game our last line consisting of Bell/Ferguson, Caroll and Bizzel was forward of the centre. We showed commendable discipline to reject the long bomb into the defencive mass and thus frustrated Wallace's plan. I would hate to be a Tiger supporter looking at this game plan week after week. It depends on frustrating your opponent into error, but, a good team will not succumb easily and your side will be spent early on a hot day. Bowden on Neitz, you're kidding me. I thought Neita was taken off to prevent Richmond's embarrasment. If he could hold his marks, he would have had 6 by half time. If we complain about Yze not putting his body in in August and September, then, surely, we do not think it is going to happen in a meaningless practice match in mid March. Miller polarises opinion. He is a paradox. The style of play that he is most effective and successful at depends on an open forward line for him to lead out of. Wallace type teams flood mercilessly and completely negate Miller. The paradox is that Miller will play much better against the better teams that will maintain their structural integrity and allow him the space to lead into. We are a completely different team with the addition of Davey and Whelan. CJ is a beauty. Dunn, Bate, Junior, Moloney solid. Bizzel is back! Whitey is a talent, long live the resting ruckman in the forward pocket, 1950's football. Seriously, Whitey is a real talent; he should kick 25-30 goals a year. The Delidio goal; I just looked at my son and said that we were obviously on a bad angle. Father/Sons, did RB Jr, John??, play any games. The sponsorship group here used to sponsor Michael Clark who played 1 game.