Nasher

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

I'd call Bell a mid and Whelan a small. Whelan is 180cm and I'd call him our only true "small" defender.

Totally agree DD. He's our best medium defender by leagues. He needs to stay put.

So, you aren't allowed to knock Neitz, who runs Demonland? Neitzs mum, no bloody wonder Melbourne are crap at the moment its because of blinkered people looking through rose coloured glasses at many of our players.

Criticize who you like, it's a free country. Just do it in a tasteful and respectful manner, within the rules of the site and there won't be an issue. It's not that hard.

If people disagree with your opinion, though, they'll tell you about it. That's what happens when you put "out there" opinions out there.

Interesting ins. Paul Johnson was pathetic on Saturday. He dropped uncontested marks and did not get one hit out. Pickett was so unfit he played less than half a game and in the words of Mark Williams, who left him off the entire 2nd half " he was stuffed".

Then again they should be obvious ins the way we are going.

Not one single hit out, except for the 28 hit outs he got (according to Hoju on Demonology, who counts the stats himself I believe). Some people just see what they want to see I think. Those sitters in the last quarters were howlers, yes, but prior to that PJ was easily the dominant ruckman for the game, both in hitouts and around the ground. Don't let a couple of (admittedly very bad) mistakes lend bias to your view.

As to the ins and outs:

Ins: Sylvia

Outs: Who cares

We already did the bottoming out thing, it's why we've got McLean and Sylvia. I don't want to go through that again. I just want to see the team we've got not play like crap. I don't think that's a huge ask.

Godfrey had a very good game today. I'd even go as far to say AFL standard. He was the only one in the midfield, bar none. Reminds me of 2003.

Why does everyone feel the need to keep saying "you used to be soft but..." ? Sheesh. Talk about slipping cyanide in with his free beer.

Congrats Brad on your 150th.

Good point Nasher. However, while you're right in saying that we have our fair share of adults here and that they add a well reasoned touch to the discussion, we've always encouraged young people to contribute and some of them are more articulate and clever about the game and their team some of the oldies. By the way, Scoop Junior was, in fact, a teenager when he started writing articles for Demonland!

Just as my final word on this topic, I didn't mean to paint all teenagers with one brush. I was a teenager (18 or 19) when I started posting on 'land and 'ology myself.

Good point Nasher. However, while you're right in saying that we have our fair share of adults here and that they add a well reasoned touch to the discussion, we've always encouraged young people to contribute and some of them are more articulate and clever about the game and their team some of the oldies. By the way, Scoop Junior was, in fact, a teenager when he started writing articles for Demonland!

Of course. I started posting on Demonland myself in 2003. That would've made me 19 at the time; a teenager as well.

What do you think Lynden would look like without a jaw?

I too get very upset by the "they're all over-excitable teenagers" generalisation as our best contributors (Whispering_Jack, Scoop Junior, Jaded, Rhino Richards, Dappa Dan and many others) are all adults who put their opinions forward in a sensible, rational, well-written manner. And I get very irked when certain posters sink the boots in at every opportunity they get.

Anyway, I think DD that you've just inadvertently contributed to the "us and them" mentality (edit: so have I) that you said yourself you don't like, so let's leave the Demonology discussion at that.

Unfortunately you can re-injure the same area.

Yes, but it's not under the same intense hammering that something like a knee or ankle would be, I think that's Jaded's point.

Agree with everything you've said there Wrecker. I'd add Ferguson to your Warnock remark. Garland looked a million bucks in the first half. Didn't get near it in the second half but that's okay, he has a lot of time on his side.

PJ will cop a lot of flak for those couple of howlers in the last quarter but IMO he was excellent prior to that. He was in absolutely everything.

In: Brown, Wheatley, Rivers

Out: Yze, McLean, Holland

Emergencies:Bizzell, Godfrey, Yze

http://melbournefc.com.au/Season2007/News/...px?newsId=40778

Godfrey the obvious choice to come in if Bartram can't play, and Bizzell if Rivers doesn't get up. Yze won't play as he played a full game in the middle at Sandy.

Godfrey, Brown, Bizzell and Wheatley are the players missing from Sandy. Presumably three are playing for the three definite outs (Yze, Holland and McLean), and one emergency.

The biggest problem with "good solid proven" coaches is that they all have jobs already. Even if you take the assistant with the best reputation, you're still essentially punting on a rookie with no experience at the top level.

That said, that would have to be better than plucking somebody from nowhere ala Watson. Voss is being talked about as the next coaching great. Give him some grounding somewhere first. In my opinion you risk wasting the best potential resource if you throw him to the wolves (senior coach) before he's ready. You don't employ someone as a CEO if their only experience is in junior management.

Not unlike blooding a young senior player too early really.

I'm watching the game and it's the Dees game all over again, but in reverse. Whatever we had last week, obviously it was contagious.

- Saints can't take a trick out of the middle and are being smashed in the clearances.

- Any time they try to run it out of defence, they hit a wall thanks to Brisbane's pressure

The only difference is that where we had Robbo and Neitz managing goals despite utterly pathetic supply, Gehrig and co can't get near it. Just goes to show how fickle form is in AFL footy.

Thouht that he announced his retirement after the GF win.

Has he / Geelong dome a Mal Michael / Bummers type deal????

Usually when blokes "retire" it just means from AFL footy, not all footy in general.

How about Susie O'Neill?

How on Earth could you forget Neil Balme?

I can't make head or tail of your diagram, but I do get the general gist. B)

My scar from last weekend still hurts. I think I'm going to be scared about every game from this point onwards.

But Melbourne only had the ball 22 times less than the Saints.

They had so many possessions because they handballed it and stuffed around with it coming out of defence! Having as many possessions as the opposition is a useless stat, it doesn't say anything about where the possessions were or how they were used.

Always right eh Nasher?? Hardly a crock of a therad. Couldnt disagree with you more...especially your judgements on locking threads...PFFFT!

Your attempts to pick me off at every opportunity are wearing thin. Knock it off. "Always right"? I've never claimed to always be right, but if you think I am, great!

Rhino summed it up perfectly. The original post in my opinion was unfair on a young player who so far hasn't put too much of a foot wrong.

Bate has all the time in the world to improve on his deficiencies at this point. This thread is an absolute crock.