Dee*ceiving

WHACK

Green is far more dangerous around the forward 50 than struggling to get rushed handballs through the middle. His marking running back with the flight and long accurate kicking is best utilised within striking distance of the goals as evidenced on a couple of occassions yesterday. Rivers, Bell, Frawley & Warnocks spoiling yesterday was the best we have seen all year by the length of the flemington straight. Carrol got a few nice fists in too. Without Pavlich in the second half Melbourne would have won by 6 goals. Scary thought when they were up by 50 at half time. the players definitely shelved the over use of the hand ball coming out of defence after half time. Wheatley, Bruce and White made multiple errors trying to do this in the first half and looked much more comfortable lifting their eyes and looking for a longer option in the second half. having a hardworking and effective half forward line in Bate, Miller and Wona made this work. Miller has been ok at CHF so far this year but having Bate alongside him might be the perfect foil. Bate is capable of the things Miller struggles with i.e. long accurate kicking, creativity and reading the play. This will draw players and allow Miller to run at the ball carier 1 on 1 a situation that suits him. Lets hope we can draw on the confidence and remain comptetive for the rest of the season. As much as I would like to win as many games as possible however I would hate for Essendon, West Coast or Freo to be rewarded with a higher draft pick.

Jamar jumping straight into Sandilands at the centre bouces was golden. Very instrumental in gaining the ascendency out of them middle in the second half. God I hope some one has finally managed to convince the Big Russian he is big enough to command his own post code and its about time he showed it.

I think chris connolly said on SEN during the week that his body strength and fitness levels are still a long way off where they should be for an AFL footballer. And you can see it too he is a bit pudgy around the face and through the hips. Once this guy is super fit and with a couple of solid pre-seasons behind him we might really see how good he can be. An exciting prospect

BB = Bob the Builder??? Bails is bottoming out for a quick rebound. The proof is in the pudding for his mate Clarko and he knows you are only afforded that luxury in the first 2 years as coach hence where we are at now. At best, with minimal injuries and playing a simple and familiar game plan i think the most we could have hoped for from this list in 2008 is 6-8 wins. This will not facilitate the building of a potential premiership winning side as quickly as a complete bottom out for 2008/2009 will. If Dean Bailey is a career coach he will know he will not have this luxury ever again in his career whether it be at Melbourne or elsewhere. He has made a decision regarding what he believes is the fast track to premiership calibre football and looks as though he is going to stick with it. I know its painful but we need to stick fat for this year and next and take joy out of seeing the young players hopefully improve. Also don't be too concerned with the game plan or lack there of at this stage. Game plans evolve over time and it will change as we improve and hopefully unearth a marquee player. Times are tough but better times will come. We don't know if Bailey can coach based on what we have seen so far but I am also willing to say we don't know he can't coach

He is running harder but only in 1 direction. He like 75% of the team at the moment refuse to run back as hard as they run forward

hahaha, best thing i have seen all day...

I think Whelan will go round again

We could offer J Brown 6 million a season and he wouldn't sign with us. Half the players we have don't have a passion to play for the jumper, as if any playing elsewhere would have a passion to play for it.

He is gonna get suspended anyway.

I agree BigC. Leave him on the HBF. Gets to watch the play unfold and react rather than have to make the play which he doesn't work hard enough to do. Plus he will get plenty of the ball playing down back for us this year and utilise his penetrating kicking to greater effect. Looked better down back in the last qtr against North than in his previous 2 games this year

Another sucker for punishment, was there on saturday and will be again for the game agaist the tankers. Now is the time the club needs support. With good times comes bad times and if we fail to support the Demons during this bad time it may not last long enough for us to enjoy another good time. Get behind the Dees and help them LIFT!

Any one know the North changes?

Whelan is a good inclusion particularly against Nth with Shaggers and Beama on the forward line. Was apparently in sparkling form for Sandy last weekend also. As for Jamar lets hope he takes a couple of strong marks in the goal square because its unlikely he will do much more.

In: Benny, Whelan, Martin Out: PJ, Garland, Sylvia

Sewell for Fergburger would have been a real steal for the club. Whats the bet Sewell would be struggling instead of starring if he was at Melbourne now?

Ben Holland is a professional equal to anyone in the comp and will be prepared to play to the best of his abilities should be be picked, of that you can be sure

Did he say the point of his gameplan was to remain competitve. And only when we can remain competitive for long periods of game time will we be competitive on the scoreboard the therefore become a competitive force within a super competitve competition.

I am not sure how having Nathan Thompson or Tom Hawkins kick multiple goals when manned by N Carroll assists in developing our team. I would have thought if Carroll has any future at AFL level it would be marking medium sized/3rd tall forwards not minding the goal square against 197cm 100 kg giants. If Garland/Martin/Frawley/Macnamara aren't ready to play on those big blokes then they should select someone who is at this stage Ben Holland is that man. Coaches often profess selection is horses for courses. If a matchup exists the correct selection should be made, this week with Thompson, Hale and MacIntosh all likely to spend time inside f50 Holland should be picked if fit. That rule however changes after round 15 should tanking be an obvious source of additional quality draft picks. At this stage of the season however the task should be to win and identify methods of improving on field performance. A win this week after a commendable effort against the Cats will get some respectability back which will have positive effects right around the club.

I agree with CJ not being up to it so far, but a couple more weeks playing seniors in a year we aren't even going to threaten to play finals let alone a flag is not too much to expect. Like a previous poster i would allow him the luxury of 3-4 games in a row before throwing him on the scrap heap. Its a long season and there will be oppurtunites to blood more players as we go.

Not ideal playing Holland but I would consider him this week to play on Thomspon allowing Carrol to play on Jones. Much better match-ups and gets Carrol out of the defensive goal square where is undersized and panicky

I didn't say drop him, just get him out of the defensive goal square (cage). I am fully aware however there is no-one to replace him with.

You're kidding right. The man can't handball 10 metres to rush a behind with confidence. He gifted Hawkins 3 goals on the goal line, albeit aided by Jeff White. As for Whelan, are we 0-3 or 3-0. If we argue you can't find a spot for Whelan based on the fact there is no-one to drop from a team that has been beaten 3 times by a collective margin of 220+ points we are in chronic denial. And I am not talking about a river in Egypt

HAHA. Fair point, but they all beat 2 teams other than us also.

There are several obvious improvements Jones can make. Needs to improve decision making and overall disposal. Needs to go with he first option more often. Needs to use poise when in space and not blaze away. Needs to improve tackling. All acheivable. Motor and motivation don't appear to be an issue. He should model himself on Sam Mitchell. Mitchell lacks pace and Jones has more penetration on his kicking but Sam does the small things well such as pressuring, tackling and getting to the right areas. Jones can do the same.