RalphiusMaximus

With a big stick. With nails in it.

Actually, our football department convinced the AFL that we should have two extra spots on our rookie list for just this eventuality, then decided not to use them. Really. Or we could let reality intrude again and say that there are only so many spots on the list and we had already made a commitment to take Meesen and Newton as our two rookies (two rookies as in that's all the spots we had left). I'm sure that had we had room on our rookie list these two players would have been looked at closely, but as it was there was simply no spot to give them.

We still have room to promote rookies. We have Gawn, Tapscott, Jurrah and Morton all on the LTI as far as I know. Looking at our rookies, that gives us room to bring Newton and Hughes into the side to add punch up forward (and see if either one can actually play). I doubt that this is in the plans of anyone at the club right now though.

Agree on all counts. They were going to thrash us before Saturday, and they are still going to thrash us now. The only time that opinion will change is after the match, when I'll be saying that they did thrash us.

Oh, I don't disagree with much in the post. It's just that it's Monday, my team got thrashed on the weekend and I'm flat broke ie. I tend to be a little snarky on days like this. So when I see a title like that I immediately think why tell us? Isn't it better to send this to the club on the off chance that they'll actually take it on board? Not that I think they would.

The thing here is that Melbourne just don't seem to hurt their opponents in general play. When a Hawk tackled a Demon, he pinned his arms and slammed him into the dirt. Probably he added a bit of a wrestle and pushed his face into the turf as he was getting up too. When a Demon tackled a Hawk, he held onto him. There's a very big difference in attitude there. One side is playing to intimidate their opponents, while the other is (if we're honest with ourselves) soft. The Hawks had no fear because even if they were caught they weren't going to get hurt. It's times like these I really wish we still had Byron Pickett on our team. Sure, he got suspended a lot, probably wasn't the best player, but opponents were afraid of him. Who do we have now who can fill that role?

So did you actually send this to the club, or are you just having a rant in a safe place where nobody with influence will ever see it?

Note that one word again. If there is one area where the MFC is truly lagging behind every other club, this is it. From the football department down, we are not professional enough. This is starting to change. CS as CEO is a good start. But from what I've seen of training, practice matches and our one real match of the season, the coaching and playing group still have no clue. As for the article, I think it pretty well hit the nail on the head. Everyone knew (or should have) that we would be beaten on the day, but the manner in which it occurred was shameful and hopefully the players have enough self-respect left to be ashamed of themselves. These people are professionals being payed a fortune to perform at what should be the highest level. The lack of skill and application is unacceptable.

Actually, next week is a Collingwood home game, so the poor crowd goes against them. Sadly, no matter how many of us fail to show to this game, they won't be shut down.

I'd have said primary school footy, the sort you see in the playground at lunchtime. Notice how every Demon on the park runs directly to where the ball is, paying no attention to positioning or where the ball will go if the opposition win it? In particular our setup for the center bounce appears to be "stacks on" in the middle. In most teams the backs will try to drag their opponents out of the forwards 50 to get them out of position. Melbourne counter this by our forwards trying to drag their defenders into the middle instead. I can see how that will win us some games.

I'm not overly worried. We all knew coming into this season that our forwards were crap. The hurt comes from seeing Jurrah sidelined and Watts still on limited work/not playing. The two guys were hoping to see something from are both sitting the matches out and in their place we have Miller (who to be fair didn't miss a shot at goal yesterday) and Spencer starting in the forward 50. Add to that that Petterd had the yips and you get a great deal of supporter angst. However, whether the gameplan works or not, by the second half of the season we'll be seeing a much improved look to our forwards. We'll have Jurrah back, Morton as well (assuming that he plays a few games up forward here and there) and hopefully Watts will have worked his way into the season by then. For now, just accept that we have no functioning forwards and have a good laugh. Think of how fondly you will remember this time in a few years, telling jokes about how inept we once were...

Look on the bright side folks. It wasn't us sucking that caused us to fall over when we played Freo. They are actually a decent team!

SOmeone mentioned Newton kicking 4, but I have no idea how accurate that is... Edit: I can't find anything on their website about the game.

They don't actually rate players on how they played, just on how many times they touched the ball/kicked goals. Better to ignore them altogether.

He had a very nice assist today. My changes: Cheney for Bennell - Cheney lacks the speed and grace of Bennell, but he's much harder, loves the body contact and is accountable in defence. Basically, while his best isn't as good as Bennell's, his worst is much, much better and bad is about all we've been getting from Bennell lately. Martin for Dunn - I like Dunn. I think if he were persevered with he could turn into a decent forward, although never the replacement for Neitz people talked about once upon a time. However, he's just not ready yet. Send him to Casey and play him as a forward for a month to see if he can pull it off, then maybe try him in the firsts again. Martin can match Dunn for run, is faster and more agile and significantly bigger. Let him play FF and see what he can do. If nothing else he can keep Presti occupied. Sylvia for Joel Mac. - Just get that hack out of our team. Once again he gave us nothing. Took a few saving marks at the end when the Hawks were showboating, but was basically useless all day. He's slow, he's not big enough to take a serious forward and his disposal isn't great. The only way he should stay is if Rivers is out. Putting Sylvia in speaks for itself. If he's still not over the jaw, perhaps McNamara could take the spot.

Agree 100%. Look at how the Dogs do it. Every mark in the back half, there is a guy sprinting past at about a 45 degree angle for the handball. It looks great and clearly works.

One think with Trengove. He needs to be taught that the goals go all the way up. Twice he took shots from the pocket that flew at head height and were cut off. If he'd just kicked them higher they might have been goals. I've also seen him doing this sort of thing in the practice matches and NAB cup. Not a habit we want him to keep.

I would like to point out also the assist he gave to (I think) Miller. Rubbish kick to his lead, the moment he realised he couldn't mark it he was looking around and assessing. He spotted Miller, took the ball turned and kicked blind right to him for an uncontested mark and goal. How many of our players could have done that?

6. Green 5. Scully 4. Grimes 3. Trengove 2. Jamar 1. ....... Edit: Oops, probably should give the best 6 votes, right?

Not the answer long-term? I think most people here look to short term with him. The best thing to do with Stef Martin is compare him to O'Hailpin of Carlton. He's a great athlete who has no background in the game. O'Hailpin has been at Carlton twice as long as we've had Martin and he still can't kick, but his ability to contest and take marks is beginning to make a real difference for them. Martin will probably take a similar amount of time, but with good coaching and a lot of work, he'll be a bloody good player for us when we're going for the premiership in five years or so.

There were some clear signs of a gameplan today. Sadly, not a good gameplan, but given that the players were doing the same things over and over again, I guess that's what we have to call it. Of particular note was moving the ball out of the defensive 50. I'll admit that I noticed this because it was the part we spent the most time doing today. It involves a short kick to the pocket for a safe mark to player A. Player B further up the ground then runs in to provide a shepherd so that the player A can slip around the boundary side and run off. Player C provides an option for an inboard handpass from player A, who continues running and in turn receives a handpass from player C, thus moving the ball up to the half forward flank in a series of 1-2 handpass combos. I would guess that this is meant to be followed by a kick to the leading player on the wing/Half forward flank or possibly moving it into the corridor, but since we'd always turned it over by then, I can't be sure. Obvious flaws in the plan: .Player B has an opponent who follows him in. While he is blocking the man on the mark, his opponent is already shutting down player A. .The opposition have a man marking player C and another standing on the boundary in front of player A. We either passes to a contest or is tackled. Should he pass and Player C get the return pass off, it is either intercepted by the man on the boundary or player A is tackled as soon as the ball reaches him. I'd really like to know what our plans are for kick-ins, both ours and the opposition's. It has already been noted that our guys just stand there. It should also be pointed out that the kicker never noticed when there was a free man. Not once today, and there were plenty of times they could have found one if they had kicked quickly. Aside from that though, our work at opposition kick-ins is just as bad. When we try to zone it tends to be uneven and sloppy, which is easily picked apart by better drilled opponents. I think a couple of times we had people go man on man and be torn apart when their opponents refused to stand still with their hands in the air and instead ran away from them. Important phrase in the last paragraph people. Better Drilled. It really does seem that we have a schoolboy team playing against professionals, and that can only be placed on the heads of our coaching staff. It is simple professionalism that we lack. Quite frankly it is amateur hour at the Demons. I have suspected for a while now, from my own observations, from comments from our coaching staff and from the way other teams regard Melbourne, that nobody in our organisation really comprehends how far off the pace we are. Obviously we have been lacking decent facilities for a long time, but I think the real lack is in our training methods. Looking at the top teams in the league, it's not about them having better players or higher draft picks, it that they are better drilled, more disciplined and don't make the stupid mistakes that litter our game.

Can't agree with knocking Rivers. He was be far our best defender today... Ok, so he still had a bad game. :D There really weren't many good signs today. Scully was good in the second half, and Trengove showed us a bit as well. Junior has a nasty habit of getting the ball in a tight place and just pelting it long. Our forwards still can't kick and our defense is overrated by pretty much everyone on this site. On the bright side, there was clear evidence of a gameplan today. The only problem is that it invariably results in a goal to the opposition.

Oh, and wishing you a very enjoyable birthday Jack.

Interesting point. What would we have done had he been in this years draft instead of the previous?

I agree with the OP here. While it is clearly better to take a clean uncontested mark, if that isn't on offer we need players who will hit the pack hard and at the least force the ball to ground. Personally I look at crashing packs as about the most fun you can have on field without being suspended. I would love to see a few of our players develop that mentality and just hurl themselves in. It might not win them the ball, but at least it will stop the opposition getting a mark and an easy rebound.