Adam The God

Roos doesn't look inept with his decision making by playing Howe, but it becomes harder each week for people to say he isn't simply playing Howe to give us some leverage come trade week.

Not sure that Geelong example is the best one, RM. A lot of those were rushed by Hawthorn, which led to a change in the rushed behind rule the following year. But poor kicking at goal is certainly not localised to the MFC yesterday.

At...?

Agree to disagree. He's been injured for a year, he certainly hasn't reached his potential yet and he's a Melbourne boy. I'd be presenting a little package to him. $500,000. He wouldn't get that at GWS.

Hang in there, mate. We'll be up and down this year (I'm as [censored] as you), but we just have to be patient for a season or two more. I understand people being turned away. I went to all of those Neeld games and was totally numb by the end of it. Bored is how I was until the hope of Roosy came along. It'll be so much sweeter when we start becoming a proper football club again, knowing you stuck by them.

If that is Roosy, good on him for replying. If I was the coach of the MFC, I wouldn't have time to reply to emails from members. Makes me respect him even more. Some of the content in that email is a touch patronising too, so well done Roosy. I'm sure he knows everything you typed.

His kicking for goal yesterday was more than just yips. It's his ball drop. Yeah, don't mind it as a change up move. It'd help having Frost available...

Tommy Mac, Frost and Fitzy should rectify this issue when all playing.

I think we'd have a bit of leverage, given Patton's injury history.

I don't totally disagree. You're right, mate. It's not like he's been playing forward for years or practicing his goal kicking, but I'm just not sure why you'd start playing a guy, who was set for CHB in the AA team before a dip in form, in the forwardline. It's a recipe for disaster. Carlisle is a very good example why it shouldn't be done. We need to find other ways to get Tommy Mac's confidence up and get him back into form. I think the match day committee have a bit to answer for with regards to where it all started. Dunn should have played on Cloke on QB and perhaps Tommy Mac would still be playing great footy. There's two sides to it though, I guess, because Tommy Mac was challenged, beaten on the day (QB) and hasn't been able to get himself our of a mental quagmire. I'm rabbiting on a bit there, but basically, I think it's a bit risky to now turn around and try him as a forward, not to mention a bit defeatist.

Pretty big problem though, isn't it?

He will be our number one ruck, but he's got a lot of work to do.

You know what, if our medicos felt Patton's knee would hold up, I'd trade Howe for Patton. He's no star yet, but he'd be a good foil for Jesse.

I enjoy your posts WB, but you brought women into it for absolutely no reason at all. Speaking of drawing a long bow, you proceeded to compare Steve to a fifty year old woman because he said 'Nice to hear there are some supporters who see it too'. What a very female thing to say.

I noticed you kept away, P, until this afternoon. [censored] off, huh?

Agreed, mate. At least, Dunn is a nice, pretty accurate kick. Ideally, I think that's where the FD are looking. Tommy Mac takes the best forward, Frost takes the second and Dunn the third. And whether or not they've stamped Fitzy's papers, the theme here is tall, mobile, athletic defenders that take the game on. Fitzy less so, but we shall see where he ends up at the end of the year. On this, Fitzy should have been brought in for the Essendon game.

Why is it you keep comparing posters you disagree with to women? The sexist subtext is starting to get annoying.

I'd suspect the defence is even more scared to take the game on with Grimes in the team. His kicking is still appalling. He's not best 22 and you'll see him as depth from here on out.I remember Garland standing up and taking the game on against GWS in 2012(2013?) and he's done it a couple of other times during his career, notably under Bailey, but the fact I can pin point that GWS game is a real concern. I think they'll try and low ball Col on a new deal. He'll either go somewhere else or stay on the list as others, with the ability to consistently take on the game, go past him.

We bought Dawes on the assumption he'd be the third forward behind Clark and Hogan, and would nurture the likes of Jesse. Clark's betrayal put a spanner in the works there. I agree that Chris is not good enough as a second forward. He tries hard, sets a good pressure example, but ultimately doesn't hit the scoreboard enough. I'd be willing to look for a trade, but we'd have to have a ready made replacement. Pedersen can't be the only back up. We also need more toe in our forward 50. Kent's return will help that, but we're still lacking another. Howe is gone, either by choice or the club's, so Kent takes his place. JKH is too slow for that forward pressure role and currently lacks the physicality. And most importantly in the forward half, we need a good foil for Jesse. They don't need to be as good as Jesse will be, but they need to offer more than Dawes and Pedersen. Think Scott Lucas as Lloyd's foil. As for Col Garland, if Frost ever gets on the park, he'll take Col's role. He'll bring the versatility to be able to play on the tall or small opposition forwards. Having not been Melbournised by the past few years, hopefully he'll have a greater capacity to take the game on too.

Strangely our kicking under Neeld, when we were having less shots on goal, was actually pretty accurate. It's a mindset thing and it's frustrating that our coaches can't break them out of it.

A loss like that always motivates me to go back to work. So spent the night working. Couldn't face listening to the media coverage afterwards, but then I never can after a loss.

Bit unfair on Crossy, I reckon. He wasn't good yesterday, but he's been in our top 3 or 4 most consistent and important players this season, IMO. The thing that annoyed me yesterday about Garland's game was his inability to stick tackles. This is a bloke that's 27 and failed to hold two or three really important and not overly difficult tackles. I really like Col, but for a bloke who's 27, he lacks consistency in a way that Jones, Cross and Vince don't. The other bloke who's wildly inconsistent is Chris Dawes. We should be getting more from these guys, but we're not. So what I think we might see if this keeps up, is a surprise trade or two on top of the 5 or 6 obvious delists at the end of this year.

It's a tough one this. So you don't want them to be mindless robots, but at the same time, if you're paying someone a minimum of $200,000 a year, that career should engulf them. They should stick to routines, to diets, to authorised socialisation. These are twenty year olds on an insane amount of money. I think it's fair to expect a certain level of professionalism. The players should know that by putting up pictures across their social channels of themselves drinking away, they are inviting a certain amount of public scrutiny.

Gee, we'd be pretty unlucky to win the spoon with 6-8 wins, because that's what I reckon we'll get.

Spot on, Samael.