Adam The God

You could argue that the "out with the old, in with the new" philosophy was the mentality that led us into those "dark days". Sooner or later, we need to start retainin senior players. We can't keep giving up experience. Particularly, when that experience comes in the form of an AA rep. I don't care that it was in 2010, the potential is there. Just get him settled.

Well, hang on. He's not gone yet. You've based your sarcastic comment on BBP's rather knee-jerk, defensive reaction to his own unrealistic theory. Increasingly, FA's will wait out until the end of the season, before signing. It's a business. It's smart business. It's logical business. People have to look at this rationally. There's no point in getting up in arms about it or getting all defensive. Either, he stays and we retain an excellent defender capable of playing forward or, he leaves and we make another club pay $800,000+ for him, while we get a probable top 10 pick for him. To be fair, Redleg, Frawley played back in the final quarter only, having been starved of opportunities up forward in the first three quarters.

It's not depth we lack so much, as genuine class and speed in the midfield.

I think we're gonna need to get at least two young mids out of this off season. Two of the GWS boys and/or Mitchell would do me. Can't see it happening though.

Reminded me of the G Ablett Snr 'mark'. Watts' was more of a mark than his.

Go on, P. Do tell. Agree with everything but the assertion that Jamar was smashed. He towelled up Goldstein, who usually kills us.

Well, it does make it a rumour, it just doesn't make it true.

Fair enough. I must admit, I have very low expectations of Tommy Mac's kicking. As long as he's not kicking it directly to the opposition in our defensive 50, I tend to view it as a win. I agree that we'll never win finals with players with ordinary decision making. Improve the decision making and you'll find the errors will be minimised. He's an excellent defender and 21, so I'm happy to give him another two years to improve that kicking. I'd offer him a three year contract though.

We overused the ball today. Some of it was induced by very good North pressure, but a lot of it was poor decision making under pressure. It's frustrating in the present, but hopefully we'll learn from games like this. With Roos as our coach, I'm confident we'll take lessons from today's game. I'd argue the North pressure was just as intense, if not more so than Collingwood's. If some of the other top 8 sides bring that sort of intensity, I hate to think what sort of carnage they'll subject us to. We just couldn't deal with it. Hopefully, that changes. What's more, there were patches in the game where we really let ourselves down with our levels of intensity. There were acceptable moments in the first two quarters and then again just after half time, but other than that, our work rate and intensity was below ordinary. Vince was superb and along with Jones and Jamar, they really led the way in the first half. While when the going got tough in the third, it was those three that were still trying to impose themselves on the contest. Unfortunately, they had little support. Cross tried hard, but made some silly errors. Viney made consistently horrible decisions and turned the ball over. He looked a little lazy, never thought I'd say that about him. Didn't feel he wanted to pick up an opponent, but instead stood in no man's land a couple of times, hoping to intercept, but got caught out, big time. Bail struggled to have any impact - he finished with 3 tackles (two of those coming in the last) and 9 disposals. I don't think disposals are indicators for Bail, but I felt he was out positioned for most of the game. And he wasn't alone there. Garland and Grimes really, really struggled. I love Garland and I hope he can recapture some of his 2013 form, but over the last three weeks in particular, he's made crucial turn overs by foot which have cost us goals. After a decent display last week, Grimes returned to his old self. He's just a horrible, horrible decision maker. Nevertheless, every time Watts got the ball, he made something happen. He really is a great decision maker. It really stood out, amongst all our poor decision making today. He also has the skills to execute. I still want more physicality though - that old chestnut. Dunn was decent in defence and with limited service, Frawley presented reasonably well in attack, although really struggled to get into the contest after half time. On Frawley, it was an interesting move from Roos at the start of the last. I'm not sure it says anything in particular, the game was already lost, but I wonder if it's telling (maybe he's on the brink of re-signing?) that Frawley was shifted back for the last? And despite being held at every opportunity, Dawes was good, although when the game was on the line, I felt he failed to really impact physically, in a meaningful way. The first time he laid his now signature crunching tackle, it resulted in a goal. He finished with four tackles for the game, but most of them came once the game was dusted. It says something for his spirit, work rate and dedication to the team, but a pity he couldn't bring 'it' earlier. On the whole, we were severely out-played today. The way North set up their forwardline and their movement right across the ground was excellent. It left space for their team mates to run into or kick into and isolated our defenders. Our coaching team, clearly tried to readjust our defensive set up after quarter time and it worked for a little while early on in that quarter. However, North did all the things that I hope in time (soon), we begin to do. They laid clever bumps and blocks (how often do you see an MFC player block for his team mate?); they ran out of the space to allow others to run into it, thus pulling our defenders away from the contest; and finally, they consistently made better decisions with ball in hand. Yes, their work rate was far higher than ours and their intensity was ferocious, but in the end, it came down to decision making and the ability to execute skills under duress. I think I must be crazy, because for some reason, I think we'll beat the Dogs next week. I think it might be their injuries, but I also hold out hope that we'll want to atone vigorously for today's horrible showing.

Wow. I didn't think Tommy was our worst today. In fact, I can't remember him making an error by foot. I remember half a dozen great spoils and a little bit of run. The delivery to the North forwards was the best I've seen us face this year. Gave our defenders often no chance. I'd generally agree though that his decision making and kicking is a real impediment, to not only the team, but himself.

Would love to know what you've heard, J...even if it is unsubstantiated. : )

I'd say we still need more out-and-out mids. Clearance winnings mids at that. We're 18th for clearances. You can never have too much midfield depth, unless you're Sydney.

I wonder how many negating players we can carry in one team, without compromising our attacking capabilities? The only way we could ever carry McKenzie, Cross and Nicholson in the one side, is if at least one of them (preferably two of them) played with an inclination for attack. In this instance, the ability to find the footy themselves and hurt their opponents is just as vital. I'd say this is the beauty of Cross. His disposal isn't as damaging as it could be, but he sure can find it. So he is capable of playing that negating role, but still involving himself in an attacking sense as well. Much to my eventual satisfaction (and I'm sure yours too, Bob), Jordie managed to get some score involvements last week, which makes him a much more dangerous proposition too. I'd say his tagging game is better than Cross', but historically, he has offered much less than Cross going forward, and less of an ability to find the ball. However, if he can continue to improve his offensive game (which confidence and continuity in the 1's will do), he could still carve out an important piece in the MFC jigsaw puzzle, going forward. I'd say Nicholson offers something different again and that's leg speed. In his best games for the club, he has provided excellent run and carry off half back, something we severely lack. He, like Terlich, must improve his disposal if he's to be seriously considered in the MFC's future plans. Finally, I'm cautious to dismiss anyone who has been historically deficient, but is yet to play a game under Roos. Therefore, if Roos and the FD see improvement in Nicholson's game, he should be given the benefit of the doubt. Especially, seeing some of the players that Roos has turned around this year and in his time at Sydney.

Agreed.

Great post, Goodvibes. Completely agree. If this all comes to fruition, it'll be a dream.

Agreed, M. I genuinely enjoy your training reports, Saty and I thank you for them, but the irony in the above post is, it's your own ego/insecurities that annoy me. Happy to read your posts when they're not either 1) lampooning other posters for having a different view to your own or 2) pumping your own tyres up. Unfortunately, some of your posts tend to fall into these two categories. PS. I hate making things about ourselves. We're here to discuss the MFC, let's just try and do that.

Apparently, I'm wrong about Cameron. I stand corrected. And I take it, the 'blunder' is my failed recollection of who we played in 1995, when Yze kicked 5? Apologies. I clearly know very little. Haha, nice. Didn't like the Jesus comment, Saty?

How does a [censored] that cheated on his best mate and then assaulted his next girlfriend get on TV again? Endemic of a filthy society. Our 'celebrities' get away with murder and sometimes literally do.

I'd be looking to play Trengove on a wing or in the middle. Looking at that forwardline, there's no place for him with JKH in there. I'd also have Salem on the HFF. He's got such a brilliant goal sense, I'd be playing him there. Eventually, we'll rotate him through the middle too.

What are you thinking, J?

Thanks, Jesus. You're a real conduit.

Not only that, but it basically means no MFC player would offer any nuggets of information, without first censoring themselves. This renders a lot of what is relayed to us as redundant.

Fair enough, JVFP. Each to their own.

I gotta say that Dangerfield and Fyfe excite me less than pretty much anyone in say the Sydney midfield. I wouldn't say no to either coming, obviously. Dangerfield's a greater impact player than Fyfe, but I'd much prefer one of the gut-running Sydney mids.

This came up in a thread earlier in the year. Apparently, Hall was already at the Swans when Roos took over. So Hall was an Eade signing.