Adam The God

Yeah, I found that interesting. Colbet on the boundary termed this move as Miller being 'out of favour' with Bailey. Miller is another who needs a game back down at Casey. He too is probably playing for his career over the next few months. If Newton slots in to the forwardline, as Watts does, I can't see Miller offering more than either of those two. I would say Miller's fate will be determined by our ladder positioning too, come the end of the season. If we only win four games, finish on the bottom and gain the priority pick, taking someone like Butcher at #2, I can't see there being a spot for Miller, long term. Alright, that's a long way down the track, being only in Round 10, but he's in real trouble.

Here, here. Well said. Forget Watts, Jimmy is the Messiah!

Yeah, it's no secret Dwayne Russell dislikes Melbourne. He gave me the shits tonight, I'll tell you. There seem to be quite a few going around at the moment.

Probably our worst game for the year. Based purely on persistent turn overs, poor decision making and general skill errors. Made even worse by the fact that come the end of the night, there weren't a whole lot of positives we could take out of the game. I was surprised to see Sylvia ended up with 24 touches, but he certainly didn't have the impact he had against the Hawks. He seemed to go missing in some portions of the game and it seems like a backwards step for the club, tonight. Also, I think a few times we really missed Garland. His ability to get a fist on absolutely everything, no matter what the height of the ball, was just not there tonight. Warnock is probably our second or third best back behind Garland and Rivers. Tonight he played on their best forward and although he wasn't completely embarrassed, he was made to look ordinary on a couple of occasions. Granted, generally their kicking to Riewoldt was spot on. Positives to come out of the game were, Bennell's solid all-round performance, Grimes' poise off half back, Sylvia's touches and even Jamar's game. The latter took some great contested pack marks, which saved us on a couple of occasions, he just can't kick. His tap work, particularly early on, was outstanding too.

Whilst I'll admit he turned it over a couple of times last week and gets caught once or twice a game, he's still a valuable member of the squad going forward. There's no doubt he needs to improve his decision-making, but I think the coaching stuff and Jonesy himself realised this and attempted to work on it over the pre-season. It paid off early this season, but he has slipped up a little bit recently. That said, he's a ball magnet. In a top team, he'll be Sewell-esque, just as Brock will be.

I dislike "bashing" players, but there is a difference between Bell and Garland. Bell has been around for years and has had time to prove himself, whereas Garland was only a youngster trying to prove himself (which so far he has done IMO).

A bit of both I suspect, but to answer some posts regarding Pettard being played out of position...in order to fit him in the team, Bailey has to play him out of position, because generally he's good enough to get a game, but not good enough to break into our ever improving back half. I'd say Dean recognises his potential and it's not a case of wasted talent, especially if you've got better blokes in front of him.

I wish the ABC were showing this game...

I would have thought Aaron's form at the moment would put him ahead of Motlop, Wirrpanda and even Burgoyne. Cyril is clearly the best indigenous footballer going around, I'd even argue he's in the top 2 or 3 players in the comp at the moment. He doesn't get the ball as much as some, but his effectiveness is seemingly extremely high.

Yeah, I tried to find it before too and couldn't.

I'd want to beat the arrogance that is Carlton. They also started our premiership drought, after stealing Barassi from us. Since I want Aaron to be our next captain, I voted Bails and Flash holding the cup. Although, wouldn't mind someone like Jack Watts either.

This seems to be the flavour of the week, but I'll say it anyway, which tricks can Robbo treat the young kids? If he's teaching them anything, it's that poor form and lack of a team midset will get you dropped.

Agreed. I'd play Cheney ahead of Bell. Bell's had his chance and he's not good enough. Give the young kids a go. Harsh? Maybe, but justified, I think.

I was thinking about this only about a week ago, when reading about the Bulldogs and their venturing up north. We've got quite a few boys on our list and it currently makes perfect sense to allign ourselves, with a few NT games over say the next 5 years. Give ourselves two years establish ourselves in NT, with a few home games and then when we become successful again in 3 to 4 years, people will hopefully sign up ala Tasmanian Hawks.

Because only women talk? Or is that just sexest? Sounds like a good initative. Even if it doesn't rake in the cash, it's a positive move and typical Jimmy. Go Dees!

Yeah. The Hawks'll do.

Agreed.

Well said and I agree whole-heartedly.

It doesn't make it acceptable, just because 'he's always been like that'. We have to stamp out that sort of attitude. It's one of the reasons we never won a premiership under Daniher. He had his favourites (as all coaches do, admittedly) and let them get away with murder. Robbo has always been one that has got away with everything. I knew we needed a strong coach, who could make the tough decisions and I think we have one in Bailey. Granted, it is a lot easier to come into a club and clear out players, than be there already and know the players well. I'm glad he's been dropped though. I'm not saying I wouldn't play him next year, but that would be his last. He really needs to demonstrate he's worth the 1 year contract.

Interesting. Roobo and Pettard out. Perhaps the match committee has been reading Demonland.

Yeah, agreed. It doesn't matter how many loose players the opposition might have. These days, the game is so much about hitting up a leading forward, inside 50 and if Hawthorn have free men on the wing, this will mean we will have 3 or 4 spare in our defense and if the opposition turn it over (like Hawthorn did, with surprising regularity the other night), we can stream with numbers through the middle. It's good old counter attacking, modern day football. Not always good on the eye, but when it comes off it sure is. We just need to develop our forwardline, with Watts and these types and in a few years, we'll be a great shot at a flag. Bailey's game plan is finally coming to fruition. I haven't heard Melbourne supporters saying it. I know it was started by Collingwood and Eddie, on the Footy Show a few years back (2004, I think?), but I've only ever heard opposition supporters saying it, not our own. Apparently, there is at least one idiot out there.

Collingwood might be a rubbish football team, but they still draw the numbers (even if they are down this year) and as long as they do, it makes sense that the bigger teams play in Melbourne, in the bigger stadiums. Until we lift our game as a supporter group, our fixtures won't improve. That said, I think we've got a reasonably good draw this year. Okay, so we play Geelong, Bulldogs, Hawthorn and St Kilda in a matter of 5 rounds, but at least we're playing in Melbourne.

Yeah, had a read of it over a bowl of cereal this morning. I'm glad a few people in the media (including some of our players) are encouraging Sylvia to find some consistency and not settle merely with the Hawks performance.

Like I actually said to my old man after the game and something Clarkson later confirmed in his press conference, was that if we had another quarter we would have over run them. Hawthorn actually became more ineffective in the 2nd half, when we applied the pressure. Just as their kicking went off and they became less accurate.

Obviously, no one saw it as a potential financial abyss. Let's not forget, that the 'powerhouse' Essendon football club also signed a deal there.