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Good post

Sub Green off for Dunn. He's having a bad night.

Those errors occur b/c the player looks up and sees nobody presenting. Nobody presents b/c they are all high-tailing it towards our forward line, on the assumption that we will break the lines and deliver it deep. That's not happening tonight and very seldom will in the future. Geelong did it, the league has now reacted and come up with ways to stop it. Now imagine you're Trengove or Garland, you win the ball, look up and see 80 [censored] metres of empty space in front of you, and instead of people running into that space, they are running away from it. Next thing you see is the 4 opposition players bearing down on you, just as you notice a team mate who has run past you, opponent in toe, calling for the ball 10m away from you on the boundary line. Good luck!

Perfect.

Well... half time. We're close enough to keep me watching - just. Leigh Matthews had a bit to say about our game plan a couple of weeks ago. He said: "It's very risky the way the MFC midfield put their heads down and sprint to the forward line whenever a team mate has the ball... if there is any mistake made, the turnover will crucify them." I am really worried about the development of our young players. If they spend long enough with this game plan, they'll end up much less than they should.

Yeh I noticed that too. He was going to handball, saw it was Watts, and did an about turn, By the time he was forced to dispose, Watts was really under the pump.

This is absolutely not the players' fault. The ridiculous plan of playing on and breaking the lines out of the half back line has once again fallen to pieces under pressure. Make no mistake, the WCE are not a top 8 side. This is awful at a level comparable to the day that lead to Gutnik sacking Neil Balme. We need to act on this coaching panel before we flit these young guys' careers away.

22 inside 50s to 3 in that quarter. Embarrassing.

This Bailey's fault. [censored] game plan that does not stand up to pressure. Better to find out now than develop this way for 3 years and get Essendon'd in finals again. Time for Bailey to go. If the level-heads here want to howl me down... let's hear it!

WCE have two of our 3 inside 50s so far!

I think we've taken the Auskick message to heart: "It's not about kicking the ball, it's about having fun."

Cox has already taken 4 marks They're beating us at the stoppages too.

Agree with those stating Petterd is up against Wonna & Maric. Wonna unlikely to go out of the side unless injured. How about Petterd v Morton and Bail for a spot on the wing? Not saying Morton or Bail should be dropped, but surely there's a couple of positions that Petterd could be considered for. We'll inevitably get an injury here and there, (hopefully small) and he should slot into best 22 in quite a number of outside mid/forward positions.

Endomorphs are fatties. You mean 'mesomorph' (muscular).

Hope I'm wrong. What did happen with Royal at St Kilda?

He's done a good job covering both Swan and Shaw at the same time! Agree he's important as a defensive forward, but he's badly out of form and not finding the ball enough. 2010 Dunn would be nice to have back. If his drop in possession count is due to instructions, then the instructions are wrong.

I've been critical of Bailey in the past (Terrible post after Hawthorn game - pardon), and I'm still not convinced. I have since formed the following opinions: 1> Bailey's game plan is risky and I don't think it will stand up to finals pressure. We have midfielders streaming into our forward line in anticipation of clean disposal. As a consequence, we get seriously worked over for any mistake - the opposition often get goals where we have most of our players up the wrong end of the field. I'm glad he's overseen the drafting of guys who have good disposal, but I feel he over-rates their potential to overcome high-pressure tactics. In Bailey's favour, we did well against Collingwood twice last year. Still feel worried though, and wouldn't want to play the Pies in a final. 2> We lack aggression (often alluded to on this site). We have good aggressive players - Moloney, Jones, Sylvia (at times), Petterd, Jetta. We have potential aggressive players - Tapscott, Trengove and a few others. What concerns me is that lack of aggressive team attitude. If you look at Collingwood, or more reasonably, Essendon (with their young list), their default is aggression at the ball. We have far too many players who are being baby-sat until they grow into their talent (sic). If Watts were at one of those teams he'd be told to lift his physicality now, not when the protein powder and Nautilus sessions kick in in two year's time! The physicality of these young players will only occur in a couple of years if they start building the habits now. I know there's a fine line between getting them injured and having them be somewhat passive, but I think the risk has to be taken, or we will end up with a bunch of skillful yet easily brushed off the ball lightweights. AGAIN. 3> To fix point number two - start dropping players who don't work hard enough off the ball. I don't want to hear "He struggled to find much of the ball - but he spread well" ever again. Get the pill or [censored] off to Casey until you can. 4> Wellman = massive loss. MFC website already reporting poor games by backs being out of position. Same players (Garland, Rivers, Frawley), who while having missed some games, surely should not have forgotten the basic rules of being a backman. Something is rotten in that backline, and it's not the players.

I heard Peter Larkins talking about the injury to MMM after Garry Lyon got a bit shirty for being fed misinformation by our club. Fact was, the club didn't misinform Lyon. From Doc Larkin: "Scully has bruising of the bone in the knee joint. At first they were worried it was a stress fracture. Scans showed it wasn't a stress fracture, but that the surface of the bone had oedema (swelling) - which is pretty much a bone's version of being bruised. Buoyed by this information, the club decided to play it safe and give him a month off, lest it actually become a stress fracture. Unfortunately, despite avoiding that situation, the actual pain returned almost immediately when he resumed training. More scans - still no stress fracture. Plan: wait for pain to disappear and then try training again". Hence - "he'll be out for 4 weeks", then:"sorry another 5 weeks". No misinformation, GWS schemes, aliens, or secret season-ending injury. Just bad luck. Until we hear otherwise - oh damn, now I'm doing it! Addend: Larkins also said the club was having trouble holding him back at training, which made the situation more difficult to manage. At least we've learnt after the Garland debacle.

Just noticed that at the 9 minute mark of the first quarter, the Suns were up 1.2.8 to 1.0.6 - there betfair odds had come in to $5.50 from $13.00 !!!!

Agreed. Interesting initial post though and a fun thread to read. Don't disagree much with the initial post.

I agree. I desperately want to like Bailey's entire package, but unfortunately I don't. I think he has a good eye for talent, but I'm concerned over the game plan. Didn't realise that until I just got a woody reading that maybe Roos would be interested in the job. Of concern is the instant success that Heard has manufactured at Essendon. I know it's likely temporary, and that the Bombers will have some setbacks, but why aren't our young players producing the results that Essendon are? We've had a lot more time than they have. The question - would we be better with a different coach? - is probably valid. I'm not sold either way, but my confidence is starting to sway.

Agree with that. Point is, as you say, that to beat a tagger you need to be ferocious towards the inside footy. AD is not built for that, and his skill set lies in his pace and forward pressure. Your point validates that AD should be deep in the forward line. Trengove, Scully, Moloney, Sylvia etc will be our tagged inside mids.

I agree with the many contributors here who want to see AD back in the forward line. AD was originally taken out of the forward line and put in the middle for two reasons - we weren't getting run out of the midfield, and we didn't have anyone who could deliver the ball as well as him. Times have changed... a lot. Bail, Grimes, Bennell, Morton, Scully and co can all run and carry. Trenners, Gysberts and Tapscott can all kick. Time to put AD back in the forward line. A brilliant crumbing forward who used to put amazing pressure on opposition backmen trying to clear our forward line. I know he still exists. We just need to remember what he was good at and let him do it. We can always swing him back into the midfield for bursts - that way he won't attract the heavy tag.

Have I missed a thread on how well Rivers played today? It's possible. If there was no such such thread - How good was Rivers today? Reminded me of 4 years ago.

Davey into the forward line for a while to get his confidence back. Persist with Morton - he's good when he's up and going - won't take long. Petterd in for Dunn. Dunn not to be out for long though. Jones to again play from half back - was great today. Tapscott to get a run in the middle for small parts of the game. We looked better when big bodies were in the centre, he'd be a handy back up. Somebody, anybody, to step TF up and be a marking forward. Maybe it's Juice for Martin - though Martin has been okay, I don't agree with those saying he's been great. Better yes - top 22 in a good team - no. Also not saying to drop him for good, but creating some competition b/w him and Juice might be a healthy thing. Jurrah to play around half forward line instead of full forward line (as happened a bit today). Gets much more room and looks more comfortable and free-flowing there. Vinny Cottogio out of retirement and onto the wing instead of Watts (if we're going to throw the baby out with the bath water we may as well go completely retro). Bailey to sit in the coach's box with a view of the whole game instead of barracking from the boundary line. Jordan Gysberts to be cloned and play on both wings, both half back flanks, and to be our substitute with fresh legs. The fat sheila serving pies in the Olympic stand to show a little less ass cleavage next home game.