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Excellent observation Mad Melbourne. A few games at Casey should increase the size of his arms considerably. May even tone up his glutes. I'll expect a full report from you.

Agreed. Probably not on his performance as much as his potential. Maybe we're getting to the stage though, where potential needs to be realised. Would rather him in though...

This is the knid of sh&^ that really P%sses me off: MELBOURNE has suffered a 45-point defeat at the hands of Hawthorn in the Sunday twilight match at the MCG. The Demons at one stage led the Hawks by 27 points in the second quarter but a 13-goals-to-four second half put paid to any hopes of Melbourne registering its first win of the season. The Demons ended up losing 12.5 (77) to Hawthorn 16.26 (122). It really was a match of two halves, with Aaron Davey, Colin Sylvia and Jack Grimes prominent when the Demons were on top but too few standing up when Hawthorn began firing. On a brighter note, youngster Luke Tapscott did his NAB AFL Rising Star nomination chances no harm with an eye-catching 23-possession performance. HOORAY - we've managed to find a positive!!! Unfortunately we were up against probably the 6th best team in the comp, and got smashed - despite being 27 points up in the 2nd quarter. Not happy.

If it's already been said in one thread - start another! Well done. We're turning into Demonology.

Morton didn't play... which makes it hard to impact the game. Jackass. This site is going to the dogs.

Based on above - best generic team: B: Bartram Frawley Bennell HB: Grimes Garland Morton C: Davey McKenzie Bail HF: Green Watts Petterd F: Maric Dunn Jurrah Foll: Jamar Moloney Sylvia Int: Scully Trengove Jetta Sub: From Wonna Rivers Martin.

Picking from: (Arbitrary 10 points for the best player in the category - other points relative to that player, '?' means not really known yet): Based on where I think they play best - obviously some players could play under a number of categories. Backs: (11) Key position - Frawley (10) Garland (10) Rivers (6) Warnock (5) J MacDonald (5) T MacDonald (?) Running backs - Grimes (10) Morton (8) Small - Bennell (10) Bartram (10) Strauss (5) Mids: (13) Ruck - Jamar (10) Spencer (3) Campbell (?) Hard ball getters - McKenzie (10) Sylvia (9) Moloney (9) Trengove (7) Jones (7) Link up and delivery - Davey (10) Bail (8) Scully (7) Gysberts (5) Blease (?) Forwards: (13) Contested mark - Dunn (10) Watts (8) Martin (6) Cook (?) Lead up - Green (10) Jurrah (10) Petterd (9) Bate (6) Howe (?) Dangerous crumbers - Maric (10) Jetta (9) Wonna (8) Tapscott (?) I'd pick the team based on: 1. Availability (obviously). 2. Backline match ups and the need to balance run, key position and coverage of small forwards. Therefore the best 22 each week will depend on the opposition. Injury replacement will depend on the type of player lost and maintaining team balance.

Just got back from the game. As has been said, we had so many big names out that any negatives in terms of ability to follow the game plan or execute are moot. Positives: Forwards: Jetta was excellent. Maric and Petterd looked very good. Watts was pretty good. Howes looks a likely type too. Stef Martin is getting better and will probably do for the tall option. If you put Jurrah back in there, it will be a hard forward line to match up on. They'll look better with better delivery too - see midfield. Midfield: Moloney and Sylvia were good. Gysberts can play but just looked underdone for match fitness - and played on Simon Black for quite a period too, which doesn't help young blokes look good in any case. Scully showed glimpses of his best, but also needs more matches (probably not many though). If you add Davey, Green, McKenzie, and Trengove - we'll look a lot better there. Jones did some good things but was toweled by Daniel Rich. Tough job for Jones or anyone. Backs: Missing Frawley and Garland. Missing Grimes and Bartram. Too much work for Riv and MacDonald. Tapscott was impressive when he got the ball and is a beautiful penetrating kick and a good physical presence - again, needs matches under his belt. Might end up our kicker inerrer. Jamie Bennell did some good things. Why we lost comfortably - the hook leads didn't work. Too many players lacking the match fitness to consistently get between their opponents and the goals, and the delivery was haphazard. Also just missing too much class in terms of disposal and pressure in the back half. In the end, the Lions scored easily and we scored with difficulty. I don't think you'd recognise the team once round one arrives.

I don't agree nutbean. I don't think Scully's management has been reasonable. They've either underestimated or don't care about the impact that this will have on the club.

You believe? Well that's comforting. The reality is that no matter what has actually come to pass between GWS and Scully, Scully now finds himself in the position where he needs to make a decision on his future. He needs to either sign with the MFC NOW to avoid the type of rot that set into Geelong with Ablett, or admit to having signed with GWS already. If he does anything other than sign with MFC immediately, we should deem him a transient and treat him as such. Prepare the side that will be together for the future. We all spent two seasons watching the Dees and hoping they wouldn't win too many matches because we were so worried about the draft picks. I don't plan to spend this year watching Scully develop into a gun player with the sickening feeling that he'll probably leave at the end of the year. And 'believe' me, if he makes no statement, he's gone. I hate Sheedy. Send him a kid who hasn't played top level footy for a year.

Feel pretty confident that Beamer is the calibre of bloke who'd have sorted it out after training. Don't mind hearing about a bit of white-line fever. There's plenty we don't hear about.

Thanks so much. Awesome report.

I thought Trengove was reasonably good. He does things every now and then that highlight his class - his delivery of the ball to Brad Green for a goal in the last quarter was very composed and well weighted despite being under pressure. I often find that the answer to my question: "Geeze that was a nice pass... who was it?" is Trengove. Looking forward to next year.

So true. Yet managed to bring out the true colours in some supporters on this site... didn't it. I think people barrack for different things. I barrack for the players as much as for the guernsey, or the club. So I find it difficult to be frank about shortcomings of certain players. I have hated reading this thread, as I think Jonesy is a gutsy and improving young player who will be an important part of our future. If I didn't think that, I wouldn't say it; I'd just say nothing. I wish others would do the same.

Nice post

Morton was beaten one-on-one by Goodes a few times, but that was always going to happen. Where Goodes fell down was allowing Morton to run off him and get kicks. I still give the points for the day to Goodes, and reasonably easily, but not enough for Brownlow votes.

Goodes was good today, but does not deserve the Bronlow votes he'll no doubt receive. He let Morton run off him at times, with Morton quite effective after quarter time. Goodes' last goal was in fair dinkum junk time too. Yes Goodes played well, but nowhere near well enough to earn Brownlow votes in a team destroyed by 10+ goals. I guess we'll see. Better than Goodes were: Green, Frawley, Sylvia.

I disagree with every inch of my body. It IS the coach's fault. We have a lazy and inconsistent culture that has plagued us for decades. These kids have a 2 year window to learn to be ruthless and not to accept defeat easily. Instead, I see a bunch of saps lying down because it's all just a bit hard, and 'we never win here anyway'. Pathetic.

Another massive embarrassment. Sorrymto join the throng,butmwith this team, on paper, we should be much better than this. Bailey needs to lift. Yes, I'm saying it now, rather than late next year when it's too late. Something needsmto be done before this crop of talented kids turns into the next bunch ofMelbourne also-rans. I'm filthy on this performance. Filthy.

B Jones Frawley Strauss HB Grimes Warnock Garland C Bail Gysberts Davey HF Sylvia Watts Morton F Green Dunn Jurrah Foll Jamar Trengove Scully I/C Moloney McKenzie Tapscott Bennell With respect to some guys who I think will have retired, or who haven't yet had the opportunity to show what they might become.... Why? B Jones is a hard nut who will be a little underclassed to be in our midfield, but who's energy, hardness and devotion make him a necessity. He'll serve us well down back. Frawley needs no explanation. Strauss is a bit of a gamble. He's a beautiful kick and provides run out of the backline. Needs to improve a bit. HB Grimes will be a general. Warnock will be the gorilla keeper. Garland will be the guy who can take small or tall, and will punish the opposition on the rebound. C Bail will be a premiere wingman. I'm sure I'll get pasted for this, but I love the way he goes about it. Gysberts has amazingly clean hands and time in trafffic. He will be a beauty at pivot. Davey - get your best players around the ball. Could have put him anywhere in the middle. HF Sylvia gives some physical presence and can kick a goal or two given the opportunity. Watts. Hmm. I have the feeling he'll be a ripper, but it's a bit of a way of.f He's a great kick and a great contested mark. I hope he learns to run ti the right spots soon. Morton reads the play well and has a big motor. We're playing him all over the place at the moment, but his real worth will be as a marking forward. F Green will still have plenty to give and thankfully for him, by this time, we won't need him to stop-gap all over the ground. Will demand a quality backman to cover him. Dunn. Ok, I'm hearing crickets. He's the same height as White, he's built, he has physical presence. The opposition cannot afford to ignore him. Jurrah will do some magic from a pocket. Expect some hangers over the pack. Just let's not make him a KPP. Foll Jamar. Who else would you pick? Dunn can swap with him for a rest here and there. Scully - no explanation required. Trengove - tossed up here over a HB position, but once again, get your best players around the ball. I/C Moloney. I'd expect him to be rotated through the middle, especially when the heat is on. I/C doesn't mean what it used to. McKenzie will relieve Gysberts in the guts. High intensity rednut who will bury p[layers in a tackle. Tapscott - purely spectulative, but footage I've seen shows him to be a nice kick and a hard nut - he'll relieve Sylvia at rest times and will do well. Bennell will give great forward pressure and kick 3 in our grand final win in 2013 or 2014.

Two more reds and I promise that result!

Having sat through the rubbish that was served up today by the maggots, I have come up with three ideas to set things right. 1> Umpires get to tell us which players are the best at Brownlow night, so why shouldn't the players get a chance to return fire? Imagine the match by match report: "Round twelve ended with a fantastic clash between league majors, Collingwood, and minnows Melbourne, absolutely destroyed by umpires Larry, Moe and Curly, who have yet to come to terms with consistency and the dropping the ball rule." etc. Ratings would be high. 2> My other idea, and I would pay one or two large for this chance, is a raffle run by the Dees, where the winner gets five minutes after the game to give the umpires a MASSIVE SPRAY. The umpires aren't allowed to leave or answer back, and they're not allowed to dob on you to the AFL... they just have to take it. 3> Bring back "What's your decision" on the TV - probably needs to be the Footy Show. I would love to see these [censored] try to justify some of their decisions from today's game. Problem is, we'd run out of umpires too soon. They were rubbish today. Apart from two incidents that come to mind, every ticky-touchwood free kick went against us. The maggots seem utterly at sea when it comes to the holding the ball rule, the push in the back, the prior opportunity, and... oh stuff it, I can't be bothered any more. Get the raffle going.

Every time a Jack Watts thread is started, an EMO is born. Think about that....

I don't agree with your comments entirely, but I do agree with your point about sharing your thoughts. Keep it going....

I'm with the majority. Cannot decide. Love'em both.