The Chazz

One would think that if match-ups aren't important, and that the ball was down that end for most of the game, that Bruce would've had more than 6 possessions and 1 goal to 3/4 time. That's BS STMJ. Dunn was rarely away from Bruce, and his (Bruce's) stats back that up. Dunn played how I wish the rest of the backline played.

Bruce had 9 possessions, with some of those coming from his time spent in the ruck (i.e. not against Dunn). Yes he kicked 3, but 2 of those came in the last quarter, when as you said, Dunn was up forward. Did either of you go to the game?

I may have missed something/s, but why are people calling for Dunn to be dropped? Thought he gave Bruce a fair old touch up. I haven't checked the stats sheet, but that's just what I observed.

It looked to me that our plan to play Riewoldt was that Tom Mc would play on him until Nick went past the centre square. As soon as he crossed that line, I reckon Vince was meant to tag him. As soon as McDonald "lost" Riewoldt, he (TMc) would drop back to about 30m out. The problem was that Vince's direct opponent then dropped off him (Vince) and ran to the HFF, about 55m out. Vince then had to decide if he went with his man, or went to Riewoldt (who was alone). If he went to Riewoldt, then his former opponent would get the ball (as Tom was too far from him), but if Vince went to his former opponent, then the Saints played it through Riewoldt (hence why he had so many uncontested marks). The issues was that too often Vince went chasing kicks rather than picking up either his former opponent or Riewoldt, leaving them with two free players, and our other defenders working their ass off trying to cover for their teammates. It was as plain as day from the 1st minute in the first quarter, and continued on until the last quarter where McDonald was obviously instructed to run with Riewoldt wherever he went. This is when we managed to shut him down, but it was too late she cried. I would also question whether Tom Mc was 100% going in to the game. At one stage he was leaning up against the goalpost sucking in the big ones, and looked in more discomfort than someone who had just sprinted his guts out. Roos was out-coached by Riewoldt. That's why we lost. If I didn't barrack for the losing team, it would've been bloody impressive watching Riewoldt force us in to error after error, and totally break down our defence. One of the best individual efforts I've seen for a long time. And a lot more individual brilliance and influence than Hogan's 7.

Apologies for hijacking this thread with a serious question... I'm heading to the game tomorrow. As a MFC member, and given it's our home game, do we get allocated a section to sit in? I'd much prefer to sit on ground level, so any direction as to the best gate to head to would be appreciated.

When it comes to team selection, we've got to a stage that we look at opposition match ups now, as well as poor form. So from a "poor form" perspective, it's very very difficult to find anyone that "deserves" to be dropped. So we take a look at our match ups. I'm concerned that if we drop Frost, that we are leaving ourselves a bit thin with height. Bruce vs Dunn, Riewoldt v McDonald. The concern is that if we start losing one of those contests heavily, then what changes do we make? I am in no doubt that dropping Frost for the Essendon game contributed to us losing, and I would imagine that Roos won't make that mistake again this year. My selection criteria this week will be look at our tall match ups, have some back up if something goes wrong, then cram the rest of the team with pace, skill, toughness, and then more pace and skill. Who that means comes in and goes out I am FIIK, but I always get concerned when we've swapped a small for a tall, or vice versa.

You may be crazy, Jesse, but it just may be a lunatic I'm looking for...

To be asked about a side's finals chances after Round 4, and 2 weeks after losing to Essendon, deserves the response that Whately gave. In particular about a side that wasn't even AFL standard just 3 years ago. We are definitely building, but many of us, journos included, have seen many false dawns. Ron, I think you just need to suck it up, sorry!

Ron, you have answered many questions that Whately would've considered. Those being; - We lost to North. It's a loss, we had the opportunity to win and we didn't. Blame the umpires, sure, but the thing you can't take away was the fact we were inexperienced. It's this inexperience that will likely still see us lose a couple of these types of games this year. Teams striving for finals shouldn't lose those games, they can't afford to. - The fact that we have been ahead in the last quarter in each game means squat when determining if we are a finals side or not. What it shows me is that we have improved significantly over the past 3 years, and I look forward to converting some of those final quarter leads in to wins. - The fact we lost to Essendon is an absolute disgrace. Teams that want to play finals don't deserve to be there is they can't beat sides like that. Don't get me wrong, I would love to see us make the finals this year. But I think everything has to go right for us, and a fair few things go wrong for clubs around us, for it to happen. Generally if everything goes right for a finals bound team, they will be in the premiership hunt. We are needing everything to go right just to make 8th. I, like Whately, am not getting too carried away about our finals prospects this year. But I'm still happy for us to fly under the radar for as long as possible - we all know too well what happens when we are pumped up too much by external sources.

Pretty sure Roos was coach when Terlich received a contract extension.

Roos wasn't coach then was he? The MOTY in Sydney was back in 2012 (unless you are talking about a different mark that he took, which is forgivable given the frequency of them!).

Hogan asking Murphy where their white knight is, as he pointed to the interchange. Vince and Danger's headlock selfie after Bernie convincingly defeated him earlier in the day. Vince and Tex Walker turning up to kick over the Yarra on GF day while still heavily intoxicated. We have some characters at the club!

Adam, I said well before the start of this season that Howe had the greatest trade value on our list, especially when considering the output we were receiving from him. We just had to move him on to improve our list, and I'm in no doubt Roos felt the same. The alleged contract we gave him probably just helped him make the decision that he wanted to change clubs, which was obviously the plan all along from our FD. I think the career of Howe at Melbourne was/is pretty easy to read. In his first season/s, he played as a high HF, doing as he pleased. Roos saw that we needed him across HB, and Howe sulked. This season, we kept him there because he could actually play the position quite well (when he wanted to), but he was also used forward at times to show his "versatility", thus maintaining his trade value for us. It may have been a lucky guess, but I'm certain that Howe's departure was a cleverly planned ploy by Roos for the 18 months leading up to his departure.

Because the amount of state league footballers that can come in and make an impact at AFL level is very, very minimal. Barlow, and to some degree JPod are exceptions to the rule. Hopefully AvB is too. That said, the jury is out for me regarding AvB (lucky I'm on RPFC's ignore list). He absolutely showed signs in his first year, I'm not disagreeing with that, but we have seen many a player show "signs", then find they don't/can't/won't take the next step. I'm not suggesting he won't, I just have NFI which way he will go, and time will tell the tale for me.

I liked what I saw (early) of Magner. Not sure if he was ever going to make it, but the coaching at the time ensured he wouldn't. Then he started opening his mouth to the media about our club, so I lost all respect for him after that.

I'm most likely on my own here, but I couldn't give a rats what any other club wears. I'm also disappointed with myself for clicking on the link that took me to the Essendon site. That said, it is clearly offseason when posters are banging on about our clash strip. It gets done to death every year. I know the simple option is not to read a thread that I have no interest in, so I will just do that!

With the abolishment of the sub vest, and the capping of the interchange rotations, I wonder how often we will see both Gawn and Spencer in the same team in '16. It worked a treat that particular day, but I wonder if that was down to match ups, or if it is something that Roos wanted to "sneakily" trial once or twice this year, so that come Round 1 next year, we know exactly how our structures are going to be. I may be over-thinking it, but I can assure you that Roos and Goodwin will be thinking about it more than me!

So that's why we should "understand" him wanting to change clubs? FMD, we will have no team if every player wanted to leave and play for the club they grew up barracking. Not saying he was a poor defender, but he certainly wasn't a top one either. He slotted in to the Geelong backline because they were on the decline, losing experience, and he was brought in to hopefully plug a gap (as opposed to going with youth). Let's be honest, his time at Geelong was far from flattering. Rivers was quite one dimensional, and I was very happy that he was one that moved on in our attempt to rebuild not only the list, but the culture of the place. The only thing that disappointed me about him leaving was the we mucked up what we got in return.

Wow, Rivers has gone to a club, that used to highlight his weaknesses as a defender, as a backline coach. I find that quite amusing. As the old saying goes, "if you can't do it, teach it". While I can't speak on behalf of our players, I'm effed if I understand why Howe moved on. Was getting games (a number of which were undoubtedly gifted), was playing under one of the best coaches of modern times, was no doubt being financially rewarded for his output. Totally different story to the bloke we got in return.

Could we qualify for a priority pick before a full season has been played?

Most times I cringe when threads get brought up like you have just done, HT, but this time I'm quite satisfied with how I read the state of play back then. I'll claim it as some of my best analysis to date! I'll read my "$cully is staying" posts to remind myself I'm not a total smart arse...!

Does he have the time to be an effective captain, keeping in mind his surfing commitments, etc? Still amazed that some people on here used that as a reason why they didn't think he should be captain.

This thread, while partly a good, respectful discussion about a very sensitive issue, also has thrown up some interesting tidbits from a range of posters... Posters on one side of the argument stating a poster on the other side has been "backed in to a corner". Poster/s constantly arguing a point ad nauseam (both for and against not fully for) to the point where they are getting personal. Stuie alone has contributed (and I use that term loosely) 85 posts to this thread. Axis of Bob is chipping away at C&B. All this in a thread about an alleged drunken/drugged grub allegedly threatening a female by using intimidating tactics. Anyone else seeing the irony on display?

32 minutes since Stuie has contributed to this thread...

Pretty sure Jako kicked over 100 in a season, it's just that it wasn't all in the seniors. Kicked 50-odd in the reserves, then got 50-odd in the seniors in the same year. From memory, Dunstall kicked 17 in a game. Might be wrong, but think it was the closest haul to Fanning's record.