DeeSpencer

Duncan yes. But Varcoe I'd give the ball to all day. He's a black Sam Blease, plenty of run, not much game sense.

It's the 3rd score assist I'd give him. Not bad for just over a half of footy.

Positives: Hogan, Vince, Tyson Watts doing ok Blease not horrible Fitzy getting some game time (still needs more) Spencer looking solid in the ruck if a little disappointing that he can't get in to it around the ground Clisby looking decent. Dunn good. Georgiou beating a couple of times but is a pro when he gets a chance Concerns Trengove - back to slowgrove tonight Not enough movement ahead of the ball and the resultant too much backwards and sideways Grimes - lacking his usual strength at the contest (Minor concern he'll be right) Tommy McDonald hasn't shown me anything amazing yet Shannon Byrnes use of the ball - he's leading to all the right spots and fighting the ball which is his strength but has no composure for an experience player Supergoals and straight kicking flatters us

Amen. He's not shirking it but he's still not going full bore. He's still not fully using his speed. But he's shown enough for his first hit out and it's natural he's a little behind some of the other guys.

Toumpas - kick to Bail for a goal, kick to Fitz for a shot on goal. Out in space tried to go inboard instead of wide, fair enough. Toumpas gets out in 20m of space and Byrnes kicks in to man on mark. Overall he's doing ok. I saw him run up and back the field 3 teams, no wonder he was stuffed.

he has been from what I've seen. Just not in the right spots

That's really disciplined smart play going forward. Roos all over it

Matt Jones doesn't tackle he just kind of waddles

Watts has to run forward not always back of the pack. I know it's his role but it has to be balanced

Probably a first and last with an ump recognises Howe getting blocked

Classic Fitzspastic

No surprise that ducking is still getting rewarded. Our players aren't getting first hand on the ball

Why would Spencer guard his opponent an not get a kick behind play there. Doesn't make sense to me

Not an excuse but nice throw and holdin the ball not paid there

So after Jetstar stuffed around us around on a flight recently I discovered that deplane is actually a word. Therefore you can save a lot of time saying you had to deplane instead of deboard a plane. Anyway. No Frawley, no Garland. Great opportunity for Tommy Mc, Dunn and Georgiou. Cats playing Hawkins, Walker and 3 rucks (McIntosh, Simpson and Blicavs) so some guys are going to have to play above their height. I'd start Georgiou on a ruckman to see how effective he can be playing on a guy who's got quite a few inches on him. And then probably swap him on to Hawkins for a bit to see if he has the skills to take on one of the better key forwards in the league.

If we don't win then so be it. And I'm a natural pessimist who also thinks we still have a lot of work to do with the actual talent level we put out there most weeks regardless of game plan, coaching etc. But the players better be going out there with the desire and belief they can win. Every Melbourne player should look at their saint opponent come first bounce and have confidence they can beat their man. Obviously if it's Tommy Mc on Riewoldt he has to give him respect but he's all but beaten him before he should feel he can do it. And same for whoever is on Lenny Hayes and even Armitage they both deserve respect as opponents but no one should feel out of their depth. I'm tipping by 10pm tonight this thread will swing one way or another.

Would love to see games like this in the season. Stuff trying to slow it down to ease congestion lets make it like ice hockey and get players going full bore and screaming up and down the field.

And twice as talented as half or more on lists. If we were in the US he'd still be on a list. If he played soccer he may have fallen down the leagues but would still be getting paid.

I agree. The funny thing about the Richmond match was how much improvement we left out there. Most of our defenders had a complete shocker turnover at some stage and some of the other players as well (Spencer!). We kicked a stack of points early. We had no tall forwards in. We had a rookie 18 year old as the back up ruck. And we seemed to get better with intensity the longer the match went (although it was that gap in intensity which was the main reason we won). If we win tonight we probably will still have edged Geelong in intensity of play but it will also mean we've tidied up some errors from the tigers game.

The guys life is in free fall. You got to hit rock bottom and climb your way out. If he did and got himself fit and dominating VFL every club in the comp would want him. A fit Liam Jurrah developed by a strong club isn't just a tall forward he's a wingman, half back, small forward who can take big grabs. We only got to see a fraction of what he can do in terms of speed and skills. I'm not making excuses for him. Nor do I think he will ever get back to the AFL. But his talent is unquestionable.

I reckon the only chance he'd ever have is if he turned his back of Yuendumu, Alice, his community and family and settled in Melbourne and started playing local footy or VFL reserves and worked his way back from there. But I doubt he'd do that (not saying he should or even could). Is he even over his legal troubles? Last we heard he was in trouble for driving offences wasn't he?

I've heard ankle injury not knee. Unsure of severity yet but not looking long term. Anyone else got an update?

Can see it now. We lose to the saints who then go ahead and cop hidings for the next month and the question gets asked just how bad are Melbourne! Then again I'm trying to stay positive.

No Clark. Probably no Garland. Maybe no Dawes or Viney. Jamar and Gawn not healthy enough in time to put real pressure on Spencer and 2 games to get through unscathed first. But Montagna suspended and Steven out means their best 2 midfielders are missing. Their midfield will likely be something like: C: Ray Armitage Savage Foll: Hickey Hayes Jones Int/forwards (from): Newnes, Ross, Curran, Dunstan, Saunders, Murdoch. Billings If the midfield really is our weakness there can be no excuses against that lot.

There is so much revisionism going on here. 2011 B+F Jones finishes 4th, Trengove 5th, 2 votes difference despite Trengove missing 3 games for a sling tackle. At that stage Trengove was a young player who was heading towards A grade. Jones was a mid level player deployed in outside and tagging roles to help develop his game. Of course forcing captaincy on the young guys was a mistake but Roos has continued the same level of player empowerment he's just challenged them to think more. Jones in 2014 is such a different candidate than Jones at the end of 2011. He's vastly improved as a player and he's even opened up about being more involved with other players. Players didn't just vote for their friends. They voted for the guys who led them. For whatever reason they didn't think Moloney, Rivers and Jones were those leaders. Players would have voted for more experienced guys, that's a much more natural thing to do than vote for you friends. Anyway here is Nathan in his own words describing his leadership: