DeeSpencer

Bail, Toumpas, Nicholson and Gawn are the 4 who are on the edge. I presume Viney, Byrnes and Watts will be fit for selection. Taggert and Fitzpatrick some chance from Casey. I'm not convinced by Davis or anyone else. For me: Out: Bail - has been shocking Toumpas - inj In: Byrnes Viney I'd consider Watts (for nicholson or instead of Byrnes) and think about Taggert instead of Byrnes but I don't think he's quite ready.

oh please! A half forward is going to run to take kickouts? Really?Dunn, Garland, Terlich and Strauss should all continue to take kickouts. Frawley should bust his gut and provide a marking option. Watts could take kick outs if he breaks back into the team which would mean playing some half decent footy. Dunn had a nightmare kicking out which reflects his lack of experience. But he can thump it 60 and is a decent short kick. We should persist. Terlich has done a great job at kickouts. Not perfect but mainly reliable. Strauss should get more opportunities. Garland is another option but should focus on long kicks mainly.

did that a bit early then got better. It's a touch issue and game style issue. He's much more used to playing one on one than being the pack cruncher. But his work rate and positioning was far superior to any other forward we've had and his defensive pressure is good. He actually directs the rest of the blokes very well.

youve got low standards. He doesn't create with run or marks or spoils. And a goal king got running forward of him was shocking. Wasn't at all a leaders game today. A super disappointing moment was when he got the ball at half back and went wider to Howe when he had 2 open men in the middle of the corridor. Howe marked but the blatant lack of courageous decision making continues to haunt Garlands game

We don't have the players in reserve to drop him. Get Byrnes, Sylvia and Viney back maybe. But he's running and he's trying. He's a bit meh as far as I see at the moment. Just let him be and focus on the rest I think

King, Jackson, White just 3 horrible footballers in Richmonds team today and arguably best 22 in a side who can be perfectly good enough to play finals. When the AFL went from 16 to 18 teams it was a bit like oh good teams will still have a spud to now most good teams may have 2 spuds. You hope it's a forward pocket or back up mid but even Hawthorn have Puopolo and others get frequent games based on what they do off the field not on!

Mitch Clark went down like he was shot with a rolled ankle in round 1. Michael Hurely the same a few weeks ago. Anyone else want to call a guy soft. He pushed the doctors off and ran off eventually.

because you don't have to tackle deledio. What you have to do is get in his space. Besides when he was forward Deledio was largely damage free today. People aren't saying McKenzie is great but the options just aren't there!!!

Some people need to watch the VFL or training or even the Melbourne game. McKenzie is everything we need right now. Take the good with the bad. Nicholson is worse but what option do we have. Please name a Wing man on our list we could replace him with. Barry and Kent are miles from afl. Rodan doesn't cover the ground. Taggert the same and is still getting eased in at AFL. Don't even start me on Blease. Sylvia, Grimes, Viney, Toumpas after a preseason, a fit Clisby, a fit Byrnes or Watts. Plenty of options but right now Nicholson is all we have.

oh god.

I like the dogs. Everyone talks about their lack of forward line but I think it's a bit misleading. Young Jones is a nice prospect and compares pretty equally with Chris Dawes and has a lot of improvement left. They'll need to find another but you can win a lot of games with less. Also Roughead down back is doing a very nice job. Again they'll need another key back but I wouldn't despair. Where they are miles in front of us is in the midfield: Cooney and Griffen should stick around for a while as Boyd and Cross go and they are bringing through Stevens (nice depth midfielder), Libba (Very good clearance player), Wallis (again reasonable depth mid), Clay Smith, McRae, Stringer (forward/mid type), Dahlhaus (forward/mid) and Hrovath. If there is one place they are equal with us though its how much tripe is on their list. They've got their own Tom Gillies and co in spades. Find me an AFL player out of: Grant, Veszpremi, Williams (What happened to him), Addison, Markovic, Campbell, will Ayce Cordy even make it?, Tutt (3 goals on debut then never seen), Christian Howard is their Sam Blease - all talent, no output. That's 9 guys or a quarter of your list. If you divide a list into best 22, 9 for depth and 9 development kids then their depth has very little potential. Their rookie list - Mark Austin (Carlton reject), Jack Redpath (country footballer), Lin Jong (the Asian Majak?), Greenwood who I don't know and the best of the lot in Goodes who is 28 or whatever. I mean it screams the kind of desperation that we keep going for. Another problem for the dogs is that 2 players who should be at their peaks and adding class to the backline and forward line in Easton Wood and Shaun Higgins are perpetually injured.

I think the extent of Gold Coast senior and experienced leaders in Ablett and that's about it. Brown can be a head case. Brennan;s and Rischitelli's form wax and wane and Harbrow has been just a player but thats me. And don't even get me started on Bock. Although Warnock has been a good foot soldier for them and has let them develop Rory Thompson from 4th string ruckman to very nice CHB prospect. Here's the thing about Melbourne though - we've been rebuilding since 2008 (or even mid 2007) back when Gold Coast were just a glimmer in Demetriou's eye. We've had Morton, Grimes, Maric, Watts, Blease, Strauss, Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Tapscott, Cook all taken in the top 22 picks. Now if you forget 2008-2011 and say when Neeld took over in 2011 we were right back at ground zero again and rebuilding the rebuild well since then we've only added the 2 big forwards and Viney and Toumpas as top selections so yes we will be miles behind the riches given to GWS and GC. But I just don't think Neeld is at all right. Some of the names above as well as lesser types were going ok under Bailey and Neeld aim should've been to refocus the rebuild not make us worse. Yes he needed to go get a key forward in Clark to straighten us up. But after that he shouldl've said ok I've got Frawley, McDonald, Sellar, Garland, Rivers, Grimes, Strauss etc down back I can teach these guys into a strong unit. I've got Moloney, Jones, Trengove, McKenzie in the middle ok I've got some blokes to win contested ball and tackle, thats a good start. Up forward he could've said I've brought in Mitch Clark how can I get the best out of Watts, Howe, Sylvia and Brad Green for however long he has left and find some small types. At the end of the day whatever Bailey was doing wasn't working, I get that. But I don't understand how that translates into taking a team capable of up and down performances and still with the ability to beat sides on its day and turn it into a complete mess that has been beaten in almost every quarter of the year. The only reason we beat GWS is that they got so tired running so hard winning a game they fell in a mess. I'd love to see us work so hard taking it up to a better team and then crumble in the last quarter, it would show that we have some talent in their after all.

Yep got him for Gilham. Lets just hope we asked for Anderson and they said no thanks. We were already getting Hogan and 20 for 3 and 13. You wouldn't think they'd add Anderson who was highly regarded as top 20 worthy compared to Barry who was more 30-50. I'm not having a go at Dom. I'm just saying if he's going to end up a star or capable AFL wingman/running defender etc he'd want to show that he can mix it with the VFL boys. I don't expect him to get 25 each week but if he can hold his spot that's a good start.

Was a poor trade but I don't think Gysberts will ever make it as more than a depth player. He lacks the speed and skills for mine to play outside. He can accumulate through clever positioning and is a smart clearance player but will he ever get the quick first step and strong body required to be a pure inside player? For mine the best he'll be isn't much better than a Matt Jones. I think in Neeld's mind he was thinking well we can get a Matt Jones in the midfield mix and a Pedersen as a back up ruck forward and we've got 2 starters right now. Or we can stuff around waiting for Gysberts to get the body required to get near AFL midfield strength or fitness (regardless if that was his attitude or not) and have Stef Martin never taking an overhead mark in his life. That's where I see that trade being at.

Yeah that was a nice goal and the ruck work was great. But under Bailey Moloney did all those things and almost every time we played a half decent midfield he went completely to water. 15 disposals just isn't enough, most teams, Essendon included have 5 or so midfielders who offer more than Moloney. Essendon alone have Goddard, Watson, Stanton, Hocking, Heppell and Zaharakis. The fact is that Neeld challenged Moloney to add hard defensive running and other things to his game. The things that take your game to the level needed to be in a consistently good side. As i said before Neeld should've motivated him in ways that got him to stay at Melbourne and still play some effective footy. For that reason it will be one of Neeld's failures. But what should we expect from a coach coming in? That he says to Moloney oh ok you've done a nice job of being spoonfed by Jamar and shoving the ball forward generally to no one and not being a great defensive worker. That's good, we will keep that up and expect the rest of the team to improve around you. I'm glad Neeld didn't do that. Instead he said lets try Jones in that position and guess what he's even better than you at it. Unfortunately playing him forward and dropping him to Casey was a step too far from Neeld. Also unfortunately now Jones gets a bloke jumping on him and there is no one to replace Jones in the rest of the midfield positions.

He's never displayed any ounce of decision making ability. Yes he's balanced and can kick but he just can't think and run at the same time. Maybe we might trick another team in to wanting him and trade him at the end of the year.

Yeah he was ok, but how many good players in the AFL even had to play reserves. When I think of guys who started out in the VFL reserves I think of Spencer, Juice Newton, Kyle Cheney - guys who end up being good VFL players but never make the step into AFL. I feel like if Barry is going to make it he'd want to at least cement himself a spot in the VFL by the end of the year.

The case for: - We suck The case against: Watson takes a mark on Moloney in the forward line late in the 4th quarter, plus Moloney does very little for most of the game = Continued poor performances and little defense against better teams. The case for still probably wins

Blease might be remodeled into something and it's too early to give up on Barry but.... At the moment it's only Taggert and Hogan who I think are really AFL players in waiting.

A 210 match finishes at 4:45 so really I think it's all about tv. TV is the reason all games are at random times these days

Why? Surely Majak Daw should be celebrated for his culture and not because of his culture. I do believe you can be over emphatic about someones race and have it draw against their feats. Not many people talking about how good Tom Lynch is for a slow white bloke or a red head are there! They are talking up his ability and 10 goal haul.

Does Kelly O'Donnell's director of pro scouting role expand to the VFL? I thought it was purely other AFL players? Obviously that would mean watching VFL and some other state leagues I understand. But he'd be largely responsible for Rodan, Byrnes and Gillies who have been underwhelming as well. Only Byrnes has got a pass and maybe Rodan a pass off the field. Surely Terlich would've been recruited mainly by the scouts in South Australia?

Yep and if flash lets him again he may as well run to the bench, grab the sub vest and never play again. People wonder why we keep letting our leaders go but its because they have as much heart as Davey has showed recently.

Meh. We've had our Clint Bartrams over the time. Morris is good and would mean we wouldn't have to play the likes of Nicholson but I'd rather a Cotchin or Martin. Hell I'd take an Shane Tuck to play hard clearance footy and keep playing wtih a broken scapula.

Kelly O'Donnell and Tim Harrington are surely 2 of the first out the door if Peter Jackson is wanting to rejuvinate the football department.