DeeSpencer

Strauss may lack intensity and physicallity but they can be worked on. To call him soft is stupid and ignorant. He broke his leg playing for this club what did you do? And taking the word of hanneberry? Really? The bloke spends most of his time back in Melbourne at 7 nightclub or other night spots indulging himself. Very good footballer but I'm not convinced he should serve as a character witness. Did they play juniors together or is he judging off 10 or so tac games?

with essendon suspensions they've lost hille, winderlich and pears which hurts them. Plus they'll be holding some emergencies over for their game like us with sellar and toumpas. Not being a VFL side they won't have great replacements.Anyone watching is Matty bate playing? If so how's he going?

So if this current statement isn't a lie then the 7:30 report are a disgrace. We know what to expect from heraldsun journos but I thought the ABC would be above this.

http://www.lakesidesmc.com.au/staff/dr-dan-bates/ Compared to: http://www.sportsmed.epworth.com.au/About/Dr-Andrew-Daff.aspx Who's the experienced guy who works with the Essendon and Western Bulldogs doctors and the number 1 media doctor, and who's the guy interested in stem cell treatment and other fancy things. Hmmm

How must our players feel. They all knew they were sitting on a ticking time bomb. What lies could the power brokers at Melbourne told them? Oh don't worry about the AFL they wont find out? Or we cleared it when them don't worry. I can certainly understand some reason for their insipid performances. They've been lied to continuously.

I'd sack the doctor and whoever was involved in any form of cover up to the AFL. If that's the whole football department they then can all go.

We had one of the most highly regarded doctors and we replace him with a guy who then goes and organises the players to get supplements from this Dank joker. How on earth injected animal products can be considered a good idea is beyond me. I don't care if its cutting edge it's disgraceful. I feel for the players who likely knew no better than to go along with it.

Probably defensive side of his game. If he can't do that at VFL level he won't be much use in the senior side. The other thing is its a hard to place to get a kick in our forward line and the guys in the team probably deserve some time. Byrnes, Davey and Tapscott are the 3 playing his position. I think Neeld is liking Byrnes' effort and giving him a try. Again I think Davey is playing ok and Tapscott kicked 6 in the VFL. As Brad Scott said about Majak Daw "He's playing well in the VFL but he's not playing games that mean I can't leave him out". Let's see if Kent can get to the next level at VFL first. All said I'd like to see him soon if even as the sub.

Send him down. He's got speed, strength and kicking. Any idea what his endurance is like. And what height is he. Preferably 6 foot or above and he's good to go for Casey reserves backline.

If so where do we move him? We've already got Connolly and Viney in sideways roles. And does anyone at all expect any difference?

Probably should've had a shave! Or keep working on that beard and provide solidarity for Frawley, Watts, Gillies and co!

It's not about what he does on field. It's about developing some relevance in the AFL and world wide (and to really [censored] off the US haters) it's to bring in some swag to the MFC.

Followers of the NFL, devout Christians or fans of novelty celebrations are bound to know who Tim Tebow is. If you don't it goes like this (briefly) - College football star quarterback - 2 National titles - Christian +++ (probably not a huge fan of Demons) - Virgin (maybe) - Dodgy throwing action and in general makes poor throws but still wins - Media follows every move he makes - Drafted by Broncos, crowd cheers for him to start games, replaces B grade QB, somehow wins games whilst barely throwing (ie. like a football winning without getting a kick) ends up leading them to an unlikely playoff victory until former QB and list manager (AFL terms) John Elway makes a deal for Peyton Manning (MVP, Superbowls, gun) and ships Tebow off to the jets - Jets suck, they are like the Melbourne of the NFL, coach is pretty mental (like a confident Mark Neeld), GM (CE0) gets the sack, their former promising QB Sanchez is now horrible (like a Jamar) and they even want to trade their best player. Yet poor old Tebow still can barely get given a game on the field - After most of the free agency deals etc are being done the Jets still haven't cut Tebow despite reports they don't want him and no other NFL team is interested because they don't want the disruption to their QB. The pressure placed on your starting QB with the fans and media continually asking about the number 2 is an awful distraction. Now here's where AFL comes in. This guy wants to be a starting NFL QB but just maybe he'd take the chance to be an AFL star. Now the money is a big hurdle because if he strikes it rich in the NFL as a QB he's getting 15+ million per year. But as a lowly backup without a team he's heading for more like 1 mil a year non guaranteed. Now GWS and GC both got players signed for them by the AFL on promotional deals. I think after this weekend we will prove to be just as bad as they are. The AFL would hate to give us another priority pick, it would look disastrous. And they can't justify just giving us more money. But if they could spend up on a promotional signing for us then it could help. If they offered him 1.5 million plus per year and organised some deals with Australian Companies wanting to make it in the US they would get every dollar they spent and more back in media exposure. That's where it helps us. Our sponsors names would be everywhere with massive US exposure. Not to mention his first game is bound to have massive coverage and a draw a crowd. Now of course its all got potential to be a disaster. Tebow is 25 and 191cm 107kg is too heavy for AFL currently and wouldn't have the fitness. But he's a damn hard worker and is tough as old boots. He runs like a running back and isn't afraid to take a hit. Now I'm usually a fan of just keeping it simple. Keep making smart choices with recruitment of players and staff and things will turn around. But as this season goes on I'm getting concerned we are so far behind the other clubs we need something a little crazy. So crazy it might just work.

If sure Gawny will but Missions injury updates are usually correct and he said no Dawes this week and 50/50 next week. Even then I think he'd be best back through Casey considering he played 1 mini preseason game before missing 8+ weeks.

Maybe, but not unusual. I imagine Viney will be eased from a lot of training this year to protect him. And Tommy Mac has had 2 big games since coming back from injury. Chasing Hurley and Darling around in a team getting smashed isn't an easy task.

He had a really good first half on the weekend. Kicked 2 clutch goals, but then went missing. Obviously his fitness and match fitness is still coming back but I really hope he can have a better year than last year. He's got a lot of pressure and I don't expect him to dominate or play to Jones' level but just if he can find the footy more and get back to his reliable disposal that went missing last year then it will be great. Grimes looked very good off half back last week even if he did make a few errors. Just having him back there I feel helps the players around him because you know he's always coming over to help and isn't afraid to go back and put his body on the line. Clark is trying as hard as he is up forward and if Sylvia can work as hard as he did on the weekend up forward as well then we've at least got some guys giving it a go there. The midfield is the big one and its where we need McKenzie and Trengove back at their best to go with the two Jones' and Viney and at least we will have guys who have a dip each week and aren't afraid to win the ball.

I was most impressed by the hard work infront of the ball. That and a couple of skilled kicks and the game opens up. These were from deep in defense we manage to move the ball. Of course football is even easier when you win the contested ball and keep it in your forward half. It wasn't perfect but the clip with forward pressure was better.

He actually played ok against Essendon especially in the first half. We need to look after him. We make him chase midfielders and play 95% of games. He should just stick to one opponent for the whole game. This week I'd give him Cameron and put the onus on the other backmen to do their damn jobs and take responsibility for moving the ball out of the backline as they should. It should fall on Frawley to create run nearly as much as he tries to.

The commentary in that long vid from Bruce gives it away as well "the little GIVE was a good one".

No he's right. Look up the AFL rules on the definition of a handball I don't know the exact rules but the hand the ball is held in can't be moving when it's hit by the fist. If you look at the footage his left hand is clearly moving and aids the trajectory of the ball to go back towards Franklin. Now these days the rule is pretty much hit it with a fist and its a handball, but that's not technically correct. I'm happy for ones like these to slide but I think the umps should tighten up on a lot of them. I'm usually in favour of letting soft free kicks go but there is way too much throwing in our game.

Out: Garland, Pedersen, Toumpas, Davey In: Strauss, Gawn, McKenzie, Kent

Young players. Byrnes and Rodan aren't young. Gillies and Sellar were scrap heap types. I maintain Sellar could make it as a defender if needed to. The only way we are getting stars is through the draft. Which we should do with our high picks. But for our 3rd/4th round picks there is value to be had. How does someone propose we get Jack Steven. St Kilda wouldn't be happy with just our second round pick and how much money do we offer him? St Kilda should come into money with their stars aging and Goddard gone. They should secure him easily. As for Carrazo I really don't think he wants the captaincy. He's got triplets at home. He doesn't want extra responsibility. Again he's the wrong age bracket.

Midfield is our biggest point of need so I'd look into the clubs with the strongest midfields - Coll, Syd, Carl, Haw, Geel, West Coast and see if there is any talent for the picking. Of course GWS have too many young midfielders to fit into one side!

Not a heap of talent in the right age bracket on the free agency list. Maybe Alan Toovey or see if we can revive Xavier Ellis might be the best of the bunch really. We need to follow Port (Monfries, Heath, Stephenson) and Richmond (of the Houli/Grigg/Maric days) and focus some cheap trades for players with talent not in the best 22. I'd look down the emergencies list each week and see if there is anyone who continues to bob up but clearly has talent. For example young West Coast ruck Scott Lycett might want to leave after not getting a game stuck behind Cox/NicNat/Sinclair. I don't like him as a player but Leroy Jetta might want to come across considering we have no star pressure small forwards. They aren't the best examples but you get the point.

Centre clearances you'd think would be an easy way of predicting midfield coaches output. All be it in one facet. However the problem with Melbourne is how to you judge it with the players available. Jamar did a good job in the first half against West Coast then dropped off. Similarly Jones in the only top line midfielder we have in there. Besides from that I'd like to see the coaches judged on what effort they can get from their groups. Judging Royal on things like running patterns and ball movement might be harder because they are part of the overall plan. Skill development could be one. Which young players can we get and turn in to Jones like hard at it inside midfielders. Could Matt Jones learn that? Or Michael Evans. I've given up thinking he can make Sylvia into the midfielder we'd all love him to be. Can he teach Toumpas the composure he needs to elevate his game pretty quickly.