DirtyDees DDC

McLean on Bench. 5 minutes to go in second quarter. possibly injured.

I'd like a wager you are completely wrong. What a stupid unknowledgable statement.

Junior turns 34 this year. Bruce turns 31. Are you saying that they will both be playing AFL football in 2012 when they are two years older? There are recent exceptions such as Bradley and Harvey, but they were A grade players.

Not only is their age a problem, but Bruce and Junior will face increased competition for their positions from the likes of Tapscott, Blease, and Gysberts.

My bet is that Junior will retire at the end of this year, and Bruce to retire after 2011.

Leign Matthews was hardly the sniper. Often he was front and centre with the "hard" stuff.

Leigh was hardly front and centre when he heaved into Royce Hart in the 70's. And Royce was standing over the boundary line! He also gonged Barry Cable in an interstate match. Two of the fairest players in the game!

Don't forget that Leigh played in an era when they didn't have 17 cameras at each game, so a lot of his stuff went unreported.

Someone else mentioned 'Delicate Des Dickson'. What a classic. Norm Bussell wasn't bad either. And don't forget Leigh's brother Kelvin. Vin Waite had a touch of the sun when Kelvin ran past him.

For post 1990, i'd pick Libba. He changed his game to become a full time scagger. He argued that he played within the letter of the law. He certainly didn't stay within the spirit of the game.

Honourable mention to McGlynn - now playing with the swans. He was blocking Davey to the ground last year when they were 60 metres off the ball.

Matthews, Dickson, Bussell, McGlynn. There's a common thread here.

Turnovers can be a tricky stat. Sometimes it takes 1-2 minutes for a turnover to result in a goal.

I tend to call it a turnover goal if no-one from our team gains a possession b/w the time we turnover the ball and the time the opposition score a goal. Is that reasonable?

Also, what if our player runs into an open goal or has an easy set shot, and misses. The opposition then rebound and score a goal from the kickout without a melbourne player touching the ball. Is that also a turnover goal?

Interesting. I thought the selectors actually decided to pick a more experienced team for Sunday. They chose Newton over Spencer; they dropped Strauss to make way for Sylvia; and they picked Bate and Jones over Cheney and Garland.

Despite these selections, we still have the youngest and most inexperienced team in the AFL this weekend.

The Dees will stay young over the next couple of years too. Junior and Bruce will probably retire by end of 2011.

They will be replaced by an army of kids including Garland who have played 20 games or less who are pushing for selection. Add Tapscott, Gawn and Blease who will virtually be new recruits in 2011, and it's going to be difficult to give all of them the gametime they need in the senior team.

Somethings gotta give. Miller has gone; Rivers, Bate, Jones and Warnock are 4 other guys who may struggle to hold their place unless they can improve their disposal skills. By 2012, 1/2 the goals scored in the AFL may result from turnovers, so If you can't kick or handpass efficiently then you're in trouble.

Good to see Sam Blease in the reserves for Scorpions. 'One small step for Sam...'. PJ is back too.

No shows for this weekend - Rivers, Fitzpatrick and Hughes.

Rivers had a good pre-season but still can't get himself right. I think he was injured in the Adelaide pre season match. He may lose his regular position in the backline to Garland.

Great to see Garland get selected on the bench. I suspect he may serve another week at Casey to give him further match practice but at least the signs are good. People can finally stop asking him about THAT foot.

Interesting to note that Rivers wasn't selected. I want to see if he's picked for Casey on Saturday night. Maybe he's still on the short term injury list.

The forward line as selected looks a bit short. This may be a tactic but i believe they have to play either Spencer or Newton as a backup to Jamar. I'll bet on Newton. He's a better option on the forward line than Spencer, and that's where he will spend most of the match.

I can't see Jones or McKenzie missing out, which leaves Bate and Cheney for the final position. It's been a while since Bate was dropped. Perhaps the club is sending him the message that while his talent is wanted, his position in the side is not automatic. I think they'll give him another chance this weekend.

So the side that will beat Adelaide by 7 goals to 4 on Sunday may look like this:

Melbourne Round 3 Squad

Backs: Warnock, Frawley, Bennell

Half backs: McDonald, MacDonald, Dunn

Centreline: Bail, Trengove, Davey

Half forwards: Green, Sylvia, Bruce

Forwards: Scully, Petterd, Bartram

Followers: Jamar, Grimes, Moloney

I/C: McKenzie,Jones,Newton, Bate.

The reasons I can see are messing up other teams' match-ups, reducing injuries, using different players' strengths at different times, and so on. Another thing they mentioned on one of those footy programs on Monday night was the fact that often the head coach doesn't micro-manage the bench to that extent. Sometimes it is the doctors or the other guys on the boundary. Sometimes - rare as it is - a player even wants to come off the ground, for whatever reason.

So when does this get organised? Is there an interchange roster drawn up before the game commences or do the players respond to commands from the runner?

I had the feeling that players left the ground at certain stages of the game, such as after a goal is scored or if the ball crosses the boundary line near the interchange bench. It also seems to be used to free up a player and create a target on the wing.

There may be another stat that has more bearing on our performance in the short term.

Against Hawthorn we had 87 interchanges, the lowest in round one according to Gary Lyon on Footy Clasifieds.

Come round 2 we lead the league with 138 interchanges. I'm not sure why the number of interchanges increased or whether it's a significant reason for the improvement, but the club seemed to make a special effort to work the bench.

It's a funny stat. At some point clubs must reach a limit unless they get clever and increase the number of interchange players. We could end up like Gridiron with a Defensive team, an offensive team, and a safety team. No thanks!

I have heard that it improves the players recovery time - they get a better rest on the bounday than in the forward pocket. Any other reasons?

Didn't Bails say on Footy Classifieds that he wanted Watts to play 4 good games at Casey before he gets considered for senior selection?

Judging by the reports and the stats, it was the senior players who lifted on Saturday, with good support from Grimes and McKenzie.

The big improvement came from Davey, Petterd, Jamar, JoelMac, Dunn and Moloney. These are the guys that need to reproduce that effort each week.

The stats indicate that Scully and Trengove were OK but not prominent, while other newcomers in Bennell and Strauss had less than 10 possessions each.

I was possibly more gutted after Saturdays match than the first round. We had a chance to beat Collingwood with a kick after the siren. My pacemaker would have needed new batteries.

This Sunday we play a side that will copp a massive bagging from their supporters and the Media. We could be facing a version of ourselves from last Saturday.

We may even go in as favourites for the first time in ages. I see this match as one of our 3 most important for the year (the other two are our only friday night match against the dogs and the day game against Carlton prior to the Queens birtday weekend. Both games are very important from a Marketing persective).

We need to prove that last Saturday was not a fluke.

If round two had been round one, these are the three things we would have learned:

North are now the worst team in history;

Petterd is a better key position forward than Kurt Tippett;

The Dees are second favourites for the flag.

Despite the better form on Saturday, there is a chance that 1/2 that side could be playing for Casey by the last few rounds of the season.

Over the next 6 weeks we may have to add the following players:

This weekend Sylvia and Rivers (if fit) will return to the list, plus a second ruckman to support Jamar (either Martin or Spencer).

Gysberts,Maric and Cheney are fit and available; they just need to show some form with the scorpions. The first VFL match is this saturday at 7pm.

Garland and Watts have had recent gametime with Casey and will push for senior selection within 2-4 weeks.

Wonna is 1-2 weeks away from playing and will push for selection if he can get a few games at Casey.

Reports indicate PJ played 1/2 a game last thursday in a practice match. He's off the injury list and so is Blease. I'd love to see both of them play for Casey seniors this weekend.

PJ has had a poor pre-season with injury and may take a few weeks to get fit. There's a spot in the side for a big forward/ruckman to support Jamar...if he wants it.

As for Blease...dunno! he hasn't played for a year. We can afford to wait, but i'd promote him if he shows some form at Casey. We need some extra pace in the MFC.

Jetta and Bell may not be automatic selections but they are set to return in 3-4 weeks and can put pressure on other players in the 22.

Morton comes back in 6 weeks. I hope he does a week at casey before returning to the seniors.

Our 3 'indefinites' - Gawn, Tapscott and Meeson - none are automatic inclusions when fit and will probably not make the senior side this year.

Jurrah is 13 weeks away from returning. That puts him at a possible return by round 15 against Essendon on July 11. It's highly unlikely he'll go straight into the seniors, but i still want him to play some matches this year. There are 7 games left after the Essendon clash. I'd get Jurrah back in the side ASAP. He needs to build on his 9 games and get someting out of this year. Put him and Wonna in the same team and watch the fun.

So by the end of the year, the side could look something like:

B; Garland, Frawley, Cheney,

HB; Joelmac, Rivers, Grimes,

C;Davey, Moloney, Morton,

HF;Sylvia, Watts, Jurrah,

F;Petterd, Johnson, Green,

R;Jamar, Trengove, Scully.

IC;Wonna, Gysberts, Jetta, Blease.

Unlikely perhaps, but this is for round 22. We will be out of the 8 so we can pick a side to develop for next year.

I'm assuming that Junior retires after a big win against the Hawks in round 20.

The backline had no chance to regroup on those occasions you mentioned after we turned over the ball. Hawthorn players spread fast & moved the ball quickly inside their 50 leaving our defenders half way up the ground where the ball had been turned over. I think the issue was not about the backline, I think it was more to do with accountability and costly turnovers catching players out of position.

I wonder if we could have prevented that by playing one-on-one. The first 15 minutes of the first match of the season are a bit like a final. 6 months of expectations. We did a fair job at the clearances and our tackle count was good. Perhaps just 'playing it tight' for the first 1/4 might have been a better option.

TEN MILES BEHIND ME (AND TEN THOUSAND MORE TO GO) by Whispering Jack

The problem with many of the players who let their team down is that in the heat of action these blokes cannot or will not run to save themselves. The game these days is mainly about athleticism and running. It's said that we recruit players for their athleticism as much as for their football skills and yet, when Melbourne has the ball, you can look at the ground and all you can see is stagnation. There's little or no movement at the station.

So why don't we run? Are we unfit? Do we stand too far off our opponents to make a difference, or do we simply not know where to go?

An example is Rivers. He may have been injured, but he spent time walking around the park with no particular place to go.

I have to confess i did something yesterday that I deeply resent from other supporters. I stood up and screamed at Miller for falling over during a marking contest in the second quarter. To be fair to Miller, i noticed was getting work on his hammies at the start of the 3rd. It's a classic reminder that the supporters don't know everything that goes on during the match, or in the buildup.

Man-on-man football. Who would have thought that with a young list with little experience that keeping things as simple as possible and allowing them to not have to worry about zones and flooding would work?

February 2010:

Dermott indicated that Hawthorn were expecting Melbourne to flood the backline. They planned for it; we did it; and they took advantage. That's good coaching.

I'm also worried about our level of 'steely resolve' in the backline. The Hawks scored with their first two entries into the 50 metre zone. The first was because of a turnover from Jones in midfield (he tries so hard but he has not improved his kicking skills to AFL standard). The second was when Warnock was beaten in a one-on-one contest by Roughhead.

Surely in the very first game of the season you must fight to the death to prevent the oppposition from scoring when they first enter the forward 50. If you can stop the oppositions initial attacks it gives terrific boost to your midfielders and forwards. The MFC has said we are building a side from the backline. Yesterday we played the 6-7 guys who will form the nucleus of our backline for the next 5 years. They work as a team within a team, but they did not work hard enough to put pressure on anyone who entered their territory. As mentioned by others, they also didn't 'fly the flag' when grimes went down behind play. Inexcusable. Maybe we need to draw our own 'line in the sand' just as Hawthorn did a few years ago.

I caught the end of a conversation on SEN this afternoon with Dermott Brereton. Dermott was discussing Melbourne's game plans on the day. He felt that Hawthorn has 3-4 players such as Birchall, Ellis and Guarra who prefer to run free instead of manning up on an opponent.

So what did the Dees do? He said we allowed Hawthorn to set up free players in their defensive zone. This was exactly what the Hawks wanted. The Birchalls and Ellises were allowed a free shot at their forward targets and they cut us to shreds. He said we went one-on-one in the last 40 minutes and did much better, but the bottom line according to Brereton was that Bailey's tactics for yesterdays match were a shocker.

Should we go back to a simple game plan such as one-on-one? Are there other options?

Why do we also hang off our opponents? We seem to leave 10-15 metres of space b/w our guys and their opposing player when we are not involved in the play. Then we get exposed when the other team can kick straight and that's what happened yesterday. Twice in the second quarter they kicked off from full back, then used 4-6 kicks to score at the southern end. We never got close.

We beat Hawthorn in tackles, so we made a contest of the game when we could get near them, but they had 61 more uncontested possessions. Sometimes this stat can be misleading, (eg; defenders chipping it back to each other) but yesterday the Hawks kicked the ball forward with precision and it hurt.

St kilda and the Swans play man-on-man and cover every player. The finals are played the same way - look at last years GF - far more kicks than handpasses. For some reason we do things differently. I'm not a big fan of watching their style of play but at least it's honest. Surely we can do better than leave opposition players free all over the ground. Let's bring back some accountability.

The only positives from yesterday were heroic efforts from individuals - Green and Grimes were 2 examples, and little Scully throwing himself in front of roughhead. There was also a passage of play in the last quarter where we moved the ball from the backline through a chain of kicks and handpasses and scored the 6 points. We can do it, but we have to do a lot more work off the ball. 22 players have to learn to run into space and create opportunities, while cutting out the space for the opposition. I hope it's that simple.

Oh god that was awful. Are we getting worse? We got within 22 points last year against a side featuring Buddy, Sewell, Rioli and Bateman. They cut us to ribbons today with their field kicking and should have won by 100pts.

How is it that a 10 year player like Bruce can have such poor handball skills? Too many turnovers.

Jones - he's a fourth 4th year player...has he improved his kicking at all? And Oh boy has has huge problems making decisions.

Junior - wonderful trier...but he kills us with his possessions. He grabs the ball - he turns - and he kicks it straight up in the air! That might have been fine in the '60's but it is just not good enough today. Why doesn't he try passing the ball by hand or foot to someone in a better position. They should be leading by example. Instead, they continually put everyone under pressure.

These are our senior players, yet they do not have sufficient skills to play AFL football. They're not alone. Let's add Spencer, Miller, Warnock, Rivers, and Frawley as senior players with poor kicking skills.

Bate, Davey, and Jamar looked underdone - but so did everyone else. We have been training since Oct 12 last year so why do we spend all day walking and chasing?

Our running off the ball was terrible, our shepherding was non existent, and why oh why do we continually handball to a player standing still!!!

We also picked too many new players at once. Not only the 3 first gamers, but Spencer and Mckenzie are very raw and it showed today. Newcomers can afford to make some errors if the senior players are doing their job. That didn't happen today.

Here you go, because I had nothing better to do.

Melbourne – 5

(McLean, Meesen, Morton, Sylvia, Watts)

So we had 5 players on last years list that were top ten draft picks. And none of them are playing for Melbourne today.

And we have the worst training facilities.

Fortunately both areas will improve before the end of this season.

There's no doubt in my mind that we can win today but we have to show a lot more than we have over the NAB/practice match series. 

I think that the selected team for today's game is of better quality and better prepared than the 26 man squads we put out on the ground during the pre season games.

On paper we have a fairly good side. We dont have a top gun key forward, but look at Geelong. 2 fumbling lugs as KPFs, and they are still the best team in the comp.

Unfortunately our form has been poor and key players such as Davey and Bate have had interrupted pre-seasons. Interesting to read Clarkson say that the dorks may use Roughhead as a back-up ruckman. Good news if it takes him away from the forward line.

Our defence must hold them to a score < 100pts. We have picked a team that probably includes our defensive line-up for the next 5 years, so i want to see good improvement this year. Frawley at CHB; Warnock and Rivers to take the other talls; Macdonald, Strauss and Bennell to kick and carry the ball, and Grimes to alternate b/w defence and midfield. I also see Scully spending a lot of time linking up with the defence.

If Scully can build himself up to the same size as Joel Selwood (they are both 182cms), i predict he will be a slightly better player. He will be a little fitter, and may have the fastest hands in the west. He's not a bad kick but he just needs to tighten up that left hand when he releases the ball. He tends to drop the ball and throw the hand away to the left, instead of controlling the ball onto the foot like luke hodge.

We've got 3 kids playing their first game. let's not be too hard on them. 'SGO DEES' !!!

We have a really bad habit of completely dropping our bundle for 20-30 minutes and conceding an avalanche of goals. This is how we lose most of our matches, and often this bad period is right at the start of the match.

We saw this problem in nearly every match last year and i was hoping it would disappear, but the same old bad habit resurfaced in the pre-season. The Wiggles kicked 7 straight and Freo jumped us in the first quarter.

Our most important players tomorrow are Bruce, Green, Davey, Junior and Miller - our 5 most experienced players. At least they will all take the field, but they've got to show leadership when the going gets tough. I want to see them encouraging the new players; slowing the game down to limit Hawthorn's opportunities; making correct decisions when under pressure.

We've got a good chance if we can take our chances and cover their top players - Hodge, Mitchell and Roughhead. Buddy and Sewell are huge losses and their list looks a bit thin from 16-22.

Whatever happens tomorrow, there may be a number of changes in personnel by August.

Have a look at the selected side, then add Morton, Sylvia, Jurrah, Garland and Watts. Throw in the youth of Wonna, Blease, Gysberts and Jetta and we will have some serious internal pressure for places in the 22. 'GO DEES!!!!!!'

Martin has impressed me when he runs hard and into space. He's tall and fast and could split the zones as a kickout target by marking the ball and playing on. I saw him do this very well against the Wiggles and the intraclub match. He ran into the 1/2 forward flank, caught the ball at full steam and powered on. No-one was within shepherding distance.

He doesn't have to kick (thank goodness) but he can draw a defender and handpass to a running back or a supporting midfielder. This could be a set play to give us some variety at the kickouts.

We've tried to set up Martin as a key defender or forward. Maybe he's better as a mobile target.

If it was up to Sylvia he'd probably play this week. I'd love to see him out there but we can't risk another broken jaw, hopefully the medico's make the right decision whatever that may be.

Rumour is young Trengove has a bit of an injury - nothing too serious and shouldn't stop him from round 1, contact your sources and figure that one out ladies and gents.

I heard he had a cork thigh which slowed him down in the match against the wiggles. He still played a good percentage of the game and has two weeks to recover.

This question was posed about a month ago. I read that if we finish bottom and we win 4 or less, we get picks 4 and 6. The priority draft still lives, but in modified form. GC will automatically get the 1st 3 picks. Swallow is already pick as one of the 3 and is training with GC this year. Jack Darling in WA looks a very good chance for one of the other 2 spots.

STEPPING BACK by The Oracle

As the game progressed, the Melbourne game became excruciatingly more difficult to watch as the ball was often handballed at the feet of stationary players or kicked wide of teammates who were thereby constantly put under pressure. They would do well to take a look at the tape of last night's NAB Cup Grand Final to see how the Western Bulldogs dispose of the ball by hand and by foot.

Totally agree with the poor handball. We didn't seem to have enough options when we had the ball, and we didn't hit them when we tried. Too many times we stuffed up the first couples of handpasses out of the pack. At other times we would string 8 or 9 handpasses together to free up a player (similar to Geelong). This should improve as the players get to know each other, but i hope the club has a major focus on handballing under pressure in the next 2 weeks.

A couple of other observations:

It took us 1 hour to get from cheltenham to the ground. Big traffic jams outside the ground. That road needs to be 2 lanes each way near the entrance.

The crowd was very quiet. not much noise apart from the section in the stand.

Why were Spencer and Martin in the ruck at the same time in the second half?