DirtyDees DDC

I had a look at the training session this morning at Gosch's Paddock. It was just terrific to see 3 guys who have been missing in action all year. Jetta, Gawn and Evans were running laps and finished with kick-to-kick (3 players in a triangle). Max looked in very good shape and appears to have bulked up a bit in the upper body. The official injury list has Jetta and Evans returning in 4-8 weeks, with Max out for the season, but it looks like he should be fine for the first day of pre-season training for next year. Petterd was mostly walking laps. He's officially out for another week so he may have to wait till the next Casey match on June 24 to get some matchplay. I didn't see Bartram, Fitzpatrick, Jurrah, Viney or Taggart anywhere. Today's session was relatively short - not much more than an hour and finishing at 11ish, and consisted of a handball session, a short passing session, and some matchplay. The movement out of the backline was good with some effective run and carry from Blease, but we struggled to hit the targets on the forward 50. I'd also like to see them score goals in their matchplay. The play seemed to stop once the ball got into the forward 50. In contrast, the Collingwood players were finishing off their work in the adjacent oval. The highlight was the full-on wrestling match between Jade 'the snake' Rawlings and Jack Watts. Both players would be fined by the AFL in a real game. Rawlings used a lot of his extra weight to advantage. Frawley Blease and Martin are listed as 'test' but they all got through the full session this morning. To summarize today's session in one word - noisy. They were in good spirits this morning. No surprises there. Go Dees.

Good news about Jamar re-signing. Thank god for hyphens!

It was so important from a marketing aspect that we did well against Essendon. it sets us up for a big crowd next QB weekend against the woods. What a team effort. But it could have been even better. If only we'd played Garland on the wing.

I've just got home. I heard the result. I'm about to watch the replay. How good is that?!!!!!!!

We are hamstrung by Casey's draw - no games in the last 2 weeks. I'd like to see Davis in, but he's a defender and we defended well for 3 quarters yesterday. I'm not sure who would go out for him. What does Moloney want to do with the ball when he gets it? I have no idea. If he can't bang the ball onto his foot (with no intention to kick it to anyone in particular) then he plays this funny game where he holds the ball close to his chest and tries to wrestle past 3 opposition players. The best case scenario is another ball up. No wonder we got smashed at the clearances - he's playing the wrong code!!! He should be playing for Melbourne Storm. He needs to watch Pendlebury and learn how to keep his arms free in the tackle - and learn to handball!!!! Sylvia has the same issues. They think they are supermen.

I would have liked just a little more from Jurrah, Blease and Watts. They all had quiet last quarters, although some have suggested the Watts and Jurrah were benched for most of the last. That bit of defensive work by Davis - where he ran down Amos Frank then won a two against one contest near their goal square - that was one of the best pieces of defensive play i have seen.

No Strauss? I guess he's still recovering from his leg injury. And no Matthews?

i hate to get technical, but i think you might be using reverse alliteration, rather than the pure form.

Can we get this guy to do the weekly reports from Casey?

Just watched a replay (6.30 on 7) of Wojinski deliberately hitting Viney in the face with his hand, then they cut to Viney going off the ground with his broken jaw. It looks bad but i suspect the two incidents could be unrelated, as (according to reports here) the incident that broke Viney's jaw occurred in the field of play.

Yes Caroline - tell us which games we lost to get Jack in 2008. Maybe it was the 1st round match against Hawthorn -belted by over 100 points. Maybe it was one of 6 other matches that we lost by over 75 points. We did did not tank in 2008. we didn't have to....we were just terrible. In 2009 we lost so many matches where we did OK for a time, then got blown away by the opposition. This was exactly the same phenomenon that occured against Hawthorn, Collingwood, North, and the Bulldogs in 2011. It runs in the club. We also got picked on for taking Liam Jurrah off the ground against St Kilda in 2009, after he kicked two goals in a quarter. We now know that Liam has issues with match fitness and trying to build up his endurance. This was a good article, but it is ruined by Caroline's blinked view of our club. She takes Bailey's word as gospel on the day he resigned, and she never ever explains what happened in that match against the Tigers in 2009. If Melbourne were tanking that day, what were Richmond doing? Please explain Caroline.

I think his biggest problem is inconsistency - he fails to put in for 4 quarters. Too many times he'll have a good first quarter or half, then disappear from the match. He often seems to pull this disappearing act during clutch quarters, such as the 3rd against Richmond. He is not doing enough at the moment to justify a regular place in the side. This year they have tried him up forward, at the bounce, on the wing, and as a spare man in defence. He needs to go to Casey and get his hands on the ball (at least 20 possessions per game) and build up his confidence. I hope he can do this; i'm just not sure if he can develop into the sort of player Neeld wants.

Yes i heard that too. I was in the car and couldn't ring but i sent a text later. That opinion of Walls needs to be challenged.

Someone had a crack at Tapscott for failing to run down Rhys Stanley, who won the grand final sprint 2 years ago? Shame Tappy!!!!! I also liked the efforts of Magner and Garland who went off the ground with injuries and returned. The weather conditions almost certainly prompted the change, but I thought we changed our tactics last night. We were playing a zone defence in the first quarter, and as usual the opposition was just cutting their way through with efficient disposal. They had no trouble clearing the ball from their backline. By the second quarter we played man on man and beat them in disposals. And we didn't play a spare man in defence in the 3rd, despite being 3 goals down. Encouraging, but we still have to learn to break their press.

Robert is a former coach who got sacked and has a soft spot for other coaches in the same position. But he has got it so so wrong here. He says we fired Bailey after one poor match (the 186 game). That is not true. Round 2 - Hawthorn - the Dees were 28 points up just before 1/2 time. By the start of the last quarter we were 40 points down. arguably our worst 3rd Q in memory. Round 6 - West Coast. Game over at quarter time. arguably our worst 1st Q in memory. Round 8 - North. MFC 25 points up early in the second. Nearly 40 points down by 3/4 time. Round 10 - Carlton - Another 6 goal performance from MFC. Carlton doubled our score. Round 12 - Collingwood. Another 6 goals from the Dees. Collingwood kicked 10 in a row in the last quarter. Round 15 - The Dogs. We played a middle ranked side and got done by 64 points. They killed us in the last and i believe Bailey was lucky to see out the round. Round 19 - Geelong - 186. In every one of these games, the opposition got a run-on and we couldn't deal with it. After 4 years with Bailey we did not have a game plan to cope with adversity. Robert is very selective with his stats. He says Melbourne won 8 1/2 games in 2010 and because we won 7 1/2 games by round 19 (of 24 rounds) therefore we were improving slightly, but the stat is misleading. Yes we did have 3 big wins against GC, Freo and Adelaide in 2011, but these teams were struggling with form, injury and inexperience. It's the same story with the win over Essendon. We caught them during their 5 game losing streak. Compare the 2011 results with the previous year and we clearly did better in 2010. 2 close games against Collingwood; just falling short against the Dogs and Hawthorn, and thrashing another final 8 side in Sydney. We were going backwards in 2011, and that's why Bailey was fired.

I had one of those 'oh god here we go again' moments in the 3rd quarter when the saints kicked the first 2 goals, and I thought we were going to get run over. Top marks to the boys for hanging in and getting within 3 points at 3/4 time. We won the clearances, the tackles and for the first time the disposals. Bate and Morton deserve their place in the side. Bate still got possessions despite playing out of position in the forward line. He seems more affective in midfield. Morton gives us some badly needed run and carry. Sylvia is rusty but should get a full game next week. Watts needs confidence. The game seems foreign to him at the moment. He has to learn to will himself to the contest. It might not hurt him to have a couple of weeks at Casey. Trengove - like Frawley - is carrying something. He was late onto the track for training last Wednesday. Neeld wants us to be the hardest team to beat, and It did look like tough work for the Saints tonight. What we need to do now is learn to win. We got a bit lost in the last quarter. I'm glad i went to the match. At least I can say i saw Bartram kick that goal in the 3rd. Ha. Well done Jamie.

No Jurrah? mmm. Sounds like he still needs to meet the fitness requirements of the club. Wont he get fitter faster if he's actually playing footy in a park somewhere, rather than just sitting on a bench in the crowd?

He seemed well. He was joking with the boys, and he did some of his party trick shots at goal (that one where he is behind the boundary line and he bends the ball left to right off his right foot. It went through of course). He needs game time so I'd give him half a game in Casey Seniors. He didn't have any problems marking with both hands, but prefered using his good hand when marking one-handed. After all he's gone through, i think he'd just love to play footy again.

He took part in the full session and looks ok. Can kick with eith foot but is mainly a leftie. . He is a fraction taller than Davey and i'm not sure if he will grow much taller, so maybe he will be a shortish nuggety type who shows guts and gets a lot of the ball. If his disposal efficiency is high then he will be a very good player.

Just a quick report from today's training. Sylvia, Taggart, Petterd, Strauss, Viney and Jurrah all took their places with the main group for a 2 hour session this morning. Training consisted of lap work, short kicking, circuit work, a bit of match-play, some competitive handball and tennis ball work, and finished with goal kicking practice. Jurrah looked a little tired during the latter session with the tennis ball, but he completed the full session. He didn't seem at all bothered by his bandaged wrist. There was no sign of Evans, Green, Jetta, Tynan and Gawn. Williams and Lawrence also unavailable due to a bout of gastro. Gotta keep them away from the rest of the squad. Martin, Gysberts and Frawley were on a restricted program; Clark was on a very restricted program. If Gysberts has a sore ankle then it's getting much better. He did numerous sprints and agility work and should be available soon. All in all not a bad session, and their spirit was good. Give 'em time.

You left off Liam Jurrah. It should be spelt 'Jarrah'.

We've made 4-5 changes every week since the start of the season - it's time to settle down. Grimes will come back for MacDonald, but with no game at Casey, it's hard to gauge the performance of the rest of the squad. I'm not a big fan of bringing guys back if they are not ready. Sylvia had a restricted pre-season and only had one kick against Port before his injury. I'd like Colin to prove himself before gets a recall. Same with Jurrah, Petterd, Strauss and Blease. Let's try and develop a culture where a player earns his spot in the firsts.

Did anyone else notice that Howe was limping in the 3rd Quarter? His calf and ankle were heavily strapped. Then he got rid of the strapping in the last quarter.

There was at least one - about 13 years ago. An Opel Speedster. It had a relatively small engine but the car only weighed about 600kgs so it went like a rocket. I got to sit in it as a passenger - what a car!!! They gave it a GMH badge and it turned heads everywhere.

Does this mean that Gary Ablett can pick up 40 touches in each of his first two games, and not deserve any votes? I don't think so. By the way, Jeremy Howe picked up 130 dream team points. Our next best was 79. Jeremy deserves a vote; maybe even a Brownlow vote.