big tuna

A few people seem concerned about his fitness. I have never broken my jaw so am not sure how much of the training Sylvia would have missed... but would have thought he could continue with most of the fitness and skills work while avoiding the physical contested stuff. He did the whole pre-season until that last match so should have that base fitness behind him minus a few weeks in recovery. Can somebody tell me how much that broken jaw would set him back fitness wise?

For us to win by 41 points our defence would need to keep them to 4 goals. The forward line will struggle all year to kick big totals... at least until LJ, Sylvia & Wonna get on the park together.

Yep the hands were resting on his back (basically Garland using them for touch on Burton) but definitely did not extend his arms & Burton made the most of it. Frawley should get the most dangerous forward every time because he has all the tools to shut them down... Burton could have iced kicked uus out of the contest before half time if he had kicked straight. Thankfully Tippett was close to worst on ground so didn't need to shut both of them down.

Frawley completely shut Burton down 2nd half and should have been on him much earlier. Agree about Newton he is improving. Bartram was surprisingly steady in tight and applied plenty of pressure.

Not a Newton fan but he showed a bit... he was throwing his weight around and having a crack at a few of their defenders. Also took some nice marks on the wing and quickly swung around on the left a few times showing that his confidence is growing each week. Definitely worth persisting with while he continues to improve. Good to see Garland get through a game and will be better for the run. Frawley shut Burton down after he could have kicked 5 goals in the 1st half ... why did it take so long to make the move?

Gutsy win today MFC. One of the ugliest games you will ever see but great to run all over the top of them in the last quarter. Who would have thought we could get home with only 1 goal on the board in 1st half.

Was that directed at Milne or Montagna???

More visible than Bennell's "cramp"? Managed to fight through the pain barrier soon after.

Spot on. And I'll throw Didak in for good measure. Neither of these guys are tough but are certainly the 2 dirtiest current day players. They both love to trip and have seen both intentionally kick players... even when on their backs. Dirtiest act by an AFL player had to be ex-Swans player Garlick when he "munched some nuts" and then tried to avoid suspension by saying he was suffocating. Come to think of it I think he was playing VFL at this stage... still amusing.

The reason he cops so much abuse is because he is able to pull off a great piece of individual skill (often in a very tough situation)one minute and then let himself down in another passage of play which is less demanding. Very frustrating because every supporter knows what he is capable of. When he first arrived I thought he was very dangerous up forward and slotted alot more goals than he missed, especially when we needed them. But over the years his goal kicking has become very unpredictable, again kicking the tough ones and missing the easy ones. You would think that this skill would be improved over his career with more practice and experience. Robertson was able to turn himself into a very reliable kick for goal after his first few years where he sprayed them everywhere. I still think he is a better player than people give him credit for and agree that most of his defensive work goes unrecognised.

I can't see them dropping McKenzie or Jones & if Garland is fit then he would be a very handy inclusion. Last spot should go to Newton (even though I am not a big fan of his) just to give Jamar a break in the ruck like last week. Plus they need to give him at least another 2-3 weeks to get his confidence up and let him prove his worth up forward. This would let Bate go back and get plenty of touches and a few goals under his belt at Casey.

it was pretty funny but i think it was Newton ... probably the 2nd best thing he did all day

I think Junior has been very solid in both games and he deserves his place in our best 22 even without the captaincy. However, the pies game highlighted the fact that the younger midfielders have gone past him skill-wise & for agility/speed (which is to be expected given the stage of his career). Once this young brigade consistently replicate Junior's attack on the footy and tackling ability he will find it more and more difficult to get game time and a run in the middle. Which will be great for the MFC and I am sure that Junior will be more than happy for this scenario to play out because he is such a great club man.

Anyone else noticed they have given Caro a bit of a make-over this season? She has either lost some weight or channel 9 has given her a face & chin tuck. Also must have got the teath whitened & straightened coz it doesn't look like she has a mouth full of Edgell peas anymore. Still cringe most times she offers an opinion.

Good call mate... didn't even realise. You should be flattered that your words sunk into my sub-conscious

Mate I believe you coz I was in the same boat. The filth will be counting their blessings they got him for nothing coz that is exactly what he is giving them at the moment. Joel Mac took some very strong marks overhead today... even when out of position. And their other big recruit Jolly did SFA today being totally outplayed by the Russian. Starting to feel a bit better about those trades back then

People just never learn... especially on these sites. Things are never quite as good or as bad as they seem at the time. Everybody felt as low as you could possibly feel after last week & this week the same people will be riding high and making bold predictions about winning the next 3 home games and where we finish in the 8. One thing is guaranteed this year... the MFC will play very well when everybody writes them off and their backs are to the wall(like today)... and on the other hand they will get pumped when we all expect them to have better form, less injuries and home ground advantage over the opposition. Its just the way it goes with a young developing side... so strap yourselves in for a rollercoaster of emotions this year.

Very proud of the boys today. Petterd killed em today and made Shaw look 2nd rate... if he holds onto that 2nd grab in the goal square he wins the game and takes the 3 votes... he still may. Super impressed with Bail in technically his 1st game... hard at it and very nice kick... his last kick on the left carries another 5 yards and we at least draw possibly win. Its a cruel game coz we were the better side all day & Maxwell basically admitted that after the game. PS. Jamar toweled Jolly and Fraser up today

Just so we don't jinx ourselves here with Scully I will now state that he is over-rated, can't kick and will break down before mid season. I will continue to so every time I see a thread pumping this kid up. That goes for Trengove also. Just too valuable to leave to chance. If only I had been on my toes with LJ pre-season.

Just tuned in for the last 15 mins. Spewin I didn't know I could pick up this channel out here in Gippsland until now. Its channel 62 on digital if that helps anyone out in the sticks. Some good names bring back some happy memories of 98 for me. Stynes, Viney, Ingerson, Leoncelli, Febey then throw in the promise of a few youngsters in Travis & Grgic playing good footy... what happened? You can really see the difference between our current squad (with heaps of talent but few leaders) & the Dees of 98 with plenty of seasoned hard bodies with a sprinkling of youth. Indicates that DB has a much bigger job than ND did when he took the reigns. Siren blows and have just beat the filth ... now back to the IPL.

When the contract extensions were first announced I am sure I heard either Bailey or a club official mention on fox sports news that both parties had come to an agreement but that they were still working on some criteria/KPI's. I took that to mean he had to meet these criteria/KPI's in 2010 before the 1 year extension was activated. If that is in fact true the club has been very clever and given itself some wiggle-room while at the same time taken the public scrutiny off Bailey. However, those criteria/KPI's could be for 2011 and determine how much Bailey gets paid. Either way I'm glad the club is making the coach accountable for team performance.

Firstly I would like to say that I hope Bailey does put all the pieces together before his contract is up, and we don't need to make a coaching change. Still not sold on him but am willing to give him the rest of the season to show his ability to improve the players individually and as a team. However, if Bailey continues to show us nothing then Viney could well be the next in line. On the surface he seems a good fit 1) Has done his apprenticeship under some premiership coaches & has experienced a successful rebuild 1st hand. 2) Favourite son who was an MFC captain and played tough and made the most of the skills he had. 3) Will not command a huge amount of $$$ to get him signed as he will be a 1st time coach. The one thing that might count against Viney unfortunately is the possibility of his son (Jack???) being drafted under the father son rule in the next few years. Has anyone ever coached their son at AFL level in the modern era? Would it compromise his team selections etc. etc? Might not ... but just something to consider.

Interesting stats that you highlight here, because I thought Hodge hit just about every target he was aiming at today. I didn't think Bruce was particularly bad today but what makes his turnovers seem worse are they take place near the boundary or on the flanks where there is less traffic. Jones should get cut more slack because he goes in and gets alot of his own ball and often has to beat 2 or 3 opponents around him once he gets his hands on it. Davey has no excuses and must achieve better effectiveness because he is a beautiful kick and receives most of his ball playing as an outside midfielder or running off half back.

Missed the Essendon game last night so cannot say for sure but Gumbleton only scored 18 supercoach points... giving me a glimmer of hope

Bate had a shocker today... but to say he is a disgrace is way over the top when he has produced good footy in the past. Obviously his injury during preseason has cost him fitness and confidence. He will improve in the coming weeks because he could not possibly play any worse than today. Spencer is a liability on the ground especially in the forward line... too slow & can't kick or mark. He should do his developing at Casey & Martin should be 2nd ruck rotating through the forward line. At least Martin has good speed for his size and can take a mark & apply forward pressure. Afraid Dunn is not suited to any position & offers the team nothing.