Summer Blease

Miller at his best is nothing more than an athletic stop-gap of sorts. A get and give player, a mobile coat hanger. He is a link player, he can take a mark and dish off. He provides nothing more than that- will never be anything more than a third option in a decent forward line- let alone a good one.. He displays no leadership on field and I defy anyone to put forward an example of when/if he did. Nice guy sure, gives his heart for the team sure.. can't play though. The mere fact we have Miller in our forward line says alot of our predicament. By rights he doesn't have the all-round skill to have a permanent spot in any forward line, let alone be considered a "target"

Young kids are all for the instant gratification and are not yet equipt or jaded enough to be able to comprehend this 'lifes tough, chin up' philosophy. I feel although a little girls feelings have been hurt is bad, the long term ramifications re possible affect this may have on future membership numbers are more worrying. How many possible non family descision based new youngsters could have possibly jumped on board in the last few years? Not much i'd say.. it's hard keeping a young ones mind focused on 'future success' when they only care about whats on show at that point in time on that day.

What did we do? Award him another year after this one? What?! Ah, when did this happen and at what point in his MFC career did he earn this contract extention? At what point in the 36 losses and 8 wins clinched it for him do you think?

You can't get relegated for being crap in the AFL, so YIPEE for that.... however consistently bad performances rot the club from onfield to off, turning off sponsors and supporters, potential supports and players and ultimately you have an unpopular club with minimal funds. The hangmans waiting, noose griped tightly in hands... how long could anyone survive?

Agree. He should have them up to A grade standard by now.. I mean, I can't understand why Scully, Trengove, Tapscott, Gawn, Watts, Blease, Gizzy etc etc arn't tearing games apart, wracking up brownlow votes and have their own cologns out yet- It boggles the mind! Also you are correct- Any of us could coach better than Bailey.. I've played FIFA 09 Manager mode (seeing as there is no AFL equivalent) many a time, and it's an easy gig.... Back to reality however, the answers will lie over the coarse of the next few months. If Bailey tries to change stuff up re positions and tactics and we become more competitive Bailey deserves a chance, If he changes nothing and results remain he goes. Quite simple really. Lets give Bails the benefit of the doubt for now. Lets presume he speed up our developement over the previous two years by declaring them write-offs in exchange for high draft pics. Lets presume we were outplayed round 1 by a stronger, more mature, hungrier (it boggles the mind as to WHY we aren't hungry) team. BUT if onfield changes don't occur, then we can honestly say bye bye Bails!! I'm just sick of seeing lack of desire. Unwillingness to put in 100% every week. Things apearing stagnant... it's almost like we need a big spirit bomb of sorts rocketed up the ass of the MFC. I'm saddened that the only good games I get to watch involve teams that I do not love. It is starting to grow tiresome. Long, but revealing year ahead. Long live the MFC

Watching the game on Tv. It's bad. It's Sad. We have no spark. We are on a 3 second time delay. Hawthorn are a team. They know where to go and where there team mates are going to be. We do not. We are not a team. We don't gel, we can't play any sort of fast counter offence because of this fact. It's like nobody knows anyone out there. We play like a bunch of footy players all just thrown onto a footy field and told to play. Period. I don't know if this is the players making or the coaches. If we are not teaching the right things at training or playing players out of position (will continue to have a bugabear about our forward line) bailey needs to be looked at. If the players aren't in the right mindset gametime, they need to be looked at. Miller- Link player ONLY. Has no presence whatsoever. Granted, he has courage, and he is a workhorse- these are comendable traits, but he just isn't good enough. Plain and simple.. he never stands up, never provides any kind of spark or inspiration to those around him and those who laud his "leadership" qualities, well, I just don't see it! The fact that Miller is 1 out of the 2 of our full time "forwards" currently playing and he has only kicked 2 says alot. He is 1 lucky guy. Good luck and circumstance has kept Brad Miller in a job. Bate. Can only run in a straight line. Might start calling him train. As in Bate train. Also as in he has visibly sluggish acceleration, which can build up to an acceptable pace, and is strong and hard to stop- but also, unfortunately like a train, cannot be evasive, light footed or tipy toey.. he runs in straight lines baby! Dunn. Dunno about Dunn. Actually Do know- he doesnt belong in the forward line. Experiment tried, experiment failed. Definition of "out of his depth". Dunn in the forward line- not for me. To anyone who was at the game today, did Dunn actually do anything? He gets paid to do this right? Could go on, but won't. I know we are a team of youngsters. I know this is round 1, but how frustrating?!? - Could blame the coach; Is he teaching the right style for our players or anything at all? He is an untried head coach. When your players look like they are playing a different game and are 5 steps behind do you look to the one who suposedly teaches them, or; - The players; Old heads buying the "this is a young team" slogan and therefore slacking off because a loss is accepted, as long as its competitive? Is it that our players aren't as good as we think they are? Who do we blame? I wanna blame someone.

Kinda annoying that most of the good young cheapies are middies.. I have 5 first year players in my midfield! I'm 100% positive each of them will have D.Rich-esque growth. Planning on having an unbelievably stong team come round 10 or so.

I'm in your league. Hope you don't mind as I didn't exactly ask for permision. Yet here we are. I may warn you, in my first year (last year) I made it into the Granny.. so beware. I am deestroyers FC. Looks like I already have an arch nemesis in deestroyers. Lets see how this plays out...

tried to put spaces in forward line structure. failed, could someone with tech savy fix please, and also eradicate this request? cheers

I have been thinking about our forward line alot lately. It is commonly reported on how our backline is at the very least serviceable, and the midfield looks promising- I have faith that those two areas will take care of themself. The forward line though? Not so settled. Could be said we have no forward line whatsoever barr M Baterson! Jack Watts, at this stage in his AFL career is nothing more than juicy prospect. To pin all our hopes on him is pre-emptive and foolish. Newton has to get his head right and break whatever shackles are inhibiting him from achieving anything near his VFL game in the big league. Can he do this? Marric- prospect. Wonameari- Looked exciting in a few matches this is true- unfortunately his body isn't allowing him to play. Major worry. Jurrah and Bate. They are it. At this stage. And I wouldn't really like to see either of those two confined to staying near the square- Jurrah especially. Calls for him to be played FF by some are almost sadening. Why would you want to take away his whole game, which is being a bouncy/leapy freak, to play man on man grunt stuff. I wont have any of it! And neither should the thrill seeking spectator! Bate could be put FF if worse comes to worse, but I like him around FF. At this stage I feel his big strong body is a definate plus for us. I like the idea that we are experimenting with Martin. I believe the MFC know about their forward line conundrums, and are putting plans B,C, and D in place and it would be negligable for them not to. At this stage we have only 2/6 forward positions filled. 4 remain. In my opinion anyone, unless they currently OWN their position should be thought of as a potential candidate. One things for sure.. I can't wait for Gawn to get on the park. I believe once he's body is good he will be an instant presence at the very least. Throw him in the forward line and lets see the packs split! By the time Gawn is playing, the Martin experiment may be concluded and we may have the option of putting him back, or if the heavens are truley shining on us and the Martin experiment pays off AND we have a settled backline we could potentially have our forward future line lies somewhere in here MILLER/FITZPATRICK WATTS/BATE/GAWN JURRAH/MARTIN/SYLVIA WONA/MARRIC/JETTA GAWN/WATTS/NEWTON?? DAVEY/TAPSCOTT Other possibles may be Garland, Rivers, who knows, but at this stage I believe anyone should be considered, once again barring the players who have NAILED their position, and obviously, the ones that we have earmarked as midfielders. Do players get drafted as forwards per say, or do they get drafted with positions they play now more a secondary thought, and their potential to kick bags the main thought? Basically do recruiters go out looking for the best player available barr position, in the hope that they can be moulded into whatever the club wants?

Watts- could you identify any kind of negative body language alluding to any kind of injury or was it more a case of being a little rusty and cautious? Did he at least seem up for it? Garland- How much game time did he get and how did he look out there general? Itching to get back into the main team round 1? Does it look like he may be the bargain of the year for my supercoach team? Spencer- Didn't dominate as in didn't tear the game apart, or didn't dominate as in nice way of saying was outplayed and doesn't look the goods? More info on Napolean Dynamite needed.

The Office UK is brilliant, Extras- im a massive ricky gervais fan! Peep Show also. Extrememly funny show- witty, smart dialogue, very smut related also. The whole show is shot in third person perspective.. extrememly underrated, in fact- not even rated, I think. SBS had it for a while I think.. Little Britain sucks btw, just thought i'd throw that one in

Hahaha I can rest assured that he isn't going anywhere for the next 3 years, doesn't stop me worrying about him leaving in 3 years. Why? As a Melbourne supporter I have been conditioned to disapointment lately. In my mind, Jack Watts wont cut it as a C grader! Expect the worst that way if anything good actually happens, a pleasant surprise awaits. Anyone remember draft night? The top 10 standing on stage? Scully and trenners both looked very shy and a little uncomfortable. It's funny thinking of a footballer as shy or possibly intoverted.. kind of goes against what the stereoptypical football player is.

I think it's important for someone to assume the role of FF. I understand the way the game is played these days allows for multiple avenues to goal, but I think a team is stronger if it has a permanent in this position. Someone with a reliable mark, nice kick, courage, forward nous and a good football brain will do. This person will take the oppositions best defender. I think this person needs to be placed in this position with views to the long term- as to create some consistency in planning and tactics. Learning plays and allowing your 2nd, 3rd forwards to better understand their role, and then they can all gel as one. Feel free to shoot me down instantly if it requires it, but I had a quick thought last night. James Strauss... how tall are his parents? I remember reading somewhere that his dad is an absolute tank. How tall could this kid grow? Just had a vision of him FF.. has the kick for it and not necesarily needed back.. Could he be our Hurley minus the assault charges?

Agree. I can't imagine players rock up to training, Bails gets out the Herald Sun, skips to comics, forward back and mid coaches take gossip business and travel respectively, Jimmy cracks out the crispy creams and Connolly proclaims "learn football good!". I think Bails has game plans. I'm pretty sure he might have even shown some of them to the board that may have impressed them. May have even gotten him the gig as coach.. the question is, does our kids, yeah thats right kids, in every sense of the word age and games wise, have the ability to carry out these game plans? Clearly no! We have game plans. This isn't the baccus marsh U13 girls league, this is Profesional sport. We have game plans, change rooms, doctors and all that jazz. Jnrmac I agree. All the top sides instictively play on. They don't even think about it, it just happens. Does that ability come with confidence? Does confidence only come when one feels physically safe on the field (ie has enough size)? Is time the key to it all? Unless it just clicks overnight, you would have to think only time is going to make us a force again period. I want Neitz back. Why did he have to leave!!!!

Unless hes going to hand us over the first 10 picks in next years draft, garuntee our survival forever no questions asked, or let me ride on his lap aboard his private jet to space mountain I care not for this Obama. I'd rather read about melbournefc18 or agent orange going to see us round 1. At least they support this club. He couldn't name one player on our list.

The greatest intentions in the world sadly arn't going to help all that much at the end of the day. It's all well and good to have positive mindsets and can do attitudes etc, they may get you a rise for the first 5-10 mins of a quarter, sure- But when play times over and stronger team wants win, stronger team 9 times out of 10 get win. I wish this was Hollywood, and we were the Mighty Ducks.. alas it is Melbourne and this is the Mighty Demons. Keep this letter in a draw. If were still in the same position in a couple of years time, sure, bring it out then. Until then we can just send them a Tony Robins Cd or something..

Hey man I agree whole heartedly with everything you say. However whilst there may only be a couple of 'degrees' difference between player X and Y at their peak on any particular day, it makes a massive difference if player X is a matured seasoned body and player Y is a kid still pooing his pants on the footy field, so to speak. Even if our desires were at level 11, if the bigger, stronger, more mature team wants to win, they will usually get their way. Barring the odd upset or two- when maybe our desire outweighs the other teams- generally that is how upsets happen one would presume. We won't be having these problems after a couple of our boys bulk up. We do seriously look like kids out there- the way we get thrown around. Wait till they cant throw us around anymore... Wait till Trengove/jurrah/petterd/Gawn start throwing the compeditors around. I've been conditioned to loosing, as a Melbourne supporter, I hate to say . Our only saving grace is that the future is bright... this year is going to be hard, in so many ways- But we have (through previous lack of forsight re list) put ourselves in this position of having noone currently ready to fill important positions, so theres nothing we can do but to sit back, and not enjoy the ride!

So i've been lied to all my life!! I was always made to believe that 'practice makes perfect'.. I guess if you don't have a talent for something, you will never attain it so you might as well give up... May I suggest, with all due respect, perhaps your determination wasn't at the right level to succeed. And that's not a knock on you, we are mere mortals with no hope of participating in any kind of elite activity (speaking of myself, presuming i'm speaking on your behalf also), but I would absolutely expect nothing but sheer determination from the profesionals on the park.. If B Miller has come on from last year, like you said, why can't Martin come on? Without knowing Miller, I can garuntee you Martin is smarter. Green is valuable in getting the ball to the forward 50, this is true, but once again, at the end of the day, who is the FF. There is none. The only person in my opinion who may be able to have a crack is Bate, but i'd rather see him around half forward, where he can use his strength to get through those first pesky two defenders, then he can shoot or drop into a pocket for that sexy left of Greens! When was the last time we scored over 100points? Doesnt happen very often. Don't know for certain if Green FF is the solution, but at the end of the day it's better than any other option we have at this point in time, and hell, we've won 12 from 66... what's the worst that could happen? Another loss? At least we're de-sensitised to them hey!!

So is it fair to say that players of the Newton ilk are incapable of learning, or is it an inability to execute instructions (uncoordinated) or lack of motivation to succeed. I know it's probably the $1,000,000 question, but does anyone have any idea what stops potential from coming to fruition? Is it a mental thing? Do we need more psychological training? Any psycs in the house? I remember a good thread on Newton a while ago which touched on his mental state. Has anything been done about this?

Is there criteria for being a successful FF that just can't be coached? If so, then I can see merit in people saying a particular player has no hope at a particular position. But if everything is coachable and nuturable (psychological side of things) if anyone has a hope of learning, surely it's a Law student.

Agree re Green. Excuse my ignorance, but what is a "natural footballer"? And how does one atain this status. Are you born with these attributes or are they coached. I don't know what the definition of natural footballer really means, but lets keep this in mind when making these statements. Jack Watts only decided late on that he wanted to devote his life to football yet he can play forward, how does he have that ability? Did it come natural or was he taught, or actively seeked to learn it? Martin is a smart boy. He got 90 something on his enter score. Can't he learn this trade? I'd hate to see MFC give up on Martin because he's not a 'natural footballer' whateve that means..

I also suggested in this very thread- green shoud be FF. Size is handy, but if you have some forward nounce about you it can also hold you in good stead (anyone remember mark williams killing it a few years ago) I, or I don't think anyone is expecting a coleman medalist in Green.. but can anyone not see him being able to get 2-3 (40-60 a year) goals a game? That is definately in the realms of reality! Greens courage is a factor being overlooked also. I think a man in a focal position ie FF displaying countless acts of courage and bravery (which no AFL follower anywere could deny) could set an extrememly important example for all the young midfielders and fellow forwards around him- Go when it's your turn, no regrets, no hesitation. No retreat. No surrender. In terms of 'out there' thinking, this isn't exactly earth shattering. Surprised it hasn't been done yet to be honest.. it seems on the surface, the most logical thing to do.

Yeah nah I hear ya... just I think somewhere deep down, I have a "troll" (is that what you call them) living deep down inside me. It usually never rears its head, but I definately feel I have some kind of sadistic side. Perhaps someone with information pertinant to psychological matters can help me out with a word here... I highly enjoy Yze majics material. Derive from that what you will...

We could try anyone there. Well within reason. I don't think the host of ready steady cook would do well FF @ MFC.. but just like Peter Everit should stick to his cheesy mid afternoon groping/cooking show, I think Frawley should stick to his shutting down best defenders with swagger show. Experimenting with some players may leave holes and water leaking into the boat. Why not try with the nomads. The ones with no homes. If Martin succedes in the forward line what a bonus that would be! Im not worried about the future (well i can't be.. how much worrying can one do) with the tall timber we are yet to experiment with waiting under the tree.. i think our backup ruckman issues can sort themselves out... I want a strapping young quick man at FF. Make it happen MFC. Make it happen!