Eth

To me, Bennell plays a bit of an outside game, run & carry which Sylvia can do.

Jetta I think is more in & under around the contests & is a handy opportunist around goals. Thats why I suggested it that way. IMO they both want to get games for themselves, but I reckon its Jetta's turn to get a run of games to develop his roving. Either or, but he deserves some time in this development year.

The next we'll need to see is Maric as well, to see where he's at, with his attitude, etc.

As you may know, I'm not bothered at this point re the ladder. I'm more interested in building a, to be premiership list.

Next season I hope for the 'Eight'.

But Bennell has done five times more for the Dees than Jetta in the past few games. I hardly saw Jetta on Sunday, yet Bennell was solid. He has no reason to be dropped.

Interesting analysis.

I don't agree with your conclusions though.

Agree.

It's taken the Saints nine years to get to the top - how can we get behind?

Are Barlow and Podsiadly eligible? Or are they excluded because of their age?

Age limit is 21. Barlow's 22 and Podsiadly's 28 :D

I'd like to see Bail come in for Grimes.

Sylvia in for Bennell.

And poss', Maric for Jetta, at some stage, just to see where Maric is at, & to create that bit of competitiveness between players.

Next year all players should know they're really competing openly for places in the team.

Jetta gets dropped before Bennell does.

Link

Maybe Tony Hausknecht saw the thread on Demonland...

I remember the passage of play on the wing where he ran right through three Saints...

I assume that you are including me in that negativity. If you are viewing any of my comments as negative I would be disappointed as I look at it as being realistic. If we can carry the mindset of yesterday against Essendon we are a good chance.

Haha, I'm not targeting anybody in particular, but I have seen a lot of moaning since we lost last night.

Of course it's more sinister than a sleeping tablet - it's Ben Cousins we're talking about. Look at all the problems he's had.

Still feel sorry for him though, thought he was past it.

(I want to preface this with: I'm not against Bailey or think he should go, but obviously something isn't quite working)

Sick. Of. All. This.

Too many little Baileys who think wins are the last priority ahead of some meaningless stats. After every loss it's "we were competitive for x amount of time", "we won the clearances", "we had more tackles" blah blah blah... WE LOST, that is THE most important stat.

These are the desperate cries of success starved supporters (and staff) looking for a "win" anywhere they can find it no matter how meaningless.

I would much rather hear "We were crap today, not hard enough, not skilled enough, we had no heart and need some direction", why can't we and the people involved directly with the club show some honesty. Make a stand. Stop being the ineffectual cliche we are right now.

I understand where we're at, but does that make a loss hurt less? No.

I understand we are gradually improving, but will it just automatically happen? No.

I understand Dean Bailey is trying hard, working hard, and doing his best, but does that mean he will definitely succeed because of that? No.

Stop hiding under the banner or 2012. We are playing to win NOW, We are meant to be improving NOW.

What, the fact that we played as well as last year's (and probably this year's) Grand Finalist for three quarters isn't enough for you?

Were you expecting to win a flag in 2010?

Stupid post.

then why cant we beat the ones we should?

if we can play well against good teams why cant we beat the crap ones?

Young sides are inconsistent. Thought you would know that, being a Melbourne supporter.

Astbury for the tigers might pip him. Played well at CHB for the tigers. If he keps this form up though he will get one sooner rather than later

Astbury's stats: 21 disposals (9 kicks, 12 handballs, 86% efficiency), 5 marks, 1 tackle, 1 clearance, 74 SuperCoach points against Sydney's forward line

McKenzie's stats: 24 disposals (8 kicks, 16 handballs, 63% efficiency), 3 marks, 5 tackles, 7 clearances, 77 Supercoach points against St Kilda's midfield

If you had to choose just by looking at that McKenzie gets it.

we should have bet west coast, north melbourne and probably even adelaide?

i am not confident we can beat thoughs teams, not even richmond

Man, what is with the negativity on Demonland? It drives me nuts.

Look, we competed with last year's (and most likely this year's) Grand Finalist for three quarters - in fact, competed in an understatement, considering that we were down by 17 points at three quarter time. Trengove was Melbourne's best. McKenzie deserves to get the Rising Star nomination. Watts played his best game yet for the Dees. We even won the clearances 43-35 against the second best team in the competition with a midfield featuring Brendon Goddard, Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna, Lenny Hayes, Clint Jones, Farren Ray and more. The first four are f**king elite midfielders and we beat them.

And the game was played at Etihad.

If we can do that, then we aren't going to win any more wooden spoons and you can bet on that.

If it's an award for consistency, yes. But it isn't.

Well, not normally.

He deserves it the most though.

It's a bit off topic, but I completely agree with your signature Deemitch. Two of the three numbers I was thinking about getting on my guernsey were 12 and 16, and I eventually got 15. They've all been injured D:

Maybe I'll consider getting 7, 11, 21, 29, 34 and 42...

He may be in trouble for a punch to Goddards gut earlier in the game also.

I think Cheney will be out next week either way. Just a matter of suspention or dropped.

Brendon Goddard should go play soccer. It was good acting

In: Jurrah, Sylvia, Bail, Warnock, Morton

Out: Grimes , MacDonald (turnover king and not a long term player for us), Jetta/Bennell, Cheney, Jones

Tempted to get rid of Dunn, but it probably won't happen. Mind you, if Morton was dropped last week, then Bate deserves to be dropped this week. He did less than nothing.

Five changes? You wish jellyfish.

IN: Jurrah, Sylvia, Morton

OUT: Jetta, Bate, Grimes

We need a functioning forward line to kick a big score my friend. Even with Jurrah in the side, we won't kick more than 15 goals in a game for the rest of the season.

It was functioning better today. Jurrah will provide another target. Essendon have conceded 126 points a game in their last three.

Where's the optimism? If you were coach I'd expect a thumping every week.

Here, I'll have a shot

Bartram - unconvincing display today

Bate - was rarely sighted

Bennell - showed some class

Bruce - hitting some form

Cheney - not his best

Davey - up and down

Dunn - contested very well

Frawley - good solid game

Garland - will be fantastic

Green - still got it

Grimes - great before injury

Jamar - quieter than normal

Jetta - hello there Casey

Jones - made some mistakes

MacDonald - best game yet?

McKenzie - great contested work

Moloney - rarely got it

Rivers - didn't do much

Scully - a quiet game

Spencer - see Neville Jetta

Trengove - best for Melbourne

Watts - improved his game

Ok by Spencer and Watts today, something to build on.

I hope you're joking

To me he lead pathetically today- Isn't he the one -no.22 who handballed wildly in the first quarter for a goal to the Saints when we were trying to start well. Yep. great leader.

For me he is Baloney as a leader.

So he had a quiet game. Chris Judd often has quiet games. Matthew Pavlich often has quiet games. Doesn't mean they're crap leaders. You don't really get to see what happens behind the scenes.

Can't agree more.

Early on I tipped that Liam Jurrah would return in Round 15 and he should - with Fletcher, Pears and Hooker out, we could potentially kick a big score.

Agree- he has been seriously missed- we have no senior leadership to assist this young team. Very sad indeed.

Have you heard of a player called Brent Moloney? He's a midfielder...

And we weren't out of the game at quarter time. In fact, had Dunn not failed as a forward and kicked the easiest shot on goal ever, we would have WON A FIRST QUARTER!

Why are we beating up on the team this week I'm not sure. Last week we were pathetic and an utter disgrace to the jumper, this week we tried our best and just simply were outplayed by a better side who had a full bench for the entire game.

Mind you, we have got to learn to play against team who play that rubbish defensive zone.

We weren't out of the game at three quarter time either. We competed with a premiership contender (besides Collingwood) for three quarters. That's good enough for me.

We weren't going to win today. Some people just aren't taking that in.

Some people live on taking the negatives out of our side...come on, our three best players today IMO are in their first/second year at the club (Trengove, Watts, McKenzie) and we won the clearances against an elite midfield that sits second on the ladder at their home ground.

Just thought everyone should know that we won the clearances 43-35 against a midfield containing Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna, Brendon Goddard, Lenny Hayes, Farren Ray, Clint Jones and others. I consider the first four as A grade players. That says something IMO