Webber

It's really interesting t-u. As the article goes on to mention, unbroken chains of possession from the back half, and ability to force turnovers, defend them and capitalise on them, particularly in the front half, are all important. The game against Carlton was interesting in this respect. I noticed that we were ahead in clearances at halftime, but were getting out possessed and out scored. Of Carlton's first 9 goals, 7 came from our turnovers.....we were gifting them possession. I think our clearance stats reflected well the fact that we were more consistently competitive at the stoppages, and the contested possessions that we were more attentive to pressuring them, but our skills and decision making are sub-par. Taking a positive spin, I think games experience and time spent knowing your teammates game are immeasurable components to this, and we have a paucity of that, so things should improve if we get a consistent playing group, and games into the juniors/inexperienced. Where the stats really tell for us, is the combined effect of low possessions and poor disposal efficiency (as compared to the opposition). We need more of it, and to use it better........SIMPLE!!!

The reality that pretty much all of us would prefer not to accept is that we are getting nothing out of Jack Trengove at the moment. James Magner is languishing on the rookie list when currently he is probably faster, certainly much more of a ball getter, an undoubted physical and defensive presence at stoppages, and would effectively take enormous pressure off Nate Jones. It is hurting the team having Trenners in and Magner unavailable. A LOT. Dean Kent had 3 quarters for 3 touches. That's not enough to be reselected. Yes he's exciting and has great upside, but Sam Blease must be elevated whenever he plays well and does what he's told at Casey, because his upside is even greater and he is a game breaker in the making.....consistency will hopefully develop, but only with game time. Jack Fitzpatrick simply has to be rewarded for his form, or what's the point of him being on the list? I'm completely uncertain about him, but he MUST be given his chance when it's deserved. I'm anxious for Chris Dawes, as he's carrying a huge expectation from supporters, and is an ordinary AFL footballer. He is not and will not be the messiah. In a well structured forward line, he'll be very valuable hopefully, but NOT as the no.1 forward.

Yep, big wins for the recruiters. The AFL recruits on the other hand.......

No such thing as a 2 week hamstring. It will be 3 games minimum.

Taggert hasn't been in Casey's best once yet. Form is what should be rewarded, and I hope Taggert makes it, but he just doesn't warrant it.

Agree with this, and agree with the OP. Spencer is much more competitive than Jamar, just needs a few games to start holding his marks. Howe did nothing today however to warrant inclusion in that group..... Worse than useless today. I would include Evans in there. I reckon he's gonna be a gun.

Spencer is quick. Pay attention!

Good God, just IMAGINE how bad we'd be without Jonesy?!!!! Whilst he's no Chris Judd, he's the guts and heart, in fact the whole viscera, of this team. Not sure I can think of any player who's been more important to the MFC in the context of the time he's playing in. And his game to game resilience for his career thus far is Stynes and Tuck-like. Touch wood people!!!!!!!!!!

You're kidding about Jamar!?!?! He is an appalling mark and very ordinary to bad kick.

I agree it was the worst MFC football I've seen..... 40 years plus worth. The last quarter was surreal in the context of that. Truly odd!!! If we were playing here we would potentially be up to win. Up there we won't get within 12 goals of them.....

Given that the last quarter provided some redemption for the middle 2 quarters, a lot of players bobbed up and started to look better. BUT, certain things crystallised for me, particularly given that GWS make people look better than they are against quality opposition...... *Pederson is a poor contested mark, and has very little impact in general. If only Dawes were fit, we'd see the end of him. *I've been a Nev Jetta fan, but he's just not good enough for the AFL. Just 'not quite' in too many areas. *Terlich, Evans, Matt Jones.....definite keepers. Loved Terlich's guts today. *Gawn is everything Jamar isn't. He's a really good mark, is quick and mobile, stays on his feet, creates a presence, brings others into the game, and is a good kick. Spencer should replace Jamar next week, but won't of course, as GWS have gifted Jamar a reprieve he doesn't deserve. *Confidence is a MASSIVE MASSIVE component to football. And it builds with momentum. Just look at Garland today. A totally different man, and you could see Chip just getting wind of a bit of the same.

No other team has kicked 12 goals in a quarter this year against anyone. Jekyll and Hyde. Which one will we see next week?

Actually I was referring to MFC players. Clearly there is a duty of care issue at the Bombers in respect to players not knowing what they were getting, but it is presumptuous to fit the same thing to the Dees. We know that Bates was arranging the whole thing, and as much as his non disclosure is an issue for which he has paid the price, why do we imagine he wasn't telling the players? Again, it's apportioning blame via presumption and heresay. Also, the fact that the world's spotlight ( meaning the media who would sell their grandmother for scandal) is on Dank, does NOT mean the MFC have transgressed in ANY way. Bates has, but only by non disclosure, and it is further scandal mongering to assume any other wrongdoing. The media drive this stuff, and Demetriou has become a slave to it.....too much so IMO

What makes you think the players didn't know what they were being injected with? How much specific pharmaceutical information is enough. These are debatable points, and Demetriou seems to do decide as he goes along what is acceptable and what isn't. He keeps moving the goalposts, then points blame.

The issue is STILL that if the players took or were given NOTHING illegal or banned, there is no transgression within the laws of either the competition or sport in this country. It is looking more like the implication of association that is the 'crime' rather than any legal wrongdoing. Bates texts to and from Dank show NOTHING improper in respect to the supplements, in fact quite the opposite. Demetriou is barking on about non disclosure, but where does non disclosure of behaviour that is not improper become the business of anyone outside the club? Sure, they/ Bates should have been upfront when asked, but given he/ the club broke no laws, then they have no case to answer, association with Dank or otherwise. Demetriou is overstepping...

I'm not suggesting the club hasn't been mismanaged and badly run. It has. But any suggestion the supplements were illegal is heresay, and being revealed to be such by Fairfax. If MFC and EFC have taken nothing illegal, and didn't know of any criminal associations of Stephen Dank, where is the LEGAL transgression?

"Bringing the Game into Disrepute". This singular sentence, a vaguery of the most ill defined kind, is starting to carry with it the threat of an axe to the head, as wielded by a worryingly control obsessed Andrew Demetriou. The most recent Fairfax revelations, about Dr.Dan Bates at the MFC, and "Dr.Ageless" this morning, are making the picture clearer for us, where the AFL have only to this stage been grandstanding with their murky threats and fingerpointing. It seems the following points are becoming known: *There is no evidence that any players at EFC or MFC, or James Hird have taken or been given any illegal or banned substances *Any dealings they had with Stephen Dank were for the provision of ASADA approved supplements. This being the case, Demetriou is trying, desperately it seems, to create the notion of wrongdoing, unfairness, or criminality at worst, where there just isn't any PROPER legal basis for such. With his beloved "bringing the game into disrepute" mantra, it seems he is giving himself carte blanche to go hunting whomever and wherever he pleases. In this case it will be guilt by association. If, as Dr. Ageless in The Age today suggests, Stephen Dank has been involved in criminal behaviour, it DOES NOT mean that anybody at the Dees or Bombers knew this. In Demetriou's mind I suspect THAT will not matter, and he will not need proof of this to start wielding his disrepute axe. We have seen it already with the tanking disgrace, and I mean the disgrace is all his. The MFC had a staff member suspended and were fined $500,000 for uttering the truth that there was advantage to the club to be gained via the priority pick. The policy put in place BY THE AFL to create an incentive to finish last. It was ruled by Demetriou's management that this must not be admitted by ANYONE, ANYWHERE despite everyone knowing it to be the case. We admitted it, and the disrepute axe fell. Under Andrew Demetriou's tenure, the AFL is quickly becoming accountable only to his God complex driven ideas of how clubs and individuals should behave, and the further this moves outside solid and provable legal boundaries and into his self created notions of ethics, or governance, or propriety or whatever other non specific catch all term he wants to use next, the more this sport is going to be riven by media scandal, second guessing and blame attribution where there isn't any.

Exactly this. Was just watching a brief review of the story last night on news 24 this morning. From their own view, there was nothing banned taken by the players. The story is there because of the association with Dank. The ISSUE, and that which will bubble in Demetriou's mind and that of the scandal media, is the conflict between MFC's initial statement of no link with Dank, and the TRUTH, which ABC revealed last night. It will be purely an issue of governance at the MFC. That we could so stupidly not come clean about the association with Dank, and weasel word around it now. The drug/ASADA issue will come to nothing, and it's just as well Bates was involved, despite the mindless desperation inherent in chasing dubious, if legal, advantage by supplement. The governance issue will NOT come to nothing however, and it's grist to the mill for the notion that the MFC is at many levels, appallingly run. In this, the buck stops with the President. Like him or not, Don McLardy must step down, as he oversees the decision making on how the Club's position is made public, and on this, where we should have just fessed up, it is a gross error of judgement. I hate all this sacking and instability, but on this there is just no option..

Toumpas will be emergency this week, can't see he, Pederson or Spencer getting the nod ahead of Sellar, Bail, M Jones or Evans. Interesting choice for sub though. Well done Maxy, just got a feeling he's gonna kill it now he's up and about. Can't be long before Jake Spencer comes in for Jamar, and that's all from the Russian. The team just looks so much more talented with Watts in there too.

Just read an informative stat.....GWS let the opposition go inside 50 half as much as MFC so far this season. They are defensively better, and we are like a sieve. I reckon they're a shoe-in.

Whoever rucks for GWS will still school Jamar in general play, and I reckon GWS IS A 2 goal per quarter better team than us on form so far.......8 goal loss. I can't get my head around the odds. Have the bookies been paying attention?

Brilliant reply. Wow!

Actually it's not crap. There is NO evidence, and that's worldwide, that helmets prevents concussion, and there's a reason. See my post above. The facts.

I heard this too cfe, and also agree. For some reason he is treated uniquely at this club as someone to be made an example of. Actually, I do know why, and it's because he was a no. 1 draft pick. The very point of a team game, one for all and all for one etc, should be that everybody should be treated equally. He is scapegoated because of expectations that the club has bought into via the media and thus public perception. The other thing mentioned on the abc in conclusion was that had he been properly managed at another club, he would be an outright star by now. The judgement and confidence to make the right decisions regardless of media pressure and perceptions at this club just seems to be completely absent at the moment, and they greatest problem the club faces now in respect to rebuilding a good list, is I think is being able to hold onto quality players or attract any quality TO the club. I feel desperately sorry for players like Nathan Jones, Jack Viney and Jack Grimes, who ooze loyalty, because their playing careers are currently being smothered by the endless dysfunction at this club.