Mad_Melbourne

I dont have much of an understanding of the rookie list rule, but is it 3 years maximum. Obviously it looks as though Harmes and vandenBerg will be elevated but if King is coming up to the end of his contract would they allow him one more year?

He brought me a drink at the corner of Collins and Queen and did not take blonde biddy I was chatting with away from me, when he very easily could of, but rather suggested that she have a splendid time with me.

* BUMP * While Jason Taylor has been in charge: 2013 Daniel Cross * Aidan Riley * Bernie Vince * Dom Tyson * Viv Michie * Christian Salem * Jay Kennedy-Harris * Jayden Hunt elevation of Mitch Clisby re rookie of Neville Jetta * James Harmes * Max King ® Alex Georgiou ® * 2014 Ben Newton * Jeff Gartlett * Heritier Lumumba * Sam Frost * Christian Petracca Angus Brayshaw * Alex Neal-Bullen * Billy Stretch * Oscar McDonald elevation Neville Jetta * Aaron vandenBerg ® * Mitchell White 18/24 have played games in the 2 years that he has been our list manager. I have bolded the real success stories in my opinion, but I am sure there are arguements for 2 or 3 more. He has turned over our list and continued on what was beginning to happen under Todd Viney and Mark Neeld. Jason Taylor and Paul Roos have put this club on the right track, with successful development of these players it is goign to be clear to see us playing finals in the next 2 years.

I think the coaching staff always wanted that, but mismanagement of our list through really poor periods of draft has led to a period in our football history that we all will not look back on fondly. The problem Watts faces/faced is one of expectation, expectation of his impact from the start of his career, right through now to expectations of his poor performances and thus they are continually highlighted. Whilst, as he said in the interview, he would love to remove all the lapses that he has, players have lapses in concentration and they will continue to happen wit hall players it is just we as fans and also the media choose to highlight the lapse from a prefferred whipping boy rather than anyone else. Do I think that the supporters have had any impact on Watts game? No Do i think that the supporters have had any impact on the style of football we play? No Am i happy with the changes that both Watts and the coaching staff have made? Yes I think you will find that supporters of the Melbourne football club who boo'd Jack Watts are knobs and really can't call themselves supporters. Whilst a trade was always an option for Jack, he was never going to be delisted and I am stoked about the way he has been able to play the last 2 months and hope he can carry it through the rest of the year. That being said, if he has one or two games where he falls below the standard he is starting to set, watch all of the stander critics talk about how he is not in our best 22 and how he is a waste of a football player.

I don't think anything that the supporter group has done has helped Watts play consistent football. Our coaching staff and probably his own mental strength and want to improve has brought about his improvement. But also the pretty important factors of developing confidence and strength in his body. The boos from members of the crowd and the boot being stuck in by multiple supporters would have not contributed in the slightest to his last 2 months of football.

I feel like the majority of supporters did not stick thick in the slightest and most had wanted the club to cut all ties. He has shown over the last 2 months that he has vastly improved his output and I for one am glad we have a player of his potential and calibre in our best 22.

This has always been of interest to me, as I have heard two varying versions. One that she was amongst a group and had pretty much copied her adult guardians in statements on colour and genitalia, the second that she called him an "ape" but was completely innocent in the method and was similar to the statements of someone saying "you are behaving like a Neanderthal" or "you are behaving like an ape" with no intention of racism, but more so just a figure of speech, If that makes sense.

Stephen Milne got booed for being a rapist, whilst Majak Daw is going through the same process he has not been bood. Racism the other way? Simply, racism exists and people booing Goodes could have racial motivation. But, imo, the majority boo Goodes because they are told not to, or they are doing it because of the snowball effect. Whilst it highlights one of the major issues with society, the grouping of all people booing being racist is an attempt by the media to stop the booing. "You are a racist if you boo Adam Goodes" is being used to help encourage people to not boo him as they don't want to be labelled in this group. The problem is by continually bringing it up people will continue to boo him and things are always worse over in WA due to such a heavily one sided supporter group.

10 years is a bit tough for me to remember much of Goodes playing style but i definitely know in last few seasons he has dived and done other dirty acts which caused booing. None the less, i think discrimination is thrown around way to readily, sexism, homophobia, racism, body shaming, people are ready to throw these words around and make accusations in order to act like a POS

I think someone elluded to it earlier and I agree that the booing definitely happened before this year, but it has only got legs due to the media attention. I am sure even last year he was boo'd at the melbourne game and if it wasn't that one it was the year before. Not by everyone but by some of the crowd?

But if people suggest they boo him because they percieve the way he acts to make him a tool, then it should all be fine. I agree that there is definite racism associated with the booing, there is also a pack mentatlity, partial rebellion, partial intended annoyance and as well because he is a genuine [censored]. Sam Mitchell recieved the booing treatment and still does most weeks due to his percieved dirty playing, it happens consistently, I remember i used to Boo Ben Johnson whenever he got the football after his incident with Daniel Bell. I dislike the fact that people are suggesting the only reason for the booing is racism because multiple people in AFL get boo'd.

There is no doubt racism associated with the booing of Adam Goodes, but it is also because he is a Rooster Smoker of the highest order. With that said, multiple players are boo'd for varying reasons and i remember reading one article drawing attention to the fact that Heritier was boo'd against collingwood and how it was further evidence of racism in sport. The fact that this issue is continually having attention drawn to it, Essendon players, namely Jobe Watson, were boo'd last year most of the year and it was worse over in WA, i remember him even leaving the ground crying. Booing of Mitch Clark happened earlier in the year and umpires every game. People are getting on their high horse about one player also suggests a tone of casual racism in the fact that he should be exempt due to race.

Do you have some sort of relation to Viv, it just seems like you have a personal investment in the fella. Happy to see him doing well at VFL but unfortunately I think he has found his level, he is probably a cut above VFL and is a really good depth player at AFL. I hope he can come in and play well increasing competition for spots, but I think when he comes up he struggles to find the football, make good decisions and run out games.

I agree with your post, but I think the bashing of Fitzy incident was a little unnecessary, he could have played on a young developing forward kept him to one handball and got him subbed before 3/4 time if we want to apply balance to your post also. That said I don't know how many games we will be able to get away with only really playing one tall defender in Dunn with the others being midsizers, it worked against the young and inexperienced forward line of Brisbane, but probably wouldnt against most, well the good teams at least.

he is still young, so i may have been a bit rough, he is just really lucky that we have a massive gap in our list when it comes to small forwards, but that said I agree, doesnt get it enough or do enough with it

I think JKH has been nothing but a liability in his two games back from injury, slow with the football, poor decisions and lack of first option leading to his team mates being left stranded. He would not be playing except for the injuries and the fact that they probably wanted to manage the game time of ANB. He hs not shown any indication other than the game against Richmond in the NAB cup that he is likely to tear a game apart and I think he will be struggling to earn his spot had we had a full compliment. Too many people over rate JKH, but not even over rate by a little bit, but by a galaxy

Whilst I understand your comments, just under 250 games, premiership player, captain of his club, All-Australian, best and fairest winner, voted best captain one year by the AFLPA and most courageous too and a couple international rules series. Bit stiff saying Viney is already a better player, but i get your train of thought none the less

Whilst I am sure he would like to clunk more pack marks, if he is able to bring the ball to ground and fight for it or create the contest to allow our smalls to crumb how is he doing the wrong thing? At the end of the day an average of 2 contested marks a game is elite and I would say his contested marking is poor, but he was never a great contested mark player. I would guarantee that if Melbourne were to play Collingwood again he would have made a lot more contests for Adam Oxley than what happened and that could well have changed the result. Unrewarded running which sets up goals is vital for any team, whilst I agree if we are paying him 700,000 he is being paid overs, but clubs have to pay a certain amount of their salary cap so at the end of the day he is therfore deserving relative to what our list has been. The amount of times I have seen multiple Melbourne players spoil each other in other rounds in our forward half, yet this week our forwardline seemed alot more open with many more 1 v 1 contests and I personally think it is no coincidence that Dawes played and was able to help create but also instruct team mates on the proper moving patterns. Ive never said he was a star, but the attributes he has make him more than handy as a forward, whilst I would like to see him get more reward for effort, if the team is scoring over 100 points how can we fault how the forward line set up. I agree Pederson is more versatile, can play back and ruck, but I think a fit Chris Dawes is a much more important player to the side that Cameron Pederson.. Dawes is no superstar, but as our second KPF and a role player he is our best option

Most peoples perception of Dawes is that he does not fit into the side, but this is wrong. He played a pivotal role in our win against Geelong and there is no reason he should be dropped for the next week and would be ridiculous to do it. My perception of Dawes is that he is a competitive beast, not that he is a beast, but rather thrives on competition. He will bring the ball down on most occassions, and he will fight for the ball while it is on the ground. He may not have kicked many goals but he was involved in several score involvements as well as a 3 or so direct assists. Whilst I am sure he would have liked to hit the score board a bit more he was a major cog in the forward line that functioned so well. His leading patterns and leadership are second to none in our forward half and the way our forward line was able to create space to isolate the one on ones was partially due to him. There were several times where he sacrificed his game to run to space and create space for team mates to move into, whilst drawing a defender.

Crossy has been very consistent all year and whilst he continues to move the football backwards it is usually to a safer option and a better user of the football. His marking is elite and whilst he may be a tad slow his effort makes up for it. If his kicking was at a good enough standard he would have been one of the best players the game had seen. I did find it interesting that in the two games before Geelong he made a couple vital mistakes that seemed out of character, in terms of manning up the loose man Oxley, but he also came on the ground with 40 seconds to go against St Kilda, but himself on the back flank and moved Michie to the wing without saying anything about flooding back. That said, I would say he has done enough to earn a contract extension and then the year after a possible coaching role in some form.

The definite in is Hogan, the possible ins are Fitzpatrick and Garland The definite out will be Spencer and then I am not sure. I think we need Fitzy, he can play on their resting ruckman (Sinclair) and also pinch hit in the ruck for us as well. But it will be at the expense of a midfielder, possibly Riley. Then I am not sure about Garland, I want him in, but it is hard to drop people after a win, Bail could make way for him, which would move Cross into a more midfield defensive role.

I don't agree with this, he was able to bring in Hogan and Kent and they were pretty astute decisions and was also directly responsible for bringing in Jason Taylor who has been head of recruiting for our past two drafts, which have been great results. Neeld knew what he wanted to achieve and knew our list needed a total overhaul, he just lacked the people skills and genuinely did not have the personel to succeed. That said, I am not here to defend Neeld as I think he definitely had to go and he definitely made a lot of mistkaes, but he has done some things that we will be very happy with for the next 10-13 years.

The bold statement is where I think the bias comes from. May not be with you, but it is with alot of posters on here. Because they feel that he has not showed "desire" at times, they are biased towards his desire levels at every contest. If he loses one, or is out of positioned and out bodied it is often related to effort and I personally don't think this is true 90% of the time. This is highlighted often when at the game by most people chastising Watts for alot of things that he actually has not done wrong.

Hardly true, peoples bias leads to constant Watts bashing, many posters prefer for Watts to be playing poorly or making mistakes in order to highlight these as opposed to his positive moments. He is often unfairly criticised by most who do it and I would definitely say that if there was a loss regardless of his contribution posters would highlight mistakes that he made rather than anything else.

By seeing the players reactions after a win/after his first goal of the last quarter. Seeing how Brayshaw looks up to him and his leadership on the track I don't get how anyone can say he isn't as good leader as another. I don't think anyone could say who is a better leader unless they played in all 18 teams. Hodge is a leader on the field, doing it in the big games, but Nathan Jones has been the only consistent performer in a poor team for the last 3 years.