Mad_Melbourne

bit like hodge...but also he is 21, i think let beamer or davey take it for 3-5 seasons then we can judge, and i agree it will likely be jack grimes. but all the pressure of captaincy on a 21 year old is tough, remeber with all the talk about brock mclean, lucky we didnt make him captain. not saying grimes will leave, but just 21 is a bit early

i am big wraps for jack watts, and will admit he does make a few mistakes, like any tall forward especially early on. he has been losing his feet lately which is a problem, mind you it will be fixed when he is weighing around 95 kilos, which is still another 10 kilos off where he is now. i think he leads to really good positions, leads hard and finds hmself in space quite often, and isnt used enough. his ground kicking is great. goal kicking is great. decision making at times not so great. there is alot to like and i compare him to an early nick riedwolt. nick riedwolt first season, 93 kilos 2001 St Kilda 6 games 43 kicks 14 handballs 57 total disposals 26 marks 2 goals 2 behinds 3 tackles 1 frees against 3 frees for jack watts this season ,85 kilos, (last season didnt count as he was still doing vce barely training. 2010 melbourne 5 games 28 kicks 27 handballs 55 total disposals 15 marks 4 goals 1 behind 5 tackles 7 frees against 7 frees for watts is on the right track IMO, everyone should get off his back, wait until he is weighing about 95 kilos, had 2-3 seasons, and then we can judge him. i think next season is when we will start to see him grab games by the scruff of the neck. and he will prove he is twice the player naitanui is.

the fact is bartram has had 5 goals kicked on him this season, and has owned the small defender role, taking several players to the cleaners, including leon davis yesterday. cheney in comparrison to bartram IMO is much slower and not as good with the ball, but he is better overhead. he will play this season, it is just hard to slot him in at the moment, and i think he will struggle to break into the team throughout with our defence being amazingly good. he just provides the depth for if an injury is to occur, same with tommy mc and james strauss this season. next season there will be an open spot in the backline because bruce is very likely to retire, and i think strauss will slot in ahead of cheney, hence getting a massive workout in defence at casey, and will play that reboundin, kickout defender role, option for the switch that bruce plays averagely. garland up forward i was a big advocate of this earlier on when it looked like our forward line was in a dissarray, but i think the dunn, bate, jurrah and watts combination will work amazing, with miller standing in quite well too. morton and garland yesterday were both instrumental off defense, with disposal efficiency over 75%, and moving them from there for cheney whose disposal is questionable, will probably just put more pressure on the melbourne defence and midfield throughout, not that i dont like cheney, i just think, why chop and change a defense that apart from a few matches, has played absolutely amazingly.

how i see it is bailey put it to the players in the leadership group especially, if you want to stake a claim for captaincy, this is your time we need our other leaders to stand up, and moloney and davey had outstanding games, rivers and miller, were solid, green was okay, bruce was poor. so from this i figure best two options for captaincy are davey and moloney. my preference moloney due to his love of the club and hard work, and he has such a big influence on the younger players at the club

watts did well apart from a few mistakes, in the first quarter when he lost his feet, the ground looked really muddy and wet for some reason, but also he was in 15 m of space the kick could have been better to him, and he got pinged twice for holding the ball. other than that he played really well, led well i reckon, especially in the third quarter i think he contributed strongly, far from a liability. i felt we do well when we dont notice cameron bruce playing, in the first quarter he got alot of the ball and played a role in the 3 collingwood goals, my only logic for him playing in defence is that he is used for some leadership down there, but also, we cant hve him denying a spot in the team to younger forwards as this is where we need to improve. our backline is set and bruce out, strauss in from next season on is a perfect replacement.

really good news to hear i think the main reason they arent pushing him out to early is if a shoulder reconstruction is needed, or has he already had one? none the less better to be safe than sorry, especially when afl is as physical as it is nowdays?

i think one of the things that the mfc are trying to do with playing strauss in the backline, is add a defensive aspect to his game, it also leaves him down there for kickouts. i think strauss is the perfect mould for a gilbee, heath shaw, drummond, corey enright, role, as that attacking defender, his 50 m kicking is exceptional, so having that rebounding 50 would be handy, and definately play a key part in our future success. cheney would definately not be suited to this role, garland or macdonald more suited than cheney. cheney is more of a whelan, reliable small defender, spped and kicking is not his strong point.

definately agree darling is a gun i would love to see him in an mfc jumper, only 2 problems are the home town factor could lose him like we did scott thompson or richmond could take him early

ridiculous, i actually lol at that none the less i think there is much to work with on melbournes half, and what i really am impressed with i his defensive pressure as of late, especially since he was played in defence in 2008 for casey to work on this, if his defensive pressure stays the same, and he consistently racks up 20 possesions with a goal or two i dont understand how he wont be playing afl, or deserve a spot on the list at least?

jackson trengove is going to be a really good player. john anthony could be what we need. kepler bradleys recent form has been outstanding and could also slot into our top 22 having said that i wouldnt see us trading our first round draft pick

junior has had an unbelieveably good season, winning our best and fairest at the current time. but i could see at the end of the year captaincy being handed over? this due to his age, he will still have a spot in the team but it is unlikely he will have to many other seasons, so it just takes a bit of pressure off him. but having said that i still think he has taken really well to the role of captain. would love to see moloney as captain, or davey or green, i still remember the one match that green captained a few seasons ago and dominated, could be the player to lift a team, and really could be pivotal in our chase for finals over the next few years. maybe even rotating captaincy system? very unlikely though

there have been few posters who have said he was a waste of a draft pick and i just thought it was silly and the main reason i posted this, i must admit though there is not as much e-bashing of addam as there is of cameron bruce, joel macdonald and jared rivers.

teams we definately clash with are adelaide, brisbane and carlton teams possible clashes could arise in are western bulldogs, fremantle, west coast eagles? i think possibly? but i agree the red clash strip could have definately worked this season. all i think is that obviously with teams that wear white we will wear our normal jumper and that the afl asked us to use a white away strip as it definately avoids a clash.

too small for a small forward? davey and wona are both shorter than him none the less all your points are reasonable, and watching his afl performances i would agree, i just hope he can translate what is seen in the vfl into afl and he wll be a handy crumming forward. but i agree that he hasnt shown enough at an afl level but i also feel his form in recent vfl matches warrants a game in the afl, at the current time ahead of wonna.

eth 38 they are only up to rd 8 in the vfl as the season started later and they had a bye only thing i agree cheney is good to and due for a game, but they are both different players, and i feel at the moment our backline is better than our forward line, by miles, making it hard for cheney. i agree dee-luded that he has had poor body langugage but i think in recent times it has turned around, and he is really puttin in 100% in contests and also not responding negatively when mistakes up the field are made or when he makes a mistake. the master, he runs the 100m is 10 seconds im not sure on his 20m times? and muscle wise small forwards arent really that role, i can see him roving off the packs in the future meaning bennell and jetta can play a flank/ wing role. also he is signed on til the end of next year and i agree if he doesnt start to play regular afl football he will be cut or traded, but i can see him develop into a good afl player.

there is continual addam maric bashing on this site but personally from round 6 onwards i feel his form is nearly warranting a game for him. (wont be suprised if he plays queens birthday match) not only do i understand why people are questioning him due to his poor results in 2009, work rate, defensive pressure and kicking at afl level and when comparing his afl matches to wonaeamirris few matches it is fair to say that wonaeamirri has had a better afl record. but i think people forget he has had a poor run with shoulder injuries which is no fault of his own and has therefore had hampered pre seasons. that his kicking for goal when drafted was at 80%. and in 2008 he played a few good games notably the one against geelong in the wet. now im not saying that he is going to be a ridiculously good player but his kicking and speed can be an asset for melbourne in the future, and it just annoys me that we as club supporters write off players who have played 11 games at the club. people writing him off are just ridiculous. stats and reviews from brad gotch (casey coach) rd 5 Addam Maric - Kicks 9, Handballs 5, Marks 2, Tackles 1, Goals 1 Addam started off really lively, and hurt the opposition with a couple of shots at goal. He did get a fantastic long goal in the last quarter, which is probably a trademark of what hes like, and he had a few tackles as well. Hed probably be a little bit disappointed that he didnt make the most of his opportunities early, as he could have had a really big game. rd 6 Addam Maric - Kicks 13, Marks 6, Handballs 14, Tackles 6, Goals 1 Addam probably had his best game for us this year. As a small forward who did a little bit in the midfield, he had 27 possessions, so thats a big game. He kicked one goal one, and set up other numerous opportunities for the boys, which was fantastic. He had a few tackles and pressure skills as well, which is where were trying to get him to be more of an all rounder in the way he plays, so hell be really pleased with that game. rd 7 Addam Maric Addam had a good game. He had 24 possessions, so hes certainly finding the footy. He was lively, and kicked a goal - probably could have kicked another goal, I think he missed one - and there were a couple of opportunities running through half-forward, where he could have used the ball just that little bit better. In the main, hes working really well, getting a lot of it lately, and hes got his work rate right up. Hes pushing up into the middle of the ground, and working back to the forward line, so thats really good for us. rd 8 Addam Maric - Addam spent a bit of time in a number of positions. We played him on the wing for a little bit, as well as half-forward, forward pocket - hes still getting a lot of the ball. He kicked one goal two, which was a bit unfortunate, because he missed a couple of snaps. He was still good, but he just needed to make the most of those opportunities. But, in the wet conditions, I was really impressed with his cleanness. All the other guys were fumbling, and he was just coming in and grabbing it and getting it out. He was looking lively again. now i know i will cop a spray from the maric haters, and i can see the reasons why, but i think you guys should not be so short sited, open for a debate

in my opinion the jumper is pretty cool, but i wouldnt have been fussed with havin the red version of the jumper. i feel all teams need a clash jumper as there are clashes throughout, the league. just like umpires need to wear a totally different colour to the players due to a clash (melb vs wb) if a melbourne player bends down to pick up the ball, sees navy blue ahead of him, could easily handball it to him, hence clash jumper is necessary.

agreed that bate if 100% fit is definately in the starting 22, but who would you remove for him? wona, jeta and bennell have all played quite well, and miller played the back up ruck role last week okay. miller for mine would be replaced by bate, but it is hard situation, as players become 100% fit and our injury list decreases selection is going to be tough at the mfc. great for our depth

this week defensively is where most of the changes will be made in my opinion what are our ideal match ups on the forward line of carlton, IMO O'halpin-Warnock Henderson-Frawley Betts-Grimes Yarran-Bartram Gartlett-Garland if fit is the best match up. Macdonald maybe(everyone is talking about him being slow but i disagree, and his rebound from defensive 50 was good this week, also disposal efficiency was the best of the team..i think) if not then strauss or bennell maybe, cheney is too slow for a small defender to play this week. Leaving bruce or rivers to patrol the backline, i hope rivers stays in this patrolling position, because as shown this week against geelong, his one on ones have dropped to a below average level. it is hard to state who will be dropped considering it is midfielders we are likely to play. outs: BRUCE JETTA/WONA MACDONALD GARLAND(if injured) OR RIVERS ins: TRENGOVE, SCULLY, POSSIBLY STRAUSS/mckenzie

i think it is rather that he is deceptively quick, he looks slow but he is taking such large steps that he is really rather quick. only thing he needs to improve from the weekend was his awareness, but having said that it will probably happen missing 10 weeks of football his kicking skills are immaculate still, and i can only hope he plays a more offensive role for melbourne this season

i dont think we will tag their whole midfield and agree that head to head will be the best option with bartel and selwood. i think that probably see bartram have a crack on ablett or even mckenzie, with jones lining up a head to head with chapman mainly due to body size. then hopefully let our midfield take the one on one match ups, if we go into the match trying to control the damage of their midfield as opposed to try and run their midfield around we will get smashed. we need to back our midfielders into hopefully do a good enough job to compete against geelongs midfield. i also think that we will attempt to have as many stoppages as possible as jamar can dominate blake in the ruck and id even back jake spencer (not that he will be played) to beat tom hawkins in the ruck. ohh and wona although i love him should be dropped, clearly was not match fit and at times didnt even try to chase their defenders when running out of the backline, this leaves the spot for bate if fit, if not maybe maric will get a game, or dunn again, as dunn can even be used as a tagger if necessary.

Morton and watts would never be tried in the ruck due to their body size and risk of injuries. especially since morton has just recovered from the "ruckmans knee" injury. rivers could have been a viable option agreed, but sylvia contested well, had a big enough leap to compete.

with gold coast struggling to sign players they will have to make a hard attack at the lower value players. so i think miller could be a chance to go. if he can relive his early career form gc would be rapt

we should win, but we should have beat north melbourne, we happen to play well against good opposition and against poor opposition we tend to struggle. would love to see a 40-50 point win showing how much better we are than west coast. would love to see the russian smash naitanui into place.

we are probably going to finish outside the 8. 10th would be ideal but less likely than 12 or 13th mind you if we play the football that we played against brisbane, bulldogs and collingwood we could push a top 8 position, i just hope for consistent form.