Deetective Sgt. Taggert

I agree. There are times when he looks to pass off when he could possible have a crack at the goals, and then ends up rushing a kick and misses. Or he takes a mark in the fifty on a tight angle, looks to pass, hesitates, and then has a shot and misses. If he took it on himself to take the shot then he might nail a few more goals. Obviously he should look for a teammate in a better position but sometimes I feel he overdoes this and should back himself more often.

One thing to add, has anyone seen the replay of Tapscott's hit on Shaw late in the 4th in front of the MCC Reserve? From what I saw from the replay of the screen at the ground it looked like he might come under scrutiny from the match review panel. Either way, was great to see him back his strength a couple of times in the game.

Agree with you hear. Was frustrating to watch how many times Jamar won the tap but it went to Sydney's advantage. I agree with much of the posts here. If you asked me if I'd be happy with a draw halfway through the 3rd I would have taken it without thinking, they looked better for more of the game I felt, but they just couldn't put us away in the 3rd term. But was a great fightback by the boys when I thought they might tire.

Fair call in regards to his opponents, he did lose him a couple of times but was lucky not get punished for. But that will come with greater awareness. Definately a solid first up performance, and certainly looked more confident and capable than strauss did in his first few games. How good was his Ben Graham style kick in almost to the centre square! You can see why the club wants him in the side to be able to break the lines.

Yeah, the general view seems to be that players across all clubs struggle to run out the first game and pull up a bit sore, don't think you can read much into a few players limping post-game. BTW Pipefitter, did you happen to get your alias from a Canadian movie ...

You'd think we'd be happy that at least our captain and three vice captains are all (apparently) injury-free and set to play. I agree Frawley is a bigger loss, but I'd argue Scully's efforts against the dogs on that wet Friday night almost got us over the line. Three browlow votes speaks volumes. Hopefully Trengove gets the green light and he and Tapscott can turn it on. But it should be Davey to shine and perhaps Bennell to step up

I've watched some of the replay of last years game a couple of times and one thing I noticed is that we had a really good run with the umpires in a few 50/50 decisions in the first quarter that resulted in scoring opportunities. We might need the same luck this week to help get us over the line...

Yeah, good point, but it would be good if he could get in the middle for short bursts to provide some extra grunt.

I figure he'll start on the bench, but I can see him being given the chance to play in a few different positions depending on who they think he'll best line up on, can't see him replacing Grimes but could be given a shot doen back somewhere.

Now that we know he's in. Where do we expect to see him play?

I'm stoked about this! Goes some way towards making me feel better after the news about the loss of Scully and McKenzie. I think he will be a good replacement with the loss of McKenzie (and Jnr Mac) - watching his old highlights tape from TAC cup he loves to serve it up to the opposition B) As an aside, is it just me, or does Tappy kinda resemble Jabba the Hut in the picture in that article...

I got a little bored reading the somewhat optimistic posts here and snuck a peak at a Swans Forum for some different views. Nothing particularly insightful but generally they seem concerned about our pace and the poor performance of the Swans at the 'G in recent years: Do I think we'll knock off the Demons at the MCG? No. I know we've had a reasonably good pre-season, but the team is probably still a bit unsettled, especially considering personnel changes and our reputation for being slow starters. There was also something about the way we were defeated in Round 17 last year that makes me think there's a gap between the two sides that will be difficult to overcome in the short term. I think we'll improve on that appalling performance last year, but it won't be enough. Demons by 26. If we want to go a long way into September this year teams like Melbourne will need to be accounted for. This fixture last year was a debacle. i don't know we can out run Melbourne on the MCG and last year we could not shut the game down either. We need to be more efficient with disposal than we were last year and put numbers in front of the ball and trap it in to contests, ensure Frawly and Morton don't feed the likes of Davey and their running players who murdered us last year. We know Melbourne are fast enough so make the stoppage contests about strength not pace. Grind the game down and don't give a [censored] about the words ugly football. 4 points football is all that matters. Restrict the score of the match. last year the game was over almost at quarter time, if we can ensure the scoring rate is low of the match the longer the game goes we can ensure the strong grunt midfield types of Kennedy, Jack and Hanners will start feeding the Goodes, McVeigh and Jetta's in the latter stages of each quarter. Melbournes forwards are solid but not superstars. Deny them clean feed and the ball should hit the ground a lot more. Than it's up to Smith and Mattner to clean it up and clear it. We should win this game if the game is played on pressure teams not in open space. It's a very tough game first up, there's no reason why we can't get the 4 points as our pre-season has been solid despite a few injurys. You would expect a better Melbourne outfit this season but being round 1, who knows what to really expect from either side. Last year's game still haunts me a little, it's hard to see that kind of shellacking to happen again though. If we can restrict Melbourne's space, run and apply good pressure then we are every chance. Our defence set up is going to be the interesting one, Mal gone and still no Bolts or LRT but the depth is there. I

Putting aside whatever ends up happening with the substitute, it was great to see the boys training at the 'G So sick of reading about and speculating about it. Can't wait for next Sunday!

I think that's it understandable that many of the media pundits are now predicting Melbourne to miss the top eight this year (e.g Mike Stevens). Assuming that they base their opinions largely on what Melbourne has shown so far in the pre-season then its hard to back them into the eight, although some still have us in just scraping in. Yes we can say that out pre-season last year wasn't the greatest indicator of our form during the first 5 rounds (Hawthorn match excluded) and from the reports coming from last weeks match we were looking pretty good during the first half. Because of this I have tempered my expectations a little based on what I have heard/read of our performances and the loss of Frawley is hurting our defence at this stage. However, I think its difficult to judge how the Dees are tracking until you've seen them play at the 'G where they always seem to reserve their best footy for. So bring on Round 1 (and 2 and 3) so we can stop speculating and finally see whether all the hype can be deliver on!

Refreshing to read a thread thats not all pure speculation, cheers. Glad Bailey is trying to employ new tactics to break the press, will be interesting to see this year whether he can pull some surprises from the coaching box I agree with your sentiments regarding Tom. Such a dam shame that supporters will consider curtailing their excitement watching him play until he signed up for life...

Homer simpson, on a Treehouse of Horrors episode. Classic scene: "Well what do you think Marge? All it needs is a title. I was thinking something along the lines of 'no tv and no beer make homer something something...'"

I feel a bit for Davey and would have loved to have seen him get the job, but with Bruce gone Green is the most experienced by far of the leadership group in terms of games played and is a proven performer and leader. Congratulations Brad, hope he can bring us some more great finals performances like the 2000 qualifying final in the not too distant future.

Many thanks. Don't know how I would survive the off season without the efforts of loyal fans getting down to training and reporting on demonland

Brad Miller was drafted on the grounds on being the toughest kid in the draft to attempt to fill this void. Not sure if it could be said that it really achieved much, just ending up with him getting reported too often. From the reports from pre-season training to does sound like there is a bit more aggro within the group coming from the like's of Frawley and Moloney, so maybe that represents an changing attitude. Hopefully Moloney's initiative with the boxing will also make a difference...

20,003 and counting! http://www.melbournefc.com.au/tabid/7415/default.aspx?newsid=106312

I know its old news, but I was at my graduation ceremony on Wednesday night at Etihad Stadium and had to opportunity to walk around on the surface of the field. I wasn't too concerned about slipping over because I had no intention of running around in my graduation get-up (although that would have been a funny sight I admit), however, I was surprised at how hard the surface felt under foot. I'm not sure if the hardness of the surface has been discussed as much as the the surface giving way, but I could imagine the strain on the body of running around on that for 2 hours. Admittedly I haven't spent too much time on football fields over the last few years but I thought it as noticeably harder than any I had previously been on. I hope the Etihad management is planning on improving the quality of the surface for next year and beyond. Other than that I couldn't help but get excited about next year sitting in a football stadium, bring on 2011 already

If nothing else he'll keep Jamar honest at training being a more worthy adversary than any current or previous player

This sounds like a different version of events to what you described earlier. On this basis it does sound more like a far lesser incident

Looks like we added a new midfielder to our list after all no wonder we opted to load up on talls at the draft. Assuming he reaches his potential, its a great move by the club because as they said in the article by Matt that it allows them to commence his preparations now for round 1 2013 Still can't believe its more than two years away though...

According the AFL's draftee ranking system Lucas cook was ranked number 10 (excluding Sam Day, Swallow and Bennell) so that puts our selection of Cook at 12 well in line with that scoring system, if its at all relevant