Grandson of a gun

Reading between the lines on the MFC webiste article, and seeing that some players are clearly playing hurt at the moment i have revised my original opinion and anticipate something like: Out- Sylvia, Davey, Howe (for Casey finals), Jamar (rested- something seems off with him physically), Scully (injured and needs to be rested) In- Jetta, Tapscott, Gawn, McDonald, Fitzpatrick I would think Bail actually needs another week at Casey given the length of his layoff and the fact that we don't need or want to take risks with bringing blokes back early.

Every team turns it over. It is the position on the ground that is more the telling factor. Melbourne far too often cough it up through the corridor and get punished on the rebound. Another poor indictment on the game plan...

I was at the game and whilst Morton got a fair bit of it he did waste it a few times and try to do too much (and I am a Morton believer). Davey was horrendous. Jones was great and the backline stood up under a ton of pressure. The good- Jones Backline Sylvia the third qtr Bad- Davey. Scully having the fumbles and playing hurt. The Bailey game plan Ugly- Umpiring Davey The Bailey game plan Our start

Agree and I actually think he is playing hurt.

I was at the game. FMD. that my friends was the Bailey game plan in all it's glory! Morton got plenty of the pill. Didn't use it well enough though. At times he went in hard, at other times he should have gone harder. Davey was atrocious. Green missed a couple but he at least contested and presented. Scully had the fumbles bad. Jones was fantastic. As was Sylvia. And fcuk I feel sorry for the backline. I haven't seen tv replays of the Sylvia & Davey hits so I will take posters words that they will both miss. On today's performance- Out: Sylvia, Davey Scully In: Tapscott, Bail, Jetta

That's not like you to write off 20 year olds after two games (and a busted leg)!

Yet in two years where we were absolute poo he was one who was developing nicely. He has had a poor season. No-one will say any different. But the speed at which posters here are willing to write him off is astounding. 21 Years old. 21. Judd is arguably in his prime at 27. (And no i am not saying Cale is the next Judd) Give the kid time FFS. There needs to be a moron meter around here. We have posters writing off 19-21 year olds at will and baying for blood. Talk about being completely unreaistic and having no patience or foresight. Let me say it again. 21. Morton is a required player and will be given opportunity to work through his problems and get back to his best...

Sorry Gareth. You cannot make logical arguments and ask for patience in this place. And good luck trying to discuss this matter with OD and RF (especially RF). I guarantee you that these two would have been in exactly that boat in regards to Swift/Rich etc. Would also have been smashing Frawley and Garland while they were developing. They cannot stand or understand the concept of seeing potential in a kid and then giving him time to develop. They want it all now and according to RF our recruiting has been an absolute disaster (mind you he never bothered to make the same argument when he was presented with a thread deveoted to drafting evidence). Bottom line is that the vast majority have faith in the clubs recruiters and can understand that Cook, like Watts, will take time to develop and fill out. But some you just can't reason with................

Good luck Flash

It is great to hear MFC in the marketplace going at the best with everything they've got. I don't believe Clarkson will leave Hawthorn, and more importantly i don't think Hawthorn will let Clarkson go- they will ensure that their offer is close to if not matching ours for money. I applaud the club for having a red hot crack (hopefully that will filter through to the playing group!)

Don't worry. MFC will be well and truly into him....

Rock bottom? That is as gross an over-exaggeration as i have seen. Port Adelaide is rock bottom. Yes we haven't progressed as many had hoped this year on the whole, but to say we are rock bottom is ridiculous. As for Fev, it is the old impatience line again. Everyone wants results now now now. There's no such thing as being patient and letting kids develop. Just as a bloke like Ftzpatrick starts to get over his injuries and is starting to show something people talk about bringing in Fev. Fev would stop blokes like Fitzpatrick getting a chance at a game. All to please the immediate need of impatient supporters. Fev will be too old by the time all our kids reach the stage where they are maturing and we are pushing up in the top 4 but by having him there we will have hampered the development of the power forwards we've been crying out for. Again putting us back behind the competition. Forget Fev.

For all the Bailey is a good bloke and good at developing the kids stuff, his lasting impression on this group is his game plan which just does not stack up against the majority of the competition. We all know there has not been a proper forward press all year. We play high risk footy straight through the corridor to a poorly set-up forward line, turn the ball over far too much because we cannot break a press and then get destroyed on the turnover. I think in most cases our young players have improved individually. Our senior players have not. For some it is due to injury. For others they've hit a form slump. The game style needs a complete revamp.

But with Bartram it is always "If Only". If only those two kicks hadn't missed the target, if only he had kicked two of the three goals, if only he hand't kicked the ball out on the full under no pressure. It is not as if it is a once off on a bad day. HE DOES IT EVERY SINGLE WEEK. Don't get me wrong- if you could stick his endeavour into a Sylvia or Davey or half the team at times then we'd be going places. But endeavour only gets you so far and this game is all about execution of skills. The opposition prays on converting turnovers into goals. Barty undoes everything good that he does when he commits these regular kicking atrocities.

I am unashamedly still a believer in Cale Morton and what he could produce for us. There is no doubt that he has been disappointing this year to date but as this team grows together i just see so much upside in him that i cannot understand why people wnat to throw him under the bus as a 21 year old. He does have plenty of things to still work on, expecially on the defensive front, however as this team grows, Cale is the kind of player who can become the cream on the top of the cake and one of those players who can be nigh impossible to match up on when at his best. A long, long way to go for Cale however here's hoping this week is the first step in that road back.....

The boys have much to prove this week and redeem for the insipid performance in perth earlier in the year. The biggest problem (no pun intended) has been the same problems we've had all year and highlighted by Nathan Thompson this afternoon on SEN. Melbourne, with so many kids, are simply not yet physically strong enough to compete consistently with the best teams. And not only that, but in his words, West Coast Eagles eat bricks. They are a team full of very strong fully grown men. That is what is going to cause the biggest problem for us, being able to compete for 120 minutes physically with the Eagles. I will be cheering as hard as any other MFC supporter and do enter the game with some hope, however the realist in me says that we are unlikely to get any closer than 3 or 4 goals at best.

Assuming that Malthouse won't leave Collingwood......Neeld is certainly firming for the job. What i like most about him is that aside from his credentials as an assistant, he is coming from the most professionally run club that is leading the competition in terms of football department development and extracting everything from the players. That knowledge is invaluable. Sanderson's credentials are very good too and you have to back the clubs decision makers in. My preference is for Neeld however at this stage given Malthouse and Clarkson are most probably unattainable.

So much for my prophesising about McDonald playing on the back of the article on the MFC website!!! I give myself an uppercut! Yeah i would love to see Blease given the opportunity to play a whole game and really get a feel for it. And i would also love to see Morton playing a full game through the middle of the ground. I don't know the rules on whether the sub has to come from one of the named interchange players or it can be anyone but if it can be anyone then perhaps Dunn. But maybe even Ricky Bobby (he did it well in Round 1)!

No one minds you extrapolating on that view Range Rover. That is what this forum is for. However, What people do mind is that you don't just extrapolate that view, you add your own opinion and then try and ram it down everyone's throats, dismiss any other view of the issue as insanity and continue to berate and scream as loud as you possibly can until people are either beaten into submission or they get so fed up with you they just ignore your posts and stop reading the thread. Just as you say he has blatantly lied in his press conference and he has been approached and likely agreed to terms, there are others who will argue in the opposite by extrapolating on other comments and events. What makes your extrapolation correct and others not so? What makes your opinion more important than others? Why do you have such a sense of self importance and a need for vindication- are there facets of your life that you are not happy with and perhaps you feel like you do not get the recognition you deserve? Whatever it is, deal with it and stop with this self importance nonsense. By all means express your opinion but remember your opinion is neither right nor is it fact. It is merely your opinion and it ranks no higher than the opinion of any other poster around here. The simple fact in all of this is RR, that not one single journalist or media personality has named a source or put any evidence on the table. They simply hide behind the "confidential source" line. They are tarnishing their own images by not revealling who their sources are. Were they the same sources that said Taylor Walker had signed with GWS? The player himself however did not shy away from any questions or cross-examination. He faced up to the music. And because this information came straight from the horses mouth rather than hidden in shrouds of secrecy, many believe it to be far more truthful (and in fact 100% truthful) than anything some reporter or media personality has said. That is not blind defence of a player. That is based on the player being the only one prepared to answer the tough questions. Something those supposedly in the know are not willing to do.

Wow RR. Do you really think that highly of yourself? You aren't that important buddy. It is simple really, if people don't agree with you then you label them insane. Should they offer a differing but equally plausible explanation of an event or series of events to you then they have lost grip on reality. Unfortunatel Rangey, you do not know all, you are not the centre of the Demonland universe and your opinion of your own opinions is so inflated that it is laughable.

He's been named emergency a few times but they went to the length of putting an article on the club website about him which always makes me think he'll play.

It was noticebly back tracked on again tonight by Barrett. It's now gone from signed sealed and delivered to 'at this stage we believe that he is more likely than not'. So how does Range Rover paint this now? What about all those contracts and Heads Of Agreement that he'd apparently signed?

Yep. Exacery!

Well said Kento. And perhaps vice versa Rangey, it is you who is shutting your eyes and sticking your head in the sand, pinning your beliefs on every little possible inference that can be drawn rather than the actual words spoken by the man. But then again you would never acknowledge that your opinion might actually be misguided! The more noise I hear coming out of GWS officials the more it becomes evident that they don't actually have their man at all!

Yeah sorry, poor choice of words there but I think you knew my drift...