Grandson of a gun

Ventured out to Cranbourne today. Beautiful sunny day although as the game wore on the wind became stronger and skills became scrappier. For those who are interested my two cents are as follows: Gawn- OK in the ruck but struggled around the ground. Overdoes the handball and dropped a few marks. Kicking wasn't flash either but realistically he is at least 2 years away anyway. Spencer- Dominated hitouts. Played ok. Took some nice grabs and even hit a few targets by foot although i am still never confident when he has the ball. Wonna- Great pressure and presence early. Even though he didn't kick a goal today i believe he directly gave off at least 2 or 3. Laid another brilliant tackle which resulted in a holding the ball free kick which Petterd swooped onto the loose ball to kick a goal. Had a hand in one or two more. I don't think he will be playing Round 1 for the Demons but he isn't far away. Cramped up a bit in the last. Just another week or two of performances like that and he will be back in the team. Tapscott- A few kicks early. Played mainly off half back. Didn't dominate but did ok. Good at a couple of aerial contests too where he was clearly the shorter man but managed to get a fist on it. He will be close for round 1 or 2. Petterd- As has been said he was a real focal point. He did spill a couple of marks that you would expect him to take normally but all in all it was a good performance and he will be playing round 1 for the Demons. McDonald- I thought he was really good, especially in the second half. Reads the play well, took some real nice grabs across half back and then plays on and backs himself. Stuffs up occasionally but certainly moved well and is a chance for a couple of games later this year. A solid pre-season or two in the gym and he could be a handy mobile tall. Evans- Particularly good in the third where he provided some real dash and good ball use through the middle of the ground. Stands out when he gets it. Nicholson- Again did a few nice things. Thought Evans was the better of the two. Cook- Played the full game down forward. Presented well and hit a few contests hard. Took some nice marks. Did get lost and out bodied on occasions but with the windy conditions it was difficult for lead up forwards. Plenty to like about him. Howe- Started well i thought. I don't know if he was rested in the latter part of the game but i didn't notice him as much. Good leap and hands as is well documented. Probably just needs to work on his forward pressure and repeat efforts at the contest. Blease- Got a bit of it although as has been said he can get caught out trying to do too much and then run himself into trouble resulting in a butchered disposal. When he doesn't try to do too much he looks good. Turned on the afterburners a couple of times in the third through the middle into the wind and it was great to see. Probably just needs to continue to work on his match fitness and decision making and i reckon he will be given a chance for the demons later in the season. Gysberts- Hard one to give an opinion on. Played in the middle and down forward. Trouble was when he is in the middle there were a couple of blokes with similar body types and it was hard to work out who got the pill. Can appear lazy at times and certainly let his defender run off him without any close checking. Still slightly framed. I believe he is one of those blokes who won't ever look dominant at VFL level but stick him in the seniors and he knows where to go to get the pill. Probably just needs more match practice and to show some consistency. So all in all- Petterd will play Round 1. Wonna and Tapscott are close but probably will be squeezed out for at least Round 1. The rest have a few more things to work on before they get a chance to move up... And Casey won relatively easily.

Yep...

You are a much cleverer person than that last post suggests rp....

I disagree. Swan is a star. Proven week in week out performer who teams had no real way of nullifying. Pendlebury is a very good player and by the end of this year may well be a star but he isn't a great of the competition yet. Shaw is not a star of the comp. Another good to very good player. Didak can tear a game to bits but is still inconsistent and not an out and out star of the comp. That is what made them such a force, only 1 genuine star but plenty of very good players.

I understand the point of the thread but honestly i couldn't give a rats tossbag (thanks Malcolm) if we don't have 1. Give me 22 good - very good players who will dead set bleed for each other and a flag is sure to follow. If it is the aim to have that, then some of those very good will become outstanding, some of the good will become very good and some of the average will become good. That is how premierships are built. That is what i want to see. Collingwood only had 1 genuine star last year- Swan. They had a really strong batch of very good and good players and that is what delivered their premiership. A champion team will always beat a team of champions.

What an inspiration.... Hopefully Sean Wight is heading along the same path to recovery...

Was about to say the same thing. He needs to learn to attack the contest with some ferocity and run, run, run. If he learns this then he will start WINNING the ball himself and that is when his kicking will be a real weapon. The big question is Will The Penny Drop?

Everyone is entitled to free speech and as you're a new member and poster i don't want to discourage you sharing your opinions but it is very hard not to ask you what the point of this thread is? We have a better pre season that last year but your already thinking of sacking Bailey? Wow....

Why? how many pre-season games did Sydney win in their top years, or any years under Roos for that matter? None until last year. Yet they won a flag and were runners up in two of those years. It means nothing.

I've still got the photo fridge magnet of a manic 8 year old little Demon fan with a more than affable Sean Wight after the final training session of the 88 season before the Grand Final. Proud as punch to wear 27 on my back until he retired. Fight on Sean. Many a Demon are with you...

Because the pre-season last year was a great indication.....................

So lets look at this dispassionately.......... Melbourne travel to Tassie to play the Hawks. Start like a house on fire and have a solid first half. Melbourne dissapoint in the third and the last just peters out. There are no injuries. With no vision of the game, no poster on here can accurately talk about how the game was played or what took place. All we have is MB's updates and from that it seems basically to be a case of: Much improved pressure this week and took it up to a top 8 and likely top 4 team for a half. Fell away a bit but without knowing the coaching moves or players positions it is a bit hard to gauge why. Ball use still average- especially going forward Once again when our forwards do actually get their hands on it their conversion and potency is good. Plenty to work on. Also some things to be pleased with. Two weeks now to gear up. Bring it on.................... (PS- Grimes for AA Captain)

Yep and we are without Frawley, Trengove and McKenzie to name a few. So lets look at this dispassionately.......... Melbourne travel to Tassie to play the Hawks. Start like a house on fire and have a solid first half. Melbourne dissapoint in the third and the last just peters out. There are no injuries. With no vision of the game, no poster on here can accurately talk about how the game was played or what took place. All we have is MB's updates and from that it seems basically to be a case of: Melb- Much improved pressure this week and took it up to a top 8 and likely top 4 team for a half. Fell away a bit but without knowing the coaching moves or players positions it is a bit hard to guage why. Ball use still average- especially going forward, once again when our forwards do actually get their hands on it their conversion and potency is good. Plenty to work on. Also some things to be pleased with. Two weeks now to gear up. Bring it on.................... (PS- Grimes for AA Captain)

C & B- Last year he wasn't jumping anywhere near it. Already we see in this pre-season he is jumping into packs and last week i counted at least three times where he went up in the pack and got hands to it but didn't hold it. Don't put the blinkers on, he has developed from last year and will continue to do so. Melbourne actually have one of the most efficient, even one of the most potent forward lines in the AFL when you look at how many inside 50's they have compared to goals scored. Melbourne has a great scoring efficiency but the forwards are all too often starved of opportunity. 35 inside 50's against Essendon was a perfect example. Given that of those 35, a good third of them were also delivered very poorly, that is a total of just 25 times or so our forwards have an opportunity inside 50 for the WHOLE game. That is the most damning stat. I would hate to be an MFC forward the last couple of years. Buddy & Roughy see the ball at on average around 50-60 times a game. Dawes, Hall, Reiwoldt, Hawkins all see it in similar proportions. Watts hasn't set the world on fire. But he doesn't see much of the ball delivered to him or his forward mates in anywhere near the proportions or quality of the opposition. Until Melbourne put it in there a hell of a lot more then many times our forward line will look second rate.

I actually think they will give Tappy another go in the seniors next week. He showed enough and dean bailey's comments suggest theyre keen to get him in...

Exacery. As long as the boys get a puff up, blow out the cobwebs, get a feel for the contest and most improtantly- GET THROUGH UNSCATHED then that is all that really matters. The season proper is only just around the corner and i guarantee you will see a much different Melbourne in Round 1.

You DO need to understand his role. We struggle to win clearances because we get out bodied with the likes of Scully, Trengove, McKenie, Davey all having slight frames. So i would bet my balls that Bailey's role for Jones and Moloney is for them to be the attacking ones trying to use their size and strength to win hard contested ball and dish it out by hand or foot. There is two other on ballers who can play a defensive role. Then it comes down to the ability of the ruckman to win the tap and the onballers to shark it. You cannot possibly blame opposition clearances solely on Jones. Ludicrous. You are also grossly exaggerating his turnovers. He missed the target a few times but he actually did win about half his touches in contested situations where quick (and sometimes messy) disposal is all that can be achieved. The looping handball i know you are referring too was actually the fault of that big dud Spencer. Spencer took the ball and whilst his intentions to give it off were good, his poor handball put Jones under the pump and short of giving the ball back to Spencer his only other option was to loop the ball over the top of the head of the bloke about to tackle him. Not his fault at all. This harked back to my earlier post that it was the poor skill execution of the lesser players that often sold our better players into trouble. Once again i will say that if you think our clearances are bad at the moment, without Jones and Moloney in the team, we would get murdered and might as well play 8 men in the backline. In the future he may not be in our best 22, but i can tell you right now he is a required player.

Here was my take whispering and i think it is pretty fair: It's been a long day but i was at Pratt Park today and have 2 cents to offer: People who are bemoaning the skill level, lack of pressure, poor delivery, lack of structure or targets need to realise a few things. It is not just a case that we had 10 of our best 22 out of the team today. It was that the 10 players who were playing in their place were made up mostly of blokes who've never played AFL or have only played very few games. Many rave about the performances of Howe, Cook, Nicholson, Evans, McDonald and Nicholson however from a brutally honest perspective, none of them are yet up to it. They did some nice things but often fumbled under pressure, missed targets, didn't apply the required pressure and don't have big engines by AFL standards. All of these things can and will improve with time and training but all are reasons why we looked so bad. In turn it puts pressure on the rest of the team because of the poor use of the ball. Jetta was good playing on ball or high half forward. Maric was good also although still good go harder when it comes to the defensive aspects of the game. Tapscott started like a house on fire. Played off half back and it was a deliberate ploy on a couple of occasions for him to do the Daniel Rich and run past the bloke who took the mark or had a free kick, receive the handball and pump it long. He has mongrel in him and gave a good account of himself. He kept cramping up in the second half which is to be expected in your first hitout of the year. IF he stays fit he will definately play early in the season. Gysberts also started reasonably well, not getting a tonne of the ball but laying tackles, spoils, quick handballs and making a contest. He seemed a couple fo yards short of a gallop and will improve with more matches- he did however appear to have a slight limp after the game. Don't know if that's how he walks or he had some minor ailment. Scully was out of it today and looked rusty. Was beginning to come good in the last quarter and will be better for the run. For the Jones baggers out there: There was not a bloke out there for Melbourne who played with more intensity or fiercness at the contest. He stuffed a couple of kicks but given the amount of times he won hard balls, you are not going to hit targets all the time when under the pump. If you think we are bad at the stoppages or in the middle at the moment, take Jones and Moloney out of there and see how easily we are brushed aside then. FFS people, if you are going to comment at least have an understanding of the roles each player has and the reason they are in the team. I see nothing that would make me think he (or Moloney) will be out of our best 22 this year. There physical presence alone is an absolute must given the slight builds of most of our other midfielders. Bate did look out of sorts. I was a big Bate supporter and still have faith in him but at the moment i don't believe he has found the position in which he can settle down into. I still think he is best suited to a deep forward role but with the players we have, spots are hotly contested at the moment. Watts hit plenty of packs today and whilst the marks didn't stick, it was encouraging from that aspect. He is a sublime kick of the footy. Set shot or in play. I will admit though that twice he should have extended his arms in the marking contest instead of the Neitz style flying chest mark but he will learn from that. Strauss struggled to have any real impact in the backline and did have his thigh strapped after he was subbed off- Hammy or Quaddy but likely out for a couple. Spencer is big. Spencer is still pitiful around the ground at the moment. I can easily see come Round 1 him not getting a game, instead having Martin as either the versatile player (although he has deficiencies) or the sub. The sub rule has killed blokes like Spencer. Bail is a real goer and even though he misses the target every now and then, he gets the ball a lot, is hard at it, has dash and a bit of mongrel. As the game wore on blokes like Dunn, Sylvia, Moloney seemed to go out of it and i have no doubt that was due to it being just a praccy match. The reason we often lacked a target up forward was because we played a flooding full ground press styled of game but the drawback being when we generated the turnover the forwards couldn't get back quick enough to make good position to receive the next kick. With the better players coming back in that problem will be alleviated to a degree. Jurrah and Wonna sat on the same side of the ground near the interchange area. Juice was by himself in another section spending more time talking to reasonable looking females than anything else. He is dead wood. Nothing overall to get too concerned about given the cattle out and the young calves still finding their feet that were in today. The only injury was Strauss (Bennell hurt his shoulder but came back on) so that is no great loss. Bring on the Hawks or Dockers and then the real stuff. Edit: I forgot to mention Warnock, Rivers and MacDonald. All three did some good things but all three suffered from poor skill execution at various stages which directly resulted in goals. That is going to continue to be a bug bear with these three until we get a fit Frawley and Garland back and someone else steps up.

So working off our current injury list with no more injuries and taking into account pre-season form i feel the Round 1 team will look like this: B: Bartram Warnock Rivers HB: Grimes Garland Bennell C: Trengove Moloney Davey HF: Dunn Watts Petterd F: Jurrah Green Maric Fol: Jamar Sylvia Scully Int: Jones Bail Jetta Sub: Spencer (as much as i think he is useless) Eme: Tapscott Gysberts Martin With a completely full and fit list to choose from and using each players most recent form the side would look like this: B: Bartram Frawley Rivers HB: Grimes Garland Bennell C: Morton McKenzie Davey HF: Dunn Watts Petterd F: Jurrah Green Maric Fol: Jamar Sylvia Scully Int: Jones Moloney Trengove Sub: Spencer Eme: Bail Tapscott Martin Others close: Jetta Gysberts Martin Wona

As i said in another thread: People who are bemoaning the skill level, lack of pressure, poor delivery, lack of structure or targets need to realise a few things. It is not just a case that we had 10 of our best 22 out of the team today. It was that the 10 players who were playing in their place were made up mostly of blokes who've never played AFL or have only played very few games. Many rave about the performances of Howe, Cook, Nicholson, Evans, McDonald and Nicholson however from a brutally honest perspective, none of them are yet up to it. They did some nice things but often fumbled under pressure, missed targets, didn't apply the required pressure and don't have big engines by AFL standards. All of these things can and will improve with time and training but all are reasons why we looked so bad. In turn it puts pressure on the rest of the team because of the poor use of the ball. With many to come back in the side this will improve greatly. It is just the pre-season, it has absolutely no bearing on the season as a whole. Don't take much away if anything other than perhaps a little more love for Tappy...

It's been a long day but i was at Pratt Park today and have 2 cents to offer: People who are bemoaning the skill level, lack of pressure, poor delivery, lack of structure or targets need to realise a few things. It is not just a case that we had 10 of our best 22 out of the team today. It was that the 10 players who were playing in their place were made up mostly of blokes who've never played AFL or have only played very few games. Many rave about the performances of Howe, Cook, Nicholson, Evans, McDonald and Nicholson however from a brutally honest perspective, none of them are yet up to it. They did some nice things but often fumbled under pressure, missed targets, didn't apply the required pressure and don't have big engines by AFL standards. All of these things can and will improve with time and training but all are reasons why we looked so bad. In turn it puts pressure on the rest of the team because of the poor use of the ball. Jetta was good playing on ball or high half forward. Maric was good also although still good go harder when it comes to the defensive aspects of the game. Tapscott started like a house on fire. Played off half back and it was a deliberate ploy on a couple of occasions for him to do the Daniel Rich and run past the bloke who took the mark or had a free kick, receive the handball and pump it long. He has mongrel in him and gave a good account of himself. He kept cramping up in the second half which is to be expected in your first hitout of the year. IF he stays fit he will definately play early in the season. Gysberts also started reasonably well, not getting a tonne of the ball but laying tackles, spoils, quick handballs and making a contest. He seemed a couple fo yards short of a gallop and will improve with more matches- he did however appear to have a slight limp after the game. Don't know if that's how he walks or he had some minor ailment. Scully was out of it today and looked rusty. Was beginning to come good in the last quarter and will be better for the run. For the Jones baggers out there: There was not a bloke out there for Melbourne who played with more intensity or fiercness at the contest. He stuffed a couple of kicks but given the amount of times he won hard balls, you are not going to hit targets all the time when under the pump. If you think we are bad at the stoppages or in the middle at the moment, take Jones and Moloney out of there and see how easily we are brushed aside then. FFS people, if you are going to comment at least have an understanding of the roles each player has and the reason they are in the team. I see nothing that would make me think he (or Moloney) will be out of our best 22 this year. There physical presence alone is an absolute must given the slight builds of most of our other midfielders. Bate did look out of sorts. I was a big Bate supporter and still have faith in him but at the moment i don't believe he has found the position in which he can settle down into. I still think he is best suited to a deep forward role but with the players we have, spots are hotly contested at the moment. Watts hit plenty of packs today and whilst the marks didn't stick, it was encouraging from that aspect. He is a sublime kick of the footy. Set shot or in play. I will admit though that twice he should have extended his arms in the marking contest instead of the Neitz style flying chest mark but he will learn from that. Strauss struggled to have any real impact in the backline and did have his thigh strapped after he was subbed off- Hammy or Quaddy but likely out for a couple. Spencer is big. Spencer is still pitiful around the ground at the moment. I can easily see come Round 1 him not getting a game, instead having Martin as either the versatile player (although he has deficiencies) or the sub. The sub rule has killed blokes like Spencer. Bail is a real goer and even though he misses the target every now and then, he gets the ball a lot, is hard at it, has dash and a bit of mongrel. As the game wore on blokes like Dunn, Sylvia, Moloney seemed to go out of it and i have no doubt that was due to it being just a praccy match. The reason we often lacked a target up forward was because we played a flooding full ground press styled of game but the drawback being when we generated the turnover the forwards couldn't get back quick enough to make good position to receive the next kick. With the better players coming back in that problem will be alleviated to a degree. Jurrah and Wonna sat on the same side of the ground near the interchange area. Juice was by himself in another section spending more time talking to reasonable looking females than anything else. He is dead wood. Nothing overall to get too concerned about given the cattle out and the young calves still finding their feet that were in today. The only injury was Strauss (Bennell hurt his shoulder but came back on) so that is no great loss. Bring on the Hawks or Dockers and then the real stuff. Edit: I forgot to mention Warnock, Rivers and MacDonald. All three did some good things but all three suffered from poor skill execution at various stages which directly resulted in goals. That is going to continue to be a bug bear with these three until we get a fit Frawley and Garland back and someone else steps up.

Thanks for the clarification... Can't wait for the return. On a different note, it was interesting reading the HS. In his video coverage last night, Mike Sheehan changed his opinion and believed Scully would stay. That is until it comes to printing his "opinion piece" this morning where he clearly didn't have the balls to back up that stance (as the print obviously has a much wider audience than his video post did). At least John Anderson remained true to his word... Everyone is entitled to their opinion however Sheehan is clearly a stubborn man who refuses to admit or acknowledge when he gets it wrong. His article insinuates that Scully either blatantly lied or was blatantly deceptive in his press conference. FFS Mike. Give it up. I was going to suggest that it is clearly a case of MFCSS however i truly question whether he still has any allegiance to Melbourne whatsoever.

Correct. And surely by now, after all that has transpired in the last 3 years, people have a little bit of faith in the football department and coaches. Surely. Then again this is Demonland..........

He certainly has been conspicuous in his absence!!!! Perhaps his head has re-entered the sand......

He was drafted as an 18 year old giant who'd already undergone a knee reco. Given his size and the documented history of slow development of big men (let alone giants) I expect nothing more than for it to take at least two years for his body to get used to AFL. Another 12 to 18 months before he starts playing regular AFL and then from there anything is possible. Sandilands was a dud for many years before he finally grew into his body and became co-ordinated by AFL standards, I (and i believe the MFC) will give him at least 4 years to get going and show his value. If he plays an AFL game this year it will be a bonus, but in all reality, if he plays a full (or close enough to) season at Casey then that is a positive step forward and a good launching pad for 2012.