Grandson of a gun

Ha. If only life in Melbourne was just as blissful!

Wouldn't call it bad. Yes he may learn but then again his ommission is also a lesson. Unsure if they will bring Spencer in. Given Watts is named on the ground he won't be going anywhere. If they drop Warnock then that would almost certainly put an end to any hopes posters had of Garland going forward as he is the only other tall in defence. That will also probably mean Miller will play. Agree Maric's selection beggars belief but perhaps they are trying to motivate him to push harder. Don't know if McKenzie will play as he just isn't getting any of the ball at the moment. Perhaps if he doesn't play posters here might finally see what they have been craving- Grimes in the middle. Wow Steve. I've been called arrogant by one poster but this surely takes the cake. I have a feeling that you enjoy playing the heel (bad guy) and as such don't really give your comments much credit as i reckon you just like to stir the pot.

Just hope Melbourne are one of those clubs who picks "talls"....

Sounds fantastic. Based on the assumption he wants to play for the mighty dees, what is the rule? If a club says they will use their round 1 pick on him do we have to match that or is it just round 2 onwards?

Couldn't agree more. That is the minimum we expect every week. Love your signature.........

Spot on Binga.....

It's an addiction.........like Supercoach!

Yes he had a serious shoulder injury but don't reckon it is in the same league as Reiwoldt. No-one knows yet is he will ever have the same explosive and jumping ability. Jurrah will still have everything he had pre injury. Let Jurrah get more games at Casey into him to pick up the game again and get a bit of running going. As others have said, a few desperate efforts and a few classy goals would help also.

Good post. Reckon you are right on both fronts- core strength and confidence. Yeah i got it round the wrong way and went for outer core strength..........can't see the old fella now!!!!!! Perhaps in addition to this is the Watson factor.... Dominating as a junior and never having to really work hard to be good. Then coming into a comp where nothing is given to you and you have to constantly push yourself and he is only now learning that...

No doubts they are looking for those leaders to step up as you say although dout it would be at Junior's expense. Hopefully the likes of Grimes, Frawley, Bate, Davey and co step up this week and for the remainder of the year... plus the fact that casey got pasted last round so definately a few players looking at redemption. Hopefully you are right. I guess we can only assume he will be available for selection this week??? or has he gone walkabout and the club haven't let on???

Pretty right. Tigers. North. An upset or two. Bailey may well be proven to be spot on by years end- amazing really that the coaches predictions of his teams fortunes/performance actually turn out to be right Hit the nail on the head. That's why it will likely be no more than 3.

I'm all for emotion and i'm glad you are too. But don't let emotion cloud logic and clear thinking. People let emotion cloud their judgement when they started talking finals etc this year. They also let emotion cloud their judgement on what they expect from young players/team. Yes i want to see passion, desperation, guts and determination in every game. Those mental things anyone can do. I was just trying to get the point across that people need to be realistic about this team and where they are at the moment. See above. Yep. Nor should you.

Spot on. Double spot on. For what it's worth.... Out- Rivers, Jetta, MacDonald, In- Sylvia, Junior, Bennell / Cheney People also need to remember that Casey got pasted last game and no-one showed anything deserving of promotion. I think Aussie needs more fitness, Strauss needs to show more in one on ones, Cheney got beaten.

A good logical post. Nice to see some sense here. Also another good logical post. Melbourne have been 50-50 with this. Some good efforts in losses but also some poor ones. Spot on. And that is where i think 1 and 2 this year were great also- their work ethic is fantastic and they will lead by example. I believe that the culture Jimmy is instilling is one of hard work and sacrifice for success and i have faith in that.

Agree to a point. As the young backs and mids develop, they will learn to execute skills better under pressure and also which option is the best option. Yes the turnovers kill us and eat at me but if we go back to that stagnant style fo the last two years we will have made no progress. When we execute these well we move the ball well forward and look good. However, when teams play a really well drilled zone (which Adelaide did today) then we can be in trouble. I think the long term plan is right, it is just going to create heartache for us all in the short term.

Also, listening to Mark Ricciuto on the radio he acknowledged that the ground appeared better than what it was. The locals knew it was too soft under foot but for obvious reasons didn't let MFC know. It was widespread across the team today and something i'm sure Bailey and co will have addressed.

Grimes is learning from Bruce. That is the bigger picture. Grimes is fantastic across half back and with the plethora of mids we have he needs to stay there as soon you will find that he will be just like enright or gilbert or hodge, that really damaging half back that sets up a lot of play. Bruce won't play on and so i believe they are getting him to teach the young backline as much as possible in the last few games.

Fool. Less than a dozen games and you have already written him off. Bet you wrote off Frawley too a few years ago. Give him another 40 games then make your decision... Agree. Agree. And so does Bailey if you read his comments on AFL website. Backs and Mids disposals were crap. Yes, because he is pick 1 they will cut him more slack and give him more games. So just get over it. Just like WC with Nic Nat who aside from a couple of highlight reel moments has done absolutely bugger all and i would hesitate to say, gets less possessions that Watts playing on the ball. They will both take time, they will both take 40 or 50 games to really get going, probably another couple of years and both WC and MFC realised that. Now you should too.

With all the vitriole and spite running around this forum at the moment how about we all take a breath and let a little sanity prevail. Feel free to vent your anger on me but how about we stop the wild meaningless rants and look at what happened. It is not all doom and gloom. Yes Melbourne were terrible today- Agreed. But they also played a team who executed their own game perfectly. Have a think for a minute about the opposition. They have been copping it for weeks, from fans, press, coaches, everyone. They have players retiring. They were hurt and had two weeks to train for and prepare for a revenge game. That is not the Adelaide that has been playing the first 11 weeks of the season. That was a different team. They were up and about against a young, inexperienced team that was coming off a reasonable performance the previous round. I'm not making excuses. Football at AFL level is 75% mental. It is just that the Crows were up mentally today more than the Demons. Like the Pies were over the Swans. Like the Saints were over the Cats. Like the Tigers were over Brisbane. Sides are learning about how Melbourne play and developing ways to stop them. Melbourne are now learning what it is like to have an opposition team actually study their game style to shut it down rather than just treating them with disdain like the last few years. They now need to learn how to work through that. They are learning. Our defence which has been so good all year was down today. Grimes, Warnock, MacDonald, Rivers, Bartram all struggled or turned ot over far too much. That started the rot. The midfield likewise. We got smashed with inside 50's. That starts with the backline and midfielders moving and delivering the ball with speed and purpose into the forward 50. That leaves a forward line that is very green and injury ravaged (see Sylvia, Jurrah, Petterd) trying to score from very limited opportunities. We can't kick goals if we can't get the ball in the forward 50. If you have a look at the stats, we actually had a good conversion rate when the ball got inside 50. The simple fact is that it didn't get in there enough. There will be changes to the team this week. Agreed. However these changes must be to keep developing and building our team. Not taking backward steps and putting in blokes like PJ as some posters have mentioned. Many of you would blame Watts if the world blew up tomorrow. It would pay for many to learn patience. He will take time whether you like it or not. He needs to keep playing AFL to keep learning. The same goes for many other youngsters. They will be up and down. They will take time. Our game style is one that requires everyone to be on their game and play their role. WE have looked good when everybody is up and running and people were comparing it to the way the cats play. A nice compliment but with a young raw team who aren't in the same skill level or size of the cats, when a few are off the whole team falls down. Unfortunately this will happen throughout this year and probably next. If many of you had your way we would change coaches 6 times a year. There would be 12 changes to the team every week. We'd have a new game plan every 4 weeks. Stop being a bandwagon jumper and take a minute to understand how the footy department are trying to build a team and game style and confidence in youngsters that if they have a couple of bad games they won't be shown the door, they will be shown some faith. Yes Richmond have shown some form. Guess what, we aren't Richmond. Who cares about Richmond. They were [censored] for 9 weeks and have won a few games recently. They will drop off again. It's the nature of the beast. Melbourne have still won more games and been competitive in more games against better opposition. Deal with it. Finally, many of you write on here about pushing for finals and how we should be up there. Get realistic. You couldn't possibly have believed that at the start of the year and you need to just pull back a minute. The goal for the majority was 8 wins for the year. That would be a satisfactory improvement. Guess what- we are still on track for that. Don't be unrealistic in your expectations and you will then learn to look past the ladder position and at the bigger picture. I know many of you will smash me for this and i don't really care.

What do you people expect from a kid who has played less than 10 games. He is playing the most difficult position on the ground. He is still a light frame. He hasn't yet had a full pre-season. He is getting one of the better backmen every week. He is learning. He will get the two years. How much cash- who cares? He won't be going anywhere. If the world blew up tomorrow it would be Jack Watts' fault. End this thread now.

Scott West on SEN before the game said Gysberts was out because of hamstring tightness. Don't know how serious the tightness is and whether they want to give him another week or not.

He upped the IQ level of North Heidelberg by 95%. The only good thing to ever come out of there!!!!!!!

I am already planting the seed with the wife........ Don't expect to see me for days, except for perhaps a quick TV appearance doing a naked streak from the G to the Bubble, maybe even to the junction whilst necking 15 tinnies on the way!!!!!

Which moron posted this.............ooopps it was me!!!!!