Dockett 32

The football department have been in a lovely cosy place for three years on the basis of "she'll be right Jack" and selling us the story that our recruits are still some years off!!! Not so sure that Collingwood / Carlton/Hawthorn the clubs that demand success or their supporters would buy that message for as long as we have. Anyhow not so cosy now, with the clock ticking loudly. But in all jobs you eventually become accountable and exposed, so the next three/four weeks should tell that story. Up to Connelly and his team to sort that out very quickly or presumably be invited to 'pracice excellence elsewhere' by the media. You can't have excuses forever. The sad part was that the performance was no better than three years ago and tonight we had practically a full list. The pertinent point here is that we weren't just beaten, but completely thrashed, brushed aside and totally outclassed by a mob who finished behind us last year. P.S. Didn't see much wrong with Darling tonight and clearly a ready to go player with no waiting period , I also note the top teams have big strong, tough, fast run allday, midfielders and one maybe two lightly framed small outside finishers. We have Wona, Davey, Bennell, Bartram throw in Jones perhaps. Just too many small players for mine and you can add Jetta and Maric to boot. How many smalls do you want on the list? We appeared very small and mismatched against far bigger opposition tonight. Jack Watts was a bright light up against huge odds with little support.

Was thinking exactly the same thing btdemon. I too went to the Geelong v. Hawks game yesterday and noticed how tough, strong and uncomptomising both sides midfields were. Didn't actually need to be reminded of the Hawks I suppose, due to our earlier game against them, but Geelong went even harder at it. Just felt their body strength and totally fearless approach to winning the ball is their key driver. Whilst both sides had lightly framed players in Rioli and Varcoe to finish, it seemed to me the rest were big strong running types who bashed and crashed until they won the ball. Whilst I admire and acknowledge West played tough and hard, I found it interesting that Beamer had also come through the "Geelong School" and I seem to recall they were somewhat reluctant to lose him. After yesterday Silvia , Beamer and Trengove in the middle for me.

Sounds like a typical journo 'beat up' to try and create a story out of nothing to me. Normal sort of destabilisation crap that goes on when things are quiet. Jimmy's smarter than that and wont fall for it. If we improve on last year the coach should be allowed to stay, if we don't we should consider the position. Simple. The off field performance of the club is clearly apparent and our onfield performance will become clearer in a couple of months and completely measurable at the end of the year. So what's the problem? FD's fate is in its own hands, we are 2 1/2 and going ok, younger players improving and I hope it continues. We are in a lot better place than we used to be.

Someone called him a 'wrecking ball' in one of the papers. Rather liked that.

He presents well upfront when down there. Capable of taking big marks, crashing hard into opposition defenders, opening up space for the likes of Wona and Bennell, can cause opposition sides to alter their structure which can then free up space for other forwards. I don't mind it when he's in operation as a weapon in our forward line. He is a very good player these days and works very hard.

Point 7. was ok Mallee Bull.

I hope they play Jack this week againt a team whom some will argue are largely made up of his peers or in some cases are even younger. This sort of outing shouldn't do him any harm at all and may let us know a bit more about where he is at.

Davey to Ablett and possibly dragging his tagger with him is an option they may try at some stage, but Bail for mine.

Agreed Diablo. He made a mistake that he will learn from. He was embarrassed and made an apology. Think most of us have been there. I have. Club has made their position clear. He has been in All Australian form the last couple and I hope this is the spur for him to push on all year. People who don't make mistakes don't make anything. I wish we had a few more like him on the field and just love to watch him play.

Embarrassed himself badly, however cut the boy some slack, its out of character for this bloke. Tough as they come and gives the club his all. Fine him heavily. Very heavily if you like, but don't penalise the team. The club could do with a few bob after our truly pathetic turnout yesterday.

He's knocking on the door which is good, but prior efforts mean he has to start banging more loudly. Another couple of 5 goal hauls and he's a chance.

Yes an interesting observation by GL. Nonetheless there may be more to the story for us and other teams who may not be as fortunate as Collingwood in terms of supporter numbers and resultant revenue. It strikes me for instance that the Box Hill Hawks/Hawthorn arrangement is quite a successfull one and when overlayed with the Eastern Rangers ( who play a number of their games at Box Hill) this gives them something of a vertical operation in the region. Together with Hawthorn's Glenferrie origins and their training venue at Waverley Hawthorn have made quite a commitmment to the Eastern corridor and carved out a decent 'niche' for themselves. I believe for instance that outside perhaps the Amos the Eastern Football League is also one of the largest junior leagues Australia wide. So overall I doubt that such a strategy would have harmed Hawthorn's supporter base or $$ fron the area. Notwithstanding the recent 'micro' event at Casey which may have unsettled a few people, perhaps a at the Demons have taken the macro view and actually prefer the alignment model complete with warts and all. Afterall these can be worked on and fine tuned. Meanwhile the Demons begin to carve out their owm territory ( complete with Gippsland Power ) are also operating within a growth corridor and are enjoying reduced expenditure.In addition there seems to be the prospect for an increase to membership long term when the local kids, families etc can rock down to Casey Fields. Not denying Garry's points which may sit well for some clubs, but at the same time I am not convinced that changing the script now to a stand alone team is right for us at this point, particularly as we seem to be making such significant progress off the field. More patience required, but we are well trained in that.

Enjoyed that insight Bhima thanks.

My concern is that we haven't landed any of them. Collingwood, Hawthorn, Carlton know how to hit the target, why don't we?

Dockett 32, on 04 April 2011 - 11:28 PM, said: Not condoning Pea stuff Dee-luded, but believe reasonable opportunity should be afforded as it already has been for Newton IMO. Wouldn't consider him seriously simply on the back of one five goal haul. 5 kicked and about 5 created/given off. Ok that's good, but would like to see him do it three weeks in a row and truly earn a spot. Our boys have been challanged for being weak etc on another thread and now Jimmy's given them a tickle up. I don't think for one second they are weak and would like to give them a chance to prove it.

Not condoning Pea stuff Dee-luded, but believe reasonable opportunity should be afforded as it already has been for Newton IMO. Wouldn't consider him seriously simply on the back of one five goal haul.

Bennell idea interesting. Think you have to show a little faith and give them three weeks to see who's up to it. If Garland ok maybe only the Gys for someone.

So what's Tom done wrong exactly?

Was a pretty fair effort by Hardwick's team on Friday night. Happy to agree with that and even moreso without JR. The season has only begun however and would want to see where we are at the middle of the season and then again at the end of it before we can begin to judge Hardwick v. Bailey, if you want to go that way. Way to early to call that one.

The niceness thing is a bit of a problem. Would be nice if a few of our blokes had a bit of Scarlett, Moody, Chapman mentality about them.

We don't have any evidence that Bailey can or can't coach or if the football department have got it right or wrong as they have been in a nice cosy 'development' place for the past three years. The football public and media have given them the benefit of the doubt as they rebuilt, which is fair enough. So not much scrutiny to date. I'd like to think they may have it right and the FD would also realise the clock is ticking. Pretty soon ( two three months) Vince Lombardo will start to raise his head.

A lot of what has been said is calming, balanced and much the same as the comments as this time last year. Some posters suggest yesterday was nothing that serious to worry about. Sort of "She'll be right Jack" stuff. However, it should be noted that we are a year on. Most (I think) acknowledge we are in the growth phase and therefore should do better than our 2010.( Our draw assists here as well and should be factored.) So while yesterday was disappointing and may have appeared to have been a step back, where we are in the middle of the season in terms of wins and where we are on the table should give an early indication of how we have performed. A couple of months will begin to tell the future MFC story.

Tappscott is coming along just fine as far as I can see. Really appreciate his attitude and approach for a young bloke. Generally shows maturity ,composure and contribution rate way beyond his years as does Trengove. I'm aware they can make a few blues, but the foundation is strong and errors will decrease over time. Do yourselves a favor, relax and just watch them grow into hopefully really great players for us. Don't think you will be disappointed.

Todays disposal stats, I think they give an indication of how our Running players are going. Player.................... K,,,,H,,,,,D Colin Sylvia.............17,,,,9,,,,,26 Jack Grimes...........14,,,,6,,,,,20 Nathan Jones..........10,,,,6,,,,16 Luke Tapscott.........16,,,,7,,,,23 Rohan Bail..............12,,,,8,,,,20 Aaron Davey...........12,,,,3,,,,15 Clint Bartram...........9,,,,,7,,,,16 Stefan Martin..........9,,,,,5,,,,,14 Brad Green.............9,,,,,6,,,,,15 Jack Trengove.........8,,,,,6,,,,,14 Mark Jamar............2,,,,,7,,,,,9 James Frawley.......9,,,,,5,,,,,14 Ricky Petterd.........7,,,,,5,,,,,12 Lynden Dunn..........5,,,,,5,,,,,10 Liam Jurrah............7,,,,,3,,,,,10 Jack Watts............6,,,,,9,,,,,15 Brent Moloney.......6,,,,,11,,,,,17 ---------------------------------------------- Jamie Bennell.......5,,,,,3,,,,,,8 Jared Rivers...........5,,,,,4,,,,,,9 Colin Garland.........8,,,,,3,,,,,11 Neville Jetta..........5,,,,,4,,,,,,9 Addam Maric.......3,,,,,3,,,,,6 IMO we need more size into the team and some more tenacity. It might be time to bring in Newton. We play the Lions and then the Suns. This would be a good time to give him a run. We need someone who will present @ CHF. My changes: Wonnaemirri in for Maric. Gysberts in for Jetta. McDonald in for the inj' Garland. Newton in for Watts. (Watts to Sub.) Hmmm. Might have to burn a couple to indicate a loss in this manner can't go unpunished.Dont think you would want to be below the line and am prepared to exclude Rivers & Garland from consideration. But Newton for Watts is rash, although the lad is getting closer to needing a rocket.

As long as Jonesy remembers for next time I haven't got a problem, but it should be squared up. Only fair!