jimcor

Joel Mac has definitely earned his spot on the list for another year. No one plays with more heart and his skill deficiencies have been much exaggerated. He often gets himself into good position only to be crucified by a poorly-executed pass from his team mates. I am much more nervous when Tommy Mc contemplates a foot or hand pass. I would have Joel iin our 22 most weeks.

And me. Thought he looked very ordinary early on but couldn't fail to be impressed by his effortas the season progressed. Looks awkward at times but seldom manages to screw it up and sometimes exceeds all expectations. Can't be said of that many others......with the exception maybe, of Nate Jones & Jack Watts.

Watched the replay. Not as bad as I was expecting. Sounded worse on the radio. Keen to see how we go against North. Chin up!

Time will tell.

Bate is one of the few players who has shown signs of understanding what Neeld is wanting to achieve. He is a good kick of the football, he marks, he spreads, he presents options. He is often let down by the lack of vision of others. He still has flaws but he's still young and can be taught. I will be disappointed to see him go elsewhere.

I have to! It's like a penance and it scars me less than self-flagellation. Then again, it scares me more. I'll be trying to whip up some enthusiasm.

Listened to the game on 774. Very, very disappointing. Look forward (?) to watching the replay on Internet tomorrow.

I agree. Bate is still a better option than almost all of our other mids with the exception of Jones and maybe Jordie.

Quite a few good things, I thought. - Martin stepping up when needed. Certainly an athlete and seems to be kicking better. - Tom Mc did very well and was on the unlucky side of a decision or two - Joel Mac adding to the legend. Plays a blinder then leaves us all with the glowing memory of the dropped mark in the middle. Can't help but love him. - thought Strauss did OK given his recent absences. Can play a bit. Overall, we're back on the improving curve and it will be interesting to see what happens in Darwin. My day was considerably brightened by the news from Cairns. The fans will be Schadenfreude? Surely not.

Watched the recording after getting back from Etihad. Some observations: - Great win! Impressive never-say-die attitude that paid off......again. - Morton begins to look like a 'grown up' footballer. Looks like he's put on a few kilos and made a decent contribution. - Evans was impressive in patches and will be an AFL footballer. - Davis did some great things down back before and after injuring his shoulder. Some of his kicking was shocking. Should not be promoted until it improves, sadly. - Moloney was disappointing. - Panozza is a good player. - Jetta did pretty well. - Spencer was great and Fitzpatrick is looking more & more impressive. He's a lot more adaptable than the big(ger) fella. Nice to see that there are a few options given our injury situation.

Popped in briefly for 45 mins from 10.45 today. Apparently Davey & Nicho had been and gone. Don' t know if they're carrying anything. Sellar the only one I saw running laps. He'll be another week away, I guess. Jamar & Tommy Mc training normally with the group. Seemed to be a bit of an emphasis on foot skills - hardly surprising. No sign of LJ - given that he's now '2 weeks' away rather than '1-2 weeks', I'm now assuming that the concept of time is now being re-defined to include a strategic or even humorous element. How long has it been now?

Two sides of the same coin. If we could do either of them really well, it wouldn't be so bad but until we can, we will continue to play each other into trouble. I think it will improve.

I still can't understand why Bate is included here. His foot skills are not that far away from Jack Watts' when it's on his better side. Obviously he needs to develop his two-footed skills. Regardless, having slept on it and awoken to find that the world is still rotating, I think the foot skills vs endurance vs spreading is a bit of a chicken or the egg situation. If our players were short on the ability to do any of these things when Neeld arrived, which one do you focus on first or can you work on them simultaneously? If the decision is that you need to focus on one, then stamina/endurance is the place to start. Neeld has definitely selected players who have performed in this area first - including Nicholson, Jones, McDonald & Bate who impressed during the pre-season. From memory, Bail also did pretty well. Of these, in my opinion, Bate has the best foot skills. Clearly, for most of this group, work needs to be put in on developing the other skills but I wouldn't be surprised if they are rightly persevered with. Reverting to the turd-polishing debate, I noticed in the Age Footy today that there was talk of 'not gilding the lily'. This is yet another activity that I would like Mythbusters to confront. Perhaps a combined activity of 'gilding the turd' might be undertaken as I'm fairly sure that this is achievable.

I have a huge issue with these sorts of unproven claims! I, for one, have never actually seen anyone try to polish a turd. Perhaps with a light touch and a small basting of Nugget, a gloss- up could be achieved. Anyway, as far as the football was concerned, I thought today's effort was a backward step. I honestly couldn't believe how poor we were. As far as responsibility is concerned, I still think the coaches have to take much of the blame. They, at least, can decide who they think the best players are (fitness& skill-wise) and if someone isn't capable, they can drop them. They can also insist that those with skill deficiencies can be coached and that they practice those skills. Last of all, a lot of their job is about leadership and being able to extract an effort - on & off the field. Today's efforts raised some doubts in my mind. Far too soon (still) to be demanding heads to roll but we need to see much more improvement from the current squad. Can't wait for the season to end and the new one to start.

There should be a lot of ashamed and embarrassed players after today's effort. The lack of capacity to execute basic skills under no pressure was alarming. Not just Bail ( though I think he was the worst) but throughout the team. The coaches have to take some significant amount of responsibility as well given that they've had some time now to have had some impact. I was embarrassed that given the Richmond outs this week, we still never looked a chance.

A slightly backhanded compliment. I can certainly see a similar result in the future for Bates if he continues to get a run in the starting team. His disposal is better than Nate Jones, as is his marking ability. Like Jones up until this season, Bates still lacks awareness of what's happening around him and gets caught with the ball occasionally. Jones (who is certainly on our Top 3 players this season) was shown a heap of patience by Bailey & co in his early years and I suspect Bates would have benefited greatly from similar indulgence. Overall IMO an often under-rated performer who has earned an opportunity to be more than a fringe player.

I'm with you, Old Dee. I would have had Bate in my Top 10 performers against BL. I'm surprised that, in Morton's absence, Bate often features negatively in these forums. With specific regard to his performance last week, his last 3 quarters were IMO quite impresssive. I think he's a bit of a slow starter and lacks confidence. He is still struggling to adapt to the pace of the game at this level in the early stages. I think this will come given time and I suspect that he will become a good, consistent contributor. Using him as the Sub is a bit counter-productive because there are others who can come on and have an immediate impact for a short time e.g. Blease, Bail, etc. I see his strengths as: pretty strong overhead mark decent kick i.e. long, accurate and able to weigh up options runs all day can spread will put his head over the ball His weaknesses (as I see them) are: Not a sprinter sometimes seems to be unaware of what's going on around him - Nate Jones was the same up until this season Starts slow. His stamina only starts working to his advantage as the game progresses. Lacks presence on the field, needs to demand more of and for himself and others Given how he's performed this week and last, I would be very disappointed not to see him in our starting 18.

A little shiver went up my spine as well! Surely not!!

Green was with the main group and trained with enthusiasm as always. While Watts was listening intently to Neeld, Bates was having a similar type of conversation with Neil Craig. Also, I wonder if Rivers is in doubt given that his was seemingly only a light training session this morning. Dave Misson was also doing some one-on-one training/assessment with Cook & Williams (I think that's who they were).

Briefly; Didn't see Colin Sylvia - only 'unexpected' absentee I noticed; Jamar mainly running laps; Jetta & Davey with main group, looking good; Jones & Jurrah (??) with rehab group mainly doing sprints; Rivers & Sellars not with main group either. I think they went inside early after practising ball-handling on the boundary; Magner & Couch separated from main group after half the session and were just hand-balling to each other on the boundary; Bit of goal kicking practice at the end - not very impressive from a lot of the players. Nicholson's attitude is always impressive in that there is something irrepressible that he brings to the team in training and on the field. Jones is another who normally doesn't seem to have lost his enjoyment just being there. Watts has begun to look more serious and focussed but I suspect it might be because he cops so much if he looks as if he's having a good time! He was having a very serious chat with Neeld at the end of training. Good to see as I think they are the two most significant people for the MFC future.

I think that this maybe underestimates the value of the specialist coaches now in place. Leigh Brown is well-qualified to give advice to a forward/ruck role such as Jamar would provide. Given that his non-ruck performance has shown some improvement, his kicking accuracy is certainly better than the SME. As I see it, his major weakness as a forward is that he's a bit/lot static. If he used his bulk on a lead, he would be frightening - both to the opposition and Dees. There has been a fair bit of comment about the coaches' desire not to be reliant on single role players, this would be a positive development - if it works!

On Sunday, Jamar played a lot better. Competed, took marks, had some non-ruck impact. Given how Neeld has been willing to experiment perhaps move Jamar to FF (he knows how to kick!) and bring in and play Martin as first ruck. For mine, Jamar is a better option to replace Mitch and Martin demonstrated last year that he could do OK on the ball.

6. Jack Watts - Virtually flawless 5. Nathan Jones - Almost flawless. Would be almost unstoppable if he had any peripheral vision. Perhaps if he had a neck he would be able to turn his head and see if there was someone about to jump him. 4.Matty Bates - might have been able to blindside Jones but hair color cost him a point. Seriously though, strong at the ball & absolute precision with disposals 3.Tom McDonald - Even his mistakes brought joy and his hard work has pad off for him and us 2. Jared Rivers - his season just gets better & better. 1. Most of the rest of the team

I'm really happy with all of these inclusions. Pleased to see Bate back in given his run and their lack of puff as the game progresses. Davey has earned another go and Joel M never gives less than 100%. Bail continues to improve and will become a regular so needs to be played. Yet another 'season-defining' game - is there such a thing as a non 'season-defining' game for the Dees? Can hardly wait.

I agree. If MFC is unable or unwilling to defend the player, we'd be better off simply saying that individual player performances are not going to be discussed outside the club and if we didn't think a player was delivering what was asked of him, he wouldn't be playing for the Dees. Surely, that's a true statement.