Maldonboy38

Yeah, a seriously good player who adds pace and hardness. His first kick was a shocker but his contested ball was great as was his speed.

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Taking a pot shot at a 20 year old 200cm first gamer - well done champ !

Unfortunately, Fitzpatrick's debut is one of the worst I have seem for many a year. And this is not a pot shot but an opinion - if that's alright by you and the other opinion-police?

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Green - failed critical moment

Jones - had a crack

Bartram - strong defensive role

Watts - didn't seem interested

Bate - outstanding half-forward's game

Bennell - not enough involvement

Frawley - back line star

Trengove - tough but erroneous

Morton - Can. Not. Kick.

Mckenzie - tough and effective

Garland - defence and attack

Moloney - ran all day

Rivers - calm and sure

Martin - great at times

Tapscott - needs a break

Howe - spectacular and energetic

Jetta - tried hard but...

Jamar - umpies dislike him

McDonald - rarely sighted

Bail - hard and quick

Blease - seemed imposibly slow

Fitzpatrick - really bad debut.

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6 : Frawley

5 : Moloney

4 : Rivers

3 : McKenzie

2 : Jones

1 : Martin

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I feel really sorry for Fitzpatrick. He looks like a total flop. Clumsy and poor skills. And the last thing we need is another player who can't kick.

Yeah, the umps haven't been great but our kicking has been aweful.

I am so flat right now, I cna't wait for the siren.

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The Good

Development of our young/new brigade (Trengove, Watts, McKenzie, Tapscott,Blease, McDonald, Gawn )

Vast unexpected improvement from Martin, Howe, Bail

The Bad

Our kicking skills

Those 4 games late in the season against top 4 sides

The media frenzy after Bailey's sacking

The public revelations about conflict at Board level

The Ugly[/u]

Leadership

Our game plan that often leaves us with no forward line to kick to

Us versus the forward press

The Westcoast Game

The Geelong game

Jimmy's health

Actually... this part of the list could go on for a while. I'll stop now.

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OK - some cousins or family of Cale Morton posting above (they must be!) want us to support him for ANOTHER season in which he has under-achieved.

Cale was drafted with the following attributes: tall, quick, agile and clean skills. In many games this year and in each year he has played he has shown the following characteristics:

positioning : excellent

gut running : excellent

courage : OK at times but in too many contests he simply stops or shirks.

skills : absolutely horrible. He is one of about 8 Dees players who have major kicking problems, even when under no pressure. He takes very few overhead marks, and even less contested marks. His tackles rarely stick. Goal kicking is embarrassing.

I have no confidence in him when running free and even less when he is contresting. Trade him at season end IMO.

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My vote is for a small crumbing forward. Our list has Cook and Fitpatrick who are both totally untried and if Stef Martin continues to develop he might be considered KPF also.

Wonna could be a gun as a small forward but I am unsure if he will ever mentally be in the right place to play out a full season.

Maric has all the skills but seems to waste them with laziness and lack of effort when promoted to AFL standard.

If Blease continues to shine down back, maybe Tapscott can take the small forward role but he does not seem to be the crumbing type (Milne, Phil Matera, Aker etc...)

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Moloney

Jones

Watts

Garland

Jamar

Where did McNamara play, he's been tried in the Middle at Casey and showed a lot there, was he in the middle today? He's been tried in the backline at Melbourne and found wanting.

I think he played mainly in defence today, but a few times I saw him start inside the centre square after a goal. I know he has done this for Casey this year a few times and maybe they were seeing if he could rise to the task. He did not. I thought he positioned himself really well at times, and ran into the right plce, but his decision making and kicking to advantage were sub-standard.

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OUT : Jurrah (injured), McNamara (not up to it),

IN : Bail, Fitzpatrick

As much as Watts is close to my favourite player, I reckon he might also needs a rest, or at least start on the bench.

The game against Port is going to be a beauty, I reckon. Yeah, I know, 2 poor sides etc... but both want to win. Dees want a record that shows improvement from 2010, and Port want to show something to supporters and critics.

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Green - really strong game

Jones - consistent and driven

Bartram - tight and effective

Watts - fumbly and peripheral

Bennell - showed some brilliance

Frawley - return of form

Trengove - a quiet one

Morton - ineffecgtive again

McKenzie - fought hard today

Garland - wonderfyl backman's game

Moloney - strong 2nd half

Jurrah - dangerous before injury

Rivers - slow and casual

Scully - where's the sizzle?

Martin - strong at times

Tapscott - a poor game

Howe - first 18 player

Jetta - had a go

Jamar - ruck lesson 101

McDonald - safe, sure and creative

Blease - run and dare

McNamara - not AFL standard

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Gold Coast are improving and have got close to a couple of good teams this year. I thought we were only a 6 goal better side so to win by 5 is OK with me.

Blease, McDonald, Jetta, Bennell showed enough to think that 2012 could be a good year for them all.

Tom McNamara is not an AFL player - VFL standard only. Delist at season's end.

Some of Watts' efforts today were really poor. (Bad play by team mates dragging their players into his contests don't help). He looked fumbly, disinterested and hung back in a way he has not for most of this year. Exhausted?

I can see Tom McDonald taking Jared Rivers' place next year. Rivers lookd slow and casual even among the casual Dees players.

As much as Nathan Jones can be frustrating, can you imagine what our season would look like without him? He keeps on going, he always has a crack, and plays the same game win or loss. Gotta love him.

Tom Scully has not shown any signs this year that he is a number 1 draft pick. Lethal might have said this about Watts but Scully's strengths are rarely, if ever, on display. If he stays, I hope a full pre-season and an injury-free 2012 will show me what I htought we might get this year.

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6 . Blease

5 . Jones

4 . Garland

3 . Green

2 . Frawley

1 . McDonald

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The Good

Blease

McDonald

Garland

Frawley

Bennell

Jamar's tap work

Moloney

Jones

The Bad

Poor intensity too often throughout the game

Watts. He was really poor today. Dropped chest marks and single-grab marks, hung back when he should have gone in, seemed to be in self-preservation mode. He has been great this year but he looks shagged.

Tom McNamara. His time has come - he is only a VFL footballer and today proved it.

The Ugly

Jurrah injured (again)

Our ability to deaden play at stoppages. Swallow etc... murdered us with spread around the packs

I couldn't get there and the crowd was terrible.

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Morton and Bate. Yep, gone. Bate will get another club, no doubt about that.

Dunn and Bartram rarely play a game in which endeavour, skill, decision making and risk are all at AFL stahdard on the same day, and usually it is only one of the four. They are outstanding VFL footballers who cannot thrive at AFL level. Time to go.

Jones. He is essential to our footy. He will always make a bad decision or two in every game, nad every so often will havef s shocker in which he can hardly make a good decision, but he gets it, has attitude, his kicking is generally good and sometimes great, and he is a team footballer with LEADERSHIP ability. If we loose him or delist him it deminstrates narrow mindedness.

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I don't care what happens to:

Newton. How has he survived so long, and how did he get a rookie position this year?

Morton. Get him as far away from our club as possible. He embarrasses the jumper

Trade:

Bate. Can kick and mark but can't get to enough contests because of lack of pace. He can't think quickly during play and gets caught a lot. Good trade bait.

Dunn. I still reckon he can play but is close the dumbest footballer on our list. Makes errors of judegemnt to often and cannot impact a game when required. No definite role, but can rarely fill a specific role when given to him.

Delist

Maric. Not up to it.

Bartram. I love his toughness, hardness and ability to get the ball but watch other teams - they don't tackle him - they want him to kick it. His kicking ha always been poor and many times atrocious. Trade or delist, I don't care which.

Campbell. Poor rookie choice and is injured again.

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There are four expressions of leadership required of a modern day captain:

Onfield through actions and words

Off field by support, encouragement, challenge, wisdom, training

Public face via media, website, attendance at functions

Schmoozing the sponsors, club financial supoporters, coteries etc...

We see so little of the captain's role that it is difficult to assess. What we do know that many games have been in the balance during the 2nd or 3rd quarter this year, and good leadership would have inspired some fight and doggedness. Brad Green has been dismall in this regard this year. Also, the cliche of a "Captain's goal" is well worn but very true and this year Brad has been in a position 3 or 4 times to really LEAD, and has fallen short.

What is worrying, is that sponsors, backers, power brokers etc.. also seem to be DIScouraged by Brad's leadership. Not a good sign.

For mine in 2012:

Brent Moloney for 1 year (if he excels, he can keep the job)

Trengove, Grimes, Watts, Jones to be in leadership group. One of these four to be captain in 2013 if Moloney does not come up to the task. I would choose Trengove at this point

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Looks like he is going to be a great player after all. He showed signs last year, he has proven himself this year. The only thing that pisses me off is that they chuck him in the back line whenever the going gets tough. He's become a quality utility, oh wait that's right, we drafted him to be a key forward. Sh*t, MFC coaching staff take your hat off. But still will always be a better player than NicNat, guaranteed. So much class and poise. The only problem is that poofy haircut and pedo beard that he grows. I think its called a razor and number 2 on the clippers...

Quickly rising in our B&F, won't win it, but plays in our best every week and shines when we play poorly. Love watching him play. Actually, when I can't get to the footy he is one of the reasons I watch, even if er get beaten badly. I agree with you Maco - stop #%@*&%$@ playing Watts down back. The reason he is missing easy goals is he gets so little game time practicing. Enough of the Development phase"!!! Play Watts forward.

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6 . Watts

5 . MacDonald

4 . Trengove

3 . Garland

2 . Howe

1 . Gysberts

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The Good

Watts

Jones' bump on Robinson (and the arm that copped hinm in the head soon after)

The first quarter

Howe in patches

Dunn in patches

Stef Martin's last quarter

The Bad

Our goal kicking

Our crumbing ability in our forward 50

Our thrashed midfield

Stationary forward line

The Ugly

Dunn's mo'

Our defensive pressure

Our getting only 1 person to Carlton's 3 to every contested play

Strauss' leg

Tappy's head (that was really silly, Stef. Unnecessary and easily avoided)

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For those with long enough memories, the "best" coach does not always mean the person with a premiership record behind them. Here's a list of "best" coaches who were invited to another club, and for a million different reasons, didn't work out:

Barassi and the Dees

Joyce at the Bulldogs

Jewell at St. Kilda

Blight at St. Kilda

Walls at Richmond

Do you see the theme here? Premiership winning coaches who are offered huge money and incentives to come and take on a developing list at a struggling club. Sound familiar?

Malthouse, Roos, Clarkson may simply be a repeat of this age old formula. We must think outside the square a bit and go for someone who can bring to our club what we have rarely had.

I would love to get Roos here for two reasons:

1 . He is a culture changer

2 . Under his calm, friendly exterior he has a huge dose of mongrel. He will face-to-face any player, admin person or executive and give then bare cold hard facts wihtout any pause. But Roos is imply not going anywhere.

Could Malthouse handle our inner conflicts? I reckon it would end up a Blight / St. Kilda scenario

Clarkson knows the Melbourne cuture and will not come. Those great early 90's teams should have been premiership teams but the club was a shocking, dysfunctional mess at the time, and Clarkson was there. Not enough culture change at the top to attract him back.

For mine, Laidley is the best option available, but only after discussion about his coaching team. Getting this right is as important as the head coach. His assistants must also be people who can LEAD. I would love to see this scenario:

Dean Laidley - head coach

Wayne Carey - Forward Coach

Scott West - Midfield coach

Gary Ayres / Brett Lovett - Defensive Coach

Todd Viney - Head of coaching/coaching overseer / mentor.

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Definite top 5 Melbourne player. Great when he is switched on and has been good this year. Injuries and inconsistency have dogged his career. However, he has never been known for leadership qualities (which is our greatest need at the moment)and would consider trading him for a 23 - 25 yo player who has proven leadership qualities.

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Right across the media, from KB and Patrick's ridiculous rubbish on SEN this morning, to Caroline Wilson's declaring things true that are only runmour, to Hutchy salivatinhg over anything that can be spun negatively, and son on... it is great to read this artilce by John Ralph. With the exception of Moloney, he is unfortunatey, spot on.

Sylvia is a an absolute gun who fires blanks, or misfires completely too often.

Aaron Davey has been worked out - heavy tag = poor game

Moloney. His down games this year have been when 2-3 players have rotated a tag on him. Even Judd has struggled with this.

Our new coach must have three essential qualities that Dean Bailey seemingly did not:

He must be able to inspire.

He must be able to produce grunt and mongrel right across the list

He must be able to move the mentioned players from potential to ability.

I don't reckon that the club is a shambles, internally fractured or any of that other garbage. Are there differences of opinions and conflicts - yes. Does something need to be worked out between Schwab and Connolloy - yes. But in all honesty, the media simply do not like it when a club manages conflict internally. They want "the goss" so they can fill up their pages. Jimmy, McLardy etc... are working through this behind closed doors and I applaud them for doing so.

It is the TEAM ATTTIUDE that needs change. Our list is amazing! Any coach would dream of such a list.

Bailey had to go but I would have liked him to be offered to say to the end of the season. In effect, the coach is the head of the team.

Green's capatincy is highly suspect. Actually, our leadership development model must be faulty. Our best leaders are Vice Captains at best.

We cannot fight out a game. Our players need to be coached within an inch of their lives nad make them fight to get a spot in the 22, and fight even harder to keep it. Even Green, Davey, Sylvia etc...

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Laidley was the first name to come into my mind and I still reckon he is a good candidate. I reckon they threw him out too early at the Roos. Yes, their preliminary final appearance was too early, but he did get them there with an avergae list. I can only dream of what he might achieve with our list.

Regarding Wayne Carey - 2nd best player I have ever seen and yes, another absolute dysfunctioal dill that footy seems to produce in huge numbers. But he has made huge character changes over the past 12 months and there is nothing stronger or better than someone who understands all the rubbish, but is changing. He is not perfect by any stretch but he is a much better person than he was 2 years ago (or seems to be, I don't know him personally). I no longer have the same concerns over the negative influence of his character. But can you imagine his footy smarts, influence and presence among our young list? Can you imagine Watts, Petterd, Cook, Maric ,Wonna under the influence of Carey as a forward coach?

IMO, the Laidley/Carey team is sounding very attractive.