La Dee-vina Comedia

We have to fix endemic off-field problems associated with poor player development processes. To my mind, of the first choice players only Sylvia and N Jones (and maybe Howe and Bail) have AFL-ready bodies. Everyone else appears to be too thin/light (eg, Watts, Frawley) or insufficiently fit (eg, Blease, Strauss) or both for the roles they are expected to play. I suspect Rodan, Sellar, Pedersen and Gillies were introduced to bring the bigger, fitter bodies into the club while the under-developed talent is made fitter and stronger. Unfortunately, I don't think Rodan or Sellar are good enough (I haven't seen enough of Pedersen and have seen none of Gillies, to form a view about their capabilities). So, I'm of the view we should focus more on the development and worry less about the specific talent on the list. And to this end, I'm pleased we have Misson and Craig.

If Demonland existed during World War II I suspect there would be calls to sack Winston Churchill 14 months in; and, perhaps more recenetly and relevantly, in 1988 there would have been calls to delist Jim Stynes. Give the bloke a chance. I hate losing; I hate uncompetitive performances; but a culture of shafting a coach after less than 2 years is not going to encourage any quality candidates to apply. Let's just get behind Neeld, his coaching team and the players.

Wow. He must have had a blinder in the 4th quarter. That was the one I didn't see. In the first three quarters I was wondering what he was doing out there. And more troubling, that's what he seemed to be thinking. I respect your opinion, but Strauss can't play McDonald's position. One's a KPF and the other a small defender.

Fair comment

When we actually had opportunities in the forward line yesterday there was no true forward to kick to until Watts went forward. If Clark and Dawes don't play, I'd play Watts in the forward line and drop Pederson. I'd then bring Dunn in to take up Watts position in the backline. Based on reports on recent Casey games, I'd also bring in Strauss and move Grimes back to the midfield and drop Rodan, I can't see what he's offering. Finally, Davey should either play a full game (my preference) or go back to Casey. Two games as the sub is enough for any player. Blease, if he stays in the side, could be the sub.

With all due respect, he's better than Danny Hughes. There are plenty of posts about the lack of bulk in our more recent draftees such as Gysberts, Morton and Watts. But Frawley is also undersized for the job he's given. I am now convinced that the Bailey years have set us back enormously because so many of our players are still physically under-developed and still unfit. And Frawley played pretty well yesterday.

How can anyone work out what's going on when watching games on Channel 7? You don't see enough of the ground to know how we set up. But when at the MCG this year it appeared to me we played a man-on-man style in the first half of the WCE game and appeared to be zoning in the third quarter. But it might just have been we couldn't keep up with West Coast players so it looked like man-on-man was replaced by players guarding space, or perhaps just pretending to. And just by the way. I take no notice of what Mark Neeld (or any coach) says in a press conference. It's all being said for the players' consumption. So I hope they're the ones taking notice.

Not sure I agree with the last line. A confident and capable CEO, or, rather, a person who thinks he/she is, should prefer a role with massive upside rather than one where the only way is down. For example, how would you like to take on the job of CEO at Geelong if Brian Cook were to quit now? Sure, there are no apparent problems, but how does the replacement CEO stand to benefit from the possibility or even likelihood that things will go backwards, even just a little?

Tapscott has improved his physical shape - he's slimmed down, particularly around the shoulders and neck. Hopefully that gives him better mobility. But I remain concerned that his kicking is not as penetrative or accurate as we were told it would be when we drafted him. Mind you, he's not alone there. Maric and Strauss are also meant to be super kicks and Maric didn't show it and Strauss is yet to.

I can. Robert Flower.

And who wants to admit to being at the game on Sunday and leaving at three-quarter time? (Serves you right).

I can't believe what I'm reading on this thread. The term 'cheap seats' is a standard reference used to mean any person who is not actually in a position accountable for the decisions someone else has to make. It's regularly used when people want to explain why it's harder to play or umpire any game and it's also used when companies explain to shareholders and politicians explain to voters that the decisions that they (the company directors and politicians) have to make are more difficult than they may appear to be to outsiders (those in the cheap seats) who don't have all the facts. Don is 100% correct that the greater the scrutiny the harder it will be to get people prepared to give up their time to volunteer to be on the Board of any AFL club. Where he was wrong was in his timing. He needed to have read 'Team of Rivals' first and learned from Abraham Lincoln that the time to make this sort of move (in Lincoln's case his Emancipation Proclamation) was after a win, not beforehand, so it doesn't look like whinging.

Should be upbeat at training this week with both Melbourne and Casey winning. Hope that puts a buzz through the whole playing group.

Apart from injury, I can't see Sellar playing another game. Jamar, while not dominant, was much better than last week and I have a suspicion based on no evidence at all that he played better because he knew he had proper support. In previous weeks, Jamar has virtually rucked solo given the lack of competitiveness Sellar and Pedersen provide in the ruck. I think Jamar's career is coming to an end, but I hope we (both MFC and Demonland) pay him the respect he deserves as he nears the end. Hopefully Gawn and Spencer will provide years of torment for the opposition.

And one other thing I noticed. Players seemed to trust their teammates more, so we had fewer instances of multiple defenders trying to spoil so that we had players on the ground to tidy up.

Seemed to be less switching to the fat side. Although there are faults in his game (see 357 other threads on the topic), kick outs after behinds are so much better when Jack Watts takes them. My main criticism was the very wide leading from full forward by Clark and Howe. Shots on goal from the boundary line are exciting when they go through but generally a low percentage option.

6. N Jones 5. S Byrnes 4. C Sylvia 3. C Garland 2. J Grimes (would have been higher but still butchered the ball by foot too often) 1. M Evans And the best game I've seen to date from Jetta. Pity he may miss next week (or more) courtesy MRP.

The Geoff Freeman appointment industry has had a big week.

Might depend on the specific wording of the query from the AFL. Did they ask "Was Stephen Dank ever employed by the club?" or "Has anyone at the club ever been in contact with Stephen Dank?". Those questions can have completely opposite answers and both be correct.

May yet become a highlight.

Unless it was Cameron Schwab who misled both the Board and the AFL. If it was Schwab (and I have no evidence* to support or disabuse this notion), then the decision to part ways with him was the right one, even if other reasons were given. *Proof that I am not Caroline Wilson or Damian Barrett

I know they (probably) won't line up as selected, but is that the smallest CHB and CHF combination you've ever seen?

We're so incompetent we try to tank again...and win.

I expect Jamar to play better this week now that he has some genuine support instead of part-timers who don't really know how to ruck (or even jump off the ground). With respect to Watts, I'm very much in the minority, but I could see that he might benefit more from being forced to watch the WCE game, hopefully in the company of a coach to point out specific issues during the game, than run around in an inferior team. I don't see much benefit for him playing at Casey other than making up the numbers for that team. The idea that he "needed" a game doesn't make sense when clubs monitor loads and he can do more during the week with respect to fitness, skills, gameplan and education than the two and a bit hours spent in the 2s. And I'm bemused that we'd pick a squad with Jamar, Spencer , Gawn, Sellar and Pedersen. Surely we'd never play all five, let alone four. So, is there a chance that one of Jamar or Gawn won't play?

I'm glad we've appointed a full-time, experienced, albeit interim CEO. He's got his work cut out. Two of his first tasks should be to review the relationships between (1) board and admin and (2) club and AFL. reason for edit: typo