Scipio

As well as Bail, Garland and Dunny, dump Jetta, Warnock and Bennell

In: Howe, Evans, MacDonald, McKenzie, Blease and Rivers (if not fit give McDonald a go)

I love the fact that alot of the time when he gets the ball, he takes off and often outruns a much smaller/sleeker player... great to watch

not sure if your being critical or not as you havnt stated whether the private school system is soft or not. The standard of football in the private school system is actually very high.

none the less.... just wanted to ask what was the senior footy that darling did was it amateurs or....

Good standard but no hard bodies to test himself against or get used to heavier physical contact

NEWS JUST IN: Melb boys to come out this week like rabid dogs after Trengove suspended for 3 weeks after hard tackle.....

.... or they can jump on Twitter and cry like......

Here's hoping!!

Glass half full - time for some JUICE!!!....

We really are farrrrked for the next month

I've taken this from the afl.com.au site and it looks dodgy to me.

No mention of Sam Blease, Jack Fitzpatrick or James Strauss while Campbell and McKenzie spent time with the Casey seconds last weekend. My usual gripes apply. By my reckoning, Tom Scully should be no more than three weeks away but I accept that his injury is a bit of a moveable feast.

Melbourne

Robert Campbell Achilles Test

Jack Grimes Foot TBC

Jordie McKenzie Groin Test

Tom Scully Knee 4 weeks

Jake Spencer Knee Season

North Melbourne

Ryan Bastinac Knee Indefinite

Levi Greenwood Ankle Test

Lachie Hansen Back Test

Ayden Kennedy Knee Season

Ed Lower Knee Indefinite

Ben Mabon Back Test

Hamish McIntosh Achilles Indefinite

Marcus White Shoulder Ind

What's Hansens likelihood of playing? Would be a big plus for us if he doesnt make it into the side

[censored]. should have picked nik nat

Despite all the media crap i think i would put them on equal footing from what we have seen so far. Natanui hasnt done much since he started, does some great athletic stuff but his footy smarts are terrible IMO. You should be saying 'should ave taken Hurley'.

Ridiculous, it was a great tackle, Jack couldnt help how Dangerfield fell. The MRP is pathetic

Depending on how serios Grimes injury is and he misses which Im assuming he will does Rivers jsut come back in for him depending if he has recovered.

I wouldnt make any other changes. Bate needs game time and should stay and I think Dunn did ok in the ruck when he was out in there.

Reckon the backline might be a bit top heavy if Rivers were to come back in without dropping one of the other talls, however I have a feeling that Warnock will make way for him even though he played a decent game.

All I was saying was please don't judge a poster who has a low number of posts as uncredible just for that reason, it doesnt give us new guys much of a go at it. Point taken re the trust issue.

I always find it interesting that the worst news from an unknown source, comes from members with a low number of posts

I hope you arent stupid enough to think that just because a person has not been a member of this online forum for long means they are not reliable or that their posts have no crediblity.

Didnt hear what the diagnosis was exactly, but think Richo had said after heading into the rooms it would take too much work to get him back out today, but he would be there next week. Hopefully I heard right..

Chaos reigned following last weeks catastrophe. Many reasons were given.. Run... leadership... etc etc. But hardness was the popular choice. Punishment had to be given.

Of course the buck stops ....at the top. This was not a once off, it has happened quite often in the past; slow starts, shambollic team work, lose against the teams we should beat. We pressed on turning a blind eye to these with each spirited win, particularly against visiting interstate teams on the MCG. Yes of course we did well against the pies last year, for some reason we do. But which of the other Melbourne based teams have we beaten in recent years. (I'm already trying not to think of the pies this year).

Of course if hardness was the reason it was because our tough nuts 'cracked'. They had soft insides. Why weren't these the ones punished.

Because hardness is easy to blame, and running ball players are not tough. Morton is potentially an elite player. The more he runs the better he gets. He's been injured and is getting back into the swing of it. Put him on the ball and he will improve the mid field. Martin, will never be a bash em crash em ruck man. Against Cox and Nat he was never going to jump over them, but who would and at least he gave Jamar a rest. Two weeks ago he played one of his best games. So we blame him. One of our biggest threats this week will be Tippet. He is the one serious backup for Tippet we have. Pity about Bennell, again another elite skilled player but half forward flank, or occasional back flank in a backline that was torn to shreads is hard to establish yourself. Pity he isn't given the 'never question his ability' Bartram treatment.

All we've proved is runners aren't always the tough nuts. The tough nuts get off scott free because there will always be softer agile bodies that can be the sacrificail lambs.

I agree with the general gist of your argument, and they should hae dropped big name player like davey or sylvia to really make a statement. However this week I think Warnock, who is a great spoiler of the ball is actually the best player in our side to match up on Tippet, a stand and mark forward. Also your judgement of Bennells skills as elite is a tad over the top.

A good option would be to draft for a number of mature age recruits and ready made players from VFL/WAFL/SANFL etc.

While I certainly want some physical presence, having half the team suspended or reprimanded is hardly going to help our cause.

From what we have seen recently, i'd be very surprised if half the team were to put their bodies on the line at all

Determination, a bit passion and some physicality! Really want the boys to get stuck into them, don't care if they get weeks

Heres a bit of fun amidst all the doom and gloom of this year so far.

1. Favourite Current Melbourne Player and why?

2. Favourite Past player and why?

For me:

1. Jack Trengove- Just oozes class and silky skills. Gotta love an up and coming young gun.

2. Adem Yze- Was a little bit different but everything about him just had class written all over it. The long sleeves, the white boots the freak goals. I sorely miss going to watch him play.

Would have to say currently Mark Jamar - love to watch his contested marking, he tries his heart out and never gives up. IMO our most important player too.

In the past would have to be Jeff Farmer. Was so exciting to watch on his good days, really lit up the field.

Newton would be a better choice than Spencer.

If Newton could actually compete at AFL level. Time and time again he has been hopeless - on the other hand the last few weeks Spencer has shown heart, been trying his guts out and it shows with his second and third efforts. Also, his contested marking and bodywork has improved greatly I think.

Bring in Nicholson for Morton; showed some zip and didnt shirk a physical contest in the twos. Also Bate for Dunn and possibly Spencer for Bennell - there is no doubt Spencer and Martin can fit into the side, and IMO it could be very effective with a view to rotating all three big men through the forward line (especially Rush).

Leigh Mathews restructured the Brisbane Lions and made them a superpower by building the side from the backline.

He put Chris Johnson into the back pocket, he put Akermanis in the back pocket, he put Leppitsch at Centre Half Back.

What if we did the same, and we built the side like this; for example,

FB: Grimes Garland Tapscott

HB: Sylvia Frawley Green

An example of a tough, hard-tackling, hard running, pack marking backline that would give the side drive into the middfield, to hit up players like Bennell, Davey, Bail, Scully, Trengove, Gysberts, Jones, McKenzie and Moloney.

I still think our forward line can be super potent with the likes of Petterd, Jurrah, Wona, Watts, Bate.

Sylvia and Green are good players that can go missing, in the backline, they will be forced to stay in the play and drive forward.

thoughts?

Moving Sylvia and Green would take away two of our most important and experienced avenues to goal. Having said that at the moment and based on recent form I would be open to almost anything.